Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Chapter 612: Ashlock Awakens

While the world around him continued on, Ashlock suffered in the realm of dreams.

[Hibernation begun. Remaining time: 29 days, 23 hours]

His consciousness frayed. The nine moons over his Inner World dimmed one by one, like candles snuffed by an unseen hand, and the last thing he heard was Larry settling into Red Vine Peakʼs branches above him.

Then he was no longer a tree.

He was stone.

Not a body of stone—stone itself. The deep, sleeping kind. Pressed beneath continents, compressed by eons, holding up cities that did not know his name or care for his presence. For what felt like a millennium, Ashlock did nothing but bear weight. He could not move. He could not speak. He could only exist as the unyielding foundation beneath the world.

It reminded him of his early days as a tree, except far worse.

He tried to scream, and his scream was the slow grinding of tectonic plates. He tried to rage, and his rage was the patient erosion of a mountain into dust.

Earth Law was not about defense. It was about enduring. About being so deeply rooted in your conviction that even gods walked across your back without disturbing your sleep.

When Aldric Stonecrest had stood against Stella, this had been his arrogance, and Ashlock finally understood why—an Earth Monarch did not fear death. Death came to everything, and stone outlasted all of it.

Once he understood this truth, his soul shifted from dense stone and became flowing water.

For centuries, he was a single droplet, taking on a thousand shapes as he traveled. He was the snowmelt that fed a great river, the river that carved a canyon, the canyonʼs mist, the mist that became cloud, the cloud that fell as rain on a battlefield, washing blood from the cobblestones of a city that no longer existed.

He had no shape of his own. He took the shape of whatever held him.

At first, Ashlock thought this was a weakness. By the time he understood Water Law, he realized it was the opposite. Water was not shaped by the world—water overcame its container. Every vessel cracked. Every dam broke. Every shoreline retreated.

When the dream finally released him, his soul felt less rigid.

He had no time to marvel at this change.

The world inverted. Up became down. Down became forever.

Ashlock found himself suspended in a darkness so absolute it had texture, and one by one, the stars ignited around him. Not metaphorically. He was the spaces between them, the cold void that held them in their slow, indifferent orbits. He could feel their light reach him after traveling across distances he had no number for.

Cosmic Law was the cruelest dream yet, because nothing in it cared about him.

A tree could feel the soil hold him tenderly. Water could feel the riverbed shift beneath it. But the void between stars? It felt nothing. It was witness to civilizations rising and dying on distant worlds, to gods waging wars across existence, to entire layers of creation collapsing into themselves—and it remained unfazed.

For what felt like ten thousand years, Ashlock floated. He watched empires he could not name flicker out like dying embers. He felt the distant pulse of a star going supernova somewhere too far away to matter.

He understood, finally, why Aldebrar Solvenne had dropped a literal star onto the Hellroot Abyss with such casual contempt. To a Cosmic Monarch, mortals were not even ants. They were merely forgettable dots on a cosmic scale, as impactful as dust falling into a star.

When the dream let him go, Ashlock felt something he hadnʼt felt in years.

He felt the worldʼs love.

It fed him with oxygen, nourished him, and let him grow.

He was now an azure flame upon a candle in a sickroom, burning down to nothing while a child watched her mother die. Until something knocked him over. The room caught alight. The hospital burned, and he swiftly exploded into a wildfire that cleared the surrounding forest and expanded westward with the wind. He became a force of pure destruction, seemingly unstoppable.

Until he wasnʼt.

The skies opened, and a great rain that drowned the world fell upon him. A once unstoppable wildfire that had burned for years and scorched the world was silenced in an afternoon, and he was reduced to smoldering coals.

Earth had been solid and eternal, water formless, and the cosmos was vast and ancient. Of all of them, Ashlock had felt the loudest and most powerful as azure fire, despite his comparatively short life.

But lightning always struck the tallest tree.

However, what Ashlock learned from this wasnʼt that fire should remain small and quiet to avoid being snuffed out. It was fireʼs fate, whether a candle flame or a literal star, to one day fade.

Compared to the other Laws he had experienced, it was the most mortal of them.

The dream released him with a soft, satisfied crackle.

The fifth was wind.

Not the breeze that stirred his leaves on Red Vine Peak. Another kind. The howling, unbound force that recognized no master, no border, no name.

For centuries, he traveled. He had no fixed form, nor weight to anchor him. He rolled across plains, crested mountains, and learned the smell of every kind of smoke a fire could make. He stole the last words of dying men and carried them to no one. He pushed sails across oceans toward shores their captains would never reach.

At first, he thought Wind Law was freedom.

By the end, he understood it was the opposite. Like a fish, wind could never remain still to survive. It had to keep moving, never lingering long enough to leave a lasting impact. He didnʼt remember the names or faces of anyone he encountered, and they wouldnʼt remember him. Wind was a fleeting existence.

Once Ashlock accepted his fleeting existence, the realm of dreams finally set him free.

[Hibernation complete]

Red Vine Peakʼs wind rustled his leaves as the echoes of the eons faded into the back of his mind like a forgettable nightmare. He hadnʼt even left the darkness of his restored consciousness when he was bombarded by a stack of golden text.

[Inner World restored. Damage from sustained Qi expenditure has been fully repaired. Your soulʼs foundation has been significantly improved and fortified compared to pre-hibernation. Soul Cosmos has been perfectly stabilized in preparation for Monarch Realm ascension]

[Cultivation has advanced to the absolute peak of the 9th Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm]

[You have comprehended Earth Law]

[You have comprehended Water Law]

[You have comprehended Cosmic Law]

[You have comprehended Azure Flame Law]

[You have comprehended Wind Law]

[Comprehension of lesser daos has increased significantly: tectonic, tidal, gravitational, stellar, conflagration, gale, storm, vacuum, sandstorm, and several other derivative affinities have all been raised through ambient assimilation]

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

[Conceptual Dao of Pride is held in reserve. Integration into Monarch Realm Domain will occur upon successful ascension]

[Monarch Realm ascension requirements:

Possess an Inner World: 1/1

Comprehend Desolation Law: 100%

Devour the souls of nine Monarch Realm beings: 9/9]

[All requirements met. You may initiate ascension at will]

Before Ashlock could even register the meaning of all the notifications and reply to the final one, another system message overlaid the others and glowed brightly, demanding his attention.

[Warning: Initiating Monarch Realm ascension will trigger the Era of Ascension, opening the skies to the next layer of creation. The heavens will respond with the strongest tribulation ever recorded against a Nascent Soul cultivator. Casualties across the ninth layer of creation are projected to be catastrophic. It is recommended you prepare your sect and surrounding territories before proceeding]

”Why will my ascension trigger the Era of Ascension?” Ashlock asked his system. ”Can it not be delayed until after Iʼve reached Monarch Realm?”

[The Era of Ascension is triggered when a Demi-Divine Spirit Tree in the Monarch Realm fuses with the Divine Fragment. You are already fused with the Divine Fragment, so ascension will fulfill the conditions. This is why Senior Lee held off giving the Divine Fragment to the World Tree until she was at the peak of the Monarch Realm]

”Yet he gave it to me when I wasnʼt even in the Star Core Realm,” Ashlock muttered. ”Is this some dark joke heʼs playing on me? How can I ascend knowing Iʼll kill millions around me in the process?”

The system remained silent.

Ashlock dismissed the notifications. Now that the Celestial Empire was defeated, he wasnʼt as pressed about reaching the Monarch Realm. He would have time to prepare, though the egos were likely still out there somewhere, unless they had all been defeated during his sleep.

”System, how many credits do I have now?”

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3786

Daily Credit: 51

Sacrifice Credit: 13847

[Sign in?]

”Almost fourteen thousand credits,” Ashlock muttered in awe. When had he last seen such a large number?

[Mortal worship across Floridawn, Desolark, Argentum, and adjacent territories has grown substantially. New shrines to the All-Seeing Eye have been raised in 437 settlements across the Nine Realms, resulting in a significant boost to the divine stock market]

”Wait, what do you mean across the nine realms?” Ashlock asked. His presence should be known only on this layer of creation. How had his legend spread to other layers?

The system didnʼt care to enlighten him.

”Is this the Mudcloakʼs doing? Or perhaps when Stella visited the Tessellate Citadel?” He mused as he left the darkness of his mind and went to check on the Divine Flesh Tree and the surrounding sacrificial credit forest.

Arriving, he immediately noticed something. The forest was vast, as expected from fourteen thousand trees, but the area it took up felt smaller than usual. The terrain was also different. It felt more... lively?

”Did my Inner World grow in size while I was asleep?”

[During the repair of your Soul Cosmos, the Inner World was greatly expanded to better incorporate all the Daos and Laws you have comprehended]

Ashlock noticed a sandstorm on the horizon. His Inner World hadnʼt had sand before, let alone a sandstorm. He looked up and saw stars sitting in the sky beyond his nine moons.

”Stars? I have stars now?” Ashlock shot into the sky and tried to get closer to the stars, but they remained firmly out of reach. ”Are they even real?”

He tried to pull on their power and found that they answered. One of them glowed brightly, and a beam of starfire swiftly followed, startling Ashlock. He quickly redirected the beam away from striking his sacrificial credit forest and targeted a large body of water.

His vision went briefly white as the starfire impacted the waterʼs surface, instantly throwing up a wall of steam that plumed high into the sky. His entire Inner World rumbled as the cataclysmic wall of steam hissed across the ocean and loomed toward the shore—

Ashlock instinctively willed it to freeze in place.

It was like time had stopped.

”Holy shit, that was close,” Ashlock breathed, sighing with relief that it had listened to him. He then had the stream turn back into water and fall harmlessly back into the ocean. ”So I can control it, I suppose that makes sense.”

This was his Inner World, and he was its god. He knew the Dao or Law of everything in this place, giving him total control.

”If I had realized that sooner, I could have snuffed the star out of existence before it had even fired.”

With that catastrophe sorted, Ashlock took a moment to examine the rest of his Inner World. It was notably bigger, with new biomes that hadnʼt existed before. The ocean was the most obvious one, with Stellaʼs home now sitting on a coastline. There were also clouds now, made from water droplets and carried across the sky by a constant gust of wind. One of the mountains to the north, near the entrance to the Eternal Realm, was now a volcano, its summit a roaring azure flame. A flood of light from the brightest star blanketed half of the Inner World and slowly rotated, simulating a day-night cycle.

”Before my hibernation, my Inner World was clearly a makeshift replica of a planet. At a glance, it might have even passed for one. But under any scrutiny, a person would notice how artificial and lifeless the place was. But now, it could be mistaken for a real planet. All itʼs lacking now are animals...”

Thatʼs when he remembered the bugs he had found previously. Had they survived the upgrading of his Inner World? Maybe even evolved? His Inner World definitely had the conditions to foster life now—it just needed some more flora besides his Heaven-Defying Orchard and sacrificial credit trees.

”Tree?!”

Ashlock was startled by a voice.

It was Stella, standing on the shore near her house with her feet in the ocean. The chaos of a star firing into the ocean nearby must have alerted her to his return.

”Youʼre finally back!” she called out, a smile beaming across her face. ”How was your sleep?”

Ashlock focused his sweeping attention on Stella. ”It was... enlightening, I suppose. Definitely not relaxing. I canʼt tell you how glad I am to finally see you again.”

He didnʼt know why he could only remember a mere echo of his eons spent comprehending Laws, but he was deeply grateful that it was the case. If he could vividly remember those eons spent as a clump of earth or droplet of water, he would have been driven insane and detached from the world and his loved ones long ago.

”Iʼve missed you too,” Stella said, stepping back and falling onto the flawless beach.

”I know this is a bit random, but have you noticed any new life developing during my slumber?” Ashlock asked.

Stella tapped her chin and glanced around. ”A few have caught my attention. These little squid-like creatures are growing in the ocean that taste good roasted, and some bugs have crawled into my house. Oh, I also saw a bird.”

”A bird?”

”Yeah,” Stella nodded. ”I didnʼt get a good look at it, but it streaked azure blue flames from its wings as it flew.”

To Ashlock, that sounded like a small phoenix.

”Interesting...” Ashlock said. The talk of ocean life was also fascinating, as it had only been a month, and water was the third of the five Laws he comprehended, so the ocean must have appeared halfway through his slumber. ”Did anything else happen while I was asleep that I should know about?”

”I killed the Mirrored One,” Stella said flatly, as if stating the sky was blue. ”The other egos are still unaccounted for.”

”You killed him...? Did the Mirrored One leave anything behind?”

Stella shook her head. ”Not even a soul. No wonder he was so desperate to try to fill that void. Though he had assumed Tiberiusʼs appearance to try and have a meeting with Diana, which caused a brief scare.”

”What? Did something happen to Tiberius?” Ashlock asked. If Tiberius were to die, he wasnʼt sure how Nox would react. She found him both annoying and endearing.

”The Mirrored One had suspended him in some mirror dimension. Nyxalia arrived and was able to pull him out, and heʼs since recovered,” Stella assured him. ”Though he still jumps in fear at his own reflection.”

”Thatʼs unfortunate, but itʼs a relief he survived. What of the rebels?”

”Still being tracked down and hunted, but without your presence, the Ashfallen Empireʼs reach and control are significantly reduced. Diana has been ranting to me about it, and the groups we assimilated from the fallen Empire are cooperative on the surface but are secretly resisting us and withholding information,” Stella shrugged. ”Thatʼs about all I know. Diana would be able to tell you more.”

”I see...”

”Oh! There was one more thing. A month ago, Diana established the Ashbound Order and sent over a thousand cultivators and Mudcloaks from the sect into the Eternal Realm. They should all be coming out in a day or two.”

That was going to be a lot of Qi and a diverse inflow of dao knowledge.

”The Ashbound Order, huh? Thatʼs a good name.”

”Right?” Stella bobbed her head in agreement. ”They will help restore order across our Empire, as things have been a little chaotic since the Chairman fell. Anyway, enough of that. Have you got a domain yet?”

Her eyes were practically sparkling with interest.

”Sadly, no,” Ashlock admitted. ”I havenʼt even reached the Monarch Realm yet. Apparently, my ascension will trigger the Era of Ascension, letting the Heavens obliterate me and everything around me.”

Stella frowned. ”Thatʼs no good, Tree. We need you in the Monarch Realm while these rebels are still about, in case they get past me and Larry and strike you directly. We have already had a few incidents of hit-and-run attacks on our outer cities done by them.”

”Theyʼve been doing that? Shit, I need to get my act together then,” Ashlock sighed. While just echoes, the eons he had spent assimilating Laws had left him exhausted. ”But I just donʼt know what to do. Maybe I can use some of my gains from absorbing the Monarchs to learn some new techniques to resist the heavens, but even then, to protect the entire ninth layer of creation...”

”Why donʼt you ask my mother?” Stella suggested.

”The World Tree?” Ashlock paused. That wasnʼt a bad idea. If ascending was going to be so catastrophic, then he wouldnʼt be able to fend off the heavens, protect his cities, and fight the World Tree at the same time.

Senior Lee had warned him that the World Tree would be his greatest hurdle for initiating the Era of Ascension.

But what if they could work together?

”Stella, itʼs about time I had a proper conversation with your mother,” Ashlock decided.

Stella scrambled to her feet and beamed. ”Iʼve been waiting for this. Iʼll have it arranged right now!”