Chapter 65

Chapter 65

It was clear that Ren Yun couldn't be left alive.

Wei Xiao now had only a little over ten thousand remaining forces by his side, but those who had managed to escape Lu Wei's repeated ambushes and traps to reach this point were all elites. Among them, five had reached the 3S level.

Although he was the recognized leader and everyone currently followed his orders, who knew what might happen at this life-and-death moment?

Even if he turned down Ren Yun's proposal, it didn't mean the plan wouldn't ultimately be carried out in the end.

Only by killing Ren Yun, who possessed spatial jump abilities, could this threat be eliminated for good.

Wei Xiao tightened his grip on the wooden spike in his hand, raised his face streaked with blood, and looked towards the figure standing on the hilltop in the distance.

Truly the man he loved, capable of masterminding from headquarters and pushing him into such a hopeless spot...

Given Lu Wei's scheming and tactics, he had likely already guarded against assassination attempts by spatial ability users like Ren Yun. Killing Ren Yun might just be needless anxiety.

But he simply could not stand the possibility of Lu Wei being assassinated.

What if Lu Wei, confident of victory, let his guard down for a moment? Lu Wei's main body possessed no abilities. If an assassin got close, there would be no chance of survival.

"Leader, why did you kill Ren Yun?!"

Zhu Xingqiao, a 2S-level speed-type ability user, rushed over first, his expression devastated. He picked up Ren Yun's head from the ground, cradled it in his arms, and loudly questioned Wei Xiao, "Ren Yun was completely loyal to you! What exactly did he do wrong?!"

Zhu Xingqiao was a small, thin man, now shaking with rage.

Ren Yun and Zhu Xingqiao were partners. Ren Yun excelled at spatial jump, while Zhu Xingqiao was skilled at assassination using his own speed. They had successfully cooperated many times and were very close. Naturally, Zhu Xingqiao could not accept Ren Yun being killed for no reason by the leader he served.

"In this world, why must there always be a 'why'?" Wei Xiao glanced sidelong at the furious Zhu Xingqiao, shook off the blood from his wooden spike, and replied calmly, "I didn't like the look of him. Killed him, that's all."

"Leader... by doing this, you've not only killed Ren Yun, but also destroyed our only chance to turn the tables! You're insane, completely insane!!" Zhu Xingqiao clutched Ren Yun's head tighter, his eyes reddening as he stared at Wei Xiao. "No... Wei Xiao, you are not worthy to be our leader. You are not worthy!"

On the high ground, the loudspeakers were still broadcasting calls for surrender.

Seeing this situation, someone immediately shouted in hatred, "If Wei Xiao can't distinguish right from wrong and has destroyed our only way out, why should we keep following him?! Let's just tie him up and hand him over to the Alliance! He's the primary culprit, we're just accomplices. We might even get a lighter sentence!"

Wei Xiao's forces had always been a gathering of desperadoes driven by self-interest, lacking any firm convictions or principles.

Once such a voice was raised, it immediately resonated with the vast majority.

His former followers gathered, brandishing various weapons formed from their abilities, surrounding Wei Xiao.

"You're good... very good." Wei Xiao held his wooden spike, looked at the familiar faces around him, knowing he was now utterly betrayed and abandoned, and actually managed a faint smile.

Reaching this point didn't surprise him, nor did he have any regrets.

However, no matter what, he did not want to face a public trial by all of humanity as a defeated man.

Humiliating and ugly.

A towering giant tree suddenly burst through the ground, sending earth and stones flying as it shot up.

The ability users who had surrounded Wei Xiao moments before were forced to retreat hastily.

The giant tree stood five hundred meters tall, with a diameter exceeding one hundred meters. Its layers of dark green leaves, shaped like cloud canopies, were as large as cartwheels. The tree's trunk was harder than iron or stone, and its root system spread across a thousand hectares.

This was Wei Xiao's external avatar, the "Tree of Life."

Wei Xiao stood straight-backed on a branch at the very top of the Tree of Life.

Seen from afar, his figure, set against the massive crown of the giant tree, appeared like an insignificant black speck.

"Lu Wei!" Wei Xiao's pair of green eyes fixed fiercely on the direction where Lu Wei stood, his face contorted with madness as he let out a piercing, shrill shout, "Come! Come and kill me!"

"Lu Wei, I'm waiting for you to take my life!"

On the distant high ground, Lu Wei and his retinue witnessed everything happening below and clearly heard Wei Xiao's shouts.

"Dad, don't go. It might be a trap." Little Thing had grown into a handsome youth of fourteen or fifteen, clenching his fists tightly beside Lu Wei.

Lu Wei closed his eyes for a moment, then gently shook his head, his raven-black hair swaying on his shoulders.

No, it wasn't a trap.

Wei Xiao truly wanted to die by his hand.

Lu Wei also saw it clearly. The reason Wei Xiao killed that spatial ability user, creating this situation of being betrayed and abandoned, was entirely to prevent an assassination attempt against him.

Or rather... everything Wei Xiao had done up to this point was for him.

This intense, overwhelming emotion that would destroy heaven and earth and corrupt the heart into demonhood.

It wasn't that he was unmoved. But when Wei Xiao chose to commit those crimes seven years ago, the path of no return was already set.

Wei Xiao had to die.

Whether bound before a tribunal, publicly tried, and executed... or by any other means.

If he did not die, human justice and righteousness could not be upheld; if he did not die, the anger and wounds of the human world could not be appeased.

Wei Xiao himself surely understood this very well.

So now, Wei Xiao was essentially asking Lu Wei to personally end his life.

At this moment, Wei Xiao's former subordinates—now his enemies—who had been temporarily repelled by the Tree of Life, snapped out of it. The 3S-level powerhouses also began to manifest their various forms of "external avatars" and attacked the Tree of Life.

Over the years, leading his forces to sweep across the land and occupy many bases, Wei Xiao had encountered several lucky breaks. His true strength was no longer comparable to that of an ordinary 3S powerhouse.

Although the Tree of Life was merely an external avatar, its roots spread underground across a thousand hectares to maintain an unending flow of energy. Moreover, it generated a multitude of weapons for trapping and killing enemies: vines, thorns, flowers that slowed movement, toxic spores... and so on.

It was less an external avatar and more a mobile, sturdy fortress capable of both offense and defense.

Wei Xiao had led a band of desperadoes for four years, his supreme position remaining unchallenged, and not without reason.

Five 3S ability users unleashed their "external avatars" in a fierce assault on the Tree of Life, supplemented by attacks from peripheral ability users, yet they were still at a slight disadvantage against Wei Xiao.

"Mirror Shadow." Lu Wei called out solemnly.

"Yes, Heavenly Father."

As soon as Lu Wei's voice fell, a tall, blue-skinned man with black hair falling to his shoulders appeared before him, kneeling on one knee.

And before Lu Wei spoke, no one had known where this man was concealed.

Wei Xiao's earlier speculation was correct. Even if Ren Yun had transferred an assassin to Lu Wei's side, Lu Wei had prepared layer upon layer of backup plans.

This suddenly appearing man was clearly one of those contingencies.

The man bowed his head, kissed Lu Wei's hand, and then lifted his face—revealing features uncannily similar to Lu Wei's, though with different skin and eye colors.

After seven years of accumulation, Lu Wei had utilized over a hundred combat vessels to date, and this 3S-level dark-type ability user named Mirror Shadow was the one that best matched him.

Whether in height, build, or even appearance, it gave Lu Wei the sensation of using his own body, allowing for even greater ease of control.

Mirror Shadow understood this and took pride in it. Out of admiration for the Heavenly Father, he grew his hair to shoulder length and often wore clothing similar to Lu Wei's.

Apart from the unchangeable, Favored Ones' characteristic pale bluish-green skin and amber eyes, he looked almost like a second Lu Wei.

"Lend me your body."

A gray haze surfaced in Lu Wei's eyes, and the Little One quickly steadied his father.

At the same time, Mirror Shadow's amber eyes turned pitch-black, and enormous, pure black wings of dark energy unfurled from his back. He turned and flew toward Wei Xiao's location.

Throughout the four-year conflict between the Alliance and the Green Emperor, Lu Wei had always strategized from behind the scenes, never taking to the battlefield himself.

This wasn't because Lu Wei wasn't strong enough, but because he didn't need to.

In his view, no matter how powerful an individual might be, there were always limits.

What he sought wasn't personal combat, nor even the gain or loss of a single city or stronghold, but victory that could sway the entire course of the war.

The ability to amplify a combat vessel a hundredfold was, in truth, incredibly overpowered.

Back when Lu Wei was still using an S-level vessel, he could defeat the 2S-level Wei Xiao and even dared to confront the 3S-level Bai Hong head-on.

Now, using a 3S-level vessel, Lu Wei had reached a frighteningly powerful level of strength.

If there was any 3S-level ability user present who could single-handedly withstand Wei Xiao's might, it was Lu Wei.

In an instant, Lu Wei had flown above the lush, cloud-like canopy of the enormous tree, facing Wei Xiao, who stood among the branches.

Wei Xiao tilted his head back, gazing into Lu Wei's black eyes, and suddenly smiled—a bright, pure smile. "I thought you wouldn't come."

"After all, you've always been so ruthless toward me, and I've already ended up like this... Whether you come or not won't change the outcome."

Lu Wei looked down at Wei Xiao from above, his expression calm and unreadable, a long-handled scythe wreathed in dark energy materializing in his hand. "But I came."

Wei Xiao's smile didn't fade. Green vines writhed like frenzied snakes before him, and the surface of the wooden spike in his hand peeled away layer by layer, revealing a dazzling, brilliant gold. "In that case, I can die without regrets."

Both of them were intelligent, both understood the other's thoughts.

At this moment, any words seemed superfluous. All that remained was a fierce battle, one that would be deeply etched into each other's lives, forever remembered.

"Wei Xiao." As Lu Wei spread his wings and swooped down, the black scythe slashing mercilessly, he suddenly called his name. "Your feelings and your life—I'll take them all."

Wei Xiao blinked, raised the golden wooden spike in his hand, and blocked Lu Wei's devastating blow.

Within the vortex of colliding energies, amid the sharp clang of weapons meeting, a single glistening tear trickled from Wei Xiao's deep green eye down to his cheek, then quickly evaporated.

Dark energy swirled like blades, slicing through his clothes and skin. Blood flowed from his arm as he smiled at Lu Wei and said, "Alright, they're all yours."

So it seemed Lu Wei wasn't truly that heartless and cruel after all.

In the end, he had still shown him mercy.

The first clash between the two ended as quickly as it began.

Wei Xiao's arm was cut by the dark energy, and a gash appeared on Lu Wei's cheek from a vine, pale bluish-green blood slowly seeping out.

Lu Wei hovered in mid-air, wings spread, and extended a hand before him.

An External Avatar, solidified from dark energy and rivaling the Life Tree in size, appeared before Wei Xiao.

Lu Wei's ability truly revealed its terrifying power only at the 3S level, when he could manifest an External Avatar.

After all, even the most mediocre External Avatar, amplified a hundredfold, would become unmatched.

Author's Note: Don't ask me when it's ending anymore—it's pretty clear we're in the final battle now.

Wahhh, shedding tears~~

By the way, honestly, compared to Wei Xiao, Lu Wei seems more like the boss...