Chapter 432: The Golden Tree Spirit Essence

However, for a spirit essence, successfully possessing someone was challenging, as they would almost inevitably have to take over a body of a different race. And what if they met a demon, an entirely incompatible existence?

But when Tang San first saw this spirit essence and observed it with his spiritual power, he immediately determined what it was—and once more, reinforcing his belief that his luck was quite literally out of this world.

He checked the seal on the mouth of the crystal bottle, a small sealing array. The spirit essence was locked inside, and without sufficient spiritual power to use its abilities, it could do absolutely nothing to get out.

Tang San let out a thread of spiritual power, bypassing the seal and quietly entering the bottle with his mind.

"Calm down first. Then we can talk."

Tang San conveyed his thoughts to the spirit essence in the bottle.

The spirit essence's thrashing stopped—clearly, it had not expected someone to actually communicate with it. Immediately after, a voice filled with anger resounded in Tang San's mind.

"Let me out, let me out!"

It was a strong roar, full of anger and resentment.

"I will let you out, but we need to talk first," Tang San said calmly.

"Talk about what? Let me out!"

The spirit essence's emotions were clearly unstable.

Tang San said deeply, "In your current state, we can't communicate. You will lose the opportunity for freedom and... rebirth, maybe. Calm down first."

The spirit essence did not respond this time, but it clearly heeded his warning. A light halo resembling an eye gradually formed, looking at Tang San from inside the bottle.

Tang San just let it look at him.

After a long while, the spirit essence's voice reappeared, somewhat hoarse but noticeably less agitated. "Who are you?"

Tang San said, "My name is Tang San. I bought you from the grand auction. I believe we should be friends."

"Friends? Hey, wait, aren’t you a human?" The spirit essence's voice was filled with doubt.

"Yes, that is correct. And rest assured, I won't devour you," Tang San said calmly.

"Oh really, you won’t devour me? You despicable creatures, do you know how many years it took for me to develop intelligence, how many years to break free from the earth's constraints, and I was about to overcome the heavenly tribulation? At that moment, you severed my roots, causing me to be obliterated during the tribulation, and captured my consciousness to make me like this. You scoundrels," the spirit essence's emotions started to become unstable again.

Tang San sighed and said, "You should calm your emotions first. First, everything you suffered has nothing to do with me. If I'm not mistaken, it was likely the demons that turned you into a spirit essence. Only a Great Demon King could snatch you away from under a heavenly tribulation. Second, as you cleverly pointed out, I am a human. Demons are my enemies, and the enemy of my enemy is a friend. Since you could undergo tribulation, your spiritual intelligence should be enough to understand what I mean."

The spirit essence fell silent for a while, its emotions gradually calming. "Fair enough. What do you want?"

Tang San said blandly, "I want to help you. If I'm not mistaken, you are a Golden Tree, right?"

Yes, this spirit essence was formed from a Golden Tree—specifically, a Golden Tree that was about to reach the god level but failed its tribulation and had its sentient spirit seized. This was why Tang San was so determined to participate in the auction when he saw this spirit essence.

"That's right, I cultivated from a Golden Tree. So what?"

Tang San said, "Well, it’s simple enough. I can't restore your former glory just like that. But now that you have developed divine consciousness, I believe you can reach the god level faster if you are given another chance. Look behind you."

As he spoke, Tang San pointed at the Golden Tree.

The spirit essence eye rotated and, through the crystal bottle, immediately saw the Golden Tree emitting a faint golden glow.

At that moment, it became agitated again. The yellow light ball started thrashing around, seemingly wanting to burst out of the crystal bottle.

This time as well, Tang San didn't stop it. He just silently waited.

After a full quarter of an hour, the spirit essence finally calmed down again. "Let me out, quickly let me out. Damn, this just a juvenile Golden Tree. It hasn't developed intelligence yet. Let me merge with it, and I can rise again. One hundred years, yes, at most one hundred years. I can reach the peak again with my divine consciousness and become a god!"

Tang San shook his head and said, "No worries, it won't take that long. With my help, you can achieve this goal in a much shorter time."

"What do you want me to do?" The spirit essence's intelligence finally came to the fore. When it saw the Golden Tree, all its anger transformed into joy. This was the best opportunity for its rebirth.

Tang San said, "I don't need you to do anything specifically. Just guard this area. In the future, I will give you more. All I want is that you consider this area your territory. That is your instinct anyway, so I don’t think it will be much of a problem."

The Golden Tree's instinct was to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transform it into life energy. This life energy wasn't beneficial to the Golden Tree itself, but it benefited absolutely everything around it. Golden Trees were quite common in the Solstice Empire, and that was only natural—life energy was essential for vegetation to grow. However, it was rare for them to develop true intelligence. Moreover, the highest advancement for Golden Trees was just the tenth order, and for that reason, they were not regarded particularly highly in the Solstice Empire.

However, this status was based on the knowledge of this world. In Tang San's understanding, the Golden Tree was a completely different thing. The reason Golden Trees in this plane could only remain at the Nymph King level and not progress further wasn't due to the plane suppression or something like that, but because the Golden Trees hadn't found the right direction for further evolution.

They might take tens of thousands of years to evolve if left to natural development. Tang San, however, was very familiar with this species and understood deeply the benefits and functions it could bring.

"Then let me out!" the spirit essence said again.

"Sure."

Tang San smirked. Without any hesitation, he opened the crystal bottle directly, releasing the Golden Tree spirit essence from the seal.

As soon as the crystal bottle was opened, the yellow light ball shot up into the sky, attempting to escape.

Facing its escape, Tang San didn't move or attempt to chase it. He remained seated, smiling calmly.

The yellow light ball soared a hundred meters into the sky but stopped. After hovering for a moment, it slowly descended, returning to Tang San. A moment later, its voice echoed in Tang San's mind through divine consciousness.

"Hey, why aren’t you stopping me? Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"

Tang San smiled and shook his head. "Why should I be afraid? This is mutually beneficial for both of us. We are really deep within the Empyrean Dominion, so I hope you don’t expect to find your kind anywhere near here. My purpose in helping you is simple: the life energy you release during your growth will nourish everything here, and that is quite enough for me. You should be able to feel the Spirit Summoning Array I've set up here. With these arrays, your recovery and growth speeds will greatly increase. And this is just the beginning. In the future, as I grow stronger, I will provide more good things to help you grow faster."

The yellow light ball said, "If I grow to the god level in the future, you must not stop me from leaving."

Tang San said, "Of course, we can sign a contract. When you break through to the tenth order, you can leave and I will not stop you. I’ll even help you through the tribulation."