From top to bottom, Shadow Tyrant flashed with Heavenly Thunder and Terrestrial Fire.

Every branch that tried to entangle it was cleanly severed. The blade glowed with an overwhelming sharpness.

With a single slash, the illusory Tree of Life was sliced down the middle from its roots, completely torn apart.

As the illusion was destroyed, Elder Heaven-Marsh coughed up a mouthful of blood and dropped to one knee, looking utterly drained.

Seeing this, all the blue-robed cultivators moved in front of him, forming a defensive line and staring warily at Xu Zimo.

“Are you declaring war against our Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground?” Elder Heaven-Clarity asked grimly.

“Go back and deliver a message to your Sacred Lord,” Xu Zimo said calmly. “Seven days from now, I’m coming to wipe out your lineage.”

The moment the words left his mouth, everyone’s face changed drastically.

“Arrogant!”

“Outrageous!”

“Reckless to the extreme!”

The blue-robed cultivators were furious, glaring at Xu Zimo with seething anger.

“I’m sparing you all for now,” Xu Zimo said as he sheathed Shadow Tyrant. “I’ll settle it all in seven days.”

Elder Heaven-Clarity held back her rage and tried to keep her voice calm.

“Very well. Remember what you said today. The Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground will be waiting for your arrival.”

After finishing her words, she took a deep breath.

In this era, trying to annihilate an Imperial Lineage was incredibly difficult.

However, the Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground wasn’t one of those ancient and declining lineages.

Many old Imperial Lineages were so ancient that most of their battle-hardened warriors could no longer awaken.

Some had even died inside Dustblood Coffins, never seeing the light again.

But their Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground was different. Since their founding ancestor, Grand Emperor Jue Tian, bore the Heaven’s Will, and the second patriarch, Grand Emperor Zhu Tian, ascended less than ten thousand years ago.

As a lineage with two Grand Emperors, they had both the confidence and the power.

Even among fellow Imperial Lineages, they feared no one.

…

Watching Elder Heaven-Clarity lead the blue-robed disciples away, Xu Zimo frowned slightly.

According to the Leaf of Life, the aura of the Mother Leaf had vanished right here.

Xu Zimo searched around the courtyard but found nothing unusual.

Just as he was deep in thought, he noticed a Seven-Hue Tree in the yard.

This tree was one of the most common plants in the Primordial Heartlands.

Every morning and evening, it emitted rainbow-colored light resembling sunrise and sunset, visually stunning.

Xu Zimo walked up to it and knocked on the trunk. A dull thud thud thud echoed from inside.

He slashed the trunk open with his blade, and to his surprise, it was hollow inside.

Inside the tree, endless spirit energy swirled around, forming a vortex-shaped void gate.

This gate was sealed off from everything outside. Xu Zimo stepped in without hesitation.

The moment he entered, before he could even find his footing, a gust of wind brushed past his ear, and something attacked his head.

Xu Zimo leapt into the air, dodging the blow.

“Why is it you?” said a stunned voice.

The attacker was none other than Yao Shengnan, who stared at him in disbelief.

They were in a very narrow space, with unstable spatial turbulence all around.

On the ground nearby, Little Gui lay bloodied and unconscious, his body extremely weak.

“What happened?” Xu Zimo asked as he stepped forward.

“He was hit while saving me,” Yao Shengnan said urgently. “His internal organs are all damaged. Please help him!”

Xu Zimo approached Little Gui, who was barely breathing and already unconscious.

He took out a pill from his storage ring and fed it to him.

“There’s too little spiritforce here. We need to get out first.”

Xu Zimo carried Little Gui out into the courtyard.

As the pill took effect, the surrounding spiritforce gathered and poured into Little Gui’s body, healing his injuries.

“Lend a hand, would you?” Xu Zimo said to the Leaf of Life.

The Leaf of Life hesitated, but eventually released soft green energy that flowed into Little Gui.

“What about the Mother Leaf you promised?” Xu Zimo turned to Yao Shengnan.

She took a deep breath and cautiously handed him a leaf.

Softly, she said, “Every time this Mother Leaf is used to teleport to the Tree of Life, it consumes a massive amount of energy. That’s why it’s usually dormant. Once you fulfill your promise to me, I’ll teach you how to use it.”

Xu Zimo took the Mother Leaf and stored it away.

He also casually stored the Leaf of Life again.

“Hey, didn’t you say you’d let me go once we found the Mother—”

Before the Leaf of Life could finish, Xu Zimo sealed it back into his ring.

“It seemed like it had something to say,” Yao Shengnan said cautiously.

“Oh? I didn’t hear anything,” Xu Zimo replied with a shake of his head.

“Now then, how about you tell me the truth, what’s the connection between your Celestial Race and the Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground?”

Yao Shengnan was silent for a while, then finally spoke.

“A long time ago, the Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground was founded by members of the Celestial Race. You already know the cruel reproductive rules of our clan, right?”

Xu Zimo nodded. “The parents must die when giving birth to two children, always one male and one female. That’s why your race could never grow large.”

“Right. Every child born comes at the cost of both parents,” Yao Shengnan said softly.

“So within the Celestial Race, some sought to break this curse of fate. Since reproduction always brought death… What if Celestial Race members bred with humans instead? With that idea in mind, many secretly began such experiments. Eventually, they discovered that interbreeding with humans could indeed bypass the fatal consequence.”

“And then?” Xu Zimo asked.

“You should know that every Celestial Race member is born with a Leaf of Life descending with them,” she said.

“But those born of mixed blood, between humans and our kind, aren’t protected by the Tree of Life. We, pure-blooded Celestial Race, can live very long lives, and choose when to have children. But those with human blood have extremely short lifespans.”

“So they wanted to steal your Life Leaves?” Xu Zimo guessed.

“Exactly. Long ago, whether it was Grand Emperor Jue Tian or Grand Emperor Zhu Tian, they still held ties to the Celestial Race, they forbade any action against us,” Yao Shengnan said.

“But the current Sacred Lord of Heaven-Severing Sacred Ground is an extremist. He wants to take our Life Leaves by force. When our race’s leader refused, he even ordered his disciples to exterminate our people.”