“Of course you aren’t, but there’s something on you that is!” The Tree of Life said aloofly, “For the sake of obtaining it, no matter how much I have to do, it’s all worth it. And now, it should return to its original owner.”
“Something on me?”
Stupefied, Meng Lei pointed at himself.
Ol’ Amos was just as stupefied as him while the others also looked at one another in confusion.
“What exactly are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re saying,” A frowning Meng Lei shouted, “Are you talking about your fruits?”
“You cunning human, stop playing dumb!”
The Tree of Life snorted icily and said, “I’ve sensed that thing’s presence ever since you arrived at the Lost Continent. From that moment onward, I knew at once that that’s the object that I lost a long time ago.
“It has finally returned! It pleases me greatly to know that!
“But I’m also furious because you’re simply too sly. Not only did you not return it to me, but you even went into hiding and constantly avoided me!
“I was terribly enraged, so I could only resort to such painstaking measures. Fortunately, the outcome is still somewhat satisfactory.”
The Tree of Life’s voice grew louder and more sonorous as it commanded, “You cunning human, hand over that thing in your sea of consciousness. It belongs to me!
“Or else, you’d better not blame me if I come personally to take it from you! By then, you won’t be the only one dead—all of them will be, too!”
“That thing in my sea of consciousness? You’re referring to—”
A huge jolt went through Meng Lei, who had immediately thought of something. Aside from the soul flame, there was only one other object in his sea of consciousness—that golden leaf!
That golden leaf which he had obtained from the parchment manuscript had been occupying a spot in his sea of consciousness all this time. Apart from giving him the superbly strong wood-elemental magic talent, Meng Lei knew absolutely next to nothing about it.
What exactly was it?
Even now, Meng Lei still hadn’t figured it out yet.
But one could imagine that it must be no ordinary artifact.
It... belonged to the Tree of Life?
Ol’ Amos hurriedly asked, “Meng Lei, what is it talking about?”
“It’s talking about the golden leaf!”
Meng Lei didn’t keep it a secret from Ol’ Amos.
“The golden leaf?” A startled Ol’ Amos said, “But that’s a divine weapon. How can it be the Tree of Life’s? It shouldn’t be! Its aura differs completely from the Tree of Life’s. What the hell? It can’t be that that thing has taken an interest in the golden leaf, so it’s thinking of snatching it from you?”
“You don’t say, that might really just be the case!”
Meng Lei flew into a rage at once.
You keep going on and on about how it belongs to you, but in truth, it’s because you’ve discovered my divine weapon and are plotting murder for gain!
Disregarding the fact that it’s a divine weapon, so I can’t bear to give it to you at all; even if I do have the intentions to, I can’t get it to move, either!
Occupying a spot in Meng Lei’s mind, the golden leaf—apart from absorbing the Wood Elements in the universe every moment of the day—paid no heed to Meng Lei at all!
Hand it over?
Yeah, right! Am I supposed to burrow into my own sea of consciousness and gouge it out for you?
What a dumbass!
“Meng Lei, did you really take something that belongs to the Tree of Life?”
Everyone had been watching Meng Lei closely the whole time, so they had fully witnessed the changes in his facial expressions. Many of them became furious at once.
“What exactly did you take from the Tree of Life?! Hurry and hand it over!”
“That’s right! Bold of you to actually steal something from a half-deity!”
“Take it if you must, but you shouldn’t have implicated us! Take a look at Prince Barbarossa and the others; they are close to dying because of you...”
All the contestants trapped within the golden shield denounced Meng Lei, venting their anger and frustrations on him.
The Royal Holy Knights’ expressions weren’t very pleasant, either. The Golden Colossal Dragon Person leading them said in a low, deep voice, “Sir, for the sake of everyone’s safety, you’d better hand it over!”
“Hahaha!”
Furious to the extreme, Meng Lei burst into laughter instead. “Was it me that had embroiled all of you in this? If all of you hadn’t fought over the divine tree’s fruits, would you have landed yourselves in such a predicament?
“You can only blame your own greed for this, as well as yourselves for reaping what you’ve sown. What has it got to do with me?”
Meng Lei then looked at the Tree of Life and sneered coldly, “Not only have I not taken anything of yours but even if I have, do you think I’ll return it to you when it’s already in my hands?”
“Human, you’re challenging a deity’s authority!”
A vast, majestic wave of divine power weighed down on Meng Lei as the Tree of Life spoke in a low and deep voice, “I’ll give you one last chance! Hand over that thing, and I’ll spare your lives! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being heartless and ruthless!”
“Hurry and return that thing to the Tree of Life, Meng Lei! You’re holding everyone’s lives in your hands!”
“C’mon, return it to the Tree, Meng Lei!”
“Take it as I’m begging you. For the last 18 generations, my family has only had one son in every generation, so I can’t die here. Otherwise, it’ll be the end of my family lineage!”
“Meng Lei, I have a 200-years-old mother to support and a three-year-old toddler to feed...”
Upon hearing the Tree of Life’s threat, many of the contestants were badly frightened.
