Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Transforming into a Colossal Dragon and being a pure-blooded Colossal Dragon—these were two entirely different concepts.

“In other words, as long as you consume more divine tree fruits, you can constantly refine the Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline in your body and allow you to get nearer and nearer to becoming a pure-blooded Golden Colossal Dragon?”

“That's right!”

“This thing can even refine one's bloodline?”

With a flip of his hand, a brilliant golden divine tree fruit appeared in Meng Lei's palm. As though a golden apple made out of pure gold, the apple-sized golden fruit dazzled with golden light in the sunlight.

I wonder if this thing can refine the G.o.ds-Slaying Rat and Golden G.o.ds-Slaying Ant bloodlines in my body?

Meng Lei held doubts about that. Just because the divine tree could refine the Colossal Dragon bloodline didn't mean that it could also refine other types of bloodlines.

After all, he had as many as five different bloodlines in him.

Meng Lei sought Ol' Amos' opinion and asked, “Ol' President, what will happen if I eat the divine tree fruit?”

“Don't eat it yet.” Ol' Amos shook his head as he said, “Although the divine tree fruit seems very miraculous before we figure things out, I wouldn't suggest that you eat it. Keep them with you for now. We can talk about it again when we've figured everything out. What's the difference between eating them now and later, anyway? There's no hurry.”

“That makes sense.”

Meng Lei nodded slightly. Compared to risky things like that, he much preferred using the system's credit redemption to boost his strength.

“The divine tree fruit!” Abbe stared hard at the fruit, a look of longing flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes. “You managed to get them, too.”

“Yeah, I lucked out.”

Meng Lei smiled at her. It was at this moment that the sound of something whizzing through the air abruptly rang out. Then, dozens of wind blades shot toward them.

At the same time, other attacks also blasted toward them from all directions.

A 100-meters-long gigantic dragon of flames on the left!

Up to 100 basketball-sized rock bullets on the right!

Dozens of ten-foot-long water spears to their front!

And a muscular man with a huge axe in his hand behind them!

“Oh no! Someone's ambus.h.i.+ng us!”

The expression on Abbe's pretty face changed a little. She wanted to transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon to engage in battle right away, but Meng Lei only waved her off as he said, “Relax, it's just a bunch of ragtags. They pose no threat.”

Then, he tossed out a first-cla.s.s spell—Absolute Zero!

Buzz!

A white icy air current manifested and, with Meng Lei and Abbe in the center, spread outward in all directions.

In a mere instant, it had enveloped the whole area within 10,000 meters of where they were.

The gigantic dragon of flames froze.

The hundred rock bullets froze.

The dozens of water spears froze.

And the ax-wielding muscular man also froze.

The trees and weeds around them were also frozen. The six fellows that had besieged Abbe earlier were no exception, either—they had also been frozen into popsicles.

As far as the eye could see, everything was covered in white.

The whole area around them had turned into a world of ice.

“Absolute Zero! And instant release at that!” Abbe took a breath and lamented, “Not only has the gap between the two of us not shrunk, but it's instead becoming bigger and bigger.”

“It's not that huge. Haven't you been promoted to Saint Domain level, too?”

With a light snap of Meng Lei's fingers, all the ice sculptures within 10,000 meters of where they were broke into pieces, turning into ice chips that scattered all over the ground.

Only the six a.s.sailants and the few people that had launched the sneak attack just now remained where they were. It was obvious at one glance that a total of five people—including the ax-wielding muscular man—had attacked them.

It was just that the five of them were currently ice sculptures, with every one of them frozen in a peculiar pose.

They either had a shocked look on their faces, were in the midst of chanting a spell incantation, or sported looks of excitement in their eyes… All of their facial expressions varied, and their manners of bearing also different from one another's.

“You can only count yourselves unlucky for choosing to ambush me.”

What happened next was evident—body searching, looking for spatial rings, and taking them for himself.

“Tsk, these five must be pretty strong. They've actually gotten so many magic cores. Not bad, they even have a golden fruit, too.”

Meng Lei was grinning so widely that his face was all wrinkled. Disregarding the golden fruit, for now, just the magic cores in their spatial rings alone already made up an astonis.h.i.+ngly high number. All of these were money to him.

“I really don't know how you managed to cultivate to such a level!” Abbe's eyes were filled with envy. “We haven't seen each other for only two months, yet you're already so strong. The next time we meet, would you have already broken through to become a half-deity?”

“A half-deity? That's too far a notion.” As Meng Lei kept the fruit and the spatial rings, he said, “I'm about to leave this place. Why don't you leave with me, too? This continent is currently fraught with great danger. It's not safe here.”

“No, I want to continue looking for the divine tree fruits and the Tree of Life,” Abbe rejected his offer and said, “The fruits can refine my bloodline. I will never give up, no matter what!”

“That mentality of yours is too dangerous.” Meng Lei frowned as he said, “I suspect that the Tree of Life is a half-deity that's currently plotting some kind of conspiracy. If you go looking for it, how is that any different from sending yourself straight to death's door? Let's just leave!”

“A half-deity?”

A huge jolt went through Abbe.

“All the living things on the entire Lost Continent wors.h.i.+p the Tree of Life. It's highly likely that it's a half-deity!” Meng Lei shook his head lightly as he said, “Staying in a half-deity's territory is simply too dangerous. Also, even if you do get more of the divine tree fruits, don't eat them anymore. Those things aren't safe.”

A look of indignant reluctance came over Abbe's features at once. A brief moment later, she surprisingly shook her head and said, “Thank you, Meng Lei, but I'm not leaving!”

Then, she rose into the sky and flew away.

Meng Lei opened his mouth but ultimately chose not to call out to her. Abbe was a stubborn one; Meng Lei had already had a taste of that a long time ago.

“Never mind, do what you want, then.” Meng Lei shook his head as he remarked, “I've already said what I should. It's up to her whether or not she wants to heed the warning.”

Then, he also left the area.

“Why aren't you going after her, kid?

“Not only is she gorgeous, but she's even a princess of the empire. There are so many out there who wish to be her knight in s.h.i.+ning armor yet couldn't. To think you've actually given up such a prime opportunity!

“I'm really suspecting more and more that your carnal desires are undeveloped…”

“No-one's going to mistake you for a mute if you speak a little less, Ol' President.”

“Let's go, Sacas!”

After Meng Lei left, Abbe walked out from behind a tree. As she stared at the departing Meng Lei, she murmured softly, “I wish I could leave with you, Meng Lei, but I can't…”

A day later, Meng Lei finally returned to the seash.o.r.e where they had been when they had first arrived on the continent.

“Let's wait here! I'll be able to leave in another couple of days.”

After finding himself a remote beach, he then took out a large ten-meters-wide golden pot, ready for another hotpot feast.

“Are we having seafood hotpot again, Boss?”

At the sight of that, Sacas obediently went to catch seafood again.

An hour later…

A bonfire blazed into the sky as soup bubbled and boiled in the pot. An aroma rushed toward them as a human, and a beast sat around the hotpot and feasted.

“I want abalone, Boss!

“Give me that geoduck, Boss!

“I want more, Boss! I want some more…”

Time went by very quickly, and a day pa.s.sed. There was currently only a day left to the end of the exchange compet.i.tion's month-long duration.

Meng Lei laid on the soft beach and bathed in the warm, mild sun as he waited for the exchange compet.i.tion to end.

Boom!

A tremor suddenly went through the ground!

Boom!

Another tremor!

Boom!

Right on the heels of it, the ground began to shake and tremble rhythmically. It felt like 10,000 horses galloping across the fields, yet also like tanks crus.h.i.+ng the ground. The entire continent was booming and shaking.

“What's going on?”

Meng Lei quickly soared into the sky and looked around, upon which he was immediately stunned into a daze.

In the continent's center, a far distance off, stood a ma.s.sive tree so tall that there was no telling its height and so wide that one couldn't tell its trunk circ.u.mference.

It seemed like the Jianmu Tree1 that connected the heavens and earth, yet also like the Yggdrasil2 whose roots were entrenched into the earth. Standing erect between heaven and earth, the towering tree branches were as though pa.s.sageways to heaven while the lofty tree crown shrouded the area 10,000 miles from where it was.

When looking from afar, clouds could be seen circling around it.

The sun's multicolored radiance reflected upon it as the phenomenal scene went through a million grand changes.

The most inconceivable thing was that the ma.s.sive tree was covered in several gold chains that wrapped around it like a net.

1

A majestic and holy might emanated from the ma.s.sive tree reaching straight into the heavens and wantonly oppressed Meng Lei's spirit, giving him the urge to submit to it, convert his faith to it, and prostrate before it.

“T-the Tree of Life!” Meng Lei exclaimed softly, “Ol' President, is that the Tree of Life?!”

“Yes, it's the Tree of Life!” Ol' Amos emerged and said, “This aura is divine power! Though faint, it's nevertheless no doubt divine power! There's no mistaking it! I was right. It really is a half-deity!”

“So it really is a half-deity!”

Meng Lei's heart quivered. He felt an urge to immediately return to the teleportation magic circle and make an escape. Against a ma.s.sive tree of half-deity status, he really didn't possess even a shred of confidence.

As for Sacas the Multi-Armed Behemoth, in the instant it saw the Tree of Life, it was already prostrating on the ground, so agitated that tears filled its eyes as it loudly prayed to and extolled the greatness of the tree.

“Something isn't right! That half-deity's aura is so weak! It can't even compare to a Saint Domain limits-level expert's! What's going on? Are we too far away from it?”

Ol' Amos, whose brows were tightly drawn together into a huge frown, stared hard at the ma.s.sive tree for a moment. Then, he suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, “The gold chains… I get it now! That Tree of Life has been sealed! It has been sealed!”

“Sealed?”

Meng Lei was dumbfounded.

“Do you see those gold chains around the Tree of Life? That's the seal! The Tree of Life has been sealed. That's why it's giving off such weak divine power!”

Ol' Amos smacked his forehead as he said, “I knew it. Even though it was indifferent the whole time while all of you were wantonly killing its wors.h.i.+pers in its territory, it wasn't done out of choice. Rather, it's because it has been sealed and is totally immobile. That's the actual reason why!”

Meng Lei asked with a dazed look in his eyes, “Just what kind of existence can seal a half-deity like the Tree of Life?”

“There'll always be someone stronger out there, and there's no limit to how high one can go; there is no lack of existences stronger than a half-deity. Heaven's Vault Continent is ultimately just a small pond.” Ol' Amos shook his head slightly. Then, he suddenly frowned and asked, “Meng Lei, are a lot of black dots floating around the Tree of Life?”

Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. Although they were a great distance away from the Tree of Life, he saw many tiny little black dots.

Those little black dots were suspended around the Tree of Life like insects around a willow in summer.

A puzzled Meng Lei asked, “What are those little black dots?”

“We're too far away, so it's hard to tell. Go a little nearer!” Ol' Amos said gravely, “Don't worry, it's been sealed, so as long as we're not too near, it can't do anything to you.”

“Okay!”

After a moment's hesitation, Meng Lei flew toward it.

As he approached, the black dots also became bigger and bigger. He could now see them clearly after he reached a certain distance—those dense and packed black dots were actually the exchange compet.i.tion's contestants. And apart from them, there were also many other unfamiliar-looking figures!

Those figures wore golden armor, held broadswords, and rode golden beasts—they were clearly all golden-armored knights!

As he continued to approach, he could vaguely see a thin golden s.h.i.+eld around the Tree of Life.

Some of the contestants were enveloped within the golden s.h.i.+eld, while all the golden-armored knights were fervently attacking the golden s.h.i.+eld, seemingly trying to rescue them.

“What are they doing?”

Meng Lei was rather bewildered.

“d.a.m.n! They've been tricked! They're attacking the seal! Once the seal is destroyed, the Tree of Life would be released!”