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Upon returning to the ancestral hall, Ji Yang did not imdiately begin the next simulation. Instead, he stood quietly, gazing forward as if waiting for sothing.
But no matter how long he waited, no prompt appeared.
This made him feel increasingly frustrated—even his trunk darkened slightly in reaction.
So this ti, he gained nothing at all?
He stared at the remaining number of simulation attempts—just one left—and without any hesitation, Ji Yang activated it again.
...
You were born in a forest. In order to grow into a towering tree as soon as possible, you begin striving to grow!
Ji Yang remained unmoved as the prompt appeared before his eyes.
A forest, huh? Just an ordinary map—nothing interesting about it.
But just as he was about to give up on trying, sothing flickered in the corner of his vision. A familiar cicada took flight.
It wasn’t very large. Its head and abdon were brownish-yellow, bearing the tree-ring-like patterns he rembered, while its broad, translucent wings shimred faintly as if they had witnessed countless ages.
At the sight of it, a jolt of emotion surged in Ji Yang’s heart.
Wasn’t that the Autumn Cicada—the very sa one he had seen during his first simulation?
Now it was perched quietly on a tree not too far from him, so distance still between them.
Ji Yang’s gaze, fixed on the cicada, held a complex mix of emotions.
He wasn't rely looking at a cicada. What he saw was the embodint of a cultivation path he had once chosen but never followed.
Still, he quickly cald himself.
In this run, he had entered the simulation using a single multiplier, aning he had brought none of his abilities. Right now, he was just an ordinary tree.
No, not even a tree yet—just a sapling struggling to grow.
To attract the Autumn Cicada, he would first need to grow into a tall and robust tree.
But more importantly, there was no guarantee the cicada would choose to land on him again. It might never return. Still, Ji Yang knew he had to try.
And that ant one thing—waiting.
While waiting, he carefully observed his surroundings. He had no intention of dying before he’d even managed to grow.
Fortunately, the forest was calm. Shafts of sunlight filtered gently through the leaves, bathing the area in a warm and tranquil glow.
Most importantly, he saw no sign of that damned Black Gold Beast.
Ti passed. Seasons cycled one after another.
Having witnessed countless changes between spring and winter, Ji Yang grew steadily from a fragile sapling into a sturdy tree with thick bark and wide-spread branches.
The entire process had been peaceful—nothing dramatic had happened. The Autumn Cicada, still perched on that distant tree, had not moved nor flown away.
That brought Ji Yang a faint sense of relief and hope. Now that he had beco a flourishing tree, could it co perch on him already?
Unfortunately, that hope remained unfulfilled. The Autumn Cicada did not show any signs of changing its perch.
And what puzzled him even more was that so much ti had passed, yet the cicada hadn’t even started to absorb any sap. Instead, it stayed motionless, as though sunk in silence.
Unease crept into Ji Yang’s heart.
Even though he had now grown into a full tree, his lifespan was still limited. If the Autumn Cicada continued to remain inactive, he feared he’d grow old and wither again—just like the last ti.
If only he had entered this simulation using a higher multiplier—perhaps with abilities like reinforced roots or adaptive growth—then he could have drained the nutrients from every nearby tree and made himself stand out, or even beco the only tree in the area, increasing the chances of drawing the cicada’s attention.
But without those advantages, all he could do was wait.
Ti rolled forward. His trunk thickened further, and among the forest trees, he stood out more and more. Yet the Autumn Cicada remained unmoved.
Was it dead? Ji Yang found himself wondering. Otherwise, how could it resist a trunk as magnificent as his?
Slowly, his growth halted. Each year, fewer green leaves sprouted from his branches. Even his deep-buried roots began to loosen.
His lifespan was nearing its end. He was going to die of old age again.
Ji Yang could feel it with perfect clarity—but there was nothing he could do.
The opportunity was right before him, and he still couldn’t reach it. His heart filled with conflicting emotions.
Just when he thought he would once again fade into a silent and tragic tree death, a ripple of disturbance rose in the distance—and with it, a new prompt appeared.
Wild beasts are stirring in the forest. In order to resist the incoming beast tide, you choose:
[Active Defense] [Die on the Spot]
Ji Yang stared at the second option, question marks exploding in his mind. Without hesitation, he selected [Active Defense].
As soon as the choice was made, his previously loose roots tightened with new strength. No longer growing downward, they began stretching outward toward the surface. In ti, they ford a fortified wall of roots encircling Ji Yang.
He fell into silence as he watched the transformation.
Without roots to draw in nutrients, how was this any different from dying in place?
Maybe it would buy him a little more ti.
Shifting his gaze forward, he saw the tide of beasts arrive. Trees toppled in droves, the sound of trampling reverberated across the land.
The vibrations of the ground soon spread upward—through his trunk and into the tips of his branches.
Feeling the tremors coursing through him, Ji Yang quickly turned his attention to the Autumn Cicada still perched not far away.
To his surprise, the cicada he had thought long dead began to stir, moving ever so slightly in response to the shock.
Emotion flared in Ji Yang’s chest—hope, excitent, urgency.
But that excitent lasted less than a mont as Ji Yang watched the Autumn Cicada take flight from the tree, drifting farther and farther away until it vanished completely.
A deep sense of despair welled up within him. It felt as if all hope had been lost.
The Beast Tide had arrived beneath his trunk.
Though not as powerful as the forces of Heaven and Earth, the rampaging beasts generated a deafening clamor.
And then Ji Yang saw the main force of the Beast Tide: thick-skinned, sharp-tusked Black Gold Beasts.
Those damn Black Gold Beasts!
Ji Yang cursed inwardly, though the wall of roots beneath his trunk held firm.
So of the roots that extended outward had beco increasingly solid with age, their decay having transford into rigidity. Many of the Black Gold Beasts were impaled before they could even reach Ji Yang’s trunk, their corpses strewn beneath him.
He didn’t know how long had passed, but gradually, the thunderous tremors began to fade. Slowly, the remaining Black Gold Beasts vanished from sight.
Under Ji Yang’s trunk, countless beast corpses had piled up, encircling him like an altar of sacrifice—shielding him from the rampaging tide.
All around him lay devastation. Only a few sturdy, thick-trunked trees remained standing.
Although Ji Yang had successfully withstood the Beast Tide, his heart held no joy. The tremors had also scattered the Spring Autumn Cicada, and its trace had vanished.
To encounter that creature a second ti had already been rare. Unfortunately, it seed fate was not on his side.
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