Chapter 422 – Plant System Civil War, Great Devouring of the Tree Realm

Half an hour later, Sophia’s Black Crows kept watch over the Golden Grand Duke and his party, guiding them toward Tianyuan City.

“To think that people from the Outer Realm would come to join the fray at this moment,” Mu Yuan frowned.

He had some recollection of this Golden Grand Duke—a powerful figure from the Shenluo Great Domain, specifically the West Coast region.

There had never been any interaction or connection between the Golden Principality and Tianyuan City.

To be honest, Mu Yuan did not want a variable like the Golden Grand Duke complicating matters while dealing with the overlord forces. After all, the latter’s team included two Legendary Realm experts and undoubtedly possessed numerous special methods.

However, since the Golden Grand Duke intended to visit, it would be inappropriate to refuse outright.

At the very least, having them under his watch felt more secure.

“Looking at it from another angle, the Golden Principality and the Gem Principality are the two strongest forces on the West Coast. Now that the Golden Grand Duke has come knocking on his own, it could also be beneficial for Tianyuan City.”

…

In the southern part of Tianyuan City, the Golden Grand Duke and his companions were descending the hill.

The Guard Commander was deeply troubled. Entering an unfamiliar territory at such a time posed significant risks, Grand Duke.

He had wanted to advise against it.

But if persuasion had been effective, they wouldn’t have ventured so deep and ended up near Tianyuan City in the first place.

What could he do with a master who thrived on adventure? All he could do was vow to protect him with his life.

Sigh~!

The Golden Grand Duke, however, was brimming with enthusiasm. As if oblivious to the Black Crows circling overhead, he observed his surroundings intently.

His impression of Tianyuan City was not limited to the intelligence gathered from the Gem Principality.

The Grand Duke now connected the dots, recalling that he had encountered this mysterious figure in black robes not long ago at Ironstone Mountain, where he was trying to recruit the Master Gunsmith Roy.

This Tianyuan City expert was also the first to employ the “apprenticeship and networking” Move.

Witnessing this, the Golden Grand Duke immediately summoned dozens of subjects or units from his principality who were knowledgeable about firearms and manufacturing, instructing them to seek apprenticeship under Roy.

The outcome, however, was somewhat unexpected—Roy only accepted a few of them.

Master Gunsmith Roy treated these apprentices with the typical attitude of an old master toward hired workers, offering only occasional pointers during breaks.

Whether they could learn anything, and how much, depended entirely on the apprentices themselves.

Of course, the Golden Grand Duke’s intention in sending apprentices and paying for their studies wasn’t genuinely to acquire knowledge. He merely wanted to use the apprentices as intermediaries to extol the virtues of the Golden Principality to Master Gunsmith Roy, hoping to attract him.

But while not learning was one thing, attitude was another.

Master Gunsmith Roy treated the apprentices from the Golden Principality and other major forces equally, regarding them all as mere apprentice laborers.

Yet, he treated the apprentices from Tianyuan City with exceptional care, as if they were his chosen successors.

Was that reasonable?

Was it fair?

The Eternal World had no concept of fairness or unfairness. The Golden Grand Duke wouldn’t complain or confront Master Gunsmith Roy about it. Instead, he pondered—how? How did Tianyuan City manage to achieve this?

Using force to coerce the stubborn Roy was utterly futile.

Buying his loyalty? If that had worked, he would have recruited Roy long ago.’Why exactly is this?’

Lost in thought, the Golden Grand Duke had already arrived at the gates of Tianyuan City.

At this moment, he could see that many construction sites outside the city had ceased work, clearly indicating that Tianyuan City was indeed facing immense pressure from the Monster Overlord. The war had long been underway, though it had not yet reached the city walls.

Along his journey, he had witnessed numerous monster tides and monster legions, as well as several mines that had been breached and abandoned.

From this, it was evident that Tianyuan City’s situation was far from favorable.

“My arrival here is guided by fate. Your Tianyuan City must be lacking in combat strength now. I can lend my assistance—our Golden Principality has provided mercenary aid to many factions. Of course, since it’s a mercenary arrangement, there must be corresponding compensation.”

The Golden Grand Duke spoke after a brief moment of contemplation.

His goal was not wealth, but the secret of Tianyuan City that had captured the attention of Master Gunsmith Roy.

Naturally, this required a gradual approach.

Beside him, the Guard Commander seemed to hesitate, words caught in their throat, before finally letting out a weary sigh after a long pause.

As the Grand Duke’s words faded, an ethereal voice drifted through the wind.

“That won’t be necessary. We in Tianyuan City are fully capable of dealing with these petty monsters. It won’t be long before the situation in the Ten Directions Island Region stabilizes.”

“Your Excellency Golden, as an honored guest, as long as you abide by our laws, you need not worry about any safety concerns within this city. A mere Monster Overlord poses no threat to our Tianyuan City.”

The ethereal voice seemed to come from all directions, elusive and impossible to pinpoint.

Even when the Golden Grand Duke listened intently, he could not determine its exact source.

It was as if it were everywhere, yet nowhere at all.

‘But that’s what makes it interesting.’

The Grand Duke straightened his robes and strode into Tianyuan City.

…

West of Tianyuan City.

The vast Bloodtree Forest sprawled across the land, having existed for countless years.

No one knew the history of the Bloodtree Forest—it had appeared earlier than the Jackal Fang, earlier than the Black Crow Clan and the Great Serpent Clan.

For as long as anyone could remember, the Bloodtree Forest had remained relatively tranquil.

Were it not for the forest being a lethal trap from which none returned, its crimson, blood-like leaves would be considered a breathtaking sight.

At this moment, from the depths of the Bloodtree Forest, a mysterious and eerie rhythm emanated, sweeping through the entire forest like a hurricane in an instant.

Rustle~!

In the forest’s core area, towering kilometer-high trees waved their menacing branches, their trunks splitting open to reveal gaping maws.

Rustle~!

In the inner ring of the forest, eerie blood-red trees swayed, their sinister leaves rustling as crimson leaves fluttered through the air, stirring up a mist of blood.

In the forest’s outer perimeter, trees tinged with hints of blood-red suddenly began to tremble violently.

Trunks swelled with pustules that burst open, allowing strange, creeping branches to sprout and spread.

In the blink of an eye, the blood-red trees swelled and expanded, their trunks seeming to writhe as if countless insects squirmed beneath them.

“Pop—boom!”

One of the swollen trees suddenly exploded, like an overinflated balloon bursting at its limit, shattering into a mist of blood.

Amid the blood mist, shattered branches, roots, and bark scattered in all directions.

As these roots and branches struck the ground, they dissolved unnaturally, merging into the surrounding soil.

The next moment,

a blood-red sapling broke through the earth and, nourished by the surrounding blood mist, grew and strengthened at a visible rate.

A blood tree was born!A hundred Blood Trees were born!

Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million Blood Trees emerged one after another.

The Bloodtree Forest, silent for countless years, suddenly erupted into a frenzy at this moment.

…

Tap-tap~

Tap-tap~!

In Tianyuan City, gravel on the streets trembled slightly, and hanging lamps indoors began to sway.

“An… an earthquake?”

Some citizens panicked.

“Could it be a monster tide approaching?”

Knowledgeable citizens wondered, but well-informed individuals quickly dismissed the idea.

“No, I heard the nearest tide is still a thousand kilometers away from our Tianyuan City.”

The Golden Grand Duke had just settled into a tavern in Tianyuan City not long ago.

He glanced down at the ground, then swiftly ascended to the tavern’s rooftop, gazing westward.

Tianyuan City was originally twenty to thirty kilometers away from the edge of the Bloodtree Forest.

From this distance, even a Legendary Realm expert couldn’t see much from a mere ten-meter-high tavern rooftop, especially with rolling hills in between.

Yet now, the distant horizon was shrouded in dust, with birds and beasts soaring high above.

Amid the dust, colossal shadows continuously grew, tearing through the earth to stand tall upon the vast land.

Trees!

They were gigantic trees at least several hundred meters tall, their branches stretching eerily, densely covered with crimson leaves dripping with blood.

From afar, they looked like enormous red mushrooms suddenly sprouting from the ground.

But this wasn’t the first mushroom.

Soon, a second, third, fourth, and more…

One after another, hundred-meter-tall ‘mushrooms’ abruptly appeared, drawing closer as if spreading toward Tianyuan City.

“What is this? It looks ominous, and it seems to be spewing something continuously.”

A guard murmured.

The Golden Grand Duke said, “They’re plant-based lifeforms. I sense monster aura from them. Tianyuan City’s situation appears far worse than imagined.”

He even began hesitating about offering mercenary services to Tianyuan City.

Their Golden Principality never accepted hopeless battles.

The Guard Commander said, “Your Grace, let’s leave quickly before those eerie Blood Trees spread here. Otherwise, I fear…”

The Golden Grand Duke narrowed his eyes slightly, twirling a golden pen in his hand.

He was deep in thought.

Suddenly, a stronger tremor shook the ground.

Accompanied by a rumbling roar.

Dust clouds rose—this time, less than ten kilometers outside Tianyuan City.

“More trees are growing!”

“No, wait—these trees aren’t as sinister as the others!”

West of Tianyuan City, trees long rooted there began consuming their stored vitality to grow wildly.

In the blink of an eye, one hundred-, two hundred-, three hundred-meter-tall trees stood towering west of the city, forming a lush forest.

These trees were extensions of the Treant Lords from the Treant Forest.

They channeled their power here through a root network.

Due to the distance, the Treant Lords could only exert limited strength seven or eight kilometers west of Tianyuan City, weaker than in their own forest.

But with the Treant Forest as their backbone, their power flowed endlessly, growing stronger.

At the center, guarded by massive treants, stood an ancient tree over a thousand meters tall.

Its branches spread wide, as if holding up the sky alone.It was even taller than the distant Blood Trees.

With itself as the core, it constructed a tree realm defense line, intending to block the encroaching Bloodtree Forest.

This was a battle between tree realms!

…

Deep within the Blood Tree Realm, the Blood Tree King gazed into the distance.

It was slightly surprised.

“A plant-type military unit? Treants?”

“And seemingly War Treants of epic grade?”

The Blood Tree King’s eyes grew fervent.

If it could Devour a War Treant, it would bring great benefits!

Moreover, a civil war within the tree realm?

In conflicts between plant-type entities, the stronger exerts comprehensive suppression over the weaker—there is simply no possibility of the weak overcoming the strong or the small defeating the large.

Just as in its Bloodtree Forest, without its permission, no plant could survive by taking root.

It governed the entire territory.

Where the Crimson Forest spread, that was its domain.

And now, with its Crimson Great Forest spanning thousands of miles, facing a mere Treant with only a small grove—how could it lose?

With ten thousand cards in hand, how could it lose?!

“Go!”

The Crimson Forest rapidly expanded.

The green forest also spread.

Before long, the crimson and green territories officially met.

From an aerial view, after the crimson and green connected, the crimson areas on both sides continued to extend rapidly, with the scale difference between them being hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater.

However, at the point of contact, the difference was minimal.

Some Blood Trees exploded, their crimson branches and roots splattering into the green forest. Immediately, crimson saplings broke through the soil, attempting to seize the green forest’s vitality and territory.

The next moment, the crimson saplings did not disappear; they continued to grow rapidly.

Only, their color gradually shifted from red to green.

They had been turned green.

Similarly, the Blood Trees directly facing the Treant Forest were also turning green.

Their branches swayed; they rustled; they gradually grew calm; they sprouted green hues.

They integrated into the Treant Forest.

—Epic Skill: I Am the Forest!

「Transforms all vegetation within the range into one’s own territory. The more vegetation within the range, the greater the power of this territory.」

「Simultaneously, I am the forest, and the forest is me. The Treant Forest possesses mobility.」

Any area with vegetation could become its territory.

This was the Treant Lord’s Kingly Dao!

In ordinary regions, the Treant Forest would need to consume its own vitality, land power, and energy to expand. But here, the lush Blood Trees before it were the perfect nourishment for the Treant Forest’s expansion.

Consumption? Competing for land power?

No.

What is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine.

In the blink of an eye, the Treant Forest expanded by two rings, the green encroaching upon the red, continuously spreading.

Blood Trees shattered one after another;

Blood Trees tilted and fell;

Blood Trees transformed into green trees, continuing to flourish and grow;

Initially, the Blood Tree King paid little attention to the minor losses. To capture the Treant Lord, necessary consumption was unavoidable. As long as it remained within its own domain, the Blood Tree King feared no consumption—even if a Legendary God Soul Realm existence arrived, it would not flinch.

But as the consumption dragged on, the Blood Tree King began to feel that something was amiss.

Its Blood Trees were being depleted, yet why was the Treant Forest outside the Bloodtree Forest not only undiminished but seemingly growing even larger?

How could the Treant Forest, under the consumption and land power competition of its Bloodtree Forest, still manage to spread and expand?

It sensed that something was wrong.

Suddenly,Boom—

The already expanded Treant Forest, seemingly unable to hold back any longer, surged forward at an incredible speed.

This was not the gradual spread of newly sprouted trees, but the entire green forest as if grown feet, stomping forward abruptly.

Green crashed into red.

In the blink of an eye, the red succumbed, becoming the color of the Treant Forest.

The lush green symbolizing nature, vitality, and life spread even faster, staining and devouring everything within the Bloodtree Forest.

The Blood Tree King could clearly feel its territory being gnawed away, its power slowly draining.

At the same moment,

One hundred kilometers deep into the border between the Treant Forest and the Bloodtree Forest,

A blood tree hundreds of meters tall was suddenly enveloped in a green glow, bursting with intense life force. The blood-red hue faded from its leaves, branches, and trunk, and the ancient tree underwent a rebirth.

It rapidly grew, towering over a thousand meters high.

Faintly visible, this robust ancient tree bore a ninety-nine percent resemblance to the one at the center of the Treant Forest.

The blood tree had taken on the form of Tree Spirit Grandma.

This was the assimilation of the tree seed.

Having broken through to the Legendary Realm, Tree Spirit Grandma could not only possess multiple tree seeds simultaneously but also project the power of these seeds onto non-sentient trees and plants.

As if descending, she manifested upon the plant.

The intangible force of ‘I Am the Forest’ spread wildly.

At this moment, Tree Spirit Grandma seemed even more bloodthirsty than the Blood Tree King, opening a maw that engulfed all the plants in the surrounding world.

Assimilation, devouring, absorption.

Within the gradually greening forest, laughter seemed to echo, eerie as the winter wind.

(End of Chapter)