Chương 47: Emperor, Branch and Power
"Oh my~ What a marvellous display!"
The monk's breath hitched as he turned around fully to face the strange human-like beast. His eyes darting at it frantically.
Its strange appearance reminded him of the birds that seemed to be constructed out of Vines, which he had killed in the past.
But he could tell that the Demonic Beast he was facing now was on a whole different level from anything he had seen before.
It 'looked' like a human, with skin made of wood and spikes and hair made of vines with leaves. Its entire boy appeared to be covered in a coat of vines, also merging with the floor much like its legs.
The light-swallowing holes it had for eyes and mouth made the Monk's breath hitch. His entire body stood still, even his heartbeat slowed as his hands clenched into fists, the beads around his arm being crushed in his palm in the process.
"No need to be so stressed, little human..."
Its voice was strange, it couldn't be described as a male or female, and it sounded more like the imitation of a human than an actual human. The Monk believed that distinction to be intentional too...
'Amitabha, there is no way a beast this powerful cannot alter its voice...'
The monk slowly let go of the giant blade he had just picked up, his eyes narrowing as he judged the situation as best as he could.
Still, with its words, the pressure on the monk's shoulder seemed to lessen slightly, allowing him to finally unclench his fists and bring his palms together in prayer.
"Namo Amitabha, Great Being!"
"No need for the greeting of the Enlightened, human... I can tell you are a monk."
The creature's voice seemed to turn strange for a moment as it spoke of the Enlightened. The Monk couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.
But at the same time, his instincts told him that he was not yet out of murky waters. Even if the oddity in front of him didn't appear violent, that could change at the flip of a coin.
"Senior, I apologize if I have offended you with my presence here... May I enquire, are we currently located within your body?"
The monk looked at the ground and the walls of the grand tree around him, which were already healing from the various cracks and cuts from the previous scuffle.
A strange lifeless smile stretched across the beast's face.
"I guess you can say that... This 'Tree' as you call it, is part of me. I usually refer to it as a branch, however..."
The monk sweated a bit when hearing the beast call the mountain-sized structure he was in a 'branch'.
'Vajra be damned... How strong can these Demonic Beasts get?!? If this is a branch then this thing's core is likely the size of a hill...'
"A-are you another Demonic King? Or, something above even that..."
"Hmph! Don't put me on the same level as that weakling, the 'Dragon of the Valley'... That's right, I can sense him on you, even if it's a faded scent..."
The Monk narrowed his eyes as the beast's tone took a more hostile tone, its soul-less eye holes glaring holes into his skull.
"What are you then? Excuse my ignorance, but I do not know enough about your kind to guess..."
The monk gulped a bit as his mind ran through a few scenarios.
He had just killed a creature that was living inside the monster he was currently talking with. Chances were high that he was going to have a price to pay for his 'insolence'.
"Your ignorance is about as appalling as your actions today... Hunting down a Demonic General is one thing, but not even kneeling before this Emperor is another..."
The Beast's true nature seemed to rise to the surface as the Monk sweated, his eyes narrowing but knees still standing straight.
'If push comes to shove... Can I escape this thing? A Demonic Emperor is likely a stage above the King...'
The answer was a big 'I don't know', but the Monk needed to be prepared for anything.
"Amitabha, to kneel to someone, it to know someone, to respect them... Just kneeling instantly to the strongest thing nearby without any respect is about as disrespectful as spitting in their face."
On one hand, the monk knew that he was playing a risky game. Further antagonising the being in front of him wasn't that great of an idea. But at the same time, he wasn't prone to acting.
He preferred to always be true to himself, under all circumstances, danger or not.
"... Interesting. Your perspective is intriguing, human... However, like all good ants, you should've learned to respect strength by now!"
The pressure the Demonic Emperor exuded immediately intensified, the walls of the great tree seemed to be closing in more and more as the Hallow narrowed and shifted.
The Monk scowled when sensing that. He would've felt fear, but another emotion was overwriting it... And that was disdain.
"Amitabha, what's with all this bullshit posturing? If you're going to kill me then try it! I've gambled with worse odds in the past..."
The monk's eyes gleamed with malice and disgust as he started at the humanoid beast. In an instant, his fist glowed with a blue aura as his veins bulged out of his hands and forearms.
The monk immediately opened up his body to the world, forming a whirlpool in his Dantian and sucking up all of the Origin Energy around him, aiming to replenish his reserves in an instant using the Demonic Emperor's own...
And it worked like a charm, the Demonic Beast immediately stopped exuding pressure on the monk when noticing that, it even moved back a few steps as it stared at the monk.
The Demonic Emperor's expression seemed to stiffen up, its expression morphing in shock as it almost couldn't believe its non-existent ear and eye holes.
"You... You're not a human..."
The beast's tone seemed to have shifted completely, no longer that of a predator playing with its food, no it was now dead serious.
The monk didn't stop there, he immediately took that opportunity to run, causing the beast to scowl as the Monk ran back to the base of the tree and jumped towards the sky.
"Hmph! That doesn't mean you can escape with your life today!"
The beast's whirling body grew out of the bark at the bottom of those roots as well, as its eyes turned towards the Monk who was already a kilometre into the sky.
In an instant, branches grew and formed a dome right above the monk, putting a stop to his ascent.
The monk immediately spun in the air and landed on the brand-new roof of that tree, his shoes slightly digging into it.
Then, he looked at the ground with a feral smile as his quads seemed to expand and flex.
"WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT RUNNING AWAY?!" The monk's voice shook the cavern as he immediately turned into a bullet his body heading directly for the Demonic Emperor's vine body.
"Courting Death!"
The beast roared, its mouth expanding as the tree around it shifted, immediately growing a nice bed of spikes covering the entire bottom of the hallow.
But the Monk didn't feel intimidated this time, he erased any fear and completely gave up on controlling his power as he descended with both feet towards those spikes.
"Vajra's Wrathful Stomp!"
The moment his shoes touched the wooden spikes, all of his Origin Energy burst downward in with sickening momentum and speed.
The Demonic Emperor scowled, but it was already too late for his spikes to pierce further.
In an instant, the entire hallow shook, and the very base of that gigantic tree collapsed.
"If this monk is to die, then I'll at least break your stupid branch, Emperor!"
The Demonic Emperor roared in rage as the gigantic forest around them shook, the 'branch' that had been housing them being blown away in all directions.
The monk's staff and praying beads also broke off from his body, being blown off alongside his backpack and the blade he had dropped.
The sheer wind pressure from the Monk's move was enough to cause an earthquake that bent the land inwards, but it seemed to not be enough to push the Emperor away...
Beast's Vine Body managed to root itself into the ground, its hollow eyes twisting with anger.
"HOW DARE YOU?! A MERE HUMAN!"
In an instant, countless vines burst forth from the cracked and ruined ground underneath the tired Monk, in an instant, they all wrapped around his body, digging thorns deep underneath his skin as he scowled from the pain.
"Amitabha... Even if you're an emperor... You still couldn't protect that branch of yours..."
The monk smiled as the thorns dug deeper and deeper into his muscles. He had already spent all of his Origin Energy, he didn't even have enough within it to form a vortex to absorb more.
"Tsk, foolish human. What did you achieve by killing yourself like this? Maybe if you had kneeled properly and begged for your life, you would have survived."
The Demonic Emperor's anger had somewhat subsided, its face twisting in disgust as it stared at the sorry state of the human in front of it.
"Hehe~ Only a fool would ask a man to kneel, and expect not to be slapped in the face..."
The monk's voice grew more and more faint, despite the wide smile that still stretched on his face.
"And only a fool would not kneel before an Emperor holding a blade to his neck... You value your pride over your own life. I've met ants like you before..." The Demonic Emperor growled, unimpressed at the Monk's resolve.
"Amitabha, I don't care... Fuck you... That's all I wanted to express through my actions today..."
The monk smiled one last time as the Demonic Emperor scowled, raising wooden spikes from the ground and skewering the tired monk alive.
Spikes went through his head, heart, lungs, legs and arms. They only retracted into the ground when his eyes finely lost their light.
The Demonic Emperor's hollow eyes stared at the monk's corpse for a few more minutes, in silence.
"Shame... He would have made a good slave... Well, this little branch makes no difference. I shall grow it elsewhere, the soil is ruined here anyway..."
The Emperor then went back into the ground, returning to its main body.
The second it left, the monk's finger twitched... His cold, dead eyes regained a smidge of light as they twisted towards the spot where it had stood previously.
'Amitabha... Demonic Emperor... You will live to regret this day.'
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Heyy, sorry for the lack of talk and writing the past 2 days, was busy, will try to make up for it and upload one more tonight btw
If you want to support me and read up to 25 chapters ahead you can find me on Patr_eon by looking up 'VeganMaster'
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