Chapter 237 - 199: World Tree Seed Acquired

Chapter 237: Chapter 199: World Tree Seed Acquired

The capital of Su Ya, once the site of the Divine Country.

Its domain was incomparably vast, filled with countless magnificent and beautiful buildings.

But that was in the past.

Now, only ruins remained.

Burnt-out buildings were everywhere.

In the very center of the capital was the scorched trunk of a colossal tree that once reached for the heavens.

Only its blackened branches were left.

Zhang Ji could clearly sense the gloomy aura of souls in the city.

The countless believers within the Divine Country had all died from that single, cross-dimensional divine punishment.

Of course, they were merely caught in the crossfire. The main target of the attack had been the Divine Emperor.

As a result, many of them had left behind residual souls.

Zhang Ji was incredibly fast. With just two flickers, he arrived beneath the massive husk of the World Tree.

This was the location of the royal city.

A massive city gate, a thousand meters tall, was covered in a dense web of cracks. Zhang Ji flew straight through it from the air, heading directly for the palace at the very center.

The palace was also built to a great height. Tiers of stairs, at least ten thousand steps, held up the temple where the Divine Emperor once resided.

Zhang Ji flew closer, then descended and walked into the grand hall.

The palace was also covered in cracks. The ruined golden throne was empty, and below it, on either side, stood six massive statues, each over twenty feet tall.

They were statues of the six Saint Spirit Knights.

Justice, Mercy, Integrity, Courage, Valor, and Purity.

Zhang Ji could sense the heroic spirits lingering within the statues.

When they were alive, they had all been Demigod Level beings, true Saint Spirits.

Unfortunately, they were now dead, with only residual souls remaining, possessing the strength of a peak S-rank at best.

In his past life as a player, when he ran this dungeon, he had to fight his way through mobs from the outside to get here, trigger the boss fight, defeat these six S-rank mini-bosses, and finally take down the residual soul of the Goddess Queen, Yilin Bona.

This time, he had flown straight here, basically skipping all the steps.

"Can we communicate?" Zhang Ji asked aloud.

He simultaneously used a Spirit resonance technique to transmit his friendly intentions.

Zhang Ji wanted to see if these six Saint Spirits could still communicate.

’If possible, it would be worth trying to turn them from enemies into friends.’

However, the only response Zhang Ji received was silence.

All that remained in their residual souls was an obsessive will to protect the royal court.

Although they had all borne the aftershock, as the ones closest to the Divine Emperor, the impact they endured was clearly different from that of the ordinary citizens.

Zhang Ji sighed and strode toward the throne.

As Zhang Ji approached the throne, the six statues came to life.

The particles of their bodies shifted, changing from a solid state to active particles.

In an instant, their colossal forms transitioned from death to life.

Then, without hesitation, the first sword fell.

"SHIIING!"

The one who swung the sword was the knight representing Courage. He was always the vanguard, and his strike held no hesitation.

The energy was extremely condensed. The sword strike showed almost no signs of dissipation.

Zhang Ji’s body looked tiny beneath the blade, as if he would be sliced in two at any moment.

Yet Zhang Ji didn’t move an inch. He simply raised his right arm and caught the descending blade, stopping it from pressing down even a fraction more.

The immense power was dismantled and dissipated by him.

Not even a shockwave rippled out from around Zhang Ji.

[Ten Thousand Transformations Formless Intent].

This technique was, in reality, a use of a Force Field.

With it, Zhang Ji could easily neutralize incoming energy and even disintegrate matter.

The sword strike actually held the power to split mountains and part rivers, but he caught it as easily as a feather floating to the ground.

"Those who offend the Divine Emperor must be executed!!"

"Trespassers in the royal court will be killed!"

"SHIING! SHIING! SHIING!"

As the mechanical thoughts were transmitted, three more Giant Swords came slashing down.

They were all extremely exquisite techniques. In terms of precision in energy Control, they could even rival Zhang Ji.

No, in fact, they should have surpassed Zhang Ji.

Their once higher realms had allowed them to glimpse the deeper nature of the world’s rules.

Therefore, their application of energy could be more meticulous.

However, as the three swords neared Zhang Ji, they began to slow down and gradually dissipate. Even the sword Zhang Ji was holding dissolved into particles.

In an instant, only the knights of Justice and Purity still held their weapons.

Zhang Ji decided to give them a quick end.

With a light push of one arm, he unleashed [Celestial Dragon Break]. Primordial Energy gathered, forming a dark red, dragon-shaped energy wave that shot forward.

"ROOOAR!"

"PFFT! PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!"

The four attacking knights were instantly blasted apart, their bodies disintegrated by the Primordial Energy. The remaining knights, Purity and Justice, brought their swords down.

"For offending the royal court, you shall be executed according to the law!"

"Unclean one, receive your punishment!"

The blades collided with the Celestial Dragon Break controlled by Zhang Ji. Unsurprisingly, the blades were destroyed, and the impact continued on to shatter the bodies of the two knights.

The massive, dark red Divine Dragon looped around and returned to Zhang Ji’s body.

The purity of his energy was extremely high now, and refining it was a bit time-consuming. He tried not to waste it if he could help it.

The six knights whose bodies Zhang Ji had shattered were dead, but Zhang Ji didn’t relax.

In the shadows of the throne, a majestic Spiritual Energy was reawakening.

"TAP! TAP! TAP!"

Following the sound of footsteps on the ground, a figure emerged from the shadows.

It was a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

She had long, pale gold hair, delicate features, and a perfectly proportioned, curvaceous figure. A ruby coronet adorned her forehead, and she wore a suit of golden battle armor, holding a slender golden blade. She was both valiant and beautiful.

In terms of appearance, by human aesthetic standards, Zhang Ji couldn’t find a single flaw.

Yilin Bona, the former Goddess Queen.

Her residual soul guarded this fractured Divine Country. The ruby in the coronet she wore was precisely the seed of the World Tree.

In the player storyline, that seed would sprout when touched by Yilin Bona’s tears, drawing nutrients from the countless Wraiths of the entire Divine Country, allowing them to rest in peace, while it grew into a sapling.

At this moment, Zhang Ji and Yilin Bona stared at each other. He could sense that, unlike the six knights, she was not completely devoid of reason.

"Outsider, this is not a place you should tread."

Yilin Bona did not open her mouth, yet her voice was transmitted directly into Zhang Ji’s mind.

It was a Magic skill similar to universal speech.

"I have come for the seed of the World Tree," Zhang Ji stated bluntly.

"It does not belong to you," Yilin Bona said.

"A mere residual soul like you has no right to say such things," Zhang Ji sneered.

If it were a complete Yilin Bona, an SS+ character, Zhang Ji would have had to show her some respect.

But now, as a residual soul, her strength was greatly diminished. At most, she barely reached the threshold of Super S-rank. If Zhang Ji said he wouldn’t show her any respect, he meant it.

"SWOOSH!"

A sharp Sword Qi cut through the air, only to be neutralized before it could even get close to Zhang Ji.

In the next instant, Zhang Ji’s fist was already blasting toward Yilin Bona.

"BOOM!"

The fist and the blade met. Energy surged from the tip of the golden blade, attempting to block Zhang Ji’s attack and, more so, to break through his body’s defenses.

But it was futile.

This body was incomparably powerful. Its explosive strength was not something Yilin Bona could withstand.

"RUMBLE!"

Yilin Bona’s figure was slammed into the temple wall.

The materials used to build this temple were truly extraordinary. A punch like Zhang Ji’s would have easily blasted a crater several miles wide into normal ground, but here, it caused no damage.

These were at least (Legendary) grade materials.

On the golden blade in Yilin Bona’s hand, a dark red energy was corroding it, making its edge somewhat chipped and no longer as sharp.

"WHOOSH!"

The wind stirred, but faster than the wind was the descending palm pressing down on her.

With a flash of golden sword light, Yilin Bona dodged the attack. Zhang Ji’s palm strike slammed hard into the temple wall.

"BANG! RUMBLE!"

A hollow Palm Seal, a hundred meters in diameter, was blasted into existence.

Even with the high-grade materials of this temple, it couldn’t withstand a single palm strike from Zhang Ji.

"So you’re just a brute with nothing but raw strength!" Yilin Bona exclaimed.

She had already seen through Zhang Ji. He hadn’t truly stepped into the Domain of a god; he merely possessed power great enough to rival a Demigod.

"Raw strength?"

Zhang Ji snorted coldly. The violent Primordial Energy in his body surged as he flickered in front of Yilin Bona and swung a slap toward her cheek.

His speed was so fast that Yilin Bona couldn’t dodge. She only had time to raise her blade to block.

"VMMM!"

The golden energy impeded Zhang Ji’s palm, but how could his strength be blocked so easily?

He forcefully smashed his palm right through that Energy Shield and struck the blade.

"CLANG!"

The blade, carried by the force of inertia, swung around and hit Yilin Bona’s head.

However, the scene of her being struck by the blade didn’t happen. The blade passed right through her head.

In her Spirit Body state, she was a cluster of Energy Particles.

The reason Zhang Ji could hit her was that his power was a Force Field Strike. If it had just been a physical attack like a mortal’s, god knows what kind of magnitude would be needed to directly harm these elementalized, energy-based life forms.

Although the blade couldn’t harm her, Zhang Ji’s massive slap landed squarely on her head.

"BOOM!"

In an instant, Yilin Bona’s cheek was slapped out of shape by Zhang Ji.

What she found even more unacceptable was that Zhang Ji took the opportunity to snatch her coronet right off her head.

"BANG!"

Yilin Bona was sent flying, crashing onto the temple floor, while Zhang Ji immediately pocketed the coronet.

"It’s mine now," Zhang Ji said with a smile.

"You savage brute!" Yilin Bona roared, her hair disheveled.

The energy field around her became extremely active. Her humanoid form began to change, transforming into a massive, dark gray Soul Body hundreds of meters tall.

This was her true form.

’Phase two?’

Zhang Ji’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’If I remember correctly, in this form, she can use a Divine Skill.’

’A Super S-rank, Demigod Level attack. A perfect chance to experience it here.’

"Judgment!"

Yilin Bona raised her hand. A thousand-meter-long, dark gold blade materialized from the void above the hall and locked onto Zhang Ji.

[Sword of Judgment].

A (Myth) grade Divine Skill.

It had a guaranteed-hit effect, its power was considerable, its energy was incredibly condensed, and its lethality was more refined, precise down to a super-microscopic level.

At this moment, Zhang Ji could feel that he had been locked onto by some special means.

Even by traversing space, he would be unable to evade this attack.

’I just don’t know if crossing between worlds would let me avoid it.’

’It probably would.’

Attacks that can cross the void between dimensions are generally something only a True God can achieve.

Seeing the golden blade about to fall, Zhang Ji brought his palms together and unleashed his own ultimate technique.

"Heart-Concealing Celestial Dragon Break!"

"ROOOAR! ROOOAR! ROOOAR! ROOOAR!"

Like the previous Celestial Dragon Break, it was made of dark red Primordial Energy, but this one’s color was much deeper.

The Heart-Concealing Celestial Dragon Break was an upgraded version of the Celestial Dragon Break.

It required Zhang Ji to accumulate Spirit and energy over time, compress and gather it, and store it separately in his body to be called upon when needed.

He could also charge it up on the spot, but that was rather time-consuming.

But if he accumulated it over time, he could instantly unleash his ultimate move.

It was the equivalent of always having an attack saved up with a full rage bar.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

The Divine Dragon formed from dark red Primordial Energy collided with the descending golden Giant Sword. After a momentary stalemate, the Divine Dragon directly shattered the golden Giant Sword, destroying it, and continued onward toward Yilin Bona.

The moment the Divine Dragon struck her Soul Body, it began to collapse. The Primordial Energy started to spread, setting off a chain reaction that destroyed every particle of her body.

"No... no... no... Your Majesty..."

Yilin Bona’s face was filled with reluctance. She still wanted to wait here for her husband’s return... but... it seemed that was no longer possible....

Her cries could not save her life. This time, she experienced complete annihilation.