Deadly Petal, who was approaching, blinked at Liu Shu's words. She honestly didn't care much if the Nexus was attacking her or not. For Deadly Petal, such things were just extra information that didn't matter much.
It was not because she was ruthless, but because the opponent was another True World Tree. While the Nexus was annoying, another World Tree could be even more annoying and difficult to deal with.
Namue and the others were naturally not that single-minded. However, they couldn't stop the words that came out of Deadly Petal's mouth to answer Liu Shu.
"What does that have to do with me, Heavenly Willow? I've come here to take over, and that's what I will do."
Liu Shu smiled faintly at those words, while the leadership of the Nexus felt their faces crumple even more. Liu Shu was not angry at Deadly Petal's words. The being she was facing was a True World Tree that had been active in the interstellar environment for thousands of years, not to mention all the time she spent fighting other World Trees to achieve her True World Tree status.
So her hostility toward Liu Shu was natural. It would've been odd if Deadly Petal showed empathy or solidarity. Therefore, from the very beginning, Liu Shu's way of looking at True World Trees was different. Unlike normal World Trees, these were beings with plenty of experience and a deep-rooted mind that coexistence was impossible.
To convince these beings, Liu Shu needed to be a touch more patient. They will be prickly. They will attack her. They will for sure try to screw her over, and not in the forgivable sense. Yet, Liu Shu needed to be somewhat patient.
The advantage of having developed True World Trees as true allies far outweighed most of what they would try to do to her.
Hence, Liu Shu didn't blame Deadly Petal. On the contrary, she felt a touch guilty about using her for her own ends. Still, she was in a situation where she needed to use everything at her disposal. It was not that Liu Shu lacked forces to fight the Covenant. Liu Shu had planned for their attack as well.
The main problem was ensuring that, if they dared to attack, Liu Shu would hold the moral advantage.
"Deadly Petal, I know we are both World Trees. Nevertheless, I've never seen you as a hostile being. I am understanding toward other World Trees, and I wish to cooperate together. So, could you please talk with me and wait until I've dealt with the Nexus?"
Liu Shu didn't even ask for help. With her gentle and ethereal voice that carried the weight of the
After all, while Balaya was a World Tree that had killed others, the teachings in the Covenant taught that World Trees were all precious. Only, the battle between them was inevitable. So, while people mourned when two World Trees fought, they understood that as "mortals," they had no way of interfering between those grand beings.
Yet, here was Liu Shu, "holding back her instincts," and trying to make peace. Not because she was attacked, but because she wanted to talk.
Such words reached many, causing even some emotional people to feel teary-eyed. 'What kind of mental strength does a World Tree need to have to speak such gentle words?'
Namue and the others were communicating with the Deadly Petal fleet general in urgent voices. "Please convince Lady Deadly Petal to stop answering! The Heavenly Willow's plot is far too scheming! We need to prevent Lady Deadly Petal from answering!"
The clueless Deadly Petal listened to Liu Shu's words with a frown. She had heard this before as well, and she disliked it a lot. World Trees couldn't get along with each other. This was not an opinion, but a natural truth. At least, that's what everyone believed.
As she was about to answer, the loud voices of her people reached her.
"Lady Deadly Petal, please refrain from answering! Please, listen to us for a moment!"
Deadly Petal looked at her people and noticed them in a panic, pleading in almost tearful expressions. 'What's wrong with them?'
"What do you want to say?"
Her sneering tone reached them, and some of the generals sighed in relief. "Lady Deadly Petal, the Heavenly Willow is trying to make us look evil. Please make sure not to fall into her treacherous wording and answer as we suggest."
Aloof as she was as a World Tree, she was not someone clueless to the political environment. She just despised it and ignored it. Deadly Petal had lived for a long time, and sometimes, out of curiosity, she spectated the lives of her people.
World Trees, above many things, were observers of the world. They felt comfortable seeing their environments flourish. So, they were very well aware of scheming and corruption. They just didn't see it as something bad. Instead, they looked at it as something that was part of life. Crime, sins, tragedies, and betrayals were much less abundant than happy moments, love, calmness, and pleasant experiences.
Therefore, most World Trees didn't intervene. Unless things developed in a direction that would cause life to collapse, they took it as part of the prosperity-and-poverty cycle.
Liu Shu, with her immense ability to piece through anti-spy arrays, also heard their words. She didn't mind, as the effect she wanted had already been accomplished. 'Talking further will make the lingering emotions of my few sentences lose impact.'
Deadly Petal, while somewhat reluctant, decided to trust her people and tried to speak. Sadly, this was not something Liu Shu wanted to allow.
"Sorry, Deadly Petal." Liu Shu's voice, which had been soothing, now sounded strained. "I don't think I can continue to converse. My roots are dying off and being destroyed far too quickly. I need to focus on preventing the Nexus from invading further. I hope we can talk and become close."
Her last words were both a political move and Liu Shu's true intentions, so they sounded honest.
The people in the Covenant cities went wild. All journalist, internet social media, and basically everyone and their mother reacted.
"[Exclusive! The Covenant government is trying to attack a World Tree that's under Nexus attack!?]"
"[The vast heart of the Heavenly Willow: A hidden face that the Government might've been hiding!]"
"[Trending post: Huh? Wasn't the Heavenly Willow some disgraceful World Tree that wanted to attack our Covenant?]"
In an empire as vast as the Covenant, control of information over the public was only rudimentary. But weren't there always information brokers that acted independently against the government? Weren't there always people who had a voice regardless of connection to higher places?
With a bombshell-like statement such as Liu Shu's, how could the people listen to their own government? After all, as they were taught, World Trees were aloof and not-at-all scheming. They were pure beings! So, when they spoke, their words were always laced with truth.
Liu Shu had long swallowed documents informing her of habits, education, and much other core information from the Nexus, Covenant, and many other nearby weaker powers she was about to enter conflict with through expansion.
Using such information to her advantage was as simple as waving her root for our Liu Shu.
Namue's eyes were bulging in utter stupefaction at Liu Shu's maneuver. 'Are we dealing with a World Tree or a human diplomat!? What was that!?'
They were not lightly struck. No. Liu Shu had swung her roots at their face, slapped them loud enough for everyone to hear, and finally smiled and asked if they could retaliate.
Observing the chaos in the Covenant Solar systems and in the Deadly Petal army, Liu Shu chuckled. 'With this, I should have quite a bit of extra time to stabilize the fight with the Nexus. Once that's done, my next blow to the Covenant's credibility will land quite brutally.'
Meanwhile, Deadly Petal observed her own people move around busily, making calls and sending messages everywhere. Sentences like "block those sites!," "Pressure that journalist even if you have to go far!," and "Don't let public sentiment sway! Calm them down and try to twist the narrative!" flew around, making her eyes gain a trace of curiosity. 'Why did the Heavenly Willow do this?'
Puzzlement as a World Tree. For her, the quivering among her people mattered little. Deadly Petal could order an attack right now, and they would have to obey. So what if it left a bad taste? In a century, what happened here would become an anecdote few people remember.
What Deadly Petal was failing to see was that Liu Shu's strike was not a one-off. Using the current environment as a solid foundation, Liu Shu would have a perfect reason to raise and fight Balaya and the Covenant. No one would be able to label her as evil, since it was they who first attacked the poor World Tree, already suffering from the Nexus.
Deadly Petal ignored the people and glanced at Liu Shu's
"It's dense…"
Having seen other True World Tree domains and fought against them, Deadly Petal could say for sure that Liu Shu's
Beyond that, since Liu Shu was mobilizing all her strength, Deadly Petal could also feel Liu Shu's strength to a certain degree. Liu Shu's World Tree Wisdom blocked most of her aura from being analyzed, but as a fellow World Tree, Deadly Petal had her own World Tree Wisdom. Hers was at S Rank.
Far from SSS Rank, but high enough to at least scrape the surface. That faint sense made Deadly Petal realize that this "newbie" World Tree was immensely powerful.
'Is she more powerful than me?'
Deadly Petal was both startled and flustered when those words flashed in her mind. It was a completely subconscious self-question, yet once asked, it lingered.
'What do I do…?'
Deadly Petal continued to stretch her roots forward. The number of roots she had arrived here with was not that many. So, she needed to quickly grow and multiply them to face Liu Shu.
Liu Shu also noticed her movements, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she glanced at her with a somewhat pitiful look. 'I hope I can wash away the reputation I am about to give you, Big Sis Deadly Petal.'