1311 The Palpable Lie Translated by XephiZ Edited by Aelryinth “Rock Dragon Vein!” someone shouted behind Mo Fan. A huge boulder, like the spine of a dragon, swept past above Mo Fan as he found himself in a pinch. Its enormous body covered the space above Mo Fan, blocking the Devil Tree Spikes slamming down on an area with a radius of over a thousand meters! It was like a rock dragon had flown by and used its body to defend Mo Fan. Mo Fan heard the piercing clanks as the sharp branches struck the rock. However, the Rock Dragon Vein stood firmly. It was Mo Fan’s first time seeing such an imperious spell! Mo Fan turned around and saw a brilliant brown Star Palace fading away close to Yan Shi. He was struggling to believe the old woman was able to cast such a majestic Earth Spell. It felt like she could control the entire mountain freely! “Leave at once. Tell Chen Yi that this is something I’ve wanted to do the most for the past thirty years. Don’t grieve for me, my soul will only find its peace if I can take this devil down with me!” Yan Shi’s white hair drifted wildly in her strong aura. Her aged face was displaying a strong determination! Mo Fan knew he was no match for a monster of this level. He picked up his pace under the protection of the Rock Dragon Vein and hurriedly ran directly away from the enormous tree. Yan Shi tried her best to protect Mo Fan. The Rock Dragon Vein continued to hover above Mo Fan under her control. The merciless branches of the devil tree were unable to pierce it. Yan Shi let out a relieved sigh after seeing Mo Fan disappearing into the distance. She lifted her gaze and stared at the tree shrouding the sky and looming over the valley... “Xiao Dongxia, I’m sorry, I won’t be able to keep my promise,” Yan Shi murmured. Her skinny figure suddenly emitted a brilliant light. Three different destructive auras descended upon the place like a great storm! The leaves and branches drifted wildly in the wind. The grass in the valley was flattened to the ground. Even some of the Demon Tree Spikes broke into pieces. The deadly spikes that were stained with the blood of the people they had killed flew scattered in the air... Earth Element, Fire Element, Wind Element! The presence of the three Elements reached its limit, as if a little thought was enough to cast a tremendous spell. Every action that Yan Shi made was displaying the superb control of a Supreme Mage over their magic. It was no longer bound by the Star Orbits, Star Patterns, Star Constellations, or Star Palaces. The thousand fiery birds coming down from the sky, the cloudy tornado that was whipping like the tail of an enormous serpent, or the mountains that were rising from the ground were all at her fingertips! Due to the massive size of the Giant Purple Sacred Linden, the destructive spells of an Advanced Mage were only like a little breeze to it. However, a Supreme Mage who could cast Super Spells freely would still pose a certain threat to the Giant Purple Sacred Linden! The branches as wide as roads snapped and fell like twigs. The broken branches flew wildly in the wind... One of the main trunks was seriously damaged. It began to collapse to the ground. The Rainbow-Tailed Demon Sparrows residing on it fled in panic... Mo Fan turned around in the distance. His entire view was filled up by different parts of the tree. Some drifted in the air, some were sent flying into the distance, some fell to the ground and swept a huge cloud of dust into the air...Mo Fan was so shocked that it felt like his heart was about to burst out of his body when he sensed the destructive aura from the combination of three different Elements! Was Jiang Feng’s mother a Forbidden Mage?! Mo Fan had gone through some epic moments. The Super Spells that the ten authorities had cast during the Calamity of the Ancient Capital, and the Golden Sun Knights and the powerful Mages he faced at the Parthenon Temple, were some of the strongest Mages in the world, yet they still felt insignificant compared to Yan Shi’s magic... Her aura was even stronger than Pang Lai’s! A piercing cry came from the Giant Purple Sacred Linden. The cry contained a destructive power. As it swept past the valley, it instantly turned the grass into ashes. Mo Fan was running in the valley, but had no choice but to halt in his tracks and summon the Black Snake Armor to defend himself. Mo Fan’s heart was trembling. What kind of monster was this? What exactly was living on the Giant Purple Sacred Linden? Mo Fan looked at the cloudy sky and the ground that had cracked apart. He stood still in place as a great terror struck his soul like a wave. He began to tremble in fear. He had the same feeling when he was facing the Mountain Zombie, but the thing was, he was a lot stronger than before! It was the scariest and spookiest thing that Mo Fan had ever seen. He kept thinking there was a terrifying devil hiding in the Giant Purple Sacred Linden that was bringing death upon the place... until he realized the devil was none other than the Giant Purple Sacred Linden itself! The tree had an awe-imposing appearance. Anyone would marvel at the work of nature just by looking at it, assuming it to be the incarnation of a deity from the Heavens, allowing countless species to live around it, to reproduce and grow stronger... Therefore, when Tong Shang decided to claim the Giant Purple Sacred Linden, Mo Fan subconsciously disagreed with the proposal. Did they really have to corrupt the sacred tree because of their greed? But now, Mo Fan had witnessed its true form! The roots that were hidden under the ground and growing above the surface like hills rose into the air. They were all covered in fresh blood. The roots were wriggling around like huge Blood-Drinking Maggots. Some were still devouring the dead bodies on the surface. The Blood-Drinking Maggots started attacking Yan Shi, recklessly as if they were being provoked... It was only part of the Giant Purple Sacred Linden’s hideous appearance that it had concealed underground. When Yan Shi destroyed another trunk with her spells, it revealed a face between the leaves and the branches! The face was made up of the five main trunks. It was impossible to see up close that each of the main trunks was actually a part of a face. One could only see the face when standing far away. It was contorted, twisted, and full of hatred, something that would easily terrorize anyone that saw it! The face of the Giant Purple Sacred Linden reminded Mo Fan of the Night Terror Pseudomorphing Demon he had once encountered in the desert. It was a creature that disguised itself as a plant, waiting for its prey to come close to it. The Giant Purple Sacred Linden was the same, except that it was a few hundred times bigger, better at disguising itself, and was more ambitious and patient! “Does that mean every battle that happened around it was only a ploy to feed itself?” Mo Fan was struggling to believe it. The shock of learning the Giant Purple Sacred Linden’s true nature was just too overwhelming. It was a trap... Mo Fan knew it was a trap all along. The Hunters were killed by the Hillmen because they were greedy. Humans were killed by the Rainbow-Tailed Demon Sparrows because they were trying to claim the Giant Purple Sacred Linden out of greed. As a result, every creature that died and the blood they shed had become delicious nutrients for the Giant Purple Sacred Linden. They had turned into its massive figure, leaves that shrouded the sky, and intertwining branches that were like a world on their own... No wonder it was so huge, no wonder it was so vivid, no wonder it allowed creatures to come and live on it. It was a devil that had perfectly disguised itself as a work of nature. It was using lies, incidents that the world had forgotten, to trick one living thing after another to walk into its trap and become its food! Mo Fan was so shocked that he felt speechless. He knew it was a trap, he knew there was danger, yet he never thought the real culprit was the seemingly-harmless tree! He could even imagine that the war between the White Magic Falcons, the creatures on the tree, and the humans was not the first tragedy in history. Similar things must have happened hundreds, or even thousands of years ago, but they either failed to discover its secrets, or died after seeing its true form. “The Moon Moth Phoenix... it wasn’t opposing the humans. It knew the Giant Purple Sacred Linden was a devil, it was trying to let the White Magic Falcons destroy it!” Mo Fan suddenly realized. The Totem Beast, the Moon Moth Phoenix, had fallen victim to the tragedy too! Mo Fan finally understood why Yan Shi showed such deep remorse and such strong hatred toward the Giant Purple Sacred Linden. He understood why she wanted to take down the devil with her... The anger of being tricked, the pain she suffered after killing the Totem Beast she was supposed to protect with her own hands, the grief over the lives that were lost here; Mo Fan could easily feel all kinds of emotions that Yan Shi was venting from the howls of her magic! The spells that had inherited Yan Shi’s emotions provoked a series of deafening blasts again. The second main trunk of the Giant Purple Sacred Linden was about to collapse after suffering a serious blow. Yan Shi’s tiny figure was suddenly devoured by the branches and leaves that were drifting in the air, as if the devil had just swallowed her. Mo Fan was having difficulty seeing her amid the blinding light that her magic was producing... Yan Shi was very strong, easily the strongest Mage that Mo Fan had met. Her cultivation was stronger than Pang Lai’s. She was very close to being a Forbidden Mage. She might actually be one now if she had not given up on her magic for thirty years. However, the Giant Purple Sacred Linden was an absolute demon, too. It was able to stand firmly even after enduring lots of Super Spells. It was hard to imagine how many powerful Mages it would take just to take it down! Mo Fan continued to run away. However, the Giant Purple Sacred Linden had no intention of sparing his life. Countless Rainbow-Tailed Demon Sparrows flew out from the tree and chased after Mo Fan. Mo Fan also caught a glimpse of a creature with a lizard’s head and a tiger’s body. It was leaping between the falling debris in the air while heading in his direction!