Chapter 485: Facing a Soul Forest

Ig'Zal had bitten off more than he could chew, and it had begun with getting ahead of himself and thinking he could eat away at the great Zephyrine's mind. While he had caught her in a trance by a stroke of luck, her mental fortitude eclipsed his Qi pool, meaning the moment he ran out of psychic Qi, those memories of him he had overwritten would return.

While he might have been able to escape before Zephyrine regained her senses, he would be hunted down and never be able to return to the spiritual spring—such was the punishment for defying Zephyrine, the guardian of the spring.

That had seemed like the worst-case scenario until the arrival of Moros. While Ig'Zal's psychic Qi was potent, it limited his battlefields to mental realms. He didn't have many answers to the onslaught of star beams and hellfire that had been directed at him out of nowhere.

Since Zephyrine was already in a trance state, he made an impulsive move. He discarded his physical body, and as nothing but a soul, he forced his way into Zephyrine's dream realm. However, unlike a parasite that would feed off its host, Ig'Zal had to rapidly burn his own Qi to avoid being crushed within Zephyrine's dream realm. Against a weaker opponent, he might have been able to stay hidden for years or even take over their mind. But with Zephyrine? Not a chance. He was in a race against time to find a solution, with the most pressing matter being the need for a new body. Souls couldn't exist for long outside of a vessel, as the heavens would shepherd lost souls to the afterlife for reincarnation.

His only option seemed to be Astralis, which was less than ideal. Despite his arrogant speech of knowing the dragon had overcome his mind control, the dragon's ego was far from tameable and too strong to overpower. At best, he could hide away in the recesses of Astralis's mind for a few weeks and hope Zephyrine wouldn't kill Astralis to get to him.

That's when he appeared—the demonic tree in Astralis's mind. It seemed perfect. By estimations, this demonic tree's soul was in the mid-stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, and spirit trees weren't known for having strong egos.

Ig'Zal had made up his mind. This demonic spirit tree would be his next vessel. Directing Astralis to break through the shields on that strange airship the tree seemed to be based on, he used Zephyrine to get in front of the tree. Planting her head on the bark, he activated his domain one last time and targeted the fragment of a soul he felt nestled within the black bark of this tree.

The first hint that something was off about this tree was the absurd level of mental defense it possessed for a Nascent Soul Realm. The moment his domain activated, a strange foreign force he had never encountered before surged forward and tried to push him back. He managed to press through it, but not without a fight.

Despite feeling something off about it, Ig'Zal had no choice but to press forward. If he were to try to retreat into Zephyrine's dream realm, he would be crushed in seconds. He had to make the leap now or face the undazed Zephyrine's wrath.

Reality faded away, and his mental form, which was an enormous lunar moth with wings seemingly spreading out to infinity and two massive moons for eyes, stared down at the soul fragment floating in the void.

Ig'Zal let out a sigh of relief. Here in the mental void, he was king.

Reaching forward with one of his feelers, he placed it onto the fragment.

"You're going to become my new home," Ig'Zal said, his tranquil voice echoing through the void. "Are you ready, little tree?"

[You have been granted access to the ethereal root network]

Golden letters manifested above the fragment—something Ig'Zal had never seen before in the thousands of times he had entered someone else's consciousness.

"What?"

[Please enjoy your stay]

The golden words seemed to be taunting him, and Ig'Zal suddenly felt an intense pulling sensation on the feeler he had planted on the fragment. He tried to reel it back, but it was as if his feeler was stuck to the fragment with glue.

"What is happening?" he said, his voice slowly filling with panic. "Who are you?"

He didn't receive an answer; the golden words hanging above the fragment simply disintegrated into dust, fading away into the void. A semi-translucent tree root sprang out of the back of the fragment, and like a curtain being pulled back, more of it became visible as it traveled out into the void. Ig'Zal watched intently—clearly the tree wanted to show him something.

The ghostly root continued to extend into the distance for a long time until suddenly, a demonic tree, much like the one he had seen in Astralis's mind, appeared. It was linked by the ethereal root, yet it was smaller than the one he had seen before, and it seemed to radiate the presence of a Star Core Realm. Despite the great distance between himself and this tree, he could feel an aura of hatred toward him from it, almost like bloodlust.

Since when did trees have bloodlust?

He wondered.

It was pretty intense, but he could brush it off as the demonic tree was only in the Star Core Realm. However, the ethereal root continued sprawling out into the distance, revealing another demonic tree, and another, and another...

Soon, he was facing down thousands of demonic trees—all in the Star Core Realm and directing their bloodlust toward him, with more appearing by the second.

Ig'Zal was a Monarch Realm being with a focus on mental warfare, yet this was too much for him. He could crush the mind of one Star Core Realm monster like it was nothing, maybe even a hundred at a time. But when faced with the intense bloodlust of thousands being fed right into his own consciousness? It was too much.

He began to scream—a soul-wrenching cry of pure agony. He wanted out; he wanted to flee. Thrashing around in a fit of madness, he tore off his own feeler, disconnecting himself from the fragment.

Flapping his great wings, he retreated into the void, as far from these trees as he could get. His breathing was erratic, his mind a mess, and his soul on the brink of collapse. That had been an even more crushing experience than infiltrating Zephyrine's dream realm.

Just whose mind had he dared to invade? Why was this fragment linked to a whole forest of demonic trees? Had he guessed the strength of this foe incorrectly? Was Astralis somehow the safer choice?

"I need to leave..." he cursed under his breath. Astralis should still be in a feral state. It would be difficult, and he might even need to burn some lifeforce, but he should be able to get that brute under some control if he left now.

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"You want to leave already?" A voice boomed through the void, rustling the leaves of every tree. "I don't think that's going to happen."

Ig'Zal looked in the direction of the voice, and in the far distance, on what seemed to be a mountain high above all the other demonic trees, was a tree that eclipsed all others. Not only was its size absolutely titanic, with massive branches curving up to form a kingly crown, but it was its immense presence that set it apart from the rest, as if it were projecting the weight of a world with every word.

He stayed there, feeling compelled to listen despite wanting to do nothing but flee.

The void suddenly took on a faint, grayish hue, like a fog, as nine moons stacked upon one another manifested one by one behind the demonic spirit tree. All of them were a pale white, except for the one backlighting the demonic tree, which radiated whispers of desolation and harmony dao.

Ig'Zal was stunned. As a lunar moth, he had an affinity for the moon. He knew that they represented many things, with their most significant being the fact that they were mirrors to reality. So, typically, wherever there was a moon, it watched over a plane of creation.

He looked up.

There were nine moons, representing the nine layers of creation. Only one was filled in, and it had the forces of destruction and creation competing on its surface.

It was as if he were gazing upon the beginnings of a new heavenly realm.

A crack reverberated through the void, and the great tree's trunk split open, revealing an all-knowing eye that seemed to pierce his soul with its gaze.

"You seem lost, Ig'Zal," the tree said. Every word carried the feeling that the direction of the conversation was already predetermined. "Driven by greed and the desire for control, you have ended up here. Before me. Now tell me, what is it you desire?"

What did he desire? That was the type of question asked by a being that stood so far above you that they didn't even see you as a threat. In fact, they deemed keeping you alive a charitable action. Ig'Zal shivered as he felt like he was talking to a true god. He couldn't believe he had dared to invade the mind of a god and was paying the price for it. What was his desire? He only had one in this moment.

"I want to live," he said, and hesitated before adding, "in your new world."

Stroke the god's ego, that was his goal.

"Selfish till the end," the tree said. There was a pause as it looked at him more deeply. "But a request I can grant."

"Really—" Ig'Zal said with surprise, but that surprise turned to horror as he felt an intense pull across his entire body toward the fragment.

"Yes, I will grant your desire. Just not in the way you were expecting," the tree said, seemingly amused. "You want to live in my new world? That's a request I'm more than happy to grant."

Ig'Zal resisted with all his might. His infinitely spreading wings flapped violently against the pull, yet no matter what he did, he was drawn closer. Pressed up against the fragment, he screamed as he slowly phased into it as if it were made of dense slime. Yet it felt like he was stepping into liquid fire as it burned his soul.

No, this isn't fire. Ig'Zal thought as he analyzed his surroundings. It's pure desolation Qi.

As he was being brought to ruin, he was dragged deeper, and then he exited the back of the fragment. A moment of hope bloomed in his mind. Had he escaped that torture? Was he being set free? Unfortunately, what awaited him was far worse.

Trapped inside the ethereal root, he was pulled toward the bloodthirsty forest in the distance. The immense pressure inside the root, combined with the desolation Qi breaking down his soul, caused him to feel his sense of self and consciousness slowly fading to black.

"No!" Ig'Zal screamed, "I refuse to die like this!" He thrashed around and fought with everything he had. Yet the soul pressure in here was somehow comparable to his Monarch Realm cultivation, and he had no strength left to fight.

"Who said anything about dying?" the amused tree's voice tickled his mind. "You're just being... recycled."

"Recycled?!" Ig'Zal screeched with rage. "What does that even mean?!"

"I'm going to be putting your psychic Qi to better use. You see, my hungry offspring here could benefit from a boost to their intelligence by feasting on your Qi." The tree paused. "But don't worry, little moth, I won't go back on my word. You will live through this ordeal."

Ig'Zal didn't believe that for a moment as his already elongated soul, being crushed and stretched to its limit in the ethereal root, encountered the first demonic tree. A small amount of his Qi was siphoned off and absorbed by the tree. He screamed in pain as his twin souls were pulled from one another and were then ripped apart and dragged down the roots in different directions. He managed to hold on to a sliver of consciousness for a few minutes as he was slowly absorbed by the forest of demonic trees.

How had this happened? He couldn't believe this turn of events. As his consciousness faded, he couldn't help but regret the decisions that led him here. He had it all, a Monarch Realm that had lived for an eon and risen to the upper echelons of not only the monsters but of all beings on the 9th layer.

Yet this is where his story ended? In the darkness of a godly tree's mind, being used as fertilizer for a forest of hungry trees? While his life flashed before him, he tried and failed to fight against it.

Eventually, his sense of self faded into the darkness.

That was until he opened his eyes once more.

***

Ashlock watched as a ghostly moth was born from a cocoon in the Eternal Grove of Rebirth. As promised, he decided to give Ig'Zal a new life. Instead of letting what little was left of his soul be returned to the heavens, he redirected it to his own afterlife.

Since ninety-nine percent of his soul had been devoured by his offspring, instantly raising many of them by in cultivation and clearly improving their intelligence, Ig'Zal wouldn't remember much of his past life—if anything at all. He was now a simple lunar month the size of a human hand, fated to fly through the Eternal Grove of Rebirth forever. Perhaps at the back of the moth's mind, there would be this feeling that he used to be something more, something greater.

But they would never be anything more than a whisper.

The old Ig'Zal was gone, and Ashlock had won. Not quite in the way he had anticipated, but a victory nonetheless.

[Your psychic dao comprehension has significantly increased]

His system suddenly informed him of something unexpected.

"Oh, that's nice," Ashlock mused. If he empowered his Abyssal Whispers with psychic dao in the future, there was no doubt he could overwhelm the minds of more powerful enemies.

[While no sacrificial credits were gained as Ig'Zal's Qi was distributed to your offspring, the conditions have been met to automatically upgrade {Soul Fortress [A]} to the next grade]

[Upgraded {Soul Fortress [A]} -> {Soul Forest [S]}]

[Soul Forest: Mental and soul-based attacks can be redistributed through your ethereal root network to your offspring. You will also be alerted if any mental or soul-based attacks are used against your offspring. Furthermore, any failed attacks against your soul can be reflected back to the attacker with the weight of your whole soul forest]

Ashlock could see why the upgrade had been essentially free. Besides the powerful-sounding reflect effect mentioned at the end, the skill essentially did something that he had managed to do on his own.

"Glad it became a skill, though. As a passive, it can be used by my offspring," Ashlock mused. "Ever since the Serena Blacktide incident, I've been wary of harm coming to my offspring, and I suppose I never thought about it before, but if Ig'Zal had encountered one of my offspring before I got this strong and took it over, he could have reached me through the ethereal root network."

Thankfully, mind controllers shouldn't be much of a threat moving forward. If Ig'Zal held up that terribly when facing him and his offspring, he couldn't imagine anyone who wasn't multiple realms above him surviving now that he had an S-grade skill backing him up.

Ashlock's vision blurred as he moved away from the Grove of Eternal Rebirth and went to find Stella. She was sitting on the bench under his canopy, staring at the floor with a distant gaze.

"Stella," he said, snapping her out of her stupor. "We won."

"Ig'Zal is dead?" she quickly asked the sky.

"As far as anyone but the heavens are concerned? Yes. He's dead as can be," Ashlock replied as he moved his Qi to tear open a desolation rift leading to Moros.

Stella slowly stood up and eyed the rift. "What's this for?"

"With Ig'Zal dead, someone very powerful is about to break out of their daze, and I want you to be there to speak with her," Ashlock chuckled. "Cheer up, Stella. You're about to meet your older sister."