Chapter 55

However, right as Zuyuan was about to near the shrine, he found an unknown force absorbing his very existence, taking him away from the place where he was standing. 

"What-" 

Before he could finish his curse, Zuyuan felt that his body had become as light as a feather. His entire vision was filled with blinding white light and in the next instant, his vision had recovered, but the surroundings were very unfamiliar for him. 

"This…" 

Afterwards, a flow of scenes poured inside his head as if a stream of videos had been injected into Zuyuan's mind. In those scenes, Zuyuan saw a war, just like what he had experienced before in the goblins and orcs war. However, this war was one sided battle. In the weaker side, stood beings made of plants, such as treants, spriggans, and even the fairies. While on the other side, a legion of undead came over with countless numbers and charged at those fairies and plant based creatures. 

~"Welcome to the world tree."~ 

The voice of the woman came back again unto Zuyuan's mind while the scenes inside of his head were still being played. Fires spread everywhere the armies had passed. As the two opposing forces fought in the foothold of the tree's trunk, the wake of destruction soon followed as the undead legion tried to smash everything in their sight. 

Although the army's magicians have been using the power of flames, none of them could leave even a single burnt mark on the tree's bark where they stood, except for one person. 

A man with fiery hair and sharp, emerald eyes moved in the battlefield like a ghost as the katana in his hand sliced any resistance from the spriggans' side. Half of his face has been unveiled from the shadows. What could be seen was a rotten face with an eye socket filled with emerald embers. His hatred for the living grew as he crackled in laughter while his sword was covered in the flames of hell.

Not only did he lead the legion of the undead, the man would order another army of abominations, with the shape of giant mismatched bugs and the faces of humans, elves, dwarves, and so on. Every time one of the bugs died, the man would raise his hand and summon skeleton knights from their corpses. The more territories the abominations would cross, the more they would munch on the gigantic tree's bark on the floor and drink the tree's sap. 

"What is this…" Asked Zuyuan while the scenes inside his head started to fade away slowly. 

~"This is the world tree. My main domain and the bastion of nature. The bridge of many worlds that rest on its leaves."~ 

Hearing the explanation of the woman's voice, Zuyuan looked around his surroundings. What he saw was a vast land made of tree's bark and countless trees protruding from the gigantic bark. Above, instead of sky, what Zuyuan could see were myriads of colors that were shining brightly, as if a kid had decided to dump all colors and mixed them together in one canvas. 

Far away in front of him, clouds of black smoke drifted in the air. Screams of many creature's dying in pain could be heard. Furthermore, the flames in the distance slowly moved in his direction, even though it was an inch each minute. 

"Where's XB11 and my equipment? What happened to me?" Asked Zuyuan in surprise as he noticed that his sword and armor were gone. XB11 was not beside him and he couldn't reach it with their soul link, not to mention his appearance was greatly different from before. 

There was a simple, wooden mask without any decorations for nose or mouth, only left for two holes for his eyes. Every strand of his hair had changed into leaves instead, while Zuyuan saw a pair of gauntlets that he wore in his hands was made of tree barks, along with full armor on his body that was made of tree's bark as well. The only thing left on him was the Estgard sword, which Zuyuan held in his hand. 

~"Everything that is associated with that detestable system would be removed from my domain. Of course, I was kind enough to leave you the sword. After I had deleted the code of course."~ 

"The code.. What do you mean by that??" Bewildered from the explanation, Zuyuan tried to observe Estgard while he swung it a few times. Shortly, his eyes turned round in shock as he realized what had happened, "Y-You broke my sword!? I love this sword!!" 

The smooth feeling of his Qigong flowed through Estgard was no more. The edge felt a little duller, and the heavy yet sentient aura in it has vanished completely. 

Chuckling as if she was pleased from the misery Zuyuan had felt right now, the woman's voice spoke calmly, ~"It's alright. Let me give you something else in its place."~

Shortly, green particles of light emerged from thin air and gathered on Estgard. Suddenly, the blade of the sword emanated a sharp aura that felt like it could cut anything in front of it. 

Seeing that his sword has been able to handle his Qigong smoothly while it was sharper than before, Zuyuan heaved a sigh and spoke, "Now what do you want me to do?" 

~"Oh, quick on the uptake aren't you? Fine, let's not beat around the bush."~ Said the voice inside Zuyuan's head while she giggled, "Have you seen that 'thing' that has been leading the undead army?"~ 

"The guy with the red hair and wearing a kimono, yeah I did." Answered Zuyuan while he could guess where this conversation would go. 

As if acknowledging what Zuyuan had in mind, the voice continued, ~"Exactly what you think of. As for his identity.. Oh you know his identity very well."~ 

"What are you talking about?" Asked Zuyuan while his frown deepened. 

Letting out a snort, the voice spoke…