At West Mountain's summit, atop an utterly ordinary tree, a Little Tree Spirit darted over at high speed. It was Cao Liheng.
He waited there anxiously. A moment later, beneath that ordinary tree, a group of eight Little Tree Spirits crawled out from a tree hollow. Their leader was his older sister, Cao Likuan.
"Big Sister, did you find any survivors?"
Cao Liheng asked urgently. More than ten days had passed since the Plant Demon Soldier assessment ended. This time, his sister had applied to the higher branch temple for support and invited several highly respected, formidable Tree Spirit experts to investigate the Plant Zombies, while also searching for the missing Sprites.
Cao Likuan shook her head without elaborating. She merely solemnly thanked the other Little Tree Spirits and gave each of them a valuable gift. Only after seeing them all off did she sigh. "Nothing. Those short-sighted old fools actually want to abandon this place."
"What? Abandon it?" Cao Liheng was stunned. "This is Grandpa Tree's branch temple! How can they just abandon it?"
"Shut up, idiot! Others may not know, but don't you and I? For the past several centuries, Grandpa Tree has been asleep. Its great branch at the foot of West Mountain has gradually withered away. No matter how we offer sacrifices, we can only rouse it shallowly. Deep communication is no longer possible."
"If that were all, we could still barely hold on. But I've already received word that Cloud Cauldron City of the humans truly intends to take Great Snow Mountain. Those claims about expanding three thousand li were all rumors. West Mountain is only two thousand li from Great Snow Mountain. Once war begins, how could there be peace?"
"Originally, I wanted to properly nurture that Xiong Lianhua. A Savage Ancient Bear—once it