CHAPTER 961: CHAPTER 929: DIVINE DESCENT

"Obviously."

The black cat spoke human words, opened the Eye of Decompilation, and held the Sin Leaf up to the light, examining it from side to side, "By the way, after the soldiers of the Great Sin Army die, do they all drop Sin Leaves? How does the Tree of Sin collect these Sin Leaves?"

Huang Zhaoyue shook her head, "Only those who have signed a voluntary sin-transformation contract with the Tree of Sin will automatically leave a Sin Leaf after death. As for collection, the Great Sin Army must actively send people to collect them. The Tree of Sin has everyone’s location in the Sin Tree Network, so collecting most Sin Leaves is not difficult."

"I see..." Xia Feng nodded but remained curious, looking around, "Why is there only one Sin Leaf, what about the Immortal Mud Sculpture?"

"The Sin Leaves exchanged from the Tree of Sin will automatically return to the Tree of Sin upon the holder’s death, preventing anyone outside the Great Sin from seizing them. Even if someone snatches them, without the Tree of Sin providing the Power of Sin, they can’t use these Sin Leaves at all."

After listening to Huang Zhaoyue’s explanation, Xia Feng was impressed, thinking that this Tree of Sin, before becoming a Divine Relic, must have been an S-Class authority, it truly defies the heavens.

"Hmm? By the way, can these Sin Shadows retain self-awareness after becoming Sin Leaves?" Xia Feng asked in surprise.

With his Eye of Decompilation, he clearly saw a light blue crystal floating in the center of the green leaf’s veins, which contained a very weak consciousness.

It was somewhat strange.

"Hmm?"

Huang Zhaoyue also frowned, raising her gaze to look at the Sin Leaf in Xia Feng’s hand, her eyes slightly narrowed,

"Unless the Sin Leaf is contracted by a new owner, it’s impossible for self-awareness to emerge. Unless... it’s not Sin Shadow consciousness."

Xia Feng was taken aback and raised his eyebrows, "Not Sin Shadow consciousness, then..."

He smirked with cool eyes, staring at the crystal in the center of the green leaf, "Zhuo Hua is not dead!"

Huang Zhaoyue recalled, nodding, "Rare Level III Sin Leaf·Sin Leaf Crystal can copy one’s consciousness and store it in the crystal in advance. Under the premise of no other resurrection methods, after the holder’s death, the copied consciousness in the crystal will activate. If someone exchanges for the Sin Leaf later and successfully contracts it, he can be reborn through becoming another’s Sin Shadow.

The side effect is that after becoming another’s Sin Shadow, one loses all memories and can only survive as a Sin Shadow."

"It seems this is his third rare level Sin Leaf." Xia Feng was utterly resigned; Zhuo Hua, the Shadow Venerable, truly knows how to survive. Of the three Sin Leaves, two are essentially life-saving measures.

He’s even willing to become a controlled Sin Shadow to cling to life.

Furthermore, it’s clinging to life as a copied consciousness; is this copied consciousness still the original him?

This is a philosophical question Xia Feng didn’t bother to ponder much on; he now just wanted to eliminate the problem completely.

"Any way to thoroughly kill it?"

"You can use your Blood Beast, obliterate the Sin Leaf, and the consciousness stored on it will naturally disperse completely."

Hearing this, Xia Feng breathed a sigh of relief, good, but just as he wanted to act, he paused again.

Raising his eyes, "Now, as your Sin Shadow, my actions are essentially your actions; is there any problem with killing a Great Sin Shadow Venerable?"

Huang Zhaoyue’s eyes were quiet, "It’s not the first time; it wasn’t a problem before, and now... even less so."

"Go ahead, this king doesn’t like leaving potential troubles."

That’s good, Xia Feng nodded, released his grip, and the Sin Leaf gently floated into his shadow, with scarlet light flowing subtly, instantly devouring the green leaf.

"No—!!" The crystal in the center of the green leaf shattered, and amidst the shrill scream, the distorted consciousness attempted to escape the Blood Beast Prison Sea.

But it was in vain.

Being merely a consciousness, he had no resistance.

Zhuo Hua detected danger when discovering the black cat had S-Class Spiritual Clothes, hence copied his consciousness into the Sin Leaf Crystal while using Dao Fruit·Light and Shadow Beings.

But he still couldn’t fathom how he died so inexplicably!

He didn’t even know how the black cat struck!

But even then, the black cat could still discover where his consciousness was hiding!!

Was this really just a Sin Shadow!

If it weren’t for this Sin Shadow... without this Sin Shadow! Haha huh~

It’s really laughable,

For this mission, how did he end up betting his life.....

"Whoosh—" With a wave of the cat’s paw, the remaining broken consciousness in the air was burned away completely by Constant Temperature Ash Destruction.

"Double A Holy Realm, it’s just like that." Xia Feng mused, if Zhuo Hua hadn’t had Sin Leaf assistance, he might have been even easier to deal with.

Of course, there’s also the reason of Immortal Mud Sculpture being restrained by his Moon Time Divine Domain.

But honestly, most abilities are somewhat countered by such heaven-defying S-Class powers like Moon Time Divine Domain.

While considering, Xia Feng suddenly paused, seeming to recall something, looking up at the Tree of Sin on the top of the battleship, gasped, "Phew, almost forgot this detail, the three core Sin Leaves, Sin Spring Crystal, with Zhuo Hua in the coverage area of this thing, wouldn’t he still be able to resurrect?!"

Huang Zhaoyue shook her head, speaking calmly, "Don’t worry, Sin Spring Crystal’s resurrection restrictions amount to more than ten kinds, one of which is a cooldown restriction: each marked life form can only be resurrected through the Sin Spring once within two hours."

That’s good, Xia Feng retracted the Constant Flame that permeated the battleship into his body, as the cat squatted.

So exhausting for this cat, though killing Zhuo Hua took only a few seconds, continuous use of two S-Class Spiritual Clothes and assorted methods consumed nearly half of his spiritual quantity and spiritual power, leaving him somewhat physically weary.

Huang Zhaoyue leaned back, legs crossed, gazed quietly at the black cat, pursing her lips in silence for a moment, then spoke softly,

"Restore your human form, this king needs to ingest your Dragon Spirit Blood."

"....."

"Or do you intend to maintain your cat form while being ingested by this king?"

"....."

Goodness, do you intend to literally ’consume the cat,’ Xia Feng thought it’s better to return to human form; the cat form feels too odd.

While considering, he was about to rise back to human when the Tree of Sin atop the battleship swayed and emitted light once more.

Their eyes narrowed slightly, raising their heads.

Such a situation....

It’s not likely Zhuo Hua resurrected, could it be... Ni Yan’s resurrection?

Zhuo Hua mentioned Ni Yan’s Sin Shadow was special, with a longer resurrection time, so this was quite likely.

"Buzz buzz—!!"

The Tree of Sin resonated, and as the innermost resplendent gold-green leaf’s veins gradually clarified, terrifying Divine Pressure instantly descended.

Xia Feng’s body went rigid, unable to move, feeling immediately on guard, realizing this certainly didn’t seem like Ni Yan’s resurrection, but rather... a Heavenly God’s descent!!

Huang Zhaoyue slowly stood up, her expression unchanged, indifferent and calm, her gaze coldly observing the Tree of Sin.

A divinely formed man with long hair blazing like golden flames, his face and form indiscernible, appeared beneath the Tree of Sin; only a pair of sacred eyes containing profound Star Seas gazed arrogantly at them.