Spellcasting Gods

But Zhang Cheng replied nonchalantly, “No, of course not. It seems you don’t quite understand my intentions, nor can you comprehend the experiment I’m conducting. In truth, who Kerwin allies with or opposes has no impact on my plans. As long as he continues to expand in all directions and maintains his insatiable ambition and desire, he remains a very good and useful pawn. In comparison, I am more worried about the newly enthroned queen. She hasn’t abandoned her kindness and sense of responsibility, and might try to disobey my orders at any time.”

"So, you don't mind Kerwin's actions at all?" The young man seemed to understand something, and a gloomy expression appeared on his face.

"Heh, why should I care? Can he pose a threat to me? Does he deserve to be my enemy? No, he doesn't. He's just an ambitious man who grew up under my patronage, a tyrant craving more power, land, and wealth. I can crush him like an insect whenever I want. Do you think that with his methods of maintaining order through violence and intimidation, how long would his power last if he suddenly died? Believe me, you'll witness a magnificent uprising and rebellion then," Zhang Cheng explained meaningfully.

Admittedly, as long as tyranny doesn't act foolishly and dares to ruthlessly kill anyone who challenges its power, whether the number is in the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, it can continue to exist.

This has been proven in some countries around the world, especially in the case of Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator in the 20th century, who was simply the best example of all tyrants.

He proved with his actions that no matter how great the internal and external pressures, or how many people want to oust him from power, as long as he firmly controls the violent institutions, all violent and non-violent resistance will dissipate quickly, like fog in the sunlight.

But tyranny has a fatal flaw: it is almost impossible for it to be passed on to future generations.

The reason why tyrants are tyrants is that they have enough prestige to make the violent institutions obey their will, but their successors often lack such prestige and are even less able to subdue those meritorious elders.

Therefore, once a tyrant dies, the regime he established will quickly collapse, either triggering internal strife and power struggles, or the long-oppressed lower classes will seize the opportunity to fight back.

In short, tyranny requires a strong leader to maintain, not a seemingly invincible force...

Chapter 1097 The Tree of Chaos

"I am so sorry... It was my stupidity and ignorance that caused you trouble." Allens bowed deeply, his face full of resentment.

Clearly, he never dreamed that his master didn't care about those behind-the-scenes maneuvers, nor was he afraid of being betrayed.

It's laughable that his meticulously planned actions resemble those of a clown or an idiot, doing what he thinks is clever.

But actually?

All the plans ultimately came to naught, failing to harm the enemy in the slightest, and instead making oneself appear so incompetent.

ashamed!

Annoying!

anger!

A variety of intense emotions were constantly consuming what we called self-esteem and shame.

Sensing the complex and contradictory thoughts in the young man's mind at that moment, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but smile and comfort him, "You don't need to apologize. I never care about these trivial matters, and I don't even mind my subordinates making mistakes. But there's one thing: I only allow each mistake to be made once. If there's a second time, then I will choose to discard him directly. Making mistakes is not terrible; what's terrible is not being able to learn from mistakes."

"Please rest assured, I promise I will learn a great deal from this mistake," Allens said through gritted teeth, his head bowed.

Nothing can make a young person feel a deep sense of shame like a complete failure, and it will also arouse their subconscious competitiveness, making them yearn to make up for everything they have lost with the next success.

“Very good! Then continue doing what you need to do. Remember, I have high expectations for you, so don’t disappoint me, otherwise…” Zhang Cheng deliberately dragged out the last part of his sentence.

But the implication was already self-evident.

"I swear on my life and soul that I will never let you down." With that, Allens took a deep breath and quickly turned to leave.

Watching the young man's receding figure, Zhang Cheng pulled a piece of paper from the table, quickly wrote a series of words about this world on it, then lit it and casually threw it out the window.

moment!

The burning paper suddenly transformed into a blazing firebird, soaring into the sky and rapidly heading west.

After finishing all that, he muttered to himself expressionlessly, "It's time to speed things up and make sure the whole plan is completed before the crisis hits. I hate being disturbed, and I hate any unexpected situations..."

The words had barely left his mouth!

Zhang Cheng then raised his hand and tore through space, easily traversing time and space to appear in the center of the wasteland where the seeds of chaos were being nurtured.

"Fear, despair, death, resentment, pain..."

"I didn't expect that in such a short time, this power would have already begun to grow strong and start influencing the surrounding plants and animals. Before long, a consciousness will be born on this planet, a chaotic consciousness."

With a meaningful whisper, he gently cut his finger, letting the blood, radiating a black glow, drip onto the ground.

Just one drop!

The lingering vengeful spirits in the wasteland began to howl like madmen!

That terrifying sound even killed all living things within a radius of tens of kilometers!

But once the deadly screams ceased, these vengeful spirits plunged into the earth, quickly transforming into an unknown substance that eventually coalesced.

About half an hour later, a twisted tree that defies description burst forth from the ground and grew rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye until it exhausted all the unknown substances before stopping.

It is so huge, with the trunk alone being over two hundred meters tall. The bark on the trunk, resembling human faces, is absolutely terrifying, and it even makes a horrifying sound when touched.

But what's most interesting is that the canopy above the trunk emits a positive energy full of light and heat.

Most people who see this scene would probably feel an unprecedented sense of absurdity and eeriness.

Just as justice is born from evil, justice in turn breeds evil.

It must be said that this extremely bizarre tree is the perfect embodiment of chaos.

Once it inserts its roots into the core of the planet, it immediately gains a continuous supply of energy, eventually replacing the planet itself and becoming the source that sustains this world.

At the same time, all life on this planet will become uncontrollably distorted, increasingly disordered, and filled with countless phenomena that cannot be explained by common sense.

"Perfect! You will be my most outstanding creation to date. Grow quickly, I look forward to seeing what you will do to this planet."

After saying these expectant words, Zhang Cheng quickly disappeared from the spot.

He had barely left for five minutes when a group of adventurers emerged from the forest behind him.

When they saw the giant tree standing in the middle of the wasteland, they seemed to go crazy, standing still and not daring to move.

Because right now, an extremely crazy voice is constantly echoing in everyone's mind.

With each repetition of a phrase, these adventurers felt their thoughts and logic completely thrown into chaos, and their bodies began to perform inexplicable and uncontrollable actions.

Two muscular warriors even drew their swords and began a fierce battle, not caring that they were covered in blood.

Their eyes gleamed with madness and bloodlust, as if they regarded each other as mortal enemies.

"Damn it! Get out of here! There's something wrong with this tree!" The only one in the group who was still somewhat clear-headed shouted a warning at the top of his lungs.

Unfortunately, it was discovered too late.

Before he could run more than a few steps, his mental defenses crumbled, and he sat down on the ground, laughing hysterically and uncontrollably until he actually laughed himself to death.

The others weren't much better off. The two warriors who fought desperately were both seriously wounded and lay in pools of blood. They would bleed to death and become cold corpses within minutes.

The remaining few were either cutting their own flesh with knives or crying and laughing hysterically.

As expected, the adventurers perished completely under the influence of the Chaos Tree, without even a chance to send a message.

Because of a previous war, there are many broken weapons and armor left on the ground. Some scavengers and adventure teams will come here tirelessly to collect the items that can still be reused and earn money to support their families.

But now, no one or animal that gets close to this place can expect to leave alive.

Under the influence of chaotic power, even gods can become uncontrollably trapped and unable to extricate themselves, let alone mortals who have no power to resist. All they can do is become victims of chaos...

Chapter 1098 Shortsightedness

Nourished by the entire planet's core, the Chaos Tree grew at an incredible rate.

Before long, its towering trunk attracted the curious gazes of countless people, and even several nearby countries began to get nervous, entrusting adventurers or sending search teams to investigate.

Without exception, everyone who entered the area went inexplicably insane, while others became mysterious, constantly uttering things that normal people couldn't understand.

Only a very few lucky individuals who hadn't gotten too close managed to escape and told their clients what they had witnessed.

Immediately, all sorts of speculations and doomsday prophecies spread like wildfire. Even those who claimed to serve God stepped forward and made statements about faith, claiming that these were warnings from God to mortals.

In short, almost everyone is trying to profit from this thing that they can't even understand.

No one knew that an unprecedented upheaval was taking place on this planet. Once the Chaos Tree devoured the entire interior of the planet, all life on this planet would undergo irreversible changes.

Unfortunately, so far, no one has really taken it seriously, merely regarding it as a potential threat.

After all, the place where the Chaos Tree grows is neither a transportation hub nor an important town, but merely a desolate wasteland.

For such worthless land, basically no high-ranking national officials would care.

……

"It seems that focusing only on short-term gains is a common problem for almost all intelligent life. I really overestimated them to be able to ignore something like the Chaos Tree, which is capable of destroying a planet." Zhang Cheng muttered to himself, stroking his chin as he stared at the images transmitted back by the magic mirror.

He originally thought that once the tree took root and sprouted, it would inevitably lead to a rather violent reaction. However, interestingly, after confirming that the danger would not spread to the surrounding areas for the time being, several neighboring countries all chose to turn a blind eye.

Such shortsightedness!

Such self-deception!

They are practically no different from humans on Earth.

However, this also has an advantage: he can save himself the means he originally prepared, allowing the Chaos Tree to complete the transformation without him even realizing it.

By the time the natives of this planet realize what's happening, it will probably be too late, and they will be unable to salvage their tragic future.

At that time, a generation, or even several generations, will be plunged into endless pain and despair, until their descendants gradually adapt to the new environment and become part of the chaos, both physically and spiritually.

As the saying goes, environmental change is the most deadly thing; it can cause a group to disappear completely or even transform it into a completely different group from its very origin.

According to the inevitable result of biological evolution, one must either adapt or be eliminated; there is no third option.

Furthermore, the most basic instinct of living beings is to ensure the survival and reproduction of their species, so self-destruction would never be the choice of most ordinary lower-middle-class people.

This means that no matter how harsh the living environment, they will do everything in their power to ensure the survival of their offspring.

Unfortunately, they will never know that, in some ways, their descendants are no longer like themselves, but rather a completely different kind of creature.

Transforming a planet completely dominated by chaos is clearly no easy task.

It not only requires a lot of effort, but also requires ensuring that the whole process is not interrupted by external forces.

After all, although the Chaos Tree is an enormous and seemingly indestructible entity in the eyes of mortals, there are too many powerful individuals in the vast universe that could threaten its growth.

Zhang Cheng did not want anything to interrupt the process, would not allow anything to disrupt the entire plan, and would not allow the growth of the Chaos Tree to be interrupted, so he would not choose to leave under any circumstances.

While he was silently watching the Chaos Tree grow stronger by absorbing energy from the planet's interior, Kerwin had already quietly left his territory, disguised as a merchant, and arrived at a small border town in a neighboring country with a few loyal subordinates.

Given the recent spate of wars, one can see many troops that were recently deployed here, as well as countless defensive fortifications under construction.

There were no smiles on people's faces, no happiness whatsoever; instead, there was tension, panic, and unease.

If they had enough money, they probably would have fled this place long ago and gone to the relatively safer big cities.

"Interesting! They're preparing for an impending war. I wonder if their enemy is me, or Her Majesty the Queen who's only recently ascended the throne and is already making such a big move," Kerwin muttered to himself with a cold laugh.