pertwk Page 428
Page 428
In his hand, he held a dagger crafted from an unknown bone, its surface flowing with jet-black energy and emanating a nauseating, decaying stench. This was a tool created by Qu Tong through special means, specifically for destroying the foundation of the divine tree.
Once this dagger is inserted into the energy node, the vast life network of the divine tree that sustains the entire island's ecosystem will begin to collapse from within.
"Stop! Elijah!"
A loud shout, like a thunderclap, rang out.
The leader of Nathan's Nine Guards, the king's right-hand man, a tall, dark-skinned man with ancient totems etched on his face—Ivan—stood before Elijah. His eyes were filled with heartache and anger.
"Wake up! Do you even know what you're doing?!"
Ivan tries to awaken his former comrades.
However, Elijah, completely controlled by Qu Tong's mental imprint of the Double-Handed Sword, couldn't hear a word. His face was expressionless; he mechanically raised the bone dagger in his hand and stabbed it towards Ivan's heart.
Ivan roared, his muscles bulging instantly, and a layer of hard, rock-like keratin appeared on his skin. He swung his enormous fist at Elijah.
The two top guards, who had once fought side by side, engaged in a fierce and deadly battle beside the roots of the divine tree.
Ivan's strength was unparalleled, each punch carrying the power to split mountains and shatter rocks. But Elijah's movements were strange and agile, and the cursed dagger in his hand was extremely insidious. Each slash left a sizzling black wound on Ivan's tough skin, constantly eroding his life force.
Ivan grew increasingly alarmed as the fight progressed. He realized that Elijah's fighting style completely abandoned defense; every move was a suicidal attack. He seemed to feel no pain and had no fear of death; his sole purpose was to destroy everything in his path.
"Damn it! Who turned you into this?!" Ivan struggled to defend himself while his heart was filled with anxiety.
He knew that if he was tied up here, the battle outside would be even more brutal. He also knew that if he were to fall, the entire Nathan Island would be doomed.
Just as the two were locked in combat, an indescribably vast consciousness, like a galaxy spanning the sky, silently descended.
This consciousness was neither malicious nor benevolent; it was simply a pure existence. Its arrival caused Ivan and Elijah, who were engaged in fierce combat, to freeze simultaneously. Ivan shuddered from a primal instinct, while Elijah trembled violently as if he had encountered a natural enemy—the spiritual imprint belonging to Qu Tong within him.
Countless kilometers away, in a hidden underground base.
A woman wearing a mask was sitting in front of a huge machine, remotely controlling Elijah's body through the machine.
Suddenly, her body jolted violently, and she let out a painful groan.
"what happened?"
She held her forehead, feeling as if her spiritual power had crashed into an endless wall. No, it wasn't a wall; it was an abyss. An absolute abyss of nothingness that could devour all thoughts and consciousness.
She tried to withdraw her mental energy, but was horrified to find that the enormous consciousness had already traced back to her through the mental link between her and Elijah!
"puff!"
Qu Tong coughed up a mouthful of blood, her face turning deathly pale. She decisively severed all contact with Elijah, slumped into a chair, gasping for breath, her eyes behind the mask filled with unprecedented horror and fear.
In that instant, she felt as if she were being gripped by an invisible hand at the level of her soul. If the other party so desired, a gentle squeeze would cause her soul to scatter.
She saw it.
In that abyss of consciousness, she saw a blurry figure. That figure simply glanced at her silently.
With just one glance, her proud mental manipulation technique, capable of controlling people's hearts, crumbled.
"What...what was that thing..." she murmured absentmindedly, her body trembling with fear.
……
Nathan Island, beside the roots of the sacred tree.
As Qu Tong's mental imprint collapsed, Elijah's empty eyes gradually regained a glimmer of life. He stared blankly at the bone dagger in his hand, then at the wounded Ivan before him, a look of pain and confusion on his face.
"Ivan... what... what did I do?"
Ivan breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his companion regain consciousness, but then a deeper question welled up in his mind. Where did that enormous consciousness come from?
Meanwhile, on the beach at the Southern Amusement Park.
The sand swift lifted the [spatial freeze].
All the frozen American soldiers and Nathan Island warriors regained their mobility. But not one of them dared to move again.
The American soldiers stared in horror at the empty sea. Their carrier battle group, the steel fleet symbolizing the world's strongest military power, had vanished. No, not vanished. In the last second before they regained consciousness, they witnessed the entire fleet, along with the surrounding seawater, being compressed into a single point and then returning to nothingness.
The warriors of Nathan Island looked at the sand swallows suspended in mid-air with the reverence of gods, and at the black-haired youth who had somehow returned to the beach.
The entire battlefield was completely silent.
The wind blew across the beach, swirling up shell casings and blood-stained sand.
An aged and majestic voice came from the depths of the island.
“Powerful one who has come from afar, please conceal your divine might. Nathan has no intention of being your enemy.”
As soon as he finished speaking, an elderly man dressed in a magnificent robe, holding a wooden staff, with white hair but vigorous spirit, slowly emerged from the jungle, surrounded by a group of Nathan's guards.
He is the King of Nathan.
His gaze was filled with wisdom and a sense of vicissitude. He first glanced at the unharmed sand swallow, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes, then all his attention focused on Zhou Ye. 773 He couldn't see through him.
He couldn't see through the young man before him at all. The man stood there casually, yet seemed to be one with the world, and also separate from it. He was like the universe itself—profound, vast, and unfathomable.
King Nathan stopped ten meters in front of Zhou Ye, planted his wooden staff on the ground, and bowed deeply to Zhou Ye in the oldest and most honorable gesture of Nathan Island.
"The guardian of Nathan Island greets Your Excellency."
He spoke in a deep voice.
"Thank you for your help in resolving the crisis. May I ask what brings you here?"
His posture was extremely humble. He knew very well that the person before him possessed the power to easily destroy Nathan Island, even the world. Before him, the so-called King of Nathan was no different from a pebble on the roadside.
Zhou Ye's gaze calmly fell on him.
"I've come to find the sacred tree."
His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
The King of Nathan's heart sank. The sacred tree was the foundation of Nathan Island, their faith, and a taboo that was absolutely inviolable.
He looked up, about to say something.
But then they saw Zhou Ye slowly raise his hand.
Everyone's hearts were in their throats.
"Besides, you are not King Nasen. She is a woman, and you are her maternal grandfather, Li Muxuan. Such disrespect is outrageous. Out of love for my granddaughter, I will let it go this time, but I won't be so lucky next time."
Chapter 405 The so-called divine tree is an incomplete thing.
Zhou Ye's voice wasn't loud, but it was like an invisible hammer, striking the hearts of every Nathan Islander present.
“You are not King Nathan, she is a woman, and you are her maternal grandfather, Li Muxuan. Such disrespect is not to be tolerated this time, but you will not be so lucky next time.”
Upon hearing this, the entire room fell into a deathly silence.
The guards surrounding the "King of Nathan" instantly shifted their expressions from awe to horror, instinctively creating a barely perceptible distance between themselves and the old man before them. Their eyes darted back and forth between Zhou Ye and the old man, filled with doubt and unease.
Li Muxuan, whose identity had been exposed in public, froze abruptly. The wisdom and world-weariness vanished from his wrinkled face, replaced by a look of terror and astonishment at having all his secrets exposed. His disguise was flawless; he had even mimicked the divine tree's aura through a secret technique, imitating it perfectly. He couldn't understand how this young man had seen through his true form at a glance.
He tried to remain calm, wanting to say something in his defense, but when he met Zhou Ye's calm, unwavering eyes, all the words stuck in his throat. Those eyes held no emotion, no mockery, no boasting, only a pure statement. It was as if he were stating a self-evident fact, like the rising and setting of the sun.
This absolute confidence is more suffocating than any form of pressure.
Li Muxuan gave a bitter smile and slowly straightened his slightly hunched back. The majestic aura of a "king" that once emanated from him receded like the tide, replaced by the vicissitudes and helplessness of an old man of the martial world.
"Your Excellency... has a good eye." He spoke in a hoarse voice, which was tantamount to an admission.
This admission completely ignited the Nathan Islanders present.
"Elder Li Muxuan? How could you..."
"Where is the king? Where is the real king?"
"What exactly is going on!"
An uproar ensued. At that moment, a massive rift appeared in the faith of Nathan Island.
Zhou Ye, however, had no interest in the unrest. His goal, from beginning to end, remained singular.
"Where is the Divine Tree?"
He spoke again, his tone calm, yet carrying an undeniable air of authority.
Li Muxuan's expression shifted repeatedly. The Divine Tree was the foundation of Nathan Island, its final secret. But looking at the fleet wreckage on the beach, its traces erased, and feeling the faint yet terrifying aura in the sky that could freeze one's soul, he knew he had no right to refuse.
"Your Excellency...please follow me."
Li Muxuan finally lowered his head, tapped the ground lightly with his wooden staff, turned and walked into the depths of the forest, his back view desolate.
Zhou Ye strode after him. Feng Shayan followed closely behind, curiously observing the complex expressions of the Nathan guards around them, feeling immense satisfaction. What Nathan King, what forbidden land—in front of Master Zhou, they were nothing more than easily broken paper.
Passing through layers of strange vegetation and around several hidden energy nodes, a colossal tree radiating a soft light finally came into view.
This is the sacred tree.
Its trunk is so thick that it would take hundreds of people to encircle it, and its canopy blocks out the sky, as if supporting the entire heaven. Countless fluorescent vines hang down from the branches, flowing like a waterfall. A refreshing fragrance permeates the air; just breathing it in invigorates the spirit and makes one feel more energetic.
The sand swift gazed up at the magnificent sight, its eyes filled with awe. This was the divine object that countless forces from the outside world coveted, even willing to wage war to obtain. The life energy it contained was unbelievably vast.
However, Zhou Ye's reaction was unexpected by everyone.
He simply stood before the divine tree, scrutinizing it closely for a moment, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. He stretched out his hand, and a barely perceptible wisp of energy emanated from his fingertips, like the most precise probe, penetrating the roots, trunk, branches, and leaves of the divine tree, analyzing its most fundamental structure.
A few seconds later, he withdrew his hand, his face showing undisguised disappointment.
"cut."
A soft, disdainful smacking sound rang out sharply in the quiet forest clearing.
"A deformed product born from the combination of incomplete runes and an unknown fountain of life in the special environment of this planet."
Zhou Ye shook his head, his tone like that of a top chef evaluating a failed dish made with inferior ingredients.
"I thought it was something rare, but it turns out it's just trash."
Spicy...chicken?
Li Muxuan and the Nasen guards around him nearly popped their eyes out. The sacred tree they had protected their entire lives, the one they regarded as their faith and the source of their life, had actually received only a "trash" rating from this powerful figure?
This has a greater impact on them than directly destroying the divine tree. It's a cognitive-level, dimensional reduction attack.
Feng Shayan stood to the side, her lips twitching slightly. She suppressed a laugh while mentally ranting.
【Sir, how many monsters like you are there in this world? The trash you despise is something those people outside are fighting tooth and nail for, even sending carrier strike groups! Wasn't that "Rod of God" that was smashed down because of this "trash"? How can you say that? What about those American soldiers who died?】