287: Classic villain tactics

"So that's how it is?"

Zhou Yan set down Gou Liaotai's corpse and, just like with the previous ones, reduced it to ashes with a burst of fire before deactivating his Dragon Transformation form.

"A pity, he still managed to escape."

Upon learning that the final boss was a tree and the person before him was merely a Puppet used for traveling outside, Zhou Yan had prepared himself by immediately using Dragon Transformation to give chase, fearing the opponent would abandon the body ahead of time.

He just hadn't expected the opponent to escape anyway.

Looking at the boss's health bar, which was half empty during the final calculation, it seemed the opponent was indeed extremely afraid of death. They had likely paid a significant price to sever the connection so thoroughly, leaving no information behind.

Unfortunately for them, they had miscalculated one step.

Zhou Yan smiled slightly, took out "time like a shuttle," and activated time acceleration to trace back the scene that had just occurred.

It was only after the opponent had wiped their memories and cut off the clues that Zhou Yan remembered he could do this.

And that fellow wasn't as strong as he had imagined.

After that so-called Tree God escaped, Zhou Yan saw that Gou Liaotai's true strength was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, making the temporal backtracking exceptionally easy.

Before long, Zhou Yan had understood most of the cause and effect of the situation.

"How cliché."

Zhou Yan did not put away time like a shuttle; instead, he gripped it in his hand, struck a pose, and gave a low shout.

"Transform!"

In the blink of an eye, he had turned into a withered old man.

With a casual flip of his hand, Zhou Yan used the "yuanwu xielü" to instantly create an altar, several spirit tablets, an incense burner, and three sticks of incense lit by a Heteromorphic Fire.

One could only say the yuanwu xielü was truly useful; one-time-use curse items that normally required time to prepare could now be made on a whim.

Next, Zhou Yan utilized the power of the Yin Scholar Tree and time acceleration to rapidly initiate the ritual.

First, he forced a drop of fresh blood from his body and quickly dabbed it in the center of the three incense sticks, then formed hand seals and chanted incantations.

Under the time acceleration, the incense quickly burned to the designated point. As the incense burned out, three wisps of originally colorless smoke turned blood-red and were sucked into the spirit tablet.

"My life for yours."

"The Spirit Trees name, soul disperse!"

After the final incantation was finished, the opponent's panel appeared before Zhou Yan once again.

【Tree Zombie · Qiankun】

【Realm: Late Nascent Soul Stage】

【Vitality: 250k/1.5M】

As the panel surfaced, Zhou Yan's gaze quickly locked onto the fake building where the opponent was hiding among the complex of structures.

Although spatial anomalies could affect the mini-map's judgment, they could not interfere with Zhou Yan's Divine Sense.

Because there was a loophole in his True Name, the feedback of fate could not lock onto Zhou Yan; thus, fate-type attacks also struggled to deal heavy damage to the opponent.

This kind of direct life-taking assault was even harder to achieve, at most only causing injury.

But that was enough. At the moment of injury, a sliver of connection would be created between the fates of both parties, sufficient for Zhou Yan to follow the sensation and find that withered tree.

Since the panel had not yet indicated any abnormalities, it meant the others hadn't fallen into a crisis for the time being, or at least hadn't lost their lives.

In that case, Zhou Yan didn't intend to go to their rescue. It was better to directly 'besiege Wei to rescue Zhao' by dealing with the final boss; everything would naturally be resolved.

With his mind made up, Zhou Yan no longer hid his aura.

His Early Stage Nascent Soul cultivation was fully released as he charged straight toward that building without any concealment.

*Cough, cough, cough...*

In a corner, The Spirit Trees name suddenly began to cough violently, while also detecting that unmasked aura.

He knew the opponent was coming for him, but he wasn't without a trump card.

From the shadows of the building, "Wang Yao" slowly stepped out, bringing the unconscious Wang Yao before The Spirit Trees name.

"Damn it, I'm not going to survive today anyway, so none of you are going to have it easy!"

Xiao Shu's eyes turned fierce—though a tree has no eyes, the viciousness in his intent was still clearly discernible.

He mobilized all his remaining power, fully activating the Law of Qiankun to perform the maximum degree of "Qiankun Rotation."

Zhou Yan's power and the power of the person before him were swapped, and then the latter's power was transferred onto that fake body.

The fake body's strength began to soar rapidly. It not only possessed Wang Yao's powerful Physical Body and recovery rate but also combined it with Zhou Yan's vast Magical Power.

An unprecedented monster was about to be born, one that would destroy everything in its path.

This immense power even gave The Spirit Trees name a glimmer of hope; perhaps he really could solve this easily, and maybe he could even survive.

"Kun, how do you feel?"

The Spirit Trees name looked with some excitement at this creation named "Kun."

Kun was also excitedly staring at his own hands.

"Master, I have never felt so powerful... It is as if I have insight into everything."

"Good, very good!"

The Spirit Trees name couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion, his mind filled with wild fantasies.

"If I had known this kid was so easy to deal with, I should have taken him down first. With this power, what can't be accomplished?"

"Wait, I'll first deal with that damned Nascent Soul who dared to hunt me down... then I'll handle the others. I'll turn them all into my Materials to make up for this loss."

"Hahaha!"

Perhaps because he had used too much power to deal with Zhou Yan, The Spirit Trees name's cultivation was now nearly depleted.

Because of this, he didn't notice that the body of the "Kun" he had created was twisting eerily, his face contorted in pain, yet unable to make a sound.

"Go, finish off that guy."

The Spirit Trees name finished laughing and gave the order directly.

However, the show he expected did not happen. Kun, standing behind him, did not strike as he had envisioned but remained standing quietly in place.

The Spirit Trees name couldn't help but feel dissatisfied. Although a tree cannot frown, his attention focused on the Kun behind him.

"What are you still standing there for?"

"Go and kill him, quickly!"

When he concentrated his spirit to look, Kun had stopped twisting his body and was just standing stiffly, head lowered without a word.

If one observed closely, they would find that Kun's body was emitting a faint scent of green grass, mixed with a trace of an indiscernible rot.

But the original Kun was a product derived using a zombie as a medium to carry the Law, so he already had the stench of a corpse on him; thus, The Spirit Trees name did not notice anything unusual.

"Hey, did you hear me!"

The Spirit Trees name urged again.

And this time, Kun finally had a reaction.

He first swayed his body, then slowly raised his head to look at the withered tree before him.

And The Spirit Trees name met those eyes; the original expression of fatigue and confusion had suddenly turned into a violent rage.

Following that, a voice—half-aged, half-youthful, and never heard before—came from within Kun's body.

"You Lower Realm ant, who do you think you are commanding?"

*Rumble—*

A distant building suddenly collapsed, and Zhou Yan was momentarily confused.

But when he saw that withered tree being tossed into the air, he immediately understood. That must be the so-called Tree God, but how did it get launched into the sky?

Does the landlord have a Divine Artifact too!

"Ah—!"

A roar echoed, causing Zhou Yan's spirit to tremble.

Fortunately, his Dao Heart stabilized immediately, preventing him from being too affected.

Only then did he see clearly the figure standing next to Wang Yao, who looked similar to Wang Yao yet was completely different.

Why is Wang Yao here?

And what is that thing next to him?

The figure in the center of the ruined building also discovered Zhou Yan at this moment.

After a brief moment of being dazed, he let out another roar and charged fiercely toward Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan instinctively wanted to cast a Spell to respond, but he found that his usual wind-element Spells had no reaction at all.

In that split second of hesitation, the opponent had already rushed in front of him and smashed a fist toward Zhou Yan's face.

Zhou Yan was sent flying by the punch and slammed heavily into the ground, his mind currently a complete blank.

"What's going on? Where are my skills?"

"Did my input method get stuck?"

He instinctively opened his panel and was then stunned.

【Zhou Yan】

【Realm: Early Stage Nascent Soul, Level 2】

【Vitality: 25.72M/4.5M】

【Magical Power: 340k/2.1M】

【Special Status: Qiankun Rotation (2:28:46)】

"Huh?"

"What on earth is this?"

"Who stuffed this phone number into my panel?"