Thousands of years of cultivation, countless thunder tribulations passes, unimaginable amount of enemies killed and yet, after all of that, even after reaching the heavenly emperor god, the highest possible level for one to achieve without help of the world tree, I was still unsatisfied. The fact that there was still a higher level to reach weighted heavily on my mind, so of course, I went on a quest to find that tree.

I only found about it when I found an ancient inheritance in the corner of the universe, speaking about a tree that’s outside of the reachable dimension and holds all of the multiverse on it’s crown. Hypothetically, the world energy surrounding that tree is many times denser than all of the energy of all the universes compressed together, so there was no way it wouldn’t be enough to break through.

And yet, after another thousand years of travelling through space I was still unsuccessful in reaching that place. I found countless artifacts, I found thousands of treasures and inheritances of multiple universes, but that place was still outside of my reach. Still, I continued to search for it, because my lifespan was as endless as the energy in the multiverse and my will to reach a higher level was even more abundant.

Then, something happened. I stumbled upon a world that was a bit different than the others, with it’s world energy corrupted and lacking, seemingly being used to sustain some kind of array that held the world together. It looked like it faced a disaster once, and now some people were using its resources to stop it from collapsing. It was miraculous that there was even life, but again, the array was sustaining it pretty high level.

There, I met an individual that could be my only proof that the world tree existed. A spider, a simple monster that by no means should be intelligent in this part of the universe, that broke all common sense there was and simply existed with all odds against it. Its soul was shattered and barely holding together, and yet the amount of energy contained in it rivalled my own and it was only because the vessel was incapable of holding more.

I purified my body countless times, the amount of the energy it could contain because of that fact now rivalled multiple universes, and yet in this little spider body, there were almost no impurities even though there was also no signs of cultivation on it. To simply be born with a constitution like that was a miracle in itself, but that wasn’t even the start of the impossibilities contained within this little monster.

It was constantly receiving energy from an external source, to the point that energy itself could be called infinite. On this world, there was nothing that could act as that great of a source, and I was pretty sure no universe could contain it as well. The only thing that could give her that much energy, was the source of it all itself, the world tree. That would mean, she was now filled with pure primordial chaos, or the divine mana as some people called it.

I was getting excited, to finally meet a being that could guide me to the greatest of treasures, but then I saw something else. A darkness sealed deep inside the fragmented soul, one that even the cultivation demons I faced when ascending to my current level couldn’t come close to. It was cold enough to freeze my veins and take years of progress from my cultivation, I almost felt scared to look at it.

I’ve met a being emanating that type of energy once, a devil, devourer of the universes. But why would it be sealed inside a small monster’s soul? I had to run away from it before, but now it ended up constrained by an inferior being? No, I couldn’t call that monster inferior, the singular fact that it commanded primordial chaos made it someone greater than me. Even if it was weak now, it was only a matter of time before it connected with the world tree and became the king of the multiverse.

But this was my destiny, I couldn’t simply hand it over. Sure I saved it from the pesky flies that wanted to eat it, but that was only for my benefit. I used my sword of space to slash through the primordial chaos inside the monster, to use it as a pathway to the source itself. No one could stop me from reaching my destination now, my excitement that I thought died aeon ago, now returned in a full swing.

Only to die as soon as I went through the portal.

The world tree dimension is supposed to be filled with so much grass that no matter how strong one’s eyes were, there would be no way to see the end, there was supposed to be the great world tree itself that would emanate energy so pure that just by standing near some people would break through, there was supposed to be a sky so blue that no bird would be brave enough to fly through it out of sheer respect.

But what was this place, only ash could be seen on the ground, with occasional streaks of black tar creating rivers through it, the sky was gray and dead and in the middle of it all, a giant charred tree was now burning. The same tar that was on the ground was flowing out of the cracks in it, and there was almost no world energy in the surroundings.

Was this a vision of the word’s end?

“Depressing sight isn’t it.”

I jumped at the sudden sound behind me and took out my weapons. It was the first time in at least three thousand years that someone managed to sneak up on me.

“Who are you? Where are we?”

“Hmm, after reaching this place I guess you deserve some answers. This, my friend is my greatest failure, and the source of my greatest sorrow, the first world tree. I’m the one who planted it.”

“Wait.. what do you mean first!?”

“Before even the seed of your tree was created, this one was thriving, giving life to figures much stronger than you, because I kept intervening with it’s worlds. I couldn’t bear to see worlds die, so I helped them as much as I could, giving rise to civilizations who were able to harness the primordial energy of the tree itself. They became greedy, they polluted the multiverse and corrupted it. That’s why it died like that, that’s why it’s now seeping corruption everywhere… that’s why my daughter is now dead…”

I took a closer look at the man. His hair was white and so was his skin, even his clothes were pure white. Only his eyes and tears flowing from them were of different color. His words were absurd, but somewhat believable, there was no way that people could hold back their greed, no matter their race or origin.

“If you came here, you have most likely met my daughter’s soul remnant. Tell me, how was it?”

“Very fragmented, most likely beyond repair. And there was a devil sealed inside.”

“So that’s how you call them huh? The fallen guardians now only seen as devils… I know I can’t hope for my daughter to return, but still thank you for letting me know her soul didn’t disappear completely. I should probably give you a reward for that. Tell my wife I sent you.”

 He then pushed me gently, and I felt dimensions shifting around me. Suddenly I found myself in a different place altogether. The grass was green and endless, the sky was blue enough to shame the ocean, and the energy was richer than all of the universes combined. And most importantly, a giant tree could be seen in the distance.

Finally, my journey was completed. Who cares about the first world tree, I can now reach even higher level! I’ll have to thank that little spider if I meet it again.

Remlin379

I had this grand idea about this chapter, and when I got to the most important part I confused the h*ll of myself and probably didn't include half of the important information. That's what happens if you don't keep enough notes and forget parts of your plot.