The darkness was deep and warm, giving her an unprecedented sense of belonging and security, as if nothing could harm her as long as she remained within it.
Was this a dream? Or had she already died? Was the afterlife so warm and peaceful? If she was dead, could she see her Master?
As if in response to her thoughts, her Master appeared in the darkness the next moment, smiling as always. He still wore his tattered robe with countless patches, his silver-white hair and beard disheveled, and carried a wine gourd on his back. He always tried his best to maintain an otherworldly air of a lofty master, yet somehow ended up looking rather shabby.
He didn’t speak, only gazed at her with a smile, but his eyes clearly conveyed his message: Well done.
She couldn’t help but reach out to grab him, but as soon as she moved, the darkness before her suddenly cracked apart. Countless rays of light poured in, and she heard a crisp cracking sound. The comforting, heavy darkness left her in an instant. Having been deprived of light for so long, the sudden brightness made her cover her eyes.
Countless cold snowflakes fell on her head and brushed against her naked body. It took Li Fei a long time to barely adjust to the light outside. What met her eyes was a blinding expanse of white—she was in the middle of a vast, icy wilderness. Behind her stood an unimaginably tall and thick tree, already covered in snow and ice.
She didn’t even need to marvel or question it. One glance was enough for her to know that this tree was the Building Tree that had nurtured her.
Li Fei tried to stand up, but her hands pressed into something soft and warm. Beneath her was something cushiony—she was sitting inside a giant, split-open white fruit. The shell was filled with countless snow-white, paper-thin skins, damp and warm, the very source of the comforting sensation she had just cherished.
Had she returned to the Building Tree, becoming a fruit again, only to emerge once more?
Li Fei couldn’t immediately sort through the chaotic thoughts in her head. Her memories still lingered on the moment before she fell into the Eastern Sea. How much time had passed? How had she come overseas? How had she returned to the Building Tree? And why was it a frozen wasteland here? The entire mountain, including the Building Tree, was encased in ice—impossible to tell how thick the ice layer was.
Her body craved spiritual energy. She was so parched, her insides utterly empty. Without spiritual energy to protect her, the icy wilderness was quickly freezing her stiff.
Instinctively, Li Fei curled up inside the split-open giant fruit. The soft, warm skins enveloped her once more. Almost by instinct, she used Spirit Absorption. The snow-white fruit transformed into dense clusters of spiritual energy, which she absorbed into her body, alleviating the hunger of her rebirth. At the same time, countless images flooded her mind—the secrets passed down through generations of Graftwood Seeds that matured and broke free from their shells—all became clear to her in an instant.
When she opened her eyes again, the split-open fruit had vanished. Her body was brimming with vigorous spiritual energy, and she was neatly dressed in an ancient-style white robe. Only two horns remained on the ice—one lustrous and translucent, her mystical treasure, the Horn of the Rhinoceros; the other pitch-black and slender, the Yaksha Horn that Lei Xiuyuan had severed with Heavenly Thunder.
Just as Li Fei carefully tucked the two horns into her embrace, a familiar voice shouted from behind, “You!”She suddenly laughed, turning around with a grin, and sure enough, the enormous white Nine-tailed Fox was hovering midair, his round eyes fixed on her in astonishment. He seemed to have grown even larger, his snow-white fur now shimmering with a faint silver glow unlike anything before. The monstrous aura about him had diminished further, making him resemble a "Nine-tailed Spirit Fox" more than ever.
"Ri Yan!" Li Fei cheered, throwing herself into his thick fur, rubbing her face, hands, and body against him with reckless abandon. The next moment, she was unceremoniously flung away by one of his tails.
"Get away from me! Disgusting!" Ri Yan glared at her, his remaining five long tails swaying like a dream. The four tails previously torn off by the Diancang Mountain water technique had regrown, though they were still short, resembling four fluffy balls at his rear—adding an unexpectedly cute and comical touch to his otherwise majestic and imposing figure.
Li Fei stared at his fluffy tail stubs and couldn't help but chuckle, reminded of his thumb-sized form from the past.
"What are you laughing at?!" Ri Yan's voice rose in agitation. "What's wrong with you? Why have you turned into a giant fruit again? Do you have any idea how long you've been a fruit? Four hundred years! Look at all this ice and snow! The entire island's been frozen for four centuries!"
Li Fei smiled faintly. "It was to suppress the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea inside me, so the island froze. Don’t worry, the ice will melt soon."
Ri Yan was taken aback. Studying her expression, he realized her gaze was steady, as if the unfamiliar sights of the overseas lands didn’t surprise her at all. This wasn’t like her—the fool had always been the type to overreact, peppering him with questions even over trivial matters. After four hundred years apart, what secrets had she uncovered inside that fruit?
Though over four centuries had passed, the events of that day remained vivid in his mind. Controlled by Li Fei, he had no choice but to carry the severely injured Lei Xiuyuan overseas. Once they finally stopped, he had desperately wanted to turn back—he couldn’t bear to lose someone important again. Last time, he hadn’t made it to Azure City in time. Was he doomed to fail again?
Yes, this demon had truly grown attached to them—bonded by camaraderie and companionship. Once he had experienced the warmth of human connection, he could never forget it. Now he understood the little girl’s reluctance and longing for the Central Land. Absolute solitude and detachment could never be the true aspiration of any sentient being. So, he finally grasped why Azure City had been so determined to return to the Central Land and why she had insisted on treating the Graftwood Seed as a person.
And that was exactly why he had to go back to save her. But shortly after turning around, he was blocked by the reforming Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea. Lei Xiuyuan’s condition was dire—the Spiritual Qi Net woven from his Source Spiritual Qi was nearly depleted, his injuries still unhealed. The worst was the broken horn on his temple. A Yaksa’s power resided in both horns, and losing one to the Heavenly Thunder had cost him more than half his life in an instant. The overseas Spiritual Qi wasn’t as abundant as in the Central Land, and he was no longer in his prime as a Yaksa. There was a real risk he might die.
He couldn’t let this kid die. The little girl had risked everything to save them, so keeping himself and Lei Xiuyuan alive was the least he could do.I remember that the forested island where the Building Tree grew had abundant spiritual energy, after all, it was the place that bore the Graftwood Seed. Ri Yan carried Lei Xiuyuan and hurriedly flew back to the island with the Building Tree, only to find Li Fei there—someone they thought had died at the hands of the Immortals of the Central Land. She looked strange, her eyes closed, her snow-white skin still falling like snowflakes, suspended before the Building Tree.
He only called out to her once, and the next moment, the falling snow-white skin suddenly gathered together, wrapping around her body until it gradually transformed into an unopened Graftwood Seed, hanging once more from the treetop. Then, without warning, ice rapidly formed, nearly freezing him inside as well. He barely managed to escape the island in time.
Over the years in the overseas lands, when he wasn’t wandering around aimlessly, he pondered over Li Fei’s transformation back into a Graftwood Seed. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand—could a Graftwood Seed that had already become human revert to its fruit form? And what was with that ice? Every day, he visited the island to check on the situation, watching as the ice layers sealed the entire island, including the Building Tree, and eventually spread to the nearby seas and islands. For over four hundred years, an endless winter reigned. Was the Building Tree unharmed? Would the little girl freeze to death inside?
Until today, just like every day for the past four hundred years, Ri Yan went to the island to check on the Building Tree. To his astonishment, he saw Li Fei standing unharmed beneath the tree. His shock and curiosity reached their peak, and for the first time, he couldn’t maintain his usual elder’s demeanor. He blurted out, “Do you know something? If you do, just say it! Stop hiding things!”
True to her straightforward nature, Li Fei sat down in front of him and recounted the legacy of the Graftwood Seed through the generations.
“Actually, when you and Master cut me down from the tree, the fruit had only been growing for less than a hundred years—far from maturity. A Graftwood Seed must remain in its fruit for five hundred years before it fully matures and sheds its shell.”
Because of this, she was forced out of the fruit prematurely, and the fruit became her human body, sheltering her through seventeen years in the Central Land.
“After I was forced to devour the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, the Building Tree summoned me back to complete the remaining four hundred years. Now, I am truly a Graftwood Seed.”
Ri Yan was dumbfounded. “There’s such a thing? Then where did all the previous Graftwood Seeds go?”
Li Fei sighed. “Only an unripe seed like me could be recalled to be reborn. A mature Graftwood Seed wouldn’t have this experience.”
Since learning of the Graftwood Seed’s existence, this was the first time Ri Yan had heard such things. He felt a flood of questions rising and immediately fired them off like a rapid volley: “What’s the difference between a mature and an immature one? And what’s the deal with that Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea? Oh, and what about the Sea Fall…”
Li Fei laughed. “Now it’s your turn to bombard me with questions. I wasn’t mature back then, so the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea nearly killed me. Now, they won’t be as dangerous. As for the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea disaster during the Sea Fall, it’s because in recent cycles, the Graftwood Seeds were seized by the Yaksa as soon as they shed their shells—either imprisoned or killed immediately. With no one to tend to them, the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea surged unchecked toward the Central Land.”Even in the most ancient records of the Central Land Immortals, there was no mention of Sea Fall. This calamity suddenly occurred nearly ten thousand years ago when the Graftwood Seed devoured the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea and then traveled to the Central Land to absorb spiritual energy, only to be slain by the combined efforts of the Central Land Immortals. The sudden death of the Graftwood Seed caused panic among the Yaksa, who relied on them the most. Afterward, the Building Tree produced seeds several times, but each time, the newly emerged individuals were immediately seized by the Yaksa. As a result, no one was left to devour the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, which repeatedly surged toward the Central Land.
Upon reflection, the reasons behind this are not complicated. The Central Land Immortals harbored a fearful awe of the lands beyond the sea, but how could they know that those beyond the sea did not yearn for the Central Land’s abundant spiritual energy and beautiful landscapes? In the past, with the Graftwood Seed present, the spiritual energy overseas was not as scarce as it is now. But as accidents befell the Graftwood Seed time and again, over the passing of many five-hundred-year cycles, the Otherkin gradually learned not to rely on the Graftwood Seed. Instead, they took advantage of the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea’s disturbances every five hundred years to journey to the Central Land. Each attempt was met with ruthless interception, and over time, resentment and enmity naturally grew.
Ri Yan let out a long sigh. He had only one last question: "For the Graftwood Seed to absorb spiritual energy from the Central Land, it must first devour the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea. Why?"
Li Fei shook her head. "I don’t know either. Everything in this world exists for a reason, just like why people need to eat or why the people of Fire Hating Island can breathe fire. The Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea must be something similar for the Graftwood Seed."
As she spoke, she suddenly looked around. "I’ve been talking to you for so long, my mouth is dry. Why are you the only one here? Where’s Xiu Yuan?"
Ri Yan, uncharacteristically, hesitated. "Him? He... uh..."
Li Fei abruptly stood up in alarm. "His injuries haven’t healed?! How could I forget four hundred years have passed! Where is he?! Don’t tell me he’s already—"
Ri Yan’s sickly green eyes fixed on her. After a long pause, he finally said, "He’s not dead. In fact, he’s alive and kicking. Don’t worry. If you want to see him, I’ll take you to him right now."
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