My Longevity Simulation - Chapter 826
“This is way too fast!”
Li Fan was instantly astonished.
Traveling from the Spiritwood Realm to Jiushan Prefecture required crossing nearly half of Shilin Prefecture.
Under normal circumstances, a Nascent Soul cultivator flying at full speed would need at least five to six days to make the journey.
Even if Lin Ling carried Li Fan through the sky, it would still take at least half a day.
Yet, by borrowing the power of the earth veins, they had arrived almost instantly.
More importantly, traveling underground was silent and unnoticed!
Currently, the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance and the Five Elders Association were in a standoff, with heavy defenses guarding the border between Shilin Prefecture and Jiushan Prefecture.
However, when Li Fan and his group traversed through, neither side detected their presence.
“The power of the earth veins is pure and exclusive. It seems that, as of now, no one in the Xuanhuang Realm has found a way to travel safely through them.” Li Fan pondered as he recalled the knowledge he had gathered about earth veins.Upon reaching Jiushan Prefecture, the flow of the earth veins seemed to encounter some sort of blockage.
What was once a rushing current suddenly slowed to a gentle trickle.
Li Fan could also sense Lin Ling’s discomfort.
He signaled for her to return to the surface.
Before emerging, Li Fan carefully observed his surroundings. Only after ensuring that no one was nearby did he break through the earth.
“This place feels so unsettling,” Lin Ling frowned.
“Jiushan Prefecture was formed from the corpse of an ancient beast. It’s natural for you to feel a sense of rejection.” Li Fan briefly explained.
“This entire region was once a corpse?” Lin Ling’s eyes widened in shock. “Then its power when it was alive must have been terrifying! No wonder even senior cultivators are restricted here…”
She muttered to herself.
“Senior cultivators?” Li Fan’s heart skipped a beat.
“Yes! We were able to move so quickly underground thanks to a senior’s help!” Lin Ling said innocently.
As she spoke, she proudly took out a withered branch. “Master, look! This is a gift from that senior.”
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
The branch was dry and yellow, but it did not appear lifeless. Instead, it had been nourished by the power of the earth veins for countless years. From it, he could still sense the vigorous, surging energy of the earth veins.
He had seen such a branch once before.
It was in his 115th lifetime, at Ximen Yu’s cave in Yueyang Prefecture.
“The Tree of Earth Veins?”
He suddenly recalled Ximen Yu’s theory regarding its origins.
Long ago, the Ruomu tree had been gravely wounded by cultivators, causing massive branches to break off and fall to the mortal world.
Over the years, these branches took root and evolved into different ancient trees.
The Tree of Earth Veins was one of them.
Growing in reverse, its roots spread throughout the Xuanhuang Realm.
“How did you communicate with that ‘senior’?” Li Fan asked Lin Ling.
Lin Ling tilted her head, looking at Li Fan in confusion.
After a moment, she simply transmitted her entire interaction with the ancient tree to him.
The way ancient trees communicated was vastly different from humans.
The moment Lin Ling entered the earth veins, she and the ancient tree had already formed a connection.
Within an incredibly short time, they had exchanged information.
The ancient Tree of Earth Veins was quite fond of Lin Ling, this newly born junior.
Not only did it refrain from attacking her, but it even actively assisted her.
Additionally, from this ancient tree, Lin Ling learned about the other great ancient trees of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The most ancient of them all, the ancestor of all spirits—Ruomu…
However, the Tree of Earth Veins did not reveal its own name to Lin Ling.
Lin Ling was merely cautioned that the Mother Tree’s temperament had changed drastically, becoming unpredictable and capricious. Even as a fellow tree spirit, it would not receive any special treatment. On the contrary, the Mother Tree might even devour scattered ancient trees like them to nourish itself.
It was best to stay as far away as possible.
Next were two entities on par with the Earth Vein Ancient Tree.
Both had originally separated from the Ruomu Tree in ancient times and were among the strongest of their kind.
One was the Ten Thousand Spirits Ancient Tree, and the other was the Tianhua Ancient Tree.
Although they shared the same origin, they followed entirely opposite paths.
The Ten Thousand Spirits Ancient Tree sought to proliferate as much as possible, spreading countless branches throughout the world.
Even if catastrophe struck, as long as a single branch survived and was given enough time, it could regenerate completely.
The Tianhua Ancient Tree, however, pursued the path of “All Laws Converging into One.”
It constantly reduced and refined itself, aspiring to one day return to the existence of the Ruomu Tree.
Glimpses of the Ten Thousand Spirits Ancient Tree and Tianhua Ancient Tree flashed through Li Fan’s mind.
To his surprise, he had encountered both of them in his past reincarnations.
The branches of the Ten Thousand Spirits Ancient Tree turned out to be the very material Jiao Xiuyuan used to craft his clones.
“Spreading branches across the world, covering the Xuanhuang Realm… It subtly aligns with Fellow Daoist Jiao’s Way of Ten Thousand Puppets.”
“I just wonder—what exactly is the relationship between Jiao Xiuyuan and the Ten Thousand Spirits Ancient Tree?”
As for the Tianhua Ancient Tree, Li Fan had only encountered it once.
That was in the Qingfeng Hall of the loan organization on Ten Thousand Immortals Island, where he had seen a massive tree with a human face.
In his 115th lifetime, the Five Elders Association launched a surprise attack on Ten Thousand Immortals Island, attempting to relocate the entire island.
At that time, the entire space was sealed off, making all forms of communication and teleportation ineffective.
Li Fan had to pay a hefty price to Jiao Xiuyuan to learn of an escape route.
It was through Qingfeng Hall that he successfully survived the disaster.
“That human-faced tree was one of the sub-bodies of the Tianhua Ancient Tree.”
“And that female voice accompanying the spirit tree… I still don’t know who she was.”
Besides these two powerful ancient trees, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree also introduced Lin Ling to several younger and slightly weaker tree spirits.
Like Lin Ling, they were trees that had developed sentience, mostly residing in the hidden realms and small worlds of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Since these small worlds were tethered to Xuanhuang, the spirit trees within them maintained a subtle connection with the Earth Vein Ancient Tree.
However, Lin Ling was the first among them who had managed to transform and step into the human world.
This greatly excited the Earth Vein Ancient Tree.
Yet, it showed little concern for the fact that Lin Ling was under the control of a cultivator.
It merely reminded Lin Ling that each spirit tree followed its own destined path.
She should cultivate according to her heart’s true desires.
Having been born only recently, Lin Ling only half-understood these words but obediently nodded.
“I never expected so much to have happened in the blink of an eye.”
“And all without me even noticing… Even though I have full control over Lin Ling, it still happened.”
“The methods of these ancient trees are truly mysterious and unfathomable.”
“Fortunately, both the Earth Vein Ancient Tree and Lin Ling have gentle dispositions. Unlike the Ruomu Tree, which is extremely radical.”
“Otherwise, if they had secretly plotted against me together…”
“It would have been difficult to defend against.”
Li Fan sighed softly.
