Necropolis Immortal

If Lu Yun didn’t have the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements and was unable to summon connate wood energy, then the leaf of the Builder Tree would only hold overwhelming attraction for the Hongmeng Tree and no danger.

It was similar to Long Aotian in egg form and Ancestor Bi Chen.

But since the Builder Tree leaf had been roused with the power of wood from the Hongmeng Tree, Lu Yun took advantage of that to absorb connate wood energy and fully activate the leaf.

The Builder Tree, also known as the Tree of the World, was the king of trees and all of their ultimate banes. If it was to grow, it required swift infusion of vast sums of wood energy.

While Lu Yun could summon connate wood energy, he summoned too little each time. He could rouse the Builder Tree, but nothing else. This time, the Hongmeng Tree would supply the rest of the energy.

The leaf materialized in Lu Yun’s dantian and coalesced into a jade-green seed. It burst with scintillating light and furiously absorbed energy from the Hongmeng Tree like it was a vampire. The young man was undoubtedly receiving great benefits at the same time.

Boom!

A massive explosion went off in his mind as he spontaneously broke through to latter golden core and continued growing.

The Hongmeng Tree was at least a peerless immortal, possibly even dao immortal. Its wood energy was the equivalent of immortal force. When this level of energy streamed into Lu Yun, it was difficult for him not to ascend in cultivation.

“Mercy, Your Majesty, mercy!” The Hongmeng Tree’s voice grew smaller until it finally fell silent.

Crack!

A sharp snap sounded from the jade-green seed as a tender shoot unfurled from it.

Boom!

Lu Yun felt his body tremble when the shoot appeared and a marvelous enlightenment floated through his being.

“The strength of wood… is this the strength of wood? Its power, its rules, its world…” He gently probed the eastern void and grasped a ball of jade-green energy. It condensed into a physical object—connate yi wood!

He dismissed it as motes of light with a snap of his fingers.

“What a pity that I need to consume Hongmeng qi if I want to keep connate yi wood around.” Though he spoke with regret, happiness tinged his voice. He’d comprehended the great dao of wood the moment the Builder Tree germinated. With the aid of Hongmeng qi, he managed to retain connate yi wood in his body.

His knowledge of the wood element had reached incredible heights. The sprouted seed hovered silently in his dantian and took root in the void, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the sword pagoda and golden core of great dao.

Humm!

He shook as his golden core spontaneously split open, leaving behind a baby the size of a fist! The golden baby sat cross-legged over the gray dao character and looked the exact same as Lu Yun. It was his nascent soul.

Lu Yun blinked with astonishment—he’d really benefited from disaster! Not only had he comprehended a hint of wood dao, but he’d also formed his nascent soul and broken through to the next level.

He’d stepped out of mid golden core straight into initial nascent soul. The sliver of his new understanding was also one of the great daos beneath heavenly dao.

But a nascent soul…

Lu Yun paused briefly, somehow certain that in his sealed memories, he’d never formed a nascent soul in the immortal dao he knew.

Boom!

Another explosion sounded in his ears as he stayed immersed in his new cultivation. Golden light flashed out of his nascent soul and entered his mind.

Heavenly dao combat art—Size Manipulation!

It was a combat art that allowed him to change his size as he wished. He could tower at thousands of meters and hold up the skies or be the smallest particle of dust that the eye could not discern. While some immortals could change their size, most of that was accomplished through manipulating their projected image or illusion. No one could truly change their physical body.

Size Manipulation, however, was perfect for concealment. He could become a particle of dust that evaded even the consciousness. This would be how he shook off his pursuers!

“Size Manipulation… I think I knew this combat art before!” Lu Yun’s lips curved upward.

He breathed with ease upon seeing the quiet Hongmeng Tree, then sat down with his eyes closed to carefully assess his new cultivation level. The goodwill stored in the Seal of the Multitude had been fully exhausted and he’d just reached initial nascent soul. It wasn’t time to forcefully raise his cultivation through goodwill.

“Hmm?” Lu Yun blinked, finding a change in his spirit root. Previously of pure fire, it was now a dual attribute of wood and fire. “Um…”

His spirit root had been an empyrean spirit root, but it’d still been of fire. It’d somehow shifted io dual elements now!

The Nine Chapters of Dao didn’t care what attributes Lu Yun’s spirit root was. It was a method of no affinity and worked with everything. Thus, his cultivation wasn’t affected by the change. All the same, it was quite a surprise.

“Should I collect sacred treasures of all five elements and create a perfectly elementally balanced spirit root?” Lu Yun smacked his lips and cackled, “The Hongmeng Tree is ranked sixth among the ten heavenly treasures and it’s right in front of me!”

The Hongmeng Tree, or more accurately speaking, its Hongmeng Spirit Fruit, were one of the ten heavenly treasures. He’d never seen it during his time as the High Lord of the Northern Sky, so to think he’d encounter one almost ten million years old in a world of cultivation!

He pushed off his feet and easily scaled the tree, darting up its enormous tree trunk. He saw jade-green branches and leaves roughly fifteen minutes later.

“There are indeed Hongmeng Spirit Fruit!” Lu Yun beamed, seeing golden fruit the size of a fist among the leaves.

Hongmeng Spirit Fruit was listed as number six as they were filled with profound mysteries and could be refined into the Overlord Divine Pill. This pill helped dao immortals comprehend the next level and break through to immortal overlords.

“Thank goodness it’s asleep now. When it was conscious, it wouldn’t divert much of its essence to the fruit. Now, however, most of its true origin naturally goes to the budded fruit.” Lu Yun grinned happily and moved swiftly among the branches, picking the fruit.

After thirteen days and the Eye of Nullification confirming that there was no more fruit did he stop. He was able to pinpoint the fruit so accurately because he’d coalesced his nascent soul and comprehended a hint of wood dao. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have plucked all of the fruit even if he’d been given a year for the task. The tree was ten kilometers wide and most of its branches hidden in unknown voids. The physical eye could not see them and the mind could not penetrate them.

Due to the Builder Tree germinating and comprehending a hint of wood dao, Lu Yun could sense the entire tree and use connate wood origin to direct all of the Hongmeng Spirit Fruit to him.

“Three hundred and sixty-five…” He shook his head. There were only three hundred and sixty-five fruit on such a massive Hongmeng Tree!

“Forget it, I didn’t see a single one during my reincarnation in the world of immortals, so I should be satisfied with suddenly owning three hundred and sixty-five!

“They contain the meaning of an immortal overlord and can help dao immortals break through. They are also useful for immortal overlords. If a cultivator’s body possesses the meaning of an immortal overlord…

“I’m going to study these fruit first and see if I can use other spirit herbs to replicate its properties.” Lu Yun smiled with anticipation.

He returned to the bottom of the tree and looked around, determining that there was nothing else of value. He knocked on the tree’s ponderous trunk. “I say, old tree, I’ll return hatred with kindness this time and show you mercy. Remember this if you have a chance to wake up.”

The tree had lost half of its core essence and sunk into a deep sleep. Who knew when it’d recover? Lu Yun would have already grown into his strength then and wouldn’t need to fear it.

The truth of the matter was, he wasn’t able to eliminate this tree at the roots even if he wanted to. Thus, Lu Yun raised sword light and left the area.

Although the formation of illusion was still present, it couldn’t stop Lu Yun and his Eye of Nullification. He quickly left the zone off limits to immortals.

A purple and black figure flashed by after he departed. Wuheng and Zi Chen appeared in front of the tree.

“How did the kid send the old guy into deep slumber?” Zi Chen gaped at the tree.

“No idea,” Wuheng shook his head with a rueful chuckle. “But he sure as heck doesn’t need any tempering from me. It’s not tempering for him at all.”

“Then what is it?” Zi Chen blinked.

“Playing house.”