Chapter 481 - Hall of Heroic Spirits, #18’s Rise! (Part 1)

Just drawing some blood wasn’t something Manager Ying could decide to give or not. Soon, it leaned against the wall, holding a bottle of milk thrown to it by Lu Ran, and left the ruin space in a huff.

“If only I hadn’t cremated and reincarnated my projection so soon...”

At the same time, #18, who had been hiding behind a tree in the ruin space, peeked out. Watching the two buckets of cat blood at Lu Ran’s feet, it fluttered its wings excitedly as it flew over, silently hoping Manager Ying wouldn’t hold a grudge against it.

This is all for the sake of science...!

“With this, it should be fine, right? Though I’m not sure about the quality. After all, it’s just blood from a clone. Try it out. If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to Blue Planet and draw blood from its main body,” Lu Ran said, handing the two buckets of the blood to #18.

“I’ll give it a try.” #18 was slightly excited.

As a research fanatic, it hadn’t initially thought Manager Ying had any valuable research materials to offer. But now, things were different. In #18’s eyes, Manager Ying’s research value had surpassed even Six-Path Flower’s.

Deep in the ruin space, Six-Path Flower, soaking in the hot springs, curled its lips. In truth, the suggestion to replace the energy source with Manager Ying’s blood had come from it. It had told #18 that while it possessed the Limit Breaker trait, its sap wasn’t a universal resource. Now, it seemed #18 had finally found a new target to exploit.

As #18 hovered mid-air, it shouted. “Hall of Heroic Spirits, summon!”

The next moment, countless mechanical parts appeared behind it, rapidly assembling. In just two seconds, a grand, majestic black Chinese-style palace materialized behind it.

Even though it was entirely composed of mechanical parts, the Hall of Heroic Spirits that #18 had crafted exuded an ancient charm. Its architectural style was inspired by the palace Six-Path Flower had built for Lu Ran and its underworld domain.

“Energy replacement.”

#18 reached out and grabbed the blood, enveloping it in spatial fluctuations before tossing it into the Hall of Heroic Spirits’ energy chamber. It then took out the ruin branch, which was an object imbued with the Tree Monarch’s faith power.

After the Tree Monarch’s death, she transformed her beastmaster space into a legacy ruin and placed it somewhere. As one of the top human powerhouses of the Divine Tree Era, the Tree Monarch had not only been a guardian but also a peerless beauty.

Whether it was out of reverence or a desire to gain her legacy, many had worshipped her, with some even establishing a “Tree Monarch Festival” in her honor.

Among the countless worshippers, many beastmasters had genuine devotion, and the faith power they generated was absorbed by the ruin branch, the core of the legacy ruin. Recently, the ruin branch had become #18’s primary research subject. It was mainly because Lu Ran hadn’t had anything else suitable for her to study.

In the Hall of Heroic Spirits’ energy chamber, #18 replaced Six-Path Flower’s sap with Manager Ying’s blood. After adjusting some parameters, it immediately set the Hall of Heroic Spirits back into operation.

Inside the energy pillar, the blood churned like boiling magma, merging with the spiritual power #18 injected into the Hall of Heroic Spirits and the faith power drawn from the ruin branch.

Outside, Lu Ran watched with great interest. He had seen #18’s Hall of Heroic Spirits before, but the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit it had previously manifested lacked not only power and consciousness but even a clear face. It was a complete failure.

As time passed under Lu Ran’s expectant gaze, the doors of the Hall of Heroic Spirits opened. #18 closed its eyes in front of the hall, focusing 200% of its mental energy on operating the massive heroic spirit summoning machine. Meanwhile, Lu Ran, as the witness, grew serious. His gaze was fixed on the figure emerging from the hall.

“Tree Monarch?”

The figure stepped out with closed eyes. She had long hair interwoven with white and light green. There was an extraordinary aura about her. This time, not only was her appearance vividly clear, but her attire was also incredibly lifelike.

Her noble and luxurious dress, adorned with golden trimmings, flowed like water, and the plant-themed ribbons with vine-leaf motifs at the ends made her resemble a plant goddess.

Lu Ran’s heartbeat quickened at the sight. Even the Tree Monarch’s phantom he had seen in the ruin space had been blurry. Yet now, using Manager Ying’s blood as an energy source, #18 had manifested the Tree Monarch’s phantom with startling realism.

The next moment, the Tree Monarch opened her emerald-green eyes, and a powerful energy fluctuation erupted from her. Lu Ran took a deep breath. Despite his formidable foundation, he actually felt a hint of pressure.

What is going on?

Unfortunately, although the Tree Monarch had opened her eyes, there was still no trace of emotion in them. #18 also slowly opened its eyes, revealing a mix of disappointment and joy.

“Success... yet failure. This Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit possesses a certain level of power, matching my own. It’s roughly at the peak of a level 5. However, she lacks the Tree Monarch’s consciousness. Even with power, she probably can’t utilize it to a passable level. Only she herself could wield her power perfectly. Relying on external control won’t work,” No. 18 lamented.

“Holy shit.”

Lu Ran listened to #18’s words and stared at the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit, completely shocked.

Manager Ying’s blood actually worked?

Before Lu Ran could fully process his surprise, the Divine Deer and Squirrel God, who had been resting, simultaneously opened their eyes in confusion and looked toward the Tree Monarch ruin space.

Without hesitation, they immediately headed to the ruin space’s coordinates. Although they both had the ability to forcibly enter Lu Ran’s ruin space, given that Lu Ran was the messenger of the Time Dragon’s kin, they chose to call out to him first despite their immense curiosity.

“I didn’t pay much attention to this alternate space before, but now it seems its spatial fluctuations are strikingly similar to her beastmaster space,” the Divine Deer remarked.

Squirrel God also looked surprised. “Indeed. This messenger managed to obtain the Void Grass legacy, contract Six-Path Flower, and even acquire the ruin space. It’s not too strange. However, if I didn’t misperceive the earlier fluctuations, could it be that she’s also been revived?”

The Divine Deer and Squirrel God were startled. Manager Ying, who had been drinking milk, froze momentarily before returning to the heart-wrenching scene.

Hearing the big shots outside calling for him, Lu Ran, still inside the ruin space, realized they were likely drawn by the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit. But was the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit really enough to warrant such a reaction from them?

Without hesitation, Lu Ran opened the entrance to the ruin space and invited the Divine Deer and Squirrel God inside. Since they were here, he might as well ask them to guide #18 on the use of faith power.

Although the Divine Deer and Squirrel God had not ascended to Divine rank through faith power, they had countless worshippers. As stabilizers of the continent, they had saved countless lives from dire straits. Even a small village like the Lu Village could provide the Divine Deer with substantial faith power, let alone the accumulated faith power over countless years on the Stellar Moon Continent.

However, since they weren’t faith-based gods, their mastery of faith power paled in comparison to true faith-based lifeforms. They had immense faith reserves but couldn’t utilize them to 100%. It was a compatibility issue. Their core abilities lay in the messenger’s power system, which allowed them to borrow the power of the Four Divine Dragons.

Even so, they were far beyond #18’s league. After all, #18 had only been researching faith power for a little over a month, and that was just scratching the surface.

“It’s really her.”

“This state... a spirit body? A thought form? A phantom? But there doesn’t seem to be any consciousness.”

Upon entering, the Divine Deer and Squirrel God were surprised to see the Tree Monarch and voiced their observations.

Their gazes then shifted to the Hall of Heroic Spirits behind #18, deep in thought.

“Time Messenger, what have you done to the Tree Monarch?” the Divine Deer asked.

Lu Ran scratched his head. “Nothing much. I just wanted to see if we could revive the Tree Monarch in the form of a heroic spirit. However, it seems like we failed.”

The Divine Deer and Squirrel God looked at Manager Ying.

Is this your doing? A skill like this, which disrupts the balance of life and death, would surely draw the attention of the Death Dragon’s kin, right? But since you’re a kin of the Time Dragon, and we’re all colleagues, turning a blind eye shouldn’t be a big deal.

Manager Ying’s heart dropped.

My doing? I am the victim here!

“It wasn’t my idea. It was probably Six-Path Flower’s,” Manager Ying said flatly.

“I see.” The Divine Deer and Squirrel God nodded.

“Sister Six-Path Flower must still be concerned about the war of the Plant Gods and Beast Gods,” Squirrel God said.

There had been two Legendary wars between the Plant Gods and the Beast Gods. The first was the era-opening battle led by the Divine Tree, Six-Path Flower, and the Void Grass, which ended the Beastmaster Era and ushered in the Divine Tree and Plant Era.

The second occurred ten thousand years later, led by the Divine Tree and newly ascended Plant Gods. This war ended the Divine Tree Era, leaving both sides severely weakened and paving the way for humanity’s rise and the Mechanical Era.

Upon seeing Manager Ying and Lu Ran’s intentions to revive the Tree Monarch, the Divine Deer and Squirrel God wondered whether they were planning a third Legendary war.

The two attendants fell silent, sensing something was off.

Is this cat and this person really a Divine Dragon’s kin and messenger?

“In any case, being able to revive this Mythical plantmaster in this form shows that the timekeeper’s faction is truly brimming with talent,” the Divine Deer said, glancing at Manager Ying.

It didn’t believe Manager Ying hadn’t been involved. #18 was just a Superior Overlord mechanical lifeform. There was no way it could possibly have the ability to revive a Mythical plantmaster. Even if it wasn’t the timekeeper’s direct intention, the timekeeper had likely played a role. Only the power of Time bestowed by the Time Dragon could achieve such a feat.

Lu Ran suddenly froze.

“Wait, hold on... Mythical plantmaster? Wasn’t the Tree Monarch only Epic-Legendary when she died?”

The Divine Deer and Squirrel God paused, carefully examining the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit.

The Divine Deer said, “My oversight. Although the energy fluctuations match, it seems this is her past life. That makes sense. The timekeeper has lost most of its memories. Even if it hadn’t, it’s rarely been in Stellar Moon, and the Six-Path Reincarnation God didn’t participate in the second Legendary war between the species. It seems you’ve only regarded her as the Tree Monarch.

“The Tree Monarch was a divine messenger chosen by the Flower God. However, due to a rare time-related illness, she could only reincarnate under the Flower God’s arrangements. The Tree Monarch, after reincarnation, was the Mythical plantmaster recorded in history. Of course, very few knew this information, so it’s understandable that you were unaware.

“It wasn’t just this. The Mythical plantmaster found the new name the Flower God gave her so unpleasant that she barely left any trace of her name in history, remaining shrouded in mystery,” Squirrel God added, laughing heartily as it looked at the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit.

Lu Ran’s mouth fell open as he stared at the unconscious Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit.

Holy shit! No wonder she said, ‘We’ll meet again someday,’ when giving me her legacy. Turns out she knew she was going to reincarnate.

Come to think of it, history also recorded that the Mythical plantmaster conquered the Tree Monarch’s ruin and obtained her legacy.

So it was her taking her own legacy.

That was the normal timeline, but in the ascension realm, Lu Ran had intercepted it, though the Tree Monarch didn’t seem to mind.

Too bad. If that had been the actual timeline, I might’ve really met the Mythical Tree Monarch again in the future. She probably never imagined she’d just be a projection.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

“What name did the Flower God give the Tree Monarch after reincarnation? Why did she dislike it?” Lu Ran asked.

Squirrel God rummaged in its spatial storage and pulled out a food item. “This. Since the Flower God assisted the Tree Monarch’s reincarnation, she named the young, reborn Tree Monarch ‘Peanut.’

“As the Tree Monarch grew up, she found the name so embarrassing that she traveled the continent as a nameless one, which is why her records are so mysterious. However, she was quite active in that final Legendary war, suppressing no small number of Beast Gods. She’s truly worthy of being the messenger trained by the Divine Tree’s daughter,” Squirrel God said.

Peanut...

Lu Ran’s lips twitched. He was familiar with the Flower God. He later learned that the Flower God’s species was World Flower. It was the most vibrant bloom on the Divine Tree’s main branch, awakened to life by the Divine Tree. It was essentially the Divine Tree’s daughter.

According to the ascension realm’s progression, after receiving the Tree Monarch’s legacy, he was supposed to train under the Flower God. Unfortunately, the dungeon had ended abruptly.

Lu Ran’s connection with the Flower God didn’t end there. In the Mechanical Era ascension realm, he had also obtained a drop of the Flower God’s nectar. It was a growth resource that the Flower God condensed to nurture warriors.

This Flower God, though a newly ascended god after the Divine Tree ushered in the Plant Era, was essentially the Divine Tree’s daughter, making it incredibly powerful. Its talent rivaled Six-Path Flower’s, earning it the nickname “Six-Path Flower No. 2.”

In the final war, it possessed Superior-Legendary strength. Without such power, it couldn’t have become the Plant faction’s primary god overseeing the Ten-Thousand-Year Pact. In other words, the Divine Tree had awakened the Flower God to act as its proxy, managing affairs while it recuperated in seclusion.

While Lu Ran conversed with Squirrel God and the others, #18 attempted to command the Tree Monarch’s heroic spirit. Under the Hall of Heroic Spirits’ power, not only was the Tree Monarch manifested, but she could even summon her contracted familiars.

As the Harvest Dragon was summoned, Manager Ying, standing nearby, went completely numb. It knew its blood would inevitably be frequently drawn from now on.