Chapter 712: Tempting

Zhou Huai was stunned for a moment, his mind going blank for a brief second.

Soon, an incredible thought flashed through his mind.

He tightened his grip on the Dragon's reins and blurted out:

"You mean…"

"Back then, you were the one who helped Mr. Duan succeed in his Breakthrough and become a Transcendent?!"

This conjecture was simply too crazy!

If Mr. Duan's Transcendent Breakthrough actually borrowed the power of the phantom of the Simon City Ruins before him, then to what terrifying extent did this woman's true strength and identity reach?!

"Otherwise?"

The phantom woman let out a noncommittal cold snort, and at the edge of her glowing green body, a layer of scarlet color faintly emerged.

Her tone dropped, and the surrounding vines stopped swaying.

"In order to help him take that step, I paid an extremely painful price! I didn't even hesitate to use the Origin power of the origin sacred tree!"

"I poured everything into him, but what was the result?!"

The woman's voice raised, turning into a shrill screech.

As her emotions spun out of control, a large area of mutated vegetation at the entrance of the ruins below rapidly withered and decayed, turning into pools of foul-smelling black water!

"It was clearly me who helped him so much!"

"Yet on the day he successfully became a Transcendent, he turned around and stabbed me in the back!"

"Not only did he drain my power to Seal me in this dark and sunless ruin, but he even took away my origin sacred tree!"

"He is simply a selfish and ungrateful…"

The phantom woman gritted her teeth, her energy-formed face distorted, squeezing the last few words out from between her teeth word by word:

"An absolute scoundrel!!!"

The violent wind suddenly stopped.

High up in the sky, Zhou Huai sat on the Dragon's back, dumbfounded by this sudden outburst of information.

He subconsciously even lightened his breathing.

Damn it!

Today in these Simon City Ruins, the amount of information harvested was simply absurdly huge!

So Mr. Duan, the ultimate big BOSS who was arrogant and kept Professionals all over the world like pigs in captivity, actually used to have a thing with this ancient tree demon right in front of him?!

Hearing this gritting tone, this was practically a melodramatic drama where an ancient powerhouse poured out all her family wealth to support a down-and-out scholar in taking the imperial exams, only for the scholar to kill his wife and steal her wealth after placing first in the imperial examination!

Zhou Huai frantically complained in his heart.

But he didn't dwell too much on this gossip secret spanning eight eras.

No matter what kind of love-hate entanglement this phantom and Mr. Duan once had, none of that mattered.

What was truly important was the core information revealed in her words—if what the other party said was all true, if she really mastered the method to allow people to break the rules and grow into a Transcendent…

Then he had truly found a glimmer of survival!

Only by becoming a Transcendent would he truly have the qualification to challenge Mr. Duan! Only then could he protect the people he wanted to protect in this upcoming massive purge! Only then could he go to the Free Federation across the ocean to retrieve his mother!

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai looked straight below.

He straightened his back and adjusted his breathing.

Arthur's robust body leaned forward slightly, looking down condescendingly at the green phantom still emitting red light below, and tentatively asked:

"Alright, I believe you."

"Then… how do you plan to help me?"

Hearing these words, the withered vines below stopped trembling.

That green phantom lingering with red light slowly raised its head.

Her pair of pupil-less energy eyes glanced at Zhou Huai in mid-air.

"Hehe… You are finally tempted."

The woman resumed her flirtatious chuckle, her laughter growing a bit louder.

"However, the secret of how to become a Transcendent is the most precious thing in this world."

Her slender fingers gently tapped her chin, slowing down her speech rate.

"I have no intention of discussing such a major matter with you in mid-air just like this, separated by a fake Puppet shell."

"Since it's cooperation, you must show some sincerity, right?"

The phantom woman retreated half a step back, her figure slowly merging into the dim stone door of the ruins.

Leaving only a sentence echoing between heaven and earth:

"If you want to know the answer…"

"You had better let your true main body come before me in person."

The violent wind raged over the old site of Simon City Ruins.

Hearing the fluttering words coming from behind that dim stone door, Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow.

Arthur twitched the corners of his mouth and let out a sneer.

"What kind of joke is this? Let my main body come over?!"

"Do you take me for a three-year-old child?"

"How brainless would I have to be to agree to this kind of suicide request!"

Zhou Huai's logic was very clear.

If the Clone died, at worst he would lose some equipment and a twenty-four-hour cooldown time; he had the God-level Clone System backing him up and could make a comeback at any time.

But what if?

What if this tree demon was playing a trick of luring the enemy into a trap, and the moment his main body landed, she would directly close the door to beat the dog and ruthlessly slaughter his main body? Wouldn't that wipe everything out in one fell swoop?!

When a person dies, the lamp goes out; by then, no matter how many SSS-level Clones there were, no matter how Heaven-Defying the System was, they would all lose their meaning.

There would be no possibility of a comeback whatsoever!

"Hehe…"

The dim green phantom did not retort; instead, her voice became even softer.

"Young man, you are very guarded."

The light of the phantom flickered in the darkness, "Rest assured, however, I swear by the residual heaven and earth Law of these ruins that I will not harm you."

"Moreover, you can also use your smart brain to think carefully—"

The woman's voice raised: "These Clones you currently possess, whether it is this Quasi-God Level magical Dragon or your blond-haired and blue-eyed SSS-level shell, so what if their strength is strong?"

"Even if you possess ten or a hundred SSS-level peak combat powers in the future, do they… really have the ability to defeat that Mr. Duan who has already broken the shackles?"

Zhou Huai fell into silence.

An existence of Mr. Duan's level had already broken away from the scope of attribute panels and skill damage. What he mastered was high-dimensional Law, rules that obliterated everything. Piling up numbers and panels was completely meaningless in front of a Transcendent.

"The one who truly has a chance to defeat him is not these superficial shells."

The phantom's voice came faintly: "Only yourself."

"Myself?"

Hearing this, Zhou Huai couldn't help but sneer self-deprecatingly: "Stop feeding me sweet-talk."

"I know my own situation better than anyone."

He was just an E-rank Clone Master. Without the God-level Clone System, he was nothing.

The phantom sighed: "You child, why don't you understand?"

"No matter how powerful the Clones you control are, in essence they are just Puppets without a Soul! They have no self-awareness, no obsession with life of their own!"

"Do you think a Puppet that doesn't even have a Soul is qualified to become a Transcendent?!"