Book 4, Chapter 268: Gather Desires, Become A Demon

The place where he stood was a square, and it had several tall buildings around it. All of them had firing positions that were directed at the paths that outsiders would have to pass through when they entered the village.

The village didn’t ask the outsiders to remove their weapons, which was why there was a lot of conflict at times. The people in the buildings occasionally looked down, and if they saw anything off, they would start firing without hesitation.

When Chen Chuan arrived at the center of the square, a number of marksmen noticed him and felt that there was something unusual about him, because he stood out like a sore thumb among the crowd.

But he was alone and had a suitcase with him. He didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons either. Besides, he was only standing there, so the marksmen weren’t too wary of him and only stared at him a little longer before looking away.

However, when he brought his obviously glowing fist up, one of the marksmen realized that something was off. Just as he was about to shout, all he saw was a bright, white light.

No one could keep their eyes open. A moment later, they heard an explosion so loud that they felt their brains and organs trembling. The ground itself started trembling like the surface of the ocean. It became hard to stay steady, and everyone started grabbing things around them to regain their footing.

When the ground finally settled, the marksmen were finally able to stand up, even though they were still feeling dizzy. The moment they looked down, they were stunned.

Most of the glass in the buildings around the square had shattered. Passersby were collapsed on the ground, and a large cloud of dust had risen into the sky before spreading outward.

There was also a huge hole in front of the person in the hoodie, right at the center of the square. Wisps of light were coming out of it.

Chen Chuan stood at the edge of the hole and looked down. A milky-white fog rose from twisted branches underneath. He could even see pinpricks of light flashing.

His gaze sharpened. Found you.

Once the tree’s form was revealed, he noticed his second self turning fainter with every passing second, and the degree of damage he was sustaining was much stronger than from the simulation Hongfu created.

The people around him stared at him in shock. A long while passed before one of the marksmen finally recovered from his shock and shouted in terror, “Fire!”

Another of the marksmen had more knowledge of the world and cried out in a panic, “Don’t!”

His voice was soon drowned out by gunshots. A shower of bullets shot toward Chen Chuan. The next moment everyone was left in shock. When the bullets were a few dozens of meters away from Chen Chuan, they started slowing down.

It was as if they had encountered major resistance in their path and left trails in the air. As the bullets in front slowed down, the ones at the back joined them. After around half a minute, the marksmen stopped shooting and stared in dumbfounded silence.

A cover of bullets floated in the air. Among them were shattered stones and dirt clumps. All that came toward the person in the hoodie froze in the air.

Chen Chuan didn’t even bother to acknowledge the attack and looked down.

He could see the brains on the Tree of True Forms.They were alive, though they couldn’t be considered to be completely human anymore. Even so, they retained their consciousness.

Before coming, Chen Chuan had thought about temporarily subduing the tree, then looking for a way to deal with it. After all, if he killed the brains, he would also be killing the people.

But now, he realized that things weren’t that simple. When he punched through the ground without even releasing his biofield, he sensed a wave of pure malice from the tree. It seemed to long for his brain.

“Hongfu, can you tell me the status of the brains on the tree?” he asked.

The red scarf fluttered, and Hongfu said, “The brains are working rapidly at a preset frequency. Based on preliminary analysis, the consciousness in the brains are repeating their lives.”

Chen Chuan fell silent at that. “You’re saying that they’re experiencing their entire lives on a loop?”

“You can say that. This stimulation provides the tree a unique nutrient that helps it grow. Passionate, naturally-gifted people can provide it with more nutrients. Also, the number of brains on it had increased by a third compared to what it had in the simulation.”

Chen Chuan stared at the brains on the branches. Aside from the fanatics who offered up their brains themselves, most of the people were deceived or forced to give up their brains.

Some of them were brains Ling Jianxing and his group had purchased from martial artists. Some were students who perished in the tournament. Some were gang members like Xiao Man’s brother. Some were abducted naturally-gifted children. Some others were students Wu Ruo had taken under his wing in the past.

While here, they had to keep going through their lives again and again. This meant that they had to keep experiencing the pain of death on repeat.

“Is there any chance for Ling Jianxing’s plan to be carried out to its fruition, Hongfu?” he asked.

“If the mental energy from an active biosentient entity corrected the frequency the tree is forcing on them, it’s possible, but they would never transcend to a higher state of being.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan said coldly.

He stared at the tree’s crown. There was a powerful domain there, and he could sense a strong consciousness from it. Faint wisps of mental energy were gathering on the crown from the brains. It seemed like that was the tree’s heart.

Based on everything that he had learned, the tree had become a new entity and gained a mind of its own. It had even gained a strong desire resembling that of a human. This was no longer a symbiotic organism but a demonic tree.

This should have only happened recently, maybe less than half a year ago. If that were the case, it coincided with when he killed Ling Jianxing.

Perhaps this wasn’t part of the original plan. Maybe he had a way to keep the tree under control, but that didn’t matter now. Chen Chuan couldn’t let the tree stay alive.

Just then, he heard explosions around him, along with loud whistles. It was a sign that the artillerymen in the city had started firing.

But just like the bullets, they were useless against him. After the artillery shells entered his biofield, it was as if they had entered water and slowed down. Even if they exploded and the shrapnel spread out, they could only do it slowly. All that happened was sparks flashing nonstop within his biofield.

Soon, the artillery guns stopped firing, and Chen Chuan heard gunshots further away. Someone was destroying them, and the most likely candidate was Bao Mi’s group.

But he had no time to pay attention to that. He set down his suitcase, yanked off the hoodie, and lifted the Frost King Saber.

The Tree of True Forms sensed danger and started trembling. Massive waves of mental energy charged at him to force him to change his mind.

However, while the mental energy could cover a wide area, its quality was terrible. The tree was trying to push a solid gemstone with mist. In other words, it was useless. They were on two completely different levels of existence. This was a fundamental difference between them.

Once it saw that it was useless, the tree started swaying, and rustling could be heard. Black Armored beetles of various sizes crawled out from the branches and under the leaves. They flapped their wings and flew up.

Chen Chuan stood still, but his eyes flashed. An invisible wave of energy spread outward from him like a gust of wind. All the people within a thousand meters from him collapsed on the ground with their eyes rolled up.

The Black Armored Beetles lost their strength as well. Some fell from the sky while others rolled over before even getting to lift up. Their limbs kept twitching.

Chen Chuan yanked off the sheath from the Frost King Saber. It plunged into the ground as Chen Chuan took a step forward before jumping down. He landed on a thick branch as the scarf drew a red line behind him.

Once he stood still, he cast a glance where the mental energy was the strongest and walked over. The branches around him moved to stop him, but he pushed them back with his biofield, and they slumped down.

As he continued onward, it was as if there was an invisible hand pushing the twisted branches aside. They separated from each other and moved away.

Soon, he reached the core of the mental energy and saw the tree’s real body. It was made of twisted red branches that resembled a brain and shone a coral red.

This was where the tree’s consciousness and essence was. It was the Tree of True Forms’ true form. Even if the tree itself was destroyed, as long as this red thing remained alive, the moment it escaped to another settlement, it could turn it into its foundation and grow again.

It would then continue chasing after everyone’s brains to get the nutrients it needed to grow and evolve.

The moment Chen Chuan arrived, the red thing started trembling like a leaf. The brains on the branches moved, and all sorts of sounds arose. There was cursing, begging, and accusations. Chen Chuan could even hear familiar voices among the speakers.

But he remained unmoved. He brushed the Frost King Saber’s snow-white blade, and it started shining brightly. Then, he held the hilt with both hands, stepped forward, and thrust the blade into the red thing.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.