In the barren mountains, where the sun could barely shine, there was only a thick willow tree standing tenaciously in the wind.
The bare hills made the willow tree even more eye-catching. Upon closer inspection, one could see that although it was huge, its branches looked listless. Its withered appearance seemed to be only a matter of time before it completely disappeared from this mountain.
Accompanied by the whistling wind, footsteps sounded.
'He's here to dump a corpse again.'
Gu Xiao became alert and prepared to watch a good show.
With this thought in mind, the branches on his body kept extending, and the entire tree looked stronger than before.
Yes, there was only one tree in this wilderness.
Gu Xiao was that tree.
He still remembered that when he was still a human, Gu Xiao had fantasized about the transmigration happening to him.
In the end, not only did he transmigrate, but he also awakened the system. However, Gu Xiao only wanted to die now.
Ironically, he could not die.
That was because he did not become a noble or a general, nor did he become a Celestial Lord or a Demon Lord. Instead, he became a tree.
It was fine if he wasn't human, but in the end, he grew up in the wilderness and looked half-dead all day. He couldn't even be cut down completely.
Those who heard his story would be sad and those who saw him would cry.
In this tragic beginning, only the existence of the system gave him a trace of comfort.
It was just a trace.
Although it was known as the check-in system, he only obtained one or two points of nutrients every day which was barely enough to meet his needs.
However, this bit of nutrients was also his hope to become a human again.
According to the system, after he became a tree with a system, he had almost endless life.
However, if he wanted to transform into a human again, he had to either absorb nutrients to reach Level 100 or become an Immortal Emperor according to the cultivation rules of this world.
"How can a tree cultivate?"
Looking at the nutrients that were so small that they could be ignored, Gu Xiao silently deduced another path.
[Develop believers.]
The system's answer made Gu Xiao speechless. He had been here for a while. Not to mention humans, there was not even a ghost in this lousy place.
He couldn't move now. Was he supposed to develop in his dream?
After complaining, Gu Xiao's daily routine was to check in and chat with the system.
Other than that, its function was almost nonexistent.
Other than being able to chat with Gu Xiao and prevent him from getting bored, this system was basically useless.
Then, they chatted for ten years.
If not for the system's accurate reporting of time, Gu Xiao would have thought that this was not ten years, but ten centuries.
However, ten years later, Gu Xiao was still Level 1.
Recalling that he was 99 levels away from transforming into his human form, Gu Xiao only wanted to die on the spot.
The difficult ten years had finally passed. With Gu Xiao diligently checking in every day, he welcomed a new dawn.
The system had awakened a new function—the cultivation system.
As the name suggested, the cultivation system was to nurture and cultivate. The target of cultivation was naturally believers or seedlings.
In other words, it was for him to develop his force.
Unfortunately, no one had appeared in the past ten years. As for the seedlings…
Back then, although this forest was not very lush, it could be said to be lush.
In the end, after Gu Xiao's attempts, the cultivation system somehow had the opposite effect. The other tree companions were all gone.
Another ten years passed, and this mountain finally became a desolate mountain.
Other than Gu Xiao, the only seedling, the entire mountain was so bald that there was not even a single weed.
As a result, he obtained a lot of nutrients and was closer to leveling up.
Therefore, Gu Xiao only felt a little regretful. Why weren't there more trees on the mountain?
Regarding this, the system speculated.
[As the host is extremely short of nutrients now, the cultivation system naturally doesn't have excess energy to provide to the outside world.]
[After the host's physique recovers to a healthy level, the cultivation system will be able to play its role.]
Gu Xiao chuckled in his mind. Didn't this mean that before he became powerful, it was just a pipe dream for him to develop his power?
If he had to wait to level up naturally, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything for a thousand or ten thousand years.
After so long, even a pig could become powerful, not to mention that he was still a tree—he seemed to be inferior to a pig.
Just as Gu Xiao was about to go crazy from holding it in, he finally saw the first living person after transmigrating.
It was an old man dragging a corpse over.
He looked at the barren mountain and finally walked to the only tree. He took out a hoe and dug a hole under his feet.
After burying him, he didn't say anything. He just sat against the tree for a while before leaving.
"Hey!"
After all, this was the first person he had seen in many years. Gu Xiao really wanted to say something to him, but he could not say it, and the other party did not say anything.
He could only watch the old man leave as he shook his branches gloomily.
However, the old man's arrival was not completely fruitless. At the very least, a corpse could provide more nutrients than a tree.
Gu Xiao happily collected his nutrients. After all, the system could chat with him.
The next year, the old man came again.
It had only been a year, but he looked more than ten years older than before, but his body was still strong.
He dragged the two corpses in his hands without panting.
This time, he brought a woman and a boy. After burying the corpses, there was still no sound. He only sighed deeply and left.
As Gu Xiao absorbed the nutrients they provided, he could not help but be curious about their identities and what had happened in the past two years.
If he could see that old man again, he had to think of a way to ask.
However, he did not appear again for the next two years.
Gu Xiao thought that it was good that he did not appear. At the very least, it proved that no one had passed away. Perhaps he had only changed places to bury his corpse.
With such random thoughts, under the nourishment of these corpses and the accumulation of check-ins, Gu Xiao finally broke the curse of leveling up once every ten thousand years.
He successfully advanced to Level 2.
"System, system, I've leveled up."
Gu Xiao shook his branches crazily to express his joy. If it weren't for the fact that the tree couldn't cry, he would definitely cry tears of joy now.
It had not been easy for the past 20 years. It turned out that the days of eating, sleeping, and eating were not that good.
Gu Xiao expressed his joy crazily, and the system was quite happy.
It told Gu Xiao that if he successfully advanced, he would obtain a lucky draw opportunity.
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and draw it," Gu Xiao urged.
He used to love lottery draws the most. He would be happy for a long time no matter what he drew.
The sense of accomplishment from receiving the goods was simply heaven-shaking.
The two of them did not waste any more time. As the big wheel spun continuously, Gu Xiao's little heart beat up and down.
It had been a long time since he had such an emotional moment. Finally, under Gu Xiao's gaze, the lottery needle stopped at a cultivation technique.
The Breathing Technique was a cultivation technique that allowed him to speak and take the initiative to absorb the nutrients in the world to grow.
"This is great."
Although he could communicate mentally with the system previously, the feeling of speaking human language still made Gu Xiao regain the feeling of being a human that he had not felt for a long time.
In this way, as long as the old man came again, he could take the initiative to talk to him.
As he spoke, footsteps came from afar, getting closer and closer to him.
But this time, it was not the familiar old man, but a little boy.
Similarly, as Gu Xiao guessed, the little boy was also dragging a woman's corpse in his hand.