80: Living towards death
Consciousness floated in boundless pain and darkness, as if falling into a cold deep sea, sinking endlessly.
The toxicity of the bone-eroding demon flower was like thousands of ice needles, piercing every inch of the tree body, stripping away vitality; while the Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense was like an invisible shackle, tightly imprisoning the remaining power, making even a self-destructive outburst a luxury.
Death was close at hand.
The power infused by the Spear Cultivator was like a faint lantern held up in a storm, barely protecting the core point of light in the tree heart from being extinguished, but it could not stop the spread of toxins and the loss of vitality.
"Is it... going to end like this?"
"In my past life, I was mediocre; in this life, I was reborn as a Demon Willow, struggling to survive, yet in the end..."
"I am not reconciled... I am not reconciled!"
A strong obsession, like the last spark, flickered tenaciously in the tree soul that was about to go completely dark.
At this extreme moment of fading consciousness, perhaps it was a flash of inspiration in a near-death state, or perhaps it was the Primordial Ancient Wood Visualization Diagram protecting its master in a desperate situation, but the phantom of the Chaos ancient wood that supported heaven and earth and contained all worlds suddenly became clear again in his nearly stagnant Sea of Consciousness!
The ancient wood towered into the sky, having experienced infinite years, witnessing the birth and death of the Universe.
It neither resisted death nor craved vitality.
For it, life and death, Wither and Flourish, were merely a part of the natural cycle, a manifestation of the Dao cycle.
"Life and death... Wither and Flourish..."
An epiphany flashed like lightning through Liu Qingtian's tree soul, which was about to fall silent!
He had always used the Qi of Life and Death as a means of attack, using "Wither" to kill enemies and "Flourish" to heal wounds.
Yet, he had never thought that when extreme external toxins invaded and he was on the verge of death, perhaps he should not "resist" or "expel" them, but rather... "integrate" and "transform" them?
Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense traps vitality and leads to silence; is this the extreme of "Wither"?
The bone-eroding demon flower corrodes everything and strips away existence; is this also another extreme of "Wither"?
These two forces, extremely yin, cold, poisonous, and silent, were raging within his body; wasn't this pushing his state to an extreme "Wither"?
Then why not go with the flow and push this extreme "Wither" to its peak?
And then... give birth to new life in the midst of death?
Just as the Primordial Ancient Wood Visualization Diagram shows, only after the withered silence of severe winter can there be the flourishing growth of spring!
Living from death!
This thought was incredibly crazy, but it allowed Liu Qingtian to see a glimmer of hope!
He no longer tried to mobilize the imprisoned Demonic Power to resist the toxins; instead... he gave up all resistance!
He actively guided his remaining consciousness, no longer tightly guarding the spark of light in the tree heart, but instead, like a falling star, allowed it to merge into the boundless "withered silence" and "toxicity"!
No longer distinguishing between his own Demonic Power, the Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense, or the bone-eroding demon flower poison.
He completely opened up his tree soul and Demon Willow body, fully accepting these two terrifying toxins, and treating them as part of his own Dao of "Wither"!
"Spirit-scattering? Then let it scatter! Bone-eroding? Then let it erode!"
"All things will eventually return to silence, and this body is no exception."
"However, silence is not the end; when Wither reaches its extreme... Flourish will naturally come!"
This was a complete letting go in terms of will, a Nirvana at the level of the Dao Heart!
In an instant, a wonderful change occurred!
When he no longer resisted, the two strange toxins that had originally collided within him and jointly destroyed his vitality lost their "enemy" and target, and instead began to fuse in a strange way!
They no longer destroyed, but like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, they began to merge into Liu Qingtian's tree body and tree soul, which had given up resistance and actively guided towards "ultimate withered silence"!
His Demon Willow body became withered and gray at a speed visible to the naked eye, finally even presenting a texture like a stubborn stone weathered for millions of years.
All fluctuations of vitality completely disappeared, and even the spark of light protected by the Spear Cultivator seemed to be extinguished.
From the outside, this was completely a withered willow that had lost all signs of life and had been completely eroded and killed by the potent poison!
Even the Spear Cultivator, who was fighting fiercely with the black shadow, couldn't help but sigh when he sensed that Liu Qingtian's aura had completely disappeared: "Did he still not make it through... What a pity."
The black shadow was even more ecstatic: "Haha! He brought this upon himself, dying from the poison! It saves me the trouble of doing it myself!"
However, inside this extreme, deathly silent "Wither", a transformation that no one could perceive was quietly taking place.
The Primordial Ancient Wood Visualization Diagram operated to its limit on its own, and the phantom of the Chaos ancient wood seemed to treat Liu Qingtian's "withered" tree body as soil for nurturing new life.
The Dao rhythm of the cycle of life and death was no longer an external manifestation, but had deepened to the level of the most fundamental Law.
In the extreme silence of death, a barely perceptible, extremely pure vitality, like the first ray of light when Chaos first opened, quietly sprouted from the deepest part of the tree heart, from the place that seemed completely petrified and filled with toxicity!
This bit of vitality did not come from the outside world, but originated from Liu Qingtian's own profound understanding of the Dao of "Wither and Flourish", and from his determined Dao Heart that sought life from death!
It was breaking and then establishing, it was life born from the extreme of death!
The nascent vitality was weak but tenacious; it began to slowly absorb the strange toxicity that had fused around it.
Amazingly, this strange energy, which had fused the Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense and the bone-eroding demon flower poison, was no longer destructive in the face of this newly born vitality containing the true meaning of the Wither and Flourish cycle; instead, it became the most nourishing nutrient!
The withered tree body, like land experiencing a long drought that finally meets sweet rain, began to greedily absorb these "nutrients".
Inside the shriveled willow branches, a faint vitality began to glow again; beneath the gray bark, new tender buds were being nurtured;
At the tree heart, the almost stagnant spiritual ripple vortex began to rotate again at a slow but steady speed, and in its center, there was faintly an extra trace of dark purple, which was a brand new characteristic formed after fusing the two strange toxins!
This process was slow and secret, and the outside world could not perceive it at all.
In the eyes of the black shadow and the Spear Cultivator, that Demon Willow was dead beyond repair.
The Spear Cultivator felt regret in his heart, but his offensive became even more fierce.
The bright silver spear turned into shadows of spears filling the sky, completely suppressing the black shadow: "Hmph! You killed an interesting guy, so you stay and be buried with him!"
The black shadow became more and more alarmed as he fought; the opponent's strength far exceeded his estimation.
Seeing that he was no match, he developed the intention to retreat.
He feinted, spat out a mouthful of poisonous blood to form a blood shield in front of him, and his figure was about to merge into the Void Realm to escape.
"Want to leave? Have you asked my spear?"
The Spear Cultivator's eyes sharpened, his spear like a Dragon, instantly piercing through the blood shield, the cold glint at the spear tip pointing directly at the black shadow's heart!
Just as the black shadow was about to die under the spear, a sudden change occurred!
That withered willow, which everyone assumed was "already dead", suddenly moved without warning!
A willow branch that looked withered but was actually filled with vast new power inside, like a poisonous Dragon that had been dormant for a long time, quietly broke through the air and arrived, its speed far exceeding before!
On the willow branch, it was no longer purely emerald green or deathly gray, but wrapped in a strange gray-purple airflow, possessing both the corrosive characteristics of the bone-eroding demon flower and the imprisoning intent of the Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense, and more centrally, that Dao rhythm of Wither and Flourish that lives from death and cycles endlessly!
This sudden blow was timed to perfection, exactly the moment when the black shadow was fully resisting the Spear Cultivator, his old strength spent and new strength not yet born, and his attention completely attracted by the Spear Cultivator!
"What?!" Both the black shadow and the Spear Cultivator were shocked!
Puchi!
The gray-purple willow branch, like a red-hot branding iron cutting into butter, easily pierced through the Protective Aura that the black shadow had hastily gathered, accurately penetrating from his back and out through his chest!
"Ugh..." The black shadow's figure shook violently, and he looked down in disbelief at the willow branch protruding from his chest.
He felt an extremely strange force instantly spread throughout his body, not only crazily eroding his vitality but also completely imprisoning and disintegrating the power in his body!
It was even more overbearing than his Soul-Locking Spirit-Scattering Incense!
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but could only make strange wheezing sounds, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed.
The Spear Cultivator retracted his spear and stood, looking in surprise at the Demon Willow that was slowly "recovering".
He saw that on the withered tree body, a vibrant emerald green luster was returning at a speed visible to the naked eye, even deeper and more resilient than before.
A vast vitality, mixed with a heart-palpitating toxic pressure, permeated from Liu Qingtian.
His cultivation had surprisingly broken through to the Late-stage Kai Shan Realm!
Moreover, his Foundation was incredibly solid, and his aura was profound.
Liu Qingtian slowly retracted the willow branch, and the black shadow's corpse fell softly to the ground, quickly turning into a pool of pus and blood, completely eroded and dissolved by the residual toxicity.
Feeling the surging power in his body, as well as the strange toxic power that had perfectly fused with the Qi of Life and Death and was as easy to use as his own arm, a complex light flashed in his tree eyes.
Finding life in a desperate situation, breaking and then establishing.
This time, he not only resolved the strange poison and broke through his Realm, but also gained an unprecedentedly profound understanding of his own Dao of "Wither and Flourish".
He looked at the young man standing with the spear, nodded slightly, his voice still a bit hoarse, but with a trace of sincerity: "Many thanks, Fellow Daoist, for protecting my heart meridian just now. Liu Qingtian owes you a favor."