“And then?”
“In order to rescue them, the empire will definitely send experts to attack the seal, ultimately rescuing the Tree of Life and releasing it, too.
“A conspiracy! This is a total conspiracy from the start to the very end!”
Meng Lei hurriedly asked, “What will happen if the Tree of Life breaks the seal, Ol’ President?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Ol’ Amos barked, “What do you think will happen when a sealed half-deity is freed?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shiver at the thought.
“Meng Lei, you must stop them from attacking the seal at once. Otherwise, it’ll lead to a great disaster!”
“Stop them?”
Meng Lei was hesitant. He couldn’t wait to escape and go far, far away from the Tree of Life at the moment. Yet he was telling him to stop those guys?
“The Tree of Life is currently sealed, so the degree of risk has been greatly reduced.” Ol’ Amos said gravely, “What you need to do is just to stop them. If nothing goes wrong, it won’t be dangerous.”
“Alright!”
As he went nearer and nearer, the view also became clearer and clearer.
The Tree of Life’s branches were too thick, too tall—taller and thicker than any great mountains that Meng Lei had ever seen.
Its crown was too large, too lush—just like a gigantic halo, it enveloped the sky within 10,000 miles of where it was.
Big, tall, lofty, and majestic! Vast and extensive!
“Who’d have thought that a massive life form like that actually exists in the world? Nature is indeed miraculous!” Meng Lei was thoroughly astounded. “And what’s even more inconceivable is that someone has actually sealed a fearsome life form like that!”
As he got nearer and nearer, the view also became clearer and clearer.
Branches flourished from the Tree of Life, leafy and lush. And amid the luxuriant leaves bore an abundance of golden fruits.
A quick glance revealed that the tree was filled with them.
“Just how many divine tree fruits are there? And just how much will I earn if I sell them all?”
Meng Lei swallowed hard, suddenly understanding why so many contestants had been lured there.
Given the numerous divine tree fruits on it, just how great of an allure did it pose?
Who would be able to resist it?
Nobody at all!
At last, he came close to it.
A mountainous ridge when viewed horizontally and a high peak when viewed from the side; far, near, high, and low, different from every angle.
Why couldn’t one tell the true form of Mount Lu?
For they stand within, part of the mountain they have become1.
At this point, it was no longer possible for him to get a full view of the Tree of Life. All that entered one’s sight was just a big, tall, and rough wall—the Tree of Life’s trunk!
Wrapped all around the surface of the trunk was an infinite number of chains formed from golden magic sigils. Like a fishing net, they wrapped all around the tree.
The chains spread out, ultimately forming another golden shield around the Tree of Life and sealing it within.
At the same time, the golden shield also trapped almost a hundred unfortunate souls within—in other words, the hundred-odd contestants that had also been sealed inside.
Floating outside the golden shield were thousands of people. Aside from a few dozen contestants, the rest were all broadsword-wielding, beast-riding golden-armored knights!
“Where did these guys come from?”
Meng Lei stared at the golden-armored knights, somewhat puzzled.
“Judging from their gear, they are likely the Royal Holy Knight Order.” Ol’ Amos replied, “The Royal Holy Knight Order is the empire’s most elite troops. Even the weakest among them possesses ninth-grade pinnacle-level strength.”
“Why are they here?”
Meng Lei was puzzled. Weren’t the contestants supposed to be the only ones on the Lost Continent?
“If I’m not wrong, the Royal Holy Knight Order is in charge of protecting the contestants’ safety during the exchange competition.” Ol’ Amos instructed, “Get them to stop, Meng Lei. If they continue to attack, they’ll break the seal sooner or later!”
At the moment, be it the Holy Knight Order or the 100-odd contestants inside the shield, all of them were fervently attacking the golden shield.
Every attack from them caused the golden shield to reverberate intensely, which in turn caused the entire continent to shake along with it—it seemed like the seal was connected to the whole continent itself.
“Alright, I know what to do now.”
Meng Lei nodded slightly. Then, he took a deep breath and shouted, “Stop attacking, everyone! Listen to what I have to say!”
His voice wasn’t very loud, but it reached everyone clearly. Everyone stopped attacking one by one and turned to him.
“Meng Lei!”
Someone who recognized him called out his name.
“Who’s he?”
However, there were more of them that didn’t know who he was, and all of them broke into frowns.
“Stop attacking, everyone. Listen to me first!”
As the puzzled crowd gazed at him, Meng Lei said, “All of you can sense the divine power that this huge tree here is giving off, right? That’s right. This tree is a half-deity!”
“A half-deity?”
A jolt went through some of them as their countenances changed dramatically. All of them were just weak contestants that didn’t have any idea of the Tree of Life’s background.
However, the rest of them—in particular, the Royal Holy Knight Order—showed practically no response to his words. Evidently, they were already aware of the Tree of Life’s background since a long time ago.
Or perhaps they’d determined its identity based on the divine power that the Tree of Life emanated.
After all, its mighty divine power was right there for all to see. It wasn’t hard for them to make the judgment.
Meng Lei continued and said, “But this half-deity has evidently been sealed. That’s why we can stand here
