The Martial Unity

Each species of flora continuously required many chemical compounds.

Each chemical compound had a cycle to sustain its availability.

Each cycle required many other species.

Thus, each species of flora was indirectly dependent on many other species to keep the chemical cycles going, to keep it alive.

“The same must be true for you,” Rui sharply deduced. “In fact, I cannot imagine how many chemical cycles you depend on. Millions? Probably billions with just how enormous and magical your existence is.”

That next deduction followed smoothly.

“If you require billions of chemical cycles to sustain your existence, and assuming that each chemical cycle requires several species to sustain it, then essentially you require many billions of species to survive in order to sustain your life.”

If even a single one of those species was disrupted, then it would mean that a chemical cycle was disrupted, which would mean that the Elder Tree would lose access to an important substance that sustained its existence.

Of course, it would not die immediately.

However, its health would deteriorate slowly and surely. It would be no different from a lack of any given vitamin or mineral important for the functioning of the human body. In the short term, the differences would not be too noticeable.

However, in the long term, it would be quite damning.

Too many such chemical compounds were lacking, and death was a real possibility.

This was probably especially true for such an enormous yet deeply sophisticated living being as the Elder Tree. Rui could not even imagine all the ways things could go wrong for the tree if it didn’t get some highly vital substance needed for its sustenance.

In fact, it was possible that it had already entered a stage where it found it difficult to get a supply of the chemical compounds that it found necessary.

“Normally, however, the Beast Domain would have been able to naturally ensure a stable supply of these substances.” Rui furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

After all, even back on Earth, long before science became aware of these intricate chemical cycles that intertwined the fate of many species with each other, nature had thrived for a long time.

On Earth, flora had survived five hundred million years.

In other words, nature was prone to creating stable ecosystems that were just balanced such that they could ensure that a species neither overpopulated nor went extinct. While the ecosystems of the Beast Domain were undoubtedly astronomically more complicated than those of Earth, the same principle applied.

The fact that life had survived for hundreds of millions or billions of years meant that the biosphere was stable.

At least until humanity arrived in both worlds.

“Humanity has… disrupted the chemical cycles that you require to survive, right?” Rui asked.

…

The Beast Domain that once used to cover an overwhelming majority of the Panama Continent had now been slowly pushed into its very core, increasing population density by an order of magnitude while countless species had, bit by bit, perished during the continuous expansion and encroachment into the Beast Domain.

Or, they had migrated deeper into the Beast Domain and died due to environmental incompatibilities or overwhelming competition for resources.

The delicate chemical cycles needed to sustain an enormous, complex, and sophisticated tree lifeform like the Elder Tree were undoubtedly disrupted by such massive and radical shifts in the environment and ecosystem.

“If I’m not wrong, countless species that were needed to maintain the chemical cycles that you required to sustain your life were probably brought to the very brink of extinction due to humanity’s continuous encroachment into the Beast Domain.”

This, in turn, severely compromised the chemical cycles that the Elder Tree relied on.

In other words, even before humanity had reached the Elder Tree, it was already an existential threat to the enormous tree.

“You must have sought a solution. A solution to save all these species that were needed to sustain the chemical cycles that, in turn, sustained your life,” Rui keenly inferred.

He gestured around them. “The Garden of Salvation. A safe haven for those who need it. You save the species that you need to survive, allow them to recuperate, heal, and reproduce, and then send and return them to an environment that benefits them.”

Doing so would ensure that the chemical cycles would largely remain in place.

“It makes sense that you target creatures only in the north side of the Beast Domain,” Rui deduced another fact. “Even considering the sheer size of your full body, I doubt your roots extend much past the northern part of the Beast Domain. This means that you cannot absorb nutrients from other parts of the Beast Domain because your roots do not extend the entire way. Thus, only species in the northern parts matter. Hence, no living being is rescued much beyond that.”

Rui returned his focus to the Elder Tree again. “The fact that you rescued two Martial Seniors and have rescued plenty of Martial Artists over the years is enough for me to logically infer that Martial Artists, somehow, are also important to maintaining one or more chemical cycles that are important for your survival.”

A smirk appeared on his face. “That gives us leverage, does it not?”

You… The Elder Tree finally spoke in their minds. Of the countless sentient and intelligent beings to have entered the Garden of Salvation, you are the second person to have ever deduced the truth through sheer thought alone.

Rui sharpened his eyes at those words. He had no proof, but he already knew who the first person was based on pure instinct alone. There was only one person that it could be. There was only one person that Rui had hoped it would be. He had truly journeyed a long, long way to find the man. He hoped that he did not run into a dead end devoid of any more clues as to where the man was.

“…Second? So there was someone before me?”

Indeed. You remind me of him. You remind me of the Divine Doctor himself.

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