After the flash of white light, the familiar towering giant tree appeared before his eyes. Gu Jiang stood on a teleportation array that happened to be on one of its roots. The root was pitch black, with a petrified texture. The jade token flew out of his hand, returning to the dense canopy and transforming into a glowing white flower.
Long Hidden Island was long and narrow, resembling a winding dragon crouching in the depths of the East Sea. At the head of the dragon grew a massive Migu Tree, located at the northernmost tip of the island. Its roots stretched from north to south, running through the entire island. Even at the tail end of Long Hidden Island, one could dig up its black tendrils from the soil.
The Migu Tree was a forest in itself. When it blood, its snow-white petals could cover the entire island with the help of swirling winds.
"It's so beautiful," Nie Yinzhi looked up at the colossal tree that blotted out the sky. The dense canopy shimred with light, and petals fluttered down, with beams of light filtering through the leaves. "What kind of tree is this?"
"It's the Migu Tree. Carrying its flower can prevent you from getting lost," Gu Jiang turned his head just in ti to see Nie Yinzhi's divine consciousness dissipate. She sighed, "Ah, I have to go now. Be good and listen to your master. I'll co find you next ti."
Nie Yinzhi waved at him, and Gu Jiang smiled in response.
Gu Jiang crouched down and touched the Migu Tree's stone-like roots. Despite its massive size and deep roots, full of vitality, the tree was slowly dying.
After leaving Long Hidden Island, Gu Jiang traveled across the entire cultivation world, carrying a Migu Tree flower, searching for a way to save the tree. He explored countless collapsed and intact secret realms. By the ti he found the Five-Colored Dew, the Migu Tree flower in his hand had already withered. Long Hidden Island sank into the sea, never to be found again.
The past that could shake one's heart wasn't just about unbearable pain—it was also about regret. He couldn't stay here for long.
Gu Jiang gazed at the tree for a while, then turned his head to look toward the other side of the trunk.
From behind the wall-like trunk erged a middle-aged man, dressed in flowing robes and a tall hat, exuding an immortal aura. His posture was upright, and his gaze was scrutinizing. "Young man, not bad. You actually recognize this tree?"
From his tone, it was clear he had been here since Gu Jiang arrived.
Gu Jiang cupped his hands in a respectful salute. "Senior."
Soon, two n and a woman followed behind him. The four of them flew onto the thick roots and began inspecting Gu Jiang as if selecting livestock, evaluating him from his appearance to his bone structure.
"Your ridians were shattered?" one of them clicked his tongue, his face showing disdain. "I don't want shattered ridians." With that, he transford into a beam of light and disappeared into the mountains behind the Migu Tree.
Another person said, "Average bone structure, shattered ridians, and a pretty face. No, no, no."
The female cultivator smiled as she examined him. "You're too handso. If you followed , I might not be able to resist devouring you."
"This year, we sent out fifty flowers, but less than half returned with their bearers. Ah, you'll have to wait. There's still an eccentric old man who hasn't arrived yet."
Gu Jiang respectfully saw them off and sat down on the spot. He knew these people were just going through the motions. The one who truly had his eye on him was the eccentric old man, and he would have to sit here for forty-nine days to wait for him.
From the first day, the cultivation energy and sword aura he had painstakingly cultivated would begin to drain from his ridians, absorbed by the Migu Tree roots beneath him. Over these forty-nine days, he would experience the shattering of his golden core and the collapse of his spiritual foundation. He couldn't show the slightest hesitation until the last trace of sword aura was exhausted, and he was half a step into the gates of the underworld. Only then would soone pick him up.
Besides him, five others were left under this tree. The slightest wavering of resolve would result in being teleported away by the array beneath their feet.
[Ugh, why is his cultivation disappearing again? It's like a rollercoaster ride.]
[When will he ever reach Nascent Soul at this rate?]
[Exposed to wind and sun, the Demon Lord's face has turned dark. He must be marinated in sea breeze by now, lol.]
[Heartbreaking. Will Nie Yinzhi get to taste salty Demon Lord jerky next ti they et?]
[Brave Gu Jiang, fear no hardship.]
[The Demon Lord's progress is so full of twists and turns. Nie Yinzhi, on the other hand, just casually ascended to the peak of Deity Transformation through, well, *ahem*.]
[Gu Jiang's cultivation cos so hard-earned, yet he willingly becos a cauldron, offering his body, cultivation, and even his heart's blood. Who wouldn't call him a great philanthropist?]
[Giving it to his wife doesn't count as charity! Giving it to would be charity!]
[I just want his body, thanks.]
Nie Yinzhi woke from her ditation and opened her eyes to see these comnts. As soon as her divine consciousness recovered, she wasted no ti and once again traveled back through ti.
Before her consciousness fully awakened, she heard a stream of relentless scolding: "Gu Jiang, why do you call yourself Gu Jiang? If I were your parents, I'd have nad you Gu Tiedan (Iron Egg). Your brain is denser than a block of wood. If it's denser than wood, it must be iron!"
The incessantly talking cultivator had white hair and a hunched figure, but his eyes were still sharp, without the turbid aura of soone experiencing the Five Signs of Decay.
Nie Yinzhi blinked, her expression one of confusion. "Iron Egg?"
Gu Jiang glanced at her. With the slightest fluctuation in his emotions, the dissipating sword array around him reappeared. Crisscrossing blades of light enveloped him from top to bottom.
Gu Jiang dodged awkwardly within the sword array, while the white-haired cultivator sat nearby, sipping tea and cracking lon seeds, his mouth never stopping. "See? What did I tell you? You have to identify how many sword lights are in this array. How long has it been since the array retracted? Why are you so impatient? I told you to ditate, and you can't even do that? I've taken in many disciples before, and you're just like them—can't even pass the first hurdle of ditation."
The sound of cracking lon seeds and his voice didn't stop for a mont.
Nie Yinzhi studied him, unable to comprehend how he could talk and eat at the sa ti.
"Of course, when I criticize you, don't be discouraged. You have talent, and your bone structure isn't bad. Those fools who couldn't see your worth dismissed you because of your shattered ridians and lingering ailnts. But the fact that you managed to cultivate to the Golden Core stage despite your unstable spiritual foundation shows you're not bad. Just rember, when dispersing the sword lights, go from weak to strong. One wrong step, and the array will change, ruining all your progress..."
Nie Yinzhi stared at his mouth for a while, feeling dizzy. Not just dizzy, but also a bit of ringing in her ears.
Gu Jiang's master and Sang Wumian were polar opposites. When Sang Wumian taught her, he wouldn't say a word more than necessary. This master, on the other hand, could talk soone's skull off, and you couldn't ignore him because buried in his endless chatter were one or two useful pieces of advice.
By the ti Gu Jiang erged from the sword array, it was already deep into the night. Nie Yinzhi's ears were buzzing, as if ten thousand mosquitoes were swirling inside them.
Gu Jiang leaned against a large rock, looking up at the full moon. The two of them enjoyed the rare mont of peace, neither speaking for a while.
After a long while, Nie Yinzhi finally sighed, "No wonder you always told to stop talking."
"One misstep leads to eternal regret," Gu Jiang said with a numb expression.
Nie Yinzhi's buzzing head finally cleared a bit, and she rembered the information she had seen in the comnts. "Your cultivation... is still at the Golden Core stage? Has it been many, many years?"
"One month," Gu Jiang turned to her, a hint of amusent in his eyes. "Don't worry, I'll reach Nascent Soul soon."
Nie Yinzhi was baffled by his gaze. "I thought your cultivation was gone again."
"Hmm?" Gu Jiang thought for a mont. "You an when I first arrived on the island? That was an illusion. You just have to break the illusion or wait for it to end."
"An illusion so realistic it felt real?" Nie Yinzhi's interest was piqued.
Gu Jiang looked at her sparkling eyes. "The entire Long Hidden Island is one massive illusion."
"An illusion? I couldn't tell," Nie Yinzhi reached out to catch a petal drifting from the distant sea. Naturally, the snow-white petal passed right through her hand.
Even with her current divine consciousness, she couldn't encompass the entirety of Long Hidden Island, nor could she discern that it was an illusionary array.
"I only realized it later," Gu Jiang said. "The core of the illusion is that tree."
From here, they could see the Migu Tree at the head of Long Hidden Island. Under the night sky, its canopy resembled thick clouds, with glowing buds scattered like stars, reflecting the light of the full moon.
Gu Jiang stood up, "If you're interested, I can take you to see the core of the formation."
"Sure!"
The trunk of the Migu Tree was at the center of countless aerial roots. Over ti, these roots had connected with the ground, growing into new trunks, while the younger aerial roots hung from the branches, swaying like curtains in the sea breeze.
Gu Jiang struggled to make his way into the center of the Migu Tree. A triangular hollow had ford in the thick trunk, glowing faintly with a soft light. This was the heart of the entire illusionary realm's formation.
He touched the trunk, "I discovered this place by accident while trying to hide from my master. Whenever I couldn't stand him anymore, I'd co here to sleep in peace for a few days."
Nie Yinzhi squeezed into the hollow and looked up at the glowing formation above her head, "You sleep right under the formation?"
"Yep," Gu Jiang replied, already comfortably leaning against a protruding root on the ground.
Nie Yinzhi floated up to the top of the hollow to study the formation.
[Got it, ti to learn sothing new.]
[The demon lord is like a little boy showing his crush his secret hideout.]
[This illusionary realm is so beautiful, like a paradise compared to the outside world.]
[I saw on Weibo that the AI company didn't even create the map data for Long Hidden Island. They're already making up their own story because Xiao Ling died, and the focus is now on Nie Yinzhi.]
[Really? I didn't see any official announcent.]
[Does that an we can keep watching until they get married, have kids, and then follow their children's stories?]
[Whoa, are we getting a Boruto-style sequel? Shivering in fear.]
[Damn, now this world feels so real.]
[Wait, what "plot" are they trying to create? If it falls apart, will we still be able to watch?]
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