Chương 459: Curse Cleansing Aurora vs Corrupt Bermudagrass Seed.

If Liu Shu were told to say what her biggest weakness was, she would undoubtedly say the <Tier> of her skills. It was not because Liu Shu didn't level them up consciously. On the contrary, she was quite disciplined in that regard and always practiced with them. However, she had a soft bottleneck that she placed on herself. No skills could go over C- Tier if they weren't already there in the past. The reason was the reward of the pending mission, which, in the long term, would make her incredibly more powerful.

So, what our World Tree did was focus on bettering those skills above C- Tier. By the time the war started, Liu Shu had accumulated enough experience points to increase their levels comfortably. Moreover, with her inherent ability to tier up without the experience barrier, the World Tree could spare some to invest in her levels. Sadly, the amount of Experience Points Liu Shu needed was too high to reach Level 70 before the war started. Therefore, she saved them for now.

The number of Experience Points she had accumulated, taking into account passive earning and fighting small and large creatures during all these years, was around 3 million. Of these 3 million, she used half to upgrade her skills, leaving her with only enough Experience Points to Level Up once.

'The amount of Experience Points I need is getting ridiculous…' Liu Shu thought that if she were to only earn passive Experience, she would need a few decades to reach Level 74. Even then, Liu Shu glanced at the large groups entering the Wall Forest, and her roots wiggled with expectation.

'I wonder how many Experience Points I will get~, hehehe.' Was Liu Shu scared of the invasion? She could confidently say that she wasn't. The enemies had nearly 200, 000 <Third Energy Cycle> beings and 2, 500, 000 <Second Energy Cycle> soldiers. Meanwhile, Liu Shu's side had managed to amass around 75, 000 <Third Energy Cycles> and 400, 000 <Second Energy Cycles>. Number-wise, they were overwhelmed. Even then, Liu Shu didn't feel nervous in the slightest.

'You have millions of soldiers…' Liu Shu glanced at them with a somewhat mocking expression as they crossed HER forest.

'But I have billions.' It didn't matter how much the other side tried to overestimate her. It didn't matter if they knew about all the things that the public of the Golden Sap City knew. It didn't matter if they learned about her level and tier. Liu Shu's strength, her actual trump cards, were hidden deeply. Not even her closest people, Flor and the others, understood Liu Shu's true strength yet.

The World Tree had been sleeping during the conflicts in the last decade, the Dark Aether Swamp being the last fight that she was present for from start to finish. Now, it was time for others to understand; it was time for the World to learn that Tianlian Liu Shu was never meant to be a small World Tree growing in the countryside. In the forest, Vashara was traveling in Evangeline's group, following the silver-haired Sylvan with an expectant grin. Evangeline glanced at the lanky woman and asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Are you that eager to try these new seeds?"

"O-Of course!" The woman stuttered in excitement.

"Those seeds are the culmination of my work during the last century! I will show those ungrateful people how valuable this research was, and why they should've never tried to cancel it by cutting funds!" Vashara's crazed eyes made Jolie and Evangeline frown for a second. Still, they didn't contradict the woman. Who knew what kind of control or powers she could gain after activating the seeds?

When they arrived at the location where the first seeds were planted, Vashara asked Evangeline to tell the army to stop the march. The Sylvan acknowledged and gave the order aloud.

"Halt! We will wait for Vashara to start her ritual before we continue our march. We will resume marching in less than thirty minutes!" Her army came to a stop while a group of around 20 people stepped out of the army. These wore similar clothes to Vashara, a long black robe that covered most of the body with yellow accents. Vashara walked up to a certain location. Then, she placed her hands on the ground and started muttering chants.

Her voice flowed like a clear stream of water, and soon, it was joined by the rest of the people in the group. When she started chanting, the woman's mind was linked to the seeds, and she could see the entirety of the terrain interconnected by them from an eagle's view. The temporary moment of becoming an all-seeing eye gave the woman a delighted feeling that made her shudder. After twenty minutes of chanting, there were faint purplish marks on the ground that connected with other dots.

These dots were the locations where all the Corrupted Grass was.

"... So I give you life. I offer it. Drink your surroundings. Chew on the roots of nature. Spread, spread, spread. For I know that your resilience is unparalleled, and you can bloom all around and dominate. Awaken, <Corrupt Bermudagrass Seed>!" Thump! A dark pulse spread through the land as Aether Mana and Anima Energy drained from Vashara and all the involved spellcasters. Evangeline observed the process with a hint of awe.

'So complex and widespread. I didn't expect there to be such a figure in the army who is probably above me in ritual-related corruption.' The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Evangeline was a Corrupted Sylvan specialized in forcing corruption through battle. She naturally knew of arrays and runes, arrays, and rituals, but she never really focused on them. Personal strength had always been a priority for Evangeline, so these rituals that required cooperation never appealed to her.

Vashara opened her eyes and laughed.

"Grow! Now grow and swallow everything! Hahahaha!" A strange kind of grayish grass sprouted from the ground as it extended its roots down below. The colors and nature of the plants would remind one of the plant life that lived in the Dark Aether Swamp before Liu Shu cleansed it. That was the case because the method Vashara used came from ancient rituals she found in books, giving it a similar appearance, even if the effect was different and even somewhat more refined.

All armies noticed the growing grass and were curious as to how the <Wall Forest> would react. Would it attack it? Would the animals go crazy? Everyone was looking with interest. Among them, Eryndis was one of the people paying the most attention. She suffered heavy losses, and only defeating her current opponent would bring that shame to the back of her mind. Vashara's wide smile slowly calmed down as the grass continued to grow unimpeded.

'Something is wrong…' The lanky woman blinked her emotionless eyes and looked around the forest.

'The Wall Forest is not even flinching. That's not right.' According to her eagle-eyed view, Vashara could see that her plants had spread over quite a large surface area already. Even if it didn't even reach 1% of the overall Wall Forest, it was a dangerous plant that reeked of corruption. Any forest, big or small, would react straight away and combat the new hazardous intruder. While the woman was pondering, she noticed a strange multicolored light start to gather on top of them.

The faint lights would not be very visible when looking normally, but thanks to her new sight, Vashara could spot the patches of multicolored light gathering above them. Looking up, the lanky woman's dark eyes met the dense canopy of the forest. Even when she wanted to look at the bright spots, she couldn't.

'So strange… What is that? Is the spell malfunctioning and making me see strange colors?' It was not a rare occurrence for visual spells to make the caster see illusions if they were used incorrectly. Even then, the strange sense of dread growing moment after moment inside of her heart guided her to believe that something was very wrong.

"Evangeline… Do you know of a weather event where multicolored lights begin gathering above a forest?" Evangeline frowned.

"No. I know nothing like that… Well, other than a rainbow. Still, why are you asking?" Vashara hesitated, but she honestly preferred to be seen as crazy rather than regret not sharing it later. So, she spoke about what she was seeing. Once everyone heard her, it threw them into a daze.

"Multicolored…" Evangeline asked, her gaze uncertain.

"Wasn't there an obscure report of multicolored lights that appeared in the Dark Aether Swamp during the fight between Tianlian Liu Shu and the Corrupt World Tree?" A general spoke about it.

"That might be the case, Commander. I remember that same document as well." Everyone thought that the man who spoke was trying to cozy up to the new leader. But, seeing the serious expression on Evangeline's face, they didn't dare to bring it up. Then, while everyone was confused, a myriad voices spread throughout the Wall Forest. These voices sounded like the chorus of nature. Being gentle, ethereal, and strangely pleasant to the eyes.

Even then, the voice carried such majesty and an imposing demeanor that one could instantly tell its extraordinary origin from a single whisper.

"Touching my forest… Entering my territory. Abyssal Void Nexus, you are unaware of what you are facing. Let us give you a taste of our power." Even when it had changed a lot over the years, Evangeline and Jolie easily distinguished it. The younger Sylvan asked, confused.

"Is that her, Mother?"

"Probably." Evangeline snorted a smile.

"I wonder how she plans to deal with this? Attacking the Wall Forest? If she wants to bring about her own demise that quickly, she is more than welcome to try it. Hahaha." Jolie glanced at her happy mother and commented with a weird smile.

"I truly wonder. Is she overestimating herself? Provoking the most ancient forest on the continent, and perhaps in the world, is not a really intelligent move." At that moment, Liu Shu's energy manifested. Everyone's gaze changed as the entire world around them seemed to awaken. The smiles of those waiting for the World Tree to humiliate herself cracked as their confidence began to show signs of concern.

"<Curse Cleansing…" The clear blue sky glowed with multicolored lights before the World Tree finished gathering energy and pouring it into the powerful A- Tier Skill.

"... Aurora>" Then, the world was bathed and embraced in the World Tree's ample and gentle embrace. The purifying light of the World Tree easily pierced through the dense forest treetops, as if the trees didn't even exist, and then touched the ground. Even as enemies, they couldn't help but feel a moment of peace as Liu Shu's gentleness poured down on the land and healed everything.

Each time a ray of light hit one of the Corrupt grass plants, it would pierce deeply underground, burning the entire plant and making it transform into a smoke column that soared skyward. Vashara's eyes widened as all the grass was vaporized, her face full of disbelief.

"Impossible… How could this be? How could this be!?" Her eyes gained a crazed touch, and at that moment, a few messages popped into her mind while her eagle-eyed view broke down. [<World Tree Sight> has been broken.] [All <Corrupt Bermudagrass Seed> has been purified.] [<Forest Corruption Grass Ritual> has been stopped.] Vashara screamed like a lunatic.

"NO! NO! NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? AHHHHHHH!!! MY PLANTS! MY RITUAL! AHHH!!!!" Evangeline didn't even need to ask to understand that, with a single move, Liu Shu had broken their first trump card. Her lips arched coldly.

'If you couldn't do this, you wouldn't be Tianlian Liu Shu.'