Chapter 744 - 738: The Divine King Does Not Emerge
Canglan World was a beautiful world.
This place was brimming with all sorts of plants. At a glance, it somewhat resembled the initial state of the Biluo World, with plants either quaintly shaped or surprisingly looking. Yet, no matter the type, all were brightly colored, intoxicating to behold.
At the same time, it was also a rather powerful Medium World.
At least within the nearby Star Domain, it was considered quite strong.
Not only was there a Top Level Divine Spirit residing here, but there were also many powerful Divine Spirits dominating their own territories.
The Canglan Realm was not a world dominated by humans, but a world of plants.
Ever since ancient times, after the plants defeated the rampaging monsters, they became the tyrants of this world.
As for those monsters, nowadays they were either barely surviving in desolate and barren lands or had become fodder for some mighty plant life!
The reason why this world still had so many Divine Spirits carving out their dominions under the rule of a Top Level Divine Spirit was rooted in history.
Thousands of years ago, the Previous Divine King led All Gods on an expedition to a Small World, but the mission ended in disaster, with heavy losses among his forces, and vast casualties among All Gods. Even the Divine King himself was grievously injured, and further disheartened by the Gods’ complaints, it wasn’t long before he passed away!
The Divine King had perished upon his return, as his kingship was hereditary. Initially, he was just an Upper Divine Spirit of the Peak Realm, who hadn’t achieved Immortality, with no Dao to rely on. The losses weakened the world’s strength, and Heavenly Dao no longer favored him, leading to his depressed demise.
Even though the Divine King’s progeny has now grown and even became a Top Level Divine Spirit, the damage caused by his father had not made the rest of All Gods forget, thus many were recalcitrant to his rule.
In addition, whether out of guilt or some other reason, this Divine King for years neither suppressed All Gods to make them submit nor showed any intention of avenging his father with a renewed expedition, instead allowing All Gods to dominate their territories unchecked.
Under these circumstances, some unrest inevitably arose within the world. Fortunately, each faction of Divine Spirits still very much feared the Divine King who had ascended to Top Level, so they refrained from excessive actions, content to rule in their own realms.
However, this seemingly stable situation always carried an eerie calm and oppressiveness, as if a groundbreaking event could explode at any moment, causing many Divine Spirits to feel a restless anxiety!
Yet the anticipated great war did not arrive, even when the current Divine King achieved the Dao and advanced to Immortality. He did not forcibly subdue All Gods, but rather let things be, appearing utterly devoid of ambition.
Initially, All Gods were on edge, but after several thousand more years of status quo, they grew accustomed to it.
The only discomfort came from peculiar phenomena that would occasionally arise in the world.
Sometimes unique plant life would emerge; other times, distinctive monsters would appear.
Whether plant or monster, all seemed mutated, possessing not only very different appearances from the normal life of this realm but also incredibly powerful and unique abilities. Each appearance would cause some chaos, albeit to varying degrees.
This chaos always remained within a certain range and did not spread across the world, so a widespread disorder never ensued. Over time, All Gods grew accustomed to these events, some even complacent, assuming those mutated beings weren’t causing a real stir and therefore ignoring them.
That was until the number of mutated plant spirits and monsters began to increase, with some even taking over territories and wreaking havoc in some areas. This spurred All Gods to sense unease.
By now, All Gods were divided into three camps, struggling to unify in thought.
The radical ones wanted to completely eradicate these mutated monsters, while the conservative ones were reluctant to stir up trouble, and few still believed they should let these mutations persist. If such mutations were beneficial, it could potentially strengthen the world.
With All Gods voicing diverse opinions and no dominant force to unite them, the Divine King who had reached Immortality and was seemingly engrossed in Cultivation, rarely making an appearance, made it difficult for the Divine Spirits to act in concert. After a few quarrels, they went their separate ways, too lazy to engage in such matters.
As responsible Divine Spirits fretted, and others, indifferent, were enjoying carefree days within their own territories, suddenly, they all felt a surge of unease and palpitations.
This unease stemmed from the world itself, invisibly affecting All Gods.
They searched for the source of this unease, finding that other Divine Spirits were as restless as they were, and although the mutated monsters had spread further than before, they had not gone to extreme lengths and were still within a controllable range for All Gods.
Clearly, this unease was not caused by the mutated monsters.
It wasn’t until a Divine Spirit inadvertently looked up and noticed that deep within the starry sky beyond the Boundary Barrier, there now stood a magnificent and beautiful Immortal Palace!
The Immortal Palace was tall and majestic, exuding an atmosphere of grandeur yet revealing the unique beauty inherent to the Cultivation World, leaving All Gods in awe.
However, after the initial amazement, they became wary.
As a world that had once waged trans-world wars on neighboring worlds, many of these Divine Spirits who had participated in those expeditions knew all too well that the sudden appearance of the Immortal Palace foreboded ill intentions!
“War has come!”
Atop the mountain peak, an ancient tree looked up to the sky, a face full of wrinkles appearing on its trunk.
After a moment, the ancient tree slowly uttered this phrase, causing surprise to show on the faces of the surrounding large trees.
In a forest of brightly colored trees, an exceptionally tall and straight tree roared skyward, its sound echoing between heaven and earth. This awoke all the trees with vivid red bodies in the forest, each opening its eyes to look at the tall tree and then pulling their roots free to follow in its wake, a mighty procession like a marching army.
Within the dark pine forest, the Cangsong Tree King let out a roar, and the pressing expanse of pines instantly transformed into a multitude of treants, following the Tree King’s steps towards the area where the Immortal Palace was to descend.
In the valley, mushroom men of various sizes and colors, their mushroom-cap heads bobbing, scurried back and forth playfully, with a giant mushroom in the center standing as tall as a high-rise building.
Suspended in midair on a Floating Island, a green vine hung a thousand feet down, its tip tightly entwined around a monster as thorns pierced its body, drawing the monster’s blood.
Out on the meadow of green, a dandelion was laughing merrily as it drifted in the wind.
Not far away, a large red flower blossomed and was about to greet the dandelion when it suddenly looked up into the sky!
Similar scenes unfolded in various places, where either the verdant primeval forests, the strange ancient trees covered with purple leaves, or the plant spirits of various colors had all mobilized at this moment.
Among them, the stronger followed in the footsteps of All Gods, countless plant spirits waving their branches and moving their root-transformed legs, ready to face the powerful alien enemies.
Although each of the gods had their own plans, when faced with an invasion by outsiders, they seemed to act in unison.
It was just that even against such a backdrop, there were still some discordant elements.
Take, for example, the Divine King.
As a Top Level Divine Spirit, he remained motionless despite the invasion, as if he was unaware of the Immortal Palace flying towards them from the depths of the Void!
And there were other Divine Spirits who, like the Divine King, adopted an indifferent ‘let someone else deal with it’ attitude, seemingly content not to lift a finger unless the invaders disturbed them.
This angered many Divine Spirits, but they had no choice but to step forward first.
After all, they couldn’t just allow the invaders to charge in unopposed and penetrate deep into the world, could they?
Countless plant spirits gathered on the earth, forming vast plant legions of hundreds of millions, each bizarre and unique in form.
In the sky, the Plant Gods floated in the Void, vigilantly watching the Immortal Palace that was drawing ever closer.
Such a delicately beautiful and majestic palace was clearly not crafted by any ordinary being.
Although the number of enemies within the depths of the Immortal Palace remained unseen, the deep apprehension transmitted from the World Will indicated that this great enemy was certainly extraordinary!
So, these Plant Gods were all extremely cautious.
A King Flower, emitting a strange and foul stench that seemed rather pleasant to other plants, swayed its sharp maw, petals opening and closing a few times as it released a terrifying and ferocious aura.
The King Flower said to the nearby ancient tree known as Ghost Rong, “It’s come to this, and yet the Divine King still doesn’t show up?”
“Yes, indeed!”
At this remark, dissatisfaction surged among the other Divine Spirits: “As the Divine King, he doesn’t even make an appearance in the face of an invasion, how can he fulfill his duty?”
“Hmph, with such immense Divine Power, yet he’s such a coward, not at all like the Previous God King.”
A fellow that resembled seaweed greatly spoke up, “The Previous God King might not have been very strong, but at least he had some sense of responsibility and had tried to expand and strengthen the world. Unlike him, who normally stays out of worldly affairs, but now doesn’t even leave his Royal Palace when needed. In my opinion, we might as well have no Divine King at all!”
“That’s right, Ghost Rong, you’ve served in the Divine King Palace for three generations of Divine Kings. Even though you’ve left the Divine King Palace, you’re still a senior with old credentials. You should go and persuade the Divine King!”
“Enough already!”
With a sigh, the ancient treant known as Ghost Rong replied, “You all don’t treat him as the Divine King; how can he wield the authority of the Divine King? Are you here to defend against the enemy or to take frustration out on each other?”