A Pawn's Passage

After Utu and the old man departed, Qi Xuansu and Madam Wu arrived at the end of the forest path. One step further was the circular clearing with the black tree.

Madam Wu took the lead and stepped inside.

In an instant, a yin wind arose, sounding like the wailing cries of ten thousand ghosts. The surrounding trees swayed violently from side to side.

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though a human face emerged upon the trunk of the black tree, displaying a bizarre smile that was eerie and terrifying.

The roots tore themselves from the earth. Buried corpses were flung upward along with them, as if someone were pulling their feet free from a swamp. Those roots lashed out like tentacles, surging toward Madam Wu from all directions.

This explained why there were no guards or protective formations here. The tree itself possessed considerable combat power. Anyone who wandered into this place by mistake would likely become its fertilizer.

Unfortunately for the tree, it had encountered Madam Wu.

With a casual gesture, Madam Wu summoned a flame. Before the tentacle-like roots could even touch it, they curled up and charred, retreating one after another.

Holding the flame before her, Madam Wu advanced, and all the roots and vines scattered out of her path.

Although the black tree had not transformed into a tree demon with an independent will, it appeared to possess a degree of intelligence. Faced with Madam Wu’s relentless advance, it clearly displayed fear and apprehension. Having nowhere left to retreat, it fell completely still.

Madam Wu looked up at the human-faced fruits hanging from the branches. “These human-faced fruits seem somewhat different. At the very least, they’re different from the ones growing in the forest outside.”

The woods surrounding the clearing also bore human-faced fruits. However, compared to those growing on the black tree, the fruits outside were smaller, and their facial features were much more indistinct.

Qi Xuansu stepped to Madam Wu’s side and likewise gazed at the human-faced fruits hanging from the branches like severed heads.

Madam Wu said, “Ordinary human-faced fruits are formed from corpse qi. This black tree has clearly gone a step further. It uses actual corpses as fertilizer.”

A thought struck Qi Xuansu. “Madam Wu, do you remember the Philosopher’s Stone we saw at Sophia’s manor?”

“I remember,” Madam Wu replied casually. “That was only a half-finished product.”

Qi Xuansu remarked, “The Westerners’ Philosopher’s Stone and the first-generation Longevity Stone share many similarities. Both require vast amounts of life force as fuel.”

“Right.” Madam Wu’s response was somewhat perfunctory.

Qi Xuansu continued, “In order to investigate certain matters, I once specifically studied the history of the Longevity Stone. The first-generation Longevity Stone was successfully refined by the Ten Witches of Lingshan. The earliest clearly recorded use of it took place at Lingshan. Yayu was killed by his own subordinates. The Heavenly Emperor ordered that his corpse be sent to Lingshan and asked the Ten Witches to save him. Using the first-generation Longevity Stone, they revived Yayu. However, after being brought back to life, Yayu’s temperament changed drastically. He transformed into a monster with a dragon’s head and a cat’s body and devoured people wherever he went. In the end, the Heavenly Emperor ordered him to be killed.”

At last, Madam Wu became interested. “I know about that. The reason was eventually discovered. The first-generation Longevity Stone was refined using the flesh, blood, and souls of primordial beasts. Too much of the beasts’ will remained within it. While it revived Yayu, it also corrupted him, which was why he became a monster. The second-generation Longevity Stone was therefore improved by using the Undying Elixir from the Kunlun Paradise to neutralize its effects. This allowed the medicinal power to be fully unleashed and enabled immortals to advance into First-Tribulation Immortals. The later third-generation Longevity Stone was further purified. Although it eliminated the hidden dangers, it also reduced the stone’s effectiveness.”

At this point, Madam Wu also realized what he was getting at. “You’re saying this tree...”

Qi Xuansu continued to gaze at the black tree and said softly, “This tree is like the Longevity Stone and the Philosopher’s Stone. It uses humans as raw materials. In essence, it reconstructs the form of a human being.”

Qi Xuansu’s explanation was somewhat convoluted, but Madam Wu still understood. Given her experience and knowledge, it would have been difficult for her not to.

It was a rather euphemistic way of putting it. What he meant by reconstructing the form of a human was transforming a person into something else entirely, like turning a person into a stone through refinement. Yet the person’s consciousness would not be completely erased. It would still remain.

A person was fed into this tree, underwent a transformation process, and created a human-faced fruit. During this process, the consciousness of the human used as raw material was not completely erased. It might be shattered into fragments, but it still persisted and was later reassembled. However, its outward form had changed dramatically. It lost its human body and became a fruit. This was reconstruction.

In order to uncover the secrets behind the Longevity Stone Heart, Qi Xuansu had privately read a vast amount of material related to the Longevity Stone, so these terms came naturally to him.

This was the principle of conservation proposed by Westerners. “Miracles” neither appear from nothing nor vanish into nothing. They merely transform from one form into another. The same applied to this process of reconstruction. Whatever one wished to obtain, one had to pay an equivalent price for it. This was also why Qi Xuansu had associated the human-faced fruits before him with the Longevity Stone.

After hearing Qi Xuansu’s explanation, Madam Wu looked at the human-faced fruits again and suddenly understood. “They’re performing blood sacrifices as well.”

Before Qi Xuansu could ask, Madam Wu explained on her own, “Sacrifice is a privilege of Godly Immortals. It isn’t something just anyone is qualified to use. This isn’t some man-made rule, but an ability. In other words, only Godly Immortals can transform living souls and flesh into divine power without relying on external assistance. Others do not possess this capability, including Shamans who have yet to attain immortality and Immortals from other lineages.”

Qi Xuansu immediately understood. “If ordinary people also wish to obtain divine power like Godly Immortals, they have to take a detour and rely on external means. Such as the method before us. These human-faced fruits are miniature, simplified, downgraded, and less powerful versions of the Philosopher’s Stone. They don’t use corpses, but living humans to extract their souls.”

Madam Wu said nothing. She simply lifted one of the roots, revealing a person buried beneath it. His face was deathly pale and his body rigid. Although this “corpse” appeared no different from a dead body, Madam Wu could clearly sense that the person still possessed a tiny spark of life. It flickered weakly, seeming as though it could extinguish at any moment. Since this final trace of vitality remained, the Three Corpses had not escaped, nor had the soul returned to heaven and earth.

The roots of the black tree were able to draw out the living souls and flesh of these sacrifices and transform them into the human-faced fruits hanging from its branches.

That was why the human-faced fruits appeared so lifelike. In a sense, they were real human heads.

This reminded Qi Xuansu of a love poem.

We knead and shape a clod of clay into figures of you and me.

We smash and trash our two figures and add water to admix the debris

To again knead and shape fresh figures of you and me;

In my clay, then, you’ll abide, and in yours, there I’ll be.

These human-faced fruits were made in precisely that manner, by breaking the sacrifices apart, mixing them together, and then reshaping them into individual fruits. They were well integrated in the truest sense.

For a moment, even Qi Xuansu felt a chill run down his spine.

This also explained the actions of Utu and the old man. First, they inspected the raw materials, then examined the finished products. They finally selected some ripe fruits to take away. While waiting for the old man, Utu had even secretly eaten one. As one of the chosen servants, similar to a Spirit Guard, he naturally required divine power.

This raised a question. As one of the chosen servants, the deity to whom Utu had pledged allegiance should already provide him with divine power. Why, then, was he seeking divine power on his own?

Was Utu preparing for the future, or had he already been abandoned by the ancient god?

If it was the former, then Utu clearly had plans of his own, perhaps even intentions of betraying Ixchel. If it was the latter, then it suggested he might have harbored disloyal thoughts or committed some mistake, causing Ixchel to abandon him.

Qi Xuansu was also curious about how this tree managed to convert life force into divine power. Madam Wu had already explained that transforming living souls into divine power belonged to the domain of Godly Immortals. The Daoist Order had repeatedly challenged the domain of Immortals by creating manmade Banished Immortals, so it had long since torn away the veil of mystery surrounding Immortals. But that was the Daoist Order, backed by immense foundations and resources. How could a remote place like the Southern Continent possess such methods?

Qi Xuansu was not looking down upon the Southern Continent. It was simply the reality of the situation. If the Southern Continent truly possessed such foundations, it would not have been steamrolled by the Holy Court and forced to rely on Daoist aid to resist it.

Who had provided these techniques? Was it the Holy Court, or the Steam Evangelical Sect?

If so, that would mean both of those forces had also become involved.

If not, then could it be the new master that Utu might have acquired?

If Utu did have a new master, could it be a Fallen Apostle?

Just who was that old man conversing with Utu? He had spoken with Utu in the official dialect of the Central Plains, which suggested he was an Easterner. Was he a former member of the Daoist Order who had left its ranks? A humanoid insect skilled in disguise? Or perhaps an envoy of the Buddhist sect?

At the same time, Qi Xuansu did not forget to turn his attention back to Lin Bufan and reassess him.

Tantai Ying’s memory loss, combined with Qi Xuansu’s own experience of being betrayed by Qi Haoran, had made him sufficiently cautious. He no longer overlooked the people around him.

Qi Xuansu’s experiences taught him that whenever there was a world-shaking conspiracy, it was almost impossible for it to succeed without the cooperation, indulgence, or negligence of certain people within the Daoist Order itself. This was evident in the fall of the Yinglong Warship, the Monkey operation in Wuxing Mountain, the Fenglin rebellion, and even Chen Shuhua’s case.

Now, a conspiracy was faintly taking shape over the Southern Continent. As the most powerful force here, was it really possible that no one within the Western Daoist Order was involved and that no one had noticed anything?

In Qi Xuansu’s view, the Western Daoist Order’s response had been unusually sluggish, as though there were internal resistance hindering action.

The Daoist Order, which was thousands of kilometers away, had already sensed that something was wrong, yet the Western Daoist Order appeared completely unaware. That was the greatest point of suspicion.

That was why Qi Xuansu had rejected Lin Bufan’s proposal and decided to come here personally.

After a brief hesitation, Qi Xuansu knocked down a human-faced fruit from afar and held it in his hand for closer inspection.

No matter how he looked at it, it felt as though he were holding a severed human head.

Human heads, shadows, sacrifice. Qi Xuansu thought as his gaze fell upon the tree trunk before him once more.

The vague human face had vanished, leaving only a trunk that appeared to have been forcibly twisted and braided together by some external force.

A sudden thought struck Qi Xuansu. “Madam Wu, perhaps we’ve misunderstood. Is it possible that what we’re seeing isn’t a single conspiracy, but two conspiracies running in parallel? They are both entangled, concealing one another, and serving as each other’s support.”