112: Chapter 112 Could it be Duke Ling of Qin?

The roots of the Evil Tree pressed over in patches, as if the entire earth had been overturned, smashing head-on toward that golden figure.

Qin Ling did not retreat.

Divine Travel Across the World enhanced his speed, weaving through the gaps between the roots as those thick vines swept past his sides.

As he threw out the Seven-Kill Demon-Slaying Sword one after another, the system prompts rang incessantly in the mind of Qin Ling.

Every time he threw out a divine art combo, dozens of black flowers turned to ashes in the golden light, and several hundred incense points were credited to his account.

Just as Qin Ling was calculating his gains so much that he could not keep down the corners of his mouth, a root lashed over from his blind spot, faster than any time before.

He was half a beat slow in dodging sideways, and the tip of that root brushed past his shoulder without hurting him.

That was because a pale golden light film flashed across the surface of his body.

Divine art, Undying Divine Light.

It was a defensive divine art he had set up long ago; although it also consumed divine power, it could block the attacks of these roots.

Occasionally, a root would crash into the light film like hitting an invisible wall, its tip bursting open and shattering into black powder.

The distracted hands of Qin Ling showed no intention of stopping.

His left hand condensed divine art, his right hand gripped the sword, combining moves, throwing them out, condensing again, and throwing them out once more.

Every time he threw a divine art combo, it consumed 200 incense points, but every time he threw a skill, he easily earned profits exceeding the consumption.

The numbers of incense points in his mind kept jumping, a thrill Qin Ling had never experienced before!

Qin Ling threw out another one.

The golden light burst open at the roots of the Evil Tree, directly blasting those black flowers into flying ashes.

A root as thick as a human waist violently rose from the underground, shooting straight toward his face.

Qin Ling did not dodge, nor did he even raise his hand, as the Undying Divine Light condensed into a wall of light before him.

That root crashed into it like an egg hitting a stone, shattering from the tip all the way to the base, crumbling into black dust all over the sky.

...

In the back hall of the county office, the pupils of Clerk Liu reflected the golden light in the air.

He no longer remembered how long he had maintained this posture.

After being continuously attacked by the golden figure, the roots of the Evil Tree were like countless out-of-control pythons.

And that golden figure shifted and maneuvered right in the center of this destruction, seemingly taking a leisurely stroll.

Clerk Liu recalled that business of changing deities earlier.

At that time, he was still sitting in the signing room, listening to the people below report on the situation in Qin Family Village, saying that the villagers of Qin Family Village claimed to have seen Lord Qinling manifest his divinity.

He had snorted at that time, quite disdainful of it.

Manifesting divinity? Those mud-legged peasants had never seen the world and were just having delusions. In all his years serving in this county office, he had seen too many such things.

What was it those villagers said about Lord Qinling the county magistrate again?

That is right.

What they spoke of was precisely the golden light and shadow!

He had listened to these words as a joke back then, but now he could not laugh anymore.

The same golden figure was now appearing right before his eyes.

Could this golden figure suppressing the Evil Tree the entire way be the deity Lord Qinling who protected Qin Family Village?

An exclamation escaped from the throat of Clerk Liu.

He suddenly understood why that village chief named Zhou Ping in Zhou Family Village insisted on changing deities to worship Lord Qinling no matter what.

So that was how it was!

Damn it, if he had known earlier...

If the entire county city had been made to worship Lord Qinling earlier, would they not have encountered this Evil Tree?

This thought popped into the mind of Clerk Liu, his eyes reflecting that golden figure shifting and maneuvering in the air.

...

Qin Ling once again threw out the condensed divine art combo.

The golden light burst open on the tree trunk, and another patch of black flowers turned to flying ashes as the system prompt rang briefly in his mind.

The vast majority of the black flowers on the body of the Evil Tree had been eliminated by him, and there were not that many black flowers remaining.

When he condensed the next batch of divine arts in his palm, he suddenly felt that the divine power within his body was running low.

He lowered his head and glanced at his hand; the golden light was still there, but it was a bit dimmer than before.

This meant his divine power was running out.

This was the first time Qin Ling experienced a situation where his incense points were plentiful, but his divine power was running low.

But come to think of it, not only had he been continuously throwing divine art combos that consumed two hundred incense points, but he had also kept the divine art Divine Travel Across the World and the divine art Undying Divine Light turned on the entire time.

Divine Travel Across the World allowed him to come and go freely amidst the frantic attacks of the Evil Tree, and Undying Divine Light allowed him to forcefully withstand those roots he could not dodge.

These two divine arts had not been turned off since the start of the battle, acting like two never-stopping water pumps constantly drawing water from his divine sea.

His divine power was running low.

And although the Evil Tree looked miserable, its health pool remained bottomless.

It was impossible to kill the Evil Tree this time around.

He could no longer stay here, otherwise once his divine power completely bottomed out, Divine Travel Across the World would cut off, and Undying Divine Light would extinguish.

Then the situation would turn into the Evil Tree manipulating him instead.

The roots of the Evil Tree were still attacking frantically.

Qin Ling ignored it; the golden light lit up once more, and the very last bit of remaining strength from Divine Travel Across the World was squeezed out by him.

He turned into a streak of golden light and swept toward the outside of Guanhai County City.

That streak of golden light flew further and further away, sweeping past the top of the city wall.

Tie Lanshi at the entrance of the blacksmith shop watched the direction where the golden light disappeared.

"What does this mean? Why did the golden figure that suppressed the Evil Tree the entire way leave again?"

The middle-aged man wearing a gray short jacket said anxiously.

"I do not know. Could it be that the golden figure still can not defeat the Evil Tree?"

The young man wearing black martial attire also chimed in, his words full of anxiety.

"Alright, are evil spirits really that easy to kill, especially one capable of expanding an Evil Domain to cover an entire county?"

Tie Lanshi turned back and said to the two of them.

"No matter what, before this golden light appeared today, we could only wait for death, could we not?"

"And now, perhaps we have finally obtained a shred of vitality."

The very last lingering trace of the golden light disappearing into the horizon was also swallowed by the twilight.

That Evil Tree stood lonely in the center of the ruins, its wounds on the trunk like unclosable mouths, still oozing dark red juice outward.

The dust kicked up among the broken walls and ruined courtyard of the county office slowly settled, and a few tiles shaken loose rolled down from the roof, shattering on the stone steps. The crisp sound was exceptionally harsh in the silence.

The door of the back hall of the county office was violently pushed open, the door panel slamming against the wall with a loud bang.

Clerk Liu stumbled out across the threshold, the hem of his robe caught by broken bricks.

With a hard tug and a rip, he tore off a piece of fabric, unable to lower his head to look, and staggered across the courtyard littered with debris.

His eyes stared fixedly at the direction where the golden light disappeared, and his pupils still retained the afterimage of that very last frame.

When he rushed to the front yard, two bailiffs were squatting under the corridor catching mice.

One was blocking the hole with a catching stick while the other waited with a sack, their cooperation quite tacit.

Clerk Liu grabbed the back collar of the one closest to him, and the man was violently hauled up.

His catching stick flew out of his hand, slammed against the corridor pillar, bounced back, and almost struck the forehead of the guy next to him.

"Clerk Liu?"

The grabbed bailiff twisted his head to see clearly who had come.

"Stop catching mice."

The Adam's apple of Clerk Liu rolled up and down.

"Go, go notify the living commoners in Guanhai County City, and tell them that I, Clerk Liu, have something to say regarding this golden figure."