Chapter 28: The Consequences
It was clear that this Netherworld Fruit Tree, of which only the tip of the iceberg had been revealed, was definitely not the same one that had appeared in the gray mist zone. This one was terrifyingly huge. A single branch of this Netherworld Fruit Tree was larger than the entire tree from before.
"Boss, such a huge Netherworld Fruit Tree," Bebe said, somewhat intimidated.
He had been completely helpless against the previous Netherworld Fruit Tree.
"Keep moving forward," Linley said in a low voice. At the same time, the Blackstone Space that had already spread out expanded once more, forming a hemispherical domain with a diameter of twenty meters. A powerful repulsive force acted within this Blackstone Space. Any foreign object that entered would be repelled.
They walked, and walked…
They had already traveled several thousand meters, yet within Linley and Bebe’s field of vision, there was still the terrifyingly huge canopy. That astonishingly large canopy was supported by countless extremely thick branches intertwined together.
"Boss, look up there," Bebe suddenly said.
Linley couldn’t help but follow Bebe’s gaze. Amidst the tangled leaves above, a small green snake emerged from one of the leaves.
"Green snake!" Linley was startled. "The presence of these small green snakes means there must be a giant green serpent here! These little green snakes all rely on the serpent spirits. That means… besides the serpent spirit Bebe killed, there are other serpent spirits!" Linley felt his heart tighten.
Suddenly—
Linley squinted his eyes. From the dense leaves above, one green snake after another began to emerge. These small green snakes, each the size of a palm and as thick as a finger, all stared at Linley and Bebe. However, they did not attack.
"So many!" Bebe exclaimed via telepathic transmission.
"Keep going," Linley said, ignoring the green snakes as he continued forward.
As they advanced, Linley and Bebe found that green snakes were emerging everywhere. The number of green snakes they had encountered along this path alone was already in the hundreds of thousands, even millions. It far exceeded the number they had seen in the gray mist zone. Even Linley was shocked by such a quantity.
With so many small green snakes, where were the serpent spirits?
"The main trunk!" Linley and Bebe’s gazes focused on the distance.
After seeing the canopy, they had traveled nearly ten thousand meters. Finally, they saw the main trunk of this Netherworld Fruit Tree. At first glance—this was no trunk at all. It was simply a wall! A curved wall! The diameter of this Netherworld Fruit Tree’s main trunk was a full several hundred meters!
The main trunk, several hundred meters in diameter!
The radius of the canopy was nearly ten thousand meters!
What an enormous tree this was! Most importantly… it was a Netherworld Fruit Tree! In the Netherworld and the Infernal Realm, there were trees this thick! But the material of those trees was inferior. One must know… even Linley, using all his strength with his sword, could only cut halfway through an arm-thick branch of this Netherworld Fruit Tree.
The more precious, the rarer.
The material of such a large tree was too tough. It should have been smaller. But it was far too big.
"Just that main trunk, several hundred meters thick, even if I tried to chop it, I couldn’t," Linley sighed inwardly. The material of the main trunk was generally even higher than that of the branches. And with the trunk being so thick? How could it be destroyed?
"Boss, up there, look quickly! Netherworld Fruit!" Bebe exclaimed.
Linley looked up.
Above the Netherworld Fruit Tree, amidst the foliage, specks of purple were visible. Although they were unclear due to the distance and the purple mist, those purple specks glowed like gems, very conspicuous. "It’s Netherworld Fruit! And there are dozens of them!" Linley couldn’t help but move closer, with Bebe following.
As they got closer, they could see more clearly.
Crystal clear, tender purple Netherworld Fruits, as if about to drip with moisture, hung among the green leaves. These fruits, like little lanterns, were suspended. There were dozens of them.
"So many Netherworld Fruits!" Bebe was dumbfounded.
"But in all the countless years of the Netherworld, including the one Berrely obtained, there have only been four! And here there are so many!" Linley remained very calm, because he understood… so many Netherworld Fruits were definitely not something he could just take. Otherwise, someone else would have taken them long ago.
Entering this purple mist zone, he hadn’t encountered any danger yet.
"Haha, Netherworld Fruits. So there are this many after all," Bebe said, his eyes starting to gleam.
"Serpent spirits. Come out," Linley said coldly, glancing at the canopy. The dense green snakes were all staring at Linley and Bebe. Bebe immediately laughed loudly, "Hey, what’s with all these little green snakes? Trying to scare us? Hurry up and show your true forms!"
"As you wish!" A harsh voice came from within the Netherworld Fruit Tree.
Linley and Bebe immediately looked toward the sound.
"Sssss—" A giant green serpent, as thick as an arm and nine meters long, emerged from the foliage. Its soft serpent body coiled around a thick branch, while its head rose up, glaring coldly at Linley and Bebe.
"You—" Bebe started to speak but suddenly froze.
Because beside this giant green serpent, another one, slightly larger, emerged. This giant green serpent wrapped its tail around a branch, its body hanging down against the trunk. Its purple-glowing eyes also stared at Linley and Bebe, filled with killing intent.
"Sssss—"
The leaves rustled continuously as one giant green serpent after another emerged from the depths.
Bebe counted under his breath, "Three, four, five… eight, nine!"
Finally, it stopped. A total of nine giant green serpents, some intertwined with each other, some coiled around branches, some wrapped around the main trunk. All nine glared angrily at Linley and Bebe. In terms of size, these giant green serpents were all similar, about the same as the one they had encountered in the gray mist zone. "Nine of them. This is troublesome," Bebe said, frowning.
These giant green serpents were very difficult to deal with. Bebe had only been able to kill them using his innate divine ability, Soul Devourer. Although his soul power had fully recovered by now, there were nine of them here.
"Nine!" Linley also found it somewhat tricky.
"Bebe, forget the Netherworld Fruits. Let’s leave first," Linley transmitted. For countless years, no one had been able to harvest so many Netherworld Fruits. Setting aside the troublesome nine giant serpents, the most terrifying thing was still the astonishingly thick Netherworld Fruit Tree itself. If a Netherworld Fruit Tree of this size decided to deal with them, that would be the real problem.
Better to leave quickly, to get out of the purple mist zone.
"Forget it?" Bebe was stunned.
"Hurry up and go," Linley said, glancing at him. Bebe finally agreed, "Alright then."
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Linley and Bebe simultaneously turned into two afterimages, darting rapidly to the side.
"Running?"
The nine giant green serpents instantly shot out from the Netherworld Fruit Tree, like nine bolts of green lightning, directly chasing after Linley and Bebe. However, Linley and Bebe had already fled first, and the Blackstone Space was still spread around them. The nine giant green serpents simply couldn’t catch up to Linley.
"Trying to chase us? Dream on!" Bebe laughed loudly.
"Whoosh—" Suddenly, the canopy above them, with a massive number of branches, pressed down like a mountain, instantly slamming to the ground. Linley and Bebe only felt the area ahead of them darken, their path completely blocked.
"Escape past the Netherworld Fruit Tree’s obstruction?" Having experienced the toughness of the Netherworld Fruit Tree’s branches, Linley and Bebe turned around without hesitation.
As they turned, they saw the nine giant green serpents, which had stopped and were coiled on the ground.
"You still want to escape? Haha…" A deep voice came from the mouth of one of the green serpents, its cold purple eyes glaring at Linley and Bebe. "I tell you, the Netherworld Mountain’s purple mist zone is your death ground!"
A sharp voice came from another giant green serpent, "You two are called Linley and Bebe, right? You’re quite something, daring to kill our big sister! For countless years, we ten siblings have been living just fine. Our big sister went to deliver Netherworld Fruits to you, and you killed her! Haha… we nine siblings will kill you even if we die, to avenge our big sister!"
"Yes, avenge our big sister!" another giant green serpent roared.
The nine giant green serpents all had purple eyes filled with anger and hatred.
Linley felt a headache coming on.
"That serpent spirit really is related to these nine. Calling her 'big sister'?" Linley had anticipated trouble, but he hadn’t expected that serpent spirit to have nine siblings.
"Hey, what are you talking about? Your big sister, delivering Netherworld Fruits to us?" Bebe said angrily. "You’ve got a screw loose! If your big sister was delivering Netherworld Fruits to us, why was she desperately blocking our way? If she hadn’t been so excessive, would I have been bored enough to kill her?"
In truth, blocking intruders was the serpent spirit’s task. It happened every time.
Through the serpent spirit’s obstruction, they could screen for those with sufficient strength.
But in the eyes of the serpent spirit’s nine siblings, their big sister had indeed been delivering Netherworld Fruits to outsiders. After all, the obstruction was just a test. To be killed while delivering Netherworld Fruits—these nine siblings were naturally furious.
"Second brother, stop wasting words with them. Kill them," one of the giant green serpents said.
"Kill!" the deep voice sounded.
Instantly, the nine giant green serpents scattered, forming an encirclement around Linley and Bebe. However, Linley’s Blackstone Space had a diameter of twenty meters, and the encirclement was also large, with the nine giant green serpents all outside the Blackstone Space. The nine giant green serpents began to move rapidly, their nine pairs of purple triangular eyes fixed on Linley and Bebe.
"Swoosh, swoosh—" They moved at extreme speed, becoming blurs.
Linley and Bebe could no longer see the serpent forms clearly. They only saw nine streaks of purple light. Those purple lights began to twist, like threads, intertwining within the encirclement, rolling toward Linley and Bebe like a fishing net.
"What kind of move is this?" Linley was puzzled, but he didn’t overthink it. His direct reaction was—the Blackstone Space suddenly expanded, instantly enveloping the nine moving giant green serpents. The powerful repulsive force acted on the giant green serpents, causing their speed to drop drastically and forcing them backward.
The combined attack was broken!
"Attack that Linley!" an angry shout rang out.
Immediately, the nine giant green serpents rebounded their bodies almost simultaneously, nine streaks of green light shooting toward Linley, their fangs aiming to bite him. But due to the Blackstone Space, their speed wasn’t very fast. In truth, the serpent spirits’ strongest attack was biting with their venomous fangs. However, they knew—
Bebe’s body was too tough. Their big sister’s fangs had broken off without harming Bebe.
So, for now, they chose to target Linley first!
The venomous fangs of these serpent spirits and those of the small green snakes were on completely different levels. Being bitten by a serpent spirit’s fangs was far more terrifying than having a small green snake burrow into one’s body!
Linley watched as nine large mouths came biting toward him, startled. "Being bitten by a small green snake is already troublesome. If I’m bitten by these serpent spirits… I’m not Bebe!" His own dragon scale defense was strong, but even Patriarch Galesreyn’s dragon scales hadn’t reached the level of divine artifact weapons like Beirute’s or Bebe’s.
"Hmph." Linley willed it.
The Blackstone Space’s repulsive force shifted to downward gravitational force!
The nine serpents, raising their heads to bite, suddenly had their bodies heavily pulled down. At the same time, Linley cast Soul Chaos. With Linley’s current Soul Chaos, even a Seven Star Fiend would be somewhat affected. "Huh?" Linley was surprised to find that these nine giant green serpents were completely unaffected by Soul Chaos. These giant green serpents propped themselves up again and lunged directly at Linley. Linley gripped his Shadowstrike Divine Sword, using all his strength in the Laws of the Earth. The Shadowstrike Divine Sword struck out, causing space to tremble and crack open with fissures.
Within the Blackstone Space, the giant green serpents were slow to dodge.
"Pfft!" He struck one of the giant green serpents on its body. The serpent’s entire body trembled, and a large wound appeared, purple blood flowing out.
"What tough serpent skin," Linley thought in surprise. His attack contained the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, far stronger than Bebe’s attacks. Yet it could only wound this giant green serpent.
"Roar—" The wounded giant green serpent roared in pain and bit angrily, its two sharp fangs gleaming with a strange black luster.
"Whoosh." Linley immediately retreated.
Nine chased, one fled, occasionally striking a few sword blows.
"Second brother, this bastard’s gravity space has too much gravitational pull. Within his space, we can’t catch him," one of the giant green serpents said anxiously. These nine serpent spirits had also realized this problem.
"Rustle, rustle—" At that moment, the Netherworld Fruit Tree began to tremble violently.
PS: Second chapter here. There’s still a third chapter!