Chapter 701: Only A Legend (1/2)

Roar!!

The demonized Ancient Tree of Life bellowed and howled when it suddenly realized that the thing inside its body it treasured most was slowly making its way out.

It was a large, broken shard of an entire world. After merging with the ancient tree, it’d given rise to an immense inner world inside the tree itself. This shard was the source of the tree’s strength and the fundamental reason why it’d achieved self-awareness. So now that the shard was pulling away, the tree’s mind was overwhelmed by boundless fear and dread.

……

The fragment of hell broke free of the Ancient Tree of Life and slowly melded into the crystal garden. Yama Kings hovered in the ten directions in the sky above, and a vision of the Yama World materialized behind them. A colossal, majestic formation had suddenly appeared in the firmament.

“What is this…” The world itself shook and all things living wailed in shock. The Formation of the Ten Yama Kings had transformed Dusk Province into a world akin to hell itself!

Its power could be felt even more keenly inside the immortal crystal garden. Vicious cracks crawled over the Ancient Tree of Life, and even as it screeched with defiance, its giant frame inexorably bent down, crushed by the weight of the fragment of hell controlled by the formation.

The fragment should have been the tree’s own strength, but it was now the instrument of its demise!

“Take Shenguang with you and leave. I’ll go and grab its crystal core!” With a kick, Chen Xiao punted Zhao Shenguang and Qing Buyi out, then streaked into a ray of light and slipped into the tree along the cracks. The imprisoned trio had regained their freedom at long last!

“Be quick about it, my formation can’t last for very long,” Lu Yun’s voice sounded out.

“Hold it for twenty breaths!” Chen Xiao barked. Meanwhile, Lu Feng let out the breath he was holding and hastily escorted Qing Buyi and Zhao Shenguang back to safety.

Though suppressed, the Ancient Tree of Life hadn’t lost all of its ability to move. As such, it still represented an enormous threat.

Transforming from a treant back into a giant tree, the ancient tree stabbed its roots viciously into the garden’s soil and frantically absorbed immortal energy in a last-ditch effort to regain its strength and escape from the grand formation above.

As for the fragment of hell previously inside the tree, it’d been fully absorbed by the Formation of the Ten Yama Kings, then decomposed and remolded into the embryo of the Yama World, thereby strengthening the formation as a result.

Alas, this increase in strength was but a transient one.

After all, the formation was born of the kingdom of hell, and its power stemmed from the netherworld. That it could emerge in the living world at all was credit to the hell fragment in the tree.

But now that said fragment had been assimilated into the Yama World, this formation could only persist for ten more breaths at most! Moreover, the Gates of the Abyss were broken. While energy from hell could still trickle out of the gates, the amount was far from enough to sustain the formation.

……

“Raaarrrrghh!” Standing opposite the desolate willow, the demon god began to panic. His giant face shot into the sky and threw itself at the crystal garden, hoping to break the formation and release the Ancient Tree of Life.

Boom!

But the moment he left the city, a shower of sword rain fell from above. The terrible, sharp sword energy sliced down like a tempest aimed squarely at him. With a snarl, the demon spat out a jet-black umbrella from his mouth. Acting as a shield over his head, the umbrella gave him a brief reprieve from the terrible sword onslaught.

This umbrella… was a connate treasure. Not only that, it far surpassed ordinary connate treasures and had reached the level of a ‘supreme treasure’ at the very least.

“Stop him.” Lu Yun frowned faintly. If the demon god were allowed inside the crystal garden, the Ancient Tree of Life would indeed regain its freedom.

The Formation of the Ten Yama Kings was waning in power, but thankfully, the desolate willow still had energy left to spare. Its giant frame blocked the demon god’s way and slashed at him with branches and leaves as sharp as immortal swords.

Somewhere nearby, another tall humanoid figure strode into being.

The human demon!