After all, the Tree of Life was the core of Eden, a primordial divine tree of the Heaven’s Pantheon, holding an extremely high rank, its concept even closer to the origin.
It represented life, fertility, and hope.
Ahem, of course, Su Fu declined the “fertility” part, opting for the abundance of life instead.
Not to mention, this Tree of Life had just received a brief repair from Nuwa’s Mending the Sky, strengthening and enhancing its fundamental concept.
The benefits Su Fu gained were incalculable; she felt her entire life had been elevated to a new level.
Her senses sharpened, mental strength soared, and her physical capabilities improved across the board.
To use an analogy: she had gone from being a jade cup to an expanded, evolved vessel, now even able to refill itself automatically.
Now, not only did she feel no fatigue, but she was also full of energy and even had spare attention for the distant commotion.
She wondered what divine artifact had been unleashed; in the far distance, the sky suddenly blazed with dazzling golden light, illuminating nearly half of Eden, as bright as day.
But soon after, the light faded away.
There was no doubt—the inspectors must be trying to capture Lilyth.
“What a commotion,” Su Fu mused, “Is that traitor priestess really that formidable?”
‘Just who was she?’
Meanwhile, the Serpent of Temptation continued to complain incessantly in her ear, its voice shrill and grating: “You’re driving me crazy! With all that racket, you’ll definitely get discovered! If you’re discovered, how are you supposed to get me out?”
“It’s all your fault for insisting on saving that stupid tree! What can it give you? Can anything it offers compare to what I can offer?”
At this, it paused, its voice suddenly much quieter.
“Uh… actually, it did seem pretty generous. But! But that’s not the point! The point is, you came here to save me, yet you saved that tree first!”
“Aren’t I good enough? What use is that stupid tree?”
Su Fu: “…..”
‘Too noisy.’
She cut in, “Shut up. The Tree of Life is sleeping. Don’t disturb it.”
The ancient serpent: “???”
‘Listen to yourself! What nonsense!’
It almost fainted from rage.
Fuming, it cried, “Why are you playing favorites?! Fine, fine, now your heart and eyes are all about that stupid tree, aren’t they? You don’t care about me at all, do you?”
“I was the one who found you first! I gave you the Thorn Ring to protect you! You came here to save me, not it!”
The Serpent of Temptation was nearly driven mad with anger; it had never imagined a human could be so ungrateful.
“You—”
“Chesia.” Su Fu calmly uttered the name.
The Serpent’s voice halted abruptly, as if its throat had been seized.
“R…” After a long while, it managed to stammer out the first syllable but could say no more.
How could this be?
How could anyone know its name?
Su Fu remained composed, “You’re the Enchantress Angel, Chesia, aren’t you? You obeyed Lucifer’s order, took the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve, and were condemned by God when discovered.”
“Now it seems, you’ve been imprisoned here in Eden as punishment—endless, eternal punishment. Oh, right.”
She recalled, “Or rather, Lucifer’s other name is even more widely known—”
She slowly pronounced, “Satan.”
“You… how do you know!” The Serpent of Temptation was struck like lightning.
Its heart trembled—’how could Su Fu know all this? She wasn’t even a Chosen of the Heaven’s Pantheon.’
Even within the Pantheon, only the most core divine sons and daughters knew these secrets.
Let alone in the human world—these were taboo topics even among the gods; ordinary people could never know such details.
Su Fu, of course, did not answer, but instead asked in return, “So, you’re a god yourself?”
She muttered, “Surely you didn’t just pick a random serpent and bless it, right?”
Moreover, the identification for the Thorn Ring had said “Tempting Serpent.”
To bear the title “ancient,” it couldn’t be simple.
No ordinary serpent, no matter how long-lived or blessed, could survive this long or be called “ancient serpent.”
The Serpent was enraged by her words, hissing, “You’re the ordinary serpent!”
But as soon as it spoke, it realized its slip, “Damn…”
Su Fu laughed lightly, “So, you really are the Enchantress Angel Chesia.”
Her mask was completely stripped away.
In truth, tales of the Enchantress Angel and Lucifer were mostly found in later folk legends; there was no Chesia in the orthodox records.
Su Fu had only been fishing, never expecting it to succeed.
According to legend, Lucifer was once God’s most favored angel, an archangel with six wings, the Morning Star, the bringer of light.
Out of pride and envy, he refused to bow to the newly created humans, Adam and Eve, questioning God’s decision, and eventually led a third of the angels in revolt, launching a war in Heaven.
Defeated, they were cast from Heaven and fell into Hell.
As for Chesia, she was Lucifer’s Enchantress Angel, sent to Eden as a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, causing humanity’s expulsion from Eden and the loss of immortality.
This was later called “Original Sin,” a crucial part of the “Great Fall of Angels.”
‘So, by that logic…’ Su Fu’s thoughts spun, ‘this serpent has lived an awfully long time—practically a living history book.’
Though imprisoned in Eden for ages, it probably knew little of modern affairs, but as for the age of gods, it must be quite knowledgeable.
After all, it had witnessed the dawn of creation, the rise and fall of the gods, and the birth and growth of human civilization.
It might even know the true faces of the gods, the histories that were hidden and altered.
Oh, and it could possibly know the locations or uses of many secret or lost divine artifacts, or some ancient magic and rituals.
Su Fu could use it to learn any secrets of the age of gods, including those deliberately obscured by history.
“Perhaps I could find out what really happened after the era of the gods.”
After all, this was Eden, the former dwelling of the gods.
The gods were gone, leaving only this ancient serpent; it surely experienced the subsequent migration of the gods.
Why was only this sacred land left where the gods once lived?
Where had they gone?
Why did they leave?
But obviously, asking it now would only yield lies; it would try to confuse her and bargain for more freedom.
‘Tsk tsk, it really was the Serpent of Temptation.’
Su Fu shifted the topic, “So, was that traitor priestess your doing too?”
The serpent instantly fumed, “Nonsense! That was the work of the Twilight Judgment crowd, nothing to do with me! Don’t slander me out of nowhere!”
Su Fu: “…
‘Do you still have “innocence”?’
But judging by its reaction, it clearly knew a lot.
‘Twilight Judgment? Was that an organization?’
Impressive—they managed to turn a high priestess of the Heaven’s Pantheon; who could be backing them?
Su Fu paused, deliberately feigning surprise, “You actually know about Twilight Judgment?”
The goad was obvious, but it worked—how could a serpent trapped in Eden know of outside affairs?
The Serpent of Temptation sneered, “Don’t bother trying to provoke me. This one I can tell you for free.”
It paused, “Have you heard of the prophecy?”
“The Prophecy of the Age.” Now Su Fu was shocked.
‘Even the serpent knew about this? Could prophecies of the Age date back to the age of gods?’
Wow, so it was an old tradition after all.
Thinking of prophecies, she recalled the few lines Shen Yan had delivered upon update: ‘At the edge of twilight and darkness, await the coming of dawn.’
The serpent pondered for a moment and finally said, “Pretty much. Every pantheon phrases its prophecy differently, but the essence is the same. The Twilight Judgment organization actually arose from a prophecy of the Greek pantheon: ‘Ragnarok is coming, light and darkness entwined…’ That’s where the ‘Twilight’ in the name comes from.”
“And the ‘Judgment’?” Su Fu pressed.
The serpent paused, “Later, people discerned the true meaning of the prophecy. After the brilliant Age of Stars, the curtain would fall. And within that, lies the possibility of rebirth.”
“The Twilight Judgment organization believed the Age of Stars needn’t come at all; they could advance straight to the end. They made themselves the Judicators, pushing the era forward.”
Su Fu: “…..”
Listening to this made her dizzy—these people really wanted a speedrun?
Just skip everything?
Why not jump straight to the new birth, then.
She could barely complain—were prophecies supposed to be used like this?
Forget it, there was no reasoning with them.
However, Su Fu noticed something else and asked curiously, “You know so much—did that traitor priestess want to take you with her?”
The serpent fell silent.
‘Wow’, it marveled inside—’this person was way too clever.’
She was far too tricky.
Wait, it had no hands now… Well, she was simply too cunning!
Actually, Lilyth had indeed wanted to take it with her, but it wasn’t stupid; that organization clearly wanted to use it as a tool.
It coughed twice and stiffly changed the subject, “The battle over there has stopped.”
Then, gloating, it added, “Just wait—they’ll come to deal with you soon enough.”
Su Fu: “…..”
“Deal with me? Then I won’t be able to save you. Why are you so happy?”
Serpent of Temptation: “!!!”
***
Meanwhile, in the northeast of Eden.
Lilyth knelt on the ground, her robes tattered and blood-soaked, black hair in disarray, crimson gashes across her face.
The black wings on her back had been broken, dangling half off.
The Judgment Array bound her, holding her firmly in place.
The Lord’s mercy was boundless; the Judgment equally severe.
Olivia stood before her and ordered, “Hand over Forbidden Item 005, Lilyth. You have nowhere left to run.”
But Lilyth only laughed, her expression twisted and wild, like a madwoman reveling in ultimate victory.
“You think that just by getting the Forbidden Item, you can save the Tree of Life?” She laughed arrogantly, “The Tree of Life can’t be saved. You thought I only stole the Forbidden Item?”
Lilyth was especially pleased, “When you were catching me, the Tree of Life was being ravaged by corruption. Right now, it must be repeating, over and over—Olivia… Olivia… Save me… it hurts so much…”
She deliberately mimicked a hoarse, broken voice, and saw Olivia’s expression change drastically as she’d hoped.
The always-composed High Priestess turned pale, her voice trembling, “No… Impossible…”
“Shen Yan didn’t report…”
“Of course not,” Lilyth laughed even more wildly, gloating like a victor mocking the defeated.
“Because it was delayed. Oh, right. You want 005, don’t you?” Lilyth cocked her head, cruelly, “Now, let me tell you where it is.”
“The boundless Dark Realm—I threw it in.”
Olivia clenched her staff, almost unable to stand.
If the Eternal Lock was truly thrown into the Dark Realm, recovery would be almost impossible.
And without the Eternal Lock, the Tree of Life could not resist corruption for long; it would eventually perish.
No, an even worse possibility—Lilyth had joined forces with others beforehand, accelerating the Dark Realm’s erosion while they were busy capturing her.
Didn’t that mean right now—
Olivia spun to dash for the core—’The Tree of Life! The Tree!’
But at that moment, Shen Yan’s voice suddenly sounded: [“Alert cleared”]
[“Tree of Life’s corruption ended”]
[“Current Tree of Life corruption: 25%”]
[“Corruption decreasing”]
It paused delicately then continued: [“Thirty minutes ago, by the Chinese Pantheon user Su Fu, led by Founding God Nuwa, Dark Realm’s corruption was successfully blocked.”]
[“The Tree of Life is expected to fully recover in twelve hours”]
Everyone: “???”
‘Who? Did what? Wait… How did she get inside!’