Root Maker: Tree Cultivation

Year 11, Day 88
Beneath an Endless and Green Sea of Leaves and Roots

The “tribunal” was rather easy to complete. After he turned the Ghun Gloomrose guy into a true rose of blood, bone, meat, and skin, and took away the knowledge and understanding of where exactly his forest was alongside the steps they took to get to his forest, he banished them. In the similar way that he took away memories and knowledge from their mind, he also precisely injected false knowledge and false memories about what had happened that made them lose their companion Ghun Gloomrose and had them fleeing with their tails between their legs. He made them believe that they had found a massive beast, he kept as vague as he possibly could, letting their own minds weave the narrative of these fake memories to make sure they believed them with all of their mind, by simply planting false self made illusions to trick their little merchant minds.

Of course he had to weave a consistency amongst their collective memory, because if he made that in Jhin De Zhi's memories, they ran away because a giant lizard monster tried to kill them and did take Ghun Gloomrose's life, while making Phozu believe that they ran away because a giant spider monster attacked them and ate Ghun Gloomrose, then you already know how bad it could go. The illusions would break apart under their own weight, and there their memories would be considered fake memories, prompting them to seek the truth.

So, to keep consistency and make it as vague as possible so their minds could fill in the gaps, Root weaved this simple scenario-

Under the guidance of Jhin De Zhi, they all marched across the deserted lands, seeking treasures unknown to many. Along the way, they passed by the Gaonni-Haonni Region, right by the City of Dreadful Ash, where they discovered that the Rottenwoods had left their home for reasons unknown to them, but soon it was resolved as they soon found a massive beast… A beast that had escaped from the Canyon of Many Voices, and had massacred the Rottenwoods, and it also ate Ghun Gloomrose. They managed to escape, but there was this deep dread within them that made them never wish to come back.

-it was a basic, basic scenario, but it covered a lot. It gave them a reason not to try and contact the Rottenwoods- or, rather, Novuswoods -again, gave them a reason to fear the desert even more, while also giving them an idea of what the “monster” was that ate Ghun Gloomrose… A monster from the Canyon of Many Voices that could attack and catch the unaware? It most likely was a Death From Below, which was a scary monster that not many cultivators could fight against, and a monster that evaded the detection of the Triplets was strong enough to be feared, and strong enough to stay away from… Now, there was the ever growing possibility that other merchants and other Cultivators will find his forest, and their greedy hands will try to take as much from his as they can, and for that, he needs personnel. That was why he decided to prepare!

As soon as he kicked out Jhin De Zhi- He wanted to kill him, but due to Elder Novuswood's oath to the heavens, he couldn't really kill him without endangering the wise old elder that had more use alive than dead by the broken promise. She told him that whenever someone broke the oath they made under the eyes of the Heavens, they would be struck by a powerful lightning bolt that would most likely kill them, because the stronger or older the oath is, the worse the consequences of breaking it. He had ways of safely breaking her oath, but she was actually attached to the boy. She saw him as her estranged grandson who she didn't spend much time with, so to earn her trust he decided not to kill him… It is now in the future's hands, to see if he was going to become a problem. ‘Well, he didn't have any manor Fate Thread, so I guess it won't be that bad…’ He did check the guy's fate before throwing him away, in fact, he checked the fate of every single person in that merchant group, and besides this Phozu guy who had an orange thread and a blue thread, which meant he was destined to meet great danger and he would go through a very sad and possibly depressing moment.

“-and now, you… Oh, little one, how messed up your Soul Space is… Three souls fighting to get control of the same body, huh?” Looking down at the nameless cultivator that had come alongside the Novuswoods when they arrived at his forest, Root softly reached out with a root towards the man. He was thin, almost looking like the Novuswoods, completely and utterly thin… He looked very malnourished and anorexic. “You need more meat in your bones too…” The reason Root was kinda worried about the guy was simple: He had a fucking rainbow fate thread. You know what that means? It means he has a Destined Thread! And someone who has a Destined Thread is someone whose fate has been decided. It cannot be changed. They are destined for great things - Be it good or evil. ‘Another one, huh?’ Considering the fact that the ice spice girl - Cui Rong - also has a Destined Thread and has appeared in his forest, then this guy's destiny also revolves around him too.

Being a little paranoid, Root had a plan- he wanted to get into the guy's soul and offer him assistance to heal his ailment. Three souls in the same Soul Space was not easy, especially when two of the three souls want to devour your human soul and drive you insane. Thankfully, the two souls hated each other more than they hated the human soul, so they were fighting each other most of the time rather than working together to fight and overwhelm the human soul. “Oh, poor child… Here, It might not completely help, but I'm sure it'll improve your condition.” He offered the dark haired man a small pale white seed that contained a Lesser Spirit within. The same way he had planted a Spirit within his children's Soul Space to protect them from outside influences over their souls and act as a shield and helper within their soul, it also acted as a backdoor to enter the guy's soul.

Just in case his destiny is not to protect and improve the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect, but rather, destroy it.

“...why would I take this…?” He acted wary- which was something Root expected -as he eyed the white seed. His shoulders were tense, and his tail seemed to almost tense up as this thin forked pincer seemed to push itself out of his body, standing in defensive mode: “As far as I know, you might be just trying to poison me-”

“Child-” If Root had eyes, he would be rolling them so fucking hard right now! “-do I look like someone who would need to use poison to kill? You are much weaker than me. I have my children to help me, and I am the lord of this forest… You are in my domain, I can destroy you, but right now I am trying to help you. And yet, you spit on my gracious offer and call me a snake.” Root sighed- Well, it's not like the guy could unite his soul alone, and it's not like there's any better place to live than his forest, so in time, he'll come around to the idea of having a spirit spy inside his own soul that acts like a backdoor for Root.

…what? It's not that bad. Sure, he could use this backdoor to hijack the guy's soul and make him faint, or outright destroy his soul and kill him. It's only a contingency plan anyway. Plus, he'll get access to the Tahsm Show, which is reserved only for those who have a direct connection to him and his children. ‘Thinking about that, I do need to make sure this connection cannot be used in a two-way to damage my children or me.’ He put that on hold while he focused instead on his ever growing body continuing to expand at each and every moment, making his roots sink deeper and deeper into the earth. “I understand if you do not wish to accept my father's help, but do not spit on my father's kindness.” Lily, floating above them all, looked down at the man that had just rejected her father's help and arrogantly called her father a poisonous snake (...when did he do that?) her opinion of the mysterious man was considerably lowered.

Even though it wasn't high to begin with.

Meanwhile, Root watched as this… red thread connected from Lily's pinky finger, to the man's pinky finger.

‘...oh. OH.’

Year 11, Day 89
Beneath Pink Petals

Root decided to deal with that later. Look, apparently Lily and Mysterious Guy- His name was Hei Yin -were Soulmates.

Shocking, I know.

So instead of dealing with that and giving himself some time to just process this whole thing, he decided to use his tickets. He hasn't used his three tickets- His one Golden, Diamond, and Platinum tickets. (Chapter 58)

[Would you like to use 1 Golden Ticket, 1 Diamond Ticket, and 1 Platinum Ticket?]

‘...yep.’ He did not hesitate. As the golden light of the system shined within his head, he felt information flow into his mind, and he was now aware of new information. ‘...Giant sky whales are real? And they grow to the size of islands? That sounds awesome.’

[Congratulations, you received-

Rank A: Emperor of the Heavens Egg
Rank S: Immortality Peach Tree Seed
Rank SS: Endless Waves of the Sea Artifact
Rank SSS: Dao Seed]

[Emperor of the Heavens Egg
Rank: A
Description: An egg that will hatch into an Emperor of the Heavens. A giant leviathan whale that has a deep understanding of the Dao of Wind, being able to fly and float as soon as they are born.]

‘...would Zylph like a pet?’ Just thinking about giving Zylph a giant flying whale was enough to make him consider making a whole merchant company himself. Since cultivators would kill to have his resources, why not sell them? ‘And have Zylph go around the world on the back of the whale, selling shit… That sounds like a possible future.’

[Immortality Peach Tree Seed
Rank: S
Description: A seed from a peach that can grant Immortality. Immortality in the sense that whoever eats from this fruit shall never again age, but they are able to be killed. If consumed by a cultivator, it will also grant them a boost in cultivation, and keep their skin beautiful and clean.
A peach will grow from the tree every 100 years.]

‘Not that immediately useful, but useful nonetheless.’ He will live for a long, long time! 100 years is basically nothing to him.

[Endless Waves of the Sea Artifact
Rank: SS
Description: A powerful and miraculous Artifact. Upon placing it on the water or in contact with water, this Artifact will instantly produce 100 times the amount of water placed inside it. This Artifact is deep and large enough to contain an entire planet's ocean within, housing even life inside it while it is rich in Water Qi, becoming a portable otherworldly portal to another realm. Upon opening the lid, the user of this Artifact can immediately pull out any amount of water that they desire.
Once full, the Artifact will no longer fill itself with water.]

‘This… can be very useful.’ He can make an entire ocean and put anything inside it! Imagine the amount of plants and other lifeforms that Chrysalis could create to live inside this jar? Imagine what Namis could use this for? Imagine what else could be made with this jar as an inspiration? ‘I'll give it to my children later-’

Upon reading the description of the last item, he called Leaf immediately.

“Father, I'm here-”
“Eat this.”
“...what?”

-author-

Thank you: Dallas Meck, jean, Kaleb, underdog121, DarksoulS, Maxwell Joseph, Ether's Blessed One, Jared Tate, Sin of Sloth, Harrison Brown, Golden Mold, Yerock, Robbie, Jeremy, ry10970, Me Me, Gabriel, Captain Dragnee, and Tah Ma for your support.

Slide to the left-
Slide to the right-
Do the depression dance~

-now-

I don't even remember writing this.