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[Tree] Chapter 414: A Promise
🕑 Added 2025-01-13 15:11:25 +0000 UTCStella hopped down from the wall onto an exposed tree root that was like a bridge through the swamp that had formed due to the intense rain. Balancing herself by stretching her arms out to either side, she walked past pools of mud from which Ents were emerging. Purple wood twisted up from half-decayed corpses that were face down in the muck, consuming the bodies and blood-stained mud in the process.
The Ents weren't large, only around a head taller than Stella. They had four legs, but unlike the wyvern they resembled, they had curved spines and stood tall like humans on their hind legs. They eyed her as she passed, likely verifying she wasn't a monster before losing interest.
"Whatchu looking at," Stella sized one up that ruptured from the mud beside her. It stared at her with the intelligence of a pile of rocks before looking to the sky like all the others before it. Spreading out its black wings, it leaped into the air, sending a wall of mud Stella's way.
"Can't you see I'm walking here?!" Stella clicked her tongue and vanished into the aether. A moment later, she stepped out onto one of the branches of the Tree Ashlock was inhabiting and looked at the root she had been standing on a moment now caked in mud.
While phasing through the aether was as easy as breathing for her, Ashlock's words regarding conserving her Qi had got her thinking. I could fight like that for days, maybe even a week or two. But I would eventually run out of Qi, and that's when the Nascent Soul Realm and possibly even a Monarch Realm monster would appear. While I might be able to fight one if I get lucky at my maximum strength, I won't stand a chance if I'm weakened. If only walking wasn't so tiresome and annoying. How did I even survive when I had to walk everywhere?
"Stella, you can just drop all the spirit stones on this tree's roots."
"Oh... sure," Stella said as she remembered why she had jumped down from the wall in the first place. Extending her hand over the branch, her spatial rings flashed with light, and spirit stones rained down like hail, landing with a squelch around the tree as they got embedded in the mud.
Ethereal roots arose from the mud and coiled around the offering like hungering vipers. The pile of high-grade spirit stones she had bought from the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion, which glowed with a vibrant silver hue, began to dull, but Stella could feel it. The Qi stored in the stones was being taken in by Ashlock and redistributed to the nearby trees.
It was as if life was being breathed into the already lush forest as an almost mythical aura spread out like a wave, with the offspring Ashlock was inhabiting as the focal point.
Stella phased through the aether and arrived on the branch of another nearby tree. With a smile, she crouched down and gently placed her fingers on its bark. "Sorry about this, little bro," she said, pushing her spiritual senses into the tree's bark. Instead of resisting, the tree welcomed her in.
What fascinating beings spirit trees are, yet somehow, their structure feels so familiar. Stella mused as she felt vague happy pulses of emotions from the tree flow into her. A spirit tree's capability to communicate and overall intelligence would increase alongside its cultivation, similar to monsters. Yet they are still so different from monsters and humans. First, their soul cores spread throughout their trunk, giving them immense Qi pools. So it's a little hard to estimate, but I think this tree is somewhere in the middle stages of the Soul Fire Realm.
"Hey bro, you were cultivating light affinity?" Stella saw motes of light Qi floating from the tree's leaves down through the rest of the tree's body. It was such a sparse amount of Qi compared to the raging rivers of aether Qi that flowed through Stella's spirit roots, but a whole realm of power did separate them. Feeling a flash of acknowledgment from the tree, Stella patted the tree approvingly, "Light affinity is a good choice for a tree. Do you mind if I dig a little deeper?"
Feeling no disapproval, Stella pushed her spiritual senses toward the tree's roots. Ah, here we go. If the light Qi being captured by the leaves is like a constant drip, the untamed Qi surging up through the roots from the spirit stones is like a burst dam. Hold on, is that desolation Qi as well?
Stella focused on a black mist seemingly invading the tree's body. However, the tree didn't seem bothered by it, and she couldn't see any signs of the desolation harming it. If anything, the desolation Qi seemed suppressed by a strange type of Qi Stella had never seen before.
A calmness that cut out all external noise and distractions blanketed her mind, and before she knew it, her bloodline had activated. The seemingly infinite celestial library manifested overhead, and a single book floated toward her. It had a terribly worn-out cover and looked as old as time itself as it flicked open to show yellowed pages. Information flowed off the pages and straight into her mind.
Usually, she had to work hard for her ancestors to bless her with information like this. So, for it to come so easily could only mean one thing.
This is something my ancestors wanted me to see.
Visions of lush forests being reduced to ruin, only to rise again from the blackened wastelands flooded her mind while strange voices harshly whispered in her ear over the visions.
Stella Crestfallen, your fate is tied to what you seek to destroy.
The cycle is eternal.
What is brought to ruin will rise again.
When reality crumbles, a new star is born.
Your hatred for the heavens brings only desolation.
To win, harmony must be maintained.
The book snapped shut, and Stella gasped for air while clutching her head with her free hand. Her brain was pounding like a drum as information about harmony dao weaseled its way into every nook and cranny of her consciousness.
"Harmony?" Stella hissed through gritted teeth, "What a load of utter bullshit. How can we win against the heavens with something as worthless as harmony?"
"Stella, did you just say harmony?" Ashlock's voice echoed through her mind.
She nodded while wincing in pain, "Yeah. My ancestors just shoved some information about it into my mind. Though I can't see why it would be useful compared to desolation."
"You shouldn't compare them like that. Two opposing forces shape our reality: destruction and creation. One cannot exist without the other, and the more one tries to triumph over the other, the stronger the other becomes. Desolation Qi allows me to lord over destruction, but the more I try to destroy, the more reality fights back. Like a vacuum, Qi rushes into the lands I lay to waste, and I have to try harder and harder to maintain the desolation. That's what makes my new cultivation technique, Divine Cycle of Creation and Ruin, so powerful. I can remake reality in my image by incorporating harmony and maintaining a balance between ruin and creation."
Stella's eyes widened. His new cultivation technique... it had cycle in the name. Those strange voices over the visions had warned her that her fate was tied to what she sought to destroy. Senior Lee once said Ash and my fates were now tied after he had saved me because I had foolishly tried to save Ash from a divine tribulation. So if Ash and my fates are tied—he becomes what I seek to destroy, and he has the word cycle in the name of this cultivation technique. Her eyes flickered to the tree ablaze with divine energy, the power of the heavens. Around the tree, new monsters were created from the corpses of the fallen. Beyond the wall was a wasteland where nothing could live, but on the other side was a lush forest of offspring. What stood between destruction and creation was a divine tree.
Stella had a terrible realization. Isn't Ash becoming similar to heaven?
"Tree, that thing that gives you powers that I told you not to tell me about. Did it give you this cultivation technique?"
Ashlock paused for a while before answering as if analyzing her strange reaction. "Yeah, it did. Why?"
Stella slowly stepped away from the tree, thoughts whizzing through her head as every seemingly independent thread started to weave together perfectly. She thought about Ash and her strange origins, how they came together and ended up with tied fates, and most importantly, their end goal, which was to destroy the heavens.
There was only one person who connected it all.
"Tell me, Ash, what did Senior Lee do to you that day you ascended to Star Core Realm?"
She still remembered that day vividly. Senior Lee had shown up out of seemingly nowhere, gave her some foul-tasting pills to improve her foundation, and humored them with some tests and knowledge. He gave off the impression of a powerful old man who enjoyed wandering around and the simpler things in life. However, when he discovered Ash was a talking tree, he placed his hand on his trunk, and that's when their fate changed.
Senior Lee did something that caused Ash to immediately ascend multiple stages and invite a heavy tribulation to the Star Core Realm.
"As you know, he gave me a divine fragment—one of nine. It was intended for the World Tree to initiate the era of ascension, but he gave it to me instead. It turned me into a demi divine being with unlimited cultivation potential, meaning I can reach for the heavens."
"One of nine... what happens if you get the others?"
"I can become a true god."
"A true god? Do they sit above the heavens?"
"I... don't know. Maybe?"
"Mhm," Stella paced up and down the branch while tapping her chin. She felt so close to figuring it all out. "Senior Lee said he was bored with life and that he was entering his final meditation, right? Do you remember exactly what he said?"
"Let me think. I believe Senior Lee said something like, 'What may be an entire lifetime to you is but a passing moment for me. Yet my time is running out. I have but one last eon of meditation left in this fleeting spirit of mine.' Which now that I think about it—"
"Doesn't make sense." Stella finished his sentence. "Anyone past Nascent Soul Realm is basically immortal. For someone as powerful as him, there is no way for him to die."
"Unless he wants to. The words 'fleeting spirit' and how he spoke of boredom make me think he wanted to die."
Stella nodded, "Exactly. But remember how powerful Senior Lee was? He literally froze time when he wanted to speak with you. Not to mention, he could traverse the void between layers of creation, which is supposed to be impossible. I bet you no sword could pierce his skin. When you're a god, the only thing that can kill you is another god. Not only did he give you that divine fragment, but he also brought me back from the brink of death and gave me the strength to punch heaven's lightning. You don't think..."
"He's raising us to kill him?" Ashlock said with a hint of disbelief. "He said he would meet me at the top. I thought we would fight the heavens together, but what if that's not the case?"
"Senior Lee also made everything sound like a coincidence," Stella added while rubbing her chin, "But I think this was planned. He was friends with a member of the Voidmind family focused on research, and he also had friends in the Celestial Empire, where I was supposedly born from an experiment. He then showed up out of nowhere, gifted us this power, and tied our fates together. It's just all too convenient when everything seems to lead back to him for it to be a happy coincidence."
"What does tying our fates together even mean?" Ashlock pondered, "I know if either of us dies, it will greatly affect the future path of the other. But I feel like there's more to it."
Stella's eyes widened as a thought struck her: "Wait. You're onto something there. Let's see. Your fate is to do what the World Tree cannot do, right? To reach the heavens."
"Right."
"Meanwhile, my fate, according to the Elder from the Azure Clan when I was deciphering the aether origin stone, is that the Crestfallen name has reappeared in the annals of history since time immemorial, and it was always mentioned before the fall of the nine realms. If I add us together, you become the bridge to the heavens, and somehow, my involvement leads to the fall of the nine realms?"
"Hold on. If the Crestfallen name always appears during an era when the nine realms fall, this has happened before. Yet the heavens still rule, and the nine realms remain. Either those are fairytales of old, or the realm really did fall and was rebuilt. But by who?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure Senior Lee has the answers." Stella looked to the sky, "If only he wasn't so far away."
Ashlock laughed in her mind, "At the rate, the two of us are progressing? I'm sure we will meet him far earlier than he ever expected. We just have to keep slaughtering, and we will be there soon enough."
"No rest for the wicked, eh?" Stella huffed some hair out of her face as it was blown around by the intense gale.
"Hah, I wish. All of our immediate enemies and the beast tide aside, Morrigan seems convinced that my soul looks like an Origin. If it's true, the heavens and every cultivator out there have a good reason to kill me. But don't worry," Ashlock chuckled, "If I die and really am an Origin, I will just come back again."
"No..." Stella muttered as she realized something. The threads of realization she had experienced during their conversation all led to a single conclusion.
"No?"
She slowly turned to look right at Ash, "No, you won't come back."
"Why not? Is that not what Origins do?"
Stella shook her head adamantly. "Those strange words you use like bingo or nuke. The fact that you lack knowledge in some areas but have extensive knowledge in others that you have never had access to. You definitely had a past life, but one in a different body and world. I think... I know what type of Origin you are—"
"Stop."
Stella clamped her mouth shut. His voice was filled with finality.
"I don't want to know."
"But—"
"My name is Ashlock, and I'm a demonic tree. I have secrets, and now you have yours. Don't you think it's best if we each have a piece of the puzzle?"
Stella furrowed her brows. He wasn't making any sense.
"Look, Stella," his voice dropped to a grave whisper, "This power inside me... it's done nothing but good for me." An ethereal root rose from the mud and patted her head, "But we both know power doesn't come for free. It has a plan for me, a destiny, if you will. I suspect this power may be the Origin, not me, and I'm unsure how an Origin might react to being discovered. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."
Stella gulped. "You want me to keep it a secret to keep myself safe?"
"Yes, you trust me, right? Whatever you figured out, don't worry about it for now. I have no plans of dying and leaving you alone, and we will overthrow the heavens and break this cycle together. Okay? Learning what type of Origin I or the power inside me is will not change anything and is only likely to invite disaster."
Stella nodded.
"Good. One day, when we are at the top of the world, let's exchange secrets. When there is finally nothing that can threaten our lives."
"Promise?" Stella said, holding out her pinky finger to the ethereal root. "I want to learn about who you were before becoming a tree."
"I promise." The root was far too large, but Ash still managed to gently circle the tip slightly around her pinky.
[Author Note]
What type of Origin do you think Ashlock/the system is?
Comments
Cooper Goldstraw
If I’m allowed to get a little conspiratorial here I believe that they are 2 half’s of one origin. The system brings nothing but creation, with the exception of the devouring roots without ash’s interference. And ash brings nothing but death without the system’s interference. I believe they the are the origin of the cycle of death and rebirth, of creation and destruction.
jalapenochips
I’m guessing it’s something related to Ragnarök given the Norse themes in this story. Probably too predictable to be true, but per wiki: “The plural noun rök has several meanings, including 'development', 'origin', 'cause', 'relation', 'fate.' The word ragnarök as a whole is then usually interpreted as the 'final destiny of the gods.'” Here, I’m guessing the origin is probably more meta, like the origin of the final destiny of the gods or the origin of endings
Volkiro
Orgin of Creation. The former origin (that may have been, undoubtedly, very powerful) was slayed by something and it's origin stone then used to create the heavens. Morrigan has said, I think, that origins remember thier former lives somewhat. Correct me if I am wrong. That origin could very well have been building up power, hidden from the heavens somehow. Brought over some suitable soul, untainted by the greed and maliciousness of the cultivation world and attached it to a tiny tree with a, now, great destiny. Someone else said, origin of divinity. Which would also be my second pick.
PinkAmber
Gotcha, thx for the explanation on that! Btw, sry if my comment came off as harsh, I didn’t mean for it to. I just got unlucky and pre ordered the book like 5 minutes before the release date changed so I was a bit salty at the time lol.
XKARNATION
Yeah so I sadly have no control over the audiobooks. Since I have a celebrity narrator he’s super busy. My publisher doesn’t know when he will be finished with the recordings so they put in place holder dates and then move it back if the recording isn’t finished on time. Notice how it says the audiobook length is 13 hours? That’s a place holder. You can tell if the book will be released for real if the audio time is listed as somewhere close to 25 hours. It sucks and I’m as much in the dark as you guys since I get no updates about it :/
Alexey Gladkich
The previous audiobook was delayed twice by half a year in total. A month of delay is an improvement of the prior situation.
Vanessa S.
My first guess is something along the lines of the Origin of Genesis. The "system" can grant him anything and influence not only this world, but even the pocket dimensions. This makes me suspect that its power is related to all of existence and how it comes into being. This would also explain the system's rivalry with the Heavens as it usurped its place/role. I just don't see it as being rebirth, life, soul, etc. as that should limit the system to only granting techniques related to that Origin. Morrigan is a good example of this. She can use void because she is the Origin of Void. Ash's system can offer Ashlock pretty much anything and any power as long as he fulfills some prerequisites. I guess the only other alternative I can think of is one related to the system's ability to take energy from other entities and repurpose it for itself. So maybe the Origin of Recycling?
Memnun
origin of fiction? not sure the exact verbiage I'd use, but so much of his life is deceit and false/implanted history, makes you question if his human memories are even real or just a convenient lie the system gave him to make him complacent in his ignorance. maybe ashlock isn't even real as a unique entity with free will, just a fabrication made by the system to interface with the outside world without exposing itself. (which also makes me like the 'origin of fiction' title again for meta reasons; no, ashlock *isn't* real, he's a character in Every sense. both in universe and literally)
PinkAmber
I truly love this series and support your work, but delaying releases hours before the listed release date really discourages people from getting invested in the series…
PinkAmber
Any news on why the book 3 audio book release date is showing as being delayed by over a month 😥
Christian Sullivan
Origin of Rebirth. Like the name of the book. He lived on Earth as a human and then was Reborn into this world as a tree. If he dies he will go to a new reality again maybe as something entirely different?
Basically God
Brain empty; no theories from me this time. Thanks for the chapter~♥
Borbino the great
I’m seeing a lot of change but what if he’s the origin of growth he grows everyone around him and cultivates off that growth he really is a nurturer first and foremost it’s just recently he’s actually expanded to destruction
Borbino the great
I think that’s a solid bet and I feel like it plays into chaos or change as humans will always drive change
Peter Cigáň
Origin of Life? You kill and destroy to live. (yes vegans too, plants feel pain too, you just can’t hear the silent scream’s so you don’t care). Yet You can create marvel’s just by living your life to the fullest.
Phoenixdrop
Yeah from what I’m seeing Origin of change chaos or reincarnation seem to be the best guesses right now but maybe origin of divine Qi as that has a ring to it
Zachary Bender
Origin of Reincarnation. He will come back but not as Ashlock
BrotherJohn
Origin of chaos has been my guess since a while back. From the beginning Ashlock has been set up as the enemy of heaven. Chaos in many ways the antithesis to Heaven which is associated with order and stability while Chaos is change and disorder. It could explain his ability to wield any affinity. The idea being that chaos isn’t necessarily a specific Qi type but a state of disorder and can use any Qi to do that. Perhaps when the Heavens took over to rule part of their plan involved removing Chaos from the system entirely to maintain equilibrium and the origin of Chaos was kicked out of all the realms and reality which led to the origin finding Earth and Ashlock/Mark. OR maybe the Mark is the Origin who lived as a human with his powers (the system) laying dormant.
Havics Child
Origin of the heavens
CalicoNSFW
Origin of Man, even if that's somewhat unlikely (well, the Origin of Void reincarnated inside a human, so why would the Origin of Man HAVE TO reincarnate inside a human? Ain't no such thing as a rule so far). But for funsies, that's my bet.
Ethan Barrow
TFTC! His origin is truck-kun.
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊
Bob Fight
Could just be the origin of the system that it would in principle become the new heavens and the world would change to incorporate it thus why it didn’t want to be noticed and the starweavers see the destruction of the heavens and the end of the cycle if he ashlock lives
Gonvas
I can see the concept of reincarnation on this cycle of destruction and creation. But at the same time, reincarnation and past lives is something all origins have. Morrigan told us an Origin is a manifestation of an affinity or dao. How would this apply with reincarnation being a dao/affinity and all of them going through multiple reincarnations?
Lioncog
I would say the origin of change. Ever since Ashlock was brought to this world he has been making drastic changes externally and internally. Externally he expands the domain he controls and changing the very landscape to his vision by pushing ever outward. Society wise he took control changing the dynamic between cultivators and mortal giving all the ability to cultivate. With the beast tide if successful in eliminating all the monsters that would enable all on this plane to finally settle down in one place enabling more advanced city’s and stability. Internally he has changed a lot too. Through the system facilitating this change he can use things from the world around him to change himself and create new things like gaining new flowers and fruits he can combine attributes to make something new and grow it . Consuming corpses he can change that into new abiltys summon things from other planes and mutate himself like the eye and blood sap. He gains resistance to things uncannily fast . When he was being struck by lightning he went up mutable stages in it. When void cultivators went supernova inside him he is able to imbue his abiltys and change them through that (maybe he could do that with other Qi’s if they are not as even to him in cultivation.). Also his very soul has change from a human one to a demonic tree soul. The system itself has changed to become more sentient than it was in the beginning which also leads me to believe this origin is an artificially created one by senior Lee. Since Lee has had some huge influence over all of this. If the theory of ashlock and Stella of lee wanting to be killed by them and can only be achieved if ashlock becomes a god in is true there has to be a huge change for this to happen. So he created the origin but found out for some reason it can’t grow on its own and needs another being to guide its progress. I don’t remember his name but the first void qi guy that went supernova in ash was researching portals to other planes if I remember correctly. Since senior Lee and him were close he had him research if it was even possible to pluck a soul from an entirely different realty and implant it with the origin. To finish being able to create it needed to use some part of the world tree. This is a theory that just came to my head after reading this chapter so sorry if it’s hard to follow. Great chapter ,it got me thinking a lot and adds a lot of mystery!
Niels Valkenborgh
My guess is Origin of Change or Chaos.
Jesper Hallstensson
Well now I can only see Stella as a small Italian girl saying "I'm walkin' here" everywhere she goes. On another note I think he is the origin of change
federico Camargo
Stella, shouldn't you be surprised that Morrigan knows about the origins? As far as she was never told, that Morrigan was an origin, since in previous chapters she wondered if Morrigan was even human.
Lvl.1
Origin of reincarnation probably
Beeees!
Origin of LitRPG ofc
Emyllia
Who knows, new types of dao get brought up all the time.
Alexey Gladkich
Origin of Soul is also possible. There's Soul Dao after all.
Immortalloon
I think it's the origin of sprirt. Souls are probably made of qi, so it would explain how he gains power from consumption and can gain new tequniques by having them inserted into his soul
Gonvas
Not luck, more like gambling xD
Warphole
Origin of luck? It's power is a Gacha themed.
Wanderer of Worlds
Basically the centerpiece of Reality? I like it.
Wanderer of Worlds
Well, that was a heavy chapter.
Gonvas
Divine Qi origin. Purest form of Qi despite not being the highest tier affinity. We see divine beings that have all kind of affinities, divine energy can mix with lots of stuff, divinity connects to heaven and all that, system uses divine energy to manifest itself and seems quite connected to it.
SDCard
Thanks for the chapter!
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
