Chapter 110: Slaying the Divine (Part 3)

Chapter 110: Slaying the Divine (Part 3)

The wind around had weakened considerably, now only about force 4 on the Beaufort scale, a far cry from the spectacular scene of countless tornadoes touching the ground earlier. Even the colossal tree's emerald-green leaves, which had once glowed faintly, had now dimmed. Its power had clearly dissipated by more than half.

Yet Chen Shouyi didn’t dare let his guard down. He nocked an arrow, drew his bowstring, and shot at a raised tree root not far away.

Twang!

The arrow was deflected by the root, leaving only a shallow pit about 2-3 centimeters deep—not even enough to break the bark.

What terrifying defense.

Chen Shouyi took a few steps forward and fired several more arrows. Seeing that the root remained motionless, though the wind picked up slightly, he relaxed a little. What he had feared most was that the colossal tree might possess mobility. Now that the roots showed no reaction, his tension eased somewhat.

Step by step, he advanced cautiously, deliberately avoiding the massive, coiled roots protruding from the ground.

As he drew closer, the oppressive aura grew heavier. Fortunately, he had experienced this several times in the Memory Space, and compared to the tree’s peak state there, the current pressure was much weaker.

His gaze fell upon the sole remaining barbarian still praying.

This was an elderly, decrepit barbarian—his skin wrinkled, his body emaciated to the point of being skeletal, with barely any flesh left. His bare back clearly revealed his protruding ribs.

As Chen Shouyi approached, the old man seemed to sense his presence. Trembling, he staggered to his feet, swaying unsteadily. His murky eyes fixed directly on Chen Shouyi, sending a chill down the spine.

Chen Shouyi instinctively took a cautious step back and drew his bowstring taut.

"Evil blasphemer, slayer of my kin... You will be punished—"

Before he could finish, twang! The bowstring released with a sharp snap. An arrow instantly pierced the old man’s forehead, the force of the shot sending his body flying over a meter before he crashed heavily to the ground, lifeless.

Chen Shouyi exhaled.

"Too much nonsense."

Then, an anomaly occurred.

A faint, crystalline glow rose from the densely tangled roots beneath the ground. For a fleeting moment, a wispy, barely visible figure seemed to be torn from the corpse—screaming, terrified, as if alternating between curses and pleas. Strands of some ethereal substance drifted from the figure, merging into the dim glow on the ground. In an instant, the figure grew fainter until it vanished entirely.

The wind suddenly intensified. If it had been force 4 before, it now surged to force 4.5.

At the same time, Chen Shouyi felt as though the entire world was rejecting him. A faint, mosquito-like buzzing filled his ears, as if countless voices were cursing and condemning him. Yet the moment he focused, the sound disappeared—as if it had all been an illusion.

Chen Shouyi remained on high alert for a while longer. After about half a minute, the wind gradually subsided again.

He suddenly realized he might have been overly cautious.

Tree-type divine creatures really are the weakest.

Not that they were truly weak, of course. If evaluated by energy levels alone, this tree was terrifying. It had stirred gale-force winds across the entire island—spanning dozens of square kilometers—for nearly two hours. That was no small feat.

It was just that its methods of attack were... utterly ineffective.

Watching the persistent breeze still blowing, Chen Shouyi suddenly felt he should take extra precautions.

He retreated several hundred meters and sat down again among the trees.

Pulling out a compressed biscuit he carried with him, he tore open the packaging. Having not eaten for nearly eight hours, his stomach was already burning with hunger. As the soft, gentle wind blew, he chewed slowly.

After finishing, he only felt even hungrier.

Unfortunately, most of his food was still on the boat, and he had only brought one pack with him. It was better than nothing, at least something to tide him over.

...

While chatting with Shell Woman, he waited.

Three hours passed, and not a single barbarian returned.

Sensing that the wind around him had weakened to little more than a faint breeze, he decided he could wait no longer.

He stood up and discarded his War Bow.

"It might be dangerous ahead. Stay here!" he said sternly to Shell Woman, who was perched on his shoulder.

"Then come back quickly, Giant!"

Shell Woman had long been terrified by the oppressive aura ahead. Hearing Chen Shouyi's words, she felt as if granted a reprieve and swiftly flew off, quickly disappearing into the hollow of a small tree in the distance.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Shouyi gripped his longsword and began advancing step by step.

The tree before him was truly awe-inspiring. Its trunk was roughly 18 to 19 meters in diameter—if laid horizontally, it would stand as tall as a six-story building.

Unlike the other trees in the forest, whose trunks were covered in moss and weeds, this one was remarkably clean. Not a single other plant grew upon it, nor did any insects crawl across its surface.

The bark was deeply grooved, with some crevices large enough to fit a person.

Standing before it, a person seemed utterly insignificant, dwarfed by its majesty.

Chen Shouyi paused, his gaze falling on a protruding tree root.

He had never considered how to fell such a colossal tree. Given the divine colossal tree's Defense and sheer size, hacking at it with a sword would likely take a year without success.

His hope lay in the Book of Knowledge within him, crafted from the heartwood of the World Tree. If it had absorbed that seed before, perhaps it could absorb this tree as well... right?

Success or failure hinged on this one attempt. If it didn’t work, he would have no choice but to turn back and abandon any further plans for the tree.

With that thought, he took a deep breath and pressed his hand against the raised root.

The moment his palm made contact, his mind went blank with a deafening boom.

Faintly, a terrified scream seemed to echo in his consciousness.

Seconds—or perhaps minutes—later, his senses gradually returned.

The scream had vanished without a trace.

Now, he noticed a surging heat flow rushing from the root into his body through his right hand. A surge of elation flashed through him.

"It worked! Just as I thought."

Amid this warmth, everything before him seemed to come alive. Colors grew richer, sounds became more vibrant, his sense of smell sharpened, and his Strength rapidly swelled.

Unfortunately, the heat flow lasted only a dozen seconds before dwindling from a torrential downpour to a mere trickle, and after another minute, it vanished completely.

Chen Shouyi stood up reluctantly, surrounded by countless obedient air currents swirling gently around him. He felt light all over, as if he might float away at any moment.

Eagerly, he opened his Attribute Panel.

Strength: 143

Agility: 141

Constitution: 146

Intelligence: 138

Perception: 115

Willpower: 126

...

"Huh?"

Chen Shouyi suddenly found it strange—his attribute growth was minimal. Back when he had absorbed just a single seed, his physical attributes had increased by 0.3 to 0.4 points each. Yet now, after absorbing an entire divine colossal tree, his Strength had only risen by 0.9 points.

The weakest increase was in Agility, which had only gone up by 0.7 points.

Compared to a single seed, the colossal tree was hundreds of millions, if not billions, of times larger. Even if the growth wasn't proportional, shouldn't his attributes have increased by at least a few points?

Yet the gains were disappointingly small.

Still, seeing his Atmospheric Control ability upgrade from "weak" to "primary" offered him some consolation.

...

In truth, his assumptions were slightly off.

In any world, balance governs all things. The powerful prey upon the weak, yet struggle to reproduce, while the weak, though abundant in offspring, fall victim to the strong. This was especially true for such formidable divine creatures—they were inherently difficult to reproduce.

Even plants were no exception. The seeds it produced were less like offspring and more like special extensions of its power, condensed at a minor cost. They were meant to scout for impending dangers, but instead of gaining an advantage, the barbarian tribe chief had died, and the seed had been absorbed by Chen Shouyi.