Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Boom!
Accompanied by a dazzling golden light, a violent shockwave swept in all directions and exploded!
Meng Lei took the brunt of the impact. He was sent flying; his eyes rolled, and he fell unconscious!
When Meng Lei woke up again, he didn’t know how long it had been. It was all empty and silent around him—even a needle drop would be heard.
The small golden tree had disappeared!
Ol’ Amos had disappeared!
Everything had disappeared!
Only the vitality core, broken into two pieces, and countless vessels in disarray were left.
Meng Lei got up quickly, ignoring his dizziness, and yelled frantically.
“Ol’ President?
“Ol’ President!
“Ol’ President, come out!”
There was no response at all.
“Ol’ President, come out!
“Ol’ Amos, get out here quickly!”
Meng Lei shook the Gods-Slaying Spear hard, wanting to shake the old man out of it. It was from this spear that Ol’ Amos had emerged before.
Unfortunately, this time, Ol’ Amos didn’t come out anymore.
He extended his spiritual power inside but could detect nothing. Ol’ Amos had disappeared forever.
“No! No! No!”
Meng Lei shook his head, unable to accept this reality. In the past, Meng Lei would always feel irritated at the old man’s non-stop chattering in his ears.
But now that Ol’ Amos had disappeared, and he couldn’t hear his nagging voice anymore, Meng Lei’s heart felt a piercing pain.
“I’m the President of Fire Dragon Magic Academy.
“My name is Amos Kroc.
“You unfilial descendant! Why would I get such an unfilial youngster like you…
“Brat, how come you’ve broken through again?
“Meng Lei, live well!”
Scenes of their past interactions kept replaying—Ol’ Amos’s voice, tone, smile, and appearance filled Meng Lei’s mind. Only now did Meng Lei realize that the elder who often scolded, criticized, and advised him, had long become a person who he couldn’t part with.
But now, the person Meng Lei was closest to in this world… had left forever!
“Why? Why did this happen?”
Meng Lei collapsed onto the ground, his tears gushing out uncontrollably.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Meng Lei’s mood recovered just slightly. He looked at the empty area and stood up.
Time to leave this sorrowful place…
He put away the Hammer of Destruction and grabbed his Gods-Slaying Spear. Meng Lei felt extremely sad; how he wished for Ol’ Amos to fly out of the Gods-Slaying Spear once again.
It was a pity that what would happen every single day before was an impossible dream now.
“Ol’ President, I’m sorry!”
Meng Lei decisively put away the Gods-Slaying Spear, not wanting to give it a single more look. Looking at it would only make him sadder due to the memories.
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
“Collect!”
…
More than two hours had passed when Meng Lei exited the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life still stood high, majestic, green and lush, no different from before. The only difference was that the countless golden fruits in between the leaves had disappeared. Only a handful remained scattered in between, vastly different from the numbers before.
“Where are the fruits? Never mind! If they are gone, let them be gone!
If it were before, maybe he would be extremely angry, but now, he had no mood to even be angry.
“Collect!”
He collected all of the leftover fruits before looking at the tall and majestic Tree of Life once again.
Although the Tree of Life’s spirit had already died, Meng Lei was still raging with unappeased hatred at its empty shell.
“It was you who killed Ol’ Amos!”
Boom, boom, boom!
Meng Lei ruthlessly bombarded the tree. The huge tree trunk was still standing tall and straight, without the slightest sign of breaking.
“You bastard!”
Meng Lei punched his fist onto the trunk. He felt extremely undignified and really wanted to pull it right out of the earth!
“Meng Lei!”
A surprised call came from behind. He saw Abbe standing not far away, her face red, breathing heavily.
“Abbe!”
Meng Lei struggled to make a slight smile.
“It’s so good that you are okay. I thought you…”
Abbe flew over. Although tears were shining in her eyes, her face was full of excitement.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Meng Lei smiled sorrowfully, shook his head, and diverted the conversation. “You didn’t leave with them?”
“I was waiting for you to come out!”
Abbe stared at Meng Lei. She could sense Meng Lei’s fatigue and sadness. In addition, Meng Lei’s eyes were red.
“Meng Lei, what’s… wrong?”
“I just… lost someone close to me.” Meng Lei was in a lot of pain. “Abbe, I want some quietness, some quietness alone.”
Upon saying that, Meng Lei turned to leave.
However, at that moment, a wave of terrible pressure appeared.
Divine power swept in all directions, and the void seemed to solidify!
“This is…”
Two streams of light rapidly shot toward their location, and instantly, they got closer. It was actually a man and a woman.
An old man with black hair and black horns, and a young woman with red dragon horns. These were two half-deities of the Dragon race!
Meng Lei glanced at the duo and couldn’t be bothered with them. He needed a good rest.
The black-horned old man suddenly spoke. “You both are also the empire’s contestants?”
“Yes, elder!”
Abbe didn’t dare to neglect him and hurried to bow and answer in the affirmative. Meng Lei ignored him and directly flew toward Sacas.
This action somewhat angered the black-horned old man, and his facial expression suddenly turned dark. “Boy, stop. I’m talking to you!”
Meng Lei ignored him.
“Elder, he’s also a contestant. He is in too much grief because of the loss of a family member. Please, forgive him!”
Abbe hurried to speak to explain for Meng Lei.
“Hmph!”
The black-horned old man snorted coldly. Though he was a bit dissatisfied, he didn’t continue questioning. Instead, he looked at the tall and majestic Tree of Life.
“This is the native half-deity?”
The black-horned old man and the red-horned young woman’s eyes flickered, and amazement showed in their eyes. Soon, the two frowned, however.
“The divine spirit is no longer there!”
“No more power of divinity!”
“This native half-deity… is dead?”
The black-horned old man looked at Abbe again. “Little girl, who killed this native half-deity?”
“It… It died?”
Abbe was confused.
“Of course! This native half-deity before us is only an empty shell. Its spirit has long died. Naturally, it’s dead!”
The black-horned old man said calmly, “Judging from the mess around here, there should have just been a battle here just now. Tell me, who killed it?”
“It’s… really dead?”
Abbe’s whole body shook violently. She was at a loss for words. She had been here the whole time, so if someone had killed the Tree of Life, it would most possibly be Meng Lei!
But how could Meng Lei possibly have killed a half-deity? Meng Lei was just a Saint Domain expert!
At that thought, Abbe couldn’t help but look toward Meng Lei’s back profile, with shock and disbelief filling her eyes.
Is Meng Lei already so strong to the degree of being able to kill a half-deity?
“Little girl, you can’t possibly insinuate that this boy killed this native half-deity? Nonsense!” The black-horned old man snorted. “How weak is a mere Saint Domain Warrior? How can he be compared to this native half-deity?”
“Maybe I guessed wrongly,” Abbe muttered to herself.
The red-horned young woman spoke. “Elder Thaniel, we should investigate first. Maybe we could find some clues!”
“Alright!”
The two approached the Tree of Life and started scrutinizing it. The Tree of Life was so tall, yet it only took the two half-deities one moment to complete the examination.
The duo was shocked at once. The red-horned young woman even disappeared right where she was.
“Not only the divine spirit disappeared, but the vitality core is also gone!” The black-horned old man was a bit angry. “The most precious part of a plant half-deity is its vitality core. My goal was exactly the vitality core!
“But now, the vitality core of the native half-deity actually disappeared! Isn’t our trip wasted then?”
Whoosh!
The black-horned old man suddenly turned back and fixed his gaze on Abbe. His eyes were as sharp as blades as he said in a chilling voice, “Little girl, exactly who killed this native half-deity? If you lie, I will definitely not let you go easily!”
“Little kid, who killed it?” the red-horned young woman suddenly asked as well. She grabbed Abbe’s shoulder, unable to contain her emotions. “Tell me, who killed this tree?”
Being stared at like this by two half-deities, especially faced with the red-horned young woman’s emotional and intense gaze, Abbe felt immense pressure.
“I don’t know!”
“Hmph!”
The black-horned old man snorted and immediately turned to look at Meng Lei. He grabbed at the air and pulled Meng Lei, who had already flown off quite a distance, right back.
“Boy, who killed it?”
The black-horned old man yelled the question.
“I killed it. You have a question?”
Meng Lei looked up, his tone stiff.
“You killed it? You really do dare to make yourself look good, stop joking!” The black-horned old man snorted coldly. “You are just a weak Saint Domain! Who are you compared to it?”
“Believe it or don’t!”
Meng Lei’s tone was aloof.
“You—”
The black-horned old man was enraged.
Then, the red-horned young woman spoke. Her voice was very soft and gentle, with a slight quiver. “Little guy, I checked just now. Two remaining divine spirits were moving in the tree body!
“It shows that it was another half-deity who killed this tree! Tell me, have you seen that half-deity? Where did he go?”
The young woman’s eyes shone full of sincerity and attentiveness.
Meng Lei’s throat moved slightly, and a look of pain showed on his face. “He died!”
“Died? No! It’s impossible! How could he possibly die? You lied! You lied! How dare you lie to me!”
The red-horned young woman’s breathing stopped for a moment, and instantly, she turned hysterical. A terrible surge of divine power spread from her body, pressing on Meng Lei so badly that he felt unable to breathe.
“Tell me, where on earth is he?”
“He’s dead! He’s dead!”
Meng Lei’s eyes reddened, and his voice was hoarse. “He sacrificed his own life to kill the Tree of Life in order to save me! He will never appear again…”
Boom!
The red-horned young woman looked like she was struck by lightning—her figure stumbled, and her face paled suddenly!
“Amolin, what’s up with you?”
The red-horned young woman’s abnormal behavior puzzled the black-horned old man. In his impression, Amolin had always been a person who kept all her emotions and feelings inside. She had never been like this before.
“I’m fine!”
The red-horned young woman waved her hand slightly, took a deep breath, stared deadly hard at Meng Lei, and said slowly and emphatically, “Tell me, what was his name?”
“You are called Amolin?” Meng Lei asked in a low voice, “May I know your family name?”
“Kroc!” The red-horned young woman said with a quivering voice, “I’m called Amolin Kroc!”
“Indeed!”
Meng Lei made out a dry laugh. “He was called Amos Kroc!”
Boom!
The red-horned young woman’s vision blackened, and she almost collapsed on the ground. Her fragile body trembled slightly, and her shoulders quivered as she actually started crying intensely!
“Big brother!”
