Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 238 Taodu
The three fifth-tier superhumans moved with astonishing speed and quickly arrived at the base of the giant tree trunk, where the roots stretched out like a mountain range.

Only when you get close can you see that there is a natural crack in the tree trunk, behind which is obviously a huge tree hole.

"Is this tree hollow?"

"maybe."

The three of them entered the tree hollow together. Just like the outside world, it was not dark here. A bluish-green light filled the vast space, and at the same time, there was a more abundant spiritual energy here.

Su Xun looked up and roughly estimated the size of the place, but felt that the space inside the cave was larger than the entire tree trunk.

Here, space seems to be distorted.

A fifth-order transcendent life form cannot do this, which may stem from some of the plant's more powerful essence—Su Xun has not forgotten that it is a seed left behind by a higher-order plant, which may be some kind of tenth-order remnant ability.

As if sensing their arrival, petals suddenly began to flutter around them.

"Hey, Mr. Xu, what kind of flower is this?"

Xiao Zhenru reached out and caught the two petals, only to find that the crystal-clear pink petals vanished in her palm like ice crystals, leaving only a wisp of dissipating spiritual energy.

Clearly, they are not real flowers.

"Peach blossoms, what other flowers could they be?" In this environment, Xu Huan, a wood elemental superhuman, felt extremely comfortable. He took a deep breath, and his face seemed to have become much younger.

Su Xun stopped in his tracks, and a figure gradually materialized in front of them.

It quickly became clear; it was a human figure constructed from petals, leaves, branches, and roots. At first glance, it was difficult to distinguish it from a normal human. Only by careful observation could one discover its true nature.

From the perspective of normal human aesthetics, this humanoid figure is actually extremely beautiful, but it is androgynous. Clearly, as a peach tree, it does not actually have a gender.

At the same time, a soft sound came from the ground, and several branches sprouted from the ground and in the blink of an eye automatically grew into the shape of tables and chairs.

A gentle voice came from the humanoid figure, saying, "Please have a seat."

Even the voice became neutral. Xiao Zhenru and Xu Huan exchanged a glance but did not step forward. They silently took half a step back, leaving space for Su Xun.

Su Xun did not refuse, but stepped forward and sat down, asking first, "Who are you?"

He simply asked about the other party's identity. This tree had never appeared in Su Xun's previous life, and when Fuxi from the depths of the secret realm entrusted it to him, he did not mention its true origin.

The human figure paused slightly before speaking, "You may call me Tao Du."

Xiao Zhenru and Xu Huan exchanged glances, they didn't know this name, but Su Xun had heard of it.

The Sacred Tree of Taodu...

To the southeast lies Mount Taodu, upon which grows a great tree named Taodu, its branches stretching three thousand miles apart. On the tree grows a celestial rooster. When the sun rises and its light shines upon this tree, the celestial rooster crows, and all the other roosters follow suit.

This is a sacred tree that exists in ancient books.

Clearly, like Mahisha, Satan, or perhaps that being who could be called Meng Po, this divine tree is also associated with tenth-order life forms. Considering their origins, Su Xun's previous deductions have been basically confirmed—these so-called tenth-order beings may have existed in distant times and spaces long ago. It's not that beings in this world became false gods, but rather that certain individuals crossed distant times and spaces and carried on in some way beyond our comprehension.

"So, you come from... the previous civilization?"

In his previous conversation with Fuxi, Su Xun had almost guessed that there might be a civilization in a distant time and space. Before their spiritual energy was exhausted, they left behind everything that exists today. The bizarre and wonderful things in those secret realms, as well as the clues in myths and history, all seem to be related to them.

The existence before us, which calls itself Taodu, is strong evidence of this conjecture.

“You could say that,” Taodu replied, then added, “In a sense, our civilization has not been interrupted. We are you, only there was a brief period of decline.”

That seems to make sense. They had Fuxi, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and Earth has them too. For Su Xun, this question isn't something to be taken too seriously. But... was it short-lived? He asked, "How long ago was that period?"

"Time has no meaning." The tree spirit in front of me shook its head: "I have preserved almost infinite years in the peach pit, but even infinity is but a moment. There is no definite answer to this question."

"..." Su Xun shook his head, not satisfied with this answer. He asked again, "So how did the spiritual power decline? What is the truth behind the Great Cataclysm?"

Behind Su Xun, Xu Huan and Xiao Zhenru were already struggling to process the information exchanged between the two. What was Fuxi? What was the previous civilization? But upon hearing this question, they immediately looked up.

However, the tree spirit simply shook its head: "I don't know."

Su Xun frowned, and asked suspiciously, "I don't know, or can't I say?"

"I don't know." The Peach Tree Spirit's answer was frank and straightforward: "In that dimension, I was just a tree seed, living in a daze, and I didn't know much about the outside world."

"In reality, most of the time my whole world is confined to those two peach pits, so please forgive me for not being able to answer such questions."

Su Xun sighed, realizing that he had been greedy.

Fuxi once mentioned that some information carries power, and even he himself could not tell himself some things accurately, let alone the tree spirit in front of him.

In reality, what this tree spirit knows and what information it can provide are probably all within Fuxi's calculations.

Knowing that asking these questions was pointless, Su Xun started talking about more practical matters.

"The Venerable God Fuxi once said that you could offer us some assistance; perhaps we could establish a cooperative relationship?"

Upon hearing Su Xun's title, the humanoid form condensed from the tree spirit revealed a vivid and strange expression.

"What?" Su Xun was a little curious. Last time in front of Fuxi, after he said this title, the person who seemed to be Meng Po also glanced at him.

"No, it's nothing." The tree spirit shook its head. "It's just that we don't usually address that being as such. Of course, it's fine as long as he himself agrees, the way he's addressed is irrelevant."

It didn't continue the topic, but instead said directly, "As for cooperation, or whether it's cooperation or not, I can provide you with all the help I can."

The tree spirit said, "If necessary, you can chop me up and use me as firewood, that's fine too."

(End of this chapter)