Chapter 412: Blooming

Yu Jingnian stared at Li An and sneered, "Stop talking nonsense.""If you can't bloom or bear fruit, you're a person without the Dao.""To disturb my Dao heart, you've fabricated such a long string of nonsense. It must be quite a lot of effort, isn't it?"Li An, however, smiled and said, "Putting the truth of your Dao on a dead tree.""How pitiful."Yu Jingnian shook his head and said, "Madness."Li An said seriously, "I'll take you somewhere.""But I must warn you again: if you go, your Dao heart will surely collapse.""Dare you?"Yu Jingnian said disdainfully, "Why not!""Where to?"Li An turned and walked into the attic behind him.The audience below all looked puzzled.The immortal geniuses' hearts relaxed completely and began to point fingers at Li An.At the same time,Li An led Yu Jingnian to the depths of the Immortal Dao Tower. Yu Jingnian frowned, for he was very familiar with this path. The entrance ahead was his daily training ground."How do you know this path?"Li An said calmly, "Lin Shuang told me."Yu Jingnian: "That's my cave."Li An: "Don't you think the immortal energy in your cave is a bit too much?"Yu Jingnian shook his head: "No."He had no reservations. If Li An wanted to enter, then let him.After entering the cave, Li An walked straight to the center of the formation where Yu Jingnian was meditating.At this moment,Shuangxue and Lin Shuang also arrived at the cave entrance, their eyes full of curiosity.The entire cave was extremely simple and plain, with only a formation and a formation platform, emitting a never-ending immortal energy.Li An stood in the center of the formation.Below, Yu Jingnian frowned, a little impatient, and said, "What exactly do you want to do?"Li An waved: "Come over here."Yu Jingnian stepped forward and stood in the formation: "And then?"At this moment... Li An looked down at his feet.Deep underground.Beside the dark, withered roots of the Heavenly Dao Tree.The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian looked up, frowning.At this moment,his gaze met Li An's.But the Immortal Emperor Ni Nian simply didn't believe Li An could actually reach this point.At this moment,on the formation.A pure black and a pure white round bead appeared in the palms of Li An's hands.He was a little nervous, unsure if they would work.This was something Li Wu Ce had left him last night, taken from the black briefcase.Li Wu Ce said, "This is a divine artifact Mr. Tian Ming brought specifically for you."Its function is—to bring order to your words!However, your remaining power is limited, so don't be too arrogant.At this moment,the voice of the Five Elements Emperor echoed in Li An's mind."With me here, there's no need to be nervous, no need to hesitate.""Begin!"Li An's eyes narrowed, and he whispered, "Formation, activate!"With the words falling. A mysterious light rose from the two black and white beads.This light instantly captured Yu Jingnian's attention, for he sensed a hint of immortal energy within it.Immortal energy is born from source energy.At this moment, the energy emanating from the black and white beads in Li An's hands felt like immortal energy, yet it seemed even more complex, even like... a higher power?A higher power of immortal energy?No, I must be overthinking it.Yu Jingnian shook his head.Then, the dense patterns in the formation beneath his feet were filled with the power in Li An's hands.Yu Jingnian remained expressionless.This was just an immortal gathering formation. When activated, a rich immortal energy would rise. Nothing special.But the next second.He suddenly felt dizzy.A sense of foreboding rose within him.Li An's voice echoed in his ears. "With my slow vision, I know two things for sure.""First, you love Lin Shuang, but you dare not say it.""Second, you deeply love the Immortal Realm and have immense trust in your uncle and grandmaster."Meanwhile.Underground.Beside the withered roots of the Heavenly Dao Tree.The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian's expression suddenly changed.Li An actually came down!?What to do?"Go!"The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian roared.His body flickered violently through space.But he couldn't leave, and was ultimately left there!The figure of the Five Elements Emperor slowly emerged before him.This plump, towering humanoid powerhouse shocked the Immortal Emperor Ni Nian.How could she be so powerful?Her elements were like a mountain, suffocating me.And I've already reached the fifth level of Dao Fruit.The other party is at least two levels higher!The seventh level?In the human world, besides those few pillars, are there any such powerful beings?And, she had always followed the geniuses of the Cultivation Temple, making her very conspicuous.But she had never noticed."Don't you want to know who will remain in the human race after Zhuge Tianming's death?"The Five Elements Emperor's expression was cold and indifferent.The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian's heart skipped a beat.The Five Elements Emperor stood aside, his hands behind his back, a hint of sarcasm suddenly etched on his face.The next second,Li An and Yu Jingnian appeared simultaneously.They stood beside the dead roots of the Heavenly Dao Tree.A faint floral fragrance filled the air.Then the Five Elements Emperor raised his hand and shone a beam of light, illuminating the dark underground.Yu Jingnian looked up.The fragrance didn't come from the roots, but from the Immortal Emperor Ni Nian's hands. Li An smiled, pointing at his hands, and said to Yu Jingnian, "You see, the people of the Immortal Realm really love to make their own rules and hold them as truth, even claiming they're the Way of Heaven."At that moment,Yu Jingnian froze in his tracks.A look of panic crossed the face of the Immortal Emperor Ni Nian.But he reacted quickly, saying, "What are you two doing here?!""Jingnian, why are you here?"Li An glanced at the stunned Yu Jingnian and said, "Look, you're turning the tables and confusing right and wrong.""You're not stupid.""You can feel whether the tree's roots are still alive.""You should also know where those red flowers on the tree came from.""Come.""How many flowers do you want on that tree?""I'll ask your respected uncle to arrange it for you!"The teasing voice echoed in Yu Jingnian's mind.At that moment, his heart ached, unable to accept the absurd scene before him.There was no such thing as a Heavenly Dao Tree.This was all a hoax. That means Li An's teachings might not be wrong.The teachings I believe in might not be right either.So what is true now? What is false?"Uncle Master, why are you doing this?" Yu Jingnian said weakly, looking at the Immortal Emperor Ni Nian.The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian was speechless, silently praying for other powerful beings to come and rescue him. "Yu'er, don't be fooled by these two humans!""Uncle Master is doing this for your own good."At this moment, Li An chuckled softly and walked calmly toward the tree root, saying as he walked, "Cultivating a tree, planting a few flowers, will determine whether someone's life path is strong or weak, good or bad.""Only geniuses like you in the Immortal Realm can do this.""What's even more bizarre is that so many people still believe in the mystery of this Heavenly Dao Tree."Suddenly, the Five Elements Emperor said calmly, "The tree is real.""Many years ago, this tree was still alive. In recent years, I don't know what the Immortal Realm did to kill this sacred tree.""What a waste of nature."Li An raised an eyebrow.Suddenly...A rustling sound echoed from the silent cave.Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.They saw a forked tree root struggling to reach toward Li An.At this moment... Yu Jingnian, a great genius of the Immortal Realm, suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart, his eyes suddenly reddening.He felt deeply that the forked branch resembled a withered, aged arm.And that arm was begging for help.Asking Li An for help!The Immortal Emperor Ni Nian saw this, his pupils suddenly constricting."How is this possible!?"The next second, he abruptly raised his right hand and released a stream of immortal energy, attempting to sever the life force that should have been extinguished!"No!"Yu Jingnian roared.The Five Elements Emperor had already made his move, casually extinguishing the immortal energy.The dry tree root, like a palm, pressed against Li An's.An old, decayed voice echoed in Li An's mind, its voice intermittent. "You... have his aura.""He once lingered on you...""You are someone he... trusts...""The sky is about to fall... If you wish to save it... the Immortal God Ship... in its deepest depths... carry my last breath... and open the gate to the end of the law.""Don't let Ri Lingze discover you... Don't... don't."Li An's eyes were tightly shut.He suddenly felt a tremendous sense of responsibility falling upon his shoulders.The Heavenly Dao Tree said the sky was about to fall.The method to save the sky lies in the deepest depths of the Immortal God Ship, a forbidden area in the Immortal Realm!"I know!"Li An responded in a deep voice.But his words were silent.His vision was also obscured by a burst of bright light.He opened his eyes again.He was back on the ground, right in front of the Heavenly Dao Tree, where hundreds of geniuses stood. "That Li An is a complete idiot. Listen to him talk about the seven emotions and six desires aiding in cultivation. I think his mind has been ruined by all that martial arts training.""He even discussed the Dao with my brother Yu. We've been talking for ages, and not a single flower has appeared. How ridiculous!""Hey, why is he there?"The geniuses of the Celestial Realm mocked Li An without mercy, and even when they saw him in front of everyone, they didn't seem to hold back.One even mocked him to his face, "Great Genius Li, an iron tree won't bloom for an uncivilized mortal."Then he burst into laughter, and the other Celestial Realms joined in the mockery.The shrill laughter echoed along the cliffside.Some of the mortal geniuses couldn't help but laugh and were about to turn back to retaliate.But suddenly...A gentle breeze blew past.The entire cliff was hushed.Standing beneath the Heavenly Dao Tree, Li An was lost in thought, seemingly oblivious to the others' laughter.Suddenly, the fragrance of flowers filled his nostrils. Li An looked up at the Immortal Dao Tower.On the observation deck, Frost and Snow stared back at Li An with a look of amazement, exclaiming, "How beautiful..."Hearing this, Li An turned and looked.The dark branches of the Iron Tree were tinged with a green hue by the wind.Red flowers, densely packed high on the branches.One, two, three...Someone tried to count them, but it was impossible.The green plums and red flowers bloomed on this ancient tree, its last rays of light, a breathtaking beauty.Suddenly..."Swish, swish, swish..."The mountain breeze grew noisy, like a sad farewell song.The red flowers were blown away by the wind, their fragrance wafting across the land for thousands of miles, as if the Heavenly Dao Tree had bestowed its final blessing upon this immortal world. From now on, we owe each other nothing.The branches and flowers were blown away, transforming into tiny pinpricks of light.A female voice rang out from the observation deck again. Lin Shuang's face was filled with shock, and she almost lost her composure as she exclaimed, "How is this possible!?"Her gaze fell on the spot in front of Li An.Li An had been admiring the poignant withering beauty of the Heavenly Dao Tree.He had forgotten to look back at the road ahead. Only when he turned did he realize that the crimson flowers and shimmering light, like a galaxy, stretched beneath his feet and extended in the direction he was heading.Li An gazed into the distance, the vast sky illuminating his vision.