Reborn as a Demonic Tree-Novel

Realizing his immunity to void-based attacks, Ashlock found some comfort in knowing he wouldn't be reduced to splinters by the Voidmind Elder's newly formed arm of pure void. But his mind was troubled by concerns for the girl's safety.

He wasn't certain if Larry could even stand against a peak Star Core cultivator, yet he had to try. "Larry, return immediately!" he called through the tether. A confirmation pulsed through their connection, but dread still choked him. Would Larry make it back in time?

The Voidmind Elder stopped cackling with manic laughter as he seemed to notice Stella and Diana, who were frozen off to the side, their legs trembling under this Star Core Realm gravity. Even Ashlock felt his branches creaking from the pressure, but he was naturally more resistant as a tree also in the Star Core Realm compared to the girls who were fleshy beings in a lower realm.

Ashlock had no idea what Stella had insinuated and was even more confused about the man's words. Were all high-rank cultivators so arrogant and delusional? The man did say he was ancient, and his elderly appearance, despite being in such a high realm, suggested he was telling the truth.

"So his aim is to consume my eye to attain the Nascent Soul Realm?" Ashlock's bark shuddered at the thought, and he frantically considered ways to assist Stella. Alas, the Elder's strength far outmatched either of the girls', rendering them virtually helpless. His own Qi reserves were critically depleted, and he had already failed to make a dent in the Elder's defenses.

His system was equally worthless in this situation. With only a meager amount of credits saved and an inventory devoid of high-grade items, Ashlock was at a loss. "If I could somehow trick him into drinking my cursed sap and transform him into a tree... or if I could just delay him long enough for Larry to arrive, we might have a chance."

Creating a portal to whisk the girls to safety had also crossed his mind, but the Elder had already demonstrated his uncanny ability to traverse portals near-instantaneously. Furthermore, Ashlock's strength was at its peak when the Elder was within proximity of his trunk.

A wave of intense murderous intent engulfed the entire mountaintop, prompting Stella and Diana to try summoning swords from their spatial rings as the Elder got too close, but the tips of their blades were forced against the floor by the pressure.

This was the insurmountable difference between realms that was almost impossible to overcome. What level of power would the man wield if he got through his bottleneck and made it into the Nascent Soul Realm? Ashlock didn't even want to imagine.

Events unfolded in a swift blur. The Elder's pure void arm morphed into a sword of utter darkness. Poised over Stella's head, he readied to execute her.

Ashlock's near-depleted Star Core roared to life with its dying breath—over ten portals materialized between the Elder and Stella, but the sword cleaved through them easily. Ashlock also sent more black vines coated in spikes with {Devour} at the man, but the void flames enshrouding the man deleted them out of existence before they could even leave a tear in his cloak.

A cataclysmic eruption of spatial Qi ensued as all ten portals were annihilated, followed by a piercing scream. Then, a dreadful stillness enveloped Ashlock. He knew his defensive efforts had been futile in shielding Stella, who had been unable to lift her head to see the blade destined to end her life.

Maple, perched on Stella's head, stood tall with his white fur shimmering radiantly under the noon sun. His mythical golden eyes met the gaze of the Grand Elder. He then twisted his paw and ripped the void blade in two, compelling the Voidmind Elder to retreat and regain control over the leaking void from his arm.

A wave of relief washed over Ashlock as one of his most powerful allies finally appeared, but he knew he wasn't out of the woods just yet. The Elder had suffered some damage from Maple's attack, but through his pact link with Maple, he could tell that blocking the attack had taken a lot out of the squirrel despite his defiant stance.

The Elder wasn't far from the truth. Ashlock wondered how he would react when he saw Larry—but the spider was still outside his portal range, and Ashlock doubted whether Maple could hold off the Elder on his own for much longer.

With a void step, the Elder virtually teleported across the peak via fractured space and slashed with the divine sword at Stella and Maple, the air shuddered as a shield of void from Maple's paws appeared, but the blade cleaved through it easily. Maple redirected the sword's trajectory with his claws, spraying silver sparks and leaving deep gashes in the side of the blade.

Maple nursed his injured paw as black blood trickled down and dripped onto Stella's forehead. She tried to raise her head to look up at Maple, but the pressure from the Elder's gravity had increased once more.

Meanwhile, despite being pinned to the stone by the pressure, Diana had managed to cast her mist technique, slightly dulling the Elder's senses and providing Maple with some assistance.

Ashlock also kept casting {Devour}, but the vines were getting thinner and coated in less spatial Qi as he tried to save up enough Qi to cast a long-range portal to bring Larry here.

The spider was far out in the wilderness and would soon reach the wall of trees he had started building, which served as the current limit to his range out into the wilderness.

Maple and the Elder clashed repeatedly, but it was clear that the Elder had a slight upper hand as Maple sustained more and more injuries. Ashlock surmised that if Maple didn't have to shield Stella, he could unleash a full-power attack as he had against the Dao Storm. But the risk of injuring Stella or leaving her vulnerable to the Elder's attack rendered him to a defensive stance, doing his best to repel the onslaught.

Using the last drops of spatial Qi in his Star Core, a portal that wobbled at the edges as if unstable manifested, and Larry crawled through without hesitation.

The Elder's eyes bulged as he saw the looming shadow of Larry through Diana's haunted mist behind Stella. Eight glowing red eyes glared at him as Larry lept through the mist and landed between the Elder and Stella.

Larry shot forth an ash-coated limb with lightning speed, nothing more than a blur. The Elder hastily raised his heavily damaged divine sword to parry the strike, only to have the blade shatter under the sheer force of the blow, sending him sprawling to the side.

His entire body flared up with Qi, and he muttered, "Reality Rend."

Reality ripped apart as if the man had peeled back the wallpaper of the world and stepped through the tear. Beyond lay nothing but darkness. Time seemed to distort, his figure elongating infinitely as if teetering on the edge of a black hole. The spectacle was baffling, but one thing was clear: this wasn't an offensive maneuver; it was an escape attempt.

If he succeeded, he could inform the Patriarch, gather his allies, and perhaps even the Grand Elder of his family that was supposedly stronger than him.

Ashlock found the strange voice's source, expecting to see Stella and Maple. However, only Stella was visible—Maple had vanished.

The eye offered no response to the Elder's question. The world quaked and fractured as if subjected to an immense external force compressing the void. The Elder attempted to resist, but he was overpowered. Moments later, the eye vanished, replaced by the warm sunlight as Ashlock found himself back in the real world.

Hovering in the midst of the mountain peak was the Elder, trapped in a bubble of nothingness, struggling against the crushing force yet managing to resist complete obliteration.

"You can speak?" Ashlock was taken aback. Maple had never communicated with him before. And the eerie eye in the sky... had that S-rank summoning attempt from years ago not failed after all? Could Maple be the Worldwalker?

With no other choice as he saw the bubble begin to crack, Ashlock reluctantly opened his {Demonic Eye}, and the bubble containing the Elder floated through the gap and settled next to his eye.

Then after he closed his trunk, the bubble burst, and a very enraged Elder was unleashed within his body.

What the fuck kind of solution was this?