Chapter 604: Chapter 604. Liu Shu's Influence On Others.
To say that everything froze was an understatement. The sight of a mountain crumbling down under the strength and weight of a tree root was nothing but nightmares and beyond anything they could've ever imagined previously. Even the heroes in their stories were unable to do an absurd thing like that. Even their storytellers took it as something ridiculous and impossible.
With an action, there was a reaction. The strength of a mountain being destroyed meant that its rocks would fly into the sky, raining down like meteorites all around. Of course, Liu Shu would not allow for casualties, so each time she felt a large fragment reaching certain heights from the surface, she would lash it into tiny rubble that would drizzle down harmlessly.
After a few minutes spent making sure there were no casualties, Liu Shu lowered her roots, and everything returned to its previous calm, with echoes of the destruction occasionally bouncing around.
'Hm… It's quite silent.'
Glancing at the army, she noticed that everyone was on the ground, trembling as if their bones had become liquid. No one dared speak, no one dared to move, and no one could process what they had just observed calmly.
'... I guess this result is not much different from just speaking up. Everyone is either going to pee themselves in fear, run away screaming, or worship me like some kind of divine creature.'
There were some brave ones among the group, and Liu Shu could soon hear them screaming to the others to stand up.
"Don't stay on the ground!"
"We are thousands! What can they do!"
"We will defeat even the gods if that's what it takes!"
Confusion flashed in Liu Shu's mind, but when she looked over, she understood. The eyes of these people were not filled with bravery; they were empty, and their pupils were dilated. 'They are going insane…'
Looking back in Ceperet, Liu Shu pouted to Flor. "It didn't work! Some of them have gone insane!"
Flor blinked, caressing the root in her arms. "Hm? What did you do?"
Liu Shu blurted innocently. "Flatten a mountain."
Flor's lips spasmed, her eyebrows twitching with them. "T-That's too much, love. I wanted you to show them that they can't hurt you, not that you can delete them with the effort needed for an afterthought."
"Oh." Liu Shu complained, stuttering a bit. "N-Next time, be more specific! Hmph! Anyway, I'll speak to them."
Flor opened her mouth, but after hesitating, she just closed it. '...Whatever. It's not my problem. Good luck, love.'
Back in Nualis, Liu Shu finally brought herself to speak. She spoke as softly as she could, trying not to sound menacing. "Just… stop. I don't want to have enmity with any of you."
Liu Shu hummed. 'Great! That sounded really pretty in my mind!'
Of course, that was hardly the case. When Liu Shu's "Just" spread out, the voice that swallowed the world's sounds was so prominent and pierced so deeply that even their hearts were trembling.
Liu Shu's voice was not a weapon that could damage low-level people who were unprepared. Otherwise, each time Liu Shu made a world announcement back in Ceperet, thousands, if not millions, would've gone crazy or straight up died.
The problem was that, for first-time listeners who had never had contact with a World Tree, Liu Shu's voice was too overwhelming and invasive. To speak, Liu Shu didn't make the air vibrate; she moved Ternary Essences with special organs.
A voice that used the very essence of everything as its medium was naturally different when perceived than straight-up voices or sounds.
Lunavi's body quivered when Liu Shu spoke, her body falling down as she knelt in pure reverence and awe. Not only her, but also of the 50,000 people, more than half did the same. The others had mixed reactions, ranging from stunned silence to terrified screaming.
Hearing the cacophony of people freaking out, our World Tree felt like leaving Nualis. 'Should I come back when they are stronger? But… Won't I be stronger as well by then? Ugh.'
Eventually, she glanced at Vyrella, bringing her natural pressure with her gaze. "Vyrella, right? I can tell from your <System Page> that you are from a race with quite a tight relationship to <Destiny> and entering into contact with it. While your race is still in the early stages, as most of your skills range from E to C Tier, I can see great potential within you."
Vyrella wanted to keep her proud demeanor, but her body was not listening. Unable to even stand up, she flopped on the ground, her tail digging into the muddy terrain behind her as she quivered.
Ignoring the woman, Liu Shu stretched one root toward her, intending to pat her and calm her down.
Seeing the same blue-streaked root that destroyed the mountain approaching, Vyrella's throat gurgled strangely as she crawled back unsightly. "I-I don't want to die! Forgive me! Forgive me! I was too arrogant! I was not thinking straight!"
Her pride and ego broken into pieces, the only thing she could do was beg for her life.
"I am not here to harm you. Trust me for a moment, alright? You've seen my strength. Would I need tricks to do something to you if I really wanted to?"
Vyrella stopped moving, her body tensing as the blue-streaked root approached and reached out. Fearful, she closed her eyes, expecting some kind of pain. Instead, her glossy black skin came into soft contact with a wood-like material that was quite nice to the touch.
Liu Shu continued softly. "Good. See? I am not hurting you, right?"
Vyrella opened her eyes, looking up with moist eyes that looked as if they were crying. Still, as the root slid around her slick and slimy skin, her body softened, and uncontrollable tears streaked down her face. The complex feelings swirling inside her made her brain not know what to do other than cry.
Feeling that she might've gone a bit overboard, Liu Shu extended a few extra roots to calm the people who were in the worst mental shape. "Alright, alright. Sorry for scaring all of you. This was not my intention, alright? I just didn't know how to communicate with all of you without scaring you so much that you would start acting strangely."
Lunavi, who had previously managed to make contact and even come to understand Liu Shu's nature to an extent, spoke like a timid child. "L-Lord of the Divine Beast Forest, will you punish us?"
"I won't."
Liu Shu was understanding. Would she feel angered by Tornak trying to burn her? Why would she? Tornak was nothing but a child playing with matches in her eyes.
Age mattered not, as Liu Shu's experiences allowed her to distinguish between mortal enemies and confused enemies. Moreover, there was nothing in line that could be threatened by forgiving these people.
If, because she had been attacked, Liu Shu decided to massacre these people, she would truly lose herself. "You all came to conquer the Divine Beast Forest, trying to create a mark in history through your own hands. While the attitudes weren't the best, and probably the intentions were selfish, you hurt no one. Only, you all have to check your survival instincts, yeah? Who would continue to attack a being that receives zero damage and is clearly stronger?"
Gradually, they got accustomed to Liu Shu's profound but gentle and soothing voice. Everyone listened, a sensation of being surrounded in a gentle embrace enveloping them. Finding his voice, Tornak spoke stutteringly. "L-Lord of the Divine Beast Forest. I apologize for my previous transgressions."
What pride? What arrogance?
After witnessing a mountain being flattened in front of them, everything was nothing but air they couldn't grasp or use.
"Yes, yes." Liu Shu chuckled, her laugh creating warm wind gusts around them. "Everyone is forgiven. Now, I want to talk with all of you. Is that possible? Also, don't call me Lord or whatever. Using the nickname Lady Heavenly Willow is more than enough for now."
Usually, she would've told them to call her Liu Shu, but she knew that there must be some level of politeness if they later wanted to join Ceperet. If these people arrived back in Cepret while calling her Liu Shu this and Liu Shu that, the citizens might pick up their wood axes and start hacking at them.
A wry smile appeared on Liu Shu's real lips for a second before disappearing.
"Lady Heavenly Willow," Lunavi started. "What kind of being are you?"
Liu Shu answered lightly, her subconscious helping the army people stand up one by one. "I am a World Tree. One that has reached a high level."
At least for Nualis, her words remained more than truthful.
"I've been dormant for a long time, so I am unaware of what happened outside of the Divine Beast Forest. I would like to know about it and get up to date."
Those words made the five leaders look at each other and slowly recover their wits. The shock was intense, but after the surge of fight-or-flight hormones, tiredness quickly replaced it. It felt as if someone had sapped their energy, making them feel sluggish.
Sitting down on the muddy terrain without any care in the world, Liu Shu finally began getting her answers. Lunavi took charge of the conversation, the others respecting Lunavi's vision. Lunavi, at the end of the day, understood and detected the nature of the small root before all hell broke loose. She even tried to warn them.
Lunavi tried to ask what Liu Shu last remembered, but knowing absolutely nothing, Liu Shu asked Lunavi to explain the latest world developments.
"Well, the most important event in the last years is probably the Amphibian War. All amphibious races gathered together, fighting off the land and aquatic creatures. Using their advantage of being able to traverse through water and land, the war ended with the victory for the amphibious races."
"I see…" Liu Shu felt that integrating Nualis would be a pain in the roots.
'These creatures have the notion of non-amphibian races being straight up inferior. So, if I were to add them into Ceperet, they would either break the law all the time or cause trouble trying to live with others.'
She knew very well, being the lord of a highly varied society, just how bad a creature's instincts took over when facing those who were too different from themselves. It was not intentional; on the contrary, Liu Shu understood why it happened, as nature's evolution couldn't just be undone.
Yet, that was precisely why Liu Shu knew that just a few decades would probably not be enough for Nualis and Ceperet to join hands. 'I will need to create a channel between the worlds, start trade, and use a few generations of education in younger generations to override the most basic instincts…'
She groaned, knowing that the work waiting ahead of her would be full of twists and turns. 'I just hope that not many groups I'll have to kill spring out… I don't know how other World Trees can govern several solar systems without their roots tangling.'
Keeping the world peaceful and a single whole was not easy! On the contrary, it needed quite a few sacrifices and cruel decisions.
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