CHAPTER 430: 430. SINNER

Inside the Elven Forest, In the very center stood a colossal tree, towering above all others. Or rather, what remained of it. The great trunk looked like they had been sliced cleanly in half. But it was constructing itself.

From the severed stump oozed a strange green, slime-like substance that writhed and shimmered under the sunlight. They are spitting out tissues to mend the world Tree.

Beneath the broken World Tree, a Dark Elf sat cross-legged in deep meditation. A single word glowed upon his forehead in burning red script: "Sin."

He slowly opened his eyes, sensing a disturbance.

"Someone dares to breach the barrier? A Dark Elf...?" he muttered to himself, his voice low and rumbling like distant thunder.

He stood up and disappeared.

---

At that very moment, Tyler was sent flying through the dense foliage by a sudden blast of wind. Leaves scattered like frightened birds as he was launched into the sky, crashing into the river below.

"Swim like a Kun," he whispered.

He dove beneath the surface, vanishing into the currents like a silver-scaled fish. The High Elves chasing him were caught off guard, losing sight of their target.

In the real world, Kael Driftsbane had already escaped these pursuits of his past. But the dream had been twisted against Tyler. The difficulty was far higher now, as if the Feather of Dreamwalker refused to let him succeed so easily.

"Damn it," Tyler muttered underwater, his limbs aching. "I don’t know which part of my life Kael is stuck in... but all I have to do is survive one second longer than him."

Though it was difficult to use the Kun Peng Swimming Art in the new body, Tyler managed to draw upon its essence. His form glided like lightning beneath the river’s surface.

When he emerged, he found himself near the border of the forest. A glowing dome-like barrier shimmered in the distance. It enclosed the entire Elven Forest like a golden cage.

No High Elf could pass through it. But the Dark Elves... they could leave, though returning would mean humiliation and torment.

Tyler approached the barrier. His eyes lit up with hope.

"You’re not going anywhere!" a High Elf shouted, raising his staff. Sharp blades of wind exploded toward Tyler’s legs.

But Tyler narrowed his eyes. "Even if I’m in Kael’s dream... I’m still Tyler White."

He raised a hand.

"Chariot."

A shimmering image of a Rook chess piece flashed on his body for a brief moment. In the next instant, Tyler shot forward like a meteor.

He crossed the barrier, just like that.

The High Elves halted at the edge, their expressions twisted in rage.

Tyler spun around, panting. Then he laughed, hands on his hips.

"Hahaha! You can’t catch me now! I win!"

"Aren’t you being a little too optimistic?" a deep voice echoed beside him.

Tyler flinched. His heart dropped.

From the forest mist stepped a tall Dark Elf. The word "Sin" was still etched upon his forehead. His presence alone caused the wind to fall silent.

He walked through the barrier like it didn’t exist.

Tyler turned sharply. "Char–" he tried to shout again, but his body refused to move. He fell down.

He looked down.

His legs were gone.

Two severed limbs fell before him, blood pooling beneath them.

"H-Huh...? Those legs... they look familiar..."

His pupils shrank. Pain surged through his body like fire.

Then came the scream. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The Dark Elf calmly slid his blade back into its sheath.

Without a word, he grabbed Tyler by the hair and dragged his broken form back through the barrier. Tyler thrashed, whimpered.

The pain in his body made him difficult to speak.

His escape Failed.

Inside the Elven Forest, Before the angry High Elves, he was thrown like a sack of meat.

One of them stepped forward and slapped the Dark Elf across the face.

"Why are you late, Sinner?!" he demanded.

The Dark Elf did not flinch. He took the slap like stone takes rain.

Another elf barked an order, his face cold and cruel. "Turn this traitor into nutrients for the World Tree. It may take centuries for the revival of World Tree. And It may take few more centuries for The Princess to be born. Make sure All the Sinners in the Elven Forest become it’s Nutrients."

The Sinner gave a solemn nod.

He grabbed Tyler once more, dragging his broken body into the shadows of the forest.

The world around Tyler dimmed. Blood loss, fear, pain, and despair washed over him like a wave.

He was thrown onto barren ground, hard and unwelcoming.

Tyler groaned softly as his consciousness stirred. Pain lanced through his body like lightning, but he forced his eyes open. He was inside a dark and gloomy, tunnel. A foul stench filled the air.

He saw two Dark Elves without heads, their lifeless forms sprawled across the blood-soaked soil.

"Is that?" Tyler thought of Kael’s parents’ head in High Elf hand.

"What... is this place?" Tyler muttered, his voice barely more than a whisper.

He tried to crawl backward, away from the sight, but his body refused to respond. He had no strength left.

Then the bodies moved. No they were dragged.

From the edges of the shadows, old and gnarled vines emerged, slithering across the floor like serpents. They crept over the corpses and wrapped around the bodies with sickening squelches. With an eerie strength, the vines dragged the dead into the darkness, leaving behind long trails of crimson blood on the ground.

Then came the sound.

Crunch.

Like bones shattering.

Crunch.

Followed by wet, slurping sounds, the kind that made his skin crawl.

Then—spit.

A thick sound of something being rejected. Mucus, flesh, or bone, Tyler couldn’t tell. It echoed unnaturally, as if the very darkness was alive.

From the depths, they emerged.

Green, gelatinous creatures with no true form, their slime-like bodies shimmering with a sickly sheen. They oozed across the blood-soaked floor and slithered toward the base of a grotesque tree—o r what would one day become the World Tree. These creatures were its builders.

Tyler felt something wrap around his body.

He flinched, but it was too late. The dry vines had found him. They coiled around his body, pulling him across the ground.

"N-No... not like this..."

His fingernails dug into the soil, but he couldn’t stop the dragging. The scent of rot and death choked him as he got dragged away. Each foot he traveled made the fear stronger, made his breathing harder.

His already fading vision turned blurry. The world darkened around him. But just before he lost all awareness, he tilted his head to look.

What he saw was not a beast.

It looked like some sort of plant, etched in the walls. It had no eyes. No ears. No limbs. Only rows upon rows of jagged teeth that grinned as if welcoming him to his end.

Then it opened its mouth, multiple tongues were twisted in it.

---

Tyler’s eyes flew open.

He gasped, clutching his chest.

He was back.

Or so he thought.

He looked around, blinking rapidly. His body was intact. His limbs responded. The air smelled clean. The sky above him wasn’t clouded in rot. But the Elven Forest was gone.

No trees. No High Elves. No World Tree stump.

"I am no longer black. Did I came back to my own Body?..." Tyler muttered.

Just a vast open land of hills and twilight.

"Where... am I now?" he whispered.

Though he felt like himself again, something was off.

"I sense no Aura nor Prana here. This is Spiritual Energy." Tyler muttered, "Also there is some sort of high level energy in the Air. Immortal Qi?"

His hands trembled slightly.

This wasn’t a return.

It was another layer of the dream.

He was still inside the Feather of Dreamwalker.

But this world was different. More stable. no longer chaotic. It had the strange calm.

"Where am I?" Tyler muttered, his voice barely audible.

Suddenly, a man-sized, egg-shaped stone plummeted from the sky and crashed into the ground with a dull thud. Runes etched on its surface pulsed with light as the stone cracked open. A disheveled man crawled out, coughing and groaning.

"Ahh... I fell here," the man muttered, brushing off dust from his robe.

Moments later, several cultivators riding flying swords descended from the sky, surrounding the man. Strangely, none of them seemed to notice Tyler standing nearby, as if he were invisible or not part of this world.

"You are trespassing in the Feng Family’s research facility," one of the sword riders said sternly. "But judging by your state, it seems this was an accident."

"Of course it was an accident!" the man shouted, still panting. "I’m a researcher here too. That artifact— it’s my creation. With the rising tension between the Bai and Feng Families, I was looking for a way to escape Feng Grotto Heaven if things went bad."

"Understood. Please come back with us," another cultivator said, grabbing the man as they prepared to leave.

Meanwhile, Tyler stood frozen in place.

He whispered to himself, "Feng Grotto Heaven? Isn’t that... Immortal Feng Feiyan’s world?"

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Author here!

If you’re wondering how Tyler ended there, try reading the previous Chapter— pay close attention to what Gunn Calway said at the beginning of the Chapter.