Chapter 423: World Tree and the Fairies
= Present =
East of Siren City, where Yuan Shaoqing had once camped, Miaomiao in wood dragon form had been sitting in front of the world tree.
"Yare, Yare, you're quite needy for a dead dragon."
Miaomiao mumbled to himself after he had injected Holy Chloro Element Qi into the giant seed and allowed it to grow freely. However, the seed turned into a world tree and began absorbing the Life Essence Qi in the air.
After the tree shot up several kilometers to the sky, Miaomiao could sense faint Chloro Element Qi from the tree while the tree leaves emitted strong Holy Light Element Qi.
The two elements mixed together and blended with the Life Essence Qi. Somehow, the three types of energy were in harmony, and they accelerated the growth rate of nearby plants, herbs, and wooden corns.
Many ents walked closer to Cernun Tree and knelt to the ground. They kissed Cernun's massive roots and kowtowed in respect.
"This tree... is the embodiment of Life! We swear with our dao heart to protect it with our lives!!"
A dozen ents picked an empty area around Cernun Tree and settled their roots into the ground. Then, they turned into stone trees as if they had transformed into statues.
More tree monsters carefully picked an available spot and planted their roots into the soil. By the time Miaomiao realized it, the ents had created their racial array, which could only be completed with their bodies.
s
Surrounding Cernun Tree were 200 elderly ents. They linked together with their roots and branches, creating a pseudo wall around Cernun Tree.
Leaked Qi and Essence from Cernun was trapped inside the wall formation of the ents. These monsters absorbed them and released wood element Qi as if they filtered out advanced element Qi from the world tree to protect the weaker plants.
As a result, the air near the world tree became dense in Chloro Element Qi. A few minutes, grey gas covered the base of the tree as the roots of Cernun and the ents cleansed the impurity in the soil.
Various colorful flowers bloomed, fireflies were born, and many types of grass in the area gain sentience. Some of them even transformed into tiny baby fairies, and they were instinctively attracted to the flowers and the world tree.
Just like that, everything around Cernun became full of lives like a fantasy world that he had always dreamt of.
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"
Miaomiao had the urge to sing Bohemian Rhapsody as he was stunned by nature's beauty. He felt like elves from fantasy novels would have loved to live here.
[Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality.]
Dion also sang it as she had Miaomiao's memory. She couldn't resist.
"Dion, don't start! Once you do, I won't be able to stop myself."
[Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and seeeeeee,]
"..."
[I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,]
"Because I'm easy come, easy go!"
[Little high, little low!]
In the end, Miaomiao and Dion ended up singing the entire song.
One could not simply stop singing the song when someone had started it!
...
After having a duo concert in his mind with Dion, Miaomiao was refreshed as if he had relieved his pending stress. When he came to his senses, a hundred fireflies and young fairies had been watching him.
Despite his dragon appearance, these small beings weren't intimidated by his presence.
[What kind of song is that?]
[Can you sing it again?]
[That song has some kind of meaning behind it?]
[What's that song's name?]
These little innocent beings resembled Cernun when he was a baby, curious, pure, and earnest. They could also communicate to his mind and read his mind at the same time.
Miaomiao snickered as he liked these little things. Without vocally saying anything, he talked to them in his mind.
'It was called Bohemian Rhapsody.'
[Bohemian Rhapsody?]
[Sounds complicated.]
[What does that mean?]
The tiny glowing fairies orbited around Miaomiao's dragon head. A few of them even sat on his horn.
'That song might be too dark for all of you. How about this? I'll sing something catchy and funny'
[Oh? What song?]
Miaomiao coughed as he began adjusting his tune. Then, he sang the COCONUT SONG.
...
[THE COCONUT-NUT IS A GIANT NUT!]
[IF YOU EAT TOO MUCH, YOU GET REALLY FAT!!]
These fairies learned quickly. After singing the entire song just once, they could already mimic the tune, the Filipino accent, and the notes.
Even though Miaomiao wasn't that good at singing, these fairies could correct the notes right away as if they were born with an autotune.
Surprisingly, they were gifted at singing. Their high-pitched voices might be good for difficult and sophisticated songs that Miaomiao knew.
He had an inspiration. Since this world was dull, dark, and corrupted to the core, he wanted to add life and color to Siren City and its surroundings. However, the task might be time-consuming.
Miaomiao sent his telepathic voice to all yin slaves.
'Handle the aftermath for me. I'm busy adjusting the forest and the home of the ents.'
After giving the yin slave his order, he turned to the fairies and smiled at them.
'I know more songs. Wanna hear another one?'
[Yes!]
[Yes, please!]
'Okay. This song also comes with a backstory. You see, once upon a time...'
The little fairies gathered around Miaomiao to listen to his fairy tales. Miaomiao hadn't realized that over 20,000 newborn fairies had already gathered around him to listen to his story as well.
One hour later, Miaomiao finished the story and sang an imperfect version of Let It Go.
He was ashamed that his internal voice was not suited for the song, but the fairies seemed to catch the right tunes and notes right away.
Just like that, everything around him turned into a Disney World. Small fairies began singing in unison and danced in the sky.
Miaomiao sat there and closed his eyes, enjoying the voices of the little creatures.
Ding
[Your heart and mind have been cleansed by the purity of Wood Fairies.]
[Your Holy Light Element has been strengthened.]
[Your soul dantian has been strengthened.]
[Your dantian capacity has been expanded.]
[Your Luck Point has increased by 10.]
The notification messages ruined his mood. He wanted a moment of peace, not the report of his cultivation progress.
Ding
[Your peace-loving nature lightens Macho Joshua's mood.]
[OG-Buddha's heart leaps in joy after witnessing your good deeds.]
[The Monkey King enjoys the songs.]
[Many Orthodox and Pacifist Immortals are delighted to see a new world tree and pure creatures.]
[Anonymous Devil laughs at you for behaving like a Disney Princess.]
[2,500 1st-grade soul stones have been donated and added to the unpaid balance.]
"Oh, well. Since they want me to be rich, I don't mind."
Miaomiao faintly smiled before he excused himself from the massive army of fairies.
The eyes of these little glowing creatures were brim in tears. They gazed at Miaomiao with puppy eyes.
[Will you come back to sing for us again?]
[Will you tell us another story?]
The innocent look of the fairies almost broke Miaomiao's heart. He bitterly smiled, "I'll be back when I'm free. Stay safe, and don't wander anywhere off on your own. Ask the kind ents to protect you when you need to go somewhere, okay?"
The little babies sobbed and obediently returned to the flower field and the world tree.
Miaomiao gazed at the fairies with a heavy heart. He felt bad, but he had to return home.
Only then, Miaomiao realized that something inside him had changed a lot after he had experienced a lifetime of Cernun.
He became softer.
He grew kinder.
He somewhat loved nature and trees now.
Miaomiao glanced at the tall tree before him and sighed.
'Dammit, Cernun. Now, I'm becoming a softie like you. Well, I don't hate it, though.'
The new feeling was calmer, soother, and easier to cope with than when he was an MMA fighter, who only desired violence.
While Miaomiao basked the Holy Light of Cernun's tree leaves, the cracked Heavenly Fate Core of Lu Fengxian slowly regained power.
Miaomiao was unaware of the changes, but it was 50% repaired! Moreover, his dragon wings glowed in silver light and dark light as if a heavenly fishes of yin yang was hiding behind him.
...
After Miaomiao returned to Siren City, the dryads and many creatures began settling down in the inner perimeter of the forest. All of them tried to get as closer to the world tree as possible as the Holy Light from the top of the tree continuously increased their vigor.
The trees, plants, herbs, and wildflowers continued to expand. Soon, it reached the mountain foot of Mount Hua and the arena platform in front of Siren City.
Fortunately, the greeneries stopped expanding after they had occupied 100 square kilometers with the world tree at its center.
However, the sudden appearance of the world tree alarmed everyone from the other cities.
At the top of Mount Hua Sect, Ling Cao had been observing the world tree from a distance.
Ling Cao had survived the onslaught of the Oni Army from the north and managed to retreat home unharmed. However, some of his colleagues fell in the fight against an 8th-stage Oni.
Mount Hua Sect had lost so many cultivators, elders, and disciples from the conflict against Siren City. As such, Ling Cao regretted picking a fight with the demon city.
Still, it didn't change his goal, grudge, and ambition.
'Demon spawns of Siren City, you damn cowards! You and that deity must have been working together! You tricked us to retreat, and you ambushed us!'
Ling Cao misunderstood that the Oni Army of Wei Cao and Miaomiao were on the same side. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he stared at the world tree.
Blinded by grudge and hatred, Ling Cao made an erratic decision. He called all remaining sect members and disciples to gather.
500 outer disciples gathered as requested by Ling Cao. However, all surviving inner disciples and elders had already left them.
One of the disciples was Ling Tianlong's sweetheart. She was also there at the gathering.
Ling Cao immediately got to the point, "We'll migrate from this mountain."
The disciples panicked, "Senior, are we under attack?"
Ling Cao shook his head, "Not yet, but we'll be under siege soon if we stay idly on this mountain. We have to leave, now!"
"!!!"
"Don't panic. Go back and pack your belongings. We'll leave this place through our private plane."
"Private plane, sir?"
s
Ling Cao referred to the sect's precious secret realm, which served as a training ground for inner disciples and elders.
Unlike the dryad plane, there were multiples gates and portals, which connected to other places. Ling Cao wanted to use the plane as a secret passage to move his force out of the mountain.
"Yes, we'll leave through the plane."
"Then, where will we go?"
Ling Cao gazed at the southeast region, where Sun Wentai used to live, "Jianye City!"