Chương 518: Oppression and Understanding. Liu Shu's Resolve.

Liu Shu's Resolve.

While Celestial Lotus was speaking about wrongs to Liu Shu, she was not angry in her heart. In truth, the only reason she even brought it up was just to keep up some appearances. After all, she couldn't just say nothing about it. What she didn't expect was Liu Shu's nonchalant answer about World Domination.

"Um… Heavenly Willow, why are you so confident?" Celestial Lotus asked, more curious than angry.

"You do know that we are Level 99 World Trees with A Tier stats, right?"

"Yeah!" Liu Shu answered freely, her tone not sounding even half worried.

"However, compared to me, your stats are lacking, aren't they?" Liu Shu's confidence didn't only come from her A+ Tier in all her parameters; the <Five Origin Branches> were all World Rank items, which were basically nonexistent in Ceperet. From what Liu Shu had learned after learning more literature all around the Wild Continent, there were only 13 items that reached the World Rank in the entire World.

Five of those were owned by the Abyssal Nexus, another five by the Covenant, and the others were divided amongst the two remaining global powers. Liu Shu herself had 5, and her berries were worth another 2 or 3 pieces of equipment of these World Rank items. When you added Liu Shu's personal titles, passives, talents, temples, and help from Life Trees and World Trees, she was honestly fearless. Yes, Pelagia Tidemother, Azure Rose, Verdant Skyflower, and Celestial Lotus were powerful World Trees.

They were powerful enough to keep a balance all around the world. But their strength was not enough. If those four were considered outliers, Liu Shu evaluated her own strength as an outlier among them. This was not arrogance, but a conclusion she came to after asking Warlya about her stats. Azure Rose naturally heard Liu Shu's absolute confidence in her words, but she was not resigned to it. These beings were thousands of years old. Even the youngest among them, Pelagia, was only slightly younger than Warlya.

Therefore, if someone came out of nowhere and said, "You are weaker than I!" Even if they had evidence, it wouldn't sit right with them unless they saw it by themselves. They were not reckless and unwise creatures, though. Celestial Lotus had already discussed that fact with her people, so she was not playing to antagonize Liu Shu.

"Heavenly Willow, I understand that you have confidence. I also understand that this confidence won't come from an empty sense of haughtiness. But you must understand that we can't just accept it at face value." Our World Tree pondered and understood. These Big Sisters had a long history, and they would be a challenge that she needed to overcome if she wanted to conquer the place as peacefully as possible.

"Hm… Okay. I'll show you my three ternary essence reserves, then." Liu Shu added, her tone serious.

"Also, don't get me wrong! I am showing you this because I don't want to fight you! I admire you, like I do with Big Sister Skyflower, and I don't want to end your lives." Azure Rose and Celestial Lotus saw a small system window pop in their gaze, and when they focused, they finally saw Liu Shu's Ternary Essence Reserves.

Level: 90 Aether Mana Cores: 24, 315/24, 315 (2, 431, 407, 520) (+876 Cores/Hour) Phoer Body Cores: 24, 729/24, 729 (2, 472, 861, 311) (+891 Cores/Hour) Anima Energy Cores: 24, 109/24, 109 (2, 410, 807, 390) (+868 Cores/Hour) Attributes: Aether 234, 348 (67, 018+167, 330) / Physique 236, 226 (67, 018+169, 208) / Anima 233, 409 (67, 018+166, 391) / Willpower 106, 587 (66, 773+39, 814) / Destiny 9, 000 (9, 000)

"..."

"..." Celestial Lotus and Azure Rose looked at those stats and felt their bodies tighten. All the alarms in their heads set off as their souls and minds trembled.

"H-How?" Celestial Lotus trembled, unable to believe what she was seeing. Azure Rose tried to reason and asked aloud.

"Are these after buffs? They must be after buffs!" Her question carried disbelief and conviction, as if she was trying to convince herself that such was the truth. Celestial Lotus also reacted after she heard that.

'Right, of course. These must be after being buffed!' If it was after-buff stats, Celestial Lotus and Azure Rose could slightly accept them. While they couldn't reach these ridiculous numbers, they were not that much worse. However, Liu Shu was not here to sell hopes and dreams. She was here to make them know the absolutely crushing weight of reality.

"Hm? Buffs? Of course not! These are my raw stats!" Silence descended on their conversation. If these two World Trees had human bodies, they would be pale-faced and sweating coldly.

'Her raw stats are higher than my buffed stats…?' The reality of the situation sank in their minds, and primal fear exploded from deep within them. They had always been at the top of the world, and their stats were not even close to Liu Shu's. For reference, Celestial Lotus's stats were as such: Name: Celestial Lotus Level: 99 The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Aether Mana Cores: 10, 955/10, 955 (1, 095, 444, 753) Phoer Body Cores: 9, 606/9, 606 (960, 554, 550) Anima Energy Cores: 6, 873/6, 873 (687, 243, 292) Attributes: Aether 135, 674 / Physique 126, 756 / Anima 98, 477 / Willpower 30, 488 / Destiny 5, 940 Affinity Percentage: Aether Resonance (680), Physique Refinement (630), Anima Affinity (563), Mental Palace (64) Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (87), Physique Resistance (86), Spiritual Resistance (81), Mental Resistance (78) Summoning Affinity: Summon Cost (-55%), Summon Enhancement (+17%), Summoning Invoking Time (-55%), Summon Upkeep (-55%) Tier Stars: Aether Stars: 17 (A+ Tier) Phoer Stars: 15 (A- Tier) Anima Stars: 14 (B+ Tier) Willpower Stars: 14 (B+ Tier) Overall Stars: 15 (A- Tier) Don't be confused.

These stats were, by no means, low. They were enough to make the entirety of her domain a fortress that the Abyssal Void Nexus avoided. If this were not the case, the Celestial Lotus Empire wouldn't even be standing after several centuries of constant harassment from them. Moreover, these were Celestial Lotus' raw stats. After applying buffs, her strength would reach enough heights to match Liu Shu's raw stats.

Moreover, with her powerful affinities, each spell they cast was catastrophic in nature. Remember, a World Tree casting a <Fireball> and a human casting a <Fireball> were two very different things. But, compared to Liu Shu, they were not just a level below her. Azure Rose and Celestial Lotus understood that this young World Tree, Tianlian Liu Shu, was an absolute and horrifyingly strong monster.

'We have no chance to resist.' Liu Shu commented; her tone was as gentle and carefree as before.

"So… Will you come under me? Or do you want to fight me?"

'Fight you? There won't even be a single splinter left after whatever fight we can put up against you concludes!' They believed, no, they knew that even if the entire world outside of the Wild Continent rose up suddenly and tried to bring Liu Shu down, the result would be a tyrannical victory for one side, and that side was not theirs. Azure Rose spoke, her tone becoming respectful and somewhat subservient.

"Lady Heavenly Willow, I heard from reports that you usually don't seek to destroy and assimilate the territories of other World Trees. Am I right?" The gentle empress was acting submissive, but Celestial Lotus didn't find it strange at all.

'We are lucky that Tianlian Liu Shu is a gentle and accepting World Tree. If she were determined to take everything down in her path, without caring about others, we would be in a very different situation.' After Azure Rose spoke, they felt Liu Shu's mood turn for the worse. Their roots tingled and their cores thumped. When they were prepared to apologize for whatever offense they had made without knowing, Liu Shu's pouty voice reached them.

"Why are you speaking like that? I don't like it! I didn't like it when you changed from being gentle to respectful, and now you are starting to act like those fanatics!" Both ancient World Trees were baffled. They couldn't understand.

"U-Um… Heavenly—""Liu Shu!" Our adorable World Tree exclaimed, full of righteous indignation.

"Call me Liu Shu! Not Heavenly whatever! I am Tianlian Liu Shu! Also! I am much younger than you two, so why are you acting so respectful? Yuck! I don't like it! If you continue speaking like that, I won't talk to you anymore! Hmph!" Celestial Lotus and Azure Rose were first stupefied at Liu Shu's words, but when they digested them, a wave of both relief and sweetness filled their tensed bodies. Celestial Lotus smiled in her mind, a chuckle escaping her.

"Ah… We got it wrong." Azure Rose also smiled, a gentle laugh escaping her.

"We did. We utterly misunderstood her." Then, Azure Rose spoke softly.

"Liu Shu, sorry for before. Big Sister will ask for forgiveness, so don't be angry, okay?" Celestial Lotus followed, her tone calm and soothing.

"Right. It was our fault. We'll treat you normally from now on, okay?"

"Hm…" Liu Shu heard their gentle tones that she liked so much, and her mood calmed down.

"Okay! I'll forgive you… Hmph." That last sound was so cute that Azure Rose and Celestial Lotus felt an urge to tickle the roots of this powerful but gentle World Tree.

"Liu Shu, I have an important question to ask. Can you answer me honestly?" Hearing Azure Rose's tone, Liu Shu listened attentively.

"Of course! That was my intention!"

"Great." Azure Rose smiled and then asked.

"Tell me, Liu Shu. What do you plan to do with the Abyssal Void Nexus?" Liu Shu paused and spoke.

"That… I would love to assimilate them as peacefully as possible. But… I don't feel it is possible." She was strong, incredibly strong. Therefore, she had the choice of being merciful in her ways. However, the question was, how many deserved this mercy? Those who lived in the Abyssal Void Nexus all shared similar ideologies. Celestial Lotus spoke, her tone somewhat serious.

"Liu Shu, it is important that you annihilate them. And I mean everyone."

"Hm…" Liu Shu was hesitant while simultaneously understanding.

"I know what I need to do… But can you explain to me why, Big Sister Lotus?" Celestial Lotus, having accepted Liu Shu, didn't hold back any information that she knew about.

"Liu Shu, you should know that there are otherworldly powers in Ceperet, right? With your strength, it is impossible that you have not discovered them."

"Yeah!" Liu Shu answered affirmatively.

"Since you know about them, it is easier to explain. These powers have some rules when conquering planets. The factions must dominate the world in a decisive manner. Also, they will be unable to interact with those worlds only when their factions are considered annihilated." Liu Shu's mind flashed, and she understood.

"So… If I leave some people who want to rebuild the Abyssal Void Nexus, even if they want to do that secretly, I am leaving the door half-open for them. Only when I am ruthless will I be able to close the door and prevent their involvement in a direct manner… Am I right?"

"Yes." Azure Rose commented.

"The reason we haven't joined Skyflower in the past is that she had never believed that we three together could completely annihilate them. On the contrary, if we started a prolonged war, the main power outside our world might send stronger people to our planet."

"You mean… Level 100 and above?"

"No. That they can't do because this World doesn't have the ability to support their power."

"Huh?" Liu Shu was confused after Azure Rose's statement.

"What do you mean?" Azure Rose explained a bit more in detail.

"Without a World Tree to support the world, a Level 100 has enough strength to create catastrophic events with their strength. You must know that an average Level 100 has much higher stats than you. There was a time Skyflower showed us an average System Page of a recently promoted Level 100, and the numbers were ridiculous."

"Hm… I see." After speaking for so long, Liu Shu would need to be a bit silly not to understand that having mercy was only going to hurt herself.

"Then… I'll attack in a few weeks when my <Temple Of Life> is completed." Liu Shu sighed, her gaze looking into the distant continent.

"I'll start… from the <Dark Water City>." Verdant Skyflower spoke softly for the first time, showing that she had been here the whole time.

"Go. I trust you can do it, Liu Shu. Once you are done with the Abyssal Void Nexus, we will all become part of your domain." And so, a few weeks later, the massacre of <Dark Water City> started, the day when warships rained from the sky and roots tore down a city in a matter of minutes.