True Creator

Li Tian jumped up to the top of the Chaos Tree and landed upon the gnarled, twisting platform where the twelve soul-branches converged. As he sat cross-legged, the bark beneath him pulsed like a living heart—radiating with both chaos and entropy.

He closed his eyes. At once, the entire formation reacted.

The twelve branches began to glow faintly, each one pulsing with the lingering Dao marks of a venerable's soul or body. The energies of Creation, Destruction, and Entropy twisted through each node, spiraling into the trunk and gathering beneath Li Tian like a cyclone of primordial power.

Silver soul mist curled upward from the base of the tree, encircling his body in a vortex of concept and will. The mist didn't just surround him—it entered him, layering itself into his soul, burning away remnants of past weakness, fear, and mortality.

His breathing slowed. The veins in his arms shimmered with lightless color—violet-black veins of Chaos mixed with streaks of golden entropy and crimson annihilation.

Then, the bodies and souls in each node began to stir—not decompose, but awaken.

One by one, Ren Zu's children began to awaken within the venerables' vessels Boundless Forest Samsara arose through Genesis Lotus, Desolate Ancient Moon awakened in Red Lotus, Northern Dark Ice Soul returned within Spectral Soul, Great Strength True Martial stirred in Reckless Demon, Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence manifested in Primordial Origin, Central Earth Essence glowed within Paradise Venerable, Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance surged to life in Giant Sun, Chaos Bearer who is Li Tian was formed in Thieving Heaven, Universe Great Derivation pulsed within Limitless, Carefree Wisdom Heart found shape through Star Constellation.

As each one stirred, memories, concepts, and Dao alignments once forgotten or sealed across epochs were forcefully drawn into the Chaos Tree. Li Tian opened the deepest layer of the formation, causing all the cycles of rebirth, to converge into the place where Fang Yuan is.

Then, Li Tian turned to the trunk—the core. His voice was a whisper carried on stormwinds: "Now awaken, Father... Ren Zhu."

Fang Yuan's body, slumbering at the base, began to twitch violently. Crimson chains of chaotic light erupted around him, binding his limbs in pulsating rhythm. The essence of the eleven paths that convereged together gathered in Fang Yuan's body.

Li Tian poured his soul into the trunk. The Chaos Tree groaned.

And from the lowest root to the highest branch, the Tree roared—dragging the concept of Heaven's Will into Fang Yuan, breaking the final seal on Ren Zu's reincarnation.

The eyes of Fang Yuan shot open.

Before Ren Zhu could even act after awakening within Fang Yuan, his soul was immediately torn from its vessel and drawn toward the apex of the Chaos Tree.

"Li Tian, what are you doing?! I thought your plan was to revive our entire family!" Ren Zhu's voice echoed, filled with disbelief and betrayal, his soul flickering like a dying flame.

Li Tian stood calmly above, eyes devoid of empathy. "Ah, that old plan... I abandoned it long ago. Once I saw you for what you truly were—the fallen Creator of the Gu World. So pitiful, to be consumed by your own creation. From the very beginning, you've only sought to use me—to revive yourself by sacrificing the rest of us."

His voice sharpened like a blade. "But why should I die for your dreams, Father? Why not let me be the new Creator? Why not let me claim eternal life? You were too weak to grasp it."

Li Tian raised his hand, and chaotic light swirled around his fingers. "You engineered my birth, because only a being touched by Chaos could unlock your return. You planned everything. You let yourself die, you let Fate Gu play its game, molding the suffering of my siblings and yourself into some tragic tale—as if that would make you more worthy of revival."

Ren Zhu roared in fury, his voice trembling with the pressure of the soul-binding. "You don't understand! I gave you life out of hope! I—"

"No," Li Tian interrupted. "You gave me life to be your key. You fathered your children through your half-eternal body for one reason only—to use us as fuel. You miscalculated, old man. Maybe after acting as Heaven's Will for so long, you've forgotten what true will is. You thought I wouldn't see through you?"

Ren Zhu's essence flickered violently, but the Chaos Tree's core pulsed, and his struggling soul was sealed within.

(Background: Ren Zhu became Heaven's Will because his soul possessed a transcendent willpower—a divine structure akin to Heaven's Will itself. After his physical body was destroyed, made of rare half-eternal essence, it could not be revived. He embraced death, knowing only through Chaos and the love of his son, Li Tian, could he be restored. But in the end, that love was not enough.))

Ren Zhu's soul, containing the remaining half of the world essence, was precisely what Li Tian desired. As it ascended through the trunk of the Chaos Tree, it passed through the core's chaotic resonance. The soul was subjected to a deep disorientation—experiencing countless chaotic visions that dissolved clarity, breaking down its moral defenses. The Chaos Tree's internal structure was designed for this very moment—to weaken resistance and erode the soul's coherence.

Li Tian opened his mouth and inhaled sharply, consuming Ren Zhu's soul in one terrifying motion. The silver-white essence dissolved into tendrils of light and vanished into his body.

But the process was not instant. Within Li Tian, a soul battle had already begun. Ren Zhu, bearer of the world's original essence, now clashed with Li Tian, who carried the chaotic half. Whoever emerged victorious from this battle of spirits would ascend to become the new Creator of the Gu World.