5 Divine Retribution?

Yaila was running out of the Moral Timere Sect. It was late at night and there weren't many people walking on the streets. Even then, the ones who were out were walking back to their living quarters to turn in for the day. Yaila, however, was the only one to walk toward the sect's gate.

Approaching the grand gate, the guards stopped her to inquire about her intentions. It must be known, that these guards were at least fourth stage Blood Motion cultivators. These guards were a force to be reckoned with. The differences between Yaila's third stage Spirit Potential level 3 and a guard's fourth stage level 1 was huge. It was as if you were to cross an ocean of mountains and back, so of course, Yaila by no means was able to intimidate these guards, but she still upheld her status as the daughter of the sect head.

One of the guards saw her and walked over to question why Yaila was going out. In order to go outside, one had to have a reason, especially when going at night. "Please wait a moment. Young miss, please tell us your reason for going outside of the sect tonight."

Yaila had already come up with a reason for this when she was walking toward the gates. "I need to procure the Blood Moon herb as today is a full moon and they only bloom when the moon is full."

"Young miss, that is an herb to help one break through into the Blood Motion stage, but I thought you were only a Spirit Potential level 1. Why do you need this herb?"

"I am steadily approaching the Blood Motion stage and I believe I can reach it soon. I'd like to go out and find the Blood Moon herb so I can guarantee my advancement." Then, Yaila had begun to show her current cultivation as a Spirit Potential level 3.

Shocked, the guards looked at one another and came upon an agreement.

"Fine, we can allow this. You must come back as soon as you find the Blood Moon herb."

"Of course." Seeing the gate open, Yaila walked out. When she heard the gates close behind her, Yaila headed toward the Mountains of Arbor once again.

Traveling on her usual path, a light rain also began to come down. Continuing to walk down the path, the scenery around her started to change.

The trees slowly grew taller, the branches and leaves turned thicker. Not only that, but the spiritual energy around became denser as well. The trees and plants around her were growing at a rate that could challenge the heavens. Alarmed, she hastened her speed.

At night, it was hard to see especially with her vision being blocked, and the rain becoming heavier didn't help. However, because Yaila trod this path many times before she had gotten used to the turns she had to make before reaching the clearing.

Nearing the place Yaila's mother and her once shared, she felt a tugging at her chest, almost like something was waiting for her to arrive— no, demanding she were there.

Strengthening her speed, even more than what it was before, she passed into the area, only to be greeted with a spectacular sight. Remembering the small seed, one that was very similar to that of a beansprout, her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she witnessed what was before her.

A young tree had blossomed out of the ground, the spirit energy around it was rich, only becoming richer. Walking closer to it, her body began to undergo cultivation automatically due to the density that was exuding off of the tree.

How long had it been since she last came here? Three hours! Three hours and it grew from a small plant into a young tree, towering over her at three meters. Wasn't this a little too fast? This… was just too absurd!

The leaves on the tree had also started to grow, a myriad of colors was displayed before her. She could see orange leaves, green leaves, pink leaves, and yellow leaves sprouting from the tree. Yaila wouldn't have been able to believe it had she not seen it herself.

"Maybe," she thought, "I could advance to a frightening degree if I cultivated near this tree?" Thinking that this could be the case, she found a spot near the base of the tree and began to cultivate.

What happened to her was something nobody would have thought to have been possible.

…

The Young Tree

"Energy, roots, trunk…" These were the only three things that appeared in the beansprout's mind. He had grown his roots even deeper into the ground, and the root that gained the most energy had also grown to a considerable size, sprouting off in all directions as well. He had also grown a few more roots that were able to procure the energy. This constant growth was that of a weed, spreading everywhere he could.

At this point, he didn't need too much water as all of his roots were sucking nutrients and energy left and right, and these nutrients had also contained a bit of water in them.

The plant felt a bit off, though. He wasn't able to absorb 100% of the energy that his roots found. If anything, he was only able to absorb 70%, losing a huge amount.

Suspicious, he tried to trace where the energy was going. Strangely enough, he was constantly connected to the "human" girl from earlier and was able to sense her presence. Thinking that his energy had gone to her, he felt the disturbances in the air and it indeed was going to her and entering her body without a hitch.

"My efficiency…" he whined. "I would have grown to even greater heights faster had you not done whatever it was you did." Sighing, he could only continue to absorb and grow.

In just one hour, he grew to be one meter tall. That was when he felt the all-too-familiar pain that he was acquainted with whenever he felt a completely new root growing out of him.

This pain was even worse than the last by an entire three-folds, but his determination kept him going for a while. Feeling this immense burden being placed onto him, he held on regardless of the trial. He sucked in more energy to combat and ease his pain, going even faster, growing even more energy roots, the pain lessened and out came a root that was easily thicker than the rest.

His energy roots were blue, and his normal roots were brown, but this time emerged a very thick root with a radius of 13 centimeters. This root grew to be very long as time progressed before stopping at the eight-meter mark.

Feeling his new root, it was easier to move compared to the others. It was able to maneuver around the dirt as if it were a dolphin swimming. Anywhere he willed it, the dirt wasn't affected too much, so there was no caving. In fact, it was actually phasing through the dirt!

"Amazing! So this is my first offensive ability." Raising it out of the ground, he felt no disturbance and was able to whip it around as he liked.

"If I were to grow to two meters tall, would I gain another ability?" Invigorated with pure willpower, he moved the green root back underground and once again began to absorb the dense energy.

Another hour flew by and he had grown another meter. For the millionth time, he felt the pains again and combated it by gaining absorbing the energy at a faster rate.

Concurrently, as he was growing another root, a branch sprouted out of him. He was able to absorb the energy triple his normal speed at this point, lessening the effects of the new root sprouting even further.

Another green root had sprouted, but this time it was very thin in size and was a lighter shade of green. However, it grew to a total of 10 meters underground and along the way, at every 2-meter interval, it split itself in four different directions, growing fully under fifteen seconds. Each branch off was also very long at seven meters each and they also grew far. He came in touch with many trees in the surrounding area and was able to spread his growth along with the other trees at will.

"Since my defensive capabilities are low, I might as well help my surroundings become stronger as well!" Focusing on everything at once, his stamina was growing low but was continuously getting replenished by the energy roots.

"This is amazing! To be able to control so many trees at once, I feel the power surging through me!" Excited, his ego took another leap. "I truly am a genius." If baby trees could smile, his would be the widest right now.

Concentrating even further on growth, he lessened the growth on the other trees but still kept going at his ridiculous speed.

Then, the third hour passed. Growing to become three meters tall, he sprout another branch and leaves began to grow as well. Through the leaves, he was able to unlock more senses. The leaves were able to sense the vibrations in the air, the humidity, the temperature, and more. But, most importantly, because he was able to sense the vibrations in the air, he was able to hear a variety of sounds.

Previously, he was only able to hear Yaila because for some reason they had established some sort of connection between each other, and so it seemed he was able to hear her through her mind, like a sort of telepathy.

Then his root began to grow. This root was absolutely terrifying to produce. Feeling the intense pain for the third time in three hours, he was already quite used to it. But, this root was beyond even his wildest imaginations.

A ghastly figure flashed through his mind. A wide smile appeared on their face. "P… uni—!" The memory disappeared as fast as it had appeared. His mind felt like it was splitting, so much so that he didn't notice the "human" girl start cultivating next to him.

The pain only increased with every passing second. First, his head would feel like someone was slicing it up, then his everything down to the very roots was crying as the pain increased.

This pain was most likely the last that he was going to feel for a while. However, seeing as the pain was increasing, this was most likely a side-effect of him growing too fast, the aftermath of his desire to grow strong in another world. He still knew nothing of the world, and all he did was grow as much as he could to try and grasp something.

The rain berated him like bullets raining down on their enemies. It didn't feel good, nor did his original pains show the slightest hint of subsiding. Crackling and rumbling could be heard in the distance. A storm was brewing, as did that day, but the young tree was unable to even think about that, much less care about his surroundings.

The storm that was forming seemed to be a message from the heavens as if to say an existence that needs to be dealt with appeared. And fast.

Lightning could be heard from a distance, cracks appearing in the skies and the rain poured harder than ever.

Still attempting to absorb energy to counteract the effects of his pain, he finally managed to slowly decrease it. His mind was also healing at this point. Feeling at ease, he lowered his guard down and continued to heal and mend his wounds while he was able to come to terms that growing too fast meant his death.

Then, the thunder could be heard. From a distance, all you would see is a flash in the sky, but where the young tree was, the thunder came crashing down at him with impeccable accuracy. The target was locked.

Noticing the attack too late, the young tree fell into despair. The fear of dying a second time, and the memory of how he died, the emotions he had that day, they all came rushing back to him.

The bolt looked like there was a row of ghastly-white sharp teeth lining the entire length. A smile he could never forget.

The bolt struck, and a streak of yellow clashed. An explosion that could be seen kilometers away had erupted from the storm.