Cutting the Fusang Tree

Roving clouds broke apart in the wake of his movement. Reality distorted with every footstep. If one were to look into the sky of the great wilderness, they would see the flickering figure traversing across the sky.

He'd flicker in and out of existence forever out of reach. Yet sometimes he was visible and others too far away to see.

But even if he was seen, he'd still be nothing but a blur if even that at all. For Da Hai simply moved too fast for even immortals to properly perceive him.

Since leaving Pangu Temple, the ancestor of the great sea has not slowed down even once. He utilised his own movement technique to invisibly traverse the great wilderness yet at the same time maintain an incredible amount of speed.

'Have to hurry, have to hurry,' this was the sole thought channelling through Da Hai's mind. Nothing else was important to him.

He flew with such haste that small ripples into the void were split open as aftershocks from his movement. Though fortunately, these small rifts closed on their own quickly enough.

The sword strapped to his side lay quietly still. It watched as its new master blitzed across the sky and sighed in its own way.

'Clumsy,' the Illusionary Butterfly thought. He as a being enlightened in the Dao had watched Da Hai more so then even Pangu had.

The current Da Hai was a little negligent in his untraceable attempts. Though the sword spirit excused it due to his objective.

Illusionary Butterfly greatly admired Da Hai. In many ways, he was greatly in over his head and outmatched from all sides. His only real advantage was how low key and hidden he was.

Subtlety, the Illusionary Butterfly's reborn self deployed some of its tricks that it retained. After all, its current form, though vastly different, was once the Jade Fortune Disc.

Da Hai was momentarily halted when he felt a faint jade aura encompass his whole body. His eyes traced down towards the sword at his side.

His body was wreathed in a thin layer of clouds. Greyish clouds that acted as an isolating barrier to the outside world. It had no defensive capabilities beside blocking divination inferences.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"My pleasure, my master," the sword responded in his mind. For a treasure spirit, endearing themselves to their owner was habitual. Otherwise, their owners might abandon them.

Of course the Illusionary Butterfly had little concerns on that front. He was too valuable and too powerful for Da Hai to ever abandon. Though instinctual habit was instinctual habit.

After this was done, Da Hai placed more effort on his cloaking spells. He stabilised space around him and forbade disturbances into the void.

So much callous reality warping was sure to catch the attention of various experts in the world. These were things Da Hai most definitely did not want right now. Even with his new sword, his cultivation was still a little low to fight on that scale.

'If only they'd come to Yingzhou,' Da Hai idly pondered as his mind went back to his enemies. Victory will be significantly bolstered if they assaulted Yingzhou itself.

'Doesn't matter, Zulong comes first,' he dismissed. He gained more speed while taking care to maintain secrecy.

Soon enough, he crossed the central continent into the east continent. The average density of primordial Qi was significantly lowered though it was still extremely high.

The east continent was much more beautiful compared to the central continent. It was a lush land full of rivers, meadows, mountains, and forests. It was like something out of an ancient Chinese painting.

However, Da Hai did not linger long. The east continent may look beautiful on the surface but it was filled with just as much conflict as the rest of the world.

In some ways it was probably worse now compared to the rest of the world. All continents except the east had proper rulers. No matter their reputation or personalities, one cannot deny they brought a sense of stability to their territories.

Hongjun's approach to his territory seemed to be just ignoring it entirely. In fact, Da Hai had not received any news regarding the ancestor of the great balance. He seemed to be content to stay on Mt Yujing.

As Da Hai neared the eastern coast of the east continent. He kept his eyes open for signs of any attacks on his person. Specifically, his eyes were gazing in the direction of Mt Yujing.

Although immortals couldn't sense it, Da Hai could sense the convergence of mysterious energies gathering upon the celestial mountain. It was very reminiscent of the raw chaotic nature of primordial Qi in the central continent.

"Is he trying to break into Wuji?" Da Hai grimaced. His bottleneck couldn't bring him more frustration then it's currently doing.

…

"OMMMMM!"

"OMMMMM!"

"OMMMM!M"

Hongjun sat peacefully resembling an enlightened deity in all purple. His pondering upon the Dao had reached an extremely profound level.

The Jade Fortune Disc floated around him sending streams of jade light into him. As they neared they covered into purple beams.

This chaos spiritual treasure had finally submitted beneath Hongjun after many years of work. Now that the last traces of its treasure spirit has been removed, its true uses had been unlocked.

The insight of 3000 completed Great Daos flowed into Hongjun, the insight of 108,000 incomplete Lesser Daos flowed into Hongjun. These insights were the fundamental building blocks of the primitive world.

With Pangu's Dao realm level transcendent Dao at its core, they formed the core of the primitive world in which all things including the Heavenly Dao spawn from.

"OMMMMM…Hm?" Hongjun jerked his head sideways looking around. His eyes glowed purple as he did so.

"Was I mistaken?" He murmured before shrugging and returning to meditation.

…

On the mystical island that was Yingzhou, the Fusang tree stood millions of kilometres tall. It was imposing and awe inspiring. Its many ripe fruits hung off of its branches brimming with rich spiritual power.

A gigantic moth perched upon one such branch. This creature was the true form of Yi Fei'e, fourth disciple of Da Hai. She was a pale white insect with radiant blue compound eyes and large transparent wings.

She was easy a kilometre in length yet she seemed insignificant before the Fusang tree.

On one of her six legs, Yi Fei'e carried a large basket containing several mulberry fruits. With another two limbs, she worked on harvesting a fourth fruit to add to her basket.

"Harvest is good this season," she murmured. Now that her sisters were out of the mountain, she had to harvest the latest batch all by herself.

Suddenly, a change occurred in Yingzhou's atmosphere.

"Hm?" Yi Fei'e turned her head noticing the familiar aura of her master returning to Yingzhou.

"Ah!" She exclaimed quickly shifting back to human form and moved to greet him.

"Move away from the Fusang tree," Da Hai ordered her over before she could say anything.

Yi Fei'e was slightly confused at first. Though she nevertheless obeyed him. Jumping down, she leapt to the edge of the meadow just outside the garden the Fusang tree is kept.

She looked curiously as Da Hai arrived before the ancient super tree. Curiously, he had a new treasure strapped to his side. A short metal sword that appeared completely ordinary yet carried a sense of unparalleled sharpness.

'What is master planning?' She wondered.

Da Hai stood in the clear blue sky looking at the Fusang tree below him. The celestial tree looked stood tall brimming with so much energy that it'll put Primal Zenith Chaos Immortals to shame. None of the previous Chaos Godfiends were comparable even at their peak.

"I'm sorry old friend," Da Hai said. He was about to mutilate one of his longest companions. Even if that companion wasn't sentient, it was still a depressing moment he knew he'd regret.

Da Hai's right hand grasped the handle of his new sword and drew it forth. The short blade slid elegantly into the air, its edge so sharp that it was practically invisible when observed vertically.

Da Hai raised it in front of him and activated this treasure. He felt the strong pulse of raw chaotic energies and the faint image of the Illusionary Butterfly briefly appearing.

"Let's do this," he grasped the handle with both hands. The metallic white blade began glowing more and more radiantly.

The air around Da Hai swirled in a hurricane of chaotic forces. Transformation of all kinds occurred in this isolated universe. Da Hai concentrated on the creation of chaotic sword Qi.

Across the sky, large quantities of primordial Qi stemming from Yingzhou flowed towards Da Hai. These mysterious profound natural forces resembled white clouds as they gathered around towards the sword.

Like an insatiable maw, the sword swallowed the clouds it attracted. It swallowed them and gathered more. Like the eye of a storm, the sword continued to swallow large amounts of primordial Qi in accordance to Da Hai's instructions.

"We're going to end this in one strike. Fei'e, move as far away as possible, you'll have to defend yourself from the backlash," Da Hai warned the woman below him.

Yi Fei'e nodded and promptly took off. Thankfully, she had ascended to Great Unity Golden Immortal and was the sole inhabitant of Yingzhou, she would be able to stay safe.

Da Hai continued to gather power as Yi Fei'e moved away from the epicentre. Despite Yingzhou's size, Yi Fei'e was able to fly all the way to the shore as per Da Hai's wishes. This all took a little over an hour for her to accomplish.

The swirling of gathered clouds finally disappeared into the sword. It was cloaked in a pulsing aura of greyish gas clouds. Da Hai could feel the sword shaking from all the power it contained.

"It's not as natural of a process as the Pangu Banner," Da Hai sighed remembering the flag Hongjun wielded. "Pangu's work is much better than my own, there wasn't any wind up needed for it."

He raised the sword high above his head and began descending to one of the largest branches he could find.

"I don't intend to destroy you, but I do require your sturdiest branch. So, apologies old friend," Da Hai grimaces as he rapidly descended for a strike.

In a blinding flash of grey light, the arc of Da Hai's sword descended upon the largest branch of one of the sturdiest existences in the entire primitive world.

SHINK!

FOOM!

The massive branch of the Fusang tree toppled onto the meadow below the celestial tree. The groaning of the Fusang tree was brought to Da Hai's ears and he sighed in sadness.

The brilliant light radiating like the sun which the Fusang tree once gave off dimmed. Although the life giving power of the tree was profound, it will never be as strong as it once was.

The wound of the tree, cauterised by chaotic sword Qi shrunk into the Fusang tree. Unable to heal that branch, the celestial tree instead removed traces that that branch ever existed in the first place.

Da Hai landed on top of the fallen branch. He caressed the surface of the wood and nodded satisfyingly. "Magnificent, it hasn't lost an inch of power," he praised.

The branch was retrieved by Da Hai and tucked into his pocket dimension for further refining. He however brought his sword up to eye level.

The blade appeared as pristine as ever, no sign of the destruction it just performed was present at all. It appeared like just any other short sword.

"I haven't named you yet have I?" He mused and began thinking. "Gathering clouds, hm. Well, you were once the celestial disc accompanying Pangu and held the insights into the heavens themselves. I guess I'll call you Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword."

The treasure spirit within the sword glowed in happiness. It accepted the new name and subsequently, the carvings of four characters for Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword manifested along the blade.

"Wait a minute," Da Hai suddenly widened his eyes in realisation in what he'd just said. "Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword, it's just a coincidence right?"