Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Yang Kai walked up to the colossal divine tree.
Gou Chi and An Ling'er were secretly breaking into a sweat, unsure what he was planning.
Standing at the base of the divine tree, Yang Kai furrowed his brow slightly and slowly extended one hand, placing it against the massive trunk.
In that instant, his body shuddered.
The divine tree before him was practically a colossal treasure vault! Within it was stored a vast reservoir of yang-attribute energy—far more than he could fathom—flowing ceaselessly through the channels inside the trunk, surging and roaring like a raging river. If one listened carefully, one could even hear the faint murmur of flowing water.
Yang Kai's expression shifted. He couldn't help but wonder: if he could claim all of this energy for himself, just how far would his cultivation advance?
But he quickly shook his head inwardly. This was, after all, the divine tree of the Yang Race. With so many powerful experts watching, there was no way he could absorb its energy. If he did, the very next moment he'd be nothing but a corpse.
While Yang Kai was probing the tree, every single expert from the Yang Race had their divine sense locked firmly onto him, as though the slightest wrong move on his part would invite immediate and merciless destruction.
Yang Kai, however, played his part perfectly and only continued his examination.
After quite some time, the others began showing visible signs of impatience, because the fluctuations emanating from the divine tree remained just as chaotic and unstable as before—not the slightest change.
Yang Kai wasted no more time. Once again he shattered the seal within his sea of consciousness. His spiritual entity slipped free of his body and plunged into the trunk of the divine tree.
A world of brilliant golden light unfolded before him. His spiritual entity was like a swimmer drifting along a golden river, the waters composed entirely of condensed yang-attribute energy. Following the current upstream, Yang Kai ascended.
Before long, he arrived at a wondrous location.
This was somewhere deep inside the divine tree—its heart, strictly speaking.
Off in the distance, a peculiar mass of energy rested quietly within the golden river. It radiated the same scorching heat as the surrounding waters, yet there was a subtle difference that set it apart.
At this moment, rhythmic pulses of energy rippled outward from the mass, making it look for all the world like a powerful, beating heart.
Staring at it, Yang Kai's face filled with astonishment.
His suspicions were confirmed!
When the divine tree's energy had first wrapped around him earlier, he'd already sensed something. Now, witnessing this mass of energy with his own eyes, his theory was all but proven.
At the same time, he finally understood exactly what was causing the divine tree's instability and rampage.
The Yang Race's people had no idea what was really going on—they could only resort to blood sacrifices, offering the tree nourishment.
Yang Kai let out a soft hum, his gaze fixed unblinkingly on the mass of energy ahead.
It continued to pulse rhythmically, radiating an unmistakable signal of longing toward Yang Kai.
This energy was currently in a primordial, chaotic state. But Yang Kai was certain that given enough time and sufficient nourishment, it would eventually become a sentient entity.
In the vast world, life took countless strange forms.
The jade spirit he had encountered before was one form of life. The Bone Clan he had seen at the Ice Sect was another. The divine tree itself was a living being, but judging by its current state, it appeared to be transforming into an entirely new form of existence.
From unconscious to conscious!
This mass of energy at the heart of the tree was the convergence point of its will. Once the evolution was complete, this energy would become the seat of the divine tree's spiritual entity—its very soul.
Yang Kai was deeply shaken. He had never imagined that a mere tree could reach such a threshold.
The divine tree's instability and rampages were not caused by any malfunction, nor was it nearing the end of its lifespan. Rather, the evolution required an enormous amount of energy and nourishment.
Rooted in one place, it could not draw in enough nutrients. Whenever it grew hungry, it would unconsciously erupt in a frenzy. That was why, after a blood sacrifice, the tree would calm down for a while.
Fed and satisfied, it naturally settled.
But this was merely a stopgap. The next time it grew hungry, the Yang Race would once again find themselves at their wit's end.
The energy required for evolution was staggering. And judging by the frequency of its rampages, Yang Kai suspected it wasn't far from completing its transformation.
Running through all of this in his mind, Yang Kai quickly pieced together the situation before him. The only thing he didn't know was how much the Yang Race understood about it.
In theory, all they had to do was send their spiritual entities in here for a look and they would have figured it out too. But judging by their helplessness and anxiety whenever the tree rampaged, it seemed they were largely in the dark.
Yang Kai found himself puzzled, a question gnawing at him.
He'd need to ask for the full story once he got out!
With that thought, he promptly withdrew his spiritual entity, returning it to his body.
No sooner had he opened his eyes than the voices of the Yang Race's experts filled his ears—demands and angry shouts. They had clearly grown fed up with waiting and were on the verge of dragging Gou Chi and his companions to the altar for a blood sacrifice.
"What's the rush?" Yang Kai cast them a sidelong glance and said coolly, "I'm starting to get somewhere. Just be patient a little longer!"