"Are you of the Feather Kingdom's royal lineage?"

A hexagram array appeared beneath Arthur's feet, his form blurred, twisting like smoke to evade Ye Qingzhou's Sword Qi assault.

"I am your father."

While striking with his sword, Ye Qingzhou also taunted with words, aiming to provoke the opponent and create the opening he desired.

But Arthur, having been through countless battles, remained unfazed by Ye Qingzhou's mockery, maintaining absolute composure and fixing him with a gaze full of killing intent.

"Remnant of the Feather Kingdom, once I capture you, I shall convert you into a new combat angel through the Rebirth Pool. You will become one of my finest collections."

In ancient times, the Emperor Slayer had led his forces to annihilate Feather civilization, establishing the Eden Sanctuary upon a land drenched in blood and bones of countless Feather People, planting the Life Divine Tree Kabbalah, representing life, and the Wisdom Divine Tree Cervantes.

Simultaneously, millions of Feather People were refined into combat puppets named angels, condemned to eternal slavery.

Even in death, there is no release.

For the Rebirth Pool preserved their genetic bloodline, reviving those slain in battle to continue serving as the Emperor Slayer's henchmen.

"Soon, you will meet the same fate."

Arthur grinned savagely, his eyes cruel and bloodthirsty: "A martial talent like you, your flesh must be quite delicious, especially the heart and liver. I can hardly wait to savor it."

As he spoke, he showed Ye Qingzhou a drooling expression.

Ye Qingzhou could see that the person before him genuinely lusted after his body.

"As rumored, Divine Blood Saint Descendants enjoy eating humans. Monsters like you truly stir my desire to kill."

Heaven Killing Intent!

Stars shift!

Driven by a murderous urge, Ye Qingzhou's chilling Sword Qi transformed into a meteor storm, raining down on Arthur.

Arthur, locked by Divine Thought, could no longer evade.

"My lord, bless me!"

Boom~

A massive influx of Plague Divine Power poured into him, causing Arthur's Life Energy Level to surge, reaching the Heaven-Ascending Ninth Layer and stopping just short of the peak realm of Martial Saint, one step away from Martial God.

At this point, his human form was barely recognizable, his flesh warped and mutated by the plague's power into a complete monster.

He grew three heads, six arms, his eyes became compound eyes like a honeycomb, bone spurs pierced through his skin, turning into sharp spikes.

A strong lizard tail grew from his atrophied tailbone, covered in thick scales like armor, and his raised dorsal fin was sharper than a blade.

Rumble~

The Sword Qi bombardment triggered a series of explosions.

Amidst the splattering flesh and shattered bones, Arthur strode with heavy steps towards Ye Qingzhou, his face twisted with rage, each step closing his wounds rapidly, his writhing flesh repairing every injury.

In a blink, Arthur stood before Ye Qingzhou once more, opening his reeking, plague-oozing maw.

Roar~

"Flesh mutation, Divine Abomination form?"

Ye Qingzhou dodged the spatters, looking at Arthur with a now cautious expression.

The opponent's form gave him an ominous premonition: "The terrible power that once destroyed the Divine Hall, could it really be related to the Emperor Slayer?"

The essence of plague is a harmful mutation.

And this mutation doesn't only happen to the body; even the mind of a life form can be infected and corrupted by Plague Divine Power, turning them into a crazy, killing machine with no ideals, only chaos and madness.

Once, the Divine Hall of Europe suffered such a disaster, leading to its downfall and the Celestial Empress Hera's successful takeover.

Now, Ye Qingzhou faces the same threat.

"I will crush you piece by piece, drain your blood, and savor your pain."

Arthur babbled insanely, his bloodthirsty nature no longer repressed; if this monster once had human skin, now he has shed all pretense, becoming a thoroughly bloodthirsty beast.

Boom~

Arthur's left foot suddenly stomped on the floor, causing the interior of the Divine Tree to shake violently.

Ye Qingzhou hadn't even stabilized his footing when a fist the size of a millstone was already smashing towards his face, a strike exceeding forty times the speed of sound, with the fist rubbing against the air and igniting fierce flames.

This terrifying kinetic impact was no different from being hit head-on by a small meteorite; even the Undying Golden Body couldn't withstand such an attack.

Clang~

Ye Qingzhou was blasted away by the punch.

Crack~

The violent impact caused fracturing sounds to emanate from the spatial barrier inside the Divine Tree.

Shaking his head, Ye Qingzhou stood up from the ground unscathed, his body unharmed, as a suit of black as ink armor slowly emerged, materializing to cover his entire body.

"Luckily, I'm wearing the Black Emperor Armor, otherwise that punch would have been enough to knock me out."

Ye Qingzhou was secretly alarmed at this moment; the opponent's strength was beyond imagination. If it weren't for the protection of the Black Emperor Armor, that strike just now would have severely injured him.

"You almost managed to hurt me."

"Die!"

Arthur, caught in a frenzy, lost his prior calmness and cunning, using his rational mind to exchange for the Plague Knight's unparalleled strength.

Ye Qingzhou merely provoked him a little, and he launched a series of fierce attacks.

"Third Gear!"

Ye Qingzhou also activated Burst Burning Mode, unleashing five swords in unison to engage Arthur head-on.

The battle between the two grew increasingly intense, forty times the speed of sound, then forty-one times... with constant escalation, it soon broke through to fifty times the speed of sound!

Boom boom boom~

The two figures moved so fast they were almost invisible, engaging in fierce combat within the labyrinth-like space of the Divine Tree, causing havoc akin to a hurricane and creating catastrophic damage.

After a hundred moves, Arthur's body finally couldn't hold up anymore, with cells continuously disintegrating, first dissolving his internal organs, and then the muscles of his limbs. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Soon, the flesh on his body incessantly fell off, revealing a ghastly white skeleton.

"Impossible!"

"I have the protection of the gods, how could I be defeated by the hands of a mortal!?"

Unwilling to accept failure, Arthur howled in rage, his hatred cutting to the bone.

Ye Qingzhou, however, was not surprised at all: "Your foundation is insufficient, forcing you to borrow divine power; if you could win quickly, that would be fine, but once you fall into a hard fight, it wears down your own lifespan. Isn't failure inevitable?"

The combination of the Undying Golden Body and the Heaven and Earth Furnace allowed Ye Qingzhou to leverage force infinitely, with such a solid foundation, he's naturally not afraid of attrition battles with his opponent.

Thus it can be seen how important the foundation of Martial Dao is.

Without a sufficient foundation, so-called strength is just a castle in the air. The higher you jump, the harder you fall, eventually shattering to pieces, with no place to be buried.

Take Arthur, for example, his body completely turned to a pool of pus, and the bones left behind after death also fractured, breaking into a pile of debris.

Having dealt with the obstruction, Ye Qingzhou finally reached the core area of the tree.

Countless vine-like blood vessels gathered here from every corner of the Divine Tree, just to extract nutrients and incubate a body capable of carrying the Plague Knight's projection.

At this moment, half of the Plague Knight's body had already struggled out from a tumor-like tree seed, and with a forceful tug, he pulled out his right arm.

In the palm of his hand was a strange sword hilt.

The sword's blade was particularly unique, with two intertwined serpents, resembling the DNA sequence of a creature from Blue Star.

Zhuang Ban City, controlled and parasitized by the Plague Knight, raised his head and looked at Ye Qingzhou: "Huh? According to the Net of All Causes setup, no one should have been able to intrude upon this place at this time."

Simultaneously, his gaze fell upon Ye Qingzhou's wrist: "And you, insidious little thing, don't casually poison someone else's home; it's very impolite."

"Oh dear, master, I've been discovered."

Yingyue giggled, transforming from a bracelet into a human form, while continuing to administer poisons.

Before entering, Ye Qingzhou had already instructed her to secretly release toxins targeting plague cells to fight poison with poison, in hopes of breaking the life cycle system of the Life Divine Tree.

Judging from the opponent's reaction, it seemed to be working.

If it works, then don't stop!