Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 709 - 688: Territory

A large amount of light changes direction, entering the body.

But the light belonging to the Frost Giant Tree remains unchanged, unable to be absorbed.

Huang stared at Zhou Leng for a while, ran under the Frost Tree, put its paws together, kept bowing, then rolled around acting cute.

The Frost Giant Tree remained unmoved.

Having no choice, Huang returned to the branches and leaves of the mother tree to lie down.

In the Martial Arts perception, there is a strange foreign force in the body, like a kind of light, secretly damaging the body.

It is impossible to precisely sense where it is, seeming to be everywhere, yet possibly an illusion.

Zhou Leng deeply understands the power of the Divine Spirit, and remains vigilant, alternating between the Great Sun Divine Skill, Undying Star Body, and Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique, using various methods to dispel it.

Cultivating under the tree, the sun and moon turn.

The mother tree’s divine fall caused the Tree-man Race to split into three.

One part of the Tree-man stayed in the Tree-man World, another went to Blue Star, and another went to the Demon Spirit World.

Taking away multiple Trees of Life.

Blue Star’s heads of state all mobilized, giving the Tree-men headed by the Sky’s Barrier the highest level of treatment.

Sky’s Barrier ultimately traded a Tree of Life to allow the Tree-men to reside in the Ruge Mountain area.

Upon hearing the news, the Dragon Country’s Supreme Court couldn’t suppress their smiles.

This Tree of Life completely belongs to humanity; the previous Trees of Life, even if planted in the Dragon Country, belonged to Elves or Tree-men, merely a cooperative relationship.

Ruge Mountain is just a barren mountain, except for Xiaoru Village and a park, there’s nothing there.

Thus, both parties signed a contract.

Xiaoru Village remains as usual, but everything else belongs to the Tree-men.

Then, both parties signed a citizenship agreement.

This branch of Tree-men submits to the Dragon Country, becoming part of the Dragon Country’s Human Race.

The agreement explicitly states that the Tree-men’s ID must indicate they are regular Dragon Country Humans, not a minority group, opposing ethnic segregation; Tree-men would not foolishly put both parties in opposition.

Upon the news, people across the Dragon Country were deeply touched.

Some people think they are smart, yet sometimes they’re no match for the stubborn and clumsy Tree-men.

The Supreme Court praised the Tree-men’s high moral character; some commentators even said the Tree-men’s actions are of great benefit now and will be beneficial for future generations.

As the news spread worldwide, some discovered Zhou Leng was from Xiaoru Village.

Some suspected there might be a deeper connection between Zhou Leng and the Tree-men.

Only the high-level members know that Zhou Leng, as the Ancient Crown of the Tree-man Race, has further raised his united value a level higher.

The Supreme Court preliminarily decided to grant Zhou Leng and the Sky’s Barrier a vice-chairman position at the negotiation council.

Tree-men are born healers; humans have long prepared pills primarily made from Water of Life, but the insufficient quantity caused them to abandon the plan.

Now, the plan impacting the pill system can restart.

The Tree-men submitting to the Dragon Country stirred a huge wave internationally.

Some news spread gradually.

It turns out Eagle Alliance, Seagull Alliance, Elephant Country, and other forces had secretly contacted the Tree-men, hoping they’d come to their countries; even if not, they could at least send branches.

But they were rebuffed.

Some people were jealous, not understanding why the Tree-men and Elf Race chose to align with the Dragon Country.

Others were particularly pleased, believing that having various races submit is a good thing for humanity.

Soon, another news, circulating in secret.

Zhao Cong fell into demonhood, then was slain by Li Shenkong.

On the Dragon Country network, this news gets deleted as soon as it surfaces, disappearing without a trace.

No matter if people use various aliases, they risk account suspension, or even permanent banning, unable to speak.

However, outside the network, it spread wildly.

Strangely, any content criticizing Zhao Cong gets deleted and banned.

Those praising Zhao Cong and the Zhao Family are widely publicized.

People from various countries are confused; how did the Seagull-Eagle forces and the Zhao Family become so close?

Or is it that they were always close, and the people of various countries are the outsiders?

Underground at Lianxiang Exploration Company.

Light of Redemption watches the Tree-man battlefield video while holding his chest.

He watches Zhou Leng instantly kill Sword of Innocence’s avatar for the second time, then wield the Flame Greatsword, slaughtering all demigod avatars...

His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Sweat covered his forehead.

He quickly closed the video, gasping for breath.

After a long time, he looked in the mirror at his pale face, then at his eyes.

His gaze was filled with despair.

When he ambushed Zhou Leng, he was well-prepared, so at the moment Zhou Leng grabbed the Flame Greatsword, he used a teleport scroll.

Even if he was delayed by one second, no, even if delayed by 0.5 seconds, he might have died.

After returning, he was fearful; but he suppressed his body’s strangeness with powerful Martial Arts.

Until he received the news of Zhou Leng slaughtering demigod avatars, and saw clear footage.

He clutched his heart tightly with his right hand.

The same feeling emerged in his body years later.

Zhou Leng phobia.

He didn’t want this, but couldn’t control his inner fear.

He even realized that Zhou Leng now had completely surpassed the Master King level of Zhao Dongjun.

Surpassing any human Martial Saint of the same period, and even surpassing any legend in Ten Realms history.

Zhou Leng, in Martial Arts, is bound to be the next Zhao Dongjun, or perhaps even greater than Zhao Dongjun.

"He might have aspirations for the Void God..."

After speaking, Light of Redemption’s heart suddenly ached, he slapped himself hard on the cheek, he was ill, how could he worsen his illness with such words?

He’s been using cultivation techniques to suppress it, but it’s ineffective.

This isn’t a physical illness, but a sickness of the Martial Arts Will.

There’s no cure.

After a long time, he felt his heart slightly calm down, sighed, and slowly pushed the door open to leave for a meeting.

Mrs. Xiyang returned.

He walked a few steps, and disciple Shen Jun appeared.

"Teacher..." Shen Jun saw the face of the Light of Redemption, was shocked, and hurriedly ran over, supporting the teacher’s arms with both hands, slowly moving forward.

The master and disciple slowly walked forward, silent for a long time.

After a while, Shen Jun said, "I heard about Zhou Leng..."

The Light of Redemption’s heart ached, his face twisted, and his right arm instinctively pushed outward, intending to push Shen Jun away, the power of a Grandmaster bursting forth.

In an instant, the Light of Redemption hurriedly withdrew his hand.

He turned his head to look.

Boom boom boom...

Shen Jun was sent through three walls consecutively, lying in the ruins, barely alive.

"Shen Jun!"

The Light of Redemption rushed over, and pressed his palm on Shen Jun’s body, channeling True Qi.

Shen Jun was only Innate, unable to withstand a Grandmaster’s strike, even if it was just the aftermath.

His entire body’s bones shattered, his left arm broke, and there was a large hole in his side waist.

He gazed weakly at his master, racking his brain but unable to understand.

Why would the master want to kill him?

The Light of Redemption silently transmitted True Qi.

The powerful Grandmaster True Qi mended Shen Jun’s bones and muscles, quickly stopping the bleeding.

But...

Half his meridians were severed, making cultivation impossible anymore.

"Alas..." The Light of Redemption sighed heavily.

The disciple not injured in the battle between two armies was crippled by his own illness.

Guhe Research Institute.

A group of Tree-men arrived at the entrance, quietly waiting.

Not long after, Xu Qingjin walked out.

"Greetings, Madam." The Tree-men saluted in unison.

Xu Qingjin was so surprised that she opened her mouth, not knowing where to place her hands, unsure of what to say.

"Elder Cangqiong Zhi Xu said that His Majesty Zhou Leng is busy with cultivation and has no time to attend to you, so he sent us to protect the Madam."

"But..." Xu Qingjin looked forward.

Twenty giant Tree-men stood in front.

Two were Grandmasters, the rest were Innate.

Li Yuanhe also received the news early and welcomed the Tree-men, arranging them to guard Xu Qingjin.

The next day, the Elf Tribe’s base.

After receiving the news, Yinhufeng cursed his foolishness, losing to the wooden heads.

He immediately dispatched ten female elves to the Guhe Research Institute to protect Xu Qingjin.

On that day, the disciples of the Ancient River Sect at the Guhe Research Institute would occasionally see Xu Qingjin walking helplessly.

Behind her, there were always at least two Tree-men and two female elves following.

Under the Frost Giant Tree.

Zhou Leng slowly opened his eyes.

Exhaling slowly, the white breath flew straight ahead, reaching a hundred meters before slowing down and dissipating.

The power left in the body by the Celestial Calamity Envoy had finally been expelled.

Feeling carefully, these days, not only had his cultivation not advanced, but his body was exhausted due to expelling the power, requiring some rest.

After all, it was Void God power, and he was just a Grandmaster.

However, in the struggle against Void God power, his understanding of such power had progressed rapidly.

Void God’s power was no longer purely "material."

It possessed materiality, spirituality, and informational properties simultaneously.

Just like the power of the Celestial Calamity Envoy, punching power was materiality, oppression was spirituality, and the mysterious black mountain formed inexplicably had informational properties besides spirituality.

As long as someone was an enemy of the Celestial Calamity Envoy, they would be influenced by his other powers, directly forming logical-defying attacks in the spiritual world.

Like divine decrees, for those below Divine Spirit, whatever he wanted changed would change.

However, everything was in the past.

Zhou Leng brought Huang, happily arriving at Mammoth Lake to sleep.

Huang collected the Mother Tree’s doghouse and enjoyed a nice soak together.

Upon waking, he glanced around and saw Xiaoba right beside him.

Zhou Leng took out a branch from the Mother Tree for Xiaoba, who excitedly roared.

Rising, he walked to the shore.

The Tree of Life was thriving.

Digging a large pit under the Tree of Life, he buried the broken roots, trunk fragments, twigs, and leaves of the Mother Tree within.

Enough to fill a truck.

The leaves of the Tree of Life began to tremble, shaking incessantly like an elderly person with Parkinson’s.

Zhou Leng took out intact Mother Tree branches, tying them to the Tree of Life’s branches everywhere. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Tree of Life continued trembling.

Laughing, Zhou Leng patted the trunk of the Tree of Life and took a portion of Water of Life, giving Xiaoba and Huang a share, then walked back.

Xiaoba stretched out its trunk, blocking his way, buzzing.

Huang helped translate.

Turns out the strongest among the Eight-toothed Mammoths was about to ascend to demigod.

They had been waiting for Zhou Leng to join the deification ritual together.

Zhou Leng had heard about this ritual, it was very important, and to continue obtaining the power of fierce beasts, he needed to participate.

Thus, he followed Xiaoba and Huang, bringing Yinhuyue along, and headed to Mammoth Mountain together.

Upon arriving at Mammoth Mountain, Zhou Leng casually handed a Mother Tree branch to Yinhuyue.

Yinhuyue was dumbfounded for half a day, then knelt to the ground, wailing and clutching Zhou Leng’s leg.

Zhou Leng comforted her for a long time before Yinhuyue gradually stopped, although she continued to sniffle.

Inquiring revealed that because of their betrayal of the Mother Tree, most elves were expelled by the Mother Tree.

Zhou Leng’s gift of fresh Mother Tree branches signified the Mother Tree’s forgiveness of the elves, and by holding Mother Tree branches, she, Yinhuyue, naturally became the highest Saintess of the Elf Tribe.