Chapter 64

Su Zhen merely glanced at it without dwelling on the matter. She hefted her heavy sword, turned around, and met the approaching attackers head-on.

They came from all directions; those far away were still on their way, but two had arrived ahead of the rest, both of whom could be considered acquaintances.

The three exchanged blows amidst the quiet jungle, nimble as rabbits and soaring like harriers, clashing and separating in an instant. Sword qi flew like a driving rain, the wind howled, the trees shook, and tens of thousands of vines and branches stretched across the air.

Three tree demons were fighting, all subconsciously controlling the surrounding vegetation.

The plants within a radius of over a dozen miles were manipulated by three different forces, quickly beginning to attack one another. They tangled and intertwined, shattered leaves and broken branches fell like rain, and soil and grass fragments splattered everywhere.

The sound of rubbing leaves and branches was ceaseless. Trees were constantly uprooted, yet this did not affect their battle; those roots and branches seemed endowed with life, stretching and shaking to prop up towering tree trunks before plunging back into the slaughter.

The surrounding fleeing demonic beasts had long since been frightened out of their wits, each running for its own life.

Only a group of plants remained, fighting tirelessly on.

The two enemies had both maintained human forms, but at this moment, they were faintly showing signs reverting to their demon bodies.

Su Zhen sliced off the arm of the person on the left with a single sword stroke, watching that arm regenerate in an instant. The injured party did not even frown, and the offensive remained completely unhindered.

Her cultivation was higher than theirs, allowing her to handle the situation calmly. However, observing the state of these two, she could be certain that something was definitely wrong with them.

"Controlled... for real?"

Su Zhen looked at the tree demon on the left, who was the lord of Yellow Leaf Mountain. Many years ago, when she passed through her territory, she had even exchanged a few words with her.

At this moment, no matter how she called out, the opponent completely ignored her, as if she had entirely lost her sanity.

Su Zhen then looked toward the lord of the Longfeng Forest on the right. This person detested half-demons and would always spew sarcasm whenever they met.

Yet now, his expression was blank, his gaze rigid, lacking the slightest trace of emotion in his eyes.

She had only observed them for a short while; though out of their minds, their combat capabilities remained intact. Sensing that the situation was unfavorable, they successively revealed their demon bodies.

Towering giant trees rose from the ground, roars echoing through the forest. The tree demons charged forward with a roar, their roots pounding the ground and smashing out cracks.

Su Zhen tightened her grip on the sword, sensing that the others were also closing in, and decisively employed her movement technique to run away.

The demons who had revealed their original forms could not catch up in time, but the cultivators flying on swords were a step faster, clinging to her heels like shadows.

She looked back and found that this group was in varying states; some were dazed with foolish expressions, while others wore faces full of greed and covetousness.

Su Zhen paused slightly, instantly flashing before one of them.

Upon seeing her, the man's eyes were filled with brutal murderous intent, driven by the madness of a hunter discovering fresh prey, and he lunged forward with his sword.

Bright ripples of water surged over the Startle, jade shadows stacking like tides, surging toward the opponent wave after wave.

The cultivator sneered as fire ignited on the azure blade in his hand, sword qi scattering like multicolored evening mists, and the temperature in the air soared sharply.

Amidst the dazzling light and flames, water and fire collided, raising a vast expanse of dense white mist.

The two chased and rose and fell within the mist, fighting further and further away, suddenly fast and suddenly slow, advancing and retreating, exchanging over a dozen moves in the flash of a spark.

The man's offensive was swift and ferocious as thunder. Su Zhen handled it with absolute ease, deflecting and blocking the heavy sword as if it weighed nothing, accurately cutting off every single one of his attacks.

Among this crowd of cultivators, his realm was the highest, comparable to hers. Thus, the moment they began to tangle, their spiritual pressure fully unfolded, making it impossible for anyone else to approach for a while.

Those who tried to force their way in were either struck dizzy by the spiritual pressure or driven back and even injured by the sword qi.

"The Wuri Palace, right?"

Su Zhen had long since recognized the opponent's cultivation technique. "Are you a prized disciple of the Wind-Chanting Immortal Venerable?"

The man still held murder in his eyes, but a flash of fear crossed his gaze at her words. Although it did not affect his attacks, his spiritual pressure shifted slightly.

Su Zhen tried speaking to him, receiving no reply after several attempts, but his spiritual pressure flickered a few times.

"Kill you..."

Frenzied color appeared in his eyes. "Filthy demons deserve to die, and besides, if I kill you, I will be able to break through..."

"How do you know?"

The light in his eyes was fierce and piercing, bloodlust fully exposed. "I know... I just know... This is the will of heaven..."

Su Zhen understood in her heart.

Fighting and speaking as they went, the two had already arrived above the great river.

Towering cliffs rose on both sides with rugged precipices, and the torrential river surged like a baring-its-fangs yellow dragon. Rapid currents swirled among hidden reefs, scattered boulders lay about, and the sound of water echoed through the mountain gorges.

Their figures rose and fell, dodging and flickering above the river. Gravel splashed, water droplets shattered, and terrifying waves rolled into the sky, crashing against both banks and staining the woodland with vast patches of dark moisture.

Su Zhen twisted her sword blade, and tens of thousands of water arrows rushed out from the river surface, dragging long streams of water along the trajectory of the sword tip to weave an inescapable net in the sky.

She held back no longer, preparing to expend a little effort to kill the opponent.

Suddenly, a beam of azure light shot in from behind.

This extremely bizarre strike had not leaked a single breath of aura from afar, only revealing an unstoppable, violent fierce intent as it approached.

The light brushed past her side and penetrated straight into the cultivator's skull, shattering his head to pieces.

Blood and pulp fell into the water, quickly swept away by the torrential current, and the headless corpse also plunged into the river. Countless dormant dark shadows suddenly surged from the murky riverbed.

They chased the floating corpse, fighting for the flesh on the remains, tearing it to pieces in a mere moment.

Su Zhen saw little golden light particles drifting in the air.

The strike just now had pulverized the cultivator's primordial spirit along with him.

Her figure paused. She had originally intended to go to the Demon Realm, but pondering that matters had reached this point, leaving now would feel like running away, so she simply flew toward the opposite bank.

The remaining cultivators had actually chased after them as well, acting as if they hadn't seen the other's miserable end, and tried to continue launching attacks against her.

However, before their figures could land—just as they entered the forest perimeter—they felt a majestic spiritual pressure pressing down from above, and they all fell down with miserable screams.

They crashed onto the soft earth, and before they could even struggle, their limbs and bodies were bound by vines.

Some were torn limb from limb, their fresh blood spilling into the grass to be quickly sucked away; others were dragged into the quagmire, leaving behind only shattered skeletons in the blink of an eye.

Su Zhen could no longer sense their spiritual pressure.

She was not surprised by this, yet she felt no relief either, because killing them was not difficult for her—it would at most take a little time.

However, dealing with what came next filled her with an indescribable sense of pressure.

Su Zhen stood silently in the gloomy forest, suddenly letting out a long sigh before walking forward as if resigning herself to her fate.

"Since you are so reluctant, you could just leave."

A cold, pleasant, gender-neutral voice suddenly came from the side.

Su Zhen stopped in her tracks and turned around, biting the bullet.

A dozen steps away, ancient trees scraped the clouds with lush foliage, casting patches of heavy shade upon the ground.

Someone stood with arms crossed under a tree, looking over with an unfathomable expression.

His features were handsome and exquisite, appearing extremely youthful. His slender neck had no Adam's apple, and his chest was firm and flat.

He was draped in a emerald feather garment, exposing sharply defined pectoral muscles and abdomen. Jet-black curly hair scattered across his back, making his skin appear even more snow-white, and vine-like patterns of a bright, verdant hue wound around his lean body.

Su Zhen lowered her gaze slightly, then raised her head to meet his eyes.

The man stared at her without moving.

Two pairs of identical green eyes, like newly sprouted leaves in spring or blazing colors in midsummer, distributed shades of green evenly across their irises.

They stared at each other in silence. At first glance, they looked like a folded mirror, but upon closer inspection, there were also many differences.

"Your Majesty."

Su Zhen spoke slowly. "Thank you for your assistance."

The man's expression remained unchanged. "You didn't need my help, and I knew you didn't need it. I just found them noisy."

To be honest, if anyone else had said this, Su Zhen would have thought it was merely playing hard to get.

But coming from him, it was ninety-nine percent sincere.

Su Zhen nodded. "Also, I am not reluctant. I can at least live in peace here for a while; I just don't like that place."

The man looked at her inexplicably. "What?"

Su Zhen pointed to the deep forest ahead. "That Tree Court Palace of yours—every time I see you there, I always feel oppressed. I'm not your vassal lord."

The man was silent for a moment. "When did I say you had to see me there? The last few times were just coincidences—"

He frowned, seeming impatient with these words. "What on earth is going on? What did you do? How did you provoke the attention of the Heavenly Dao to the point where it wants to get rid of you so urgently?"

Su Zhen took a deep breath. "To make a long story short, my destiny has been set—I was supposed to die in the Golden Immortal realm. But now that I'm at the peak of the Golden Immortal realm, not far from the quasi-sage realm, the Heavenly Dao is getting anxious. Therefore, it keeps influencing those people, making them feel that killing me would be beneficial."

Some people did not want to kill her, but were completely controlled, thus acting like walking corpses and unable to utter a word.

Yet others were quite happy to do so, such as the one whose head had just been blown off.

Su Zhen stared at him after speaking.

The other party was silent for a while. "Just that?"

Su Zhen: "?"

Su Zhen: "What else do you want? Did I commit unpardonable sins? Did I massacre some province?"

The man gave a cold laugh, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "Is this considered unpardonable?"

Su Zhen was left speechless, sighing. "Why must Your Majesty be like this? I originally also..."

The man turned his head slightly. "You helped her reach this step; surely you have a countermeasure?"

Su Zhen was startled, finally sensing a familiar spiritual pressure.

Xiao Yu appeared beside her, reaching out to wrap an arm around her shoulder. He first looked her over earnestly, whispered an apology, and seeing that she had no intention of speaking, slowly raised his head to speak.

"... Even if I didn't help her, she would have her own ways, not much slower than this. The only difference is whether she has to bear a contract seal or not."

Xiao Yu said flatly, "A countermeasure naturally exists, and it should be the same as what Your Majesty thinks."

Su Zhen was genuinely worried that he would shout 'Dad' on the spot, and let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this address.

The Tree Demon King chuckled softly. "What difference does it make whether you help her or Duoli helps her?"

"A huge difference."

Xiao Yu replied righteously, "Mainly because it's different for me. Because I want to help her, and I hope I can be useful to her, so that she will look at me a couple more times and spend more time with me. Yes, I am just that shameless."

With that, he saw expressions of nearly identical exasperation on the faces of the two tree demons beside them.

Of course, there were still some subtle differences.

Su Zhen looked both amused and exasperated, constantly suppressing the corners of her mouth from turning upward.

As for the other individual, he looked more like he wanted to leave, or pat them both into the ground as fertilizer.

"Senior."

Su Zhen suddenly spoke up. "So after that trial is completely finished..."

"You will die."

Xiao Yu looked at her. "At that time, you will transform into another kind of existence. To the Heavenly Dao, 'Su Zhen' will be dead."

Su Zhen already understood what kind of existence that was. "Will I... Senior, do you believe I can do it?"

"I believe."

Xiao Yu said decisively, "If I didn't believe in you, I would have stopped you from raising your cultivation realm, preventing you from reaching the Golden Immortal realm so quickly, so the Heavenly Dao wouldn't have made its move prematurely."

Just as she was about to speak, he smiled again. "But don't feel pressured. What if you fail? If you fail, we'll just start a second playthrough."

Su Zhen's eyes widened abruptly.

Xiao Yu blinked. "Not a joke, I'm serious, so don't be afraid."

He leaned forward, cupped her face, his broad palms stroking her smooth and tender cheeks while his fingertips buried themselves into her soft hair.

Xiao Yu bent down hard until their foreheads touched and their breaths intertwined.

"I'm not lying; I'm truly not skilled in this path, so I can't give you advice, nor do I have any techniques to share..."

A deep, resonant voice echoed by her ear. "You can only figure it out yourself. Do not sink into the pasts of others, and don't be influenced by their memories and emotions, alright?"

"Mhm."

Su Zhen responded deeply. "If I cannot manage this, I will eventually be swallowed by other souls in the future."

Xiao Yu straightened up, just as he was about to speak.

Su Zhen tugged at him once more. "Now my life and death are still uncertain as well, so you and I are even now. Therefore, Senior, would you like to be my boyfriend?"