Rise of the Alchemy God

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Ethan's perception had already detected many auras tainted with traces of demonic Qi, far more than he had expected.

As he made this observation, he noticed that the elemental spirit within the Tree of Life seemed to react to his persistent spiritual sense.

Opening his eyes, he gazed at the towering tree and, with a swift movement forward, appeared next to it.

Raising his hand, he placed it on the trunk's surface, closed his eyes, and sent a small amount of spiritual energy into the tree.

"Hm, it looks like he responded. Could it be that it's waking up?"

He asked himself as he continued to send Qi into the tree.

The elemental spirit was certainly not an enemy.

In fact, one could say it was the natural nemesis of demonic Qi due to their opposing natures.

And as the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

That said, it wasn't as though he truly needed its help, but he was definitely interested in how it had ended up here in the first place.

After all, this Tree of Life shouldn't even exist in the mortal realm to begin with.

Just as Ethan was attempting to see if he could awaken the elemental spirit within the tree, several figures darted toward his location. In no time, he found himself surrounded by numerous beings, each at the Fourth Stage or higher.

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"Who are you, and how dare you fly above the skies of the city?

Don't you know it's forbidden to fly near the royal capital?" said a beastkin, half Ethan's height, stepping forward from the group.

The beastkin wore what appeared to be armor, complete with a helmet, the visor of which was lifted, revealing his distinctive features, a long snout and two rounded horns protruding from holes in the helmet.

Ethan, who had already sensed the presence of the guards, did not pay attention to them, and continued his work, noting that the pure Qi he was transmitting was being absorbed by the elemental spirit within the tree.

'It seems to be low on energy,' he thought as he observed this.

He wasn't entirely sure why the spirit was in a dormant state, but he could tell it lacked the strength to awaken.

It was like it was in a coma.

Ethan wondered why its body hadn't automatically absorbed natural energy from its surroundings all this time.

After all, this was something a spirit's body would do instinctively when depleted of energy. Yet here it was, now feeding on his pure Qi.

The guard, seeing that he was being blatantly ignored, was clearly displeased. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a golden spear into his grasp.

"I don't know who you are, but since you've violated the kingdom's rules, you will be judged accordingly.

Surrender peacefully, and don't resist, or else..."

Just as the guard was finishing his sentence and preparing to approach Ethan to apprehend him, he was struck by an invisible force.

In an instant he lost consciousness and fell from the sky.

At the sight of this, the others became alarmed and some rushed to capture their fallen leader.

As they did, the remaining guards drew their weapons and aimed them at Ethan, all on high alert.

It seemed that Ethan's threat level had risen significantly in their eyes.

Just as they hesitated to act, Ethan, who had been ignoring them, suddenly spoke.

"If you value their lives, you'd best retreat immediately. I'm not in the mood for games," he said calmly, yet in a voice that all the guards could clearly hear.

They exchanged glances, trying to determine who he was suddenly addressing.

Just as they were about to question if they had misheard, a figure appeared before them.

The figure faced Ethan, who didn't even flinch at the presence of the newcomer, continuing his actions undisturbed.

"Who are you, and how did you manage to perceive me?" asked the imposing figure of a man dressed in regal attire, gazing at Ethan with a hint of caution.

The man in question was none other than the eldest son of the current king of the Dragon Kingdom, as well as heir to the throne.

He was the Crown Prince Han Yu, Han Lei's elder brother.

He had been nearby when he noticed the commotion in the air and decided to investigate the situation.

Unfortunately for him, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't discern the cultivation level of the other party.

Seeing Ethan's appearance, he couldn't help but think he was human, though he quickly shook his head.

After all, while there were humans on this continent, none had reached a stage higher than the Third.

This was primarily due to the lack of resources to take the next steps in their cultivation.

Thus, he speculated that Ethan might be a high-level beastkin, which could explain why he couldn't determine his cultivation.

This, however, was even more surprising since Han Yu himself was currently at the peak of the Fifth Stage of cultivation.

Anyone stronger than him would essentially be at the peak of this realm, a feat achieved only by his father and the rulers of the other four kingdoms.

Knowing all four rulers personally, he was certain Ethan wasn't any of them, which only made the situation more suspicious.

Now that his presence had also been detected, he felt even more certain that the other party wasn't someone ordinary.

He could only hope that Ethan wasn't a threat to them. After all, a conflict between Fifth Stage powers was far from ideal for the kingdom, especially in the royal capital.

So he tried to gather information about the other side to see what his intentions were.

Unfortunately for him, Ethan couldn't care less about making a small talk with him.

Without even glancing at him, Ethan continued what he was doing, while saying:

"You know, when I came here, I thought the Beast Continent was in a better state than the Human Continent. But it seems your situation is even more chaotic than ours.

Even your king is in a weakened state, and demons are roaming this continent as if it were their own home, yet you don't even seem to notice."

He spoke, clearly dissatisfied with the other party.

When he had first extended his perception to find traces of demonic Qi, he had immediately noticed many things.

The more he observed, the more astonished he became at how much worse the situation was on this continent compared to the Human Continent.

Basically, two of the five kingdoms were already fully infected, while the others were in the process of being infested.

At this point, all the demons needed to do was activate the virus they had spread, and more than 60% of the Beast Continent would fall into their hands.

Needless to say, their chances of escaping this situation were far from good.