"Cough, cough. Third Brother, now that's what I call proper!"
Zhu Wuhua flapped his two huge ears and strode over with measured steps, looking equally relaxed.
"Let's go. Hit the road. I'll lead," Niu Aihua said, having regained the steady manner of an old ox.
"I'll bring up the rear." Zhu Wuhua did not yield the role to anyone else.
Wang Wu hurriedly stopped the two of them. There were some things he needed to clarify. They were just going straight to find that Grandpa Tree? Why did that sound so unreliable?
But he could not speak. He could only point at a large tree and wave his limbs about in a flurry of gestures. He had thought communication would be difficult.
Yet the pig and ox understood him in an instant.
"Lianhua is worried Grandpa Tree might mean us harm?"
Niu Aihua shook his head. "Grandpa Tree is one of the foremost beings in the Western Wilderness. They say it is a divine tree that has lived for a hundred thousand years. Every plant spirit and tree monster in the Western Wilderness answers to it. But plant spirits are different from us demons. Under normal circumstances, we mind our own business and do not cross each other's paths."
"Still, the Human cultivators have coveted Grandpa Tree for a long time. So every so often, Grandpa Tree recruits powerful Plant Demon Soldiers to protect it. No need to mention distant examples—take the Great Ape King of the Great Snow Mountain to the east, and the Mad Tiger King to the south. They are both thousand-year great demons, yet they once served as Plant Demon Soldiers protecting Grandpa Tree."
"Wuhua and I did not go specifically to buy a Fortune Wisdom Heart Pill for you, either. The truth is, we offended