Chapter 589: Who Are You?

"You..."

Tushan Meng gripped the branch piercing through her own body, her brow furrowing tightly, her eyes full of disbelief.

To Tushan Meng's mind, Yuan should have been dead beyond any doubt.

She had personally erased even her soul, and just moments ago had sensed no trace of her presence at all yet now, not only was she unharmed, the Moon Spirit Tree itself remained under her control!

"What's wrong? Puzzled? Puzzled why this formation array is now so different from the one originally laid out? Puzzled why you can no longer control it?"

Yuan walked step by step toward Tushan Meng, and as she moved, golden light spilled from the corners of her eyes.

"Puzzled why, even though you clearly killed me just now, I can still stand here perfectly fine, as though nothing happened at all?"

"Do you suspect you've fallen victim to some illusion? And yet you're thinking, how could an Ascension realm Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox like yourself possibly be deceived by another's illusion?"

Yuan walked up beside Tushan Meng, looking at her the way one might look at the dead.

"Because what you killed was nothing more than a body-double I created from a branch of the Moon Spirit Tree. Have you never seen a double so indistinguishable from a real person?"

Yuan reached out a finger, tilting Tushan Meng's chin up, staring directly into her eyes.

"And this formation array is, indeed, the very one you originally oversaw the construction of. No mistake there."

"What's mistaken is simply that your vision is too shallow. No, the vision of all you myriad races is far, far too shallow."

"Do you know where the formation arrays of this world truly originated? That's right! From the ancient divine spirits!"

"So-called formation arrays are simply the act of extracting, or copying, a portion of heaven and earth's laws, and bending them to one's own use, and this method was something we divine spirits taught to you!"

"How laughable, that you now use the very methods we taught you, against us! Sealing us away, erasing us!"

"You, too, really should have trusted Tushan Jingci and simply killed me outright. With the strength of you myriad races at the Ascension realm, even if you couldn't have destroyed my body and soul entirely, you could at least have stopped me, and your world could have enjoyed a few more thousand years of peace."

"But I don't blame you for it. After all, there are hardly any clever ones among you humans, and the clever ones, for the most part, are already dead."

"Rest assured, I will keep my promise to you. I will help Tushan Jingci break through into that legendary, long-lost third realm." Yuan gently stroked Tushan Meng's face. "But by then, Tushan Jingci will no longer be Tushan Jingci."

Even as she spoke, the Moon Spirit Tree dragged Tushan Meng ever higher.

Tushan Meng tried to break free but she found that, as chieftain of the Tushan clan, having received so much favor from the Moon Spirit Tree, her own karma had become bound to the tree with extraordinary closeness.

Tushan Meng could only feel her own life essence and spiritual energy being ceaselessly drained away by the Moon Spirit Tree!

At last, Tushan Meng was entirely wrapped up by the Moon Spirit Tree's vines, hung high upon its branches like a cocoon.

"That should be about enough, then."

Yuan raised her head, looking at the Moon Spirit Tree, her eyes growing ever more golden.

At the same time, the Moon Spirit Tree stirred of its own accord without any wind, red blossoms opening one after another along its branches then, a fierce gust of wind blew through, and all those blossoms scattered into petals, drifting down one after another from the air.

Petals filled the sky, scattering across the entire Tushan clan's lands.

Beneath the moonlight, these countless drifting petals appeared, strangely, quite beautiful but behind this beauty lay the destruction of an entire clan.

When the Tushan fox clan's cultivators were touched by these petals, their consciousness gradually grew hazy, their bodies moving beyond their own control, hurling themselves like moths to flame at the Upper Three Realms cultivators of both the Human Alliance and the demon alliance.

Several elders of the Tushan clan, upon touching these petals, likewise found their eyes growing vacant, as though under someone else's control, fighting Xiao Mo and the others to the death.

Before long, ten enormous flower buds sprouted upon the Moon Spirit Tree.

These flower buds seemed to be nurturing some kind of being within them.

All the slain cultivators, too, were transformed into nourishment, flowing ceaselessly toward these flower buds.

Half an incense stick's time later, the vines wrapped around Tushan Meng opened.

Tushan Meng slowly opened her eyes, revealing golden eyes.

These eyes seemed to hold not the slightest trace of human warmth, filled instead with an ancient quality steeped in the weight of countless ages.

As though some being who had endured millions upon millions of years had opened her eyes once more, gazing out upon this world.

"Sister Shou."

Yuan walked before "Tushan Meng," pressing a hand to her heart in a bow.

The divine spirit named "Shou" seemed to be absorbing "Tushan Meng's" memories, and did not answer for a moment.

After a long while, she finally looked at the woman before her, speaking slowly, “Yuan, I never expected that the one to awaken me would be you..."

"I know Sister Shou doesn't favor being revived in this manner, but I ask that you bear with it a while longer, within this Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox's body. Once this matter is settled, I will help Sister Shou reshape her true divine form, and awaken the other divine spirits, bringing them back into this world!"

Yuan showed the utmost reverence toward the woman before her.

"Mm." Shou nodded. "But Yuan, where is your sister?"

"I'm not entirely certain either." Yuan shook her head, a flicker of melancholy passing through her eyes. "I've tried to awaken Sister too, but I cannot sense where she has been sealed. I don't know what's happened to her..."

"I see." Shou nodded. "No matter, we'll deal with that later. For now, let me help you."

With these words, Shou transformed into a streak of light, shooting out from Moon Spirit Peak.

She extended her left hand, and a golden longbow fell into her palm.

She drew the bow and nocked an arrow.

A golden arrow feather condensed between her slender fingers and the bowstring.

"Twang!"

As the woman's fingers released, the golden arrow feather transformed into a streak of light, piercing straight through an Immortal realm cultivator's heart.

The next moment, the Moon Spirit Tree's vines seized the opportunity to bind him, draining his life essence and spiritual energy, then hoisting him high upon its branches.

The Serpent clan's chieftain, Kongsheng, seeing Tushan Meng finally emerge.

He let out a furious roar, lunging fiercely toward Tushan Meng, the clouds in the night sky all transforming into black flame, striking again and again at "Tushan Meng" but Shou paid it no mind at all.

Rings of radiant light shielded her.

Right after, a golden arrow feather shot out, piercing through Kongsheng's abdomen.

Kongsheng spat blood, transforming back into human form, clutching tightly at his own abdomen.

The rings of light dissolved, and Shou, too, held her longbow, gazing calmly at the "beast" before her.

Kongsheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but noticing the look in her eyes, felt a chill rise in his heart, and said coldly:

"You are not Tushan Meng. Who are you?"

Shou did not answer, only drawing her bow once more and just as she was about to release the arrow in her hand, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a man locked in combat.

The moment her gaze fell upon that man's face, Shou's pupils contracted violently.

It was as though, in that instant, she lost all composure entirely, gritting her teeth, drawing arrow after arrow toward Xiao Mo.

As though she meant to unleash a thousand ages of fury upon him alone!