Inside the pyramid.

Lin Wei stood before a large viewing screen displaying the enormous figure of the Colossal Tree in the distance.

"Good," he said with clear satisfaction. "The tree is completely focused on its evolution. It hasn't even noticed us getting this close. Our timing couldn't be better."

He crossed his arms, clearly pleased with the situation.

"If we tried to do this during normal circumstances, it would have attacked us the moment we entered its domain," he continued. "But now, maybe it's too busy evolving to care."

Angela and Lana stood nearby, both looking equally excited. They were praising how lucky their husband is.

Although things hadn't gone exactly according to Lin Wei's original plan, the current timing had turned out to be extremely advantageous. He had never imagined that during an evolution, the Colossal Tree would have simply ignored him. Even without the extra backup bloodline power he had planned to collect earlier, Lin Wei was now confident that success was within reach.

He raised his hand and activated the array panels.

The entire pyramid trembled slightly as ancient runic circuits began lighting up across its surface.

"Let the summoning begin!" Lin Wei announced.

Lin Wei placed both hands firmly on the throne's armrests, his eyes glowing with intense focus as streams of data and runic symbols flowed across the screens before him.

The pyramid shuddered.

A deep, resonant hum rolled through the structure like the awakening of some ancient machine that had slept for ages.

Then it began to divide.

The massive pyramid split apart along perfectly precise geometric lines. The transformation was smooth and deliberate, as if the entire structure had always been designed for this moment. Layer by layer, the colossal construct separated into four identical smaller pyramids, each one drifting away with controlled, effortless movement.

Their metallic surfaces gleamed under the sunlight, etched with faint runic patterns that pulsed like quiet heartbeats.

Three of the pyramids slowly moved away from the central one, gliding across the sky like silent guardians taking their assigned positions.

North. East. South.

The original pyramid remained where it was in the west, completing a perfect square formation around the distant Colossal Tree.

For a moment, the four pyramids hovered in absolute stillness.

Then they began to shine.

Light erupted from the peaks of each pyramid, brilliant and pure, rising upward like towering pillars that pierced the sky. The beams shot straight toward the heavens before gradually bending inward, converging toward a single point high above the Colossal Tree.

From the ground below, it looked as if four spears of light were stitching the sky together.

Where the beams met, the air trembled.

At the same time, a circular band of radiant energy appeared around the Colossal Tree at the same height as the pyramids. The entire tree was now encircled.

The ring pulsed rhythmically, releasing waves of ancient power that rippled through the surrounding sky. Even from far away, the sheer pressure of that energy was enough to make the air feel heavy.

Then the beams intensified.

The four pillars of light brightened until they became almost impossible to look at directly. Space around them began to distort slightly, bending and shimmering as if reality itself was struggling to contain the force being channeled through the pyramids.

At the exact point where the beams converged, something began to form.

A thin purple slit appeared.

At first it was barely noticeable, like a crack in the sky itself. But it expanded rapidly, the edges stretching wider as dark violet energy poured out from within.

The slit stabilized, thickened, and slowly unfolded. Within moments, a massive portal had taken shape high above the Colossal Tree.

Its surface rippled with calm, deep purple energy, smooth and stable like the surface of a quiet cosmic ocean. The portal dwarfed the one that had once appeared in Bellion's city, easily ten times larger, hanging in the sky like a second moon made of swirling void.

Below it, the four pyramids continued to hum in perfect unison, their beams locking the gateway in place.

Inside the central pyramid, Lin Wei leaned back slightly on his throne, watching the result unfold on the massive viewing screen before him.

A triumphant smile slowly spread across his face.

Everything was proceeding far more smoothly than Lin Wei had expected, so smoothly that it almost felt as if some unseen hand was quietly clearing the path for him.

According to his original calculations, carrying out this operation should have been extremely dangerous. The moment the pyramids approached the Colossal Tree's territory, they should have been met with relentless attacks. How violently the tree reacted would depend on how much it perceived the pyramids as a threat, but Lin Wei had already prepared himself for the worst.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After all, he had experienced its power once before.

From that previous encounter, he had long anticipated that approaching the tree again would invite an overwhelming assault. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

That was precisely why he had spent so much time gathering spiritual veins. Those veins were meant to provide an enormous reserve of energy, enough for the pyramids to continuously defend themselves while maintaining the summoning process. He had been fully prepared to endure a brutal battle while completing the ritual.

Yet now, none of that was happening.

The sudden evolution of the Colossal Tree had completely removed the greatest obstacle from his plan. The tree's attention was entirely focused inward, its power circulating through its immense roots and trunk as it transformed. It showed no reaction to the pyramids hovering nearby.

Lin Wei was able to proceed with the summoning without resistance.

He couldn't help but feel that fortune itself was smiling upon him.

Looks like the Goddess of Luck is on my side today, he thought with quiet satisfaction.

Meanwhile, far below the sky-bound ritual, Leyvi and the others were doing the exact opposite of celebrating.

They were running.

The moment the massive ring of energy formed around the Colossal Tree, nearly everyone had assumed that some catastrophic attack was about to be unleashed. The sheer scale of the formation alone was enough to make their hearts pound with fear.

If something like that exploded or swept outward, anyone nearby would almost certainly be annihilated.

So without hesitation, the survivors ran with everything they had.

Carriages rattled violently as they were dragged across the ground, cultivators pushed their bodies to their limits, and countless people fled like a tide escaping a coming storm.

Leyvi himself was running along with the group, though his mind was filled with complaints.

That Lin Wei… does he not see how many people are down here? Leyvi grumbled inwardly. What if that attack sweeps across the land and wipes everyone out?

For a while, everyone expected a devastating strike to descend from the sky.

But nothing happened.

After running for quite some time, the terrifying attack they had been bracing for never came. Instead, the radiant ring that had surrounded the Colossal Tree gradually faded away until it completely disappeared.

One by one, people slowed down.

Eventually, the fleeing crowd came to a confused stop.

They turned back to look at the distant tree, their expressions full of uncertainty.

"What… happened?"

"Did it fail?"

"The tree is still there…"

From where they stood, nothing seemed to have changed. The Colossal Tree remained exactly as it was, towering over the land like an unmoving mountain.

No attack. No explosion. No sign of damage.

Everyone could only stare in bewilderment.

At that moment, however, there was one person among them who could actually see what had truly happened.

Ava Clover.

With her new Quantum Eye power, her eyes could see things so far away that she was able to see high above the Colossal Tree. She focused on where the beams had converged moments ago.

There, she saw it.

A fully opened portal.

Through the portal, a figure descended into this world.

He appeared to be a man in his middle years, though such labels carried little meaning for someone who had clearly surpassed the limits of ordinary cultivation. His long dark hair flowed behind him as he drifted downward from the portal, streaked with thin strands of silver that shimmered faintly with their own inner light, untouched by wind or gravity.

He wore robes of quiet yet unmistakable elegance. Deep purple silk embroidered with intricate golden threads formed patterns so complex that the eye could not fully follow them. The designs shifted subtly as he moved, like living constellations gliding across the surface of the fabric.

Around his neck hung a pendant. A single gem that pulsed with a light matching the portal's hue.

His presence was overwhelming. Even before he unleashed anything, the very space around him seemed to bow.

Although it was only a split second, Ava noticed that he glanced at her.

The realization struck her like lightning. Her heart nearly stopped as a cold chill ran down her spine. With the perception granted by her Quantum Eye, she immediately understood something terrifying.

This man was an existence far beyond anything she had ever encountered.

Her intuition told her that his cultivation far exceeded anyone from her world. Even though she had never seen a Dao Manifestation Realm cultivator, she felt that this man was way beyond that level.

And her intuition would be proven correct very soon.

The man unleashed his aura. It was not an attack. It was not even a deliberate display of power. It was simply his presence.

The whole world trembled. The air quaked.

Ava felt this aura and immediately fainted.

Not just her. All living beings in this world passed out, collapsing where they stood.

Except for a few.

One of them was Leyvi. He did not faint, but he became paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle. He did not know what he had just felt. The sensation was beyond comprehension, beyond description. But when he saw everyone around him collapse, his heart filled with dread.

At the same time, the aura washed over the Colossal Tree like a tidal wave crashing against a sandcastle.

The tree had been utterly focused, its entire consciousness dedicated to comprehending the Laws of Space. Feeling the foreign aura invade its being, rage flickered through its ancient consciousness.

How dare something interrupt its moment of apotheosis? After countless millennia of waiting, of scheming, of slowly devouring the world's consciousness, and finally being bestowed with a lucky chance to transcend, how dare anything interfere?

The tree's vast canopy stirred. Millions of leaves rustled with murderous intent. Every branch, every root, every part of its colossal form prepared to strike. It would crush this insolent being who dared appear above it.

Then it sensed more.

The rage vanished.

In its place came something the Colossal Tree had never felt ever since it became sentient.

Terror.

The being above was not just strong. It was not just powerful. It existed on a level the tree could not comprehend, could not measure, could not even properly sense. The aura that washed over it was like an ocean compared to a drop of water.

The tree's consciousness screamed.

Its canopy lashed out, not with killing intent now, but with desperate survival instinct. Thousands of branches, each thick as mountains, shot toward the figure in the sky. Leaves sharpened to edges that could slice through reality itself. The entire might of the World Piercer Tree, honed over eons, focused into a single attack meant to obliterate the threat.

The man did not move.

He raised one hand.

A single beam of light descended from above him. It was not large. Not particularly bright. Not flashy or dramatic.

It pierced through the canopy like a needle through cloth.

Through branches. Through the trunk. Through every layer of defense the tree had accumulated over its existence.

Straight to the heart.

Deep within the Colossal Tree, hidden behind layers of wood and energy and protection, rested its demonic heart. The source of its consciousness. The core of its power. The thing that made it more than just a tree.

The beam struck it directly.

For a single moment, the Colossal Tree's consciousness screamed. Not in rage. Not in defiance. But in the final, ultimate agony of annihilation.

Then silence.

The light faded.

The Colossal Tree stood still. Its massive form unchanged, towering over the world as it always has. The evolution glow disappears. The vast shade reappeared.

The Colossal Tree that had been planning for its transcendence, that had wiped out its own worshippers, that had slowly consumed the world's consciousness, was extinguished.

What remained was simply a tree.

A colossal tree, yes. The largest thing in this world by far. But just a tree.

Just wood. Just leaves. Just something that would stand there until time or nature claimed it.

No longer a demonic tree.