Chương 895: Liu Shu's Impact in the Covenant.

This was a story from a few years after Liu Shu won the war. Namue's defeat, together with what happened, spread faster than the Covenant could control it. If Liu Shu had been defeated, they could've made countless excuses and guided public sentiment toward a "necessary sacrifice" route. Sadly for them, Liu Shu didn't just defeat the Covenant, but also crushed the Nexus's army. What was worse was that Liu Shu had defeated the Nexus first and even asked for help from the Covenant to band against their common enemy…

only to be ruthlessly rejected and, worse, attacked. The political moves Liu Shu made during the war caused some shakiness during the war, but compared to the magnitude of the catastrophe they were about to cause, what happened during the war could be described as cute. [Breaking News! The Government has joined hands with the Nexus to attack a suffering and young World Tree!] [You won't believe it! World Tree Lady Heavenly Willow gets ignored and attacked! Worse, the military has joined hands with the Nexus!] Sensationalist headlines spread absolutely everywhere and jumped from network to network, spreading not only throughout the Verdant Sanctity Covenant, but also to their allies and nearby World Tree Empires. Only some of the government-affiliated news gave the news differently, with wording such as… [The shocking true face of the Heavenly Willow! A World Tree that threatens the Covenant!] [Lady Balaya insulted by the Heavenly Willow! Confirmed by an anonymous government intelligence officer!] [Brainwashing World Tree? Hive-Mind World Tree? The potential of a true catastrophe that needs to be eradicated! Lady Deadly Petal might already be a case too late to fix.] Of course, even with those titles, their credibility and fact-checking could only be considered dubious. Still, it was worded so that ordinary people would gobble them down like drinking holy water. Even then, while the Covenant was forcefully split in half by Liu Shu's one political strike, Balaya remained somewhat ignorant.

The reason was Danlier, the Covenant's leader and the person with the biggest headache over all of this.

'Didn't I tell Mother that we shouldn't involve ourselves!? Didn't I ask her not to find Lady Deadly Petal's help?' Danlier leaned back on her chair, sweeping through all the summarized reports of the citizens. There were riots here and there, people protesting and calling for her to give a public speech, and agitators from her opposing front adding fuel to the inferno burning the Covenant.

'Don't those ridiculous guys know that the inferno is not only burning us, but them as well? Our Covenant's credibility until now had been that we took good care of our True World Trees! If they push the narrative… Or, well, the fact that we attacked Lady Heavenly Willow, we might collapse faster than they can react to.' Sadly, for the opposing party in a political environment, the well-being of the empire mattered little.

Even the ruling party could burn part of the country if it meant that they could stay in power. This was the true nature of politics. It wasn't for the people. It was for them. Danlier couldn't even say that her hands were clean. She had kept her position for thousands of years thanks to her personal strength and also her iron-fist-like rule in important matters. The only one who could order Danlier was Balaya. Not even other World Trees could sway Danlier's words.

And now, because of Balaya's untimely intervention, she was currently neck-deep in a sludge of trouble.

'Even when I started the problems with my decision to abandon the Heavenly Willow once, it was at a point when we could still negotiate and have some cooperation and ceasefire agreements. Now? Lady Heavenly Willow has an open path toward our capital. The only thing that can block her is Mother Balaya.' She singled out Balaya because Danlier knew that Liu Shu's strange ability to assimilate other World Trees was not a lie. She was still doubtful if it was forceful assimilation or willing assimilation.

Nevertheless, the method mattered not to Danlier as a leader. Only the superficial looks mattered. And now, that look was that of the Heavenly Willow willingly assimilating World Trees. Otherwise, Deadly Petal, a loser, would've been assimilated during the war or after it. That didn't happen, and her opponents caught on to this detail as well. Danlier constantly sent reports and pondered Deadly Petal.

'She is a World Tree with quite a few Solar Systems in her domain. She had about 16 before the war and was about to get a group of seven more from a nearby empire. However, Balaya's order caused her to lose that chance. By now, she might've lost one Solar System from the retaliation and is keeping the rest at bay. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. For their empire, spanning over 360 Solar Systems, Deadly Petal's domain was not large, but it was important.

Deadly Petal was, after all, a frontier World Tree. Meaning, her Solar Systems, while few, were loathed at the very edge of their empire. Her 15 Solar Systems were equivalent in worth to 60 central Solar Systems.

'And yet, now she has become a detrimental factor.' Danlier was 100% sure that, when Balaya learned of Deadly Petal's defeat, she would not even ask questions and would go attack her in person. Not because Deadly Petal suddenly became useless, but because Balaya's relationship with other World Trees was brutally practical.

'It is a normal view for World Trees, though. They are creatures who strive to become a singular entity. Every World Tree that has become a True World Tree has stomped over the corpses of dozens of other World Trees and Life Trees.' The truth of their species was that, and no one denied it. The only reason they were not considered harmful and were viewed as beneficial was that the conflict only happened between World Trees.

For the rest of the creatures, World Trees were beings whose canopy gave shade and a warm place to rest and become stronger. Fruits, titles, buffs, improved flora and fauna, stronger worlds, materials… The list was almost endless. In a way, they were like Gods battling each other. Following a God and receiving their blessing was anyone's delight, regardless of how brutal they were toward other Gods.

'I can't cushion what Lady Heavenly Willow did.' That move during the war was far too effective. It was a direct strike to the heart of the matter. She spoke about the lack of support; she said she only wanted the Covenant to stay out of it and leave her alone. If she had been greedy and asking for help, her victory could've flipped the narrative from "asking for help" to "malicious intent to gain military power from the Covenant for free." That was sadly not the case.

Liu Shu's speech and way of acting covered absolutely all bases to the point that twisting her words was difficult. Worse still, Liu Shu fought their biggest enemy, the Nexus, and won overwhelmingly. She FIRST dealt with the Nexus while holding back the Covenant's advance, and then pushed back the Covenant and invaded all the way into their territories. The action was clear self-defense.

No one in their right mind would think otherwise unless they were people who gobbled up propaganda like drinking water and believed everything that came from Danlier's mouth. Such people were not few, but they were not enough to sway the Covenant's main flow. So, Danlier used the next few years to try to dodge the hail of bullets thrown her way. The biggest advantage she had was her personal strength, and that helped a lot.

Even if people were dissatisfied with Danlier's decisions, she was a <Star Hollow Monarch> super-powerhouse who kept the largest defensive line safe alone. It was her existence, along with Balaya and a few other Level 300+ powerhouses, that allowed the Covenant to expand and not be fearful of the Globular Star Empires around them. So, while Liu Shu's political attack was powerful and struck straight at Danlier's foundation, it wasn't so fragile that one simple attack could bring it down.

It made it slightly more unstable, but it could easily support her and her party without issue. Sadly for Danlier, Balaya came back from dealing with another nearby Level 300+ World Tree and asked the question she dreaded the most.

"Has the Heavenly Willow been eliminated?" Danlier's eyes twitched for a moment.

'Now that things are starting to calm down a little, you pop out of nowhere…?' Danlier looked up, as if she were staring straight at Balaya, and spoke up what she had prepared.

"Lady Balaya, please don't jump to conclusions and listen up first." Balaya was indifferent to most matters, but she also knew that Danlier took care of most troublesome things. Therefore, she hummed and answered affirmatively.

"Go ahead."

"First of all, let me paraphrase everything about to say: we did our best. We truly did, but the Heavenly Willow was far stronger than we anticipated. So, we failed." Balaya thought she had heard incorrectly.

"... You failed? How is that possible? We sent Deadly Petal, a large army, and combined efforts with the Nexus's offensive, right?" With that lineup, any other Level 250 World Tree would've been crushed helplessly and eliminated in half a decade at most. Danlier spoke, summarizing what they had learned during the last few years.

"Lady Heavenly Willow has powerful buffs, so each of their combatants can crush ours. It is almost like fighting someone a whole Energy Cycle and Tier above at an individual level. And this is just a modest estimation." Then, she explained a few other qualities, like the Arboreal Serpent Summons, the berserk skills, etc. The information they had was not entirely accurate, but it was sufficient to give a general picture of how unfairly strong the Golden Sap Army was.

Moreover, that small legion of World Trees, creatures that usually appeared as one or two on entire battlefields, was terrifying in its own right. Balaya spoke in a displeased tone.

"Then, what are you waiting for? Send a few Level 300 powerhouses with a new army and deal with her before she grows further." Danlier's forehead almost bulged with anger as she answered as calmly as possible.

"Lady Balaya, our Level 300's are all stationed in strategic points to keep the Nexus and many other threats at bay. Unless a few other Level 300's appear, sending even one can cause us to lose at least 5% of our domain to the Nexus. Worst-case scenario, they will gain momentum from that attack and push us back even more forcefully." They also just lost almost 200 million soldiers in that war, while also having Deadly Petal hurt.

The enemy Deadly Petal was fighting, with much of her army now gone, was pushing and gaining terrain over Deadly Petal's domain. If Danlier hadn't sent some reinforcements, Deadly Petal might've lost three Solar Systems by now. Balaya spoke indifferently.

"That Deadly Petal is more useless than I thought. Can't she even defeat a same-level World Tree fighting on two fronts? I will take over her domain and do her job as well." The pen held in Danlier's hand snapped in half.

"Please, Lady Balaya, refrain from such actions for now. We need Deadly Petal to hold that front while we replenish our numbers. 200 million deaths is not something we can shrug off. Not when several hundred Second Ascension powerhouses and high-quality starships fell together with them." Balaya didn't make promises, but her focus had shifted. Clearly, the small World Tree she thought was a bother had now become a thorn deeply lodged into her bark. At that moment, Danlier received an urgent communication.

"Lady Danlier! The Nexus's offense has intensified!" Both Balaya and Danlier looked over, surprised.