The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Ye Xiao gripped the hilt of his knife at his waist with his right hand, locked his gaze on Zhu Jun's figure, and stepped on a fluorescent grenades as he suddenly swooped down from the sky.

A blade of light, falling rapidly from the sky, tore through the shadowy curtain rising from the ground, like a shooting star streaking across the night, freezing the scene in an instant.

Chapter 203 A Deadly Trap

The shadows that had covered the ground like a mud pit slowly faded, and collapsed rocks and roots fell like raindrops.

The phrase "the sky is falling and the earth is cracking" is no exaggeration to describe the interior of the Tree of Life today.

The fragments of life's remains swirled in the air, while a dark, surging storm of divine power, like a spreading nebula, gradually devoured the surrounding space.

Standing in the center of this apocalyptic scene, Ye Xiao waved his hand lightly to shake off the bloodstains on his sword, and calmly sheathed it.

Zhu Jun behind him remained standing until the earth trembled once more, at which point the lifeless body lost its balance and fell backward, a pool of bright red blood slowly spreading beneath him.

After taking one last look at the massive root that was already half-collapsed, Ye Xiao's figure suddenly disappeared in a spatial fluctuation before being completely swallowed up by the black storm.

When handing Chen Yao over to Dong Muge, Ye Xiao slipped a throwing knife with a spatial anchor into the latter's pocket.

He was certainly not a reckless fool who would fight to the death without thinking. Since he stayed behind to cover the retreat, he had obviously considered his escape route.

Meanwhile, on the towering mountains surrounding the Tianqin Basin, Dong Muge stood on the edge of a cliff, looking worriedly at the giant tree that was gradually withering in the night.

By not engaging with Zhu Jun, she conserved some of her life force, which slowed the spread of the cracks on her body.

Eunice stood silently on a branch of a large tree, while Chen Yao leaned against a rock, head down, breathing slightly weakly.

"bang"

With a soft sound, Ye Xiao's figure suddenly appeared beside him, causing Dong Muge to turn his head in surprise.

"You...you're out!"

"Of course, that guy can't keep me here."

Ye Xiao straightened his clothes, which were full of holes. "How much longer can you and this guy hold out?"

"I still have some life force remaining in my body. If I don't deliberately use it up, I should be able to live for another day or two..."

Dong Muge's feelings were somewhat complicated when she said these words. She wasn't sad, but she felt a little regretful.

"But Mr. Chen, I'm afraid..."

When Dong Muge spoke of Chen Yao's life and death, her delicate eyebrows seemed even more sorrowful than when she recounted her own death.

Hearing this, Chen Yao forced a smile and raised his head. "It doesn't matter, it's my own choice..."

His voice was very weak at this moment, and his eyes had lost their light, gradually dissipating like black holes.

Ye Xiao immediately drew his staff and chanted the incantation of "Healing Holy Light," but this time, the ever-effective healing tentacles had no effect after attaching to Chen Yao's withered arm.

He could fill Chen Yao's body with life force, but at this moment Chen Yao seemed to be at the end of his life. The continuous flow of life force from the tentacles was like watering a stone; no matter how much watering was given, the stone would never sprout.

"Made."

Ye Xiao sighed.

Even Ella's abilities cannot save someone whose soul has already begun to perish.

"Help me...give it to her..."

Chen Yao finally lowered his head, whispered a muffled sentence in a barely audible voice, stretched out a hand, and then slowly stopped breathing.

Ye Xiao slowly squatted down and took the item from the other person's outstretched palm.

It was a small, handmade wooden sculpture that appeared to be unfinished; one could only roughly make out that it was a round human figure.

"I'm sorry..." Dong Muge said timidly, "If I could handle the barrier myself..."

"this is not your fault."

Ye Xiao reached out and closed Chen Yao's eyes, then stood up expressionlessly. "The imperial city still needs my help. I'll leave for a while and come back to find you later."

"Okay." Dong Muge nodded obediently.

……

The Imperial City, the palace atop Mount Valond, nestled within the canopy of another colossal, dark tree.

The group of demonic spiders roared in disbelief, "Why!? That Zhu Jun guy couldn't even protect his own life and remains???"

"Ah, it seems the source of your tenacious vitality is gone," Ella said, still with that same fearless expression as she hung in mid-air, pierced by countless branches.

"Shut up!" Pandia hissed sharply. "You'll have your last laugh, Lydia Haye!"

"Since the remains of the God of Life could nurture the Tree of Life, your remains can too!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a huge spider rushed forward and viciously stabbed its sharp fangs into the small body of the silver-haired girl.

"laugh"

The splattered blood instantly stained half of the girl's fair cheek, and her originally slender shoulder was now gruesomely bitten open, revealing pink flesh and white bone.

“I see.” However, Ella seemed oblivious to the pain, muttering to herself, “So this tree was used for this, then I understand…”

"I'll see how long your arrogance lasts!"

Pandia's anger intensified when he saw Ella's repulsive composure even as she faced death.

More spiders swarmed forward, violently devouring the bound girl.

"Lydia, haven't you realized yet? Your father has never truly entrusted you with the divine right to life!"

"Even the rank of this false Tree of Life can suppress you; you are nothing but a flawed deity!"

"When all the buds of life have blossomed, I will crush you completely, using you as nourishment for the new tree of life!!!"

As Pandia said, the death of the remains on Lyra Peak temporarily affected the nascent Tree of Life here, and also caused Pandia, who was connected to the power of the remains, to lose the ability to regenerate.

However, the Life Sprouts, which the Kaiser Company researches and creates from the remains of living beings, can use ordinary people as nourishment and collect magical power to produce false "life power".

This false "life force" can also heal injuries and even give new life to the dead.

However, the life born from such power is incomplete, becoming a mindless walking corpse—which is the true source of the massive zombie horde in the city.

When these false sprouts of life take the gods as nourishment, they can give birth to a false tree of life, which is the giant tree in the palace.

This giant tree is not enough to be a true tree of life, but its status as a member of the god of life can effectively suppress Ella.

This was proven by the Life Cult's assassination attempt on Ella in the Fog Village of Stormport.

Yes, this was the very method the Moon Goddess used to kill Ella in her own divine realm. The strange, withered tree that stabbed Ella to death was not the Moon Goddess's power, but a weapon created by the Moon Goddess using the Sprout of Life.

The false saintess and the moon goddess were also former collaborators of the Life Cult.

That method, now perfected by the Cult of Life, has once again set up this deadly trap against Ella.

This was absolutely a sure-fire situation, Pandia thought.

This woman, this incarnation, has already been proven in Storm Harbor to be able to be killed by the Sprout of Life, which is created by divine power. Although she doesn't know how the other party has been resurrected, she is absolutely confident that she can kill her this time.

Even the divine power rank copied from the God of Life could suppress him, so this guy isn't that scary at all!

Pandia thought to herself.

But seeing Ella's calm smile even as she was being devoured by the giant spider, an uneasy premonition rose within her.

Chapter 204 The Second Prince's Ambitions

At this moment, in the palace hall beneath the big tree, the members of the Seven Luminaries Society were scattered and lying in ruins.

Pure white snowflakes drifted down, covering the pool of blood that spread along the cracks in the earth.

In the empty hall, only Skadi remained kneeling, her disheveled blond hair falling onto her blood-stained shoulders. Her hands gripped the sword planted on the ground with difficulty, and she trembled as she used her remaining strength to maintain her balance.

The disappearance of the remaining body briefly disrupted Kenn, the second prince who controlled Sauron and Bazel through the Tree of New Life, but the Tree of New Life had not truly perished, and Kenn quickly regained control.

This time, Skadi and Septim were no match for the combined attack of the two extraordinary beings, and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat.

The Knight Commander strode forward, his massive frame piercing through the swirling snowflakes, and slowly raised his greatsword toward Skadi.

"There's no need to kill her."

Ken's soft voice suddenly came from behind, "Although it's not much, the rest can be used as nourishment."

"Without the roots of the old tree, the new tree needs more magic to be born, so it's not a bad thing to be more cautious."

"And I'm also very curious about what a magnificent sight it would be if the Tree of Life were nourished with the blood of two dragons..."

“That’s the blood that flows in your family’s veins.” Just then, Skadi interrupted Prince Ken’s soliloquy. She was panting heavily, her voice weak but firm. “Ken, it’s unbelievable that our Betis family would produce such a wicked creature as you… turning into an evil spirit and overthrowing the empire, don’t you feel ashamed of what you’ve done?”

"hehe."

Ken rested one arm on the armrest of the throne, his deep gaze seemingly taking in his sister's miserable state with great interest. "Shame? Family? Glory?"

"Only the weak would pursue such illusory things, covet the imperial power of a crumbling empire, and scheme and plot with those good-for-nothing nobles."

"After so many days of infighting in the royal selection, haven't you realized that humans are nothing more than lowly creatures that only know how to fight for their own interests?"

“Evans, Raymond, and you…”

"Which of you hasn't betrayed the country for that elusive imperial power? Which of you hasn't colluded with evil gods and heretics?"

"The Samuel Order, the Cult of Life, an unknown wild god, and the offspring of that god of life..."

"What difference does it make to this country who becomes king?"

"It's nothing more than deciding which evil god will become the ruler of Loren, allowing those so-called nobles to continue to drain the empire of every drop of blood until everything collapses."

“Skadi, my dear sister, ask yourself honestly, even if you became king, could you lead Loren to glory?”

“But that’s no reason for you to destroy everything,” Skadi said, her voice trembling.

“I didn’t destroy everything.” Prince Ken smiled, his face pale in the moonlight. “Sister, after all you’ve been through, you’re still as foolish as ever. You don’t even understand why you should point your sword at me.”

"Slaughtering your own brothers, summoning hordes of zombies to besiege the city, colluding with evil spirits..." Skadi gritted her teeth, "Stop making excuses, isn't this destruction?!"

"Don't frame me. The zombie horde is the product of the Cult of Life. They used the residents of Greygold Town as breeding materials and used the Tree of Life to continuously cultivate these corrupted products with poor thinking abilities. They also gave the order to attack the city, but I transferred control at the end."

"Speaking of colluding with evil spirits, I didn't recruit the Samuel Order or the Cult of Life. Pandia was just a pitiful experimental subject controlled by the Cult of Life, who wanted to cooperate with me to escape the fate of being bound by another behemoth... As for myself, I have never colluded with any evil spirits."

"Absurd," Skadi said coldly. "Everyone saw you die in the Loren Sanctuary a month ago. If you weren't colluding with evil spirits, how could you still be alive?!"

“That’s just an exquisite puppet. We can control his every move by using the long worm of the Samuel’s Hermitage.” Prince Ken waved his hand. “It’s a pity though. If we had taken advantage of the pilgrimage incident to steal the Soil of Life and cultivated the Sprout of Life in advance so that the tree could grow directly, there wouldn’t be so much mess now.”

"I don't know what went wrong with that woman Ella Hayville, she suddenly killed my puppet."

"...Why can you control the insects of the Samuel Order?" Skadi sensed something amiss as she listened to Prince Ken's words. "Isn't that a power bestowed upon them by their gods?"

“Hmm?” Ken raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised. “Well, I’m afraid I have to apologize to you, Skadi. It seems I was wrong to say you’re the same as before. You seem to have become a bit smarter than you have been these past few days.”

"I can control those insects, naturally because of my other lovely sister."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ken snapped his fingers, and a petite girl emerged from the shadows of the corridor.

"Brother Ken!"

Skadi heard a familiar, childlike voice; it was none other than the little princess, Erica.

Skadi's eyes widened. "Why? Didn't she already..."

"You've already seized the throne?" Ken sneered. "This throne could be said to belong to the Samuel Hermitage, or to Holman, but it can never be said to belong to her."

"You can't possibly not even figure out who's really in control behind the puppets, can you?"

Skadi pursed her lips and did not reply.

"She is said to be a messenger of the Samuel Hermitage, but in reality she is merely a vessel branded with the mark of birth by Hecate. With this mark she can use a little power from Hecate, but once she truly becomes the Queen of Loren, Hecate's will will take over her body and she will become the true ruler of Loren."

"So, a puppet of the Cult of Life, a puppet of the Samuel Order, and I, a puppet of the imperial system, came together early on to seek the true way out for the empire."

"I really wish you could see that shocked yet clear look in your eyes, Skadi. You really don't understand anything."

Ken sighed deeply, "I participated in the royal selection without a clear understanding of what was happening, I fought without a clear understanding of what was happening, and I ended up standing in front of you without a clear understanding of what was happening."

"With your ignorance, how do you think you can defeat me?"

"You just said I was going to destroy Loren?"

"Do you think the vast city of Loren is just this mere imperial city?"

"Even if this imperial city falls completely, what impact will it have on Stormport, the North, or other parts of Loren?"

"You think this is the end of the empire because in your eyes only the imperial city counts as the empire."