Art of the Wood Man

The giant tree had realized it had miscalculated. This human was no ordinary Soul King.

Quite a few humans had stumbled in here before, including Soul Emperors and Soul Sages. After exhausting all their strength, they had usually been easily defeated by the giant tree and turned into its nourishment. That was precisely why it had misjudged Mu Yuan's strength.

Its Soul Power was steadily being depleted. If this continued, it would lose to this human, then be killed and stripped of its spirit ring and spirit bone. Its Hundred Thousand Year cultivation would turn to dust in a single day.

The giant tree could not accept such an outcome.

Fortunately, it still had a trump card.

Though the price was steep, it could not worry about that with its life on the line.

"Damn human, you forced my hand!"

The giant tree roared, and Soul Power erupted from its entire body.

Mu Yuan immediately grew vigilant and did not dare let his guard down.

The ground shook violently as though an earthquake had struck, while bursts of cracking sounds came from underground.

The earth split amid the tremors, revealing densely packed roots within. Those roots were all snapping apart bit by bit.

As a plant soul beast, the giant tree's greatest weakness was that it could only remain in one place and could not move freely. This allowed Mu Yuan to slowly wear it down.

However, once a plant soul beast's cultivation reached a certain level, it could briefly perform acts that defied the laws of nature.

The giant tree possessed such an ability. It could erupt with Soul Power and tear its root system from the ground, allowing itself to move.

But it had remained here for far too long. Its roots had spread densely through the earth, draining all the nutrients from the surrounding land. Such a bloated root system could not possibly be pulled free with ease.

Facing Mu Yuan's threat, the giant tree could only endure the pain and sever most of its roots.

As the ground shook violently, an enormous ancient tree rose astonishingly to its feet. Its remaining roots intertwined to form two massive legs, temporarily granting it the ability to move.

"Die, insect!"

The giant legs formed from countless roots strode rapidly across the ground. Each step covered dozens of meters as it raised a foot and stomped toward Mu Yuan.

Rather than face it head-on, Mu Yuan summoned a Wood Dragon and rode it to evade the giant tree's attacks.

Yes, Mu Yuan could summon two Wood Dragons, or even three.

However, the more Wood Dragons he summoned, the greater the drain on him. Therefore, Mu Yuan generally did not do so.

But the situation was exceptional. The giant tree had clearly gone all out and would not be able to keep this up for long. As long as Mu Yuan held on through this period, victory would be assured, so there was naturally no need to conserve his strength.

The giant tree's enormous size meant every attack dealt tremendous damage, but its speed was limited, and it could not hit Mu Yuan.

Mu Yuan dodged with all his might.

After leaving the ground, the giant tree's Soul Power was being consumed even faster. Seeing that it still could not land a hit, it steeled itself and gathered what little Soul Power remained within it, preparing to launch a faster attack.

This attack was much faster than the previous ones. The Wood Dragon failed to evade completely, and half of its body was kicked clean off by the giant tree.

Mu Yuan was also grazed by the attack, leaving several deep wounds across his body.

Fortunately, due to his martial soul, Mu Yuan possessed a special constitution that could automatically absorb energy from the outside world to strengthen himself. After being injured, he could also absorb external energy to heal himself.

As a result, the wounds on his body quickly recovered by more than half.

As for the giant tree, its prolonged inability to defeat him had drained it tremendously, and it could no longer maintain this form.

With a boom, the giant tree's legs came apart, and its massive body crashed to the ground.

Through the Wood Dragons wrapped around the giant tree, Mu Yuan could clearly sense that the Soul Power within it was nearly depleted.

This meant there was no trick. The giant tree had truly run out of Soul Power.

Mu Yuan silently walked forward.

The human face on the giant tree's trunk suddenly became kindly.

"Kind little Soul Master, I am already one hundred and sixteen thousand years old. I have never harmed humans. Could you please not kill me and spare my life?"

Mu Yuan replied, "One hundred and ten thousand years. That suits me well."

The giant tree grew furious, and the face on its trunk instantly became incomparably grief-stricken and indignant.

"Humans, what have us soul beasts done wrong? We stay honestly in the forest and have never taken the initiative to harm anyone. Yet you invade our homes for your own selfish desires, kill us, and take our spirit rings and spirit bones. Do you not feel ashamed?"

Mu Yuan shook his head. "You drained all the nutrients from this region. How many animals and plants have gone extinct because of you? Compared to me, you should feel more ashamed. Besides, I am human and you are a soul beast. You are not qualified to hear such reasoning."

Upon hearing this, the face on the giant tree instantly twisted, returning to its original appearance.

Seeing Mu Yuan approach step by step with no intention of sparing it, the giant tree said venomously, "Human, you will not meet a good end. I can smell the aura of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast around you. It is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has taken human form. You must care about her deeply, right? Hahaha, what a pity—she is still a soul beast!"

Mu Yuan raised his hand. His movements did not waver in the slightest because of the giant tree's words. While it was speaking, he thrust his hand directly into the tree's core.

The giant tree immediately let out a shrill, mournful cry.

The Life Force of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast rapidly dissipated, and the giant tree's life came to an end.

A blood-red spirit ring appeared above the giant tree. At the same time, Mu Yuan withdrew the hand he had thrust into its core. In his hand, a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Bone radiating dense Life Force gleamed brilliantly.

Looking at the giant tree's corpse, Mu Yuan said calmly, "Unfortunately, from the moment Xiao Wu chose to take human form, she became human, not a soul beast."

Sitting cross-legged, Mu Yuan began absorbing the spirit ring.

The lingering might of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast remained, so virtually no other soul beasts would dare come over and disturb him.

Still, to be safe, Mu Yuan used two Wood Dragons to wrap himself up and guard against injury.

He then slowly guided the blood-red spirit ring into his martial soul.

The spirit ring resisted fiercely. As it approached Mu Yuan, a face identical to the giant tree's condensed upon it and roared unwillingly at him.

The next moment, Mu Yuan's Divine Tree Martial Soul swallowed it whole.

The mental impact of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast still failed to stir even the slightest ripple.

What followed was a long process of absorption.

Mu Yuan began absorbing the power contained within the spirit ring.

This Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Ring was highly compatible with his own attributes, and the enhancement it brought was immense.

The power contained within the spirit ring continuously strengthened Mu Yuan's body, while Mu Yuan himself absorbed energy from the outside world.

The moon rose, then set.

Mu Yuan opened his eyes and brought his hands together.

"Sixth soul skill, Wood Man!"

As his words fell, incomparably terrifying Soul Power erupted, and a colossal figure sixty to seventy meters tall rose from the ground.

Wood Man. It sounded utterly ordinary, even somewhat like a child's toy of a soul skill.

Yet once truly unleashed, it was so powerful.

Nearly seventy meters tall, it was like a walking small mountain. Its entire body was composed of trees as hard as steel, and it contained terrifying power capable of overturning mountains and seas.

Power at this level had already completely reached the level of a Titled Douluo, and it was even stronger than most Titled Douluo below Level 95.

Mu Yuan was extremely satisfied with his sixth soul skill.

Next, it was time to exchange for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well with Dugu Bo.