Success and failure all hinged on this moment!
At this moment, the Great Banyan Tree King’s immeasurable quantity came into effect. Every single great banyan tree was like an independent version of himself, yet they were also connected through countless roots, with tremendous amounts of information being conveyed through them.
Suddenly, every single great banyan tree radiated with colourful light. The entire sea of trees turned into a magnificent ocean of lights.
The daemons and otherfolk living among the trees all gazed at the surroundings in surprise before watching the territory of the Mist province hanging in the night sky slowly fall down, growing closer and closer, larger and larger. They could clearly see the countless mountains and rivers just by raising their heads as if it was all real
Like the end of the word, cries rose and fell in the sea of trees.
Ye Weiyang stood at the top of the forest, gazing at the “Mist province” that fell from the sky. A smile appeared on her face.
A mountain fell upside-down, right onto her. She did not budge, passing straight through it.
The daemons and otherfolk all looked around frantically and discovered this was not the catastrophe they imagined it to be. The “Mist province” was merging with the forest, swallowed by the ocean of lights.
A while later, all of the light vanished, and the forest returned to normal as if nothing had happened at all. Only the kings could truly comprehend the profound changes involved, all beaming with joy and congratulating the Great Banyan Tree King in the direction of Towering city.
The Great Banyan Tree King exhaled deeply, and his eyes turned back to an inky-green. However, the tree heart continued to shine with resplendent light. His aura became much vaster and more distant, but his personality did not seem to change much. Instead, it was a very natural form of growth and improvement.
“Congratulations, fellow. Felicitations, fellow. You’ve succeeded!”
Li Qingshan clasped his hands in congratulations, feeling great admiration towards the Great Banyan Tree King. He was not some natural divine tree, but he pushed his special characteristics to the very limit, spending thousands of years to plan arduously so that he could tread an unprecedented path. It exhilarated Li Qingshan as well!
“This is but the first step.” The Great Banyan Tree King waved his hands.
“But the eight other cauldrons will sense this step. The imperial clan in the Dragon province will be furious,” Li Qingshan said.
Great Xia wanted the world godless, while the Great Banyan Tree King had directly become the god of the Mist province, even directly destroying their imperial treasure. It would only be strange if they did not make a response.
“Don’t worry. They won’t attack here.”
The Great Banyan Tree King’s eyes shone with a sagacious light. He had simulated and calculated all of the possible scenarios and consequences a long time ago. Now, he only saw it with even greater clarity.
“Fair enough!”
Li Qingshan smiled. The current Great Banyan Tree King had already strode into a completely new domain. He was basically undefeatable in the World of the Nine Provinces. The Great Xia empire probably could not afford to pay the cost to kill him either.
“Was it worth it?” Xiao An suddenly asked the Great Banyan Tree King.
The Great Banyan Tree King fell silent. The atmosphere suddenly froze up.
“Xiao An?” Li Qingshan was slightly surprised, only to see a rare hint of pity on her face. He could not help but sigh. “There’s no other way. Madam Vine had gone too far.”
“Was it worth it?” Xiao An did not look at Li Qingshan, asking again after taking a step closer.
The Great Banyan Tree King closed his eyes as if he could not meet her gaze. The sun vines wrapped around him had already withered away. Never had he felt so relaxed before, but it made him feel empty instead. He was rather unaccustomed to this.
If it was not worth it, then why would he make this choice? If it was worth it, then why was the joy of success unable to make up for this sense of regret? Were the five thousand years that they spent together really nothing at all? Was he unable to brush this aside because of all the lengths he had gone to? Or was it because he had kept certain emotions under control the entire time? Even when he had comprehended the profound laws of the world, he struggled to answer these questions.
“Please forgive me, senior. I’ve said too much.” Xiao An shook her head and returned to Li Qingshan’s side.
“It wasn’t worth it!” The Great Banyan Tree King snapped open his eyes. There was pain, but his gaze was not lost. “But if I could choose again, I’d still choose the same!”
Normally, Li Qingshan would definitely applaud a reply like that, but he glanced at Xiao An beside him and felt that it was best if he remained silent, just in case he was roped into someone else’s matters.
“I might never be able to understand such resolve!” Xiao An said, but she gazed at Li Qingshan with her clear eyes.
Li Qingshan’s heart sank; he grimaced slightly. There you go, I’ve still been roped into this!
He did his best to think over his words. “Xiao An, you’re thinking too much. Stop drawing comparisons so easily! It’s not like you’re madam Vine and I’m the Great Banyan Tree King. Of course, I’m not saying you’re at fault, fellow. Anyway, it’s just… sigh, it sure is complicated!”
“You’ve actually overestimated the power of that strike. I’m not different!” Xiao An raised the Buddha Slaying sword in her hand.
“Huh?”
Li Qingshan and the Great Banyan Tree King both blanked out. They had both personally witnessed the power of the Buddha Slaying sword. The two powerful Demon Kings, the Kings of Yin and Yang, had been finished off with a casual strike from the sword, so what did she mean by overestimating its power?
However, it was exactly because that sight had been far too alarming that even they forgot about several facts.
For example, the Kings of Yin and Yang had already become utterly exhausted after their battle against Li Qingshan, gaining the upper hand against him after so much difficulty. Before they had even gotten their revenge, Xiao An had killed her way over.
For example, while the Buddha Slaying sword did possess terrifying lethal power, there were only two types of opponents it overwhelmed the most. One was buddhist cultivators, which was why it was called “Buddha Slaying”, while the other were existences of great yin and evil, a category that corpses, ghosts, and demonfolk all fell under. After all, the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty was still a buddhist cultivation method.
Madam Vine fell into neither of the two categories. She did not have a body of flesh either. The Buddha Slaying sword could overwhelm her, but that only guaranteed every single strike of the sword could harm her.
Even when Xiao An stabbed the Myriad Poison Ancestor through the chest with the Buddha Slaying sword in the past, he had only ended up heavily injured, almost even escaping back to the Myriad Poison cult. In the end, the soul nascence he had projected was alive and kicking too, which took them quite the effort to defeat.
After being forged by the heavenly tribulation, the power of the Buddha Slaying sword had grown drastically, but as a Daemon King that was born special, madam Vine’s vitality was far greater than a senile human cultivator’s.
Xiao An had only used the Buddha Slaying sword properly once after undergoing the heavenly tribulation, which was against the Kings of Yin and Yang. In the moment she stabbed madam Vine, she had understood that the strike was not lethal, which was why she did not pull out the sword immediately.
Between Li Qingshan and the Great Banyan Tree King, one possessed a powerful instinct for battle, while the other possessed profound intelligence. In the past, they had only been shocked by the startling stroke, which was why they neglected all these details. Now that Xiao An had reminded them, they immediately realised what was going on, leaving them stunned.
Li Qingshan was still quite shaken from that. Back then, if madam Vine had put up a little bit more of a struggle, he would not have been able to shatter the Mist Province cauldron. If she had detonated her daemon core out of fury and hatred, then it would not be as simple as a failed plan.
As it turned out, not everything went according to plan…
Xiao An said, “Senior Great Banyan Tree King, my strike did heavily injure her, but the strike that truly claimed her life was your callous resolve!”
The Great Banyan Tree King stood there blankly.
