Slime True Immortal

Sophie led the way up front. After walking a short distance she looked back and saw Chen Yu and Oros still standing where they were, so she stopped and spoke hesitantly.

"The Lord Tree King has no malice, it only wants to meet you. It says you are not bad dragons."

Hearing that come from a spider that had just been beaten, even her own tone sounded doubtful.

Her compound eyes shifted nervously, clearly still remembering the recent physical lesson vividly.

She glanced at the little slime no larger than a stone and lowered her voice further, speaking more cautiously: "Great Dragon, you can climb onto my back. I'll take you there."

Oros tilted his head and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, asked, "What do you intend to do?"

Chen Yu hopped over, jumped onto Sophie's back, and sent his reply to him by divine sense: "I'll go in front. If anything happens, the worst is losing a gel avatar. If things go wrong, call the Dragon God immediately."

Oros shifted back into humanoid form and nodded. "A demigod tree that inexplicably appeared in the star region around Zeyarila, we do not know what influence it may exert on the Material Plane."

"This is not far from some dragon lairs. I need to investigate carefully."

With that he also jumped onto the spider's back.

"Right up ahead."

Sophie picked up her pace and crawled into a cave half-hidden by a silver-thread veil.

The moment they passed through the entrance, the surrounding dreamscape changed abruptly.

A lazy sun drifted by, and a vast prairie unfurled before them, stretching to the horizon.

In the center of that meadow stood a giant tree. Its crown nearly shaded half the grassland, and within the huge shadow several herds of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely.

In the distance a clear stream wound along, its surface scattering pinpricks of light.

But the tree did not look well.

Many leaves on the crown were already yellowing, whispering softly in the wind.

Several thick branches were dead; their broken cross-sections were exposed to the air, and no new buds sprouted from them.

The whole tree gave off an aura of drowsiness, like a person who had stood for too long and grown weary.

Sophie visibly relaxed after stepping onto the meadow; her gait became lighter.

She trotted to the base of the giant tree, slightly lowered her head, and spoke with respect: "Lord Tree King, Sophie has brought visitors."

Chen Yu lifted his head and faced the giant tree.

A peaceful feeling washed over his consciousness like a warm current, like the first spring rain falling on a dry riverbed — cool and slow.

The giant tree seemed to be watching them.

It was silent for a moment, then emitted a gentle, feminine voice.

"Welcome to your arrival, silver dragon of the dragon lair, and this one...."

Her voice paused, as if she had noticed Chen Yu's small crown.

"The Great Majesty of Zeyarila."

"Tree King Highness." Gong Maosong placed his left hand on his chest and slightly raised his head, performing a formal salute to show respect to the giant tree.

Chen Yu followed suit, placing his gel hand over his belly and bowing slightly.

To be honest, this astral journey had gone far more smoothly than he'd expected. At least the demigod in front of them could communicate. They were not facing some famished astral beast.

Oros straightened and chose his words carefully. "May I ask where you come from, and your name?"

"A name...." The tree's voice fell into a brief recollection. "The elves who wandered the astral realm with me called me Tuiris. In their tongue it means 'emerald and beautiful.'"

"Since the last elf fell asleep beneath my roots, no one has spoken that name again."

"You might be surprised, but those elves and I indeed came from Zeyarila."

Chen Yu's gaze fell on the small mound and crown nearby.

A few unknown flowers were stuck into the mound of earth; their petals were already withered. That must be the graves of the elves she mentioned.

If she and those elves both came from Zeyarila, doesn't that mean there were actually two demigod trees sheltering the elves back then?

Tuiris gave a light laugh, the sound threaded with the joy of a guessed riddle. "You guessed correctly, Little Majesty."

"I grew alongside Elwen in the same forest on the western continent, sheltering those lovely little ones beneath our crowns. Later, she chose to remain there forever, while I chose to wander the astral realm."

Again with the mind-reading.

Chen Yu had already experienced this power with Viola.

Even when he had not spoken a word, a single fleeting thought would be caught by the other party.

The awkward part was that the escape plan he and Oros had just discussed—had she heard all of it as well?

Tuiris's voice stayed gentle, with no hint of offense. "Trees are simply good at listening to the troubles of living things."

"Branches and leaves capture the whispers of wind, roots feel the pulses of the earth, and consciousness naturally receives the words left unspoken. It is only listening."

She paused, and a trace of longing entered her tone. "I wonder how Viola is doing now. I hope she hasn't been troubled by tedious affairs."

"You know Viola?" Chen Yu asked in surprise.

But on reflection it wasn't strange. Tuiris and the Sacred Oak were demigod kin; as Sacred Oak's Grand Sage, Viola surely had intersections with her.

He then felt something off.

Viola, that lazy one, spent her days eating and sleeping; her biggest worry was which tree to lie under to sunbathe. What tedious affairs could trouble her?

Suddenly he realized.

Tuiris likely left Zeyarila before the Temple catastrophe.

She didn't know what later happened in the Emerald Crown, nor about Viola being burned or the half-elves being cursed.

"Temple catastrophe? It seems Elwen's path was not smooth either." Tuiris sighed faintly.

Chen Yu recalled Oros saying earlier that the Goddess of Life, Elwen, was born from the Sacred Oak; that Elwen was the Sacred Oak's will given divine form.

Tuiris's claim that the Sacred Oak's predecessor was Elwen introduced a subtle difference from Oros's description.

If she was not mistaken, the relationship between the Sacred Oak and the Goddess of Life might not be a simple subordinate one.

He probed, "Could it be that the Sacred Oak and the Goddess of Life are actually two deities split from the same tree? One inherited the tree, while the other became pure nature worship?"

"Smart little thing." Tuiris's voice carried praise.

"Elwen is gentler, more attached to her homeland. When the first original elves found shelter in the Sacred Oak's crown, she fell in love with those little ones."

"She wanted to protect them forever, to root in that land and see their civilization flourish for generations."

"As for me, I believed only by leaving the cradle and venturing into the unknown stars could the elves find a true future."

She paused, then abruptly turned her tone toward a different direction. "Little silver dragon, I have something to say to this child. Excuse me."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Oros, standing behind Chen Yu, vanished from where he stood before he could react.

Sophie seemed to receive an unspoken command, stepped back several paces, and crawled out of the meadow, leaving the space to Chen Yu and Tuiris.

"Where did he go?" Chen Yu asked.

"Merely thrown outside the dream. What comes next cannot be heard by those giant dragons."

"All right, little one, could you tell me the story after I left?"

Chen Yu suppressed his doubts and recounted the history he had learned from Viola.

Tuiris listened quietly, occasionally swaying her crown of branches as if digesting information that spanned long ages.

A long while later she sighed softly.

"It seems nothing can escape fate."

"Back then Elwen and I disagreed. She believed living beings should remain safely on the Material Plane, rooted in a land that would not move, only then could they be secure."

"I believed the continent faced threats from giants and orc invasions, with countless uncertainties awaiting them. Only by expanding could living beings secure their future. Leaving the cradle was the way to give them unlimited possibilities."

"Neither of us could persuade the other, so she stayed in that forest while I left with several original elves and hundreds of ordinary elves to wander the astral realms."

"We tried to return to the elves' original homeland, a place said to lie deep in the astral realm, awaiting our return."

"However... reality is cruel. We spent thousands of years, crossed countless star regions, endured innumerable life-and-death struggles, yet even when the last original elf closed their eyes under my crown, we still did not see the dawn of hope."

"Even my body was nearly destroyed in one encounter. I could only hide the remaining will in this masked star region, watch over Sophie here, and live on."

Her voice held no resentment, only fatigue.

"I am glad they could defeat the giants, but I still do not agree with Elwen's way."

"She trapped herself and those elves within the Material Plane. Fine for now, but what about after hundreds or thousands of years?"

"When the Sacred Oak withers, when the elves' faith fades, when the gods of the Material Plane are reshuffled, who will shelter the elves trapped beneath that crown?"

"But..."

Chen Yu looked at her. He wasn't sure how to read a tree's expression, but he felt the loss in the things she left unsaid.

"You seem somewhat perplexed," he said.

"Hmm..." Tuiris admitted. "If conservatism is wrong and expansion is wrong as well, then what is right?"

Chen Yu thought seriously for a moment, then lifted his head. "Maybe it's simply a matter of not being strong enough."

"If the Sacred Oak were powerful enough to become a deity without requiring elves to feed it with bloodlines, then it would not care about mixed blood."

"If the elves were strong enough to stand on the continent without relying on the Sacred Oak's shelter, they would not need to trap themselves in the Western Great Forest."

"If you were strong enough, you would not need to hide here and wait to wither after a single encounter."

Tuiris chuckled softly, as if delighted by an unexpected answer. "An interesting reply. I didn't expect such ambition from a small slime."

"I still don't understand," Chen Yu said, "why tell me all this? Is it just because of Viola?"

"Because..."

Tuiris's voice carried the tenderness accumulated over long ages.

"You are a tree too."

At that moment, the usually quiet illusion of the World Tree hidden within Chen Yu's gel flared to life.

A warm emerald light radiated from inside his gel, bathing his entire body so that he looked like a glowing gel lantern.

The World Tree could still resonate?

He stared at his luminous form, feeling awkward and unsure.

Tuiris let out a soft laugh and then sighed. "I am tired and do not want to continue. Little Majesty, your path is interesting. Will you continue it for me?"

"What do you mean?" Chen Yu asked.

"I have persisted alone here for centuries, but even I cannot save those branches that are already dying."

"My body is broken, and I have no face to return to my homeland. Let the journey end here."

"I will gift you the tree's rebirth. Plant the tree you imagine; it will bear the richest fruits for you."

"If there is an opportunity, please one day awaken me, so I may see what you have accomplished."

Chen Yu understood.

This one wanted to give up and sleep, so she was asking him to level up for her.

"Level up? Interesting phrase. You could put it that way, but the demigod's power is also the gift I grant you."

The oak began to wither.

The yellowing leaves fell one after another. In the densest part of the crown a warm light condensed among the branches and slowly drifted down, stopping in front of Chen Yu.

"Aren't you afraid I'll do something bad with your trunk?" Chen Yu tried to ask.

The light wavered as if shaking its head. Her voice remained gentle.

"You will not. If you want new shoots to sprout, plant them under my roots. Also, please take good care of Sophie. That child means no harm; it only wanted to protect me."

The light finally faded of all sound. In that instant all remaining power contracted and condensed into a fist-sized emerald stone, which floated down lightly and landed in Chen Yu's outstretched gel hand.

"I really hate mind-reading," he muttered to himself, then carefully tucked Tuiris's sleeping consciousness gem deep into his divine sense, placing it beside Olivia's Dragon Pearl.

When he looked up again, the giant tree that had once shaded half the meadow was completely dead; its leaves had all fallen.

At that moment Sophie crawled back.

She bowed her head and came before Chen Yu, her head hanging low as she spoke in a wronged tone: "The Tree King told me to follow you."

Chen Yu looked at her and patiently said, "I am not a great dragon, I am a slime. From now on call me Majesty."

"Okay, Majesty."

"Stay here for now."

Sophie obediently folded her eight legs and stood quietly in place, watching as Chen Yu hopped from her and bounced toward the withered tree stump.

Chen Yu approached the base of the trunk. He could clearly feel the tree waiting for a new shoot to arrive.

If Weiola's branch were placed here, perhaps the Grand Sage could grow into a new demigod tree.

But that would require a long time and enormous resources, and every resource he had at the moment was tight.

He had a better idea.

Plant the World Tree here.

If the World Tree truly could sprout, he himself did not know what would happen.

But this might be another possibility for the World Tree.

After all, he would eventually leave the cradle that sheltered him and step into the real world.