Tree of the Undead

Black Fiend stood on Fang Xiu's shoulder, looking rather pleased with himself.

"See? My kitten agents are everywhere. They found it so quickly!" The black cat licked its paws, endlessly boasting about its contribution.

Fang Xiu shot Black Fiend a glance. "Yeah! So fast! Wait a little longer, and once it's daylight, I'll be able to see it straight on the news!"

Black Fiend lowered its head and said pitifully, "You said it was nearby. Who knew East Gate District was this far away?"

Fang Xiu ventured deep into the fog. It could trap ordinary people, but it had no effect whatsoever on beings like Fang Xiu and Black Fiend, whose spiritual values had reached seven and whose souls were exceptionally powerful.

"Why does this fog feel like it keeps drilling into my head, like it's trying to tear my brain right out?" Black Fiend patted its head with a little paw and spoke to Fang Xiu.

At that moment, Fang Xiu spotted a car parked on the roadside slope. It was a Police Car, its lights flashing on and off. Looking through the window, Fang Xiu found that everyone inside was asleep. Their bodies had suffered no harm, nor did they show any abnormalities.

Looking farther ahead, Fang Xiu saw several more cars on the road. The people inside were the same, all sunk into unconscious sleep amid the fog.

Fang Xiu examined them carefully, and his brows immediately furrowed.

Though their breathing was steady and their snores sounded normal, as if they were merely asleep, Fang Xiu could tell that was only an illusion.

In his eyes, only empty shells remained here. Their souls had all vanished.

"What? You're saying this fog can devour people's souls? All their souls were eaten?"

Black Fiend looked around at the surrounding fog in horror. This strange fog did not really look like fog at all. It flowed more like smoke, stretching into strands like sticky pulled sugar as it moved, while black ash could faintly be seen falling within it.

"They weren't eaten. They disappeared!"

Fang Xiu continued onward and saw several more cars. Beyond them, there were many people collapsed in the gray fog—among the trees, inside mountain pavilions, beside huge boulders, and by pools of water. People could be seen everywhere.

But without exception, all of their souls had disappeared.

So many people had been trapped here. No wonder there had been such a huge commotion outside. At the entrances to the park, around Yellow Goat Mountain, and across Three Goat Lake, police and rescue workers were everywhere, waiting for daybreak before entering the mountain in full force. Dozens of people had gone missing; that counted as major news even nationally.

Fang Xiu looked toward the summit. "The source of the fog should be up there!"

Though Fang Xiu said so, a trace of worry showed in his eyes. The disturbance this thing had caused was simply too great.

He looked over the fog's range. It stretched across several peaks, and he had heard it even covered half of Three Goat Lake. With such a vast area, just what kind of existence was that unknown mutated plant? How powerful was it? If anything went wrong, he might truly be unable to contain the situation.

The highway led to the reservoir behind the mountain, while the path up the mountain was a rugged trail winding through the hills.

Fang Xiu could sense that the power was flowing down from the mountain. He opened his Clock Eye, and the entire world immediately transformed into a structure of lines before his eyes, allowing him to observe it from the soul's unique perspective.

His gaze pierced through the clouds, through the mountains, and through the earth, watching this world from a lofty, three-dimensional vantage point.

Fang Xiu raised his head and looked toward the sky. Scales appeared within his silver eyes, and three hands turned slowly, making a clack-clack sound.

But at that moment, his expression abruptly changed. Even he, who had been calm until now, revealed a look of horror.

At the summit, a pillar of black-gray smoke shot into the heavens, covering the sky and scattering the clouds. Its terrifying, sinister power filled Fang Xiu with immense pressure and icy dread.

The enormous column of black smoke engulfed the entire mountaintop, spiraling toward the heavens. Countless dead souls and evil spirits seemed to be howling within it. The miserable, shrill cries felt like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, making Fang Xiu's teeth ache as a mad and chaotic sensation flooded his mind.

"This...?"

It was Fang Xiu's first time seeing such an existence. Shock filled his eyes as the black-gray pillar of smoke blotted out everything. Black ash began to fall from the sky, and the entire world turned gray.

It was not an ordinary gray, but one carrying a force of decay, like the ashen black left behind after the whole world had been burned by raging flames.

When Fang Xiu looked down at the earth beneath his feet, he saw that the blackness was seeping into the ground, actually contaminating the Gaia Consciousness underground. Flecks of black ash fell into the earth and permeated that boundless ocean of light.

At that moment, Fang Xiu sensed another change in the Dominator of Time and Space Log he carried. When he took it out, he immediately saw that its original description had changed.

Time-Space Containment Order

Item: Eramon's Tree (Undead Tree/Gate of Hell/Nightmare Tree!)

Origin of Time-Space Traversal: Time-Space 13156

Traits: A legendary tree capable of opening the gates of hell. It possesses part of the power of Eramon, the God of Death, and inherently bears some characteristics of hell!

Fang Xiu raised his head and looked at the dense black-gray smoke pillar on the mountain that connected heaven and earth. His face darkened as he flung the Dominator of Time and Space Log to the ground.

Fang Xiu stomped the damned log into the mud. "Fuck! Can't you be a little more reliable? Why not just bring over the God of Death from another world directly?!"

"I've only just learned one illusion spell! And you bring me something like this? If I learn to fly on a sword, are you going to make me cleave the Three Pure Ones with one slash and kick the Tathagata next time?!"

Fang Xiu had only just triumphantly learned an illusion spell and gained the tiniest bit of supernatural power. Before he could even show off, he was being forced to face something like this head-on. Forget everything else—just listen to those names: Gate of Hell, God of Death, and that sky-piercing ash-black smoke column in his Clock Eye, the black smoke that had dyed the entire world ash-black.

That presence had even more grandeur than the arrival of some great Demon King.

Fang Xiu could turn around and leave. Though the Dominator of Time and Space Log had issued some Time-Space Containment Order, it had not stipulated that Fang Xiu absolutely had to carry it out. But Fang Xiu knew that if he turned away now, the mess would only grow worse.

Especially since this thing seemed to be growing stronger by the moment. The fog was continually expanding, and it was slowly eroding the Gaia Consciousness underground.

Fang Xiu lit a cigarette and stared at the constantly writhing, shifting black smoke atop the mountain. After hesitating for a long time, he finally made his decision.

Fang Xiu flicked away the cigarette butt, took off the Saint's Ring he had been wearing around his neck, and snapped its cord. It only had about two uses left now, but if Fang Xiu succeeded, he would obtain Eramon's Tree. All things considered, it was worth it.

Of course, that was assuming he succeeded.

Fang Xiu looked around, found a concealed corner, and sat down directly beneath a tree by the roadside.

He flicked the Saint's Ring into the air. In the next instant, he closed his eyes. Like an old monk entering meditation, his head drooped deeply, and he looked as though he had fallen asleep.

But a phantom-like, transparent figure rose from Fang Xiu's body. The Saint's Ring spun as it fell, and a transparent hand caught it.

At once, the Saint's Ring erupted with intense white light, enveloping Fang Xiu's soul. His entire body transformed into a form made of fluorescent light. Yet his appearance was no longer that of an ordinary person—instead, he became a silver-haired Taoist wearing Taoist robes.

Silver-haired Fang Xiu glanced at Black Fiend. His silvery-white eyes carried an air of cold indifference and lofty superiority. Terrified, Black Fiend immediately curled into a ball on Fang Xiu's shoulder, trembling all over, its body arched as though its fur had bristled.

Fang Xiu tapped off with his toes at once. Spreading his arms, his moon-white robe fluttered in the wind as he swept over the sky and treetops like a shadow of moonlight. With several light steps, he seemed to shift through space, darting from the foot of the mountain straight to its peak.

"Watch over my body!"

A faint, distant voice entered Black Fiend's mind directly, yet to Black Fiend, it was like a great bell tolling inside its skull.

Freed from the restraints of his body, Fang Xiu could instead wield the Saint's Ring's power to its fullest. In battle, he also no longer needed to keep using the Saint's Ring's power to protect his body from being smashed apart or failing to endure the strain.