Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While Han Sen was flying back, someone called out his name. When he turned around to take a look, he saw an eight-year-old child squirming and writhing around on the ground as if in pain.
âBaby Ghost?â Han Sen was surprised to see him there.
He was glad he was alive and had not been killed. He didnât have any green sproutlings popping up all over him, but there was definitely something wrong with him.
He used to have the face of a child, but now he was a child completely. The head was still frighteningly large, however. His lifeforce was weak, almost as weak as a newly-spawned Golden Growler.
âWhat happened to you?â Han Sen asked.
âTalk later. For now, we should get moving.â Baby Ghost clearly did not know Sky King had returned to the tree.
Han Sen grabbed Baby Ghost and returned to the underground shelter with him. Then, he ordered Moment Queen to move the shelter.
Little Angel and Han Sen were weak, and in their current state, they no longer had the ability to combine together and fight Sky King. As such, they decided the best course of action was to leave.
Han Sen spoke to Baby Ghost and asked, âI thought you went looking for Sky King after I told you the truth of matters. What happened to you?â
Baby Ghost answered, âI told Qing Jun, and we only went and spoke to the others. We didnât consult Sky King, but we were going to. But before the opportunity arose, the tree began to revive.â
âOkay, and what happened to you?â Han Sen asked.
Baby Ghost explained, âFortunately for me, I had Ghost Baby to escape. I abandoned my vessel and sacrificed a portion of my spirit stone to survive. I say fortunately loosely, as now Iâm only a shadow of what I once was. My progress has been wiped; I donât even have a single gene lock open.â
âJust being alive is enough, Baby Ghost. Even if youâre weak, being alive is more than worth the sacrifice.â Han Sen smiled softly to comfort him.
Qing Jun was in even worse condition, though. Those that had escaped into the Cruel Bottle were all alive, but they were stuck inside the bottle and unable to exit. If they left the confines of the bottle, the Sky Tree would finish the job and absorb them. Being unable to get rid of the vines meant theyâd possibly be stuck inside the bottle forever.
The Cruel Bottle was like a room that operated independently to everything else, but it had to be sealed and had to remain sealed. It could not be opened, lest the Sky Tree finish what it had already started.
Aside from destroying the Sky Tree, Han Sen had no clue how he might proceed. There didnât seem to be any other way Han Sen could remove the vines. The creatures and spirits had each consumed too much lifewater, too, so the core of a Sky Fruit would be largely ineffective.
In the meantime, though, Han Sen decided to return to the Alliance. Little Angel and Han Sen were both still too weak, and for the time being, they wouldnât even have the strength to tackle a super creature.
Han Sen rested there for two days, and after that, he started refining the Life Geno Essence of the Sky Peacock.
âLife Geno Essence absorbed: super geno points +1.â
Han Sen was delighted, hearing the announcement chime more than once. In total, the Life Geno Essence provided him four points in total.
Super creatures in the Third Godâs Sanctuary were different. Some could give eight to nine super geno points, whereas others could only give three to four. Han Sen guessed it had something to do with the generation of a super creature, but he hadnât had much time to test and prove such theories.
Sky Peacock was a mount beast soul, and Han Sen considered it to be fairly useless.
When Han Senâs condition and health improved, he didnât jump back to start hunting super creatures again. He realized he still needed a lot more strength to fight an emperor, though; he had to be careful where he next ventured.
If he combined powers with Little Angel, the cooldown period was extreme. The boost didnât last very long, either, so he knew he couldnât rely on that trick very often. It had to be used as a last resort.
What Han Sen wanted to do most right now was research the vines and find a way in which he might remove them without destroying the Sky Tree. If he saved all the creatures and spirits inside, theyâd all owe him one, and they might end up following him. If that was true, heâd more than have what it took to take down a king-class shelter.
Dragon King gave Han Sen a number of ideas, but Han Sen didnât dwell on many of them. He didnât think he should trust Dragon King as much, anymore.
That being said, Han Sen understood Dragon King never wanted to bring harm to him. Dragon King had made a simple blunder, and the results of his time in Immortal Shelter did not come about through some evil machination or scheme the spirit had hatched, as Moment Queen might do. After all, if something bad happened to Han Sen and he was killed, that would be game over for Dragon King, too.
So, more than anything, Han Sen had just called Dragon Kingâs overall intelligence into question. It boggled Han Senâs mind how someone so dumb might have once been an emperor.
âPlease have faith in me. I have a plan. This could really work.â Dragon King felt sorry for what had happened and desperately wanted to get back into Han Senâs good books.
Dragon King was relying on Han Sen to find him a vessel, after all.
âThe Asura Sutra can get rid of those vines,â he said, but Han Sen struggled to believe it.
âIf you practice the Asura Sutra, you can fix them. Back then...â Dragon King realized he had said something he should not have mentioned.
âBack then what?â Han Sen asked.
Dragon King knew, if he didnât play his cards right and only do good for Han Sen, heâd be trapped in the ring for all eternity.
âAsura was one of the generals who beat Sky King. His Asura Sutra is bad for the tree, but you would need to find a spirit of that bloodline to perform it,â Dragon King said.
âDidnât you say Sky King was an emperor? And Ancient Devil Emperor beat Sky King himself? So Asura was just a general, but he was able to defeat Sky King, too?â Han Sen thought there were inconsistencies in the spiritâs tales, and he wasnât sure whether or not he should give Dragon King the benefit of the doubt.
But Dragon King then explained, âFolk of the Asura bloodline can defeat Sky King. Besides, he betrayed Mister Ancient Devil. You remember Devilâs Realm and Ancient Devil Shelter, donât you? That was the consequence of his betrayal.â