Chapter 587: Holy Bramble Leaf

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader: Arya

After taking the bronze Soul Artifact, the Progenitor Fiend Mother’s expression loosened just a bit.

Her gaze went past everyone else and looked straight at Laura.

『 Pardon me asking, but are you perhaps a Bramble Bird? 』the Progenitor carefully asked.

Ilya pulled Laura behind herself and replied: “Indeed, we are a group specifically sent by the Bramble Bird Kingdom to help Mr. Gu Qing Shan”

Sensing the power radiating from Ilya and thinking of the stories she had heard about the Bramble Bird, the Progenitor felt a bit uneasy.

The Bramble Birds were the only race that were both capable of surviving in the Mystic Zones and willing to communicate with races from the outside.

The Bramble Birds owned countless treasures of the Mystic Zones, the richest race in the entire 900 million World Layers.

More importantly, these treasures cannot be stolen.

Because—–

The Holy Bramble Tree, the greatest life form in all of the Mystic Zones, or perhaps in all of the 900 million World Layers, was the guardian to all the Bramble Bird’s treasures.

Besides the ferocious and terrifying creatures in the Mystic Zones, n.o.body in any other Zones dared to offend the Bramble Birds.

Whether it was the Strife Zones, Super Dimensional Zones, or even the Fallen Zones.

——-in trillions of worlds, not even the demons dared to offend them.

Because of one infamous historical event.

30,000 years ago, a Bramble Bird royal guard went missing mysteriously.

——–indeed, even though the Bramble Bird’s treasure can’t be stolen by any means, a Bramble Bird could be killed.

Even three days after the royal guard went missing, no one in the entire Bramble Bird Kingdom knew where he was.

At that time, the Bramble Bird King issued a bounty.

He declared that if anyone was able to find that royal guard as well as every last detail of why he disappeared, dealing with this matter in a way that made him satisfied, they would receive the rewards provided by the Bramble Bird Kingdom.

The bounty at the time was treasures from the Mystic Zones piled up to form a small mountain.

———at the top of the mountain were three weapons which were accordingly Epic, Legendary and Divine grade.

The Bramble Bird King had said that, in consideration of possible cooperation between multiple people, these three weapons will be granted to the three who exerted the most effort.

As soon as the bounty was issued, the entire 900 million World Layers went mad!

All wars stopped.

Every Combatant at the time gave up on what they were originally doing.

Even demonized groups gave up on their original plans for invasion and set out to search for that Bramble Bird royal guard.

Everybody that was anybody spared no efforts.

Through this immeasurable combined force of power, the missing royal guard was quickly found.

The culprit was a famous interstellar empire.

The empire was one that spanned across 7 World Layers, a significant powerhouse even among the top powers of the interstellar world.

Both their level of civilization advancement and military might was at its peak.

And so the Emperor of that empire had ordered his people to kidnap that Bramble Bird royal guard.

He had hoped to make that royal guard yield and offer up his treasures through torture.

After this was revealed, within the span of one hour, the entire interstellar empire was ripped to shreds by the Combatants of the 900 million World Layers.

From then on, no one had tried anything against the Bramble Birds again.

The Progenitor Fiend Mother pulled back her gaze and looked at Gu Qing Shan.

His relations.h.i.+p with the Bramble Birds was this close?

…

…

…

That’s strange…

How did Li Yang get acquainted with him then?

『 Gu boy, you said you wanted to cooperate with Li Yang to eliminate the 2 million demonized, do you have a plan? 』

The Progenitor Fiend Mother looked to Gu Qing Shan and solemnly asked.

This was the very first time she was actually looking at Gu Qing Shan as a person.

“Of course I do” Gu Qing Shan replied.

『 Then tell me, I need to confirm your plan first, because us Tianma can’t exert our true power in this world, and I want to ensure Li Yang’s safety 』

“Alright, my plan is to overwhelm them with numbers” Gu Qing Shan answered.

『 Hm, continue 』

“That’s it”

The Progenitor Fiend Mother squinted her eyes a bit and slowly spoke: 『 We’re going to deal with a large army of significant power, and the only thing your plan consists of is just ‘overwhelm them with numbers’? Is this a joke? 』

“No, it’s not a joke at all”

Gu Qing Shan explained: “A lot of people seem to think that strategies that use less force than the enemy or sudden ambushes to win are what war is all about. But in fact, those are nothing but desperate strategies that put your lives at risk and would only succeed under extremely lucky situations”

He continued: “The art of war, the best strategy above anything else is to have the strong win against the weak and use more to win against less”

“Stronger naturally beats weaker, that’s a given; having more troops naturally beats having less, so that’s a given———– this is the plain and simple truth that has never and will never change, as well as the military strategy with the highest chance of success”

Hearing that, the Progenitor Fiend Mother’s expression relaxed a bit, and silently nodded in approval.

Thinking about it briefly, she asked: 『 That sounds doable on paper, then what about the execution? What do you plan on doing exactly? 』

Gu Qing Shan replied: “When a cultivator breaks through a realm, the heaven rains lightning and ma.s.ses of evil creatures come, I will probably need Li Yang’s help to borrow a few troops”

『 You mean the evil creatures that interfere with a cultivator’s breakthrough? 』

“Yes”

Gu Qing Shan looked towards Li Yang and asked: “You are Tianma, so you might be acquainted with quite a few evil creatures, can you summon some of them so that negotiation will be easier?”

Li Yang hesitated: 『 It’s no problem to summon more evil creatures here, but they aren’t as easy to talk to as we are 』

Gu Qing Shan replied: “That doesn’t matter, business is business, even if negotiations break off, at least we can still be friends, that makes it easier in the future”

Li Yang couldn’t hold herself back anymore and laughed: 『 What an interesting man you, are, evil creatures consider humans food, yet you want to make friends with them 』

“I only have one soul, that’s hardly enough to share, but if they cooperate with me, not only will they have treasures to take, they’ll also have 2 million souls to divide between themselves, I’m sure everyone knows what the best choice would be”

Li Yang glanced at him shortly and spoke: 『 Then I’ll need some time to prepare 』

She put her hands together and began to chant an incantation to summon other evil creatures.

Looking at this, the Progenitor wanted to say something, but stopped.

She decided to not say anything.

The other Tianma exchanged glances and sent voices to each other.

『 Look at them, flirting right in front of us 』

『 What a dirty pair… 』

『 Mother ignored them, did she not notice? 』

『 You really think Mother wouldn’t notice? 』

『 Hah, just give it up girls, that was a Soul Artifact 』

That’s right, that was a Soul Artifact!

Silence.

Everyone all felt a bit dejected.

Suddenly, a voice asked everyone here.

『 Sisters, let me ask you something, between me and Li Yang, who do you think looks prettier? 』

The Tianma girls all froze.

No one bothered to answer this dumb question.

But they all looked straight at Gu Qing Shan.

This seemingly dumb question just opened a new door in front of them all.

Perhaps… hope isn’t completely lost.

Gu Qing Shan went to the side, standing with Laura, Ilya and the guards.

“Now there’s only one last problem” Gu Qing Shan said.

“What problem?” Laura asked.

Gu Qing Shan replied: “I’m going to cooperate with evil creatures to kill the demonized. I’ll need a contract with a strong enough binding force as a guarantee, otherwise if one or more of the evil creatures turn on us mid-way, it’ll be extremely troublesome”

Laura took out a brand new Grimoire of Contract from her backpack: “This should be enough, it has binding power to both parties, forbidding all acts of betrayal during the term of the contract”

“What happens in the case of betrayal?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“The traitor will be killed by the Law of the Contract” Laura replied.

Gu Qing Shan muses: “Killed huh? This type of punishment for evil creatures seems to be a bit…”

Ilya shook her head: “Laura, what you have there is the Spire’s Universal Contract, but evil creatures can’t be considered with normal means, even if this Contract could kill them, they will surely have a way to revive”

“Then what should we do?” Laura asked.

Ilya smiled: “Did you forget about our Holy Bramble Leaf?”

Laura opened her eyes wide from realization, then scowled again: “But I didn’t bring it with me”

“I did” Ilya told her.

She took out a bag full of bright green leaves and gave it to Gu Qing Shan.

“These are leaves from the Holy Bramble Tree, each and every leaf contains an absolute binding Contract” Ilya explained.

“What kind of Contract is it?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“To be unable to break one designated vow”

“And the punishment for breaking the vow would be?”

“All their powers will be absorbed and their souls will become nutrient for the Saint Tree”

“That impressive? Some evil creatures might not believe it even if I tell them”

“As long as they see our Holy Bramble Tree, they’ll understand right away”

Gu Qing Shan was still a bit unconvinced: “What if some of them are as clueless as I am?”

“…Alright, try taking one of the leaves and put it in the palm of your hand”

Gu Qing Shan did as she said and put one of the leaves on the palm of his hand.

The very next instant, Gu Qing Shan felt his inner sight leaving this world.

The leaf gave off the immense power of Law, bringing Gu Qing Shan through time and s.p.a.ce, putting him in front of a certain great and divine existence.

A tree.

An ancient great tree that was easily 10,000 meters tall.

But Gu Qing Shan could see more than just that, through his mental connection with it, he noticed hidden inside its enormous shade was vitality and life force, so overwhelming that he could only stare in awe.

This life force was ingrained deep in countless World Layers, and it kept on growing towards the very top of the 900 million World Layers.

Its power was so miraculous and so great that anyone that saw it could only look in wors.h.i.+p, unable to mount any hostility.

Sensing the great power radiating off the Saint Tree, Gu Qing Shan was in awe more than ever before.

At the same time, a thought came to him from the tree.

This thought went directly into Gu Qing Shan’s mind and made him realize a certain fact.

That as long as a vow was made to the Saint Tree’s leaf, the Saint Tree itself would know.

If he were to break the vow in any way, the Saint Tree will absorb his powers, even his soul will become nutrient for its growth.

This was the power of its Law.

In all the 900 million World Layers, no one could go against its Law.

Gu Qing Shan quickly pulled his inner sight back.

“Mighty!” he praised.

Laura patted her backpack and told him: “That’s right, my backpack here was also made from the branch and leaf of the Saint Bramble Tree, any item I put inside will be the same as if it was stored in the Saint Tree, and the Saint Tree will only recognize me, no one else can open this backpack”

Ilya added: “I once made a vow to the Saint Tree’s leaf to protect Laura, in the case that I fail to do that, all the powers granted to me by the Saint Tree as well as my soul will be taken away”

Gu Qing Shan put back the leaf into the bag and spoke satisfyingly: “A Contract with this much binding force will ensure the matter this time can be dealt with successfully, thank you so much”

Ilya waved her hand: “You don’t have to thank me, it’s my duty”

“Gu Qing Shan, I am willing to give up any treasure, as long as I can avenge my mother, father and brother!”

Laura’s eyes were a bit red as she tugged on the corner of Gu Qing Shan’s s.h.i.+rt.

“Hm, don’t worry, we can definitely avenge them”

Gu Qing Shan gently stroked her head and muttered.