Chapter 192: Perishing Together, Goodbye Meng Lei
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“The golden barrier is gone!”
“Here’s my chance!”
“Quickly!”
“Hurry and leave this place!”
At the moment that Meng Lei found the vitality core, the golden shield enveloping the outside disappeared with a boom.
Everyone who was trapped within was overjoyed, and they seized the opportunity to flee.
The Tree of Life didn’t stop them. They fled a long way out in one go before they finally came to a stop.
“That was close! We’re finally out!”
“That was really too close!”
“A moment of carelessness, and we’d all have been finished!”
“We’re still in a passable condition. It’s Prince Barbarossa and the others who are in for it...”
Prince Barbarossa and the other 100-odd contestants’ appearances were all shriveled up, and their faces filled with wrinkles, making them look even older than an 800-years-old elderly man!
The strong ones were still breathing faintly, barely hanging on—all of them were Saint Domains.
On the other hand, the weaker ones—all ninth-grade—were deader than dead.
“How are they?”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person barked the question with a grave look on his countenance.
“Captain, out of 108 contestants, only 36 of them are barely managing to hang in there. The rest are all dead!”
“Bastard!”
With an awful look on his face, the Golden Colossal Dragon Person swore. “That goddamn evil deity! To think it’s killed so many of the empire’s elites. How utterly hateful!”
“Hmph! Isn’t all of this Meng Lei’s fault?!”
One of the contestants snorted icily and said, “If it weren’t for him, why would we be in such a predicament?”
“Exactly! It’s all Meng Lei’s fault! He has to take responsibility for the 72 contestants’ deaths!”
“So many contestants have indirectly died by his hand. It’s no different from him killing them himself. He’s no longer qualified to participate in the competition. He should be disqualified!”
“That’s right! He should be disqualified...”
The Golden Colossal Dragon Person gave the contestants a long, deep look before he said, “At this point of the competition, all of you are the only ones left now. Whether or not the competition goes on is dependent on His Majesty’s decision.”
Upon hearing that, the contestants’ countenances changed slightly, becoming dismayed at once.
...
“I understand, Ol’ President!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and primed his body to its best condition. The Gods-Slaying Spear quietly appeared in his hand. Then, he leaped into the air and hurled it forward forcefully.
“Go, Gods-Slaying Spear!”
Whoosh!
Lightning weaved around the spear, and the Gods-Slaying Spear turned into a stream of light that shot toward the 100-meters-wide golden bead.
“God’s Domain!”
A roar that contained endless fury rang out. The space was locked down in an instant. The Gods-Slaying Spear’s speed reduced dramatically until it ultimately became imprisoned and stopped where it was.
“You lowly and cunning human!”
A gigantic human visage appeared in the sky. Its mouth opened and closed as it emanated endless murderous intent and immense wrath.
“How dare you seek to slay a great deity! How utterly audacious of you! I’m going to rip you into a million pieces!”
“Divine Technique: Imprisonment!”
Buzz!
Power of divinity even more fearsome than God’s Domain swept toward Meng Lei. Since he had been prepared for it, Meng Lei’s form flashed about again and again, and then, he vanished altogether!
“Old tree demon, your divine techniques are certainly fearsome. Once it hits me, I’m finished!” Meng Lei’s voice resounded in the surroundings as he went on. “But casting these techniques requires time, and so does hitting me with them. As long as I’m on guard against it, what can you do to me?”
His voice echoed in the void, but his form was nowhere in sight at all; hence the divine technique naturally also missed its target. The Tree of Life was so furious that it was screaming.
“You goddamn little thief! Get out here! Get out here!”
“Get out there? As you wish!”
Meng Lei abruptly appeared in front of the Gods-Slaying Spear, grabbed it in one smooth motion, and then, he vanished right away. By the time he reappeared, he was already on the other side of the golden bead.
“Break!”
With the Gods-Slaying Spear in hand, Meng Lei pumped all the strength in him into it and jabbed it forward ruthlessly.
Slash!
The Gods-Slaying Spear ripped through the air, emitting a sharp and shrill screech as it did so, and stabbed the golden bead.
Clang!
It was as though the Gods-Slaying Spear were stabbing against a firm, solid metal board, spraying sparks everywhere.
Apart from that, it actually hadn’t managed to impale the golden bead.
“What the! It’s that solid?” Meng Lei was shocked.
“This is normal. Magic cores are where all of a Magical Beast’s essence is stored,” Ol’ Amos explained, “Even low-grade Magical Beasts’ magic cores are incredibly hard, let alone an old half-deity demonic tree like the Tree of Life that has lived for an immeasurably long time.”
“That’s true!”
Realization dawned on Meng Lei.
“Bastard!” The Tree of Life roared, “Divine Technique: Elemental Storm!”
Boom!
An endless amount of wood elements sprayed forth and turned into innumerable formidable tornadoes.
Each tornado’s size might not be that big, but all of them were imbued with the power of divinity. The might they carried was countless times stronger than typical tornadoes’!
Should any hit him, while Meng Lei had no idea whether or not they could penetrate his defenses, what he did know was that with his current short and small body, he’d definitely be sucked into them.
When that happened, wouldn’t he become a trapped mouse?
“How can I let things go according to your plan?”
Meng Lei began to weave through the innumerable tornadoes. No matter how the storms howled, slashed, or cut, they actually couldn’t even... touch Meng Lei at all.
The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline’s powerful superiority in speed was fully displayed at this moment.
Running around isn’t going to kill the old tree demon. I have to think of something! A way that I can kill it!
Eh? That’s it! There’s the Hammer of Destruction!
Meng Lei appeared at the golden bead again with the spear in his left hand and the hammer in his right. He pressed the tip of the spear against the golden bead and swung the hammer down on it!
Boom!
Carrying with it a great, vast force, the Hammer of Destruction struck the Gods-Slaying Spear’s end heavily, causing a great force to course through the spear.
Crack!
With a crisp, melodious crack, the Gods-Slaying Spear’s tip actually pierced through the solid and sturdy golden bead’s defenses to make a small opening.
“Hahaha! It works!”
Meng Lei was immensely excited. He didn’t hold back at all with the Qilin Arm1, that he had painstakingly trained for so many years.
Amid loud collisions, the Gods-Slaying Spear was embedded bit by bit into the golden bead. In the blink of an eye, almost half of the tip had gone in.
“Ahhh!”
The Tree of Life let out a shrill cry that sounded just like the wailing of vengeful spirits from hell, making one’s scalp tingle and shivers to go through them.
“Hurry! Step on it! Kill that bastard!”
An incredibly stimulated Ol’ Amos cheered Meng Lei on.
“Break! Break! Break!”
Meng Lei let out a long howl, displaying even the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique1 that he’d painstakingly practiced for many years. Right away, deafening clings and clangs rang out, and sparks flew everywhere.
“C’mon, break!!”
“Aaahhhh!”
Each of the Tree of Life’s screams was louder than the previous, endless and eternal like the gushing rivers, yet also like the overflowing Yellow River, beyond control once the floodgates open.
Crack!
At last, amid crisp cracks that sounded incomparably wonderful, a thin crack appeared in the blazing sun-like golden bead’s surface.
The crack became wider and wider, longer and longer. Like a spider web, the cracks spread outward in every direction. In the blink of an eye, they had spread throughout the whole golden bead!
“Here’s my chance!”
Meng Lei’s blood boiled with passion as he leaped high into the air and swung the Hammer of Destruction down.
“I shall decide the universe’s fate with one strike of the hammer!
“Break!!”
Boom!
The incomparably heavy Hammer of Destruction contained a fearsome might. Added to this Meng Lei’s incredible strength, everything erupted the instant it came into contact with the golden bead.
Crack!
At last! It broke!
The enormous golden bead broke into half from the middle!
“Ahhh!”
A scream that sounded like the wailing and crying of thousands of vengeful spirits rang out, hysterical and insane... It was the Tree of Life!
“I did it! Ol’ President, I did it!”
Meng Lei panted heavily with a look of excitement and stimulation on his face.
“Go! Hurry and go! Leave this place immediately!” Ol’ Amos shouted, “The Tree of Life is doomed! But you have to be careful of its final blow before it dies!”
“Don’t worry, I know!”
Meng Lei didn’t dare dally. He took off at once.
“Leave? Do you really think you can go after you’ve injured me to this extent?”
A cold, imposing voice that contained great murderous intent and endless hatred rang out. Then, a small golden tree that dazzled a radiant gold abruptly appeared in the empty zone.
It was a tree but looked more like a human—more so than even its divinity personification.
“That’s...”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei.
“That’s the Tree of Life’s soul. Or rather... Its divine spirit.” Ol’ Amos’ voice shook as he said, “It has already attained half-deification, so its soul has metamorphosed into a soul of higher class that’s nearly immortal—the divine spirit.”
“Immortal?” Meng Lei shook violently. “Doesn’t that mean that it can’t die?”
“Theoretically, yes!” Ol’ Amos nodded.
“Who cares? Let’s just go!”
With even a moment’s pause, Meng Lei continued his mad dash.
“You’ve broken my vitality core and destroyed my divine body, thoroughly cutting off my path to divinity. I’ll fight to the death with you!”
The crazed golden little tree charged right up to Meng Lei in an instant and blocked his path.
“What the hell! It’s so quick!”
A shocked Meng Lei immediately changed his course and ran off again.
“Die! Die! Die! Die!”
As the little golden tree screamed, its divine spirit’s surging power morphed into a hammer that swung ruthlessly toward Meng Lei.
“Look out! That’s an attack on one’s divine spirit!”
Ol’ Amos hastily shouted a warning.
But just how fast was a divine spirit attack?
He’d only just shouted the warning when the divine spirit attack reached Meng Lei, disregarding his body to smash forcefully onto his soul!
“Ugh!”
As though he’d been struck by lightning, Meng Lei threw up a mouthful of blood. His mind buzzed as he blanked out completely...
A single strike alone had gravely wounded him!
“To think your soul is actually this weak and fragile!” At the sight of that, the Tree of Life became rather hysterical as it wailed, “Oh, the resentment in me! If I had realized this sooner, how would I have landed myself in this state!?
“Bastard! Die!”
The Tree of Life went even more berserk and launched an even more raging divine spirit attack.
“It’s all over!”
A tragic smile appeared on Meng Lei’s lips. His spiritual power had only just broken through the 1 billion point mark—in other words, it’d barely reached Saint Domain.
Even if he used all his remaining Wealth to enhance his soul, it was far from enough.
The Tree of Life’s spirit was a half-deity’s soul. Its very first attack had already wounded him gravely. How was he supposed to withstand the second blow?
“Am I actually going to die here?”
Meng Lei was unwilling to accept the fact.
Boom!
At this critical moment, a dazzling red light suddenly erupted. Meng Lei looked up in astonishment to see a big, tall, and majestic figure standing in front of him.
Fiery red scales and fiery red wings!
Fiery red horns and a fiery red body!
It was a pure-blooded Fire Dragon!
“O-Ol’ President?”
Meng Lei exclaimed in a low voice. He was too familiar with Ol’ Amos’ aura. It was Ol’ Amos’ aura!
“After being with you for such a long time, it’s time I should leave.”
The pure-blooded Fire Dragon turned to him and gave him a kindly smile. “You should know that I had remained single for my entire life. In your words, I’m a lifelong bachelor.
“My biggest regret is that I hadn’t left behind any descendants. Fortunately, I met you. Watching you grow, watching you breakthrough, watching you come all this way...
“It has let me experience what it’s like to enjoy a life of leisure in old age as one plays with their grandchildren, as well as the joy of guiding the younger generation. This is something that I’ve never experienced before, and also the happiest moments of my life in the last 20,000 years.
“Alas, all good things must come to an end. The fate between us has reached the end, and this day has finally come!”
With a hint of gratification and comfort at the corners of his eyes, Ol’ Amos said, “To be honest, brat, I’ve known from the very beginning that you’re not a descendant of the Krocs, so there’s no need for you to be sad after my death. Nor do you need to restore the Krocs’ glory and magnificence. From the start to the end, this clan had never been glorious before!
“So, go on your journey happily and create your own glory! I will watch over you quietly in the otherworld.
“Next is the thing that you care about the most—my inheritance. All of my inheritance is in my dragon remains in the Magical Beast Forest. You can look for it after you leave this place. Although it isn’t much, they should still be of some help to you.
“Lastly, haven’t you been curious all this time about how strong I was during my peak? Here’s a piece of good news—your wish has come true! You shall be the first, as well as the last, to see my strongest power!”
With a bright smile, the flames around Ol’ Amos suddenly turned into a dazzling golden-yellow!
A Fire Dragon had turned into a Golden Dragon!
Boom!
Majestic divine power emanated from him and enveloped the whole place in it, sweeping through the heavens and earth.
“Divine spirit, ignite!”
Blazing flames suddenly burst forth from the Golden Dragon. As though flames that had been doused with petrol, his divine power instantly surged!
“What’s going on?”
The Tree of Life’s countenance changed dramatically.
“To be able to kill a half-deity before I die... I have no more regrets!
“This is farewell, brat! Live on well!”
With a kindly and benevolent expression on his face, Ol’ Amos took one last look at Meng Lei. Then, he turned into a golden stream of light that shot toward the Tree of Life’s divine spirit, breaking into the most radiant, most dazzling brilliance at the very last moment, much like a comet shooting across the sky.
“NOOOOO!”
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