At the same time, doubt and curiosity stirred in the hearts of every cultivator who had entered the ancient ruins.
What exactly is going on with Origin Mall?
This strange place... it didn't belong to any known power or faction, yet it was more mysterious—and more dangerous—than anything they'd encountered before.
Once they left the ruins, they knew they would have to investigate it further.
"This ancient ruin feels... different," Liu Ruyu muttered, her brows furrowed as she stared at the massive corpse of a grotesque creature sprawled across the crimson stone floor.
This was already the third monster they had encountered.
And the deeper they ventured, the stronger and more horrifying the monsters became.
Liu Rumei stood silently beside her, eyes narrowed in thought.
"I think I've seen creatures like this... in an old tome from the Holy Land," she murmured.
"Huh? Sister, you recognize them?" Liu Ruyu looked at her in surprise.
Liu Rumei frowned. Her voice was soft, uncertain.
"My memory's a bit blurry. But I believe... these monsters were connected to an ancient disaster... one that nearly tore the world apart."
Suddenly, her expression changed.
Her pupils dilated.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Fear—genuine, deep-rooted fear—crept into her eyes.
The kind of fear that could shake even a cultivator at the Pathseeker level.
"Sister? What's wrong?!" Liu Ruyu asked, stepping closer with concern.
Liu Rumei took a deep breath and looked toward the ruined horizon, where crimson clouds churned with destructive energy.
"If what I'm remembering is true..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Then this ancient ruin... might be the source of the catastrophe that once nearly destroyed the Azure Continent."
Liu Ruyu stiffened.
"...What?"
A calamity capable of threatening the entire continent?
What kind of ancient secret were they walking into?
Ruyu wanted to ask more, but Liu Rumei suddenly went quiet.
She seemed hesitant—no, afraid—to say more.
It was as if even speaking the truth would summon something unspeakable.
Elsewhere, countless cultivators continued exploring the ancient ruins. And for every opportunity found, there was an equal number of tragedies.
Even now, whispers of Origin Mall spread like wildfire.
In just one day, dozens of cultivators had begun dreaming of reaching the mysterious place they had only heard about in rumors.
In the skies above, Luo Chuan soared, his pace swift and effortless.
A faint smile tugged at his lips. A rare feeling of pride swelled in his chest.
But then—
He suddenly stopped mid-air.
His eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering across his face.
In the distance, beyond the red plains, he saw it.
A tree.
No, to call it a tree felt like an understatement.
This wasn't something that could be described with mere words.
It pierced the heavens.
Its colossal form blotted out the sun.
Even from miles away, Luo Chuan could feel its vast and overwhelming presence—an aura deeper than the sea itself.
And most astonishingly—
It had already surpassed the realm of Eminence.
This was the first Celestial Ascendant-level creature Luo Chuan had encountered since arriving on the Azure Continent.
"...System," Luo Chuan asked in his heart, "what is the name of that tree?"
The system's calm voice echoed back:
"World Tree."
Luo Chuan was stunned for a moment.
That name…
Exactly what he had been thinking.
But something didn't feel right.
His gaze sharpened, and he frowned slightly.
Something is wrong with this tree.
In his perception, the World Tree should have been an anchor of life—vast, sacred, serene.
Instead, it pulsed with an aura of corruption and madness.
Destruction clung to its roots.
Chaos twisted through its branches.
It was as if the very concept of decay and ruin had fused into its core.
In Earth's Norse mythology, the World Tree was the pillar of the world, connecting realms and nurturing life.
But this one…
This one felt tainted. Contaminated.
Luo Chuan thought back to the monsters he had encountered along the way—mutated, twisted, seething with bloodlust and chaos.
And now, a tree that should be the source of life, instead radiated nothing but death.
His eyes narrowed.
He had a feeling—
That he had just stumbled upon the source of something far more dangerous than anyone had realized.