Chapter 1909: The Crazy Big Tree
After the war in the Outerverse finally ended, Lu Yin began to receive hundreds of messages each day. That was even after most of them had been filtered by En Ya, Huan Sha, Wei Rong, Wang Wen, and others, which meant that these hundreds were the most important messages. Lu Yin was left with no time at all to cultivate.
Still, this was not a bad thing. Lu Yin had only just become an Envoy, so he needed some time for his increased cultivation to stabilize.
After poring through the messages one after another, Lu Yin suddenly stood up. The big tree had been found.
The big tree had previously escaped from Lu Yin’s botanical garden he had created on the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress. No one had been able to understand how the tree had managed to escape, and its whereabouts had remained a mystery. Countless people from the Great Eastern Alliance’s Allied Forces had searched, but their efforts had been fruitless.
Logically, the tree should have still been on the mobile fortress, as there was no way for it to travel through outer space, yet no one had been able to find it.
Finally, the tree had been located in Blue Flowzone, a tiny, inconspicuous flowzone several flowzones away from Blazing Mist Flowzone.
Lu Yin immediately made his way for the Innerverse.
Even if he decided to let the big tree go free, Lu Yin absolutely had to retrieve Sapling. If that little tree was found by Leaf King, Lu Yin would be put in a very tight position.
Unbeknownst to Lu Yin, Leaf King was already in Blue Flowzone and had even spent the last few days observing the big tree and Sapling.
Shamrock Enterprise’s intelligence network in the Innerverse far surpassed what the newly arrived Great Eastern Alliance had access to. Leaf King had received word regarding the location of the big tree and Sapling as much as a month before, but he had not dared to do anything since that time.
When Leaf King had tried to make a move in the Ross Empire’s mobile fortress, the big tree had left him spitting out blood after the man had tried to grab Sapling. He still clearly remembered what had happened, and he was genuinely scared of that big tree.
The big tree was near Leaf King, standing quietly in a forested park. At the top of the tree, a small sapling darted around. It looked as though the moving plant was playing a game of hide-and-seek.
Leaf King sat on a park bench while staring at the tree. Once the little sapling moved out of the big tree’s range, he would capture it.
The average level of cultivation on this planet was quite high. Despite being located in a minor flowzone, the planet had given birth to an Enlighter, several Hunters, and quite a few Explorers. This was the equivalent of the strength of an entire weave in the Outerverse.
Out of nowhere, a person raced into the park. He seemed panicked, yet his movements were deliberate. He studied the area before running straight towards the mobile tree. As Leaf King watched in astonishment, the man leaped onto the big tree and hid within its canopy.
Leaf King blinked twice and his handsome features contorted. What the hell? Was it really that easy? He had repeatedly tried to get close to the big tree over the past month, but had not once succeeded due to sensing a strange danger. On the other hand, this person who had just appeared had succeeded without any issue despite only being a mere Cruiser?
The person who had leaped into the big tree’s canopy saw Leaf King, and their eyes met. The man then gestured for Leaf King to stay silent and threw a bit of star essence toward the older man.
Leaf King reflexively grabbed it.
At this moment, a group of people led by a furious looking Hunter arrived just outside the park. Given the Hunter’s strength, just his footsteps alone were enough to overturn rivers and completely destroy the entire planet. He seemed to be suppressing his anger as he entered the park. He ordered, "Find him! You have to find that bastard!"
"Yes, Patriarch!" The entire group answered and they then scattered to carry out their order.
One of them walked towards Leaf King and looked down at the man in a condescending manner. "Did you see anyone enter this park?"
Leaf King’s eyes flickered to the top of the big tree. "No."
"Are you sure?" the man pressed, sounding upset. He stretched out a hand and pressed it upon Leaf King's shoulder. Just as the man was about to exert a bit of strength, the Hunter called from the distance. "He’s just an ordinary person; how could he have seen any trace of that bastard?"
The person who had been interrogating Leaf King quickly moved on to search elsewhere.
Despite giving birth to several experts, no one on the planet dared to recklessly use their strength. At most, people were able to use a Melder’s level of strength, and this was because anything more could easily destroy the planet, and it was home to an Enlighter. That powerhouse would not allow anyone to destroy his home.
This was also why the Hunter was only able to organize a search party to hunt down his quarry.
Leaf King remained sitting quietly on the bench, staring out at the lake in the park.
The man they were searching for had decent capabilities. Not even the Hunter was able to find the man, despite being so close. The others combed the entire park, but could not find anything at all. Leaf King could tell with a single glance that the fugitive was quite experienced at this.
"Reporting to the Patriarch: he’s not here."
“Reporting: he’s not here.”
“Not here.”
…
The Hunter’s expression became ugly. "Let’s go!”
He led his people out of the park.
The person hiding in the big tree’s canopy let out a sigh of relief, though he continued hiding. Based on previous experiences, it was possible that the search party would turn back after pretending to leave.
While the man was thinking about this, the big tree moved.
The man was startled. Was this an earthquake?
The tree moved again.
The man was quite shaken, and he quickly looked down. Did the tree just move? At this moment, something brushed the back of his head. The man was absolutely terrified. How had he not noticed anyone else’s presence? He whipped around, only to be greeted by the sight of a branch. It was Sapling, and he had just accidentally squashed it.
The tree moved?
The man was stunned. Had this plant reached the level of being a natural treasure?
The big tree pulled two of its thick roots out of the soil, and then began frantically running. It somehow resembled a human as it moved. The ground shook as it raced out of the park with just a few steps, and it sprinted onto the street. It left holes in the ground with every step, and the noise it made as it moved attracted attention from numerous people. The man hidden in the canopy felt his stomach drop. Since when could trees move about like this?
"Patriarch, over there!" someone shouted.
The Hunter looked over and his eyes narrowed. "Bastard, I’ve found you now! Get down from there!”
The man grabbed a door and swung it at the big tree.
The tree quickly dodged to the right, barely avoiding the attack, and the door smashed into the ground.
"Get over here right now!" The Hunter yelled in fury as he chased after the tree.
Countless people raced after the tree and moved to intercept it.
The big tree fled.
Leaf King was not surprised by this sight. This big tree was very odd. It could stay quietly in one place for a while, and then would break into random bouts of hysteria without any warning at all. If anyone managed to grab the tree, it would effortlessly escape without injuring the person. It was truly mysterious.
The whole street began to become active as the big tree desperately fled and countless people chased after it and tried to block its path.
"Hurry up and send word to the Alliance Leader! The big tree’s trying to escape! I’m keeping an eye on it!" One man submitted a report into his gadget.
Leaf King heard the man and instantly killed the man with a single slap. Since the man was from the Great Eastern Alliance, it meant that Lu Yin had to already know of the big tree’s whereabouts. Things would become troublesome if Lu Yin arrived. The sapling had to be taken away quickly.
"Get down from there right now!" the Hunter shouted. He pulled out a long knife from his cosmic ring and slashed it down. The attack tore through the void as it shot towards the big tree.
The man hidden in the tree’s branches urged the tree, "Quick! Run away!"
The big tree’s trunk twisted, and it dodged the slash by using a movement that mimicked a dancer’s pose. Everyone who saw this felt their jaws drop.
That pose had some kind of seductiveness to it. How could a tree be seductive?
Sapling danced around the big tree’s branches in a delighted manner.
The man hiding in the canopy was also stunned. This was still a tree, right?
A stern looking old man appeared in the sky above the commotion. "Who dares act so brazenly here? You will be punished for using the strength of an Explorer!"
The Hunter looked terrified, and the knife dropped from his hand as he quickly began begging, “Teacher, your disciple's been careless! Please forgive me!"
This old man was the only Enlighter on the planet, and he was the one who had enforced the rules for all on the planet. He was the reason so many cultivators had risen from this place.
All of the cultivators on this planet were the old man’s disciples.
The old man ignored the Hunter and instead stared at the escaping tree. "Interesting."
He moved a finger to catch the big tree.
Suddenly, a terrifying force shook the entire planet, and the old man's pupils constricted as his body was slammed to the ground. This was not good! There was a true powerhouse!
Leaf King had made his move. He reached for the big tree’s canopy with a hand and tried to grab Sapling.
The man hiding in the big tree’s branches was scared stiff by the overwhelming strength that had appeared. He had experienced such strength before, and this person was definitely an Envoy. Since when had an Envoy been on this planet?
A hand stretched out of the true universe. Leaf King showed himself as he reached for Sapling.
The fugitive was startled when he saw Leaf King. "It’s you?"
He had never imagined the person he had tried to bribe with a bit of star essence would actually be an Envoy. Why was an Envoy hiding here?
Right when Leaf King’s hand was about to touch Sapling, a branch twined around his arm and snapped like a whip. There was a deafening crack as the arm was torn off and Leaf King’s body was sent flying away and tumbling head over heels. The force of the retaliation Leaf King had faced blew a hole in the planet’s atmosphere, and even shattered a barren planet far away.
Leaf King had instantly been severely injured. He turned and shot into the true universe to vanish from sight.
Everything had happened in less than an instant. The old Enlighter had felt Leaf King’s power, and though the other cultivators present had felt it as well, they had mistaken it for the Enlighter’s strength.
Only the person hiding in the big tree’s canopy was aware of what had happened, and he was utterly terrified by what he had just witnessed.
An Envoy had just been sent flying by a tree! And he had actually dared to climb to the top of that same tree! What kind of tree was he in? Was it even a tree?
The man trembled uncontrollably, nearly soiling himself from his fear.
The big tree resumed its mad dash before suddenly coming to a sudden stop. It then firmly inserted its roots into the ground after it stopped moving.
The person in the canopy looked left and right. Was it done? The big tree had decided to stop in the middle of a street!
Everyone looked at the tree with odd expressions. Was this tree some sort of natural treasure?
Someone wanted to move closer to the big tree, but they were stopped by the old Enlighter. At his orders, the street was sealed off and no one was allowed anywhere close to the tree. Anyone who tried to approach would be driven away.
The Enlighter felt rather confident that he knew what had just happened, though he had not been able to see any of the details. The Envoy who had suddenly revealed themselves might have been the tree itself.
The old man had traveled to many places in the universe while cultivating to become an Enlighter, and he knew that it was not impossible for a big tree to have the strength of an Envoy.
He considered how to deal with this matter, and even considered reporting this incident to the Hall of Honor.
An ordinary-looking face popped out of the big tree’s leaves. There was a pleading look on the man’s face as he stared at the old Enlighter from within the big tree’s branches.
The old Enlighter was startled when he saw the man, and he then bowed low. It turned out that the Envoy was a person and not the big tree itself. "I was presumptuous and disturbed you, Senior. Do you have any requests? This junior will do his best to fulfill them.”
The man in the tree was drowning in despair, and he wanted to beg for help, but just as he was about to speak, branches started to twine about his neck. It was Sapling.
Sapling was in a playful mood, but from the man’s perspective, the little tree was threatening him. These branches could easily choke him to death. Was this tree stopping him from speaking?
The man wanted to weep. He had merely stolen a single item, so why was his punishment so harsh? He had even gotten involved with an Envoy! The Innerverse was just too much for the man. He wanted to go back to the Neoverse.
…