Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Ashlock returned to Red Vine Peak at nightfall, pleased with Nox's efforts to turn Tartarus into a place he could use to do what he did best: power up those around him. The nightmares inflicted on him by past World Trees had taught him early on the importance of having strong allies, and this insight had only been further reinforced by the many battles that he wouldn't have been able to win on his own.

The Ashfallen Sect was arguably at the same level of personal power as his system. Both were 'borrowed' powers that he invested heavily in, whether through resources or by devouring corpses, but in return, he had gained the capabilities to carve out a place of belonging in this hostile world.

Because of this, for his own survival, he needed to use every resource possible to uplift those around him, which is why the upcoming tournament was so important. As his sect members' cultivation advanced, the number and quality of resources required would increase drastically.

While manageable to a degree right now, it wouldn't be anymore if he offered unlimited cultivation resources and opened the gates of the Ashfallen Sect to anybody, including the millions of mortals in Darklight City, that he could turn into cultivators like Sam and Jasmine. His cultivation would stagnate with how much Qi he would have to spend on growing all the required truffles and fruits.

"My Qi generation is immense by siphoning off the World Tree, and my vast body is adept at capturing Qi, but it's nowhere near enough. While my Qi intake is like a burst dam, my soul is the size of an ocean. I also want to divert some Qi to my offspring to help them advance so that I can depend on them in a future crisis to provide the Qi I need. Not to mention the headache of trying to house and manage so many new cultivators. The Redclaws are already spread thin."

That is why he was holding a tournament—to filter out people that resources would be wasted on and keep the numbers manageable.

However, he planned to run this tournament in a rather unique way. He would watch the matches personally alongside some Grand Elders from his sect. As a group, they would decide who passed based on potential rather than results. If someone showed amazing talent with the sword but fell short of a win because of corrupted spirit roots, that was something Ashlock could fix. So, sending such a person away simply because they lost made no sense.

"Ashfallen will be known as a sect that only cares for talent and potential. Background does not matter. If there's one thing we have, it's the resources and capabilities to polish a diamond in the rough. People that other sects would look down their noses at may be the perfect fit for us," Ashlock was getting excited already. He hoped this odd way of selecting individuals would also work as an advertisement and spread his name to attract more talents. There was little point in hiding anymore; every power in the realm knew of the Ashfallen Sect's existence by now.

Which meant it was time for all hands on deck. Disaster could strike at any moment, and Ashlock wanted his sect to be as prepared as possible.

Perhaps it was because the sun had dipped below the mountains, engulfing him in cold darkness, but Ashlock felt beyond exhausted. At this point, his body covered an area as vast as a country. He was also the god of a religion, head of a sect, and overseer of multiple cities, yet he was only one tree. His attention was spread so thin these days that he always felt he was overlooking or forgetting something.

"Hey, Immortal!"

"Huh?" Ashlock glanced away from the distant horizon and saw Stella, Jasmine, and Elder Mo standing below his trunk. Compared to his towering height reaching for the heavens, which was slowly growing every day, the three humans looked tiny in comparison. But that was no excuse. He would usually notice Stella's presence near him immediately.

"Why do you feel so... different?" Ashlock asked Stella. He prodded her with his spiritual senses but returned empty. He couldn't feel any soul fluctuations coming from her. It was as if she had been reduced to a mere mortal. Even Jasmine was giving off more presence despite being in the Soul Fire Realm.

"Why don't you take a closer look and see if you can figure it out?" Stella said cheekily. She was acting like a child who had done something impressive and wanted to make their parents guess what it was. Ashlock had been a little slow, but he was pretty sure he had figured out what had happened, considering Elder Mo's presence. But he decided to play along.

Opening his Evil Eye, he stared down at Stella. Spiritually, she seemed utterly devoid of Qi. As if she were a random rock on the wayside. This, however, was suspicious. Even a clueless mortal would be at the 1st stage of the Qi Realm if they grew up on a leyline. So, to have no Qi? Any cultivator worth their salt would raise a brow at that.

Stella stood under his gaze, utterly unfazed. "Found it yet?"

"Hold on," Ashlock didn't want to cheat, so he searched her spiritual presence rather than looking at her attire, and only by knowing he was looking for something did he finally find it. Switching back to his normal sight, he identified a new piece of jewelry hanging from her neck. "It's the amulet."

Stella nodded, "Yep. How easily did you notice that it was the thing hiding my cultivation?"

"I think it will fool almost anyone under the heavens," Ashlock replied, and he meant it. His gaze was very unique and even he struggled. "But the utter lack of Qi coming from you is quite suspicious."

Stella sighed, "Yeah, that was a concern we had as well," she exchanged a glance with Elder Mo, "But to completely erase the smell of my bloodline, we can't let the faintest slither of Qi leak."

"I see... though I have to say, being able to hide your presence to this extent is very impressive. How was it made?"

Elder Mo stepped forward and coughed into his hand, "Ahem. May I do the honors of presenting my finest craftsmanship to date to you, my lord?"

"Please do," Ashlock replied. He had always appreciated this old man's enthusiasm.

"Thank you," Elder Mo said, giving a short bow before gesturing to the amulet. It was a black stone with gold veins running throughout it. The stone was shaped like a teardrop and was held by a silver claw hanging from a chain that suited Stella very well. "I have named this artifact the Phantom Veil Amulet. The central piece is crafted from a divine creature's crystalized flesh and blood, and the stone is cradled by an enchanted mithril claw. The chain securing the artifact to the Princess's neck is also made from mithril, so it shouldn't ever break during a fight."

"Where did you get the mithril?" Ashlock asked. It wasn't a metal he had heard much about thus far on this layer of creation.

"There was a whole load of it in the Azure Clan Elder's spatial ring that I got as a reward for winning the tournament." Stella said, "There should be enough left in there to make a few weapons at least."

"That's good to know. Was there much else of use in there?" Ashlock had left the ring's contents for his sect members to look through as he was already busy dealing with other things.

"I found some books about aether Qi that have helped me relearn many of my old techniques," Stella shrugged, "Besides that, we are still trying to figure out what some of the items are supposed to be. It definitely seemed to be the ring that the Elder threw random things into without much thought."

"I see," Ashlock mused as he returned his attention to the amulet. "Actually, one more question. How are you powering that thing?"

Elder Mo answered, "The array within the amulet absorbs Grand Elder Stella's Qi, which doubles as one of the ways it masks her presence. However, the Princess must also feed the amulet a special liquid made from the juices of your Soul Protection fruit and the ingredients of the Spiritual Nullification Pill every day for it to function."

"I see..." Ashlock suppressed a yawn. The explanation was interesting, but the cold darkness called him to the land of dreams. Maybe noticing his fading interest, Stella spoke up.

"Before you sleep, I had a problem I was hoping to get your advice on."

"Oh?" Ashlock perked up. Nowadays, it was rare for his prideful daughter to ask for his help.

Stella patted Jasmine on the head. "I hate to admit it, but I'm struggling to come up with a suitable fighting style for Jasmine. We spent the last hour having duels with the Redclaw twins, but despite her talent in hand-to-hand combat, she is too frightened to go unarmed against people with swords."

Upon Stella's explanation, Jasmine looked down at the floor in defeat.

Ashlock looked at the little girl and could hardly blame her. What eight-year-old who only recently became a cultivator would be suicidal enough to punch swords with bare hands? "Wait... I know who would." Ashlock's dear adopted daughter, who had slaughtered dozens of servants at Jasmine's age. She would definitely have faced down a cultivator with nothing but her fists if she had to.

"Stella, you frame it like this is something out of the ordinary or to be concerned about. While being talented in hand-to-hand combat is great, if Jasmine faced a foe with superior cultivation, her fists would be unable to block their blade, and she would find herself missing her arms very quickly." Ashlock explained his point of view. "So I think we should figure out which weapon she is able to wield effectively."

Elder Mo helpfully relayed what Ashlock said to Jasmine, and the little girl seemed to experience a new rush of life as she went from depressed to hopeful. It appeared that being unable to triumph over her meekness and become a suicidal berserker had weighed deeply on her.

"I suppose that does make sense," Stella nodded thoughtfully. "I wasn't adverse to Jasmine using a weapon. It's just clear the sword isn't suited for her."

"Okay, so not a sword. Mhm..." Ashlock pondered while fighting off the desire to sleep. What would be suitable? "Oh! How about heavily armored gauntlets? That way, she puts some metal between herself and enemies' swords while still leaning into her strengths at hand-to-hand combat."

Stella's spatial ring flashed, and she brought out a pair of small gauntlets. "I had the same trail of thought. So when I went to pick up the amulet from Elder Mo, I asked him to make these. While the design could have been much better if Elder Mo had been given more time, Jasmine still struggled with them during practice."

Ashlock agreed they were a bit basic. In his mind, he imagined gauntlets that ran all the way up her forearm and maybe had spikes. "What was her problem with them?"

"My body freezes up when people come at me with swords," Jasmine explained after being relayed Ashlock's question, "I can only raise my arms and defend, which isn't going to win me any duels. I could maybe get used to it with time, though?"

"No, finding a way that works for you is for the best." Ashlock barely restrained himself from delving into gamer terminology that would undoubtedly go over people's heads in this world.

"Let's see. Nature affinity encompasses the domain of plant life. While having similar advantages as earth Qi in close-quarter combat with high resilience, strength, and regeneration, nature cultivators can spec into a more mage-style build by controlling plants to snare opponents. Just like me! This style is perfect for Jasmine because she can synergize it with her body's ability to produce poison. The only problem is that because she is at the Soul Fire Realm, she doesn't have the Qi reserves to create plant life from nothing, and she hasn't learned any techniques yet to control plants. Basically, she is a mage without a mana pool or spells to cast."

Definitely not ideal for her chances of winning in the upcoming tournament.

"Strictly speaking, Jasmine has no reason to win or even participate, but it has given her a focus for her training and a chance to show off her progress. Also, it will be a vital opportunity for Jasmine to hone her battle sense." Ashlock sighed, "But it's also a double-edged sword. If she gets completely wrecked in the tournament, it will shatter her confidence and reflect badly on Stella as a Master."

Ashlock also feared how Stella would react if she had to sit there and watch random people beat her dear disciple half to death. She wasn't known to take such things in stride. While Ashlock wished Stella would control herself a bit more, he mostly let her do as she pleased. She never deliberately acted with ill intentions toward the Ashfallen Sect, and while he didn't always fully agree with her solutions to things, it was hard to deny the results.

Her way of handling situations had gotten them very far, and he didn't like the idea of forcing her to change her personality and outlook on life. All he could hope was that, over time, she would mature and realize that killing wasn't always the solution to every problem. But who was he to judge? He was a man-eating tree whose main power source was killing.

Ashlock brought his wandering thoughts about trying to prevent a slaughter at the tournament back to the problem at hand. What weapon would suit Jasmine? Thinking some more, a strike of inspiration hit him. While she couldn't manifest plants out of her own Qi, nothing said she couldn't use a weapon to achieve a similar result.

"What about a spiked whip coated with her poison?" Ashlock suggested. "It can be used to disarm an opponent of their sword, forcing the fight into a situation that lets Jasmine excel. If they try to grab the whip, Jasmine's fast-acting paralyzing poison will disable them and give her an advantage."

"What do you think of that idea, Jasmine?" Stella asked her disciple.

"I like it!" Jasmine clenched her fists and seemed quite thrilled, "But Master, I don't know how to use a whip."

"That's fine. You didn't know how to use a sword either," Stella joked and rubbed Jasmine's head as the little girl pouted. "Don't worry, I'll teach you."

"You know how to use a whip, Master?"

"Nope, but I can learn anything I put my mind to." Stella tapped her head.

While they had been trying to find a weapon for Jasmine, Ashlock imagined that a whip would be quite lethal in Stella's hands. Her aether Qi would give the whip effectively infinite reach and the ability to strike from anywhere.

It really was a hidden blessing that Stella had picked up a disciple. While Ashlock gained power by empowering his sect members, Stella now had a reason to pursue new knowledge via her bloodline with a disciple who depended on her for guidance.

"Now you just need a suitable whip," Stella mused and turned to Elder Mo, "Do you think you could make one?"

Elder Mo crossed his arms and hummed in thought. "Mhm, while I could, I don't think I'm suitable for the job. I've never used a whip, so it would be difficult to imbue any useful intent into the weapon, but more importantly, it would be made from either rope or metal." He gestured to Jasmine with his thumb, "Neither of which Jasmine can control any more than a mortal."

"So she needs a whip that would be controllable with her nature affinity?" Stella frowned in thought.

"Couldn't I use Ashlock's vine as a whip?" Jasmine whispered.

Stella's eyes widened, "That's... actually a good idea."