Chapter 1967: The Little Mother Tree

Leaf King's eye twitched, as he did not want to answer, but as Lu Yin stared at him, the man finally answered. “I kept the Mother Tree’s bark that I picked up back then and used my innate gift to nourish it until it became a treasure that I could use as a last resort."

Lu Yin's eyes lit up, and he looked off into the distance. He was desperate to gather as much of the Mother Tree’s bark as possible at this moment. "So, are you a human or a tree now?"

Leaf King gave a bitter smile. "I don't actually know. I can be considered both a person and a tree."

"If you got a hold of Sapling, what would you do with it?" Lu Yin asked.

Leaf King's eyes flashed. "I naturally want to nurture it and wait for it to fully mature."

"Why?"

"I could use it as my clone. The Lingling clan’s Soulsplitting Technique isn’t a real cloning technique, but rather a short-term battle technique. I want a technique similar to Progenitor Chen's nine clones. I want to understand how that sapling came to be so that I can raise more saplings and develop countless clones. This will allow me to keep my main body safe and let me continuously cultivate until I reach the Semi-Progenitor level. After that, who in the Fifth Mainland could be my opponent?" Leaf King gushed. He started flushing from his mounting excitement as he continued speaking.

While Leaf King’s answer sounded fine, Lu Yin still felt that something about it was off. He glanced over at the Second Nightking.

The Second Nightking had spent a long time following Lu Yin, and thus he naturally understood what Lu Yin wanted from that glance. Lu Yin wanted the Second Nightking to use his spiritual force to create an illusion that would force the truth out of Leaf King.

Given the Second Nightking’s strength, there was absolutely nothing that Leaf King could do to resist the Second Nightking’s illusions.

Leaf King’s eyes quickly turned dull, and he repeated the exact same response that he had already given Lu Yin.

Lu Yin stared at the man. "Why were you so desperate to get Sapling as soon as possible?"

Even though Leaf King's eyes remained dull, his expression became incredibly animated. "I want to use it as a clone so that I can research how to produce more clones! In the future, I’ll become invincible in this Fifth Mainland, and everyone will have to respect me! What Hall of Honor? What Daosource Sect? All will bow before me! I will become the Mother Tree, and I will become everything in this universe."

Lu Yin looked away from the man to check with the Second Nightking.

The old man nodded, confirming that Leaf King was still lost in the illusion, which meant that he was speaking the truth.

Lu Yin let out a long breath. Apparently, he had been overthinking the situation. However, right when Lu Yin was about to have the Second Nightking dispel the illusion, footsteps approached from behind. They belonged to Yu Er.

She had been hiding underground. Although she had initially been frozen, luckily for her, she had been at the very edge of the battlefield, and she had not gotten caught up in the rest of the fight. Otherwise, even a shockwave would have killed her.

"He lied," Yu Er spoke up.

Lu Yin was startled by her voice, and he turned around to look at the girl. "What was that?"

The girl blinked at him. Her face was gray from the dirt that covered it, but the filth just made her look more playful and cute than normal. "Leaf King just lied. He once said that regardless of how powerful his opponent was, any and all spiritual force techniques would be useless against him."

"Useless? Why?" Lu Yin was surprised.

Yu Er shook her head. "I don't know why, but that’s what he said."

As she spoke, Yu Er wiped her face to clean it.

Lu Yin slowly turned his head back around to look at Leaf King again. The man’s eyes were still dull, indicating that he was still lost in the illusion.

Lu Yin stared at Leaf King for a long time. For some reason, he found himself believing Yu Er over Leaf King. Yu Er simply wanted to survive, and the girl had no enmity with Lu Yin. In fact, she probably wanted to rely on Lu Yin to survive, so it was not very likely that she would lie to Lu Yin.

However, there was no proof supporting Yu Er's claim that Leaf King was immune to even the Second Nightking’s spirit force techniques.

Lu Yin started thinking as he glanced around. Far in the distance, he saw Shamrock Enterprise’s headquarters. There were countless people trembling in that area, as well as many unconscious on the ground. Little Leaf King was among the people who had collapsed, and it was impossible to know whether he was dead or alive.

Lu Yin also saw Balsam, and as he noticed her, she looked up at Lu Yin, and their eyes met.

"Come here," Lu Yin casually ordered.

Balsam frowned, but after thinking about the situation for a moment, she walked through the sky to approach Lu Yin. She saw Leaf King's dull eyes, and Balsam’s expression showed sadness and despair.

"What do you want with me, Alliance Leader Lu?" Balsam asked quietly.

Lu Yin indifferently answered, "I want to see you."

"I don't understand." Balsam remained perfectly calm.

Lu Yin explained, "How much do you know about Leaf King?"

Balsam did not even look at Lu Yin, but continued to just stare at Leaf King. "I don't know anything about Leaf King at all."

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Aren't you afraid to die?"

Balsam slowly walked closer to Leaf King and knelt down before slowly embracing the man. "He saved me and gave me everything."

Lu Yin frowned. This created a new problem, though it also supported the idea that Leaf King might be lying. Lu Yin had previously threatened Leaf King by saying that he would compare his story to Balsam's, but that suddenly seemed impossible with Balsam refusing to say anything at all. Threatening Leaf King any further would likely only ensure that Lu Yin received a slightly larger percentage of the truth.

To make people want to believe a lie, it was usually important to make the lie 90% true and only 10% false. Leaf King should have left at least 10% of his story as a lie.

"What a pity. If you had told me everything, things would be fine, but since you won’t say anything, I can’t believe Leaf King's story," Lu Yin stated.

Balsam closed her eyes, clearly suffering.

"I'd rather kill someone and be wrong than make a mistake in letting them go," Lu Yin continued. He waved a hand. "Get rid of him."

The Second Nightking’s strength instantly spiked.

Leaf King's dull eyes immediately regained clarity. “Wait!”

He shoved Balsam away and then looked at Lu Yin and started pleading, "Don't kill me! I’ve been alive since the Daosource Sect era, and as long as I can live a bit longer, I really will be able to achieve immortality! Alliance Leader Lu, please don't kill me! I can be of value to you! I can make you immortal!"

Lu Yin smirked and casually replied, "Do you really think that I care about immortality? That was never anything more than an excuse."

Leaf King started begging. "But I really do have a method to allow you to live forever! It’s impossible for humans to live forever, but there are already many immortal creatures in the universe, and the Mother Tree is one of them. Throughout all of human history, many things have been destroyed and lost, but the Mother Tree has never fallen. I’ve absorbed a bit of the Mother Tree, and given a bit of time, I can add that substance into your body as well. You’ll have the Mother Tree added to your body, just like me, which will make you immortal! Alliance Leader Lu, it is true immortality."

Lu Yin arched a brow. "You want me to become a tree like you? If I’m going to abandon my humanity identity, then why don't I just become a corpse king and join Aeternus? They also promised me immortality."

Leaf King gritted his teeth. "Those creatures are nothing more than emotionless bits of flesh and blood. So what if they can live forever?"

Lu Yin raised a hand and created a sharp blade that sliced off one of Leaf King's arms while knocking the man back. "Look at you. You don’t even have flesh or blood anymore. One option requires a person to abandon their emotions while the other makes them abandon their very flesh and blood. Neither option remains human, and I simply want to be human, not some monster."

Both of Leaf King's arms were useless, so he struggled to get to his feet. "I can help you study the concept of space! That flower really can be studied."

A smile spread across Lu Yin's face. "My understanding of the Ce Secret Art already incorporates the concept of space, and it’s far more useful than your flower."

"I can help you absorb other people's strength! Alliance Leader Lu, when you and I were first fighting, the reason why I was able to defend against your Hollow Palm was because I had already absorbed some of your strength!" Leaf King shouted.

Lu Yin was puzzled by this statement. "What does that mean?"

Leaf King’s breath was ragged, and he softly explained, “I already knew that you were coming here to make trouble. I never thought that I would be able to keep my attempts to steal that little sapling hidden from you, so I made some arrangements early on. When we were observing that flower, you sat in a place where I was able to absorb your power. I used that chance to absorb your physical strength and incorporate it into my own body, which was what allowed me to temporarily possess enough strength to stand up to your Hollow Palm.”

"The tree that imprisoned the Second Nightking is actually my true body while this one is nothing more than a form that I sent my consciousness into. I truly have no way to match your physical strength, so my only option was to absorb it and gain the means from you. You were only able to remove my arms with a single attack because I’ve already used up all of the strength that I absorbed from you."

Lu Yin was stunned. "That’s a very useful innate gift."

Leaf King let out a sigh of relief. "Yes, very useful. As long as you don't kill me, I can help you absorb others’ powers and let you walk down the road of true invincibility. Let's study both space and immortality together! My Shamrock Enterprise can even help you by providing you with tremendous amounts of resources. Alliance Leader Lu, my death won’t help you at all, but keeping me alive can provide you with many benefits."

The Second Nightking glanced over at Lu Yin. The old man actually felt quite convinced, as Leaf King seemed far too useful. On top of that, no one knew better than the Second Nightking just how difficult it was to survive the Daosource Sect era, and it seemed that Leaf King might truly be immortal.

After a long period of silence, Lu Yin finally clasped his hands behind his back. "You’re very convincing."

Leaf King's eyes lit up.

"Unfortunately," Lu Yin continued in a frosty voice, "You’re definitely still hiding something. Being able to live since the Daosource Sect era does demonstrate your worth, but it also shows how resourceful you are, and you are clearly not my friend.”

Lu Yin did not continue, but his intentions were crystal clear. He was wary of Leaf King, and the man was not going to survive.

Once again, the Second Nightking’s aura spiked, and he stared at Leaf King as though he were already looking at a corpse.

Leaf King's expression changed completely. "Wait! I wanted to take that sapling away from you because it’s the Mother Tree!"

Leaf King’s words shocked both Lu Yin and the Second Nightking. Balsam and Yu Er had no idea what the Mother Tree was, but the two men certainly did.

"What did you say?" Both men spoke in unison, disbelief clear in their voices.

Leaf King acted as though his words had drained every last bit of his strength away. His head hung low, and he let out a few dry chuckles. It was impossible to know if he was laughing at himself or someone else.

Lu Yin made no effort to rush the man, and he simply waited patiently.

Leaf King finally lifted his head slowly and let out a breath. "I absorbed a substance from the Mother Tree, and it transformed me into a half-human, half-tree being. The stellular energy pills aren’t just a condensation of my own strength, but also a condensation of a power that comes from the substance that I absorbed from the Mother Tree. That little sapling grew from a stellular energy pill, and one possibility is that it is relying on the material from the Mother Tree to grow. I have no idea what you did to cause it to grow, and logically, it should be impossible for any saplings to grow and produce more of the substance that I absorbed from the Mother Tree, but somehow, it appeared.”

"I don't understand the process, but since it happened, it can only mean that there will be another Mother Tree. If I can get ahold of that sapling, I will obtain control of a Mother Tree. I can even get it to take root in the true universe, absorb stellular energy for me, and even protect me. I could also use it to absorb more of the substance that I took from the Mother Tree to further improve my own body. That sapling is invaluable to me. Honestly, who would not care about another Mother Tree appearing? Throughout all of history, there has only ever been one Mother Tree, and it gave birth to everything, which is why it is impossible for there to be another one. And yet, a sprout has appeared. That sapling is true immortality.”

"I can try to possess it to become a real Mother Tree myself, achieving eternal life!"

Leaf King said everything in a single breath, sharing his greatest secret as he stared at Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, with that sapling and me helping you, you can truly live forever! It’s absolutely possible! Even if you don’t want to be transformed into a tree, I can still study that substance so that we can accelerate the sapling’s growth until it truly becomes the second Mother Tree."