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Chapter 551. World Tree Mar's Final Stubbornness: Reactions. [AotSC]
🕑 Added 2025-09-27 19:00:36 +0000 UTCThe entire world went into an uproar. While Skyflower and the other World Trees could’ve blocked the independent World Trees and Life Trees from communicating by cutting off the trade routes, Liu Shu told them not to.
Liu Shu’s idea was simple. “Let them know that I’ve run out of patience. Will they rise when they know my strength? Will the people throw away their lives knowing that what they are facing is an unstoppable force of nature? Since it doesn’t matter if they keep resentment in their hearts, unlike previously, I can just forcefully take over and slowly assimilate them. In two or three generations, their children will be as much part of our power as any other citizens.”
She had 20 years, and she was not going to waste a single extra one dealing with the stubborn World Trees. She also left a few orders in the back of Golden Sap City. She asked them to first merge the world armies into one and to use the Dungeons as a way to separate, train, and classify different individuals.
‘To get worldwide control, I must be careful and not divide the power too much. The most important thing in a world government is to avoid the resurfacing of individual national pride.’
Liu Shu planned and purposely manipulated many things, ensuring that the general population continued their normal lives and were never affected.
The days after Liu Shu’s threat passed quickly. She observed how many people packed their things, leaving the city. Still, there were some who were stubborn and didn't want to leave their hometown.
Liu Shu expected it. ‘Thankfully, I don’t have to deal with them directly.’
“Time’s up.” Liu Shu spoke to the World Tree, her tone light and calm. “This is your last chance to surrender to me. Will you or not?”
“...I won’t.” The World Tree spoke, giving up on her life. “If you want to kill me, do it quickly.”
“I will.” There was no hesitation. Her roots carefully dug below the city and approached the core of the World Tree.
The number of people spectating from a distance was in the tens of thousands. Dignitaries, political figures, normal residents, mercenaries, and many more individuals from inside and outside the city looked from a safe distance.
“Do you think that Lady Heaveny Willow will topple Lady Mar even when there are still residents inside?”
Someone with realistic views answered with a snort. “Didn’t she warn them before? It’s not Lady Heavenly Willow’s fault.”
Another person with more empathetic views frowned. “But her methods are too brutal. Why is she being so hasty? There must be other methods that don’t create so many victims.”
However, neither of them needed to be worried about it. After all, Liu Shu refused to use the same methods she used back during her conquest of the <Origin Water Continent>.
Instead, those looking from the safety of the perimeter marked by Liu Shu noticed something else. “Hm? There is something climbing up the Lady Mar…”
A person with better eyes spoke calmly. “They are Lady Heavenly Willow’s roots.”
Confused as to what Liu Shu was planning, they looked attentively and used long-range vision artifacts to look.
Liu Shu’s roots climbed up the World Tree, covering over 1000 meters of height in just a few hours. Her vine-like roots tightly coiled around her and only stopped when she reached the canopy.
“Alright. Rest now, Mar.”
With her words, one of the roots pierced deeply through one of the World Tree’s breasts right into the heart’s location.
BOOM!
A shockwave exploded outwards, as if the energy of the World Tree suddenly went berserk. However, even when it tried to struggle, Liu Shu kept it still with her roots. A second later, the trembling World Tree stiffened and its aura disappeared.
Liu Shu had destroyed both the World Tree’s <Core Room> and <Tree Heart>. Without those two, the World Tree died instantly.
Naturally, once the World Tree’s body died, the wood lost the powerful properties it had when alive, so it began giving in to its incredible weight. The wood ominously creaked, emitting loud, explosive sounds that expanded outward from the shattered material.
Yet, even with the constant rumble, the World Tree didn’t topple down.
Someone with a quick mind understood it right away. “... The roots. They are holding up the World Tree and acting as extra support.”
“That’s ridiculous! A World Tree over 1000 meters tall weighs several million tons!”
“Millions?” Someone more knowledgeable snorted. “A World Tree around 1000 meters tall weighs over a billion tons. You’ve missed it by just three zeroes.”
Everyone became silent after hearing the slightly sarcastic remark. That expert added. “Naturally, Lady Heavenly Willow is not lifting that weight, but supporting it. This feat is remarkable in and of itself, but I've heard that Lady Heavenly Willow is a World Tree over 6,000 meters tall. So, compared to the usual weight her roots support, a few billion tons are probably not that much.”
Someone asked, confused. “Then, why did Lady Heavenly Willow ask for us to evacuate? Did she want to move us because she will take over the city?”
Another person sighed. “That’s short-sighted thinking. Most likely, Lady Heavenly Willow asked people to get out of the city because she was unsure if she could properly hold Lady Mar. From what I heard, Lady Heavenly Willow has never killed normal World Trees. She has only fought corrupted World Trees within enemy territory.”
Everyone frowned, complicated feelings swirling in them as they observed Liu Shu dismantle the World Tree.
Liu Shu looked at the city and muttered to herself. ‘Alright… That zone has no life in it. I can place the branches there and ask Flor to send the army later and collect the wood. A World Tree’s material, even if it is low-level, is incredibly precious, after all.’
As her roots broke and threw branches down to a deserted place, Liu Shu gently supported the World Tree’s corpse. ‘... I don’t understand. Why did you remain so stubborn?’
While in the past, Liu Shu herself told Fortuna how stubbornly she would never give up on becoming stronger, she was innocent back then. ‘If Warlya, for example, were to attack me back when I was in the Second Energy Cycle, and then ask me to join her, I wouldn’t deny her.’
Her willingness to join the Celestial Lotus Empire spoke volumes about how Liu Shu worked. “As long as you respect my individuality, I can work with you. Then, when I become stronger, I will treat you well if you didn’t wrong me in the first place.”
That was how Liu Shu thought in a vacuum. Of course, depending on the situation, things would change a lot. Ultimately, each situation was unique.
“But resisting so stubbornly when I clearly showed benefits and the ability to remain being themselves… I can’t understand.”
Liu Shu’s dismantling took around 3 days and nights of constant work. During the first day, she broke off all the World Tree’s largest branches, being careful to avoid those breaking naturally, so as not to cause any loss of life.”
Of course, in the end, the canopy of a World Tree was an environment itself. So a few birds and other animals that nested there were bound to be injured, regardless of how careful Liu Shu was.
Apart from those few accidental deaths, Liu Shu was able to dismantle the World Tree easily. The crowd that arrived on the first day didn’t disperse; instead, it grew as the days passed.
Witnessing a World Tree being broken down piece by piece was such a unique experience that it left the population dazed.
Moreover, from the second day onward, thousands of troops arrived by air and land, carrying containers and tools to dismantle and relocate the massive World Tree. While Liu Shu took three days for her work, the remaining work would take a few months of back-and-forth and transportation.
Thankfully, the benefits from each piece of World Tree material would far outweigh the cost of manual labor.
Skyflower and the other World Trees in the I.C.A.R.E. network felt quite… peculiar. Using Liu Shu’s roots as a medium, they were able to observe Liu Shu’s actions firsthand.
Prarya commented, her tone a bit awkward. “I guess… Now we know what would’ve happened if we were stubborn and denied Little Liu Shu.”
Fortuna joked around. “I don’t think it would’ve been so meticulous. During that time, Little Liu Shu was quite impatient. You would’ve probably become dry wood and been used in stoves to heat the house during winter.”
“... Fortuna, you’ve gone too far!” Prarya shouted, terrified.
A relatively young voice interrupted. “Big Sisters! Don’t slander Big Sister Liu Shu so much! She wouldn’t do something like using our wood as dry wood.”
“Right! Right! Big Sister Liu Shu took care of us and even helped us cleanse ourselves from any remaining corruption.”
“Agreed. Big Sister Liu Shu is too gentle for that!”
Warlya chuckled. “Look at the young little ones~. So cute.”
Fortuna giggled. “You little girls… We are just joking around. If your Big Sister Liu Shu knew that you were so stiff with us, she would scold you.”
“AH! How is that possible!? Don’t speak nonsense, Big Sister Fortuna!”
Liu Shu listened to the conversation with a smile. She didn’t interrupt them and just listened. The feeling of the World Trees and Life Trees speaking through her root network was very pleasant. After all, to speak, the trees needed to share their life force to a certain extent. So, their messages felt like cool currents.
‘I am glad everyone is doing alright.’ Liu Shu sighed in relief. ‘If they became nervous or fearful because of what I did, it would’ve hurt me quite a bit…’
After dealing with World Tree Mar, she noticed a shift in the attitudes of quite a few World Trees.
Before, around eighty percent of them remained stubbornly against her. Yet, after she killed Mar, more than half of the resisting trees were scared and waved their branches in surrender. ‘That’s great. The reaction is better than I thought. How about on the Intelligent Race side?’
“Have you heard about Lady Heavenly Willow’s actions? She destroyed Lady Mar!”
“It’s quite impactful. Seeing Lady Heavenly Willow destroy a World Tree almost without any effort is something that really puts into perspective the differences between them.”
“Isn’t that right? To think that Lady Mar remained stubborn even after Lady Heavenly Willow offered her protection. It’s a bit disrespectful, but I find it somewhat foolish.”
Another sighed. “I agree with you. Lady Heavenly Willow’s buffs are more than worthy of surrender. Any Lady World Tree who remains stubborn is… without any offense, short-sighted. Being removed by Lady Heavenly Willow can be called a method of cutting down the ill branches so that the whole tree can have a healthier life.”
Hearing similar conversations all around, Liu Shu sighed in relief. ‘Thankfully… My methods worked. Alright, now that I am riding this wave, I must strike strongly. I’ll attack all World Trees I can defeat easily at once tomorrow and give the same warnings. Let’s leave the three Level 70+ World Trees for last. They are weak, but their influence is a bit broader than others.’
Comments
Mortrexo
World Tress can kill each other without penalties, so there is no specialness hahaha
VolfKami
New thought, Liu Shu should build that temple of death she's been avoiding for so long entirely out of the world trees that she has to kill in this time period, it'd probably be her strongest temple
Andrew Miles
Well this went better than I expected. I'm curious what kind of system notifications Liu Shu received for this! Mortrexo how come they're missing!!!
