Chương 510: Skyflower and Liu Shu.

Liu Shu first scouted the nearby shores of the Abyssal Void Nexus. There were locations with ports and others that were common beaches. There were also cliffs, prime locations for Liu Shu to sink her roots into the continent without being noticed.

'What should I do?' Liu Shu asked herself.

'I want to enter without being noticed. But at the same time, I want to infiltrate their cities and learn about them.' While Liu Shu was very sure that their culture was incompatible with her own, she wanted to know them so that she could attack them where it hurt.

'If I know what they find important, perhaps I can use political tricks to hinder their society. Humans, while extremely cunning, are also strangely empathetic. There will be humans who give up their human heritage and people just to protect creatures who they think are in the right.' Liu Shu didn't mean to attribute this as a faulty characteristic of humans. After all, Liu Shu herself was someone who protected all types of races with her own strength and body. Nevertheless, she never lost her focus when doing it.

Hyperfocusing on some of that protectiveness might lead you to ignore or even fail to see that you are doing the same to others in order to protect one side.

"Balance…" Liu Shu muttered.

"As long as they adapt, there must always be balance." Thinking away from those matters, Liu Shu slowly approached one of the coastal cities.

'Hm… There are no Runic Fields or Arrays. Strange.' When Liu Shu's roots were about to enter the city, Liu Shu felt someone poke her from the side. The presence of this creature was vast and powerful, not much worse than her own. Looking over, Liu Shu noticed roots from an unknown being.

"Um… Hello?"

"Hello, Heavenly Willow. We finally meet." Liu Shu was impressed by this being's voice. It was gentle but inexplicably airy, as if the female voice came from somewhere far away, yet close enough to hear it. Such a mysterious yet beautiful voice distracted Liu Shu for a bit.

"Um… Who are you?" Not knowing how to respond to that sentence, Liu Shu could only ask back. Nevertheless, she had some guesses in her mind of who this being was. The being on the other side chuckled.

"I go by many names. But since you probably don't want to hear them all, how about you call me simply… Skyflower?"

"Whoa!" Liu Shu exclaimed.

"So you are Skyflower! Why are you so close to the Abyss's Continent? Weren't you far away because of some treaties or something? Also, I've heard that you are the oldest World Tree in the world! How old are you? Also, also, also—""Wait, wait." Skyflower laughed, her tone gentle and soothing.

"Don't ask so many questions at once. Since we've met, I won't naturally shy away from answering what I can. Let's take our time, alright? No need to rush everything."

"Ah…" Liu Shu answered a bit shyly.

"O-Okay." She was carried away and began bombarding the other side.

"Then… Then… Let's start with the most important!" Skyflower asked back with a faint smile in her tone.

"Which is?" Liu Shu blurted.

"Will Big Sister become part of my domain? I promise to treat you suuuuper well!" Liu Shu paused.

"Well, as well as I do the other Big Sisters! No preferential treatment for those equally talented!" Skyflower paused before laughing.

"That's the most important? I thought you would ask other things."

"Tsk, tsk. Big Sister Skyflower doesn't understand!" Liu Shu 'taught' Skyflower.

"If you become part of my domain, won't we be able to talk about anything later? It's a strategy! A strategy!" Skyflower answered back, amused.

"How will this strategy work if you say it to me, then?"

"Easy! Once you become part of my domain, I'll tell you!"

"Hahaha." Skyflower showed no hints of anger at Liu Shu's "rude" words. On the contrary, she seemed very fond of Liu Shu when she spoke.

"We can talk about this later, okay? Now, I reached out to tell you something. Can you listen to me, Heavenly Willow?"

"No!" Liu Shu snorted. Skyflower was startled.

"Huh? Why?"

"If you keep calling me Heavenly Willow, I'll smack your roots! Ugh… Just hearing it makes my roots shrink…" Skyflower asked, somewhat curious.

"Oh? You don't like the title? It sounds quite grand and beautiful, does it not?"

"I don't care if it is the most beautiful title in the world! My name is Tianlian Liu Shu, and so that is what those whom I care about will call me! As for the rest… Well, them calling me that way is the same as farting!" Skyflower hummed, interested.

"I see. Then, Liu Shu, will you let Big Sister Skyflower speak some words with you?"

"Of course!" Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. After Liu Shu answered cheerfully, Skyflower started speaking softly.

"I can see that you are trying to attack the Abyssal Void Nexus. Am I right?"

"Yeah!" Said Liu Shu proudly.

"With my current strength, I can cause severe damage to them!" Skyflower hummed.

"I don't doubt that. Still, do you know how many <Fourth Energy Cycles> there are in their continent?" Liu Shu hummed.

"I don't know… Fifty? Sixty?" Liu Shu generously guessed a high number. After all, if the Nexus could fight all other powers, their <Fourth Energy Cycle> numbers must've been high enough to do so.

"Wrong." Skyflower retorted gently.

"There are 214 Fourth Energy Cycles."

"Two… hundred?" Liu Shu was startled. It didn't matter how strong she was. If the other side besieged her with over 200 <Fourth Energy Cycles>, she would be in trouble.

"That's right. Will you continue your plans knowing that there are so many of them?" Our World Tree hummed.

"I will, yeah." She reviewed her skills and whether the <World Tree Calling> continued to be as powerful as in the past. She was confident in facing an army of 200 <Fourth Energy Cycles>. After all, if she could summon 50 <Fourth Energy Cycle> serpents, fighting them would be easy. Liu Shu's strength was comparable to the armies of the same Energy Cycle, not individuals.

Therefore, even if the enemy had many more than she had anticipated, it just changed the difficulty from an easy conquest to a slightly inconvenient problem. That answer naturally startled Skflower. She had thought that Liu Shu was unaware of the other party's strength. Therefore, once she knew, Liu Shu would feel a bit lost. In truth, Skyflower had not come to stop Liu Shu.

She wanted to help her plan out a proper invasion plan against the Abyssal Void Nexus so that they could uproot them and leave no chance of recovery behind.

'Once Liu Shu is successful, the upper echelons will finally be able to move.' Curious and, honestly, skeptical, Skyflower spoke to our World Tree.

"Liu Shu… I don't want to underestimate your strength. Nevertheless, 200 <Fourth Energy Cycles> is not a joking matter. Unlike <Third Energy Cycles>, powerhouses in the fourth cycle can fly and therefore use very different tactics. A comparison would be you facing alone 20, 000 Third Energy Cycles during your Third Energy Cycle days. Liu Shu heard that and chuckled.

"Oh… Then it's not a problem at all! I've faced larger armies!" Skyflower was confused.

"Wasn't that with the help of the armies of your territory?"

"Well… They helped. I won't deny it. Nevertheless, I did most of the heavy lifting." During the final war in the Wild Continent, Liu Shu had help from her allies. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that Liu Shu was incapable of fighting that war on her own. She destroyed their artillery, she destroyed their highest-level command, and she also made sure that lower-level creatures were incapable of using number advantage.

If Liu Shu were not a World Tree defending a territory and trying hard to avoid bringing even the slightest bit of danger to her citizens, she could've trapped the enemy armies in one conquered city and completely razed them to the ground with her <Lignified> structures. Moreover, from the beginning to the end, Liu Shu never participated with her main body. You must understand that Liu Shu's main body was not only 30% more powerful than her <Soulseed>.

Her main body was incomparable, be it in offensive, defensive, or even regenerative powers. So, Liu Shu was not being arrogant when she said that she could take 200 <Fourth Energy Cycles>. Still, she clarified.

"Oh, don't misunderstand me, Skyflower. I can't attack and kill them all. But if they dare come attack my main body, they won't be returning." Skyflower was startled. She had thoroughly underestimated Liu Shu, even when she thought that she was taking her in high regard. Poor Skyflower didn't know that what happened to her was what had happened to all armies attacking Liu Shu. They thought they knew her limits; they even prepared for "worst-case scenarios."

Nevertheless, fighting Liu Shu was not the "worst-case scenario." It was the "nightmare-case scenario."

"Um…" Skyflower was a bit at a loss for words for a moment. This was something that had not happened to her ever in her life. Ever since she was young, she had been a relatively talented World Tree. She grew quickly, and she was given important missions. She was even scouted by a power that came from beyond the Ceperet World to act as its guardian and, if possible, become the True World Tree. At first, Skyflower fought for that position.

Her roots spread and gained terrain, and her strength quickly reached the limits of the world. Nevertheless, even with her powerful aerial and land capabilities, she came up short in the end. The Abyssal Void Nexus had powerful people on its side as well. Their corruption methods are incredibly effective. With her Completion rate for the <Fourth Energy Cycle> having reached 88%, Skyflower was unable to deploy all her strength far away from her main body. So, they entered a stalemate.

After more than a thousand years of war, Skyflower understood that she was not meant to conquer the Ceperet World. She was not meant to become the True World Tree. Somewhat guilty of all the lives she had taken, World Trees, Life Trees, Humans, Sylvans, and Beastkin alike, Skyflower decided to retreat and give way to new life. If, in the future, she needed to pass the mantle to a more powerful World Tree, she would, even if it meant her destruction.

'As long as this world gets rid of corruption and has a World Tree reigning, I don't mind becoming the stepping stone that will elevate that World Tree to those heights.' So, for the next few thousand years, Skyflower helped a total of three World Trees grow to Level 99. The first one she helped was Azure Rose. She noticed her peculiar abilities and high tier, and she ordered her secret legions to protect and nurture her. Nevertheless, Azure Rose failed at the end as well.

The next World Tree she nurtured was Celestial Lotus. Similar events happened, and this time, the Abyssal Void Nexus was able to hold her back much more. Moreover, Azure Rose was not convinced, and she also came in the way of Celestial Lotus many times. Eventually, the world was divided into four groups from the initial four. The final World Tree that Skyflower nurtured was Pelagia, the underwater World Tree. She was actually in the process of nurturing it.

In Skyflower's opinion, if Pelagia could take over the entirety of the oceans, its strength would grow more than large enough to swallow the continents.

'Only Warlya became a completely natural Fourth Energy Cycle World Tree. Sadly, she was like a shooting star. Bright, powerful, and shining stronger than anyone else in the sky. Yet, her presence was ephemeral as an equally significant evil managed to dim her light.' Humanoid Ant Queens, creatures comparable to World Trees in strength.

'Now, here is an even brighter star. Is she the one that the senior spoke to me about three thousand years ago? Perhaps… prophecies are so unreliable. But with Liu Shu, I am willing to bet. Sorry, little Pelagia. You have great potential, but compared to the World Tree in front of me… You are severely lacking.'

"Tell me, Liu Shu. Do you intend to become the True World Tree?"