Shamrock Peak. Emerald Cove. Dadangar.
Aksai sat under the demon tree, deep in meditation with his eyes closed, feeling the changes within his body.
After years of patience, Aksai’s druid bloodline was finally starting to show the signs of transformation as mentioned in the manual he had obtained from the corrupted druid.
He began to feel an intense heat generated within his body like he had a fever. The demon tree, sensing the change, also became restless as its leaves started rustling.
The demon tree vines surrounded Aksai, one vine connected to his tailbone, providing him with life force extracted from the Flesh Pumpkins and the ambient energy. Other demon tree vines encircled him, forming a shell-like pattern around him.
Aksai felt like his blood was starting to boil and his bones and flesh would melt in the heat. Still, he didn’t get scared by these changes. Instead, he instinctively welcomed them. He felt as if the bouts of pain he was forced to experience at this point were for his own good.
Aksai was lost in the sensation of pain that overwhelmed all his other senses. Soon, his consciousness drifted off to a fantastical land.
He found himself in a barren landscape dotted with active volcanoes. The sky was a deep, menacing red, and strange creatures moved about. In the distance, Aksai saw a giant tree resembling his demon tree but was far more enormous.
This tree had countless faces of strange creatures and human-like entities etched into its colossal trunk. As Aksai watched, the faces came alive.
Weird creatures resembling various forms of tree demons and corrupted druids surrounded the giant tree, worshiping it with fervor. The tree extended its massive branches and vines, which covered the entire red sky like a canopy. These tentacle-like vines then drilled into the ground, funneling some unseen essence.
Back in reality, Aksai felt his body undergo a metamorphosis. The heat within him intensified. His skin began to glow with an ethereal light as his bloodline started to awaken. The demon tree’s vines pulsed with energy, feeding him life force and enhancing his transformation.
Various blood runes appeared around him. These strange Essence Equations start to radiate faint red light as they absorb the ambient life force before disappearing into Aksai’s being.
The vision in his mind shifted. He saw the world-level tree’s vines reaching deep into the earth, drawing up the essence of life and power.
The faces on the tree’s trunk chanted in unison, a low, guttural sound that resonated through the land. The ground beneath the tree trembled as the power being drawn up from the depths of the earth intensified.
Back in reality, Aksai felt a surge of strength and vitality coursing through his veins. His senses heightened, and he became acutely aware of every living thing around him. The transformation was not just physical but also spiritual, connecting him deeply with the natural world.
Aksai’s point of view was shifted again after a brief reality check. He found himself watching the same fantastical scene. This time, the scene revealed more.
As soon as the demon tree vines pierced the ground and started extracting life force from the barren world, the volcanoes that dotted the landscape turned active. They erupted violently, releasing torrents of lava rain that fell like molten fire, aiming to incinerate the tree devils and other demonic creatures surrounding the giant demon tree.
Despite the impending doom, the massive crowd did not move from their positions. Instead, they continued their fervent prayers, their chants growing louder and more desperate with each passing moment.
“What… What in the world is happening here?”
Aksai watched this spectacle from a distance, feeling a strange disconnect as if his body wasn’t truly present in this fantastical world. He realized that these were bloodline memories, passed down to him through the corrupted druid lineage.
The sheer chaos and intensity of the scene were overwhelming. The entities gathered around the giant demon tree were incredibly powerful, each one exuding an aura far stronger than his own. He could only guess that even the weakest among them was more formidable than a Core Formation Lord.
The sky above the demon tree grew redder with each passing second. Red and black clouds formed, churning ominously as they grew darker.
Thunder rumbled from these clouds, and red lightning crackled through the sky before striking the giant demon tree. The faces etched into the tree’s trunk hissed and yelled, showing expressions of anger, frustration, and fear.
The lava waves, defying natural physics, gained a fluidity akin to water. They swept over the creatures, capturing and burning them in their fiery embrace.
Despite the pain and destruction, the creatures continued their prayers, their devotion unwavering even as they perished. Aksai felt a mix of intimidation and awe as he witnessed the devastation.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The gigantic demon tree faced its world-ending level tribulation.
The red lightning rained down relentlessly, damaging the tree with every strike. The faces on the tree trunk screamed in agony as the lightning burned through branches and struck at the core. The air filled with the acrid stench of burning flesh and sulfur, creating an atmosphere of apocalyptic dread.
After what felt like both an eternity and a fleeting moment, the lava waves obliterated all the powerful entities gathered around the demon tree. Their flesh was incinerated, leaving behind only bones that briefly floated in the molten waves before dissolving completely. The relentless red lightning continued to assault the tree, stripping away branches and searing the faces etched into the trunk.
The demon tree’s faces collectively wailed as the red lightning overwhelmed it, striking with such ferocity that the tree itself began to buckle. The thunderstorm raged on, and the red lightning bolts became a torrential downpour.
“The demon tree is trying to break through some superior realm? And this world is the sight it has chosen to go through with it?”
Aksai watched in awe and trepidation as the giant demon tree continued its desperate attempt to break through some form of cultivation realm by devouring the life force of the entire world.