Chapter 1564: The Most Relentless Godly Nature, A Pillar Opening the Heaven Claiming the Throne

"Shen Yi has arrived!"A faint voice echoed from an unknown direction.

Everyone's heart settled, like a massive stone finding its rightful resting place.

Following their gaze, the dimly lit, embryonic form of the Divine Court began to emerge from the mists, and the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree appeared before them.

It was entirely black, towering to the heavens. Its roots resembled hair, its crown a face, and its trunk a human form, gracefully curvaceous and brimming with maternal essence.

Six of its stoutest branches, extending from its midsection, looked like six slender, articulated hands covering its crown and human-like face, giving it an air of shy modesty, like a woman holding a Pipa instrument partially concealing her face.

"Hiss..."A low hiss spread from the ground, chilling them from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads, raising goosebumps.

At that moment, everyone heard a gentle summons:"Come, my children...Come closer, a little closer..."

Cen Qiaofu shivered, then his expression softened, as if he had plunged into a world of ultimate tranquility and bliss. His feet instinctively took a step forward.

Not just him, but Bai Zhou, the Water Ghost, and the late-arriving Half-Saint Chang Yi, who had been lagging behind, all wore enchanted expressions and took a step forward together.

"So beautiful," Chang Yi murmured, gazing at the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree.His usually rugged face now held the tender affection of a wanderer returning home, seeing his first love beneath an autumn sycamore tree.

Suddenly, the white moonlight seemed to come alive.Its gaze fell upon them, and a maternal benevolence appeared on its face. It gently rubbed its belly and exhaled a breath from afar:"Whoosh!"

In that instant!Cen Qiaofu, the Water Ghost, Bai Zhou, Chang Yi, and the others all shuddered. Their bellies visibly bloated at an alarming rate.Even their chests and foreheads quickly swelled, as if forcibly carrying multiple fetuses.

"Wah..."Faintly, the cries of infants could be heard from within.

"Startled, Passive Point +1."Xu Xiaoshou, who had just reverted from his Extreme Giant form, was dumbfounded by the sight.

What an insane scene!Four Half-Saint level powerhouses, giggling foolishly at a tree in this dark space, then simultaneously getting pregnant while stroking their bellies?If this were captured by a photographic orb and released onto the Saint God Continent, people wouldn't question the content of the image first; they'd question the sanity of the person who took it.Are they insane?Why are they doing this?!But this was reality; everything was unfolding before his very eyes!

"Clatter."Yue Gongli, who had also just fallen from the hands of the Baleful Yin Evil God, was equally shocked. She turned and met Xu Xiaoshou's gaze.

Both of them realized simultaneously that the battle should have ended the moment they first saw the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree and heard its call.However, they both possessed resistance and could withstand the guiding power of the Saint Emperor.Those who couldn't resist, like the four before them, were now uncontrollably stepping forward with bulging bellies, moving towards the embrace of the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree...

Not just four!Xu Xiaoshou and Yue Gongli suddenly glanced at the bald man leading the group, holding a staff.Shen Yi!Even Shen Yi was stroking his bulging belly!His gaze was more affectionate than all four behind him combined.His expression wasn't merely gentle; it was intoxicated, absorbed, completely immersed!

"Xiang'er..."As this low, deeply affectionate call escaped his lips, Xu Xiaoshou and Yue Gongli's composure utterly shattered.

"It can't be like this, right?""He couldn't resist it either?""Are the Ten Honored Ones all outwardly strong but inwardly hollow?""No, I can understand Anxiety Brother, but how could Shen Yi..."

The Holy Infant-Birthing Tree seemed excited.Hidden beneath its flowing black gown-like exterior were countless intertwined branches and roots, stirring restlessly, poised to strike.

"Come, children..."Its benevolent voice cleansed their souls, like a saintess gently caressing a body, soft hands gliding inch by inch over skin.

Xu Xiaoshou's skin prickled with goosebumps. He was about to shout and wake everyone up.However, the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's last call seemed to have the opposite effect.

Shen Yi's eyelids lowered. The deep affection vanished from his face, replaced by calm. At the same time, his palm pressed down, and his belly instantly deflated as if air had leaked out.When he looked up again, he slightly raised the long staff in his right hand and slammed it down fiercely."Boom!"The might of the Overlord Staff crushed everything in its path.

The four figures behind him were just about to pass Shen Yi when their bellies burst, causing them to simultaneously miscarry!"What the...""What was that?""I was pregnant?""Huh?"Cen Qiaofu, the Water Ghost, Bai Zhou, and Chang Yi all stopped in their tracks.

When the image of their recent possession flashed through their minds, their faces paled.This was not something a Half-Saint could fight!With the Evil Tree's presence, destroying a Saint was like crushing an ant, regardless of whether you were a Ghost Beast of the Grand Void or an Arcane Half-Saint!

"Retreat!"Cen Qiaofu gripped his Immortal Coiling Axe and roared.But just as he moved, the Water Ghost, looking at Shen Yi, placed a hand on his back. Despite his abdomen gushing blood, he merely shook his head slightly at Cen Qiaofu's questioning gaze.

The elder hadn't personally experienced the War of the Ten Honored Ones, after all.The Water Ghost was different; he was from the same generation and knew this generation's depths well.Any of the Ten Honored Ones could retreat.But for the man before them, the word "retreat" simply wasn't in his vocabulary.No matter how strong the opponent, what tricky schemes they employed, or what difficult traps they set.He would only retreat if he died, or if the very ground beneath him advanced.

"Hiss."The Overlord Staff was pulled from the black earth, flipping twice in his hand, cutting through the air with a swishing sound before settling horizontally before him.Shen Yi raised his head and looked forward, stating with a slight air of solemnity:"Thank you for letting me relive the awkwardness of being eighteen.""I'll only say this once..."His face turned stern as he spoke softly to the monstrous evil tree, which was millions of times larger than a human:"Step back now, and nothing will happen."

Chang Yi gasped, taking half a step back first, ready to flee at any moment.He knew this bald man was powerful, capable of instantly killing him with a single strike—he was practically the pinnacle of human combat strength.But even a ceiling depended on which floor it belonged to!Instantly killing a Half-Saint was one thing.The evil tree before them could control him with a single word, control the other extraordinary individuals around them, and even caused Shen Yi himself to waver for a moment.What was this?This was the guiding power of a Saint Emperor!This indicated that it was at least a low-tier Saint Emperor, and given the extent of its bizarre abilities, it could likely devour people whole without leaving a trace!Was Shen Yi's tone suggesting he wanted to instantly kill the opponent too?

"How arrogant!"Even Xu Xiaoshou felt that Shen Yi was overconfident this time.He had seen Shen Yi's ethereal form in action, and even witnessed him attack Saint Mountain, where a single punch could almost directly shatter the Saint Mountain formation.But the result was...Dao Qiongcang had defended against it!While the Ten Honored Ones were indeed the Ten Honored Ones, their current compositions were too complex. One need only remember how absurdly susceptible Kong Yuhen was to coffin-sickness...When discussing heroes under the Dragon Apricot Tree, Li Fugui had also mentioned that Shen Yi's state was not perfect.Firstly, he was self-confined to the crossroads of the City of the Dead Pagoda.Secondly, as long as his "limiter," Aunt Xiang, was alive, he would always have a weakness...

His thoughts abruptly halted there.Xu Xiaoshou suddenly stared, entranced, at the long staff in Shen Yi's hand.He had never seen it before, but he recognized it from Li Fugui's descriptions and images:"One of the Nine Supreme Divine Artifacts, the Overlord Staff!"That's right!The Overlord Staff was out.Shen Yi was no longer an ethereal projection; this was his true body.This place was also not the crossroads, with its limiting rules, but a Divine Ruin, an embryonic Divine Court—bizarre, yes, but without limits on power.Aunt Xiang?That limiter wasn't even here now!Even if she were, would the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree, even if it could think and understand the stakes, know how to use Aunt Xiang to restrain Shen Yi?The one standing before them now was no imperfect version of the Ten Honored Ones!He was the young and audacious Ba Zun'an, the cross-legged, closed-eyed Kui Leihan, the shirtless Dao Palace Lord, the one outside the City of the Pagoda...

"Shen Yi, Heavenly Unsealed?"Hiss!!!A piercing shriek interrupted his thoughts.

Seeing its guidance broken and threatened by a mere human, the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree instantly tore through its disguise, revealing its ferocious and evil nature.Even if reason told it that this puny human seemed formidable,Was the Ancestral Tree easy to provoke?Was the Saint Emperor's power, empowered by the nascent Divine Court, easy to provoke?Was the Void Giant Lord easy to provoke? The Baleful Yin Evil God? The Extreme Giant? Hadn't they all fallen before it!

"Children! Children!""My children..."The Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's fervent call became utterly insane, "Come and die!"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!Overwhelming branches, infused with the power of the Heavenly Ancestor and the Evil God, radiated strange, eerie light as they shot forth from the Ancestral Tree's main trunk!

The force of the impact was immense.Even the Water Ghost and Bai Zhou, who knew Shen Yi's reputation, couldn't help but lift their feet slightly, poised to run."You're not running?" Chang Yi's face turned green.If you don't run and I do, won't I look like the weakest?But not running... are they all crazy?Just standing there, doing nothing to defend or retreat, letting this big bald man take it alone?Could he even withstand it?!

"Whoosh."Everyone leaned back.Shen Yi, however, soared forward, staff in hand.Facing the endless Ancestral Tree branches, infused with dual Ancestral Source power, he merely activated the various acupoints on his body in succession as he flew.

"Rest! Life! Wound! Block! View! Death! Shock! Open!"Xu Xiaoshou held his breath, recognizing the Eight Gates of Ancient Martial Arts. Shen Yi's ethereal form had activated them before, but never with such dazzling brilliance as his true body now.

Following the Eight Gates, the Seven Lodges opened:"Alkaid! Mizar! Alioth! Megrez! Phecda! Dubhe! Merak!"In an instant, it became as bright as day.

Yet, with a mortal body, challenging the towering Ancestral Tree and confronting the Ancestral Source power, merely by activating these Eight Gates and Seven Lodges, Shen Yi's aura was not inferior in the slightest; it even surpassed it!

"Horizontal Sweep."The Overlord Staff spun from his left hip to above his head, then settled in his palm, sweeping from right to left through the air.It was simple and unadorned.Devoid of any flashy movements.

"Wham!"It struck about a dozen of the Ancestral Tree's branches, making them pause slightly, stopping them all before him.However, it only halted the momentum of the branches infused with Ancestral Source power.A single strike from the Overlord Staff once shattered a Half-Saint.Now, it couldn't even repel a mere dozen branches!

Chang Yi's face immediately fell. He wanted to retreat but couldn't, so he yelled:"Run! It's Ancestral Source power! How can we fight this?""Even our Alliance Leader couldn't handle this!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!At that moment, the heavens and earth began to stir with wind.A colossal staff shadow arced across the sky, "piercing" through the ocean of branches before them from right to left.The tips of the Ancestral Tree branches directly in front of Shen Yi remained unaffected, but their middle and lower sections instantly shattered simultaneously.

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!..."The sound of shattering was incessant.It was as if the heavens were raining trees, and countless branches fell to the ground.And the tips of the branches that had been infused with Ancestral Source power, now severed from their roots, became like rootless duckweed, falling in response.

"How is this possible?" Chang Yi's eyes widened as he exclaimed, feeling like a startled clown.No one responded.But at this moment, even Chang Yi himself understood.The sheer quantity of Ancestral Tree branches was immense, but the Ancestral Source power was limited and couldn't cover them all.As long as Shen Yi's attack severed them at their base, he could achieve a wondrous, fundamental strike.

"But this is too..." Chang Yi stammered.Cen Qiaofu, watching the branches instantly sever at their roots, also fell silent, his mind filled with a surge of emotion:"This is absolutely insane!"He had been chopping the tree for half a day, barely managing to sever one branch with an axe.And that was with the added power of the Blood Tree's Yin Branch and the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree not focusing on him.Yet now, Shen Yi faced the enraged Ancestral Tree, its Ancestral Source power, and countless branches.This single staff strike was sharper than any axe, saber, or sword.It utterly shredded them! Swept them away! Interpreting the meaning of "Overlord Staff" to its absolute extreme!

The Holy Infant-Birthing Tree was stunned by the strike.It took a moment to recover and realize what had happened.This human had severed most of its limbs?A shrill scream was barely uttered.Shen Yi's figure, however, had vanished from his original spot.

Immediately, Chang Yi's pupils trembled. He knew this!Once, he had personally experienced the unreasonable speed of this man, and his relentless, wave-like onslaught of attacks.At that time, he had only endured one wave before being shattered.

"Mountain Cleave."The human figure appeared on the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's massive, sky-like and earth-like tree-crown face.Everyone was still processing.With a mighty downward chop, the Overlord Staff descended from top to bottom.

"Boom!"A deafening roar echoed through the Divine Court.The Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's roots, some severed, some still connected, all rippled outwards.Its crown caved in.Its trunk shrank.Its six tentacle-like branches that had covered its face pressed outwards to the left and right.

As another colossal staff shadow, with the force to cleave a sacred mountain, pierced downward through the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's main body,Everyone seemed to witness a bizarre phenomenon:The Ancestral Holy Infant-Birthing Tree, under stress, splitting into two halves?

"Screech—"The reality was not that severe.But with this single strike, the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree gushed forth life essence, imbued with the power of an Evil God, like a burst cockroach, spraying in all directions.

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!!"It cried out in pain.Its six thickest branch-arms pushed up from its face, forcefully pushing away the Overlord Staff and sending Shen Yi flying.

A human-like face, devoid of features, was revealed on its crown, yet it was filled with fury, rage, pain, and an expression of impending destruction.

"Whoosh!"Its tree-hands moved upwards.While repelling the Overlord Staff, they seized Shen Yi, who was moving with the staff.With one successful grab, the other five massive tree-hands swiftly moved to cling on."Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"In an instant, Shen Yi, in his human form, was firmly caught by six colossal tree-hands, ensnared and suspended in mid-air.

The people below looked up, horror surging in their eyes.Even though they weren't the ones being grabbed, everyone felt as if they were there, already struggling to breathe.

"Buzz... buzz... buzz..."The destructive ripples of Ancestral Source power intermingled, like an ultra-compressed source seed about to detonate.The six massive tree-hands savagely pressed inward, as if crushing a bean, instantly squeezing Shen Yi and the Overlord Staff within them into oblivion.

"Boom!"A colossal roar erupted from the void.Everyone below simultaneously grimaced, a phantom pain striking their hearts.Yet the light was white! And it descended from the heavens!

As the explosion echoed, the Ancestral Tree cried out in pain once more.The six massive tree-hands that had enveloped Shen Yi were flung open by an immense divine light, from which an incredibly large bald head emerged, breaking through the shell.As his body extended, appearing from the blinding light, a deep, resonant hum, seemingly vibrating with the heavens and earth, rose with the light:"Heavenly Dao!""I, as vast as the heavens!"

His once-tiny form burst forth, filling the heavens and earth.Shen Yi, who had only been in human form, grew larger than the Holy Infant-Birthing Tree after the white light dissipated.The Overlord Staff in his hand also magnified to an equivalent size... In their current view, how could it possibly appear "simple and unadorned"?This was clearly a god grasping a celestial pillar!

As the Celestial Pillar Overlord Staff tilted, Shen Yi leaned with it."Horizontal Sweep."The same attack, the same move.The Ancestral Tree's six massive hands were flung away by the Heavenly Dao Shen Yi, leaving it wide open.As the Celestial Pillar Overlord Staff swept across, the dark world of the Divine Court was split by white light, like chaos being divided, and for a moment, heaven and earth became distinct.

"Crack!"The Divine Court cracked."Bang!"The Divine Court shattered.The Ancestral Holy Infant-Birthing Tree couldn't even let out a scream, snapped in half at the waist.Its crown and the part of its trunk rooted in the earth were simultaneously sent flying by the immense force, soaring from the Dark Divine Court to the Dark Forest, and from the Dark Forest towards the northern lands of the Divine Ruins.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!..."The colossal tree tore through mountains, passing over the bewildered Grand Void and Half-Saints, like a celestial phenomenon or a treasure descending from the heavens, enticing countless individuals to pursue it.

But before they could pursue, a white light illuminated in the distance, and only then did the Divine Ruins truly witness a divine descent."What is this...""What is that thing?!"Countless people from all directions looked up.

They saw a gigantic bald divine statue emerge from thin air between heaven and earth.Its head touched the sky, its feet propped up the ground. Its face was filled with compassion, yet its eyes held a fierce glint. Its entire body was enveloped in boundless, scorching aura, every knot of muscle demonstrating explosive power.

In its hand, it held a celestial pillar, swung it halfway across its chest, then brought it down with immense force."Rumble!"In that instant, the entire Divine Ruins trembled as if struck by an earthquake.

The Holy Infant-Birthing Tree's crown and roots, which had been flung far away, were pulled by immense gravity, plummeting straight down into the earth.Sounds of helplessness, terror, and desperate wails echoed from all corners of the ruins.

But before it could struggle or resist,"Die."The divine giant's eyes opened, killing intent rampant. It leaped from the high heavens, celestial pillar in hand, ready to deliver another powerful downward strike.

"What *is* that?!"Countless people stared in awe, dumbfounded. As they watched the divine giant and celestial pillar leap overhead, they vaguely realized something...That was not a god; that was a person!And that "celestial pillar," gilded and blazing, with the power to shatter the sky, was not a celestial pillar; it was...The Overlord Staff!The Overlord Staff's Shen Yi!