Chapter 547 - One Thing After Another

This actually all started two days ago. The Divine Deer delivered the World Fruit that Lu Ran provided to the World's Root. Originally, the Divine Tree suffered greater injuries than the Dragon God and was supposed to be dormant for many more years, but the fruit allowed it to reawaken much earlier.

Once it awakened, the Divine Tree was caught up on current events. It learned about Limitless City, the revival of Peanut and Six-Path Flower, as well as Six-Path Flower breaking through its previous limits. Eventually, the topic of Lu Ran fighting the Beast Gods came up, and it devised a strategy to help him.

If the Chaos Dragon God was still dormant and Lu Ran only had to face the three Beast Gods, then everything would be simple. Lu Ran and Tree Monarch could handle them on their own.

If the Chaos Dragon God did awaken, the Divine Tree could definitely step in to fight it, but the battle would wreak massive damage across the Stellar Moon World. The Divine Deer and the other kin of the Divine Dragons hoped to avoid this scenario.

In the end, everyone agreed on a strategy that utilized the Squirrel God’s Space powers to re-enact Xia’s initial clash with the Black Dragon King. They would seal the Chaos Dragon God until they were better prepared to fight it.

Having reached Primary Divine, the Divine Tree naturally acquired some sealing abilities along the way. Even if sealing wasn’t its specialty, it was still enough to pin down another Primary-Divine-ranked creature for a while. It would just have to be willing to pay a hefty price to do so.

For Divine-ranked creatures, being confined for a few years was no big deal. Under normal circumstances, such a tactic wouldn’t do anything besides waste the Divine Tree’s energy.

A few years weren’t enough for the balance of power to tilt the other way in most instances. However, Limitless City’s existence was a game-changer, not to mention Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower’s fate-defying nature.

Since Lu Ran helped it reawaken, the Divine Tree willingly sacrificed itself to hold the Chaos Dragon God back for a few years. This would give Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower more time to grow. It hoped that by the time the Chaos Dragon broke free, Lu Ran would be strong enough to protect the world.

That was everything that led up to what was currently happening. As soon as the Chaos Dragon God tried to act, the Divine Tree moved to suppress it. With its physical body restrained, the strand of its will that it imbued into the three Beast Gods was significantly weakened.

“Get out of the way. It’s mine!”

The Chaos Dragon God and Six-Path Flower’s divine auras repeatedly clashed in the air. After a while, Six-Path Flower got the upper hand and shattered the Dragon God’s phantom.

“Ahhhhh! Damn you all!”

This outcome made the Chaos Dragon God feel both infuriated and powerless. It was already being suppressed by the Divine Tree, and now the Six-Path Flower, with Lu Ran’s help, crushed the stand of its will.

It could only watch as it was forced to abandon the Beast Gods. Without the support of its will, the Beast Gods’ bodies were taken over by Six-Path Flower’s Beast Path talent and turned into puppets.

Damn it!

Through the broadcast, Stellar Moon beastmasters watch the Dragon God’s phantom fade away. They originally thought that the world was about to end since angering a Primary-Divine being had never turned out well throughout history. The most recent incident almost tore the entire Stellar Moon World apart.

Unexpectedly, the battle didn’t escalate as they had predicted. The feared apocalypse never came to pass. Everything calmed down again once the Dragon God’s will was destroyed.

The three Beast Gods were dead, and the Chaos Dragon God was gone. It was like nothing ever happened. Lu Ran, who stood there with his black robes flowing in the wind, let out a deep sigh.

He looked at Tree Monarch, then peered into the pocket dimension where Manager Ying and the Squirrel God were hiding, before finally turning to #18, who was flying toward him.

“End the broadcast.”

“Yes, Master,” #18 exhaustedly replied.

Even though #18 wasn’t designed as a broadcasting robot, it would be remembered in the broadcasting world from that day onwards. It at least did more than Baby Cloud, who didn’t contribute in the battle at all.

Bzzt!

The moment the broadcast cut off, several spaceships took off from the Federation headquarters and headed toward Lu Ran.

“If everything goes according to plan, then the Federation’s top brass should be arriving soon,” Lu Ran muttered to himself on the tattered remains of the island.

“Now that I've dealt with the threat of the three Beast Gods, it’s time for them to pay up. Ugh...”

While Lu Ran was still thinking about his next move, his complexion paled. His level dropped back to 7, and the various buffs that were in effect faded. He quickly took out a thousand-year-old ginseng root. His condition improved slightly once he started chewing on it like a piece of gum.

“How can you be so frail at such a young age?” Tree Monarch joked. “To be fair, you are the first human to have ever reached the Mythical rank using a Time enchantment.”

“Gee, thanks,” Lu Ran replied.

His familiars’ conditions soon followed and returned to normal as well. The Time Fruits combined with the Mythical-ranked Soul Amplification proved to be quite burdensome on level 80 familiars.

“Awoo!”

Captain Doofus’s werewolf phantom dispersed, but it managed to pull together its companion before collapsing to the ground. It refused to return to its contract card on account of being unwilling to leave its spoils of war unattended.

“Roar!”

Sudden Death King was huge and had powerful talents, but it was the most affected. Unlike Captain Doofus, it was more than glad to go back to its contract card after the big fight.

Dark Crow had a relatively easier time since its burden was shared by its entire legion.

“Listen up! Now that the Dragon God threat is temporarily taken care of, I shall now announce our next mission!” Dark Crow declared.

“What are your orders?” its legion responded.

“We shall have our master crowned the king of Stellar Moon!”

“King of Stellar Moon!” the voices of thousands of crows shouted in unison.

Lu Ran had had enough of the lot and sent them back to where they belonged, but not before the Federation’s leadership arrived. The crow’s shouts almost made their souls leave their bodies.

What the hell?

Several of the politicians started to look nervous, but Mechanical Leader wasn’t fazed in the slightest. He signaled for the spaceship to land near Lu Ran. The Federation’s leadership had arrived just as Lu Ran predicted.

Not wanting to get involved in modern affairs, Tree Monarch turned and walked away. Her familiars followed, and together they disappeared into a different space.

Lu Ran, still chewing on a ginseng root, approached the incoming group.

“#18, go gather our spoils with Six-Path Flower. I have some important people to meet.”

Six-Path Flower ignored the ship as it continued to stare at the Beast Gods with a hint of regret.

These three would’ve made for great puppets. It’s such a waste to just feed them to a dog.

However, deep down, it knew that powering up Captain Doofus was the more effective choice. It let out a final sigh before accepting the situation. It wasn’t like it didn’t foresee this.

“Hey, you guys look familiar! Didn’t I beat some of you up before?

Hahahahaha...

”

Lu Ran saw several familiar faces in the group from the spaceship, such as Sprite Queen, Mechanical Leader, Divine Throne, Longqi, and Yu Mu. Lu Ran’s greeting made these people’s expressions darken, but they didn’t otherwise express their displeasure.

“I know what you’re worried about, but you can relax. The Divine Tree has also awakened and suppressed the Chaos Dragon God. It won’t be able to cause any trouble for a few years.”

“I see!” Sprite Queen’s face lit up.

“That’s great news. If the Divine Tree is awake, then we have nothing to fear.”

“You’re too optimistic. The Divine Tree has never officially sided with humanity. It only aims to protect awakened plantlife. Once the Chaos Dragon God escapes, it wouldn’t necessarily go out of its way to protect humans. I was able to ally with the Divine Tree because I used Limitless City’s power to resurrect the Six-Path God.”

“In short, the Federation might be safe for now, but there are still dangers lurking in the shadows. The threat hasn’t been entirely eliminated. Don’t think of the Divine Tree as the guardian of mankind. Being the nice person that I am, I’m open to making a deal with you all.

“For example, I could give your elites the opportunity to develop in other worlds. I can even become Stellar Moon’s guardian myself to guide its people through the uncertain future. You’ve just seen my strength for yourselves.” Lu Ran smiled faintly.

“Of course, none of this is free. For the first option, there will be a toll for transporting your people across worlds, plus living expenses and a security deposit to ensure the beastmasters sent to Blue Planet don’t stir up any trouble.

“For the second option, the Stellar Moon Federation would naturally have to pay a protection fee. It’s not a bad deal, right?”

The Federation’s leadership collectively fell silent.

This damn kid...

“Don’t be so quick to refuse. The hidden dangers aren’t limited to the Chaos Dragon God. Back during the time of the Beastmaster Empire, its greatest enemy was the Evil God clan. Their leader is a Superior Legendary that is approaching the realm of Primary Divine. Recently, there have been signs of its seal weakening.”

Lu Ran casually fabricated another threat to spook the Federation.

“Also, there are the Elemental Gods that were never officially wiped out. Most of them were only sealed away. You can ask the Divine Dragon kin if you don’t believe me. If any of these creatures were to get loose again, then they would wash the world in blood.

“Even if none of these things scare you, I did just kill the three Beast Gods to protect three of your major cities. You should at least show some gratitude, right?” Lu Ran shrugged.

“We agree to everything you’ve said,” Mechanical Leader said without hesitation. “We’ll want to establish a strong relationship with you.”

“Smart man.” Lu Ran nodded. He liked dealing with smart people.

Although Lu Ran was openly being greedy and shameless, it didn’t invalidate what he said. The Federation would have to face those threats sooner or later. Since Lu Ran exhibited rapid growth, investing in him was clearly the best option.

“In that case, you can start preparing the money. The main resource I need right now is money. Anything else would have to be exceptionally special to catch my interest. Maybe something like the Light of Annihilation, the doomsday device,” Lu Ran hinted.

“I would like full access to Stellar Moon’s technology. You really don’t have any reason to refuse. Even if you don’t give it to me, I can use my administrator privileges to pick an ascension realm in the era of the Republic to acquire even more advanced technology.

“The only reason I’m asking is because I’m short on time, and I have more important things to deal with. It’s really one of the few things that you have to offer.”

Mechanical Leader closed his eyes for a moment.

“We will convene a meeting after we return to discuss it before giving you an answer.”

“Alright.” Lu Ran whistled a tune as he hopped onto the Ju Yan puppet with Six-Path Flower at his side.

Lu Ran went back down on the people who came to see him.

“You go ahead and discuss it. I have other matters to attend to. See you guys later.”

With that, Lu Ran departed the battlefield. As for the three Beast Gods, they had already been disposed of.

Watching Lu Ran leave so casually, the dozen Federation officials could only feel helpless. None of them had expected the problem that had plagued Stellar Moon to be resolved so effortlessly by this young man. Even the might of a nation wasn’t enough to give them an equal footing in the negotiations just now.

“He’s the ultimate victor of the World War and the center of this era. We should be grateful that he doesn’t bear any ill intent toward Stellar Moon,” one of the other Legendary beastmasters finally said.

“I’m not so sure about that. I heard his familiar say that he wants to become the king of Stellar Moon,” someone commented. “We can’t let our guard down.”

“You mean the crow?” another person asked. “Ignore it. I’ve looked into it, and the bird is an idiot. It’s been spouting nonsense like that even before it transcended.”

After he left, Lu Ran naturally went to meet up with his “colleagues”.

In a certain forest, led by the Divine Deer, the surviving Divine Dragon’s kin were gathered. Some were physically present while others sent an avatar to congratulate Lu Ran on his victory.

Without asking for their help, he killed the three Beast Gods, and with the Divine Tree, he prevented a Primary Divine from plunging the world into turmoil. His current strength had undoubtedly earned him the respect of the kin who now treated him as an equal.

“I have completed my mission,” Lu Ran said as he arrived. “The issue is that if I want to finish the Chaos Dragon God, I would need to enter another ascension realm for more training. My next destination is the Elemental Era, where I will search for traces of the Divine Dragons. Can I ask you all how I can easily obtain the trust of the four Supreme Divine Dragons?”

Ghost Mother was the first to nod. “Hmm. In that regard, there’s good news and bad news.”

Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower exchanged a glance.

“The good news is that we have a suitable token in mind to prove your identity. In fact, it can be regarded as part of Lord Death Dragon’s body. It’s the Legendary item, the Stone of the Other Shore. Coincidentally, it was found on Blue Planet thanks to the information you provided.

“The bad news is that even before you think about facing the Chaos Dragon God, you will need to quickly acquire the strength of a Superior Legendary or even Quasi-Primary Divine.

“The Evil God’s seal has started to crack. I estimate that it will break free in less than half a year! It is one of the most problematic creatures beneath the Primary Divine rank. Even we don’t know what to do about it.”

Lu Ran: ???

What the hell? Did Ghost Mother just say Evil God? I was just making stuff up to scare the Federation leaders. Did I jinx myself?