Chapter 201: Apepu's Thoughts

Yeah, how did Apepu come?

As for that.

Apepu's answer was: "I've been living here for a while, but I only came over to take a look after seeing you, this human who dared to be rude to me, return today."

!!!

???

You've been living in the city for a long time???

Luo De's eyelids twitched wildly.

Good grief!

That dangerous mother dragon actually stayed for more than a day or two right under my and Nadixa's eyelids?

As for Apepu,

Luo De has always been on guard, and Nadixa is as well.

Apepu's attitude toward humans and gods is extremely unfriendly.

To treat her.

At most it only made her temporarily give up her revenge on Sumeru, but it couldn't guarantee she still harbored ill will toward Sumeru.

If she ever gets another chance to take revenge on the Heavenly Principle.

Luo De and Nadixa both believe she will definitely not miss it.

I never expected this dangerous guy to show up so openly in Hope City.

"What kind of look is that?"

Apepu asked in an icy voice.

Even though she didn't turn her head, she seemed able to take in Luo De's expression completely.

"Uh"

"How should I say this?"

"Wary?"

"Worried?"

"Or what?"

Luo De had nothing to say, could only shake his head and say: "Nothing, I just didn't expect you to come."

"Just coming to see my daughter."

Apepu's way of addressing the Great Merciful Tree King once again made Luo De's eyelids jump.

"Daughter!"

When the elemental energy from the oasis source was discovered accelerating the Great Merciful Tree King's bodily reconstruction, Nadixa had said that after the Great Merciful Tree King's rebirth, it would thus become a grass dragon offshoot.

Now Apepu's way of addressing it fully confirms this speculation.

Luo De's heart suddenly sounded alarms.

But when facing the grass dragon,

yet he couldn't utter a word, a deep sense of helplessness welled up in his heart.

Even though she had just recovered from a serious illness, Apepu's strength is not something Sumeru's current power can withstand.

Just from the fact that she had been hiding in Hope City for an unknown amount of time, while Nadixa was completely unaware of it, one can tell.

To say something pessimistic.

The gap between Apepu and Nadixa might be even larger than that between a human and a canned fruit.

Not to mention that before the Great Merciful Tree King's rebirth, Sumeru's strongest combat power was Nadixa.

She is still powerless to resist when facing Apepu, let alone others.

"Pfft—"

"Hahaha—"

"Please don't tease him."

Just as Luo De's mind was racing with thoughts, the Great Merciful Tree King, who had been secretly observing for half a day, suddenly burst out laughing with a 'pfft'.

"Hmph—"

Apepu gave a cold snort, glanced sideways at Luo De, and said: "You puny human, your courage is indeed big, but to kill me you're still off by ten thousand years."

"."

"Not."

Luo De looked left and right, trying to see any abnormality on Apepu and the Great Merciful Tree King's faces.

He suddenly realized.

These two seemed to have known each other for a long time, like old friends.

"Ameng's corpse was swallowed by her while I watched."

The Great Merciful Tree King then dropped another bombshell without a sound.

Then.

She then recounted the events of that year in the face of Luo De's stunned expression.

Apepu and the Great Merciful Tree King had actually known each other for a long time.

Only at that time the Red King dabbled in forbidden knowledge and went overboard, putting all of Sumeru at risk of imminent destruction.

When the Great Merciful Tree King, acting on the Red King's commission, used his power to begin clearing the forbidden knowledge, Apepu emerged from the yellow sand and, in front of the Red King's Kingdom's subjects, as promised, swallowed the Red King's body.

Immediately thereafter she fell into a state of madness.

The forbidden knowledge clashed with the elemental energy, causing intense pain that made Apepu instantly go mad, throwing all of Sumeru into turmoil.

At that time, the Great Merciful Tree King, who was still busy helping the Red King wipe his butt, had to free up his hands, forcibly soothing Apep, whose resentment toward the three gods of Sumeru had already reached its peak.

Finally she sent Apep into that Dendro Dragon's palace, and made an agreement with the Dendro Dragon's people, using all her remaining strength to create a spark that could reactivate the Heart of the Oasis.

"So."

"You sent out the Source of the Oasis—was it specifically to save people?"

Luo De sorted out what the Great Merciful Tree King had said, and understood Apep's previous relationship with her.

"Your relationship is really complicated, huh."

Saying that, Luo De rubbed his temples.

Simply put, the Great Merciful Tree King's words mean that back then the Red King schemed against Apep, and after being treated like a trash can and swallowing a bellyful of forbidden knowledge, Apep was tormented to the point of unbearable pain; in his turmoil, he caused massive destruction to Sumeru.

The Dendro Dragon's self-adaptive ability is indeed strong.

But adapting to forbidden knowledge really takes time.

Apep, who had just swallowed the forbidden knowledge, could hardly endure the physical pain; even as a ten-thousand-year-old dragon, his spirit was almost tortured into a state of madness similar to that of Te Walin.

Left with no choice.

Having just finished clearing away the forbidden knowledge, the Great Merciful Tree King, unwilling to spare her body, continued to deteriorate, forcibly overexerting her power to soothe her, helping Apep get through the most difficult part of the adaptation period.

Until Apep successfully fell asleep, she then made an agreement with the elemental lifeforms that had escaped from within Apep's body, expending her last strength to create a spark, preserving the final hope of healing for Apep.

It is precisely because of the turmoil between Apep and the Red King.

Only because the Great Merciful Tree King had severely overexerted her power did she lack sufficient strength five hundred years ago to resist the erosion of forbidden knowledge upon herself, ultimately forcing her to choose to leave behind Nadixa as this spark, then kill herself, seal her contaminated consciousness, and wait for Nadixa to erase her.

Apep is a dragon who acts arrogant on the surface but actually cherishes old feelings deep inside.

At that time, when Nadixa was healing herself, she discovered that the Great Merciful Tree King's consciousness was still alive, and also discovered her condition.

Therefore, to repay the Great Merciful Tree King for saving her life back then.

Only then would she send out the precious Source of the Oasis.

As for why she gave it to Luo De.

Simply because she disliked Nadixa.

"A god who acts impulsively and utterly lacks reason is far inferior to her and Amon."

That's just such a simple reason.

Nadixa's willingness to sacrifice herself to save me was well-intentioned, but Apep does not approve of this action.

In her view.

Nadixa is nothing but an overly idealistic and utterly inexperienced goddess, fundamentally unfit to succeed Amon and the Great Merciful Tree King.

This is also another reason why she sent out the Source of the Oasis to help the Great Merciful Tree King rebuild her body.

"You should just listen to me."

"You still hold the authority of a god, and with my power and your disposition, you would govern Sumeru better than she would."

The more Apep spoke, the more dissatisfied she became.

She was directing her criticism at both Nadixa and the Great Merciful Tree King.

"You're too impatient."

"She's still just a child; she still needs time to grow."

When mentioning Nadixa, the Great Merciful Tree King's voice grew much softer.

"This child herself has never received any education about being a god, nor has she inherited my memories from when I governed Sumeru."

"When she should have been learning, she was instead imprisoned for a full five hundred years."

"What she has learned is purely theoretical knowledge, severely lacking in practice; when faced with sudden situations, she inevitably becomes impulsive and flustered."

"As for how to be a good god—"

"She still has a long way to go; you need to give her more patience."

The Great Merciful Tree King patiently soothed the dissatisfied Apep.

Luo De couldn't interject into their conversation.

Anyway, both of them have a point.

Whether Nadixa becomes the Dendro Archon or not, Luo De feels it doesn't matter.

He even thinks that what Apep says makes a lot of sense.

Nadixa's personality is indeed unsuitable for being a goddess who rules a nation.

She is soft‑eared, not decisive enough, and when faced with difficult choices, she tends to be indecisive.

Luo De doesn't even want to say the harsher words.

In short, it's still that sentence: the current Nadixa is indeed unqualified, which needs no denial, and not only Apep thinks so—he thinks so too.

As for the matter of letting the Great Merciful Tree King replace Nadixa to restore the Dendro Archon's position.

There are pros and cons, huh.

What about the benefits?

It's that the Great Merciful Tree King enjoys higher prestige in Sumeru, and her return as the Dendro Archon could raise the divine authority and prestige that Sumeru currently lacks even higher.

What about the drawbacks?

Due to various misunderstandings, the Great Merciful Tree King has a terrible reputation in the desert region, and Sumeru has just recently experienced the turmoil of a god's reinstatement.

If the Great Merciful Tree King were to return to power again, it might easily undo the newly established good progress between Sumeru and the desert—including the hope city seen by the desert people—causing unimaginable turmoil in such a change.

He glanced again at the fiercely debating Apep and the Great Merciful Tree King.

Luo De couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "Forget it, let's wait for them to discuss a result."

In an extraordinary world, fists are the hard truth.

Apep's fists are too hard.

If she still harbored even a hint of feeling for the Great Merciful Tree King and was unwilling to defy the Great Merciful Tree King's wishes, then who exactly occupies the Dendro Archon's throne would be for her to decide.

Or we're still lacking the martial prowess of a Red King.

Just as Luo De lamented the insufficiency of Sumeru's combat strength, the Great Merciful Tree King over there finally persuaded Apep to reluctantly stop his complaints, agreeing to continue observing Nadixa's abilities, and for the time being not bringing up the matter of letting the Great Merciful Tree King replace her.

Apep's coming here seems to be solely for the purpose of checking the Great Merciful Tree King's condition.

After the Great Merciful Tree King finished debating the matter of the divine seat, she vanished into thin air.

Just as when she arrived, she came and left without a trace; anyway, with Luo De's abilities, there's simply no way to tell how she actually departed.

"Let you see a joke."

"That's what she said with her mouth, yet the Great Merciful Tree King's face still bore a smile."

"It's not really a joke, after all."

Luo De scratched his head, not knowing how to evaluate their discussion just now.

They openly discussed, right under Nadixa's eyelids, whether to replace her on the Dendro Archon's throne.

To be honest.

This is somewhat of a hellish joke.

Yet the two sides in the debate are, on one hand, a grass dragon whose power is matchless, and on the other, the former Dendro Archon who ruled Sumeru for over a thousand years.

Each one is a heavyweight.

"Alright, rest assured, I won't contend with her for the divine seat."

The Great Merciful Tree King made a promise, then rose from the flower's stamen, lazily stretched, and said full of anticipation: "Remember to come here tomorrow, oh — it's been hundreds of years since I last walked on the ground; I really miss this feeling."

"Mm, good."

Luo De nodded in response.

Having said that, he was just about to leave the flower garden when the Great Merciful Tree King's voice came from behind again: "Remember, you must come, no matter what happens, you must come here."

"Okay, I've remembered."

Although Luo De found the Great Merciful Tree King's repeated emphasis a bit strange, he didn't ask further, gave another acknowledgment, and then hurried away.

(End of chapter)