If the World Tree had been passively feeding on everything that came toward it, it now came alive, finally interacting with the world outside.

"Mother, you're back!" the tree said in an excited voice that only Shumi could hear.

Shumi had heard about the beasts and trees calling the Moon Goddess mother, but now that she heard it herself, she couldn't help but feel as though she was their mother.

An instinct born out of her current ascendancy to Godhood.

Whisker attempted to get close, but he could not get any closer than the fifth mountain. Even here, his spiritual sense was constantly being burned away by the World Tree, so he could only rely on his eyes.

"Whisker, call out to Shumi," Alex's voice came to him. "Tell her to calm the World Tree. It's hurting my head."

Whisker nodded. "Sister Shumi!" he shouted. "The tree is hurting brother. You need to calm it down."

Shumi barely heard it over the constant cheer and excited words that came from the tree. It sounded no different than a young child, barely 10 years old, its voice no different than that of a girl.

Shumi hesitated for a moment and smiled. "My child. I am here now. You have to calm down," she said.

"But I'm so happy, mother. I have been waiting for someone to come for so long," the tree said, still carrying the same jubilation in its tone.

"I understand, but you're hurting someone right now. Please calm down a little."

The tree's mind seemed to shrink back instantly upon hearing that, the mental equivalent of someone going from jumping and shouting to sitting back on a chair.

Whisker spoke up again. "Brother says that's better. He is asking what is happening with the tree."

Shumi turned around. "Can he come inside?" she asked.

"It's his Soul Space. He can't enter," Whisker explained. "But he can see and hear through me. He can also talk through me."

"Then come closer," Shumi said.

"I can't. The tree consumes everything without making any distinction. I will be eaten away."

"Oh!"

Shumi hadn't realized the World Tree did such a thing. She could hardly feel it herself at all. Was she safe because she was the Moon Goddess?

She turned back toward the tree. "Can you see my friend over there?" she asked. "He's going to come here. Please don't attack him."

"Okay!" the tree said.

"You can come now. He won't hurt you."

Upon hearing her, Whisker grew a little cautious. He waited for Alex's approval in this instance.

"Go. You'll be safe," Alex said. "Shumi will protect you if something were to happen. She has the strength for that."

Whisker nodded and stepped forward. Slowly, he went through the desolate landscape that once used to have trees growing in every which direction. After the World Tree was planted, however, every bit of energy was sucked away.

As Whisker continued, he noticed the lack of a familiar aura that would gnaw at his body, trying to eat at it. In its absence, he could now sense the dense Saint Qi in the surroundings, as well as hints of Immortal Qi that could not have come from anywhere else.

Whisker was quite surprised upon noticing that. All this time, he had heard about the World Tree's ability to devour light and turn it into Qi, but this was the first time he had sensed the Qi it created.

It felt so… serene. It felt more pure than neutral. It lacked any and all sort of elemental alignment, and yet, when Whisker tried to take in the Qi, it instantly took on a new elemental alignment, which was Fire, Water, Earth, and Yin.

Whisker could absorb any regular Qi without any problem, but if there had been an issue, he could use the World Tree's Qi.

Outside, Alex could only stare at nothing with wide eyes as he understood the implication of the Qi.

He had always known that the World Defying Mushrooms came from the World Tree, but he had never realized that their attributes would be so much closer as well. Those mushrooms were incredible pill ingredients because of their ability to change themselves to any Qi they came in contact with.

The same was true of the World Tree's Qi.

'Even Ronron can easily cultivate here, without having to constantly find Wood treasures for her to gain Wood Qi from,' Alex thought.

This was no doubt the greatest location for anyone to cultivate in the entire world.

Whisker finally arrived before Shumi and the tree. He looked at it up close with wide eyes. It was the second time he had come this close to one of the three Demonic Trees, but this one felt much more important than the Tree of Life did.

Shumi turned toward him. "Can Alex still see and hear?" she asked.

Whisker nodded.

"Alex, the World Tree is awake now," she explained. "She is happy that her mother is here. That was what had happened earlier."

"The World Tree is talking?" Alex asked through Whisker.

"Talking and doing much more than that," Shumi said with a wide smile. "She is very happy to see me."

Alex was surprised.

"She's speaking to you then?" Alex asked.

"Quite well," Shumi explained. "She calls me her mother, so you should be her father, right?"

"Maybe," Alex said. "It's hard to tell if I can be considered the same as the Sun God or not," Alex explained.

He thought for a moment, considering what could be done now that the tree was beginning to communicate. The first thing he thought of was to stop the tree from destroying everything.

"Can you ask her if she can stop absorbing everything that comes her way?" he asked. "I have other things I can start feeding her. Poisons and such."

Shumi talked to the tree, and a minute later, the all-consuming aura that surrounded the tree fully vanished.

Now, Alex could himself sense the tree with his spiritual sense. And through it, he could talk.

"Hello, World Tree," he spoke to it for the first time. "I am Alex, the current Sun God."

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