Therefore, when he entered the spiritual realm, his blood vessels automatically sensed the power that called out to him.
The closer he was to this place, the more he sensed the power’s existence and happiness.
Yes, the oasis was happy. Its subconscious was releasing an emotion of joy upon his arrival.
Ou Yangming flashed at lightning speed and finally set foot in front of the oasis. At this point, the vast oasis released an unparalleled aura.
Far away, Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman quivered all of a sudden, and they collapsed to the ground. Behind them, Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard were frightened out of their wits, and they simply prostrated themselves on the ground.
They clearly sensed the potency of the power. In the face of this power, they were as tiny as ants.
Following that, they saw Ou Yangming’s body being wrapped up by the 2 forefront willow twigs, and he was dragged inside directly. The big yellow dog, which was behind him, could not escape the fate too as it was also pulled into the endless oasis.
Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman looked at each other at a loss.
According to the ancient book, humans that wanted to enter the Wutong Tree’s world must offer a powerhouse’s flesh, blood, and soul. Moreover, the powerhouse had to be a caster that was at least a Spiritualist. Only after the Wutong Tree enjoyed the powerhouse, the others could enter the oasis safely for a certain period.
This was the information that they found from an extremely unpopular ancient book, hence it was not normally known by people.
Needless to say, this was also because a Wutong Tree was a legendary item. Since too few people studied the living thing, the information was not widely spread.
Despite this being their first attempt, Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman knew what a blood sacrifice was.
‘Is that all? Extending 2 willow twigs to drag him inside? A blood sacrifice… Where’s the blood?’
Perhaps they would be more at ease if Ou Yangming’s body became disintegrated after being whipped by the willow twigs. They were afraid after seeing the actual outcome.
After all, something like that was not mentioned in that ancient book.
“Phew, what’s going on?” Fat Antelope yelled furiously, “What the hell are you doing? Where did you hide them?”
Xia Zizhen was moved, and he immediately answered, “I have no idea either, but there could’ve been an unforeseen change when Master Ou communicated with the Wutong Tree.” He stood up and shouted fiercely, “Let’s quickly go down there to save Master Ou.”
Poisonous Saber Gentleman was stunned, but he soon curled his lips into a faint smile.
Their initial plan was once Ou Yangming was killed by the Wutong Tree, and the blood sacrifice was a success, they would get rid of the 3 spirit beasts that followed him.
As long as nobody exposed this secret realm, and after they received benefits from the Wutong Tree, they could cultivate here and become Venerable Ones. Once they became Venerable Ones, even the evilest things they did in the past would be written off once and for all. Even if they returned to the Beast King Sect, they would become top-notch figures, and nobody would question them about Ou Yangming.
Nonetheless, the situation seemed to be out of their control. They did not know if Ou Yangming had successfully been sacrificed, so they needed powerhouses to go there to probe.
Unquestionably, Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Antelope were the best candidates.
The spirit beasts looked at each other. They were very in awe of the Wutong Tree below, and they dared not get close to it at all.
Perhaps they would have the guts to go down there if Ou Yangming was with them, but they lacked self-confidence as they were the only ones left.
At the spur of the moment, they saw Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman pulling out their weapons. The 2 men aimed their weapons at the 2 spirit beasts from a distance away.
Silver Ridge questioned with a cold look in its eyes. “What are you trying to do?”
Xia Zizhen smiled faintly and responded, “I told you—Ou Yangming might be in danger, so he needs our help. The 2 of you can go ahead first to scout the area, and we’ll follow you after that.”
The spirit leopard was infuriated. “Damn humans, it turns out that you’re behind everything.” It roared and turned into a strong wind as he charged forward.
Nevertheless, Xia Zizhen whistled loudly and darted forward without avoiding it.
With that, the 2 of them crashed hard into each other. The result was surprising because the sturdy Silver Ridge Giant Leopard with endless strength was forced to take a few steps back.
Poisonous Saber Gentleman weighed the poisonous pill in his hand and looked coldly at Fat Antelope. “Are you going to go down yourself, or you want me to send you there?”
Fat Antelope carefully took a step back. It was fully equipped, but its heart sank at this moment.
※※※※
Inside the oasis, Ou Yangming’s body was being wrapped by willow twigs, and he headed toward the center with Big Yellow.
Contrary to Big Yellow, which kept struggling and barking, Ou Yangming was incredibly quiet and was not nervous at all. Instead, he seemed to be looking forward to what would happen next.
At last, the willow twigs stopped and let go of Ou Yangming and Big Yellow. As soon as they landed on the ground, they were greeted with a thick and robust gigantic tree.
The tree’s bark was so massive that it exceeded the limits of their imaginations.
How could this be a bark? It was simply an enormous wall. Besides, in front of the bark, as they stood in front of the bark, they could not even see the angles of the wall’s corners.
Ou Yangming blinked and lamented. Sure enough, nothing was too odd in this world. If he had not come here, he could not have imagined the existence of such an overbearing living thing.
Without warning, the giant tree wall in front of them changed. The bark wriggled slightly and somehow imitated a person’s face.
The young fellow was blue with shock upon seeing the face. It was because the face was identical to his, which meant that the tree was imitating his look.
“Honorable sir… Hey, you’re… Which sir are you? Why do you look so weird?” The face widened its eyes and asked in confusion.
Ou Yangming scoffed. He knew the tree was exceptionally mighty, by which it could kill him with a willow twig. Having said that, his body was somehow filled with awe-inspiring arrogance, causing him to refuse to bow down to the tree person.
It was intuitive. Just as how all things repelled each other, his existence was the tree’s bane.
Fat Antelope’s martial arts power was average, but it could kill the endless sea of insects without restraint because of this. As long as the scattered insects made even the slightest concerted effort, they could gobble up the fat antelope including its bones. However, even the insect king dared not stop it when it attacked.
As at this moment, Ou Yangming’s blood and every cell on his body were telling him that he was an honorable master while the thing in front of him was a lowly servant, which did not even need to be treated seriously.
Sure enough, seeing as Ou Yangming was displeased, the tree person quickly expressed, “Sir, please don’t misunderstand me. I was only curious because your appearance is truly… Something new.”
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded, and he asked, “What about my appearance?”
The tree person hesitated for a while, but it answered honestly, “According to my inherited memories, your appearance can be categorized as food.”
“You want to eat me?” Ou Yangming was instantly furious.
“Ah, that’s impossible.” The tree person looked wronged. In fact, the whole oasis moved because of this. “I’m wronged. How can I eat… I’m wronged.”
Ou Yangming scoffed. “You wouldn’t dare to do it anyway.”
“Yes, I won’t.” The tree person sighed a
breath of relief. “Sir, I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time… You’re finally here.”
The young fellow blinked and asked as he was bewildered. “You’ve been waiting for me?”
“Yes,” the tree person replied to him without any delay, “Sir, I’ve been waiting for you and your kind. Ah, I’ve already matured over 10,000 years ago, but you and your kind never came, so I’ve been waiting alone…” On the bark, the tree person’s eyes kept blinking, to the extent that liquid rolled down its eyes.
If one only looked at the small, insignificant area on the bark, it would really seem like a person was crying out loud.
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and uttered, “Stop.”
The tree person stopped showing a crying face, and it asked carefully, “Sir, do you have any instructions for me? If you don’t like it, I can show you another face.”
Ou Yangming furrowed his eyes. It was truly unbearable for him to see the face cry; it felt like he was crying instead.
Even so, everything was a small problem. He took a deep breath and asked coldly, “Why have you been hoping for me to come?”
The human face was slightly struck dumb. It looked curiously at Ou Yangming as if it did not understand why he asked such a foolish question.
Ou Yangming blushed. He missed the little red bird very much at this moment. If it was around, the young fellow would be able to handle the situation with ease.
The tree person sensed the faint aura released by Ou Yangming and verified his identity once more.
‘This one has a special hobby of disguising as a food, but there’s nothing wrong about his real identity.
“Sir, look, I’ve been growing for over 10,000 years, so I guarantee you that I’ll be the best material. Please choose me and build your nest here…”
Chapter 638 - Karma
“Build… A nest?”
Ou Yangming had an unusually strange look on his face. He never expected to hear such an absurd request from the weird tree.
Nonetheless, on second thought, he immediately understood what was going on. ‘This enormous living tree regards me as a member of the Phoenixes.
‘The Phoenixes are supreme beings among the birds in the world.
‘But as mighty as they are, they’re birds. Since that’s the case, isn’t it the most normal thing for birds to build nests?
‘The problem is—how would I know how to build a nest?’
“Woof… How can the nest be built?” Big Yellow blinked and barked probingly. Being protected inside the Wutong Tree, they did not sense the powerful aura that instantly burst out from it earlier. If not, the big yellow dog would not have had the guts to attempt this, which might cause it to be killed.
The face on the bark glanced at Big Yellow. It was clear that the tree person completely ignored its existence, but when it thought about how the little fellow came here with Ou Yangming, it decided to respond to it.
“To build the nest… Of course, it’ll be up to sir.” The tree person continued proudly, “I’ve been preparing for over 10,000 years, where I hid endless treasures for sir to use.” Next, numerous different images appeared above the face on the bark.
Although the tree person did not introduce them, even a fool would know that those were images of incredibly precious treasures.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming was embarrassed because he did not recognize any of them.
Big Yellow questioned as it was interested. “How long will it take to build the nest?”
The tree person looked carefully at Ou Yangming as though it was sensing his power. It answered after some time, “It won’t actually take too long. Based on the Divine Fire possessed by sir, it’ll be done after 10,000 years.”
Ou Yangming’s eyelids twitched hard. He was close to vomiting blood.
‘10,000 years?’
‘My corpse and bones would’ve disappeared by then.’
The tree person quickly added after it noticed the hostile look on Ou Yangming’s face. “Sir, if you build a rather crude one, it can somewhat be done within 7,000 to 8,000 years.”
“Shut up.” Ou Yangming waved his hand with force. For some reason, he subconsciously forgot about the disparity between their strengths when he faced the tree person, and he also became hot-tempered and impatient.
The tree person shut up right away and looked at Ou Yangming with worry.
Needless to say, it was not concerned about its safety, but the fact that Ou Yangming might leave because he disdained it.
Ou Yangming asked after some thought, “Must it take such a long time?”
The tree person looked troubled. “Sir, the time can naturally be shortened if you become more capable but…”
Ou Yangming relaxed and chuckled. “I see. In that case, I’ll come back to… To build the best once I’m capable enough.”
The tree person looked bitter. It took so long for it to come across this ability, but Ou Yangming was unwilling to proceed.
If it let this sir slip away, it did not know how much longer it would have to wait to complete the mission of its kind.
“Sir, you can choose to build the nest after you grow stronger, but why don’t you leave a mark here first? If you do that, this secret realm will become one of your residences.” The tree person looked eagerly at Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming was moved. He recalled the unknown treasures that were shown by the tree person just now.
He might not need them for the time being, but it would not be a bad choice to have such a base area. Having said that, his only concern would be that it would be unfair for Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman.
The young fellow raised another question after a moment of hesitation, “If I choose to do that, can I seal this secret realm?”
“Of course. As long as you’re the master of this place, everything here belongs to you,” the tree person answered at once and blinked its eyes by imitating Ou Yangming. All of a sudden, it noted, “Sir, your other companions seem to be having an internal strife.”
“An internal strife?” Ou Yangming’s face darkened. Countless thoughts crossed his mind in a flash.
In particular, the food mentioned by the tree person before this gave him a terrible feeling.
“You’ve been here for so many years, but haven’t other people found you?” Ou Yangming asked in a deep voice.
“There were other living things that came, and they were either from the Humans, the Beasts, or other special races, but they all became my nourishment.” The tree person laughed.
Ou Yangming frowned. “You killed them?”
“No, they willingly offered souls, flesh, and blood, so I followed the ancient contract and allowed them to pick up some trash,” the tree person quickly explained and added, “Don’t worry, they only took the most useless items. As for your treasures, I’ve been keeping them well.”
“They willingly offered? What’s that about?” Ou Yangming’s face changed.
At this point, the tree person had realized something. ‘This sir seems to be an idiot… No, I mustn’t disrespect sir like that. Sir just likes to ask more questions.’
It answered honestly, “Sir, using your appearance—a human—as an example, as long as they send me a Spirit Grade caster for me to absorb the caster’s nutrients, mental power, and soul, I’ll open up a certain area for them to collect some trash for 10 hours.”
Ou Yangming scoffed, and he had an extremely cold look in his eyes.
It turned out that this was what Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman had been planning to do.
‘If it isn’t because I possess the Phoenixes’ power, causing this foolish Wutong Tree to misunderstand… Oh, it’ll be better for this fella to remain a fool. If it finds out about my real identity, I’ll probably die a graveless death.’
Struck with a thought, Ou Yangming asked, “Since you’ve been here for so many years, how could new people find the secret realm’s entrance.”
Even though the Wutong Tree claime
d that it only gave away trash, that was only its opinion. To Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman, the most worthless treasures were considered rare items to them.
Throughout the years, as long as the first living thing grasped the rule, one could naturally bring up formidable forces and latch on to the secret realm’s entrance.
Apart from finding the entrance, Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman even entered the realm several times and survived, which was too unbelievable.
The tree person laughed and replied to Ou Yangming, “Sir, the secret realm’s entrance is shiftable; it can be moved once every century. That said, it’s not until now that I’m finally graced by your presence.”
Ou Yangming nodded and curbed his thought. He asked, “What’s the situation of the fight outside?”
“Your human companions are forcing your beast companions to get closer to the oasis. This is odd—why are they having internal strife?” The tree person answered without any hesitation.
“Can you catch all of them here?” Ou Yangming sneered.
“Of course, please wait for a moment.”
As soon as its voice died away, a few black figures flashed in front of Ou Yangming and Big Yellow. In just a split second—the young fellow and the big yellow dog could swear on their lives that it only took a blink of an eye—4 figures that were being wrapped into meat dumplings appeared in front of them.
Whether it was Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman, or Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard, they were in a trance and felt like throwing up.
They were fighting outside the oasis before this happened. While Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard were equipped with equipment sets gifted by Ou Yangming, in terms of absolute martial arts value, they were very inferior to the 2 men.
As they exchanged blows continuously, the spirit beasts involuntarily moved toward the oasis.
If Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman had not wanted to use them to test how the oasis would react, their blood would have been spilled long ago.
Just as the fight was getting intense, all of their visions went blurry, and they felt like they were on a rollercoaster. Of course, only if they knew what a rollercoaster was…
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