Chapter Sixty-Seven: Grass and Radishes?

Page 1/3

Under the shroud of night, the wilderness lay in utter silence, yet all present were gripped by the tense anticipation of battle. Armed men stood in a fan-shaped formation beneath the shadow of the great oak. Within this perimeter, nearly five hundred members of the Simon clan, serving as priests, gathered at the center—men taking up the watch while women soothed the unarmed medics in their charge.

Though these priests bore no firearms, the three weeks of ritual enhancement granted by the oak tree had imbued their bodies with a power that would astonish any observer. Amidst this poised readiness, Ji Yu was also scanning for any nearby threats.

Surveying the surroundings, he saw nothing alive in the entire expanse of wilderness—indeed, not a single living thing stirred on the grassland. There were no animal calls, no strange fluctuations of Violet Moon energy—only a silence that verged on the unnatural.

The more absolute the stillness, the more Ji Yu sensed that something was amiss. How could such an immense prairie be devoid of life? Even if there were no carnivores, there ought to be insects, rabbits, or some herbivores. After all, this was a sea of purple-green grass that reached the height of a man.

Unless…

Suddenly, a possibility struck him. No sooner had the thought formed than Ji Yu began to direct the oak’s roots into action.

The oak now possessed sixty-seven thick roots. The longest stretched over eight hundred meters, while even the shortest exceeded two hundred. Countless fine rootlets branched from these main roots, so numerous as to defy counting. In fact, the root system was now many times more extensive than the trunk exposed above ground.

It made sense—after all, supporting a tree that soared over three hundred meters required a foundation of roots both immense and robust. Without such, it could never stand firm against the earth or the fierce high-altitude winds.

Yet, for all their abundance, Ji Yu could only control six roots at a time effectively. Anything more exceeded his capacity for precise command. Moreover, he was careful never to move the central core roots, which alone kept the oak upright.

At three hundred and twenty-seven meters tall, the great oak was even longer than some aircraft carriers.

Page 2/3

In terms of tonnage, one could say with certainty that the oak weighed no less than a seventy- or eighty-thousand-ton carrier. A living, water-laden trunk over three hundred meters tall—without a dense body and an extensive root network, it could never remain standing. The powerful winds aloft were no laughing matter.

Certain he must not disturb the main roots, Ji Yu selected six of the outer roots, each nearly five hundred meters long. These extended from deep within the muddy and rocky layers of the earth.

Almost at once, the ground began to tremble, a deep rumble spreading outward.

“Don’t panic—it’s the sacred tree’s roots. Stay alert, but remain calm,” Simon called out immediately to reassure the anxious people of Xiyue as the familiar underground vibration sounded.

“The sacred tree?” They were curious, but quieted down at once. Even those unfamiliar with the oak’s mysteries had heard much about the great tree before their arrival. With Simon’s words, the initial anxiety of encountering this strange Violet Moon world began to ebb, replaced by a sense of security, and faith in the oak—a hope pinned upon the ancient tree.

All wondered what the mystical tree intended to do. If the oak, possessed of its own will, made such a commotion, surely something important was about to unfold.

…

Beneath the surface, as Ji Yu’s roots spread outward, he immediately sensed something unusual. Beyond the oak’s own roots, the surrounding earth was saturated with the unique taint of Violet Moon energy. As soon as the roots entered the soil, the polluted energy surged to envelop them as though to defend against an intruder. Unfortunately for it, the oak’s resistance to negative forces rendered the corruption almost harmless.

The Violet Moon hung high, its energy falling impartially over everything. Without an especially potent or concentrated pollution, the oak’s roots met little resistance.

But aside from the Violet Moon’s energy, another battle erupted.

Countless hair-thin black lines suddenly surged toward the oak’s roots—these were not manifestations of Violet Moon energy, but the root systems of the dense, man-high grasses above.

These grass roots were fiercely aggressive, and the instant they sensed the oak’s intrusion, they coiled swiftly around its roots.

Page 3/3

“Heh, so it really is you,” Ji Yu sneered, making no extraneous move. As the mass of grass roots wrapped around his own, the fine rootlets of the oak rose to meet them.

Silently, beneath the soil, the oak’s tendrils and the grass roots tangled and entwined, binding together in a struggle. The grass roots tightened with mechanical fury, as if to strangle the foreign invader. Yet such efforts were useless against the oak’s roots; in fact, they only made Ji Yu’s next move easier.

Just as Ji Yu wrestled with the grasses underground, an unexpected transformation unfolded above. The once calm, level grassland—disturbed by the trembling earth—suddenly stood bolt upright. The breeze passed, yet each blade remained rigid. Under the Violet Moon’s glow, their upright tips and edges glinted with the sheen of sharpened metal blades.

In that moment, most beneath the oak’s shadow broke out in a cold sweat.

“Thank goodness we fled the grass,” Simon thought, terror-stricken. “If we were still there, those grass blades would have sliced us to ribbons in an instant!”

Still, he felt a measure of relief—clearly, the sacred tree had anticipated this.

Without delay, Simon called out, “Everyone, fall back in order—keep five meters from the grass, now!”

There was little need for urging; at the first sign of the grass’s transformation, everyone had already recoiled in fright. With the command, they retreated further without hesitation.

Yet as the group reeled from the grassland’s menace, a sudden thunderous crash erupted. Fifty meters beyond the grass, a gigantic oak root burst from the earth.

It surged forth like a dragon leaping from the sea, its emergence accompanied by a swell of horrific, piercing shrieks—so sudden and intense they rose in wave after wave, stabbing through the mind.

Everyone instinctively covered their ears, but the dreadful screams echoed still within their skulls. Even wracked with pain, they could not help but raise their heads and look toward the erupting root.

What they saw would be forever seared into memory.

The root soared skyward, lifting swathes of grass with it—and beneath those grasses, they saw them.

Small, pale creatures, tender and white as young radishes, yet each with a mouth and eyes—beings of mystery revealed at last.