Chapter 3024: The Tree King's Resolve

Its tree spirit avatar fell silent.

Everyone present knew this was the main body of the Tree King stirring.

After a while, the green light in the tree spirit's eyes reignited, and it reported bad news:

"I just received word: the Ye Gan Kingdom and the Bi Li Kingdom have pledged allegiance to the Heavenly Palace!"

Everyone's heart sank.

After the fall of the Between Between Between Beijia, the seven neutral vassal demon states that had remained noncommittal were instantly pulled over by the Heavenly Palace—two of them—leaving only five.

"The Bi Li Kingdom has already reinforced its troops at Longshui, preparing to meet our Tree Army!" The Tree King's voice was dull and heavy, like thunder, "As for Ye Gan, a coup just occurred—the old king was overthrown, his third son seized the throne as the new king, and immediately defected to the Heavenly Palace."

He Lingchuan spoke bluntly: "You're again one step behind the Heavenly Palace."

The two vassal demon kings remained silent.

Between Between Between Beijia has long held a tradition of non-interference in the internal affairs of other vassal demon states—six hundred years of it, and this notion is deeply ingrained.

"If we wait longer, the remaining five states will also be snatched by the Heavenly Palace." He Lingchuan sounded the alarm, "By then, this war won't even need to be fought—you'll follow in the footsteps of the Yuan Kingdom."

The Yuan Kingdom fought alone and perished; its male descendants became slaves generation after generation, its females prostitutes generation after generation.

He Lingchuan had one thing left unsaid: whether it was Lingxu City or the major vassal demon states, most believed Nie Xiaolou and the Tree King's resistance would fail, and the Heavenly Gods and Heavenly Palace would ultimately prevail.

No state would willingly align with the losing side. Thus, the Ye Gan and Bi Li Kingdoms' choice is a dangerous beginning. If the resistance fails to display great strength, the few remaining vassal demon states still observing will soon join the Heavenly Palace.

Even if the Tree Kingdom and the Chi Yan Kingdom are strong, fighting eleven with two is hopeless. After all, they are both vassal demon states of Between Between Between Beijia, their foundational strength fixed—no ordinary small neighboring states.

By then, Cang Yan and Mou might not wish to intervene anymore. As said above, no one wants to join a battle they know they'll lose. The Tree King and Fu Shanlie are both founding high ancestors of their respective vassal demon states—in character and decisiveness, they are no peaceful-era rulers; knowing there's no time for hesitation, they both nodded directly.

Fine, let's begin!

Fu Shanlie slapped the sand table, and the four major vassal demon states appeared on the sand, then the newly added Ye Gan Kingdom and Bi Li Kingdom were placed.

"We will divide our forces to attack, but injuring ten fingers is not as good as severing one. First, concentrate our strength and topple one vassal demon state."

Among the six vassal demon states opposing us, the weakest is the Bo Lang Kingdom, the strongest is the Xuoluo Kingdom.

Which should we strike first?

The Tree King chose Bo Lang Kingdom, reasoning that victory is most likely swift, reducing the enemy's vassal demon count by one, which would directly strike the Heavenly Palace's forces.

Fu Shanlie, however, fixed his gaze on Xuoluo Kingdom. Our side has just gained the mighty support of Cang Yan and Mou, giving us full strength to strike Xuoluo Kingdom by surprise. Once our reinforcements are exposed to the enemy's eyes, such an opportunity may not arise again.

Moreover, defeating Xuoluo Kingdom would generate immense deterrent power against the Heavenly Palace and other vassal demon states—something Bo Lang Kingdom could never match.

In the end, both kings turned their gaze to He Lingchuan:

"What do you think?"

The alliance against the Heavenly Demons has already formed; today, He Lingchuan is speaking with the two vassal demon kings because Lingshan wishes to lead but lacks the strength, and the Tree Kingdom and Chi Yan Kingdom never bought into Lingshan's influence, only willing to interface with the new alliance leader of the battle alliance.

Only he, sitting in this position, can make all sides within the alliance submit.

And since the battle alliance was formed, Lingshan has rapidly withered, even faster than when it was suppressed by Between Between Between Beijia.

This is because Lingshan has distributed its true immortals and immortals into the battle alliance internally—each taking their place, each going their own way—thus the very meaning of Lingshan's existence has been diluted. He Lingchuan then asked an unrelated question:

"Tree King, I heard your nation has a true immortal presiding over it?"

"Yes, there is." At this moment, the Tree King also had nothing left to hide: "The Huan Cai Immortal Lord resides in my Fu Feng City, and has been there for nearly six hundred years. Fu Feng City is the capital of the Tree Kingdom, and He Lingchuan has visited before."

"Has it always been in Fu Feng City?" He Lingchuan also seemed surprised, "During the era of thin spiritual energy, how did it endure? Did you not build it a cave dwelling in Fu Feng City?"

Fu Feng City is very prosperous, bustling with people—but that's for the residents. Over the past six hundred years, there has been no spirit-gathering great formation there; not to mention true immortals, even ordinary immortals staying there would feel like fish out of water, suffering from suffocation.

How could the Huan Cai Immortal Lord possibly remain in Fu Feng City for six hundred years?

As for why no one has seen it, that's to be expected. True immortals are not something ordinary people can see at will.

"Yes." The tree spirit patted its own chest, "They reside right here."

Everyone was stunned, Fu Shanlie included—this was the first time he'd heard: "Huh? They live inside your trunk?"

What the Tree King referred to was certainly not this avatar, but his main body in Fu Feng City.

"Yes, the Huan Cai Immortal Lord is a pair of moth immortals, feeding on tree sap, initially dwelling with my ancestors. When they withered, the Huan Cai Immortal Lord transferred to me and took up residence, and has dwelled here for seven hundred years. They usually cultivate in cocoons, only emerging occasionally for their descendants to come and go."

Fu Shanlie suddenly understood: "No wonder you're naturally strong—turns out you've always had true immortal assistance, and not just one, but two!"

Understood, the Huan Cai Immortal Lord and the Tree King share a symbiotic relationship; they usually lie dormant in the tree trunk, rarely showing themselves, and rely on the Tree King's supply to endure periods of scarce spiritual energy. Insects, after all, have their ways of dormancy, able to enter a hibernation-like state during spiritual energy depletion, reducing their energy consumption to a minimum.

For example, forming cocoons—just like human immortals entering closed-door seclusion.

But correspondingly, they also provide the Tree King, and thus the Tree Kingdom, with immense resolve.

However, over the past six hundred years, the Tree Kingdom has hardly faced any mortal crisis, so the Huan Cai Immortal Lord has had no chance to act, merely hiding in tree hollows, sleeping deeply.

In fact, the cultivation of many monsters is essentially just sleeping. The ancient dragon clan was like this, and the Huan Cai Immortal Lord and the Earth Mother are likewise.

"I have already communicated with the immortal lord; in this great war, they will certainly act."

The Huan Cai Immortal Lord and the Tree King are like grasshoppers on the same rope—now that the Tree Kingdom is drawn into the great war, they cannot remain idle.

He Lingchuan clapped his hands: "Excellent! Our side now has two more true immortals."

This world sorely lacks top-tier combat power.

He did not ask the Tree King: since you already have a true immortal presiding, why, when Between Between Between Beijia founded the state, did you still have to consume the Heavenly Demon Secret Medicine 'Pulling Intestines,' submitting to others?

Founding a state is not solely about martial force; He Lingchuan himself, holding a high position, can understand the Tree King's helplessness.

Sitting in that position, daily duties cannot avoid weighing and compromise.

Moreover, during the period of declining spiritual energy, the Huan Cai Immortal Lord is in cocoon formation and cannot emerge.

At this moment, the Tree King's tree spirit avatar suddenly said: "Wait a moment."

Then, it also produced a four-sided mirror, facing He Lingchuan.

The mirror surface flashed, and two figures appeared.