A black tide of mechanical legions surged forth, layer upon layer, connecting and covering the Dominion's avatar. They quickly merged, transforming into a gigantic Mechanical Deity that stretched across the starry sky.
Han Xiao piloted the massive Supreme Heavenly Venerate Body, traversing the starry river within the World Tree's territory, rapidly advancing towards the most dazzling starlight.
Before long, a planet entwined with roots came into view, getting closer and closer.
Without a word, Han Xiao raised his palm, and a strong Psionic Energy light emanated from it. The next moment, a thick beam of light shot out, piercing through the planet like a spear of light, just like a steel needle skewering a meatball.
A gaping hole remains on the planet's surface, exposing its internal structure: the crust, asthenosphere, and core, each layer distinct, like a multi-layered cake.
After a moment of stillness, the planet suddenly collapsed inward toward the opening, its crust shattering into molten flow, its asthenosphere surging and violently churning, its core brightness increasing dramatically, and a burst of intense light erupting from its center. The next instant, a deafening explosion occurred, shattering the entire planet into an expanding ball of light.
Han Xiao's mecha remained unmoved, its shield automatically blocking the powerful shockwave from the planetary explosion. Amidst flashes of electricity, it was completely unharmed, as if it were surrounded by layers of energy hurricanes.
This time, they've come specifically to cause trouble; they don't need to be as cautious as they were more than ten years ago. They want to make a big show of it.
The Information State alert network was immediately activated, and soon the entire World Tree Civilization knew about Han Xiao's sudden appearance and the destruction of a planet.
Before Han Xiao had gone far, the surrounding space rippled, and batches of World Tree fleets arrived at the scene via the World Tree Express, opening fire without hesitation on the planet-sized Supreme Heavenly Venerate Mecha in front of them.
A dense rain of light bombarded the Supreme Heavenly Venerate's shield, but it was all bark and no bite, only managing to create large bursts of energy sparks, unable to break through the impenetrable barrier.
Han Xiao raised his hand and clenched it, unleashing a surge of energy that crushed warships one after another. Although he was surrounded by the fleet, it was as if he had turned the tables and surrounded all the enemies.
Soon, more World Tree fleets arrived on the battlefield using the World Tree Territory's rapid arrival portals, joining the battle and surrounding Han Xiao with increasing numbers of warships focusing their fire.
In the Tree King Palace on the other side, both the Ancestral Tree King and the Anchor Tree King were monitoring Han Xiao's actions through the Psychic Network, their expressions quite solemn.
"Why did this guy suddenly appear?" Dinghe Book Tree King exclaimed in surprise. "Could he be planning to launch a counterattack on our territory all by himself?"
"It seems that's really the case." The Ancestral Tree King squinted.
Should we stop it?
Upon hearing this, Ancestral Tree King firmly shook his head, "There's no need. He's very difficult to deal with, and human wave tactics are inefficient. To stop him, we don't know how many troops we'd have to commit, and we'd also have to send some of our invading forces back to reinforce. That's exactly what he wants. He wants to distract us and indirectly hinder our invasion progress."
"What can we do? Just stand by and watch him wreak havoc on our territory?"
"Since we can't stop it, then we won't. Let the Mother Tree reclaim its territory and move its main base to another location. We'll just leave this place to him."
The Ancestral Tree King made a resolute decision without hesitation.
Actually, there was another way, which was to use the Tree God Descent to fight against Beyond God Grade Beyond God Grade. However, after the last battle, the Ancestral Tree King felt that the incomplete Tree God Descent would be difficult to defeat Black Star, so he simply decided not to waste the chance to use it and just left.
Thanks to the connection of the Psychic Network and the unique Mother Tree mechanism, the World Tree Civilization has a huge advantage: its astonishing execution ability. As soon as the Ancestral Tree King issues a command, the vast World Tree territory immediately begins to change.
Amidst the starry sky, the intricate World Tree could be faintly seen, moving slowly as if they were being uprooted one after another. The "land" supporting the World Tree was the cosmic space within the territory. Normally, these roots were hidden, but now they all appeared.
Planets transformed into liquid and merged into the World Tree of the World Tree, which then retracted, and the spatial rifts in the outer space of the planets disappeared along with them.
In an instant, countless stars dimmed and disappeared. The once bustling and brilliant Milky Way slowly turned into a desolate and lifeless universe. As the World Tree reclaimed planets one by one, this star field was rapidly returning to its original state: desolate, cold, pitch black, and barren of vegetation.
Han Xiao, who was slaughtering the World Tree fleet, also noticed the abnormal changes in the outer space. It was the first time he had seen the World Tree's migration base camp. He saw the World Tree appearing everywhere and beginning to exit the "rooted" state.
"You're already planning to move as soon as you see me? That's quite decisive."
Han Xiao was secretly surprised.
Without its rooted state, the World Tree Express was rendered unusable. The World Tree fleet present received orders to immediately end the siege and quickly teleport away in the remaining time, intending to withdraw.
Han Xiao crushed another fleet, then suddenly had a thought and activated the Tree God's character card.
brush--
The next moment, spatial rifts suddenly tore open around the Supreme Heavenly Venerate, and roots shot out, sweeping across the fleet and swallowing up batches of warships.
The roots he summoned using his character card flowed with blue light, completely different from the emerald green World Tree itself!
"How can he also use the power of the World Tree?!"
The Ancestral Tree King had been watching closely, and upon seeing this scene, he was suddenly stunned.
Could Black Star be a member of the World Tree? Perhaps even one of our own?!
That's not right, how could that be!
At the same time, the Mother Tree's consciousness also reacted, and the Ancestral Tree King sensed surprise from it.
The World Tree itself was also bewildered, wondering why a life form not under its control possessed power originating from the same source as it.
Han Xiao was manipulating the summoned roots to strike the fleet, finding it novel and fascinating. Suddenly, a whole bunch of "tentacles" appeared, and he finally experienced the joy of being the Tree King.
Just then, a sudden mental fluctuation occurred, bringing with it the shocked question from the Ancestral Tree King.
"Black Star! How do you possess the power of the World Tree?!"
"You guess."
Han Xiao couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
He activated the character card on a whim, mainly to test whether the roots he summoned were connected to the World Tree.
After his recent experiment, he has confirmed that the roots generated by the character card belong to him and will not be controlled by the World Tree, like a rootless tree growing out of thin air.
Even if it devours matter, it can only break it down into energy to replenish its own consumption, unlike the World Tree which preserves Information State and transforms it... And when the character card's time expires, these temporarily summoned roots will disintegrate on their own, as will the things they devoured during that time.
But to outsiders, these blue roots, originating from him, possessed power remarkably similar to that of the World Tree, yet they were independent entities, prompting the Ancestral Tree King to ponder deeply.
At that moment, information about the Revived of the Explored Universe, the Immortals, and so on flashed through his mind. The Ancestral Tree King suddenly widened his eyes, feeling that he had found the truth.
"I understand! There's actually another World Tree in the universe, and it's within you!"
The intelligence leaked by the Star Alliance included Han Xiao's life story. The Ancestral Tree King had always been surprised by the short time it took for Han Xiao to rise to power, but now he felt enlightened and found an explanation.
The immortality of those Immortals is remarkably similar to that of the World Tree members. If those Immortals are actually members of another World Tree, then it makes sense. Black Star has been pretending to have no connection with it, but in reality, he's been making a fortune in silence. He's the one behind it all!
Two World Tree? You really dare to dream of that.
Han Xiao couldn't help but chuckle at the Ancestral Tree King's wild imagination.
Just as he was about to say something, many spatial passages suddenly opened up around him, and one after another, genuine green World Tree stretched out, eagerly wrapping around Han Xiao's blue roots, like snakes intertwined, twisted into a pretzel, slowly wriggling, constantly squeezing, pulling, and sticking together.
Upon seeing this, Han Xiao paused, his expression suddenly turning strange.
This scene looks so much like a French kiss...
It's a bit too much for my eyes...
Han Xiao's eye twitched. He could even sense the World Tree's emotions through the intertwined roots. It was an extremely fervent and eager thought, containing a desire to merge into one.
Streams of genuine World Tree power flowed continuously into the blue roots along the intertwined roots, actively transferring its own energy as if eager to share something good. Moreover, the World Tree was also drawing upon the power contained in the blue roots, seemingly trying to achieve some kind of special "fluid" exchange.
"Is it taking the roots I summoned as its mate?!"
Han Xiao's eyes widened in astonishment.
He thought that the real World Tree would be hostile and fight to the death when it saw his blue copy, but to his surprise, not only did they not fight, the World Tree took the initiative to "communicate" with him, showing no hostility at all and being very enthusiastic.
Could it be... that the original World Tree has always been a unique and lonely existence, and now that it has finally found a kindred spirit, its mating instincts have been ignited, and its hunger and thirst have led to its instincts taking over?!
The ancients were right: two tigers cannot share one mountain, unless one is male and the other female.
Han Xiao became interested and secretly marveled.
On the other side, the Ancestral Tree King was completely dumbfounded. As the Tree King, he could feel the continuous joy and excitement emanating from the Mother Tree's consciousness, which even affected the way he looked at Han Xiao.
Han Xiao, who should have been his enemy, suddenly became kind to him, and he felt no hostility towards him.
Damn it! We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?!
The Ancestral Tree King quickly shook its head, shaking off the indirect influence of the Mother Tree's consciousness, and asked in astonishment, "What's going on?"
Han Xiao snapped out of his daze, chuckled, and teased, "Didn't you say there were two World Tree? Mine is male, and yours is female. Your female one won't work when it sees my male one~"
The Ancestral Tree King roared in fury, "You're talking nonsense! Why does the effect stop working when a female sees a male? Shouldn't it be the other way around?!"
"Wow, I didn't expect someone with thick eyebrows and big eyes like you to be such a skilled fighter."
Han Xiao's forehead was covered in black lines. He turned his head to look at the desperately entangled blue-green roots, then suddenly chuckled:
"That's incredibly proactive! By the way, your Mother Tree is amazing!"
"..."
Although the Ancestral Tree King didn't understand Han Xiao's teasing, he knew it wasn't a nice thing to say. He felt a pang of sadness for no reason, and the green light on his body seemed to become even more vibrant.
He deactivated telepathic communication, suppressed his anger, and with a grim face ordered the troops to speed up their withdrawal.
Before long, the World Tree finally returned to its main camp. The fleet that had besieged Han Xiao was either killed or fled. The World Tree, which had been frantically courting mates, also reluctantly withdrew into the spatial channel. No matter how it tried to provoke him, the blue roots that Han Xiao summoned with his character card did not respond. It was as if the World Tree remained unmoved by the temptation.
--The reason is that the blue roots are temporary, rootless trees, a true castrated version of the ability, completely controlled by Han Xiao, lacking self-awareness and having no such function.
Before long, the Tree God character card's time was up. The blue roots shattered inch by inch, turning into light fragments and dissipating, leaving only the Supreme Heavenly Venerate Venerable floating in the desolate universe.
The World Tree has abandoned its territory; all planets and individuals have returned to the Mother Tree, completely withdrawing. It's as if they were so frightened by Han Xiao that they abandoned their base camp and moved overnight... and that's pretty much the truth.
In short, it's all about prestige!
"Tsk, without realizing it, my intimidation power has become so strong."
Han Xiao shook his head and chuckled.
If it were anyone else, they would probably be too proud to back down and simply run away. Such a large civilization wouldn't be so easily frightened by one person that they would abandon their homeland. At the very least, they would have to send out enough troops to fight a major battle until they suffered heavy casualties and felt they couldn't hold on any longer before they would have a reasonable reason to retreat... But the World Tree doesn't care about such things. He just leaves without a second thought and doesn't feel ashamed at all. He hasn't even used his full power yet. This kind of enemy is the most difficult to deal with.
"Although forcing the World Tree to move will cause them some trouble, it's not a permanent solution... But this trip was worthwhile; it seems we discovered something interesting."
Han Xiao revealed a playful smile; he hadn't expected the Tree God's character card to have such a wondrous effect.
"We've used it once for an experiment, and this character card still has three uses left. It might even have a surprising effect at the right time."