The Fallen World Tree

They traveled through vast stretches of primeval mountain forests, gradually drawing closer to their destination.

"Ya-ya ya-ya…" Keke jumped onto Xiao Chen's shoulder and extended a tiny claw, pointing toward the mountain ranges ahead.

"Roar…" "Howl…"

Suddenly, a chorus of dragon roars erupted from those mountains, shaking the entire range. The trees thrashed wildly, and leaves scattered in the wind.

There could not be just one ancient dragon—the sound suggested at least seven or eight!

Xiao Chen inwardly groaned. It seemed they had truly stumbled into a den of primordial beasts. This little Keke had an extraordinary origin indeed!

The lotus brands on the foreheads of the three skeletons flashed with light as they warily scanned their surroundings, their joints crackling. It was clear they sensed great danger ahead.

"Keke, did you really live in a beast den before? What kind of little beast are you, anyway?"

Keke was evidently displeased at being called a little beast. Huffing indignantly, it jumped onto Xiao Chen's head and tousled his hair into a wild mess.

"All right, all right, I'm afraid of you," Xiao Chen said quickly, catching it and setting it down on the ground.

As they entered the mountain region, massive claw prints were clearly visible—all belonging to dragons. After crossing a ridge, Xiao Chen saw a sight that stunned him. A black mountain ridge, gleaming with dark light, stretched across several mountain ranges. It sparkled with points of light, as lustrous as ink jade.

Keke bounded happily across the skulls of Qin Guang Wang, Yan Luo Wang, and Wheel King. They had clearly reached its homeland. Then it leaped down joyfully and ran toward the black jade ridge ahead.

Xiao Chen and the three skeletons followed closely. Since they had come this far, the roars of dragons nearby would not stop them now.

But when they drew near the black jade ridge, Xiao Chen froze. He realized that the so-called mountain ridge looked exactly like… a tree trunk. A colossal fallen trunk gleaming with dark light, lying amid the mountains!

As he approached, Xiao Chen was utterly dumbfounded. The black ridge was indeed a tree trunk. Following it further, he could see the enormous branches splitting off.

It was inconceivable!

The trunk was as thick as a mountain range. If this dark, gleaming giant tree had still been alive, if it had still stood upon the earth, how tall would it have been? It would have pierced the clouds—a true World Tree!

Not far ahead lay a stretch of shattered highlands, as if a terrible earthquake had struck. Almost all the peaks had collapsed. The occasional standing stone mountain was riddled with massive fissures. Most of the land had sunk. If not for the crumbling stone peaks, this place could be called a vast basin. It was oddly filled mostly with rock, and even where soil existed, not a single blade of grass grew—a deathly stillness reigned.

The World Tree extended here and then broke off. The enormous canopy was nowhere to be seen, as if it had been buried along with the shattered highlands, leaving only the imagination to wander. One could not help but wonder whether a great calamity had occurred long ago, shattering countless peaks and shearing off the crown of this heavenly tree.

"Hey, where's Keke?" Xiao Chen suddenly realized Keke had vanished.

"Click-clack…" Wheel King comically worked its jaw, pointing toward the tree's root end, indicating that Keke had run in that direction.

"Let's go take a look too." Xiao Chen and the three skeletons quickly followed.

The fallen World Tree, though long dead and lying across the mountains, still towered as high as the peaks. Its size was beyond imagination—like a mountain range lying there, far more imposing than any mountain.

Xiao Chen and his group traveled through dense forests for about eight or nine li before reaching the broken root. Even that distance did not represent the trunk's full length, as a large portion of the trunk and canopy had been completely destroyed.

The stump of the World Tree was equally breathtaking. The stump above ground was as vast as a mountain peak, both in girth and height surpassing the nearby mountains. It shook the soul! Several massive exposed roots were like mountain ranges in themselves, stretching into the earth of distant peaks, leaving one utterly astonished.

"Roar…" "Howl…"

Dragon roars sounded nearby—seemingly seven or eight fearsome dragons. Not only that, but there were roars of other primordial beasts, as deafening as thunder. Any creature daring to roar in a dragon-inhabited territory was certainly not inferior to the dragon race!

This truly was, as Xiao Chen had guessed, a nest of primordial beasts.

"Where is Keke?" Xiao Chen looked around, worried that it might have run into the mountains, into the very region where so many beasts were roaring.

"Click-clack…" Qin Guang Wang moved its jaw, pointing toward the stump of the World Tree.

The stump was also black and lustrous, as crystalline as ink jade. Xiao Chen looked up and saw Keke climbing the smooth, mountain-like trunk like a nimble monkey, already nearly a thousand meters above the ground.

The three skeletons also seemed eager to climb up and see. Xiao Chen laughed. "Alright, let's go up and look at this little beast's nest."

It was only because of their cultivation that they could climb such a height. Ordinary people could never scale the trunk, which was as smooth and glossy as fine jade, offering no foothold.

The stump of the World Tree stood about fifteen hundred meters tall, while most mountains on Dragon Island were under thirteen hundred meters. The stump was a full section higher than the surrounding peaks. When Xiao Chen and the others reached the top, they were stunned once more. The top of the stump was perfectly flat, as if it had been severed by a sharp blade—there was no other possible cause.

The trunk of this mountain-like heavenly tree had been cut clean through. This was utterly incredible and led to many dark speculations…

The severed surface also gleamed with a dark light, the same color as the trunk. It was vast, like a flat-topped mountain.

Keke stood in the distance, lost and wandering aimlessly. Xiao Chen walked over and saw that its bright eyes were full of bewilderment, like a lost child, pitiful and helpless.

"Keke, what's wrong?"

For once, Keke did not act mischievous. It quietly curled up on the ground and let out a soft whimper, like a lonely child crying, like a wounded little beast that had lost its mother. It lay there pitifully, unmoving, and mist formed in its big eyes.