The nutrients provided by the soil had allowed their growth which had continued over a long period of time.
During that time, there had been many events that had taken place from animals or humans walking by to consuming, using or damaging the plants.
Those small plants that had survived and had enough vitality to continue their growth grew larger into a large bush that had slowly taken the form of a thin tree.
The roots of the trees had let them remain in place as time passed and the trees continued to gain enough nutrients to continue their growth.
The passing of ages had seen many lives to come across those trees and there were times where the trees gained nutrients from the dead that had been broken down by the soil.
Humans and animals had learned how to live by making use of the trees around them whether they had taken some leaves, branches or other parts for their own use.
The trees had their own ways of sustaining themselves so they were able to deal with some smaller threats had may have infested them.
The thickness of the trees had increased over the passing of time and the humans started to find new ways to use the trees.
It became a time where humans started to cut down some of the trees for to use the wood for different things while they were clearing some of the land to set up an open space for themselves.
Different sicknesses or conditions that had been caused by the humans had caused many trees to be lost among the many that had begun their growth together.
There were still many who had spent their time around the remaining trees and had not caused harm to them but that did not stop the trees from suffering further.
War between man had started and the trees were chopped down again to prepare for the coming war while others were burned during the war.
The trees continued to live on and grew stronger, larger and thicker as time had passed through many human and animal developments in that location.
The trees were reduced in numbers but they continued to be nourished by their surroundings while providing enough to their surroundings as they gave back just as much as they took.
One tree had remained in place after all of them had reduced but it showed no big changes over the long time that had passed besides having some of its own marks that had been left by its long history.
The tree was a Mulberry Tree just like the one that Ki had spent her time around most of the time after she had regressed.
A swordswoman was leaning against the tree with a gourd that had been opened, she enjoyed her drink from the gourd then had spent her days like that while occasionally taking some berries from the tree and using the leaves to make some tea.
Just like others before her who had found ways to make use of the tree, she had done the same but she seemed to have been focussed on the most among all those that had been quickly passed by.
The swordswoman was older in her years and spent a lot of time wandering to get to the tree where she had practiced her sword moves and had drunk.
There were times when she did not appear and would later appear when she was injured.
It was not until a little later that she had sat waiting by the tree as she spent her time like usual but the swordswoman had suddenly drawn her sword.
Many people that had concealed appearances had jumped forward and swung their weapons towards her in an attempt to kill her.
She fought back fiercely but had suffered several wounds, she was able to put up a fight against them enough to kill enough of them to make the others hesitate to continue.
Some of the remaining people had backed off upon seeing the strong front that the old woman had put up against them.
Once they were gone, the woman had reached into her clothing and showed a pained look on her face.
She lamented that she had been careless and had suffered such a wound, she had only been able to hide it enough to be able to put up her front against the others but she was in a bad state.
She leaned against the tree and died, the blood dripped down into the soil and onto the roots of the tree.
Her life was fading away as she lay against the tree and just as her own life was disappearing, new life and sentience was being nurtured.
The tree began to gain some form of sentience and had become a demon or spirit Mulberry Tree.
It had started out peaceful and made no movements but as time had passed and it had learned more about its surroundings, it had slowly started to use its roots and branches to interact with its surroundings.
Those that disrespected and caused damage to the tree were whipped and constricted while the more unlucky ones were pulled beneath the soil to become nutrients for it.
There were humans that had saw the tree and had ran away in fear once they had seen it as a demon tree.
Those that had learned to lives alongside the tree had formed their own clan where the tree was provided nourishment and the tree provided for them.
It went from a demon to a guardian then it went through many stages of loss over the many lives that had been lost to time.
New generations had continued to appear among those that lived around the tree which had received its protection.
There were some times where wars were fought and the tree had played a major role in fighting them off while other times, the people had turned on the tree or had decided to move on to another place.
The tree had a long history and had built up a lot of memories and feelings within it but it still looked out for itself more than those around it.
If there were those that aimed to do it harm then it would not have been soft on them.
The many bodies beneath the soil were broken down to let the tree gain more vitality while each drop of blood was absorbed by the roots.
The sap and the other harmful elements of the tree had become increasingly harmful as it had taken in more of the nourishment of the humans it had killed or that had been sacrificed to it.
No matter how anything around the tree had changed, it continued to last throughout the ages and it remained sturdily in place.