Chapter 297: The Tree Demon

"Just?" Tan Tianwei sneered, "You really use that word well. You’re still the same, looking down on the position of family head. If that’s the case, why did you come back at all?"

Tan Zhenwei shook his head. "You wouldn’t understand."

Tan Tianwei felt the sting of mockery in his words. He smiled coldly. "Maybe I don’t understand, and that’s fine. But today, I’ll watch you die right here with my own eyes and I’ll be at peace. Shengwei will easily take the position of family head, and you, Tan Zhenwei, are truly pitiful. You wanted to stay in Liuhe Base City but couldn’t. You were forced to return to a family that doesn’t welcome you. You were once a brilliant star, but now you’re cornered and destined to die in this desolate wilderness. What a tragic end."

Tan Zhenwei looked at him calmly. "Are you so confident that you can kill me today?"

Tan Tianwei responded, "I simply can't imagine how you could possibly escap-."

But before he could finish his sentence, an alert signal rang out.

"Northwest, a powerful energy source is rapidly approaching!"

A warning rang out through the communication channel.

Kuramaki Kazuki's expression shifted slightly. In moments, the hummingbird drones patrolling the skies relayed real-time footage. A figure was leaping across the ground, cracking the earth and shattering hills with every step as they charged forward like an unstoppable force.

"It's Li Xiaofei," exclaimed Kuramaki Kazuki, recognizing him with a single glance.

This troublemaker! Time and again, he had disrupted the Jiepeng Empire's plans in Liuhe Base City. He’s shown up again?!

"Stop him!" Tan Tianwei barked. "That little pest must be here to support Tan Zhenwei. We can’t let him get close."

Li Xiaofei’s strength was well-known. Even the typically arrogant Jiepeng had a healthy fear of him.

"We can’t weaken our power armor formations," Kuramaki Kazuki calmly and quickly made a decision. "Send a message to the Wilderness Free Sect. Have them drive the star beasts to intercept Li Xiaofei. No matter the cost, we must keep him away."

An encrypted signal was immediately sent out, and moments later, strange beastly roars echoed from the depths of the surrounding wilderness. They quickly grew in number and volume as the ground began to tremble.

Countless star beasts surged forward like a tidal wave, charging in Li Xiaofei's direction as though they were ready to devour the earth and sky. Above, the sky darkened as clouds gathered. But on closer inspection, they weren't clouds at all. Instead, swarms of Mole Crows, Hanging Cloud Beasts, Red Magpies, Kite Eagles, and other flying star beasts were blotting out the sky as they flew to intercept Li Xiaofei.

In the blink of an eye, the land for hundreds of miles was overwhelmed by a flood of beasts. Even the area where Kuramaki Kazuki and his men stood was engulfed and surrounded by the beast tide. From above, it looked like an ocean of destruction. This was the power of the Earth's newest apex predator species.

"Truly spectacular," Kuramaki Kazuki sighed.

The methods of the Wilderness Free Sect were indeed impressive. These wanderers, who were almost entirely exiled and forsaken by human society and unable to integrate into the base cities, had somehow mastered the ability to control star beasts and had even been accepted by the higher-grade star beasts. They had become a formidable force on land.

Even the Jiepeng Empire’s research teams had not been able to crack the core secrets of the Wilderness Free Sect, forcing the empire to cooperate with them. If only these barbarians could be fully brought under the Empire’s control, the timeline for the Empire's conquest of Great Xia could be significantly accelerated.

It was a pity, however, that despite his long-term contact and multiple collaborations with the sect, Kuramaki had never met their mysterious sect leader. Their leader was too enigmatic and too cautious.

Soon, the energy fluctuations of battle came from the northwest. The sounds of roaring and screeching beasts were clearly audible even from sixty or seventy miles away. It was obvious that the beast horde had intercepted Li Xiaofei and had begun fighting.

"Finish this quickly," Tan Tianwei urged. "We can’t let that little pest Li Xiaofei ruin everything this time."

Kuramaki Kazuki nodded. "Tan Zhenwei, I’m sorry, but it’s time for you to go. Remember this in your next life: never oppose the Jiepeng Empire... Fire."

Zzzzz.

The hum of charging weapons filled the air. The twenty Jiepeng power armors aimed their power weapons at Tan Zhenwei, the barrels flashing with faint electric light as energy beams in their magazines prepared to fire.

But then, something unbelievable happened. The guns, originally aimed at Tan Zhenwei, suddenly turned in another direction.

Zzzzz.

The power machine guns began to fire. Ghostly blue energy rounds slammed into the closest power armors. The red energy shields shattered with a loud crack, and the armors erupted in showers of sparks before exploding. They had turned on each other!

In just a few short breaths, the entire scene transformed. Twenty of the most advanced combat power armors lay destroyed, without a single one spared. Blood was seeping from between the joints.

Kuramaki Kazuki's pupils contracted sharply. A surge of indescribable terror overwhelmed him.

What just happened? My most elite power armor combat squad, wiped out like this?

"Kuramaki-san, it seems the one taking a final journey... is you." Tan Zhenwei laughed.

All traces of fatigue had vanished from his face. An overwhelming, suffocating aura burst forth from Tan Zhenwei like an apocalyptic flood sweeping across the surroundings. Even the star beasts nearby trembled in fear, dropping to the ground in submission. It was as if he had transformed into a completely different person.

"You... Golden Body Realm?" Kuramaki Kazuki stammered in shock. "Who... who are you?!"

There was no mistaking it. The terrifying pressure emanating from Tan Zhenwei had clearly surpassed the Five Spirits Realm. It was the unmistakable presence of the Golden Body Realm. It was a force akin to a god descending that suffocated everyone in its vicinity.

"You’ve wanted to meet me for a long time, haven’t you?" Tan Zhenwei said calmly.

He raised a light brown bark mask and slowly placed it over his face. As soon as it touched his skin, pale green tendrils sprouted from the mask, piercing into his flesh and merging with his body until only his eyes and mouth remained visible. The transformation made him look strange and otherworldly.

"You..." Kuramaki Kazuki's face went blank in confusion.

Suddenly, an unbelievable thought flashed through his mind.

"You’re... No, that’s impossible!" He screamed, his voice bordering on hysteria.

"Heh heh heh..." Underneath the bark mask, Tan Zhenwei let out a cold, chilling laugh. "The Northwest Branch Leader of the Wilderness Free Sect, The Tree Demon... Kuramaki-san, now that you’ve seen me, what do you think?"

Kuramaki Kazuki stumbled, his legs giving way, nearly collapsing to the ground in disbelief.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the man he had considered the greatest obstacle to the Jiepeng Empire’s plans in Great Xia’s Northwest, Tan Zhenwei, was none other than the leader of the Wilderness Free Sect, the very person he had been so desperate to collaborate with!

Was there anything more ironic than this?