Ashlock had a problemone that Senior Lee had pointed out. There was an apparent disconnect between his consciousness, a hazy blue cloud of nodes that connected to everything, and his soul, which was now a Star Core.

Senior Lee had initially believed there were two souls in his body and had claimed his consciousness was incompatible with his body. This was an assessment that Ashlock agreed with as the more he thought about it, the concept that he was a mind trapped in a tree rather than a tree with a human mind made sense.

Lilac flames that were denser than ever flickered to life across his branch, drawing the brief attention of Stella, but she soon returned to her cultivation with a smile. Unsurprisingly the flames of his soul refused to leave the confines of his body.

Power was never the limiting factor here. Instead, it was his bodya prison for his mind. His consciousness could affect and direct everything within himself, but he could not access the outside world.

Only by using puppets and forcing his Qi through their spiritual roots could he influence the outside world. So what was the solution? How could he fix this?

The obvious answer was to become fully tree. However, there was a chance that his reincarnated soul, which was once human, was simply incompatible with a tree, and only through the system was he able to puppet the tree's body as if it were his own in the first place.

So was the system his only savior? Was there a skill he was lacking? Or did he need to ascend to a higher realm for the system to reward him? Ashlock didn't like his odds. The last thing he wanted to do was fully rely on the unpredictable system.

He wanted to carve out a solution by himself in the likely scenario that the system never helped him. So other than throwing away his humanity somehow and fully embracing the tree life to morph his consciousness into one that fit a tree... was there another way?

Ashlock let his mind wander for a while. He looked at his pulsing Star Core, surrounded by the hazy blue cloud representing his consciousness. He could feel a piece of himself still missing, like a thought at the back of his mind that was impossible to remember.

He hated it. Why had his Star Core formed outside of the safety of his body out in the open like that? What if more people had turned up and siphoned half his soul? Would he even still be sane? He would definitely set up a barrier or something for next time.

Scrutinizing his Star Core, Ashlock confirmed he didn't have a slice missing, like a partly eaten tangerineit was still spheroidal, just missing a piece. Could he fill that gap with something?

The obvious answer would be with a piece of soul, but even after devouring the Evergreen cultivator, he hadn't gained the fragment of his soul back. Why though? Had the man's Star Core gobbled it up and turned it into nothing but soul energy? What even made up his soul...

Ashlock felt like he had a headache. Souls confused him. He thought back to his idea of plugging up the hole. Was his Star Core the tree part of him and his consciousness human? Or was it his Star Core that was disconnected from his tree body?

What if he plugged the hole in his Star Core with his consciousness? Or somehow linked his mind with his soul? A great trail of thought, but how does one even do that?

There were no guidebooksor maybe there were. What if this problem had been encountered before, and there was a technique manual about this very issue?

Ashlock tried to mentally shove his consciousness toward the Star Core, but sure enough, it didn't move. All he got was a worse headache.

His Star Core kept pumping out Qi, which naturally flowed throughout his body and followed his cultivation technique that now ran permanently without much active thought after practicing it for so long, almost like breathing.

Although the Qi moved naturally throughout his body without much input, he could still consciously manipulate it with his mind within the confines of his body.

Ashlock took a deep breath. It felt good to identify the issue.

His body, mind, and soul were simply out of sync. Three independent entities that affected each other but weren't operating in harmonycausing him to be unable to affect the outside world.

All he needed was to discover a link. Something to tie him altogether.

Opening his system, Ashlock looked for a potential solution.

[Demonic Spirit Tree (Age: 9)]

[Star Core: 1st Stage]

[Soul Type: Amethyst (Spatial)]

[Mutation]

{Demonic Eye [B]}

[Summons...]

{Ashen Prince: Larry [B]}

[Skills]

{Eye of the Tree God [A]}

{Deep Roots [A]}

{Magic Mushroom Production [A]}

{Lightning Qi Barrier[A]}

{Qi Fruit Production [A]}

{Language of the World [B]}

{Root Puppet [B]}

{Fire Qi Protection[B]}

{Transpiration of Heaven and Earth [C]}

{Devour [C]}

{Hibernate [C]}

{Basic Poison Resistance [F]}

None of his skills exactly jumped out to him as a solution other than his {Qi Fruit Production},which now allowed him to perform alchemy.

Unfortunately, his knowledge of pills in this world was even lower than Stella's, and he didn't even have the intuition from his life on Earth to use here as he hadn't been a pharmacist.

Of course, he had read some cultivation novels and knew of some common pill types, but there were no guarantees they worked in this world. So far, he had seen healing pills and lightning Qi-filled pills.

So not much evidence of soul-fusing pills... what about mind-altering drugs or people that cultivated the Dao of souls? Ashlock hadn't seen evidence of either, but his {Magic Mushroom Production} might have a similar effect.

Looking through the popup menu, Ashlock could see the timer ticking down on the truffle he had started growing long ago. "But why does it say the estimated time till completion is only two weeks now?"

Ashlock couldn't remember what it had said before as he knew it would take a year or so to grow, but he was certain there weren't supposed to be only two weeks left... "Oh, my Qi output increased drastically. That makes sense."

Another new benefit of his Star Core had been found. He could now produce more magic mushrooms and grow them faster. "If people uncover this ability of mine, I am going to become some supreme being's drug producer, aren't I?"

Ashlock could only sigh and scroll through the options.

Since he could make more now, he would make one for Diana and see if he could find an option for himself. For Diana, he decided to make a second spirit root upgrading truffle as she also had inferior spirit roots like Stella.

He would make more, but he wanted the maximum Qi available for the upcoming fight.

The completion time appeared, and it claimed it would only take a month to grow, which was twelve times faster than it had been in the Soul Fire realm.

"Perfect! But there doesn't seem to be anything that useful for me here."

Ashlock did decide to grow another truffle that induced a hallucination about the Daobut its chance of working was slim. Also, it seemed to only affect whatever Dao the person was already aligned with, so for him, it would be some enlightenment regarding spatial.

"Not what I'm looking for, but still useful." Ashlock browsed his abilities one last time and was ready to give up when a sudden idea popped into his mind. "What about my inventory?"

It wasn't a place he often checked as the system had focused on providing him skills and summons over items, but something was still floating there.

Seniors Lee's gift.

When he concentrated on that obsidian thing that looked like a tooth or possibly a claw, the system notified him of its name again.

{??? Divine Fragment [SSS]}

Something in its name caught his eye. Fragment.

He had lost a fragment of his soul and searched for something to plug that hole. Wouldn't an SSS-grade fragment be the perfect fit?

"This has to be a terrible idea, right?" Ashlock wondered as he mulled over the fragment's origins, "When Senior Lee gave me that fragment, I saw visions of a lot of angry immortal-looking people and things hunting down the owner of this divine fragment."

That had to mean merging with it was a terrible idea. The fragment was from an unknown entity that was clearly hunted by the gods. To merge with a piece from such a being might lead to disaster.

Or was this an opportunity for another massive power-up? Just accepting the gift and storing it away had vastly increased his cultivation. For all he knew, this was a fragment of a god, hence the divine part of the name.

Would merging his soul with a fragment of a god make him a demi-god?

Ashlock took a deep nonexistent breath and stopped looking within himself. He needed to clear his mind.

The courtyard was peaceful for the most part if one overlooked the blood-covered broken walls or the fallen branches surrounded by smashed poisonous fruits.

But for how long would it remain peaceful like this? He had already attracted the attention of the entire valley by ascending to the Star Core realm, and then Senior Lee had come and checked him out because he evolved and gained a {Demonic Eye}.

He couldn't keep a low profile anymore.

Ashlock activated his {Eye of the Tree God} and realized he could now see the entire valley, including Darklight city. "Is that an airship?" He saw a red balloon sailing across the sky and over the valley.

"Does that mean there are other cities nearby?"

Ashlock couldn't believe it.

Darklight City was already the size of a metropolis. It practically filled the entire valley. The Ravenborne Grand Elder's explosion had looked devastating with his limited view, but the destroyed portion was minuscule in the grand scheme of things.

Ashlock could see cultivators suddenly shroud themselves in green and white flames throughout the city and begin heading his way. "Did their family send out a signal or something?"

Things were looking grim, as Diana had pointed out previously.

The girls were both mid-stage Soul Fire realm cultivators and had only gotten the upper hand over the previous group of cultivators because they had let their guard down while being distracted by the items thrown on the ground.

It also helped that the cultivators refused to work with one another and were also blinded by the forming Star Core.

But now Diana and Stella were depleted of Qi. And Larry lay half dead, slowly covering himself in silk and trying to evolve.

Ashlock realized it was time for him to step up as the patriarch of his sect.

He couldn't hide behind his allies forever, and since he was now the highest realm individual in the sect, except maybe Maple, he was now expected to pull his weight.

Cultivators swarmed around the base of the mountain. Ashlock could see... hundreds. There were too many to count.

There was a genuine chance that this could be the last night Ashlock knew peace. It didn't take a seasoned general to see the chance of them all surviving even until the morning was impossible.

Ashlock needed something to turn the tides.

If he was about to lose everything anyway, why not take the risk and merge with the fragment of a slain divine being?

Opening his inventory, Ashlock looked at the obsidian tooth that was the size of a person. It gleamed with a mysterious power as if calling him.

He reached out, touching it with his mind.

[Merge with {??? Divine Fragment}]

A system prompt appeared in front of it. Asking him a question that might change the fate of his life here in this world.

He hesitated for a brief second, but he couldn't see another way. Mentally he replied yes to the system.

The obsidian tooth vanished from his inventory, and he felt a sudden pain, but it wasn't a physical pain, but rather a phantom one that pierced his soul.

Looking back within his trunk, the obsidian tooth's flat end was lodged into the wall of his trunk while the point was piercing his Star Core.

[Merge Complete]

[Race evolved {Demonic Spirit Tree} -> {Demonic Demi-Divine Tree}]

[As a step below godhood, you are now more resistant to heaven's wrath and are no longer limited by the lower realm's suppression]

[Your cultivation potential below the heavens is now limitless]

Information about his new abilities and potential flooded his mind, but Ashlock cared for none of that right now.

All that mattered was whether he could use his Qi outside his body. Limitless potential mattered little if he might not even survive till sunrise.

His Star Core was no longer freely suspended in the middle of his trunk but was now anchored to the wall by the divine fragment. It felt more... connected.

Sure enough, as he commanded his spatial Qi, it channeled through the fragment and into his body. But the fragment did something elseit seemed to link him to heaven's will.

The world now understood his intentions. He was no longer cut off from the outside world.

His spatial Qi rushed through his branchescovering them with lilac flames, and with just a simple thought, the space between them shuddered before being torn apart.

He had created a portal.

Stella and Diana shot up from their meditation and glanced toward the opening rift between Ashlock's branches.

"What in the nine realms?" Stella shouted and dashed toward him, "Tree can use techniques now?!"