Chapter 138 : Chapter 138

Chapter 138. I'm So Jealous (2)

The World Tree was dying.

For the elves, this was a matter of survival.

“Wait a minute. Then, was the reason you didn’t use spirit arts during the competition also because there was a problem with the World Tree?”

At Patrick's words, Elione nodded and said.

“Yes. The World Tree serves as a link between the spirit world and us elves. This means that every time we use spirits, it puts a strain on the World Tree.”

“So you couldn’t use your full power.”

“To be honest, we didn't even want to participate in a competition like this. We only participated to maintain a smooth relationship with humans.”

“I see. So, if you had used spirit arts, would the result have been different?”

At Patrick's words, a faint smile formed on Elione's face.

“Of course.”

It was a short remark, but one filled with absolute confidence.

Even though Antorius was the next-generation leader of the Holy Theocracy, if she was a true Elven Knight, it would be an apology to even compare them.

Patrick nodded and said.

“I understand the situation. But why are you trying to take me with you? I don't know how to save the World Tree either.”

“That was not my choice.”

Elione took out the branch of the World Tree from her bosom and said.

“When I saw you fighting in the final, Mother conveyed her will through her branch. She told me to bring you.”

“The reason?”

“I don’t know that either. There must be a reason from Mother.”

At Elione's words, Patrick frowned and said.

“Blindly following the will of a god and forcing it on others is the fourteenth thing I hate the most.”

“You seem to hate quite a lot of things.”

“I'm a bit delicate, you see.”

Patrick said bluntly.

In his previous life, Patrick's stomach would flip whenever the bald monks said it was the will of Buddha and there was nothing to be done, chanting Amitabha.

Frankly, to the elves, the World Tree might be a god and a mother tree, but to Patrick, it was just an old tree.

‘No. It is a tree rich in natural energy. Could I brew it and consume it as a spiritual medicine?’

If Elione had known, she would have foamed at the mouth and gone wild.

But a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Wait, natural energy?’

He was momentarily taken in by the grand name of the World Tree, but in essence, it was also a living being.

There were many reasons why a living being might be dying, but if a healthy tree was withering, it meant that its life force itself was disappearing.

If so….

“May I examine that branch for a moment?”

When Patrick asked for the branch of the World Tree, Elione hesitated.

To her, this branch of the World Tree was more precious than her own life.

Asking to borrow it was beyond rude; it was an insult.

Normally, she would have been justified in drawing her sword and attacking Patrick at this moment.

However….

‘He might be the only hope.’

Judging that the will of the World Tree should be prioritized, she closed her eyes tightly and held out the branch of the World Tree with a trembling hand.

“Please be careful….”

‘She's being so stingy about lending one wooden stick.’

Patrick took the branch of the World Tree that Elione held out and examined it.

As expected, he knew upon touching it directly.

This was an object that contained the purest natural energy in the world.

And one more thing he learned was….

‘It’s dying.’

He hadn't noticed because of the presence of the clear and pure natural energy, but apart from that, the branch was withered, and its life force was fading.

It felt like holding a patient who was weakened to the extreme.

‘Let’s try something….’

Patrick first carefully tried to infuse his own ki into the branch.

But the branch of the World Tree did not accept Patrick's ki and pushed it away.

As if to say that such a turbid energy did not suit it.

“You’re dying, yet you have such a picky taste.”

“Yes?”

“No. It's nothing.”

Patrick pouted and thought.

Patrick's ki, which he had been cultivating since before he could even walk, was very pure among humans.

But still, he was human.

He ate meat full of fire energy and drank alcohol.

In fact, it was shameless to hope for clean ki while drinking that much alcohol.

‘How was I supposed to know? I'm not a bald monk or a smelly Taoist.’

Unlike the martial arts of Buddhism or Taoism, which valued the purity of internal energy, the martial arts of the Twin Dragon Sect did not obsess over the purity of internal energy.

So he hadn't cared about it until now, but in this situation, he felt regretful.

Where could he find clear and clean ki?

There were no bald monks or smelly Taoists in this world.

The divine power of the paladins was a bit different from natural energy.

“It would be nice if those bald monk bastards were here. As they say, even dog poop is nowhere to be found when you need it for medicine. They’re no help. No help at all….”

The great pillar of the martial world, Shaolin, was being treated like dog poop in this other world.

“Ah, wait!”

If human ki didn't work, what about the ki of other races?

Patrick said to Elione, who was anxiously waiting after handing over the branch of the World Tree next to him.

“There's something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Is your ki clean?”

“…Yes?”

It was a question she had never received in her life as an elf.

As they say, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.

Likewise, doing once is better than seeing a hundred times.

So….

“Let’s do it once.”

“……”

Elione placed her hand on her dagger and said with a contemptuous gaze.

“As expected of humans….”

“No, no, not that.”

His words were too hasty.

Patrick hurriedly corrected himself.

“I'll explain in detail. Just listen for a moment.”

“……”

Patrick explained his plan under Elione's suspicious gaze.

First, connect Elione's and Patrick's ki meridians so that Patrick could control her ki.

Then, extract the elf's clean innate qi and inject it into the branch of the World Tree.

Then, there was a possibility that even this ridiculously picky branch of the World Tree would accept the ki and recover its life force.

He explained this very kindly.

It was not often that Patrick explained things so kindly and in such detail.

Then Elione said….

“Is this perhaps what humans call a snake oil salesman?”

“……”

Patrick felt like he was about to cry.

To think that the great Radiant Dragon Great Master would be treated like this.

If she wasn't a peerless beauty, he would have just whacked her….

“Let’s just try it. If it doesn’t work after trying, we can give up then, can’t we?”

“……”

“Or do you have another way?”

At Patrick's words, Elione sighed and said.

“How do we do it?”

* * *

A little while later.

Elione sat in a cross-legged position as Patrick had instructed.

In her hands, which were gathered as if in prayer, was the branch of the World Tree, and Patrick sat behind her and placed his hands on her back.

He had never injected ki into a tree branch before, but he thought this was probably the best form.

‘Alright. Let’s try it.’

This was a first attempt for Patrick as well.

Patrick, who had steeled his heart, began the guidance without hesitation.

First, the beginning was to connect his and Elione's ki.

And Patrick was quite surprised.

‘Hoo, as expected of an Elven Knight.’

Inside Elione's body was a vast amount of innate qi.

That energy, much clearer and cleaner than a human's.

For a moment, Patrick felt like he understood the feelings of a demonic practitioner who had mastered the Essence-Absorbing Demonic Art.

If he could absorb such clear and clean energy, how much power would he gain?

They would probably go crazy if you brought them an elf.

This was no different from a living, top-grade spiritual medicine.

But Patrick carefully moved that energy not to himself, but towards the branch of the World Tree.

“Euuuum….”

Elione let out a small groan.

The feeling of someone else moving the energy inside her body was unfamiliar to her as well.

But she did not open her mouth or go against the flow of energy, as Patrick had instructed beforehand.

He carefully pushed her clear energy, which he had guided, into the branch of the World Tree.

And then….

‘Alright. It’s working.’

Like pouring water on a dry desert, Elione's innate qi naturally seeped into the branch of the World Tree.

And as the ki seeped in, the World Tree also began to show more life than before.

‘Success.’

Patrick clenched his fist inwardly.

As expected, by using the elf's clean ki, he could restore the life force of the World Tree.

Now that this was confirmed, all he had to do was negotiate with the elves….

“Eum….”

At that moment, something Patrick had not anticipated happened.

Patrick had succeeded in the experiment and was about to withdraw his ki, but the World Tree refused it.

It began to indiscriminately pull in Elione's innate qi.

“Euut….”

Elione groaned in the pain of having her ki sucked away, and Patrick's expression also became serious.

‘This is unexpected.’

Should I call it divinity?

He never thought that a mere branch could control ki as if it had a will.

The branch of the World Tree, weakened to the extreme, greedily sucked in the ki like a person on the verge of dying of thirst putting their mouth to a water bottle.

If it continued to suck in ki like this, Elione would dry up like a mummy and die.

‘A piece of firewood good for grilling meat wants to have a go, does it?’

Patrick gritted his teeth and engaged in a tug-of-war of ki.

Patrick and the branch of the World Tree confronted each other with Elione's innate qi in between.

And Patrick broke through the World Tree's control all too easily and recovered Elione's innate qi.

The World Tree desperately tried to suck in the ki, but Patrick's control was too perfect.

‘Who do you think you’re messing with? I’m the man who fought a ki duel with a demonic practitioner who had mastered the Star-Sucking Great Art to its peak and beat him.’

Patrick, who exquisitely controlled two dantains, had excellent control over handling ki.

He had never lost such a duel since his previous life.

All he had to do now was to recover the ki and return Elione's innate qi to its place.

However….

Wooooong.

The branch of the World Tree cried.

It cried, emitting an emotion so sorrowful that even Patrick, who was not an elf, could feel it.

The will conveyed by that emotion was just one.

[I want to live.]

The desire for life.

That desire, which all living beings should rightfully have, was clearly transmitted.

“……”

Do you want to live?

Do you still want to exist?

The sacred being called Mother by the elves was now craving life.

‘Right. That’s only natural.’

Patrick did not find this ugly.

It was natural for a living being to crave life.

Life is completed by death.

But before that final period is placed, it is the duty and natural order of a living being to crave life with all its might.

‘World Tree, do you want to live?’

Wooooong.

Will responded to will.

And Patrick said with a gentle smile.

‘If so, then first, empty yourself. To fill, one must first empty.’

Did it understand Patrick's meaning?

The World Tree began to push its own energy into Elione instead.

Then, the branch of the World Tree withered, and the faint life force that had been barely holding on gradually faded.

“Ah…. don’t… keolleok….”

Elione, who was about to open her mouth at the change in the World Tree branch, closed it again.

“Dangerously….”

Patrick's hands moved quickly and pressed her acupoints.

After sealing her so she couldn't move, he began to control the energy in earnest.

The energy of the World Tree entered him through Elione.

Patrick absorbed the energy she couldn't handle and stored it in his dantian.

Thus, emptying and emptying, and finally, at the moment all the natural energy of the World Tree was consumed….

“Now, let’s fill it.”

Twin Dragons Heaven and Earth Primordial Heart Law.

The characteristic of this monstrous heart law, which destroyed one dantian to create two, was destruction and reconstruction.

Destroying a dantian and then recreating it was something that ordinary martial artists would not even dream of.

But Patrick had done that crazy thing not just once, but twice.

So he knew.

This moment, when all energy was emptied and it was completely vacant, was the only moment when the natural energy of the World Tree could be reconstructed.

Woooooooooooooong.

The two dantains activated vigorously and began to suck in the energy of great nature indiscriminately.

However, the entrance for sucking it in was not Patrick's breath, but through the branch of the World Tree to which the ki meridians were connected.

As a result, a vast amount of great nature's mana poured into the branch of the World Tree, and the World Tree transformed it into pure natural energy and absorbed it.

‘Ah···. Aah···.’

Elione trembled.

She was feeling it now.

What Patrick and the World Tree, who were connected to her, were doing.

She was directly experiencing this miraculous moment.

The branch of the World Tree rejoiced in ecstasy.

The energy of nature seeped into the withered branch.

The result was astonishing.

Life force was budding as if spring had come after a long, long winter.

And finally, the filled life force brought about a change in the branch of the World Tree.

A gentle vitality enveloped the dry branch, and leaf buds sprouted between the branches.

[Aah…. I am alive now.]

The branch of the World Tree felt the ecstasy of life.

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