Root Maker: Tree Cultivation

Year 11, Day 91

Beneath an endless green canopy, living, breathing trees. 

Space Qi opened the door to a thousand and one opportunities. Root always knew that Space was just another aspect of the world that all cultivators would grow to overcome and control with their whims and wishes. Seeing how magnetic the little girl's cultivation technique was- he still believes she is some sort of reincarnated old master from a higher plane that failed to ascend or something like that -he also started to pull Space Qi towards himself. It was as hard as the first time, but with this magnetic pull, the Space Qi started to move towards him without much effort on his part. “Much better…” The very first “particle” of Space Qi that he just gathered was really “heavy”, not as in weight because Qi does not have weight, but heavy as in the sensation it provoked. 

Weird. 

Now having had contact with the Space Qi and had felt it, Root could now transform his own Nature Qi into Space Qi. With more Space Qi under his control, he slowly started experimenting with it a little bit- Converting Nature Qi to Space Qi was very Qi consuming, and the majority of Nature Qi consumed was way more than the Space Qi produced. “Ah, I hate this inflation thing, can't escape it even after leaving the Earth, huh.” Seriously, he didn't really like doing that, but at least he had Space Qi to experiment with! He gathered that the nature of this world- remember, the curse that made everything go to shit and that I keep referring to every 3 chapters or so? The curse that literally defines this novel? That curse? -that the Chaos Qi had something to do with the suspicious lack of Space Qi in this world when Space is… literally everywhere. “The way Chaos reacts to Space Qi is really telling…” And it also made sense. 

Curse a world to be as chaotic and deadly as possible, then make sure nobody can leave by simply breaking the bridges they could use to escape. The Space Qi were the building blocks of those bridges, making sure there were no more blocks to build more bridges would make sure new ones cannot be built- the one who cursed this world has either done this same thing before or they hated this world to a great deal. 

No wonder cultivators fled from this world as quickly as possible as soon as they could, huh? 

“This way?” Stretching the Space Qi he had gathered in a thin line, Root watched in amazement as the thin and glowing purple-black line seemed to ooze out… Chaos. Pure Chaos Qi washed out of the small hole in space that he made, and he quickly closed it. Chaos Qi, as the name implies, is incredibly volatile and destructive because of its unpredictability and rash aggressive nature, so when he unleashed the equivalent of a cloud of black smoke-like Qi that gathered and shifted like it was alive, so Root gathered his Spirit Qi and made sure to grasp the black cloud and held it- “Hey, Chaos? Dear, I've got something for yo-” He hadn't even finished speaking through their bond, a bunch of fingers that seemed to melt into long black tendrils that grew sharp spikes that seemed to crack space. With an incredible force, the hole in space was widened, and soon it was big enough for this deep red eye to look at him. 

He was about to shoot a sharp root at it, but Chaos’ head pushed its way through the hole. The big red eye was actually this big red crystal that had a black center. He probably took it from the Steam Crystal Valley (Chapter 22) by the sheer size of it. “Hey dad! I felt it the moment it got here, and holy moly, it feels so big-” Chaos stretched out their hand towards the cloud of Chaos Qi, and it moved towards them. Like a shooting sharp lance, it sank into their wide open palm, and it unraveled and was sucked into Chaos’ body. “-aaand done. It's good to have more of the whole with me. It feels less lonely!” The last wisp of what was once a big Chaos Qi cloud was soon sucked into Chaos’ body, their pitch black body clicked and clacked as it shifted, almost like small plaques moving, and soon Chaos was a whole new being. They looked more like Ahteus now, but with a black crystalline body instead of the rock-hard body Ahteus had; “You think Ahteus would make me a dick? I'm kinda curious how it feels to have one, and he has gotten really good at making dicks because he found out you can break them by using pressure inside the one big valve, and it explodes outward in a shower of shards. He calls it Great Dick Destruction Technique.” 

“...” Is Chaos bullshiting him, or are they telling the truth? “That sounds interesting, dear.” Like all parents who don't know what to say to their children after they say something fucked up, Root smiled and nodded. “Well, you might want to keep an eye out for more of these… I'm experimenting with some techniques and, well, more of those little clouds might come out.” He stretched more vines from above his canopy- he felt Lumin move -and using those vines, he stretched out space before him and opened a hole roughly the size of a barrel. 

Immediately he regretted it. 

Thousands of small black and gray moths swarmed out of the hole, and by the time Root had closed it- literally three seconds -there was an enormous cloud of moths flying above them all. Immediately, they seemed to fuse into a single enormous, kaiju sized moth- He was pretty sure he heard Chaos shout: “Holy shit, Goth Mothra!” 

“...children, I done goof.” 

Thankfully, his children were itching for a good fight. And now they had a huge fucking goth moth to go town on- Which was a blessing in disguse, truly. 

Endless Mountains of the Raohna Region, Twin Mountains, Dead Mirroring Lakes - 1st Brother Mountain 

Timeline in Comparison to Root: Year 11, Day 70

“Hive mother.” A singular voice said, the long table head of Madam Latistella bobbed softly: “Me and my girls have been able to locate the direction of the disturbance in the heavens… It seems to be very far from us, but the big headed idiot was able to calculate the distance and where the Nature Qi Cultivator might be- if it was a Nature Qi Cultivator…” They were focusing too much on an “if” here, but there was no other option for them… They had to deposit their faith into this BIG if. “We also prepared the expedition team, four of each of our species- Four of Black Jewelers, four of Brain Lord's, four of Feeder Lettuce Leaf, four of Guardian Staghorn, and four of my own girls… The equipment prepared has also been completed, each will have enough water purified to last them about six months, we will have to purify more.”

“Have Big Momma grow more slaps drifts to clean the water faster- Tell her she can use 60% of our workforce to make them, it's of high priority.” The Queen Polyp sounded exhausted- the continuous, never-ending invasions against their empire from the forces of darkness and death was not only time consuming but also harrowing in a mind breaking way. You see, the Polyps (that's the name of their race) have several traditions when it comes to their dead, depending on the different species of Polyp that you are. Staghorn polyps will create crates with their own horns to store away the corpse of their fallen comrade to be used in the future, Lettuce Leaf polyps would gather their dead and make them into fertilizer for their intricate farms, Black polyps would use their dead as fuel for making jewels and other crystalline pieces, while Brain polyps would use their dead to teach the younger generation about the future, the past, and knowledge of important skills to have. 

Regardless of what species of polyp you were, the dead are to be respected and used to their full extent. That was why they were very, very sad and angry that the corruption of darkness and death was taking over their home. Their dead would rise again and fight against them, killing others and converting them to the endless threat that were the “Oozing Dead” as Brain Lord loved to call them. 

“Very well… I would like to meet the candidates.” Queen Polyp, of the now rare and almost extinct species of Leptoseris papyracea polyp, stood upon her throne of her dead family members. This was a tradition, each ruler would make a throne with the corpse of the deceased past ruler to not only signify unity after death, unity of the past with the present, but also as a reminder for the ruler that one day they will join the other corpses they sit upon and will one day become part of the future of the royal family. Right now, however, there were fewer Leptoseris Papyracea polyps than before- before you ask, the nature cultivator called them that, for some reason, and it has stuck to them ever since! That cultivator, their savior, was considered a highly respected person and naming their species with such an incredible name was an honor -and the Queen had to make a decision. She could bud, creating a new Polyp from her own body, but doing so would consume her strength but also guarantee the future of the royal line of the Great Colonial Hive. “Also, call every lord and lady, I have to make a decision… a serious decision that will destroy or guarantee the future of our empire.” 

Madam Latistella nodded, already having an idea about what the queen was talking about- after all, she has about three hundred and seventy three girls of her own, she knows how it feels to bud and release new polyps to the world, and she knows how it feels to make that decision. “Very well, my queen.” 

It took a while, but soon, every single lady and lord was gathered. Brain Lord, Guardian Staghorn, Black Jeweler, Feeder Lettuce Leaf, Madam Latistella, Lady Vase, Lord Acropolis, Madam Guardian Elkhorn, Lady Venus Fan, Lord Organ Pipe, Lord Sun, and others. Each species had received said names from the Nature Qi Cultivator that had saved their colonial hive hundreds of years ago. 

However, four nobles- two ladies and two lords -stepped forward greeting the Queen. Behind them stood four smaller and similar little polyps of their same species. These were the chosen adventurous children sent out to find the Nascent Soul Realm Nature Qi Cultivator. “Children chosen to bear the future, the hopes, and the despair of the Great Colonial Hive, I, Queen Polyp Leptoseris Papyracea the 5789th, hereby thank you for your service.” There was a momentary silence that was soon broken by various other nobles, lords and ladies, who thanked the children that were going to be sent to their most likely demise… It was a sad reality. “I cannot guarantee your safety. All I can guarantee is this- The Colonial Hive endures. And we will endure until the last moments of our existence. I can guarantee you, children, that it does not matter if you fail. It only matters if you succeed… So go forward, and become our little light of hope.” 

After that speech, it was time for a serious announcement: “Ah, by the way, I'm getting a child.” 

-Author- 

Thank you: Dallas Meck, jean, Kaleb, underdog121, DarksoulS, Maxwell Joseph, Ether's Blessed One, Jared Tate, Sin of Sloth, Harrison Brown, Golden Mold, Yerock, Robbie, Jeremy, ry10970, Me Me, Gabriel, Captain Dragnee, Tah Ma, and HILLARY Tchuente for your support. you: Dallas Meck, Kaleb, underdog121, DarksoulS, Maxwell Joseph, Ether's Blessed One, Harrison Brown, Golden Mold, Yerock, Robbie, Jeremy, ry10970, Me Me, Gabriel, Captain Dragnee, Tah Ma, and HILLARY Tchuente, Brayan Reyes-Barrera, Flame_Dragon King, nightmare, Jowie Lui, and Jhon Waddell for your support.

Let me give you a little bit of a hint- for the future of the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect, they won't only have a forest on land, but one in the sea as well.