When Velmira arrived at the outer orbit, Liu Shu was not the only one who noticed. The spatial fluctuations, essence ripples, and other indicators made all the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> facing their ship activate. Their range, having become orbital, made their senses tighten up.

The World Trees and Life Trees connected to Liu Shu’s root net similarly noticed.

It was at the moment just after Liu Shu blocked the World Type’s main cannon and Velmira teleported that they took action.

Tree, being the being with the most spatial control right after Liu Shu, quickly noticed the space passages opened straight into Ceperet’s core.

Her ancient gaze cooled down as her energy surged into a massive pillar of essence. The relatively small willow’s branches swayed without wind as her tendrils grasped that spatial channel and split it into several others. "Since you insist on landing, let me help you."

So, Velmira and the others felt a dizzying sensation as they were pulled into different directions through the spatial channels Tree forcibly split.

The army of a few thousand landed in Ceperet, but not at the heart of Golden Sap City.

Instead, their groups appeared outside Golden Sap City, Skyflower’s gates, Azure Rose’s gates, and many other top-notch World Tree combatants.

The second they appeared, all the <Living Walls> who had been silent for many years suddenly pulsed. A dome-like defense covered the cities and World Trees they defended, linking their vitality to this shield.

Velmira, who had landed just outside Golden Sap City, quickly recovered her wits and looked up at the gargantuan World Tree in front of her. However... "Why is it still illusory!? What happened to the World-Type’s dimensional destabilization!?"

The voice she had expected to hear didn’t reach her, as her right-hand man was nowhere around to be seen. Instead, Velmira heard something that chilled her heart. "Lady Velmira, we’ve been forcefully separated! We only have over 200 people here!"

It was at this moment that Fortuna, Prarya, and other nearby World Trees and Life Trees locked their gazes onto them like predators seeing their prey.

Velmira’s senses tingled, her heart chilling, and after a second, her System went haywire.

[You’ve been affected by <Sluggish Destiny (A- Rank)>. Your chance-based abilities are half as likely to happen.]

[You’ve been affected by <Spatial Lockdown (A Rank)>. You are unable to teleport or move through space.]

[You’ve been affected by <Slow Domain (S- Rank)>.]

[You’ve been affected by <Temporal Fracture (S- Rank)>. Defense -50%.]

[You’ve been affected by <Wind Evil Whisper (A+ Rank)>. Your speed is reduced by 10%.]

[You’ve been...]

Countless debuffs from Liu Shu and every single World Tree nearby struck them like a stun spell. Their vision went blurry, their bodies feeling as if chains were holding them. Their strength slipped like sand past their fingers, while their <Stats> and hidden stats plummeted.

Velmira’s face twisted in fright. ’W-Where do these all debuffs come from!? Even if a World Tree is talented, can they reach this level!?’

Even if she were a powerful Level 199 with top-notch equipment, her current strength had dropped to the point that an average Star Lord would defeat her effortlessly!

"Move out! Don’t let the enemy surround us!"

Fortuna’s voice reached them, speaking coldly and with a touch of anger. They, the World Trees, have naturally been aware of Liu Shu’s pain. They were, in a way, connected to her through the root net. Therefore, they could sense Liu Shu’s overall state to a certain degree.

So, all World Trees and Life Trees knew that these people had attempted to corrupt Liu Shu. Their Liu Shu, whom every single World Tree treated like their most precious and pampered sister, was almost desecrated by these beasts.

Killing them? That was never the intent of these Life and World Trees. Since they finally had a chance to extend their roots toward them, they would incapacitate them and deal with them slowly.

Tree spoke to Liu Shu, her voice gentle as she tried to hold back the burning anger in her heart for what they tried to do to her child. "Little Sapling, go help against the reinforcements and the main battlefield. Don’t worry, we will take care of Ceperet."

Liu Shu had not expected Tree to do something as ridiculous as splitting their teleporting paths and separating them into small and basically harmless groups of around 200 each. These people, while they were top-notch fighters, how could they fight under the suppression of several Level 100+ World Trees and Life Trees?

So, placing her trust in them, Liu Shu ignored those who landed in Ceperet and refocused on the main battlefield. Once there, and seeing the army trying to escape, Liu Shu cast <Slow Domain> and <Acceleration Domain> onto the battlefield.

In an instant, the speed difference compared to before became threefold. But it wasn’t just movement speed: casting speed, thinking speed, reaction speed... everything became 50% accelerated for allies and 50% slowed for enemies.

When her Eternal energy twisted time itself, every single person on the battlefield felt the same sensation as when they first clashed together.

Cinderielle, feeling Liu Shu’s familiar aura enveloping her, sighed contentedly as her grin stretched sadistically. "You disgusting creatures will now understand the true strength of the Golden Sap Empire."

Her body, in the eyes of the enemies, became a blur. Cinderielle was already an absolute monster <Stat> wise due to her <Sylvan Transformation>. So, her already fast speed became a blur, her heat-based spells exploding continuously.

The other three Sylvans were the same, while Ignatia became quite a literal meat grinder. The Humanoid Ant Queen, with attacks mostly based on physical attacks, was now three times as accelerated compared to her enemies.

Each punch, each kick, each elemental explosion from her kicks... everything became an absolute catastrophe.

Then, there was Flor. She, who was already a spellcasting monster who could create dozens of elemental spells each second, was now casting at dizzying speed.

Fire, ice, wind, space, light... Flor’s Flower Fairy constitution allowed her to attune with Aether itself, transforming the battlefield into an elemental inferno.

Seeing the raw destruction and the fast-casting heals that kept everyone alive and healthy, Liu Shu didn’t linger. ’They are just sweeping the enemies. What I need to deal with is these retreating reinforcements.’

To be honest, Liu Shu very much wanted to see if Altherion was here. However, even with her powerful mind, she could not leave herself the leisure to search and find her personal vendetta when her people were dying for each second that this battle extended.

So, she held back the urge to search for him and locked onto the fleeing reinforcements.

Meanwhile, at the very core of the army of 150 starship reinforcements, the main generals were quickly shouting orders to turn around and enter travel speed. They had come here not because of their loyalty, but because they thought it would be an easy win!

After all, they were attacking a recently ascended World Tree together with a Star Emperor who was not pulling any punches. This was basically using a giant hammer to smash a Level 1 ant.

So, their nearby allies came here personally. Meaning, the leaders were in the main ships expecting to meet Rhazor in person and gain this very precious connection.

However, what was the result?

When they arrived, Rhazor shouted at them quite hastily to help the High Bishop.

The High Bishop shouted at them maniacally as if she were about to go insane.

At that point, most of the leaders who had come felt their hearts chill with an ominous premonition. Then, less than 30 minutes later, Rhazor’s shout exploded in every single Nexus communication device. What was the shout?

"Retreat!"

A single word screamed like a roar. A bellow that shook everyone’s core, as this shout signals not a temporary retreat, but a defeated one.

Morale collapsed, the leaders panicked, and therefore everyone began fleeing.

"What happened!? Have you been able to contact Lord Rhazor!?"

"Retreat? How is it possible!? Did the Covenant come and help in secret? I need answers!"

"Have you been able to contact Lady Nysera? What is that High Bishop doing!?"

All the few dozen leaders who had gathered were shouting for answers. Their ships were attempting to escape the domain they had long entered over 30 minutes ago.

So, if they wanted to leave, they would need to take a similar time... that is, if they were not disrupted.

Liu Shu’s presence descended on them, and her voice shook the dimension, covering all 150 starships. "<Slow Domain>."

Time itself wailed as its always constant ticking sound screeched as it was forcibly slowed down.

Now, the time they would need to flee would be over 50% longer, stretching Liu Shu’s assaulting time to a little over 1 hour before they left her domain.

Sadly, Liu Shu had been incredibly active these last few minutes. She glanced at her Ternary Essences. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

***

Aether Mana Stars: 15.29 / 38.79

Phoer Body Stars: 35.36 / 39.01

Anima Energy Stars: 17.33 / 38.67

***

Other than her Phoer Body Stars, the rest were less than half. So, her eyes cooled down as she activated the Mortal Growth Temple’s title.

"Burn my vitality."

[-300,000,000,000]! (3,000,000)! (-30)!

A terrifyingly huge damage number struck her core. Then, that vitality was divided by five and poured into her Aether Mana. This, in turn, recovered six Aether Mana Stars.

It wasn’t much, but Liu Shu believed it would give her the final push she needed. Moreover, the <Mortal-Growth Blessing> had a buff that had been constantly replenishing and helping not only her but her entire army:

***

When a creature not under the <Mortal-Growth Blessing> dies by your hand, you may absorb a portion of its fading vitality, restoring a small amount of health and accelerating ongoing regeneration.

***

Liu Shu and the others had been depending on this buff to keep their Phoer at a healthy percentage, besides many other buffs, healing, and similar skills.

With this energy, Liu Shu’s roots manifested around this army, and she began lashing the ships with her roots.

"<Elemental Willow Catastrophe:...

"<True Sun>."

"<Mountain Slicing Wind>."

"<Void Collapse>."

In just an instant, the 150 starships were suddenly enveloped in terrifying elemental energies. Liu Shu’s wide-ranged attacks exploded one after another, slicing at the shields activated in the high-level Starships.

What no one had noticed was a small and incredibly quick starship approaching from the far distance. This ship had been stealthily following the reinforcement group for quite a long time already, guiding two individuals that, if the Nexus knew the implications, would’ve sent their entire army to stop them from meeting with Liu Shu.

However, it was now far too late, as these two were only a few hours away from reaching Liu Shu’s external domain.