Death... and me

Chapter 3649: The Branches

"They are?" Rifindio looked at them, but couldn’t see much due to how far they were. A normal person wouldn’t even be able to discern anything from where he found himself. It was only by adding Divine Energy to his eyes that he could amplify the things in the distance. He obviously wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as Kentucky, but it was much better than usual. "How do you know?"

*Bang!*

Suddenly, Rean kicked Rifindio and used the momentum to get himself out of there as well.

*Boom!*

Another Celestial Body exploded on the tree, very close to where Rifindio was a moment ago. "Pay attention! The celestial body shower is only getting stronger. Now, let’s go!"

Rifindio apologized and quickly followed.

As they went up, Celis took the chance to explain. "All these fake Celestial Bodies aren’t just exploding for nothing. Each one of them carries a huge amount of energy, energy that is being absorbed by the Astral Tree itself. I can feel it. Their energy is being directed into those Crystal Pods up there."

Rifindio finally understood. "Right, all these projections are projections of the real things, so they carry Starlight Energy as well."

Celis nodded. "We can’t absorb their Starlight Energies as we wouldn’t have time to control the chaos. The Astral Tree, however, can do it effortlessly. So, in fact, it isn’t too bad that another group appeared earlier and started this event. More Starlight Energy is being sent up to the canopy, and the pods are gaining even more Starlight Energy."

Kentucky also looked up. "Royer wasn’t kidding when he said a single one of those has enough Starlight Energy for ten years of cultivation. There is so much being accumulated up there that even I can feel it running through the tree’s trunk. Well, ten years is probably a stretch, considering just how hungry our cultivation technique is. If it gives an entire year’s worth, that will be great already."

"Perhaps it would be better to actually stay still and just keep dodging the celestial bodies, allowing more and more energy to accumulate then?" Rifindio gave the idea...

...which Roan immediately discarded. "Leaving aside the danger this place already poses to us, if the guy who created this isn’t a complete moron, he definitely made it so this climbing would get harder and harder the more time it passes. It might get to a point we can’t climb or even escape anymore."

"He is right!" Rean nodded.

"Fast! Move to that small bark ahead and wait five seconds."

He continued as their group avoided another explosion on the branch. "You just need to look at how things are now and how they were at the start. We barely have time to dodge or destroy the bodies coming our way. We can’t delay. We need to climb fast! Follow me!"

Rean jumped from the branch and landed on another vine, this time on the other side. He quickly ran down a few tens of meters before switching to another vine and making his way up again. Then, he jumped with Roan upwards, and they attacked another medium-sized asteroid projection.

*Swish, swish, swish, swish...*

They quickly cut down the projection, with its fragments falling everywhere around the tree trunk, which absorbed all the Starlight Energy.

The twins landed on the vines again, their energy reserves now around 50% used. "Celis, focus on absorbing Divine Energy as we go up. We can’t run out of energy."

Celis shook his head, though. "I have a better idea. Just keep guiding me like you did with Kentucky and Rifindio earlier."

Celis then changed his arms into hundreds of vines and his legs into even more roots. He didn’t turn back to his World Swallowing Cedar form, though. It would be too big and hard to move if he did. Following that, Celis’s vines shot up like arrows, latching on the Astral Tree’s vines several kilometers above. "Hold on!"

He grabbed everyone, and Celis used his roots and vines like an elastic.

Rean couldn’t help but feel excited. "Great! Celis, I’ll point out where you should slingshot us upwards through Divine Sense. Pay attention!"

In the next second, the entire group shot upwards like bullets. They made an arc in the air, using the momentum bought by Celis’s idea and following the path Rean showed to Celis.

The other group not far below saw that as well, and they felt terrible. "That’s just not fair!"

"Shut up! That is also suicide!" Someone else said. "They are crazy if they think they can dodge or destroy everything while being defenseless like that."

And yet, the twins’ group worked perfectly, opening the path ahead and truly dodging most of the dangers. Sure, such a way of climbing the Astral Tree was even more dangerous, but it had its advantages. Because of how fast they moved with each of Celis’s actions, that also gave Rean a wider range of places to select as they carried on.

Anything that Celis couldn’t dodge, Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Rifindio took care of. As always, Rean used Yang Energy to tell where would be the easier paths to cross, even if Celis couldn’t make perfect movements.

At some point, the twins’ group disappeared from the sight of the group below, leaving them shocked. They didn’t need to wonder if the twins’ group had managed to pull it off or not. They just had to look up and see that the shower of celestial bodies was falling further and further up, a sign that a group was present at those higher and higher places.

Celis’s movements weren’t as fast for climbing as using Kentucky to fly. Nonetheless, it was definitely much faster than going up by foot. They kept at that for over an hour, many of Celis’s vines and roots burning to crisp as he discarded them and created more.

Finally, they passed the trunk area, reaching the big Astral Tree branches above. At the end of the branches, they could see the countless shimmering constellation-like leaves and, near them, the flower Crystal Pods that brimmed with white-colored energy. It gave them the impression of walking in the midst of the stars.

"It... stopped?" Rifindio looked above, but he couldn’t see the projection of celestial bodies falling anymore.

"Just don’t drop your guard," Roan warned. "Royer hasn’t managed to get to this place when he was here last time, so he doesn’t know if there was anything else."

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