The True Immortal blinked, his face numb. He was stunned for a moment, but then still ignored Yin Ci, his hand continuing to reach towards Shi Jingzhi.

"Last time you were all smiles and laughter with us, but now you're so cold. Elder Brother Sun, this isn't like you."

Yin Ci increased the force of his grip. The True Immortal frowned, and Yin Ci's hand was immediately twisted by fine roots, tearing open skin and flesh to expose stark white bone. However, Yin Ci's face remained calm and unperturbed, as if his hand felt no pain.

Blood-red fine roots crawled up the white bone, transforming into flesh and blood. Yin Ci's hand was restored to its original state before the True Immortal's eyes. The True Immortal paused in his movements, his gaze sweeping over the blood-red fine roots before finally settling on Yin Ci.

The two Suspended Trees facing off had an even better effect than they had imagined. Perhaps the effect was too good - the True Immortal didn't even seem inclined to argue with them verbally. The surrounding root system curled up with a series of explosive sounds, all stabbing towards Yin Ci, clearly intending to tear him to pieces. The rainwater accumulated on the Three Thousand Anxiety Silk splashed high, creating the impression of a water battle on the wasteland.

"Jingzhi!"

With Yin Ci's shout, the two exchanged weapons. Yin Ci took up the Cure All With Medicine flag, unfurling a sword-qi-like whirlwind. Shi Jingzhi covered the Hanging Shadow Sword with golden fire, blooming brilliant arcs of light all around.

Unlike their first encounter with the True Immortal, this time the golden fire carried a faint trace of black. The True Immortal instinctively retreated a few steps, the tendrils and roots curling up like flower buds to protect it in the center. However, after seeing clearly the weak fire, its tense face slowly relaxed.

Compared to the immense Suspended Tree underground, this bit of flame didn't even count as a spark.

"... Wushu ore, is it?" Its tone was calm and unruffled. "Just obtaining some ore scraps, and you think to oppose the Suspended Tree?"

Jiang Youyue, who had been holding his breath for so long, finally exhaled.

So they had learned the use of Wushu ore. Unfortunately, Yin Zizhu was still overconfident.

The Suspended Tree was ultimately a living thing of heaven and earth, naturally there were not a few things that could restrain it. Over three hundred years, the True Immortal had killed all animals that gnawed at the Suspended Tree's roots and destroyed all mineral deposits that poisoned the Suspended Tree.

Compared to those that could directly harm the Suspended Tree, Wushu ore was considered the most harmless type - Wushu ore was already difficult to refine, and still required full-force smelting with golden fire before the toxic fire it produced could burn the Suspended Tree.

So they had left it to be dealt with last.

For nearly a hundred years, the Immortal Gathering had used both soft and hard tactics to abandon the few remaining ore sites in Dayun and recall all Wushu ore products from the market. Even if one or two items were left out there, they couldn't pose any threat.

Jiang Youyue approached on the writhing Three Thousand Anxiety Silk, switching back to ordinary magic.

Water vapor turned to mist, raindrops froze to ice. Sharp ice particles stabbed down from the sky. Shi Jingzhi shuddered twice, the flames around his body immediately diminishing considerably. Not far away, Yan Qing and Shi Zhongyu also seemed to be at a disadvantage. They stumbled as they cut through the Three Thousand Anxiety Silk, retreating towards Yin Ci.

Mortals couldn't see the Three Thousand Anxiety Silk, but they could see the water droplets and ice particles on them. The Three Thousand Anxiety Silk churned ceaselessly, gradually being wrapped into a white mass by these droplets. They lay on the wasteland, soft and rounded like cotton, burying all the wild grass and bloodstains beneath. If one ignored those ghostly semi-transparent tendrils, the scene even had a somewhat peaceful quality.

At first glance, it looked just like deep winter snow.

Yin Ci controlled sword energy with the banner, his sword techniques full of a do-or-die spirit. Surrounded by menacing roots, he didn't dare to leap up, only arduously twirling in this "snow". The sword energy sliced open the True Immortal's white robe, cutting into its flesh. The next moment, the flesh regenerated, the white robe closed.

Shi Jingzhi followed his movements, clumsily wielding the sword to keep up. The two accompanied each other, looking very much like some kind of partner dance. Where Yin Ci's sword wind cleaved, Shi Jingzhi's flames followed as if attached to a shadow.

The Suspended Tree's roots had an instinctive fear of that black fire, their movements slowing considerably. The True Immortal's abdomen also gained a deep gash, green glowing blood dripping incessantly, absorbed completely by the Three Thousand Anxiety Silk.

The edges of that wound were charred black, healing somewhat slowly.

"You two would be better off giving up. What kind of result do you expect from such unreasonable behavior?" Jiang Youyue said coldly, "Shi Jingzhi, are you still going to remain obstinate? What 'family'? He just wants to use you as bait for a desperate last stand!"

As long as he could persuade Shi Jingzhi, and the golden fire retreated, the True Immortal's myriad roots would instantly turn Yin Ci into minced meat. By the time he recovered, they would have long since escaped with the Desire Child.

However, that Desire Child didn't hesitate at all, continuing to manipulate the dark poison fire, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. More and more tendrils gathered, the semi-transparent black shadows overlapping and moving, surrounding the master and disciple as if in a thick black mist.

Just like a black lotus blooming on snow.

The situation was critical, the tide had turned. With the True Immortal before them and evil spirits encircling them, Yin Ci's clothes were in tatters, his blood-stained body a mess from the icy rain. Shi Jingzhi was slightly better off, only his neatly tied long hair now disheveled and wet, truly a pitiful sight. Though their circumstances were utterly desperate, the two men's movements grew increasingly relaxed, as if this were all just a pleasant dream.

They wore faint smiles on their lips.

Coupled with their surroundings, that self-satisfaction seemed especially mad. Jiang Youyue was accustomed to seeing people at the end of their rope, but these two's reactions were truly abnormal, involuntarily making his flesh creep.

Why could Yin Ci still smile?

Why did Desire Child trust him so completely?

...If the bond between these two really was unbreakable, their staging of this act could only be to lure out the True Immortal. But with just this weak spark of fire, what could they do? Kill an immortal? The True Immortal was connected to the Suspended Tree!

They—

Jiang Youyue's mind wandered, relaxing his magical interference. Suddenly, the master and disciple, like man and shadow, mustered all their strength to attack the True Immortal. The latter, disliking the black fire, was about to dodge when Yin Ci suddenly grabbed its clothes.

Yin Ci and Shi Jingzhi no longer moved as one. They abruptly spun around, half their bodies instantly pierced by tendrils. Clenching a fist covered in blood and flesh, Yin Ci drove a punch into the wound on the True Immortal's abdomen.

This punch wasn't imbued with black fire, and the True Immortal didn't even furrow its brow. Instead, Yin Ci, having left Shi Jingzhi's protective circle, was caught squarely by the tendrils, nearly half his body stripped to the bone. Unable to break free, Yin Ci was suspended in mid-air by the tendrils, blood continuously dripping from his toes, almost forming a line of blood. The silk threads couldn't absorb it fast enough, gradually dyeing a dull red.

Yin Ci reached out with his blood-covered hand, grabbing a tendril, then grasping for the True Immortal. A sword wind arose, a rain of blood falling towards the True Immortal. It frowned, raising its hand, preparing to deliver a final blow to the person before it who resembled a piece of rotten meat.

Jiang Youyue was also overjoyed, his magic almost immediately changing direction, all of it bombarding Yin Ci. Shi Jingzhi also ignited flames of intermingled black and gold, rushing quickly towards Yin Ci—

The Hanging Shadow Sword, burning with raging flames, pierced through Yin Ci's chest.

The sword entered through Yin Ci's back and exited through his chest, its tip sinking into the True Immortal's chest. Initially, the golden flames burned away the fragments of Yin Ci's clothing, the heat oppressive. Then the flames began to turn black from the base, the tongues of fire gently caressing the fabric, water droplets occasionally piercing through the black fire and falling to the ground.

It was utterly silent, like death itself.

Yin Ci immediately spat out another mouthful of blood, the viscous liquid wetting half of the True Immortal's face. The blood-red tendrils were scorched by the black fire, instantly withering and curling, emitting a smell of burnt wood. Yin Ci's recovery also slowed considerably; from one side, he still looked like a bloody skeleton.

But he was smiling. He smiled amidst the blood and black fire, his hands gripping the True Immortal like a curse, his fingertips deeply embedded in its flesh.

The sword came from Yin Ci's chest, taking a fatal angle, catching the True Immortal completely off guard. The sword tip sank more than three inches into its chest, carving out a terrifyingly black burn. It tried to break free but was held fast by Yin Ci's death grip. The two were extremely close, the black fire on their bodies mutually reinforcing, burning together into a pitch-black fireball.

The True Immortal didn't cry out; it stiffened like wood, the surrounding root system also becoming rigid, very much like startled beasts.

The scene before him was too absurd; Jiang Youyue held his breath, almost forgetting how to cast his magic.

Had the Desire Child finally decided to betray, or...

Shi Jingzhi seemed to sense Jiang Youyue's gaze. He turned his head, silently mouthing something to Jiang Youyue.

"Boom." Shi Jingzhi's lips met.

He suddenly increased his force, and the intense black fireball instantly exploded, as if a jet-black sun had risen from level ground.

In the heavy darkness, Shi Jingzhi's smile was brilliant yet cold. For a moment, faint figures appeared behind him. They were the shadows of a man and a woman, both smiling brilliantly and maliciously. Just as Jiang Youyue tried to look closer, the two shadows dissipated like mist, as if they had never existed.

From a single sword, the poison fire spread, gradually connecting heaven and earth.

The golden fire was extremely scorching, but after it burned through the Wushu ore, the black fire it produced was not hot. The flames spread upwards, constantly flickering, the entire wasteland sinking into the embrace of black flames. The world seemed to have been shattered into fragments, with only scattered light remaining. Though it was still daytime, this place seemed to have entered night, with a bone-deep blackness everywhere.

For a moment, the only sound in heaven and earth was the crackling of the burning demon wood.

The black fire continuously devoured, the Three Thousand Anxiety Silk dissipating like melting snow. The semi-transparent tendrils curled frantically, emitting a sizzling sound of burning. The dark clouds in the sky tumbled wildly, the downpour instantly ceasing. The rumbling mud dragons lost their momentum, stopping at the foot of the mountain.

In Jiang Youyue's eyes, even the bare branches lay prostrate on the ground, rolling as if in extreme pain. For some reason, the Suspended Tree seemed to be enduring enormous agony. The True Immortal, affected by this, twisted uncontrollably, unable to maintain its handsome human form. It staggered and fell to the ground, but Yin Ci didn't let go, following the sword blade and pouncing on it.

Yin Ci was like the tendrils covering the ground, black fire all around him. In the eerie flames, he was almost reduced to a living skeleton. Yet even so, he tightened his arms, firmly locking the True Immortal in his embrace.

The black fire burned more and more fiercely, the earth trembling incessantly. Shi Jingzhi's hair was disheveled, the black fire on the Hanging Shadow Sword growing increasingly intense.

He walked step by step towards the burning Yin Ci. He knelt beside him, his fingertips passing through the black fire, almost tenderly caressing Yin Ci's bones. Then Shi Jingzhi withdrew the sword blade, changed to a fatal angle, and thrust hard again—this time, the Hanging Shadow Sword firmly nailed Yin Ci and the True Immortal together.

Qu Duanyun was about to press his advantage when this scene stunned him. Ignoring Yan Qing who was close at hand, his eyes were bloodshot.

"Master!"

Jiang Youyue was no better off than Qu Duanyun. Flames wrapped around the sky-reaching tendrils, rising from the ground cracks. The National Teacher's magic was like a drop in the bucket, having absolutely no effect.

They needed to let the True Immortal recover quickly. Jiang Youyue gritted his teeth, taking out a withered hand of an immortal's body and quickly began casting a spell. Shi Jingzhi must have used some trick; he just needed to probe a bit, and he would surely recognize the remnants of the spell. As long as he...

Jiang Youyue's expression completely froze.

He had probed the spell, and it wasn't Shi Jingzhi's original creation. It had existed for a long time and wasn't complicated at all, simple enough for even the lower ranks of the Immortal Gathering to learn. During the previous Shi Rou chaos, he himself had used it countless times.

It was the curse of the Twin Roots.

"I specifically sent people to mention it. 'Split the twin root in two, soak one part in external flesh and blood, have the blood's owner consume the other part, and the blood link is formed. With this blood link, the two roots are connected, living and dying together.'..."

Shi Jingzhi silently mouthed.

"At that time, he said that if the blood link is burned by fire, the blood's owner would also die by burning. Today, we see it's indeed true."

Impossible, Jiang Youyue thought blankly.

The Suspended Tree grew underground, its bare branches unable to touch anything, impossible to consume the twin root like a person would. Unless someone had merged with the Suspended Tree and willingly swallowed the twin root.

No, that's not right. Jiang Youyue suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, his hand uncontrollably trembling slightly.

Such a person did exist, and there was only one in heaven and earth. The Suspended Tree of Dayun had grown for nearly a thousand years, with only one such accident—

It was that "Disastrous Root" Yin Ci, who had merged into the Suspended Tree's root system and become one with it.

Fear suddenly surged up, and everything that followed made perfect sense. For a behemoth like the Suspended Tree, ordinary flesh and blood couldn't serve as a blood link. Even a single bare branch wouldn't do; the amount of flesh had to be sufficient.

For example, the True Immortal, the fruit of the Suspended Tree, controlling myriad root systems.

Realizing this, Jiang Youyue's vision darkened. This near-impossible situation was now unfolding clearly before his eyes. With that punch earlier, Yin Ci had most likely sent the Twin Root into the True Immortal's body. That Disastrous Root hadn't given the True Immortal time to react before the Desire Child's black fire followed closely.

With the curse complete, the True Immortal had already become the blood link.

If it were burned away, that damage would be replicated on the Suspended Tree. The Hanging Shadow Sword couldn't burn away a thousand miles of rivers and mountains, but burning away a god the size of a mortal was certainly not far-fetched. Jiang Youyue's limbs went numb, a thick bitter taste rising in his mouth. In several decades, he had never tasted such panic.

The great undertaking of a hundred years, the Immortal Gathering's step-by-step cultivation of the perfect "Divine Emperor Wu." Generation after generation had considered delays, setbacks, and even the possibility of failure. As long as the Suspended Tree remained, they could always find a way to coexist with it. It was just a tree, silent, dangerous, but easy to control.

They had never considered the possibility of "losing the Suspended Tree".

...A disaster that would destroy the country, but whose country would it destroy?

Shi Jingzhi burned the fire with all his might, his amber eyes reflecting a dark color. He smiled as he looked over, his eyes devoid of mirth, filled only with overwhelming murderous intent.

"What's wrong?"

Shi Jingzhi's smile was like the spring breeze of March, his hand caressing Yin Ci trembling incessantly. The black fire around him was vigorous, the flames twisting into several strands, swaying in the wind like demon tails.

"It's just using the Twin Roots to harm someone. National Teacher Jiang, this is clearly a technique you taught us."

Author's Note:

The National Teacher's faction: Cultivate the tree to bear fruit, write papers.

The National Teacher's faction: Hmm, this Fruit Empress Lan is no good, almost messed things up; this Fruit Budu is also no good, a rotten branch; this one! This Fruit Jingzhi, he'll do.

The National Teacher's faction: Delighted, we can finally write this paper.

The next day.

The National Teacher's faction: ? Where's the tree?