Xiangxiang, who was inside the Prayers Cave, didn't know what Zhang Ze had done, but even if she knew, she wouldn't be too surprised.

After all, she was accustomed to it.

At the moment, she was flipping through those records stored within blocks of Stone Steles and Bone Armor.

Although she couldn't perform Spirit Listening Technique, she had the Thousand Mechanism Technique.

A small Thousand Mechanism Puppet was sitting cross-legged beside her. The puppet's appearance resembled a much smaller version of Lily.

This Lily-looking puppet had Battle Patterns engraved on the surface, flashing yellow light intermittently, automatically performing Spirit Listening Technique to help Xiangxiang read the contents of the Stone Stele in front of her.

This little thing was an experimental machine from a project at the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion. The project didn't have a proper name, so it was only given a code.

[008]

In this project with an early code, some members of the Barbarian Tribe who joined the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion and Cultivators from Medicine King Valley were the core participants.

They wanted to use the methods of Thousand Mechanism Technique to decipher the secrets of the Barbarian Tribe's Spirit Listening Technique and Battle Patterns.

The goal was to eliminate the barrier between the Barbarian Race and the Human Race, allowing the Human Race to learn Spirit Listening Technique, and the Barbarian Race to feel Spiritual Qi.

Currently, they have successfully replicated the Spirit Listening Technique on the Thousand Mechanism Puppet.

The result is this incessant Lily One beside Xiangxiang and the Zhang Ze Two, which had been stored in the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion and had almost been stolen multiple times.

It is unknown who keeps trying to steal the Zhang Ze Two.

Now, the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion has dispatched personnel from the Celestial Sect to bolster the project's security level, so it seems the Zhang Ze Two won't go missing again.

This time, Xiangxiang brought Lily One here not only as an extra precaution but also to test the performance of this little thing.

However...

"Sigh~" Xiangxiang made a sighing gesture, "I should have brought the Zhang Ze Two out, this Lily One is so noisy."

It is unknown which smart person crafted an artificial Artifact Spirit for this little puppet, as this Artifact Spirit is practically Lily reincarnated.

Although its body is quietly sitting and reading the information in the Stone Stele, its mouth won't stop rambling.

Just like Lily.

Lily One opened its big mouth, muttering about the glorious deeds of those Priests, and instantly processing them into wild tales.

[The ancient book says, to prevent offending the morals, every naked body in the book is replaced with white clothes.]

[Therefore, revered as the White-Clad Main Priest for repelling ten thousand enemies with just one robe, Nalan Tianmeng is actually... Oh dear, squeaky squeaky... shutting down]

Just as the information had been completely read, Xiangxiang directly shut off the energy core of this troublesome device.

Wild tales may be wild, but they shouldn't be crap.

With quiet finally restored, data quickly scrolled before Xiangxiang's eyes, and soon she found what she wanted.

"Ah... It's indeed like this."

The refreshed data stopped, freezing on a small story about the first Main Priest of the Holy Tree.

The story told the reason why the Main Priest received the Holy Tree's divine grace.

According to the story, the Main Priest received the Holy Tree's grace not only because of his piety but also because he found a treasure.

A treasure that came from the East Continent.

A brocade box, flowing downstream, pushed to the shore, stained with blood.

Inside the brocade box was a golden Jade Pendant, engraved with an ancient towering tree.

The initial Main Priest only felt odd, just as he was about to compare it with the Holy Tree before him, the Jade Pendant transformed into a bit of Spiritual Light and flowed into his mind.

Since then, the grace of the Holy Tree has descended upon the heads of the Barbarian Tribe in the West Continent.

Most later generations believe this story to be fictional.

Because the Jade Pendant mentioned in the story came from the East Continent, if this matter were true, it feels embarrassing and wouldn't be conducive to the unity of the Barbarian Tribe.

Consequently, after the first Main Priest passed away, the later interpretation of this story is:

It's a profound, philosophical, wisdom-filled, twist-after-twist, metaphor-after-metaphor miraculous story.

Grasp the key to understanding, and one can superficially grasp the great wisdom of the initial Main Priest.

This story was decrypted during the time of the fifth Main Priest and became a must-fail exam question for every generation of Holy Son and Saintess candidates.

However, in Xiangxiang's view, this story has no metaphor.

The Main Priest simply found a Jade Pendant and honestly recorded it in his life memoirs.

Because, she knew that Jade Pendant.

Two hand-drawn images were projected by Xiangxiang in front of her.

On the left was the sketch made by the Main Priest, on the right was a sketch made by Zhang Ze, as the County Magistrate of White Jade County in his previous life.

The items depicted in the two sketches were the same, both were a tree-shaped Jade Pendant.

The first owner of that Jade Pendant was Zhang Ze.

In some sense, the grace of the Holy Tree was his from the start.

As for how the Jade Pendant ended up in the West Continent...

Whenever she thought of this, Xiangxiang's expression became somewhat peculiar.

The Jade Pendant was not stolen by someone, but sold by Zhang Ze himself.

[Zhang Ze: Because I was broke! If I hadn't been so wise and brave, wearing a black cloak and pulling off a bluff, and directly selling it at the auction house, and then immediately buying a title of nobility on the spot, making my way to becoming the County Magistrate of White Jade County, I would have long been devoured by this man-eating world.]

Zhang Ze had said this during a casual chat back then, and Xiangxiang remembered it clearly.

Later, when he rose to power and learned of the Holy Tree's existence, he had the notion of retrieving the Jade Pendant, but the auction house and the cultivators behind it had long been crushed into dust by the chaotic world, and all clues were severed, leaving nowhere to find it even if one wanted to.

Afterwards, he became even busier, especially when leading the Demon Race to the Northern Territory, and the matter was left unresolved.

Even Zhang Ze himself eventually forgot about it.

Xiangxiang chuckled, feeling that fate loved to play tricks.

Back in those days of war and chaos, cultivators attacking and killing each other was common; it's exactly the consequence of the saying "a man with a treasure may invite his own ruin."

From the bloodstains when the Main Priest picked up the box, it was evident how many conspiracies and ambushes had occurred over this item.

However, if it were Zhang Ze, he might indeed manage to evade repeated assassination attempts, undergo numerous adventures, and eventually reach the foot of the Holy Tree and unravel the secret of the Jade Pendant...

But that would be another story.

Perhaps that story would be more thrilling and suspenseful, but Xiangxiang was sure she wouldn't like it.

Because that story wouldn't include her or the people of White Jade County.

"But speaking of which, what's exactly the relationship between Zhang Ze and the Holy Tree..."

Xiangxiang activated her projection terminal, stored the powered-off Lily One inside, and then left the Spirit Listening Cave; she decided to find someone to discuss the matter.

However, just as she stepped out of the cave entrance, she was stunned on the spot.

Seeing the pink Holy Tree and Fucheng, she could guess with just a thought coil that it was Zhang Ze's doing.

"So romantic."

That's how Xiangxiang commented.

...

Below the Earth Sea.

Zhang Ze was unaware that Xiangxiang had found the whereabouts of that Jade Pendant, nor did he know how much trouble that flashy pink Holy Tree had caused the residents of Fucheng.

He was following that golden thread, continuing his advance into the depths of the Holy Tree.

Soon, he successfully reached the bottom, leading directly to the core, where he saw an arm.

The arm was enormous, nearly ten meters in length, with a dark blue color, its muscular lines prominent, and upon closer inspection, deeper patterns covered its surface.

Whether due to the arm's inherent power, or the effect of the patterns, an empty cavity had formed around the arm, with an invisible force slowly eroding the Holy Tree.

He knocked on the arm's surface, producing a dull sound, solid inside, without triggering a counterattack or opening a path to the interior.

Circling around the arm, Zhang Ze didn't find any trace of Li and Brother Feng.

Besides this, he still felt something was missing.

"What exactly is it..."

Only when Zhang Ze saw his right hand making a middle finger gesture did he realize.

The front section of this arm, the hand that was making the middle finger, was gone.

A flat cut appeared at the base of the arm.

It hadn't vanished into thin air, but had inserted itself further down.

Zhang Ze couldn't determine where the hand had gone or what lay beneath, as everything in the Earth Sea was unknown.

Discontinuities existed between spaces, like those fragmented roots outside the Holy Tree.

Another space might exist beneath the Holy Tree.

Zhang Ze bent down to explore, trying to pull the arm out.

But after several attempts, the arm didn't budge.

"What...what's below, can I go down?" Zhang Ze looked up and asked.

A moment later, another spiritual shock poured over him, more intense than the last time.

It felt like he was about to ascend to the heavens.

In a daze, Zhang Ze understood the Holy Tree's message.

[Indescribable, madness awaits]

Zhang Ze scratched his head, feeling a bit troubled, pondered for a moment, and decided to return to the surface first to discuss with the others.

And just then, reflecting whether Zhang Ze's earlier efforts to pull out the arm worked, or if the arm was indeed waiting for him there,

The seamlessly inserted arm suddenly showed a hint of looseness, and after a subtle vibration, it slid away.

By the time Zhang Ze noticed, it was too late; the hole expanded, leaving only half the arm.

At the same time, a suction force appeared from the hole, like a flushing toilet, pulling Zhang Ze in.

As the arm disappeared, the force eroding the Holy Tree became rootless water, and the wound started to heal, restoring the Holy Tree to its integrity.

The Holy Tree's spiritual shock echoed once more in this Earth Sea, but this time there was no one to receive it.

If Zhang Ze were still there, he could hear the Holy Tree say just two words.

[Relieved]