Chapter 879: Branch

Zhou Huai lowered his head to look at the unfolded map of sacred traces on the ground. The ancient tree on the scroll was flickering with a faint emerald green light, and Rahil's figure had completely merged into the painting, transforming into a tiny green light spot.

"Could this painting also be a world?"

He was slightly surprised. It was not uncommon for high-dimensional items to form their own spaces, but paintings that could perfectly operate the Law of life and even shield the Mental Energy of a Half-step Transcendent were rare.

Since his Mental Energy could not probe into it, he would directly switch to his Clone's perspective.

Zhou Huai closed his eyes and concentrated, transferring his main consciousness into Rahil's body.

Hum——!

After a slight dizziness, his vision suddenly cleared up.

When he opened his eyes again, what came into view was a vibrant real world.

The sky presented a pale green color, and the air was filled with the aura of the Law of life that was almost liquefied. Just by breathing, Zhou Huai perceived an instinctive joy transmitted from this World Tree Clone.

The emerald green grass beneath his feet emitted a faint light, and the dewdrops between the grass blades contained immense vitality. The distant mountains were shrouded in pale green mist, and exotic beasts purely condensed from life energy could be faintly seen running about.

Right in the center of the world stood a colossal giant tree.

Zhou Huai looked up. The trunk was as thick as a mountain, and the dark brown bark was covered with profound Law patterns, regularly flashing with green light. The sky-shielding canopy extended outward, almost covering this entire realm.

Standing in front of this giant tree, Zhou Huai perceived a surge of life fluctuations rolling in like a tide.

That throbbing and familiarity of a Bloodline connection could definitely not be wrong.

"This sacred tree really does have some connection with my mother."

Zhou Huai opened his eyes. After experiencing numerous twists and turns infiltrating the Free Federation, he had finally touched upon the most crucial clue.

Just at that moment, a woman's voice suddenly came from the giant tree.

The voice was ethereal and illusory, resounding from all directions, exuding holiness and a hint of doubt.

"Who is it?"

"I sense a familiar aura."

As the voice fell, the Law patterns on the tree trunk shone with brilliant light. Countless emerald green light spots drifted down from the leaves, gathering in mid-air into a giant eye of light, condescendingly gazing at Zhou Huai.

Meeting that gaze, Zhou Huai asked in return, "Do you know me?"

The giant tree fell silent.

The eye of light narrowed slightly, scrutinizing the elven man before it who exuded a pure aura of life all over his body.

After a moment, the giant tree let out a chuckle, carrying a bit of banter.

"What makes you think I would know you?" The woman's voice sounded again.

Zhou Huai continued to ask, "What is your relationship with the origin sacred tree?"

As soon as his voice fell, the air in the World Within the Painting seemed to freeze.

The falling green light spots suddenly stagnated, and the eye of light flickered violently.

The giant tree fell into an even longer silence, and the surrounding Laws of life even showed a trace of disorder.

After a long time, the giant tree's voice came again, its tone calm.

"What other relationship could there be?"

"I am the origin sacred tree."

Zhou Huai narrowed his eyes: "Do you think this joke is funny?"

If what was before him was truly the main body of the origin sacred tree, why would Mr. Duan go through such painstaking efforts to search for it? And how could his mother be trapped? Although this tree was rich in the Law of life, compared to the real origin sacred tree, its foundation was obviously insufficient.

Facing the question, the giant tree said bluntly, "Why would I joke with you?"

It paused, its voice becoming distant.

"To be precise, I am a small branch on the origin sacred tree."

"You can understand it as a small twig."

A small twig?

Zhou Huai was slightly startled. Hearing this word from the mouth of a sky-shielding giant tree felt somewhat discordant.

"Yes."

The giant tree continued, "That was over a hundred years ago."

"At that time, in order to get rid of Mr. Duan's control, our main body secretly split into countless small twigs, and I was one of them."

Hearing "Mr. Duan", Zhou Huai's gaze condensed.

The giant tree's voice carried a mixture of fortune and helplessness: "At that time I was still just a small sapling that had just escaped."

"And I was caught by a painter named Da Vinci."

"Da Vinci?"

"Correct."

The giant tree's voice softened a bit: "But later, he and I became close friends who talked about everything."

"To prevent me from being caught by Mr. Duan again, Da Vinci Sealed me inside this painting."

"This also caused me to slumber in the painting all along."

The giant tree's eye of light looked at Zhou Huai again.

"It was your appearance that awakened me."

"Do you know why I told you so much?"

"Why?"

"Because I can sense that you have my aura on your body."

"It makes me feel very close."

Zhou Huai understood. No wonder the other party had an aura similar to his mother's; it turned out to be his mother's branch. As a biological son, the Bloodline imprint deep within his Soul naturally shared the same origin.

The giant tree's eye of light flickered slightly: "I have answered your question; now shouldn't it be your turn to answer mine."

Zhou Huai's expression was calm: "What do you want to ask?"

The giant tree's voice became somewhat eager: "Isolated from the world inside the painting, I have lost contact with the main body."

"What on earth is the situation outside?"

Zhou Huai's expression turned solemn, and he stated honestly: "Unfortunately, the main body of the origin sacred tree is probably still under Mr. Duan's control."

"My purpose this time is also to rescue the origin sacred tree, only that I am currently unclear about the specific location of the sacred tree."

The World Within the Painting fell into a dead silence once more.

The green light spots all over the sky hovered in place, and the exotic beasts condensed from life energy also stopped, looking uneasily at the giant tree.

The giant tree remained silent for a long time before slowly opening its mouth: "If that is the case, perhaps I can help you."

The World Within the Painting was lush and verdant.

After listening to the giant tree's words and seeing the other party readily agree, Zhou Huai was not surprised.

Since it was the guidance of the Heavenly Dao System, it was only natural to introduce an NPC at this node who could push the main plot forward.

The Heavenly Dao was almost feeding the food directly into his mouth itself, for fear that something would go wrong in his plan to oppose Mr. Duan.

Looking at that giant eye of light, Zhou Huai asked, "In that case, how can I help you leave this place?"

The giant tree's voice came from all directions: "Very simple. The essence of this painting is an independent space. Back then, to protect me, Da Vinci set up a Sealing Law on the outermost layer of the scroll."

"You just need to use a powerful enough external force outside to break the Seal inside this painting."

"As long as the Seal shatters, I will naturally be able to break free."

Zhou Huai did not delay any longer.

"Wait for me."

His main consciousness withdrew from Rahil's body and returned to his original body.