Surviving the End of Dharma as a Sacred Tree

The year is 1980. Yu An only wanted to return to his ancestral home for a ritual offering—but instead, he awakens in a cultivation world on the brink of collapse, reborn as a rare elm sapling rooted in the wilderness. In this dying age of magic, every winter brings the Black Annihilation Wind, a cataclysmic blizzard that erases all life in its path. Humanity’s only refuge lies within blessed sanctuaries known as Fudi, yet Yu An is trapped a hundred li from the nearest one, utterly immobile and defenseless. His salvation comes in the most unlikely form: an elderly mortal neighbor and his three sons, a family of humble farmers who dream of cultivating immortality and have decided to venerate Yu An as their ancestral protector. Though their offerings are meager—a few spirit stones, a patch of tilled earth—Yu An clings to survival, nurturing their devotion while quietly growing stronger. Decades pass. The darkness thickens, and the winds howl ever more fiercely. But where once stood a fragile seedling, now rises a colossal emerald tree, its canopy stretching across the heavens. Beneath its boughs, a new Fudi has taken root, sheltering generations of the Yu family. At the tree’s base, a white-bearded patriarch, now a true Immortal, kneels with over seven thousand descendants and proclaims their unwavering loyalty. Yet Yu An merely rustles his leaves and shows them the truth: on that day, the sky rains elm seeds, nine galaxies fall silent, and thirty thousand miles turn to frost-white stillness.