Chapter 3547: Chapter 3547: Track

At the start, everyone had anxiously counted down the time till Zen's inevitable death, but when the time came, Zen was still alive and well!

Fuxi, Eastern Emperor Taiyi and the others, who had been worried earlier, all heaved sighs of relief.

“This guy...” Fuxi shook his head in awe.

Even Eastern Emperor Taiyi was stunned. “We can't rest easy just yet. Danger still looms.”

King Ieuan muttered under its breath, “How is it possible that the maple leaves can't catch up to him? What method is he using?”

The Snake Goddess carefully studied Zen's movements. “The maple leaves in the Flaming Maple Forest do not move normally. The way these maple leaves pass through space is different from what we know; perhaps Zen moves in a similar manner...”

“Does Zen move differently from us? Why can't I figure this out?” Fuxi scratched his head.

“As creatures in the chaos, we are born with limits. It's only natural we can't comprehend,” the Snake Goddess replied wisely. “Zen's body must've changed due to obtaining that bloodline...”

While the Snake Goddess didn't know exactly how the ancestry-level bloodline worked, she figured it had a lot to do with how Zen was moving now.

After all, she observed his performance after he had reached the Eternal Realm. His bloodline's strength might have reached a degree that ordinary people could not understand.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh...

As Zen zoomed through the air, he suddenly sped up and continued to fly in circles. Then, he landed on the clearing in the forest and walked towards Hawley as though nothing had happened.

His eyes flashed fiercely with killing intent. As he spoke, his voice rang across the forest. “Is this your strongest form? Will you be able to block them?”

To the others, everything looked strange.

Zen didn't walk quickly—in fact, he resembled an old man walking slowly. Yet, he seemed to be closing the gap between him and Hawley in seconds.

When Hawley heard Zen's threat, it suddenly dawned on him why Zen had aroused all those maple leaves.

Immediately, he whipped around to retreat towards the depths of the Flaming Maple Forest at high speed, as though a venomous snake was at his heels. As he ran, he heard Zen laughing maniacally. "Do you wish to escape? I'll give you thirty seconds...

Thirty seconds!

Twenty-seven seconds!

Twenty-four seconds..."

Everyone watched as Zen slowly took steps forward, like some old man struggling to overtake fatigue.

Meanwhile, Hawley flew through the forest as fast as he could.

Despite Zen seemingly taking his time, the distance between the two of them was still rapidly closing!

“Thirty seconds... Does that guy know how the maple leaves move?”

“This is too terrifying!”

“There's no way Hawley will make it out of this alive...”

When Zen first stepped into the picture, everyone regarded him as a mere challenger. However, now, the tables had turned quickly. It was obvious Zen had some unfathomable abilities. Ꞧ𝘢ＮȰＢĘ𝓢

"Fifteen seconds!

Twelve seconds!

Nine seconds!

Six seconds..."

Previously, when the crowd saw the maple leaves fluttering, they didn't understand how the maple leaves moved. It just looked like sometimes they flew fast, and other times they flew quite slowly.

Now that Zen took his time with every stride, everyone could see the scene clearly.

While it seemed he was moving slowly at the original speed, the span of each step changed.

A one-foot-long space became one inch in front of Zen, whereas a distance of ten feet became just one foot!

In the last three seconds, any place in the world was just a step away to Zen!

Even though Hawley was by no means slow, Zen's ability to cross distances made Hawley look like a turtle.

In one more stride, Zen had caught up to Hawley. Lightly tapping his shoulder, Zen smiled and said, “You still have... thirty seconds left.”

Then Zen abruptly turned around and headed towards Fuxi and the Snake Goddess.

The flying maple leaves in the sky had originally circled according to Zen's moving track, but now they changed their direction and rushed towards Hawley like bees.

The first thirty seconds was the time it took for Zen to catch up to Hawley.

Now, the next thirty seconds was the time it would take for the maple leaves to catch up to him.

Previously, Hawley held on to the hope that he would be able to escape. However, as he saw the maple leaves swarming towards him, he stopped running.

“I only have thirty seconds to live,” Hawley muttered as he resigned himself to his fate.

He had once said that if he offended the Flaming Maple Forest and attracted the attack of the maple leaves, he would not even attempt to run away, since he knew it'd all be in vain. In the end, he decided to face his fate.

"Eighteen seconds...

Fifteen seconds!

Twelve seconds!

Nine seconds!

Six seconds!

Three seconds!"

Zen was quite far away from Fuxi. Again, he walked slowly, but it only took him thirty seconds to close the distance.

Finally, he stood next to Fuxi and the Snake Goddess to watch what would become of Hawley.

Just then, the maple leaves reached Hawley.

One by one, they each began to explode.

Hawley gritted his teeth as he willed his physical body to reach its peak in a last effort to survive.

A maple leaf explosion could cause any ordinary person to explode in a cloud of flesh and blood, but for Hawley, it only left marks on his skin.

However, there were just too many maple leaves!

Zen had just built a space channel and ran around, almost activating one-third of the maple leaves in the Flaming Maple Forest.

No one had been able to infuriate the Flaming Maple Forest to such an extent before, because from the moment one activated the first maple leaf, they usually had only thirty seconds to escape. However, Zen just ignored this.

In fact, if he wanted to, he could activate all the maple leaves in the Flaming Maple Forest!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...

Soon, Hawley was completely enveloped in light caused by the exploding maple leaves.

The sound of explosions echoed throughout the forest.

After more than thirty seconds, the explosions suddenly stopped!

When the light faded, everyone glued their eyes to the spot where Hawley had been just now. However, to their surprise, there was nothing left, except a blackened patch of earth and a huge hole caused by the explosions.

Hawley's physical body was completely obliterated by the maple leaves.

This was a common occurrence in the Flaming Maple Forest, but many people were still left stunned.

A few maple leaves were still whirling around in the air. Since their target had already perished, they circled a few more times, and one by one, exploded into flashes of light.

Then, a hush fell over the Flaming Maple Forest.

The members of the Misty River race stared at the blackened earth where Hawley had stood just moments ago. They were still unwilling to believe that Hawley, their strongest warrior, had died.

As the leader of the Misty River race, Wheeler was livid.

Although Hawley wasn't the only strong member of the Misty River race, Wheeler had still relied on him to gain a firm foothold in the Flaming Maple Forest.

Now, with Hawley gone, this was a huge setback.

If the Nihility race and the Element Spirit Civilization wanted to defeat Wheeler in the Flaming Maple Forest, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to do that. This meant that the status of the Misty River race was in great peril, and that they were in danger of being annihilated because of what they had done over the years.

A piercing coldness crept throughout Wheeler's body, as though he had been stabbed with a blade of ice. Overcome with anger, he was frozen to his spot.

“Zen, how did you make it? That...” Even Fuxi was at a loss for words.

The Snake Goddess stared intently at Zen and asked, “Is it your bloodline that gave you this ability?”

Zen nodded. “I can sense another path which is very unique. It's a different space, so it's different from the space theurgy we comprehend.”

As he spoke, he reached out his hand towards a Flaming Maple Tree in the distance.