“Buzz!” At this time, branches from the tree of life swooped down. The unbelievable happened; these branches drilled into the trunk of the tiny, withered tree.
Keep in mind that these branches were already around the size of the small tree. However, the withered tree was like an unfathomable bottomless pit. It could accommodate even more branches entering its body.
“Buzz!” The cauldron of life poured out an endless fire that engulfed the entire tree.
People would be suspicious that just one spark alone would be enough to turn this dried up tree into ashes. However, it didn't catch on fire and remained completely unharmed.
“Zzz—” With the fire of life engulfing the tree, the Heavenly Dao's Primal Chapter turned into laws that descended onto its body. Metallic bursts came about as they imprinted themselves on the tree in the form of mysterious runes.
“Boom! Boom!” Electric arcs flashed around the pillar of life. Each of them entangled around a thick rune made from profound laws. These arcs from the Ancient Void Rune jumped into the pond. One could hear the sputtering of currents as the arcs and their runes drilled into the ground before disappearing from sight.
“Buzz—” A series of sounds came about as if something was devouring the pond water. This indeed seemed to be the case as the water in the pond began to disappear. It was all gone in just a short period of time.
Xiaoxiao watched this magical scene and had no idea as to what Li Qiye intended to do.
“Crackle!” After sucking up all the water in the pond, the tree began to absorb the lightning from the pillar itself, evident by the current flashing through its trunk.
“Come out now!” Li Qiye shouted and unleashed all of his blood energy. At this moment, he looked just like a mighty godfiend.
“Whoosh!” The tree seemed to be completely revitalized at this moment. It was clearly still a tiny tree, yet it emitted a strange and indescribable feeling. One would think that it was covered with green leaves and long branches overflowing with life.
The Ancient Void Rune, Heavenly Dao's Primal Chapter, and Life Origination appeared at the same time on this tiny tree. A sound of something peeling appeared as a new leaf grew.
This green leaf didn't look extraordinary at all, but its emergence flooded the world with life.
Buds seemed to be shooting out of the earth and grew at an astonishing pace to bear fruits and flowers. Everything was verdant and alive at this particular juncture. It was quite unimaginable for a little leaf to have this much life.
Xiaoxiao was immersed in this newfound vigor as if bathing in an ocean of life. She took a deep breath and understood that this little leaf was a peerless treasure despite not knowing what it was.
The branches from the tree of life that had drilled into the withered tree finally came out. They gently held this single leaf in a very natural and gentle manner. It was transplanted into the tree of life as if this was its mother in the first place.
“Splash!” The water of life returned to the spring of life, as did the lightning to the pillar and the fire to the cauldron. The Ancient Void Rune, Heavenly Dao's Primal Chapter, and Life Origination also returned to their respective containers.
Li Qiye revealed a satisfying smile after seeing this green leaf hanging on the tree of life. After so many years of research, his efforts didn't go to waste despite taking this long for it to appear. He had finally obtained what he needed.
“Epoch's Leaf, it is finally mine now.” Li Qiye grinned. Hard work has finally paid off! One must sow before reaping in the harvest!
The void rune, primal chapter, Life Origination, and Epoch's Leaf had always been mysterious with few records. Trying to find any mention of them in writings was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
In fact, across the generations, he had only found some jade paintings that related to these items. Moreover, the few phrases on them were incomplete. Even their names had never appeared in the same place before. Li Qiye was probably the first time that someone had been in possession of all four at the same time.
In a distant era, the progenitor of the Blood Race had obtained the primal chapter, but even he didn't realize the existence of the other three.
While looking at the leaf hanging on his tree of life, Li Qiye murmured: “The four images of the fate palace… once I understand their mysteries and combine them with these four secret items, who in this world will be able to grasp the ultimate profundities better than me?”
He looked towards the horizon through the nine firmaments with a thick smile: “I will return to the end of the world one day and slay whatever ultimate force is there! No one will be able to stop me in this generation!”
Xiaoxiao stared at him in a daze. Before she knew it, he had changed into a completely different person. Even though there was no aggression or divinity, he stood there unchanging through time as if he was the eternal master of fate!
Eventually, he withdrew his gaze while feeling quite good and told Xiaoxiao: “Let's go, I'll take you to somewhere else.”
She calmed down and quickly went next to him. Before leaving this space, she couldn't help but look at the twelve golden palaces here several more times.
From start to finish, he didn't bother looking at the palaces; it was as if they were meaningless to him.
She couldn't help but ask: “What exactly are these palaces?”
“You tell me.” He noticed her inquisitive mind and stopped while smiling.
“Let me see.” She didn't give up and rushed forward in front of the palace then carefully observed it. She even knocked on the walls.
After a long time, she came back to his side and said: “These twelve golden palaces here, I feel as if they are the twelve fate palaces judging by their appearances and auras.”
She found this quite surprising. If these were actually fate palaces, what was the meaning behind all of this?
“You are very gifted.” He maintained his smile and didn't answer her.
“Stop praising me, I already know that I'm gifted!” She didn't like his answer and unhappily gave him the dirty eye.
“Off we go to the place you have been wanting to visit.” Li Qiye acted as if he didn't notice her dissatisfaction.
She thought about something and blurted: “Where? The place you mentioned before? Is it really here?”
Back at the Divine Tree Ridge, Terminus had talked about a location but was interrupted by Li Qiye right away. She thought that there would still be some time before he took her there, so she was a bit unprepared for this.
“Just what is my blood?” She felt a bit nervous. All along, she wanted to find out more about her bloodline, but this was a bit too sudden.
He noticed her flustered appearance and smiled while gently patting her soft hair: “Don't worry, it will be fine with me around. You just need to go with the flow.”
His words were a medicine that set her mind at ease. Her slightly panicking mind quickly went away.