Mirror Dream Tree

45. The New Elders

Sky Sword Sect.At dawn.

A mountain range lies covered in fog, with a river flowing west from its depths.

Atop the tallest mountain, the mist thickens near the peak where a white building juts through the fog.

As sunlight hits its stone walls, the surface glows with shifting rainbow light.

Inside, a grand hall stretches out, and a throne at the far end opposite the entrance sits empty.

Wooden chairs line the walls on the other two sides, and several are occupied by middle-aged men and women whose bodies bear visible traces of beast blood.

One of them, Kruren, says, “Let’s begin the meeting—everyone’s here.”

A woman, Riku, looks around and says, “I don’t see Sato. Where is he?”

Another woman, Konasi, replies, “You’ve been in retreat for the past few weeks—you don’t know what happened in the sect.”

Riku nods slowly. “No, I don’t. And why are the sect leader and the old elders not present?”

Konasi says, “The sect leader and some of the old elders are refining the Blood Spiritual Potion. The others have gone to resource sites or are completing missions.”

Riku’s eyes narrow. “The sect leader obtained the Blood Pearl?”

Konasi replies, “Asuna brought it back.”

Riku smiles. “Truly, the proud disciple of the sect leader. How did she manage it?”

Nugen, another male elder, answers, “She protected it long enough, then the old elders sent their disciples to escort her safely.”

Riku asks, “And what about the talks with the first prince?”

Kruren says, “They’ve hit a snag.”

Riku frowns. “Why? You all know I’m stuck at the peak of the third turn in the Great Samurai Realm. I need the blood of a White Elephant at the Ascension Realm—only the first prince can provide that. If I delay and the sect leader breaks through to the True Core Realm before I do, then everything we’ve gained until now—”

She glares at them. “—We’ll be forced to spit it all out.”

Konasi says, “Riku, you know we want the deal with the first prince to succeed, too, but the situation has changed.”

Riku says, “Tell me what happened while I was gone.”

Konasi then explains everything that occurred during her absence.

Riku scoffs. “So the old man Hito failed to kill the boy. I always said that once an outer elder crosses fifty, they should be thrown out of the sect. Useless blood-sucking insects can’t even kill a middle-ranking samurai.”heir lives may now be at risk.

Nugen stands abruptly and begins to walk toward the hall’s exit.

Kruren snaps out of his daze and asks, "Where are you going?"

Nugen replies, "Where else? To stop Sato."

Kruren scowls, "Why?"

Nugen says, "Did you not read the letter? If anything happens to Master Kanoru’s family, we’re all dead."

Kruren grits his teeth, "It’s too late. Sato must already be returning to the sect—and by attacking his family, we’ve already made him our enemy."

Jisoo says quietly, "Even so… if we return his family unharmed and kneel to beg forgiveness, he might spare—for Asuna’s sake."

Riku replies, "He may also kill us."

Everyone falls silent because she speaks the truth.

Riku continues, "And even if he doesn’t, our future is finished."

Jiku asks, "Then what do you want us to do?"

As the sun begins to rise, Merin steps down from the carriage.

They are a few hours away from Blackstone Fortress.

He sits on a large stone and lets the warmth of the winter sun soak into his body.

While sitting, he begins to wonder how he can advance to the third turn of the Great Samurai Realm.

He has already discovered why pure humans cannot go beyond the second turn—the limitation lies in human vitality.

The samurai path draws power from the body’s internal energy, but it still relies heavily on vitality.

Pure humans in this world possess vitality equal to early or mid Rank 3, and without a method to boost it quickly, their cultivation stalls.

But Merin knows how to cultivate vitality.

In the main world, in his tree body, he cultivated the Vitality Path and reached Rank 6.

Yet, the vitality path is extremely difficult, heavily dependent on rare resources.

He mutters to himself that if he wants to break through to the third turn of the Great Samurai Realm, he must deepen his understanding of his body.

And so, he decides—he has to stop cultivating the samurai way and shift entirely to the spiritual way.

He wants to stop because the first evolution of the spiritual machine in his dantian will take at least a few worlds, and to speed it up, he needs vitality.

To gather that vitality, he would need resources.

The only reason he cultivated to the second turn of the Great Samurai Realm was to discover how to break into the third—but now that he knows the barrier lies in vitality, there’s no need to waste resources chasing something he can’t yet solve.

He won't abandon the samurai path entirely, as the energy already flows within him.

It now moves on its own, without much effort.

One day, perhaps in a decade, he’ll naturally reach the second turn of the Great Samurai Realm—without wasting any resources.

He can afford a decade.

His body is only fourteen years old.

After the Great Samurai Realm, he can live up to 120 years, and when he reaches the second turn, his lifespan will extend by fifteen more.

The spiritual path will further extend his life by twenty years when he reaches the Spiritual Core Realm, and another fifty years after the breakthrough to the Spiritual True Core Realm.

These gains do not overlap—they stack.

He must deepen his understanding of the material world to reach the Spiritual True Core Realm.

He will create a magical power through that understanding and refine his core into a true one.

His body also belongs to the material world.

So, he decides to begin with understanding his own body.

Then, he will study other human bodies and life forms.

Alongside this, he will increase his knowledge of plants and trees.

The understanding of his own body and others will help his current self in this world.

And the understanding of plants and trees will help his true body, his future.