Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 412: The Unrepenting Elder

Zhang Lie had Su Hong clean up the remaining lifeforms as he walked up to the wood spirits.

"I've fulfilled my end of the promise. It's time for you to fulfill yours."

The shaman of the wood spirits was silent for a moment before they sighed. "Alright."

"There's no need to be so upset. Leaving with me will benefit your tribe as well: we're strong enough to protect you from any unforeseen circumstances, and it's not as though you'll be able to stay in this forest any longer."

The shaman of the wood spirits glanced at the remnants of the forest. After the corrupted beast stampede, over eighty percent of the forest had been corrupted; that corruption didn't vanish with the death of the corpsevenom flower.

The forest would only rejuvenate and return to its former vitality once these corrupted plants withered away.

Zhang Lie continued, "Sun Mengmeng, bring a few fire-attuned hunters with you to burn off all patches of corrupted forest. We need to prevent the remnant poison from mutating, and we can't give other hunters access to this corpse venom either."

Sun Mengmeng nodded. "I understand!"

It seemed as though Zhang Lie was just being prudent, but his actions were actually intended to force the wood spirits' hand.

The shaman knew that they didn't have a choice. "I understand. I'll inform the tribe of what has transpired." If Zhang Lie were able to slaughter the corrupted lifeforms so easily, he too would be able to destroy the wood spirits.

"We can't! The wood spirits are meant to be free, to be one with nature! We can't be enslaved by any other race!" the elder of the wood spirits suddenly shouted. A few trees around Zhang Lie moved up to and surrounded him, and they trapped him with their roots.

Zhang Lie smiled.

The shaman of the wood spirits cried out, "Elder, what are you doing?!"

"Shaman, shouldn't I be the one asking you that question? You sold us out to these humans in secret!"

"This was a transaction, as well as a promise."

"Shaman, it was a promise between you and that man, one that doesn't involve the rest of us. Don't drag the entire tribe down with you! If you want to finish this transaction, you can leave alone with those humans!"

The shaman gritted their teeth. "Your actions are going to ruin us all! Haven't you seen these humans' skills? We can't do anything against them!"

The elder of the wood spirits began to laugh. "I have seen his skills, but so what?"

Zhang Lie smirked. "It looks like you're quite confident, but I don't understand where that confidence comes from."

The elder replied conceitedly, "You must be somewhat exhausted after a fight of that magnitude. Now's the best time for us to strike back!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "Even if I were ten times weaker than I am now, and even if I were fully drained of genetic energy, you wouldn't be stronger than I am."

"Ha! You're still rather smug considering your situation, aren't you? Kneel on the ground now and beg, and I might let you go!" the elder commanded. "You're not one of those corrupted lifeforms. We wood spirits can control all manner of greenergy within this forest, and we're undefeatable in our native habitat!"

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie threw out one lone punch, so strong it warped the space all around his fist. Ripples of energy spread out from him and disintegrated all the trees nearby.

"What did you say?" Zhang Lie picked at his ear. "I couldn't hear you properly. Repeat yourself."

The elder of the wood spirits began to panic. "How is this possible?! How could you still be so strong?"

Zhang Lie replied coolly, "This enemy of yours was barely a challenge."

"Even so, with our racial advantage, you wouldn't be able to find us if we were to go into hiding! Yes, with the forest around—"

The elder suddenly remembered that Zhang Lie was a special existence, one that would be able to detect their presence even if they were hiding in a tree. By then, however, it was already too late.

Zhang Lie had chopped apart the tree in which they were hiding and dragged out the recalcitrant elder.

In fear, the elder trembled, "Ah, I'm sorry! Don't kill me! I'll apologize properly and—"

Zhang Lie crushed the elder between his palms, causing him to pop with a puff of green smoke.

He turned to the wood spirits. "What will the rest of you do?"

The shaman and the other wood spirits began to tremble on the spot.

"Please give us some time to prepare to move," the shaman finally requested.

In the end, Zhang Lie succeeded in luring the wood spirits away, along with hundreds of trees from the forest.

.

The wood spirits were unable to get too far from their trees. In order to move from place to place, they would merge with trees, turning themselves into gigantic treemen which could clomp from place to place.

Zhang Lie was very curious if piloting these trees were much like piloting mechas.

Chu Feng was directing the rock spirits and the Yeluo to repair the city walls when he suddenly saw a group of large treemen making their way over to the city. "What's that? Quick, everyone, get ready for a fight!"

On the other hand, the Yeluo didn't seem particularly concerned. "Don't worry, it's possible that they're allies, not enemies. If it turns out that they're another alien race that our lord has brought back, we'd look like fools."

Chu Feng could hardly believe the Yeluo's words. "How could Zhang Lie have brought these treemen back?"

Yun Bing gasped, "That's impossible! Look at the tallest treemen—they're over three hundred meters tall! They have to be here to besiege our city!"

Chu Feng nodded. "There's no point for us to be repairing these walls when a battle is nigh. Quick, prepare for battle—no, we're already too late! Run!"

However, despite Chu Feng and Yun Bing's warnings, the treemen didn't attack the city at all. They stopped a few hundred meters outside the city and began to sequentially root themselves to the ground, turning into ordinary trees once again.

In surprise, Chu Feng murmured, "What are these treemen doing? Is this the prelude to some sort of attack?"

"You're running off even before the fight? Isn't that a little exaggerated?" Su Hong laughed as he and the hunters that had followed Zhang Lie got down from the trees.

Chu Feng gaped. "What were you all doing on top of those trees? Wait, is this another alien race that Zhang Lie has brought back?"

Yun Bing swallowed a gulp of saliva. Where had Zhang Lie found these treemen?

Su Hong laughed again. "Well? How do you like these small creatures?"

"Small?!"

"Ah, right. You'll find out in a moment or two—there are so many strange races out here in the second realm that I wouldn't have known about without Zhang Lie guiding us."