Chapter 183: Climbing the World-Tree
Dawn broke over the Floating Forest, painting the canopy in shades of gold and green.
Lin Tian stood at the edge of their camp, watching the mist roll between the massive trunks. The air here was thick, heavy with moisture and life.
Linle approached, her vine-wrapped staff tapping against the wood. "The Hollow begins about a hundred feet up. After that, it’s a straight climb through the Weave to the Apex."
"How do we navigate the Weave?" Yan Jiao asked, her Earth-Sunderer strapped across her back.
"The branches shift. They sense your weight and move accordingly. You have to read the rhythm, anticipate the changes."
"Or just jump fast," Lu Cang muttered.
Lin Tian turned to face his group. "We stay together. No one fights alone. If you get separated, use the bonds to find me."
Xueya stepped to his side. "What about the Void-Ghouls?"
"Kill them before they kill us."
Su Lan cracked her neck. "Simple enough."
Linle led them to the base of the Heart-Tree, its trunk wider than the Lin Clan’s entire compound. The bark was rough, covered in moss and ancient carvings. Lin Tian placed his palm against it, feeling the pulse of life within.
I’m here, he sent through the bond. I’ll save you.
The tree seemed to respond, a low hum vibrating through his hand.
"Up we go," Lin Tian said.
The climb started slow. Linle moved first, her feet finding handholds in the bark that looked impossible. She climbed like she was born to it, her body flowing upward with practiced ease.
Lin Tian followed, his Ice Flame Qi boosting his grip. Behind him, Xueya glided upward, her ice forming temporary platforms when she needed them. Su Lan used controlled bursts of fire to propel herself. Yue Chan’s silk lines anchored her to the bark, allowing her to swing and climb simultaneously.
Yan Jiao was the slowest, her heavy blade making the ascent difficult. But she didn’t complain, didn’t slow the group. She just kept climbing, her jaw set, her determination matching her strength.
Lu Cang brought up the rear, his Living Vine spear anchoring him when he needed to rest.
They climbed for thirty minutes before the first attack came.
A screech tore through the morning air. Lin Tian looked up and saw them—winged creatures with hollow eyes and jagged claws. Their skin was translucent, showing the corrupted qi pulsing beneath.
"Void-Ghouls!" Linle shouted. "They’ll try to knock us off the tree!"
"How many?" Lin Tian asked.
"Too many!"
The creatures dove, their claws extended. Lin Tian pushed off the trunk, spinning in the air as he drew his jian. He caught the first one across its chest, Ice Flame Qi burning through its corrupted flesh.
The creature screamed and dissolved into black smoke.
But more were coming.
"We need to move!" Xueya shouted. "They’ll swarm us if we stay here!"
Lin Tian looked up. The next major branch was fifty feet above them, a platform of wood and moss the size of a city plaza. If they could reach it, they’d have room to fight.
He made a decision.
"Everyone, jump to that branch! I’ll catch you if you fall!"
Su Lan went first, launching herself upward with a burst of fire. She landed on the branch, rolling to absorb the impact.
"Clear!"
Yue Chan followed, her silk lines pulling her up faster than gravity could drag her down. She landed gracefully beside Su Lan.
"Go!" Lin Tian shouted to Yan Jiao.
She hesitated, then jumped. Her weight made the ascent slower, but Su Lan grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the platform.
"Xueya!"
She didn’t need encouragement. She launched herself upward, ice forming beneath her feet to give her extra lift. She landed beside Yan Jiao.
"Lin Tian!"
He pushed off the trunk, twisting in the air to avoid a diving Ghoul. He was ten feet short, falling toward the abyss below.
His Domain flared.
Solid Air formed beneath his feet, a platform of compressed qi that caught him mid-fall. He pushed off it, launching himself upward again. Another platform formed. Another jump.
He landed on the branch with his companions, his heart pounding.
"That’s a useful trick," Lu Cang said, landing beside him. His Living Vine spear had anchored to the trunk, pulling him up like a rope.
Lin Tian grinned. "Just getting started."
The branch was massive, easily fifty feet across at its widest point. Moss covered the surface, dotted with small flowers and mushrooms. But Lin Tian could feel the Blight here too, a cold rot eating at the wood from within.
"We can’t stay," Linle said. "The Ghouls will regroup and attack again. We need to push through the Weave."
"How far to the Apex?" Lin Tian asked.
"Half a day, if we push hard."
"Then we push."
The Weave was exactly what Linle had described—a network of branches and platforms that shifted constantly. One moment a bridge would be solid under their feet, the next it would slide away, forcing them to jump or fall.
Lin Tian led the way, using his Domain to create Solid Air platforms when the branches moved too fast. His companions followed, trusting his judgment.
The Void-Ghouls returned in force.
They came from above, from below, from the sides. Their claws raked at the group, their screams filled the air. Lin Tian fought with his jian, Ice Flame Qi burning through every creature that got close.
Xueya’s ice formed barriers, blocking the Ghouls’ approach. Su Lan’s fire incinerated those that got through. Yue Chan’s silk lines wrapped around Ghouls, pulling them into Lu Cang’s spear.
Yan Jiao’s Earth-Sunderer swept in brutal arcs, each swing carrying enough force to cleave through two or three Ghouls at once, the heavy blade scattering dark mist where the creatures dissolved.
She roared with each strike, her footwork planting her firmly against the shifting branches as though the unstable ground beneath her meant nothing at all.
They moved as a unit, each covering the others’ blind spots without a word spoken between them. When Xueya’s barriers thinned on the left flank, Su Lan’s fire swept across to fill the gap.
When Lu Cang’s spear drove forward, Yue Chan’s silk lines were already pulling the next Ghoul into his path. There was no hesitation, no confusion—only the clean, practiced rhythm of people who had learned to trust one another completely.
Lin Tian felt it—the bond between them, the trust, the unity. They were becoming something more than a team. They were becoming a force.
They climbed higher.
The branches grew thicker, the leaves larger. Some leaves were the size of city plazas, their surfaces covered in dew and pollen. Lin Tian jumped from one to another, his Domain creating platforms when the gaps were too wide.
On one leaf, they found a massive Void Anchor.
The stake was black metal, easily twenty feet tall and five feet thick. It had been driven deep into the tree’s bark, corruption spreading from the wound like veins of disease. The metal hummed with dark energy, pulsing in rhythm with the Resonating Spike above.
"What is that?" Yan Jiao asked.
"A Void Anchor," Linle said, her voice tight. "It’s how they’re corrupting the tree. The Spike sends the signal, but the Anchors distribute the corruption throughout the forest."
Lin Tian approached the Anchor, feeling its malevolent energy. It was cold, dead, wrong.
"Can we destroy it?"
Linle shook her head. "Not without the Spike. The Anchors are linked to it. Destroy one, and the Spike will just create another."
"Then we keep climbing."
Lin Tian touched the Anchor, his Ice Flame Qi flaring. He couldn’t destroy it, but he could mark it. He could remember its location.
"We’ll deal with this later," he said. "After we’ve taken out the Spike."
They left the Anchor behind and continued upward.
The climb grew harder. The branches became thinner, the gaps wider. The air grew thin, cold, and sharp. Lin Tian’s breath misted in the morning light.
The Void-Ghouls kept coming.
They were relentless, driven by the corruption that controlled them. They didn’t tire, didn’t retreat, didn’t feel fear.
But neither did Lin Tian’s group.
They fought through the Weave, jumping from platform to platform, cutting down every Ghoul that got close. Lin Tian’s Domain pulsed with Solid Air, creating paths where there were none.
After hours of climbing, they finally reached the last major branch before the Apex.
Lin Tian looked up and saw it—the Resonating Spike, pulsing with violet light, embedded in the tree’s crown.
"Almost there," he breathed, the words coming out as little more than a ragged exhale, swallowed almost immediately by the biting wind that tore across the upper reaches of the Weave.
But as he took a step forward, the branch beneath him shifted violently, lurching sideways with a deep, groaning crack that travelled through the wood like a tremor.
Lin Tian threw his arms out instinctively, his Ice Flame Qi surging to his feet to anchor him in place.
The Weave was changing.
He could feel it — not just beneath him, but everywhere at once. The vast lattice of interlocking branches and platforms was alive with a new kind of movement, a trembling, restless energy that hadn’t been there moments ago.
The violet light pouring down from the Spike above had intensified, its pulsing rhythm faster now, more urgent, like a heartbeat accelerating toward something catastrophic.
Sections of the Weave groaned and shifted, platforms tilting, gaps widening, the entire structure responding to some unseen command radiating outward from the crown.
The Spike knew they were here.
And they were running out of time.
End of Chapter 183
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