Pretending To Be A Boss

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It chose another way to attack.

The entire gigantic body, reaching six hundred meters in length, fell straight down!

Like a mountain collapsing, an overwhelming force akin to Mount Tai's pressure!

Black Snake and s004 experienced a state of stupor for the first time.

It felt as if the enemy was brandishing a ten-meter-long broadsword, chasing them.

Though the enemy's sword strikes were fierce, they never hit the pair.

But just when they thought they were safe, the broadsword suddenly extended to forty meters.

s004 glanced back at the Masked Chopper Hero, whose presence terrified him.

As if he heard Tang Xian saying from a distance, "I'll let you run 39 meters first."

And Black Snake's last thought: This guy is not human!

The enormous shadow loomed over them, and despite their speed, they ultimately couldn't escape hundreds of meters within a few seconds.

Even Tang Xian, who had retreated quite a distance, still felt a gust mixed with numerous rocks and mud hitting him.

The earth shook again, a total of three times.

The first was from the giant body pressing down, and the second and third were as the Zudun Giant propped itself up with its left and right hands.

The land at the very edge of the Red Soil Forest was compressed into a humanoid shape.

A six hundred meter long humanoid shape.

It wasn't until after the Zudun Giant stood up that Tang Xian slowly approached where Black Snake and s004 had been.

The massive pressure, amounting to billions of tons, had flattened the two into a state of such detail that describing it might cause this story to meet a 404 error.

In the darkness of the night, Tang Xian could not clearly distinguish them from the soil, but the scent of the Soul Crystal guided him.

The night was illuminated with a subtly pulsating purple glow.

The Soul Crystal of a calamity-level creature, of course, hadn't been destroyed by the Zudun Giant.

The prop bag also shattered under the extreme pressure.

Inside were many leading-edge items from the Evolutions Zone, but they had all become deformed and unusable.

Only this crystal remained intact.

Tang Xian had noticed it quite early on.

After he landed, the earthquake in this area had stopped.

He looked up around him.

Some hazy red glows, as if alive, slowly began to spread this way.

Tang Xian held the Soul Crystal in his hand. Even he, who always viewed such items indifferently, couldn't help but be a bit obsessed.

The rich purple luster was much purer than the previous Nvwa Snake crystal.

This was the genuine crystal of a calamity-level boss creature.

Even though his team was in no way capable of battling such a boss, he had become the biggest winner in this hunting festival.

Now, all he needed to do was to open the portable teleportation crack and return to the Pyramid.

Tang's hand was already on the switch of the portable teleportation crack.

This would be the most valuable mining haul he had obtained since entering the mining area.

After all, can the dealings of a scholar be called plunder?

Tang understood the value of the crystal better than the people in the Evolution Zone.

But looking at the surrounding hazy red light, he didn't leave immediately.

"[Very good, my partner, you have found the flame of the totem!]"

The Zudun Giant cracked a smile, revealing a simple and honest grin.

Tang felt the unrest still present beneath the earth at his feet.

But the ground he was on no longer suffered the exaggerated fissures from the beginning.

"Yes, but the sacred tree is dying. Your totem has been separated from the Soul Crystal for too long and is about to wither. Even if I bring back this totem, it will be of no use," Tang said.

The Zudun Giant was taken aback.

He couldn't hear the sacred tree's call and simply trusted Tang.

In the Zudun Giant's view, Tang was a good friend who fought side by side with him to reclaim the flame of the totem.

His joyful face from one second before turned sad the next.

"[The forest is gone... The forest is gone...]"

Muttering to himself, the Zudun Giant staggered back a few steps, sad like a three hundred million-ton heavyhearted person.

Tang wasn't just fooling the Zudun Giant.

Because in his sea of knowledge, there were two other voices.

One was about the powers acquired from killing s004 and Black Snake.

Tang didn't pay attention to this notice; he now had to deal with the sacred tree.

The red-glowing moss seemed to be the Zudun Sacred Tree's organs for sensing the world.

Only, they sensed not Tang but the bead in his hands.

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They slowly spread to Tang Xian's feet.

[I am about to die, the forest is about to wither, and you, the remnant of the first civilization, have committed a sin.]

Because the voice echoed in the sea of consciousness, Tang Xian could feel the weakness of the Zudun Sacred Tree even more.

Although the plant could continue to fight for a while after being separated from the Soul Crystal, it would die after a certain amount of time.

The earthquake was so violent that it accelerated the energy depletion of the Zudun Sacred Tree, hastening its death.

It was on its last breath, wanting to curse Tang Xian, the thief.

Tang Xian bent down, his expression sacred with solemnity and solemnity mingled with sorrow, and he said to the red glow:

"I am terribly sorry, I didn't arrive in time. If I had gotten here earlier, perhaps I could have prevented those two thieves from taking your Soul Crystal."

The ground suddenly trembled again.

Tang Xian didn't get distracted but continued in his best actor mode:

"I live in the Sea of Trees. Speaking of which, we could have been neighbors. I fully understand the importance of the forest to animals. How could I allow so many creatures to be displaced for the sake of this Soul Crystal?"

"Upon learning that your Soul Crystal was stolen, I chased along with your offspring, overcoming numerous obstacles, and finally found the two people who had stolen your Soul Crystal. They have already been punished. Although you mistook me for being in league with them, I don't blame you."

"I only blame myself, for not being capable enough to return the Soul Crystal to you sooner."

"In the end, I still want to say, I am not your enemy, if you don't believe me, you can ask your people."

Tang Xian appeared grief-stricken, looking up to the sky with a long sigh as if mourning an old friend beyond salvation.

The red glow dimmed.

Tang Xian didn't speak anymore, patiently waiting.

The Zudun Sacred Tree seemed to be verifying the truth of Tang Xian's words.

Not until a long time later did the voice of the Zudun Sacred Tree once again come through Tang Xian's sea of consciousness:

[Would you be willing to rebuild the forest?]

"Of course, every Arbor Day, I plant quite a few trees in the mining area," Tang Xian casually said.

The intelligence of the Zudun Sacred Tree saplings was not very high.

[I must undergo devolution in order to survive. Please keep my Soul Crystal and my body safe.]

Tang Xian had never experienced such a thing but felt something fading away.

Of course, he could have just walked away, not caring about the Zudun Giant or the Zudun Sacred Tree at all.

After all, the Soul Crystal was his goal.

However, it felt like achieving the same reward with different ratings for the completion.

Although he didn't know what the Sacred Tree was planning to do, eliminating the animosity between them also seemed like a good thing.

Tang Xian looked around and suddenly found that both the earthbound trees and the red-tailed trees, whether already broken or stubbornly surviving this disaster, were withering at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Yet, the red moss in his view glowed ever brighter.

The red light surrounded Tang Xian, and the red moss seemed like a serpentine snake.

It stopped only when it reached his feet.

At the same time, the red glow completely dimmed.

No more voices of the Sacred Tree came from the sea of consciousness. The Zudun Giants began to wail together in unison.

Their wailing sounded like hundreds of whales singing at the same time.

At Tang Xian's feet, there was now a red Xiao Hua.

From sprout to full bloom, it happened in just a mere ten seconds.

From bloom to wither, equally brief.

He bent down to closely examine the flower.

The red petals wilted, falling one by one.

In the center of the stamen, only a tiny seed remained.

It emitted a purple glow, as if creating some kind of resonance with the Soul Crystal in Tang Xian's hand.

Tang Xian carefully picked the seed and placed it in the finest compartment of his bag. Continue your adventure with empire

From weed to flower, then from flower to tree.

This was the path of growth and evolution for the Zudun Sacred Tree.

Countless weeds were trampled and eaten, and no small number of flowers were picked and broken.

To endure the long years and grow into a Sacred Tree, Tang Xian could imagine the hardships the Zudun Sacred Tree faced.

His expression was one of compassion.

He decided to hand the flower seed over to the state, to have Shang Lu nurture it properly.

To plant on a large scale using plant cloning technology.

When it came time to bloom—

He'd use the petals to brew wine.

Upon this thought, Tang Xian's expression finally cracked, and he smiled like a villain who had stolen honey.

(Today, may we... just have a single update?)