Ghost Willow Seeking Investment

Chapter 25: Ghost Willow

Xu Changqing sat cross-legged atop the Golden Dragon's head, his long hair whipping in the wind, his robes snapping loudly in the gale.

He was desperate.

From Notting City to the Soul Hunting Forest, a carriage ride took roughly five hours. Even an ordinary Great Soul Master in their twenties would need about an hour at full speed. He was flying, but he was only three or four times faster than those Great Soul Masters. It would probably take around twenty minutes to reach the Soul Hunting Forest, and with the time needed to search, nearly half an hour might pass. This was bad!

Those thirty minutes, added to the time those people had taken to return to Notting City for reinforcements, had already delayed things far too long.

He had no idea whether Si Si Jie was still safe.

By the time Su Yuntao and the others gathered enough people and arrived, there was no telling how badly the situation might worsen. He had to hurry!

Now that Xu Changqing had broken through to level 20, his Soul Power reserves were many times greater than before. By his own estimate, he could use his First Soul Skill at least twenty times.

He had originally been quite satisfied with his current total amount of Soul Power, but after this incident, his opinion had changed.

Too little!

It was still far too little!

Even if he drained every bit of Soul Power in his body, whether he could reach the heart of the Soul Hunting Forest and find Si Si Jie was still unknown.

One summoning through his First Soul Skill could only keep the Golden Dragon active for a mere minute.

But he had no choice. He could only travel while taking every chance to meditate and recover his Soul Power. His physique had been strengthened twice, and his efficiency at absorbing Soul Power through meditation was noticeably faster than before. That was probably the only good news at the moment.

He was racing against time. Whatever Soul Power he could recover would have to do!

Nearly twenty-five minutes later.

A twenty-meter-long Golden Divine Dragon roared as it charged into the depths of the Soul Hunting Forest. By then, Xu Changqing's Soul Power was nearly depleted, and an unhealthy pallor had appeared on his face.

With two Soul Elders leading and eight Great Soul Masters assisting, yet something had still gone wrong. The most likely explanation was that they had encountered an unexpectedly powerful soul beast. Such creatures generally lived near the center of the forest.

He had chosen to head straight in, where the chances of encountering it would be much greater.

As long as the soul beast was not outrageously powerful, Xu Changqing was confident he could kill it. His reliance was not on his soul skills, but on the two 100,000-Year Soul Bone Skills he had gained after absorbing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bone.

Those two 100,000-Year Soul Bone Skills were absurdly powerful. One could multiply his current mental strength several times over, while the other could directly attack an enemy's mental space.

Mental strength was essentially similar to the soul. The stronger one's mental strength, the stronger one's soul.

Yet whether soul masters or soul beasts, the inhabitants of Douluo Continent were pitifully underdeveloped in mental cultivation. His 100,000-Year Soul Bone Skills would undoubtedly be devastating weapons against either soul masters or soul beasts.

Not long after entering the depths of the Soul Hunting Forest, Xu Changqing sensed something unusual in the surroundings. This entire area was far too quiet. There was not even the chirping of insects or birds, much less any sign of soul beasts.

It was as if the only sound left in the world was the howling wind rushing past his ears. Rather than being alarmed, he was delighted. This meant he might already be very close to his destination. Still, the strange state of the area made him quietly raise his guard. He had likely entered the territory of a powerful soul beast. He hoped it was the one Si Si Jie and the others had encountered.

As he rode the Golden Dragon low over a dense stretch of forest, two streams of black light suddenly shot through the tightly packed canopy like spirit snakes. They spiraled up from the woods below and abruptly coiled toward the sky with incredible speed.

The Golden Dragon could not dodge in time and was immediately caught around the abdomen by the two flexible, snake-like branches, which began dragging it downward.

Xu Changqing's expression hardened. The little Soul Power remaining in his body surged at full force, and the Century Soul Ring around his right wrist, like a bracelet, flared with brilliant yellow light. The Golden Dragon immediately began struggling with all its strength, roaring again and again.

At the same time, Xu Changqing clearly saw what was wrapped around the Golden Dragon's body.

They were two branches as thick as an adult's wrist, black-gold in color and covered in palm-length leaves. The leaves resembled enlarged, narrow willow leaves, lush and green.

The two branches did not appear particularly thick. At least compared to the water-vat-thick body of the Golden Dragon, they were utterly insignificant. Yet they seemed incredibly tough and possessed boundless strength. No matter how the Golden Dragon struggled in midair, it could not break free from their restraint. Instead, the branches tightened further and further. Breaking them was simply wishful thinking.

Xu Changqing made a split-second decision. While the unknown soul beast focused all its attention on the massive Golden Dragon, he kicked off hard from the dragon's head and leaped more than ten meters away, landing steadily on the branch of an old tree below. Then, with several swift bounds, he nimbly concealed himself.

Hidden behind the tree, he peered through layers of shadowy foliage in the direction the two branches extended. He saw a gigantic willow tree over twenty meters tall and as thick as a water vat, fiercely whipping the branches at its crown as it wrestled with the Golden Dragon in the sky.

From the way the Golden Dragon roared furiously while its body was steadily dragged down, it was clear that this plant-type soul beast had the upper hand.

Although many old trees and waist-high weeds obscured its full form, Xu Changqing still recognized it from the knowledge he had accumulated over the past year.

"Ghost Willow! A Ghost Willow more than two thousand years old!"

"A soul beast like this actually exists in the Soul Hunting Forest?"

Information about the Ghost Willow surfaced in Xu Changqing's mind. The nemesis of close-combat soul masters, cunning and sinister, skilled at launching sudden ambushes. Its weakness was its slow movement speed. His brows drew together slightly.

A plant-type soul beast like the Ghost Willow was easy enough to deal with before it matured. But once it grew past the thousand-year threshold, it underwent the most important transformation of its life, growing an incomparably tough Natal Willow Branch. This Ghost Willow already had two Natal Willow Branches, meaning it had to be over two thousand years old.

Its advancement rate was far too fast. Who knew how many soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest it had secretly devoured over the past year?

Before absorbing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bone, Xu Changqing would never have dared set his sights on it. But now, a few thoughts had emerged in his heart.

His Soul Power had already reached level 20. For his Second Soul Skill, he happened to need a wood-element soul beast. Wasn't this Ghost Willow the perfect fit?

He did not know whether this Ghost Willow was the source of trouble Si Si Jie and the others had encountered, but it would be difficult to find another soul beast in the Soul Hunting Forest as powerful as this one.

It was most likely the one!

"I need a detailed ambush plan! With my 100,000-Year Soul Bone Skills, as long as I can hit it, it definitely won't have an easy time. As for my First Soul Skill, apart from Heavenly Walk Rupture, the other offensive methods probably won't have much effect."

Xu Changqing pondered in silence as he watched the Ghost Willow from dozens of meters away. It had concealed itself among the many old trees, and his eyes narrowed slightly. This Ghost Willow was very cunning and exceptionally good at hiding itself.

He closed his eyes, and his mental strength spread out in all directions, covering the area ahead. He needed to see whether he could first find traces of Si Si Jie and the others.

Compared with the naked eye, mental strength allowed for much finer observation. It was also less likely to be detected by enemies who were not skilled in such matters, making it an extremely convenient scouting method.

Of course, that was assuming one's mental strength was powerful enough.

Soon, Xu Changqing's mental strength reached the vicinity of the Ghost Willow. At last, he saw this Ghost Willow, which had hidden itself almost perfectly, in full detail.

It stood around twenty-five meters tall, with a thick trunk. Countless thumb-thick willow branches hung down and swayed gently. Seven or eight meters above the ground, many willow branches were intertwined into large round balls, as if something lay inside them.

Xu Changqing's mental strength probed into the spheres formed by those willow branches. He immediately saw human soul masters bound tightly within them, one after another. Si Si Jie was among them. He even saw several soul beasts pierced by willow branches, their life essence being drained.

Fortunately, Si Si Jie still had signs of life. Her tragic fate of becoming nourishment had not yet come, so he still had some time to prepare.

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