Mystic Eyes: My Eyes Steal the Laws of Cultivation - Chapter 177

Chapter 177: The Hungry Tree (4)
Kyrian stood up, ignoring the bow.

“Without wasting time on formalities,” he cut in, his voice clear and dry like a blade.

“The source of the wave was neutralized, but the original threat remains. I found a spiritual Tree-Monster at the peak of the Core Formation Realm. It was the corruption within it that generated the wave.”

He saw eyes widen. A vegetal spiritual monster was extremely rare. One at the peak of Core Formation was an enormous force.

“I managed to interrupt its influence, but the creature itself is alive, dormant, and vulnerable.”

Kyrian paused dramatically.

“Rest tonight. Recover your Qi. Tomorrow, at dawn, you will depart with me to eliminate the tree.”

The order was clear, bold, and dangerous. Some of the older men, warriors with decades more experience than Kyrian, frowned. Their jaws tightened.

Receiving orders from a “brat” for a mission was almost an insult to their experience. However, no one dared to openly refuse.

The Blood Court’s chain of command was rigid, and the status of a Main Branch disciple of Dong Zhen was unquestionable authority. Rebellion here would mean treason.

Seeing the silent acceptance, reluctant as it was, Kyrian concluded.

“Elder Bo, arrange lodging for me. And make sure everyone has the resources needed to fully recover.”

Bo nodded, his face a mixture of obedience and perplexity.

“Yes, Young Master.”

Kyrian was led to a small and simple but private courtyard in the most secluded quarters of the sect. A local disciple brought a tray with simple but hearty food. Kyrian ate in silence, his mind already planning the strategy for the next day, and then fell asleep with the ease of one who had placed a heavy burden onto the shoulders of others.

….

Dawn found the main courtyard occupied. The eight Blood Court cultivators were there, dressed for battle, their energies restored and focused. The exhaustion of the previous night had given way to serious determination. If they were going to hunt a beast, they would be prepared.

Unexpectedly, Elder Bo was also among them, already mounted on a large bird of prey with rust-colored feathers.

Kyrian, stepping out of his quarters, looked at him.

“Hm. Good. You’re coming as well?”

Bo nodded, his expression hard.

“I want to see with my own eyes the origin of this nightmare.”

Bo’s motivation was practical and defensible.

“Very well.”

He whistled, a sharp and clear sound. From one of the stable towers, the black winged horse responded with a neigh and emerged, gliding down to land smoothly at his side.

The other warriors wasted no time. Whistles, mental calls, and gestures caused their own mounts to appear, a variety of flying beasts. Large owls with yellow eyes, wide-winged vultures, and a winged serpent. It was an impressive aerial squadron.

Kyrian mounted first, holding the black leather reins. Without ceremony, he looked at the group.

“Follow me. And keep the pace.”

He then made the horse take flight, passing through the sect’s energy barrier as if it did not exist, and shot southeast, back toward the lowlands, followed by eight Blood Court cultivators and a determined sect leader.

The return journey was silent and tense. The group of ten, led by Kyrian, followed the trail of destruction with renewed attention.

Elder Bo and the other Court veterans now observed the devastation with a more clinical gaze, assessing the scale of the power that could cause such chaos.

Flattened hills, forests turned into splinters, and the ground churned by countless paws and claws, it was a mute testament to the danger they would face.

Kyrian flew ahead, his senses expanded. The journey was smooth, the sky was clear of threats. But then, something began to bother him. An anomaly in the pattern below.

He slightly reduced speed, his carmine eyes sweeping the ground. The trail of beasts killed by the psychic scream, those piles of bodies with coagulated blood from their orifices, should have marked the path like macabre milestones. But they were gone.

Not entirely. Dark stains remained on the ground, marks of accelerated decomposition and, occasionally, a broken bone. But the bodies themselves, the flesh, were gone. As if they had been… reabsorbed.

A cold, heavy sense of dread began to form in Kyrian’s chest. He said nothing, but his horse, sensing the tension, snorted softly.

“Strange,” Elder Bo commented, flying beside Kyrian, his gaze also fixed on the ground.

“The corpses… were cleaned.”

“Speed up,” Kyrian replied, his voice low.

The group increased their pace, apprehension now hanging over them. The absence of the dead was more disturbing than their presence.

Finally, the lowlands opened before them, and with them, the sight of the gigantic tree. It was still there, a twisted black sentinel against the sky. But something was fundamentally wrong.

“This…,” Kyrian whispered, his eyes analyzing frantically.

The spiritual pressure emanating from the tree was no longer that dormant hatred he had felt before. It was a growing, pulsing pressure, like a giant heart beating harder and harder. The air around it rippled with heat and dense energy.

And below, on the ground around the colossal trunk, a new landscape of horror had formed. Piles upon piles of dead beasts, not only recent ones but also carcasses in advanced stages of dry decomposition, all stacked like a macabre offering.

From the tree’s roots, thin white filaments, like fungi or new capillary roots, penetrated these piles, greedily siphoning the last remnants of energy, blood, and organic matter. The surrounding earth was dark and infertile, all life having been drained.

Kyrian understood instantly. The tree was not merely dormant. It was feeding. Frenetically. Using all the dead mass that its beast wave and the fatal scream had produced. And with that massive energy…

“The tree is trying to break through to the Spiritual Awakening Realm!” Kyrian’s voice cut through the air, sharp and urgent like the crack of a whip.

“Attack! Now, while it’s still focused and vulnerable!”

The order was a shock. The nine Court warriors, who had been observing the scene with a mix of awe and fascination, hesitated for a fraction of a second. Attack a legendary entity on the verge of advancement?

“What are you saying, boy?!” Bo shouted, his hand already on the hilt of his sword.

“It’s using the energy of the deaths to advance! If it succeeds, it won’t be good! ATTACK!” Kyrian was not asking. He was commanding, and the cold fury in his voice dispelled any remaining doubt.

Elder Bo was the first to react.

“Coordinated attack! Focus on the trunk, at the base!”

The nine cultivators exploded into action. Beams of carmine blood Qi, spears of coagulated blood, and enormous blades of crimson energy formed from the very air. A deluge of Core Formation Realm power was unleashed toward the gigantic tree.

But they were late. Hours late.

The instant the first attacks crossed half the distance, a vibrant, translucent green shield erupted from the ground, enveloping the tree in a perfect sphere. It was as thick as a city wall and pulsed with a vitality so dense it seemed solid.

The Court’s attacks slammed into the shield. The sound was a muffled thunder. The carmine energy spread like paint against unbreakable glass, dissipating without leaving even a scratch. The green shield did not even tremble.

And then, the pressure that had been building reached a peak and changed. A wave of overwhelming spiritual force exploded from the tree. It was no longer simply vegetal power.

It was authority over life, earth, and growth. It was the aura of the Spiritual Awakening Realm.

“Damn,” Kyrian murmured, his eyes widening. The coldness in his voice was replaced by a tone of urgent resignation.

“The tree has already broken through.”

He retreated instantly, pulling the reins to gain altitude and distance. The other nine, still stunned by the failure of their attacks and suffocated by the new pressure, faltered.

Then the transformation began.

The entire gigantic tree glowed with an inner light of such deep green that it seemed like the heart of a primordial forest.

And then, it began to shrink.

Not like a dying tree, but as if it were condensing, compressing centuries of growth and power into a denser, more refined form. The monstrous roots were pulled back into the ground with the sound of tearing earth, being absorbed into the diminishing mass.

“Attack! Attack the shield again!” Elder Bo shouted, his face pale. They tried. A new volley of attacks, even more powerful, was launched. The result was the same. The green shield, now fueled by the power of a Spiritual Awakening, was an absolute fortress.

Kyrian watched, his sense of dread growing until it became a terrifying certainty. The tree was not just advancing. It was transforming.

In less than a minute, the tree that rivaled mountains in size had shrunk to the size of a common tree, perhaps twenty meters tall. At the center of its now compact trunk, with wood of polished black, pulsed a core of pure, living green light.

Then, with the sound of dry bark cracking on a colossal scale, the tree split apart. The black bark shattered and fell, disintegrating into black dust upon touching the ground.

And from within, rising through the debris of its former prison, a figure emerged.