I'm a villain, not a devil

Seeing the power of the golden light being absorbed by the tree man, Sean, who had originally planned to wait and watch for a while, could no longer sit still.

I came all the way here not to see you two loving each other as a family!

The tree man with golden leaves hanging on his earlobes was completely immersed in the golden light. The hollow tree stump that his people had transformed into seemed to have become a container to help him transform. The power of the golden light entered his body in an unknown way.

The golden light seemed to want to leave the tree stump, but there seemed to be an inexplicable attraction between the previously degraded tree people and the tree stump, and it always lingered for a while and then returned to its original place.

Faced with the tree man's absorption, the golden light did not show any rejection.

As the tree man's aura grew stronger, Jin Guang's desire to move grew smaller.

"Thank you, Mother, for your great gift."

The tree people all knelt on the ground.

Just as they were expressing their gratitude, a hand appeared silently in the tree stump.

The tree man who had reached the upper level of Crimson suddenly opened his eyes and shouted angrily: "Who is it?!"

At the same time, the golden leaf hanging on his earlobe glowed and turned into a golden thread that coiled around him.

However, the golden thread wrapped around nothing, and the hand quickly retracted into the void.

"They are all thieves!" The tree man cursed angrily, and then ordered his tribesmen to surround the vicinity more tightly, protecting the golden light firmly in the center.

After looking around vigilantly again, the tree man closed his eyes again, ready to continue absorbing the power of the golden light.

Who would have thought that he would open his eyes again in shock just after closing them.

"Why did it disappear..."

The tree man's breathing suddenly became heavier. He reached his hand straight into the golden light in the tree stump, but touched nothing.

The ball of golden light that was so powerful just now suddenly disappeared on the spot.

"……phantom?!"

The tree man exclaimed, and then angrily lifted up the stump.

A huge hole appeared on the ground at the location of the tree stump at some point, and judging from its direction, it was the underground hole created by the movement of the tree people.

A laugh filled with mockery and disdain sounded from the void: "Thank you very much, everyone. I'll take the things. Hahahahaha."

"Who?! Who is it?!" The tree man became unexpectedly angry.

After he completed his glorious and fertile evolution, right under his nose, his mother's gift was swapped!

"Who is it?! Come out, I'm going to kill you!" He punched the hole in the ground, and the surrounding area seemed to be shaken by an earthquake.

"Chase him!" He ordered loudly after venting his anger with a punch.

However, another tree man who looked very old ran up quickly. Although he also looked grim, he tried to calmly advise, "It's too late, Master Seed. That person was able to steal the tree heart right under our noses. It's definitely not easy to find him. Don't forget where we are now."

The tree man called "Seed" turned pale. He then remembered that he was in the territory of the empire and not far from the imperial capital.

The movement of the tree heart is not big, but its great and unique precious aura will only attract the strongest and most powerful ones.

"Damn it..." The tree man clenched his fists unwillingly.

The old tree man advised again: "Master Seed, you have already completed your evolution with the help of the power of the tree heart, and you have also absorbed a lot of its power. People other than my tree people cannot use it to evolve, and it is not easy to absorb its power... This is enough."

Finally, Master Seed waved his hand fiercely and said, "Evacuate immediately."

"Yes!"

Before leaving, Seed glanced around the nearby area with a gloomy look and left a last word.

"The homeland will eventually embrace her true people, and I will personally resolve the mother's hatred. Wait, thieves!"

This group of tree people seemed to be very familiar with the routes within the empire and soon disappeared on the spot.

There was only a big pit and some collapsed stone pillars left on the ground, as if nothing had happened here.

However, after the tree people left, the air fluctuated slightly.

A bush beneath the air slowly stood up.

The air twisted and the bushes took on the shape of a human being, it was Sean.

"Tsk, moving in burrows and hiding in bushes are all things they are most familiar with, but they can't be noticed at all." Sean sneered.

After using the illusion of replacing the prince with a cat, Sean did not leave directly, but hid nearby to see if he could hear any useful information.

Sure enough, taking risks still pays off.

The evolved tree man is called the 'seed', and the inexplicably appearing golden light is called the tree heart...

Sean pondered the meaning of these words.

After the tree man reached the upper level of Crimson, his strength was still okay. With Sean's cunning and exaggerated abilities, it would be no problem for him to play some games with him and then leave leisurely, let alone capture him.

However, the golden leaf hanging on Seed's ear made Sean instinctively sense a hint of danger.

It seemed to be some kind of proof of identity, but it was also very powerful in itself. The seed could absorb the tree core, which seemed to be due to that leaf.

Thinking of this, Sean slowly opened his hands.

In the center of his palm lay the golden light called 'Tree Heart'.

It was divided into two, but just one ceremony allowed an ordinary lower-level Crimson to quickly advance to the upper-level Crimson...

My feeling was indeed correct. This thing is definitely an extremely precious thing.

Originally, when Sean stole the tree heart, he was worried that it would fly straight into the sky and leave, but the tree heart stayed safely in the palm of his hand.

It is not an invisible light, it is even quite heavy. What is somewhat contradictory is that under the heavy weight it feels extremely soft.

To use an inappropriate analogy, this thing is about the same size and feel as Bai Ye's bear, and about the same weight as Qiong Ying's...

It might sound a bit obscene, but Sean could say with a clear conscience that this was indeed the feedback he got.

Of course, in addition to the feel, what is more important is the feeling the tree core gives people.

"Hiss, this is a bit strange... Could it be like what those tree people said, because I am not a tree person, so I can't absorb it?"

As Sean was muttering to himself in frustration, he suddenly discovered that the tree core he had been holding had stuck to his palm.

"This..." Gradually, Sean's eyes widened in shock.

The gentle and pure power was integrated into Sean's body at an unimaginable speed, which was completely different from the power of death he obtained through the ritual!

No purification is required, no mental defense is needed, and even no absorption is needed!

Sean was shocked to find that after only sticking to him for a few minutes, an enormous force was successfully integrated into his body!

"This……"

Promotion above Crimson is completely different from before. While increasing strength, one also needs to resist huge pollution. Many people even need to divide their own strength to suppress the crazy desire in their hearts.

Coupled with the huge power requirements, this also makes it quite difficult to advance to the smaller levels after advancing to the Crimson level.

When Sean was just promoted to Crimson, he received a part of the power 'gifted' by Bai Youming. After that, he also absorbed the power of Pazuzu, etc. Even so, Sean did not feel that he could be promoted to the middle level of Crimson.

If there is no particularly good opportunity, he estimates that it will take him more than two years to advance to the middle level of Crimson. Even if he is lucky enough to absorb a lot of power, it will still take at least half a year.

But just now, in just two minutes, Sean was surprised to find that he had arrived at the middle level of Crimson.

"Fuck..." He couldn't help but swear.

Without any obstruction or stagnation, Sean could clearly feel that his energy was solid and heavy - just like he had been training hard for more than ten years.

Yes, the power of the tree heart was transformed into Sean's own energy without any hindrance, and its rich and pure essence allowed Sean to directly skip the transformation process.

A powerful booster with no side effects and extremely high efficiency!

When he looked at the heart of the tree again, Sean's eyes were filled with pain.

Damn, I've never seen this thing before, and that dog-tree man called Seed absorbed a lot of its power first...

If this is a complete tree heart, not to mention the deep blue, I can easily enter the upper deep red layer without any problem!

With Sean's personality, how could he not feel heartbroken?

These are all my own things!

Sean had forgotten that it was the tree people who sacrificed themselves to use the ritual to stop the tree heart's pursuit.

Of course, even remembering it was natural for him.

The golden light has been completely integrated into Sean's body, and his strength has been completely stabilized in the middle level of crimson.

Moreover, he is not the kind of person who has just been promoted. Instead, he is as stable as a veteran who has been in the middle level of Crimson for more than ten years.

"Fuck, this hurts so much."

Sean cursed again, then raised his eyebrows.

He also discovered something.

What about your own pollution?

Even though Apate possessed wisdom beyond that of an ordinary person, even though she had voluntarily merged with Sean, even though Sean had been exposed to countless special contaminations, a Mad Beast was still a Mad Beast. Those without contamination were called mutants, but mutants could not help humans advance to Crimson.

So, even Sean has always been surrounded by pollution.

However, his natural resistance is high enough, and his mental strength far exceeds that of his peers, so the pollution is not a big problem for Sean.

The only thing to worry about is that as Sean becomes stronger, the pollution will inevitably become stronger and more severe, and proliferation will gradually occur - at that time, being able to resist pollution is no longer the point, and Sean must consider how to deal with the proliferation.

You know, his proliferation is Apat, the fox of lies, the source of deception.

What trouble this proliferation would bring was already on Sean's list of things to deal with.

In fact, he already has some proliferation now, but both he and Apat have conceptual abilities, so proliferation can be carried with them.

But just now, Sean was surprised to find that his proliferation had disappeared at some point.

Unlike the usual concept of proliferation being destroyed, Sean didn't even notice it.

It was as if a huge tumor in the body was removed out of thin air by an extremely skilled doctor.

Is it...the heart of the tree?

"Apat." Sean called out.

A charming woman with nine tails appeared and came in front of Sean.

Sean holds three origin-level powers, one of which, Apat, can still maintain part of his consciousness after fusion, allowing him to appear as he does now.

"Master." Apat bowed.

She now has a combination of human and animal form, because this form is more convenient when performing fox magic.

Sean got a weird look in his eyes.

Noticing Sean's eyes, Apat subconsciously looked down at himself.

Immediately, she also showed a look of surprise.

Four of her nine fox tails turned translucent milky white, even having a hint of holiness.

"This is... purification? But, but I am a crazy beast. Even if you, my master, are purified, I will not change my form..." Apat said in disbelief.

"Any other feelings?" Sean asked.

Apate shook his head in surprise: "No, the master's power has not been lost at all... In fact, it can be controlled more freely. This is indeed the benefit of purifying pollution."

Sean closed his eyes, then slowly opened them, his eyes shining: "My mental strength has also been enhanced..."

Apate asked in confusion: "Master, what did you get? This is not a crazy beast at all."

Xiao En couldn't help but raise his lips: "This time, I really picked up a good treasure..."

Then, his face immediately fell: "Damn it, it hurts so much to think that that grandson absorbed a lot of it... Oh, there is another complete half... I feel so uncomfortable."

"Master... you are still as greedy as ever."

……

After knocking down the last tree man, Bai Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

This group of tree people were suddenly strengthened. If I hadn't been promoted to Crimson, it would have been much more troublesome to deal with them.

However, it was just as Sean said, wiping out an army of tree people was a great achievement.

I just don't know what that golden light that guy is chasing is...

After a quick glance, Bai Ye looked towards the safest place. Xiao En's sister was here with him, so he had to protect her... Now that there was no danger, he could improve his favorability with her...

Then, Bai Ye's body froze in place.

Xiao Ci disappeared.

Her beautiful eyes suddenly widened and she rushed over, but there was no trace of the little girl in the moonlight.

Bai Ye looked at the spot in disbelief, she didn't just release the moonlight casually, if the moonlight was attacked or broken, she would react, and she should not be able to break free.

Besides, her moonlight was not damaged at all.

But what about Xiao Ciren? Isn't she only at the king level? She can't break free from the inside...

Just as I was about to call for help, a lazy voice sounded: "Hey, I'm back."

Bai Ye turned away with a grim expression, and the smile on Sean's face gradually disappeared. He realized something was wrong.

"what happened?"

"Xiao Ci...is missing..."

Sean's body stiffened slightly.

He looked at the moonlight, and the orange-haired little girl was no longer there.

Bai Ye bit her lip and said, "It's my fault... I'll go find her now."

Sean took a few breaths and looked off into the distance: "Then let's find..."

"I'm back." A hoarse royal sister's voice sounded, and Sean and Bai Ye looked in another direction together.

Xiao Ci appeared there at some point.

Her face was dirty, her clothes were torn in several pieces, her body was covered in blood, and there was a bloody bite mark on her arm. She looked extremely miserable.

Sean appeared beside her in an instant, frowning: "Where have you been? How is your injury? Tell me where you feel uncomfortable."

However, Xiao Ci just stared at him.

"What are you looking at me for? Speak." Sean cursed rudely.

"elder brother."

"Ah."

"promise."

Sean suddenly stopped where he was.

Xiao Ci raised his hand, slowly spread out his scarred hand, and tried hard to show him what was in his palm.

It was a ball of soft golden light.

It's the heart of the tree.

Xiao En looked at Xiao Ci in disbelief: "You... went to get this thing?"

Xiao Ci nodded vigorously.

Sean paused, then suddenly smiled: "I said you can only choose one out of two, what are you doing?"

Xiao Ci seemed to be thinking about this question, and then he said, "Because you want to."

"I want it? You just go get it?"

Xiao Ci nodded vigorously and stuffed the tree core into Xiao En's hand.

Her eyes seemed to glow seriously.

"Yes, because he's my brother... and he's worth it."