The Bodhi Ancient Tree Reveals Its Trace

"Ah, once everything settles down, it'll be time to enter seclusion and make a push for the Dou Saint realm."

Birds of a feather flock together. Not long after Dan Chengzi established the Dan Tower, Tang Xiao established Fenyan Valley as well.

Xiao Xuan often chatted and bantered with those two fellows. Only after both entered seclusion to break through to the Dou Saint realm did he leave and continue roaming across the Central Plains.

Then one day, in the Southern Region of the Central Plains, energy tides surged within a place known as the Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range. Rumor had it that this was a sign of the Bodhi Ancient Tree emerging, instantly drawing the attention of many.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree usually remained hidden deep underground, impossible for anyone to locate. Only when its thousand-year cycle arrived would it appear in the world once more.

The Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range was much like its name suggested—a place forsaken by the heavens. The weather here was harsh, poisonous miasma permeated the land, and Fierce Beasts lurked everywhere. Most of these beasts had been passed down directly from ancient times.

Some of them were not inferior in the slightest to any present-day Magical Beast race, aside from the Ancient Void Dragon clan.

In other words, even members of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan would likely face grave danger if they entered...

It could be said that this was a natural ancient ruin, filled with relics left behind from ancient times and countless rare treasures.

Heaven Abandoned City was a city outside the Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range.

Though the notorious Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range lay here, those who lived by the mountains ate from the mountains, and those who lived by the water ate from the water. Since it was close to the mountain range, this town had naturally sprung up.

The moment one entered the city, passing mercenaries, shouting peddlers, hawking merchants, and bustling taverns filled the air with the vibrant hustle and bustle of mortal life.

Humans possessed an extremely strong ability to adapt. Even in such barren lands, they could build a city like this.

Outside the city, endless yellow sand stretched in every direction. Even nourished by Dou Qi, the residents here had wheat-colored or bronze skin, and their complexions were relatively rough.

As Xiao Xuan strolled along the streets, he saw all manner of shops and stalls. Weapons, armor, pills, magic cores, medicinal herbs... there were countless strange and varied goods.

Antidote pills and wound-healing pills were the most common and best-selling items here. Magic cores and medicinal herbs were also comparatively plentiful.

After looking around, Xiao Xuan leaped into the air. With a single rise and fall, he became an afterimage. His true body seemed to tear through space, and in an instant, he had arrived within Heaven Abandoned Mountain.

Ancient trees hundreds of feet tall were everywhere here.

Abundant natural energy rushed toward him, its density several times greater than that of the outside world. It truly deserved to be called a land left behind from ancient times, though poisonous fog was equally abundant within it.

His soul perception remained vigilant of his surroundings at all times, missing no movement lest he suffer an unexpected defeat.

After nearly half a day, he had reached a place rarely touched by human footprints. Ordinary people would never come here, and according to his perception, a true death zone lay ahead.

There was not the slightest trace of life, only boundless black mist that had corroded all vitality within.

Lush forests blocked out the sunlight. Within this damp, dark environment, the black mist was nearly invisible. If one carelessly plunged into it, the outcome would certainly be miserable.

Xiao Xuan stretched out a hand and drew over a clump of black mist with Dou Qi. The mist was formless and intangible, yet as it writhed, it seemed almost alive.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

A cluster of green flames rose from Xiao Xuan's hand, wrapping around the black mist.

"Chirp, chirp!"

What appeared to be black mist actually produced dense insect cries under the scorching of the Heavenly Flames.

These were poisonous insects, so tiny they were invisible to the naked eye. Once inhaled, even a Dou Zun would struggle to survive.

These poisonous insects alone could stop the vast majority of intruders.

A layer of flames formed around him like a coat. With a movement of his feet, he shot forward. Wherever he passed, dense cries of dying insects rang out, sending chills down the spine.

An hour passed before the seemingly endless black mist finally revealed its end.

Once he burst through the poisonous miasma, the scene before him suddenly opened up.

Sweeping his gaze ahead, he saw a massive heavenly chasm several hundred feet wide appearing before him.

The chasm was extremely deep, poisonous gas swirling within it, its bottom impossible to see. As his gaze gradually rose, he saw an endless chain of mountains beyond it.

These mountains towered tens of thousands of feet high, like enormous dragons coiled across the land. An ancient, vast aura spread from them, rippling through heaven and earth.

Looking at the distant mountain range, he let out a soft breath, a trace of helplessness in his eyes.

He could vaguely sense just how immense and boundless that ancient mountain range, whose end could not be seen, truly was.

"Hehe, northwest, huh? Good thing I intercepted a portion of the Bodhi Pill's aura. While I can't determine the Bodhi Ancient Tree's exact location, I can still identify its general direction.

I'd better hurry up and get there first, then let those latecomers cry their eyes out."

The instant he crossed the heavenly chasm, several beast roars rang out. Violent auras shot into the sky as several afterimages rushed toward him.

Xiao Xuan glanced at the Fierce Beasts. They were merely comparable to low-level Dou Zuns. With a casual wave of his hand, four streams of azure Dou Qi appeared and shot toward them.

"Wail!"

Four miserable cries rang out in succession. The streams of Dou Qi struck the four Fierce Beasts with precision, exploding into four blossoms of blood in midair as severed limbs and blood flew everywhere.

He reached out with a clawed hand and clenched it. Four magic cores the size of human heads swiftly flew out of the blood mist and were collected into his storage.

They were Eighth-Tier Magic Cores, after all. Killing them without taking their cores would be an enormous waste.

A day later, the number of Eighth-Tier Magic Cores in Xiao Xuan's possession had increased considerably. He had at least several dozen, showing just how staggering the number of Fierce Beasts left behind in the depths of the Heaven Abandoned Mountain Range was.

That continued until an exceptionally steep giant peak, like a colossal python reaching toward the heavens, lay coiled across the only path leading to the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Black gas continuously seeped from the mountain, blanketing the sky within a hundred-meter radius. Within that area, no Fierce Beast dared set foot.

Then, the entire mountain began to tremble. A mournful whistle of tearing wind sounded, and a black snake tail over a hundred feet long burst from the black mist like lightning, carrying terrifying force as it viciously lashed toward him.

This giant python possessed a powerful aura and extraordinary strength, at least comparable to a five-star Dou Zun. More importantly, it was an Ancient Heaven Demon Python.

The Ancient Heaven Demon Python was an extremely rare mutated Fierce Beast. In terms of ancestry, its bloodline was quite close to the ancient progenitor of the serpent race.

However, its killing nature was too intense, causing its intelligence to be far inferior to that of races like the Nine Serene Underworld Python. Thus, the latter also looked down somewhat on the Ancient Heaven Demon Python.

The blood of an Ancient Heaven Demon Python possessed remarkable effects for cleansing and tempering the body. Naturally, the effect was no longer great for Xiao Xuan, but there were plenty of people in the Xiao Clan who could use it.

In that flash of lightning, he flicked his sleeve. Boundless Dou Qi surged forth, and his robes billowed despite the absence of wind.