Chapter Forty-One: The Manor of Ten Thousand Beasts in the Trees

System prompt: Mountain Tree has successfully shed its mortal form, advancing to a Silver creature.

Alchemical Creature: Mountain Tree
Name: None yet
Innate Abilities: Tenacious Immortality, Affinity with Nature, Steaming Mist
Powers: Purification, Psychic Kindness
Basic Evaluation: Silver, Entry Level (Cultivable, lacking materials for the shedding transformation)
Additional Comment: This is a wondrous tree with extraordinary potential.

Wu You gazed up at the ancient, colossal tree that seemed to support the heavens and earth. Ordinary people could never fathom his feelings at that moment. Standing beneath a four-hundred-meter skyscraper inspires awe and a sense of insignificance, but what if the skyscraper were a tree?

The sensation defies description.

Perhaps due to the Psychic Kindness ability, Wu You immediately understood the full extent of the Mountain Tree's powers and talents.

He focused on Steaming Mist and Psychic Kindness.

Steaming Mist enveloped the entire tree in a peculiar protective field: even if outsiders approached, they would inexplicably lose their way, ultimately circling back to where they started. From afar, the tree appeared as a green expanse, easily mistaken for a mountain covered in vegetation.

Psychic Kindness ensured that anyone who beheld the Mountain Tree felt a sense of goodwill and closeness, unable to bring themselves to harm it.

Both seemed defensive in nature, yet their effects were formidable.

If Wu You had initially worried that the sudden appearance of such a gigantic tree atop Stone Ox Mountain would attract unwanted attention, the emergence of these abilities dispelled all his concerns. Thus far, the system had never disappointed him.

Wu You held deep expectations for the Mountain Tree. He believed that, given the right conditions and continued nurturing, it would grow ever closer to his ideal vision.

Naming an alchemical creature was not immutable; the key lay in whether the system determined it had transcended its original boundaries, thereby evolving into a wholly new species, requiring Wu You to rename it.

This was explained in the cultivation manual, but Wu You had yet to achieve a true breakthrough with any creature, not even those who had advanced from Bronze to Silver. Though they had shed the ordinary, it was primarily a leap in power rather than a fundamental transformation of their essence.

…

The Mountain Tree had taken root, and Wu You's Beasts’ Villa now had its foundation.

Indeed, Wu You intended to construct the entire Beasts’ Villa atop the Mountain Tree, making it a true castle in the sky.

However, the architectural design and structural requirements posed a problem—one that needed expert help.

Wu You had once dabbled in art, calling himself a half-baked folk artist, but when it came to architecture, he was clueless.

Yet, in the information age, this was no real obstacle for Wu You.

Returning home, he opened his computer and digital drawing tablet. He began sketching the scaled-down three-dimensional image of the Mountain Tree from the system’s data.

Since he was copying directly from his mind’s eye, his strokes were extremely precise, capturing the roots, crown, trunk, and branches in exquisite detail.

After an hour of careful comparison, the first complete 3D illustration was finished.

He spent the rest of the evening, right up until dinner, in his room drawing non-stop. Only when Zhang Guihua called him down for the third time did he hurry downstairs, gulped down a bowl of rice, and promptly returned to work.

By 10 p.m., yawning and exhausted, Wu You finally completed all the drawings.

Twenty images in total, each meticulously detailed, complete with scales, including floor plans, elevations, and close-ups of branches meant to support structures.

He organized the digital files and logged into a forum called Architects’ Nest.

Architects’ Nest was the hottest gathering place for domestic architects and engineers, frequented by everyone from experts and scholars to students.

Wu You registered a new account and deposited forum credits worth two million yuan—the total equivalent of two million forum coins.

Ten minutes later, a well-prepared reward post appeared in the design discussion section.

"Creative Design Contest of Rationality—The Treeborne Manor, Reward: 2 Million"

The post laid out a hypothetical scenario:

"Suppose there exists a gigantic, sky-reaching tree, with each branch sturdy and unyielding. If you wish to build a treeborne manor atop its magnificent limbs, how would you design it?

Unleash your imagination and design a beautiful, elegant, and artistic architectural complex in the canopy.

Requirements: Must comply with principles of architectural mechanics; materials used must be realistic and reliable.

A three-dimensional model must be constructed. All performance data must be calculated and submitted with supporting documentation.

The best design will be selected based on final results, and the reward paid in full."

Below the description were the twenty digital illustrations of the Mountain Tree.

…

After posting, Wu You could no longer stay awake and went off to shower and sleep.

But within just ten minutes of the post going live, the forum was ablaze.

Architects’ Nest forum coins could be exchanged for real currency in real time. While there was no limit on converting money to forum coins, exchanging forum coins for cash was capped at fifty thousand yuan per day.

Wu You's post offered a solid reward of two million.

Once a reward thread was posted, the bounty could not be withdrawn. Thus, forum users were certain the prize would eventually go to a designer whose work satisfied the poster.

The thread sparked heated debate, with countless replies flooding in.

First reply: "Whoa, is this real? Marking my spot before it blows up, waiting for answers below."

Second reply: "First!"

Third reply: "Damn, missed the first reply, waiting for answers below."

Fourth reply: "The poster is an idiot, confirmed!"

…

Within a minute, the thread had reached fifty replies, all banter and preemptive marks.

Naturally, a genuine design proposal could not appear so quickly.

The authenticity of the post was questioned by many "Architect Bugs," who messaged forum admins asking if a server bug had flooded the forum with coins as a prank.

But the forum admin soon appeared, posted a statement confirming that the user "Beasts’ Villa Owner" was legitimate, and the reward post was valid.

The admin even pinned Wu You's reward post to the top of the entire site.

The forum exploded.

Wu You's rational creative design contest ignited the forum's energy.

As of yet, no designer had actually committed to creating a proposal.

Most "Architect Bugs" were simply there for the spectacle, flooding the thread for attention due to lack of expertise.

More seasoned "Architect Bugs" were eager, downloading the twenty images and discussing feasibility, preparing to try their hand at the design.

The rare frenzy soon spread throughout the professional circles.