Su Mo opened his eyes.
Tang San stopped his sword and asked curiously, "What sacred tree?"
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up, and she began recounting the rumors she'd heard along the way.
"Deep in the Star Dou Forest, there's a Millennium Sacred Tree. It's as clear and lustrous as jade, and at night it glows with seven colors!"
She spread her arms to show how big it was, not even minding the wild fruit juice smeared across her face.
"They say anyone who gets close to it feels unparalleled happiness, and all their pain disappears! Injured Soul Beasts can heal their wounds just by approaching it!"
Tang San grew interested. "It's that miraculous?"
Xiao Wu nodded vigorously. "Some people even say they saw a lame rabbit hop away, and a blind bird take flight again!"
She clasped her hands together, eyes shining.
"I want to see it so badly! It must be beautiful!"
Tang San looked at Su Mo. "Master, should we go take a look?"
Su Mo said nothing.
He looked at Big Black Ox.
Big Black Ox raised its head and gave a leisurely "Moo."
(Translation: There's no such thing as a free lunch.)
Su Mo nodded.
Healing?
Happiness?
It sounded too good to be true.
Things that seemed too good to be true usually had a catch.
But he didn't say anything.
After all, it was only a rumor. It might not be true.
"Maybe another time," he said coolly.
Xiao Wu was a little disappointed, but she soon perked up again and went back to munching on her wild fruit.
Under the same night sky.
Yu Xiaogang crouched behind a clump of bushes, his whole body rigid.
He had finally found it.
A datura snake.
It was in a clearing thirty meters away, a giant snake seven or eight meters long, coiled up with a faint gleam shimmering across its scales.
It was shedding its skin.
The old skin split open at its head and slowly peeled back, revealing fresh scales beneath, vivid and gleaming.
A snake was at its most irritable when shedding.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up.
Carefully, he took out a small paper packet—the "Irritability Powder" he'd bought on the black market. Supposedly, it could drive Soul Beasts mad and make them attack anything in sight.
He planned to wait until Su Mo and the others arrived, then scatter the powder and make the datura snake go berserk and attack them.
Preferably, it would swallow them one by one.
Especially that Su Mo.
A sinister smile curled Yu Xiaogang's lips.
He quietly opened the packet, ready to sprinkle a little as a test.
But—
A gust of wind blew past.
The powder in the packet scattered, forming a cloud of pink dust that drifted toward the datura snake.
Yu Xiaogang froze.
Wait.
That color...
Why was it pink?
Hadn't he bought irritability powder that was colorless and odorless?
Before he could react, the pink cloud had already enveloped the datura snake.
The datura snake abruptly stopped shedding.
It raised its head, bewilderment flickering in its vertical pupils.
Then—
Its gaze changed.
It grew dreamy.
It grew ardent.
It looked around, as if searching for something.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Yu Xiaogang's heart.
He quietly shuffled backward.
The datura snake's gaze fell on him.
In that instant, Yu Xiaogang swore he saw—
A tender, adoring look in a snake's eyes.
"No..." Yu Xiaogang's lips began to tremble.
The datura snake slithered toward him.
It wasn't moving fast, but its posture was alluring.
As it slithered, it flicked its tongue and made a hissing sound, as if calling to him.
Yu Xiaogang's scalp went numb, and he turned and ran.
"Damn it! I've been duped!"
He cursed as he ran. That black-market swindler hadn't sold him irritability powder at all. It was an aphrodisiac!
An aphrodisiac for Soul Beasts!
The datura snake chased after him, moving faster and faster, its gaze growing more and more ardent.
Yu Xiaogang ran for his life, but as a level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, how could he outrun a Hundred-Year Soul Beast?
Just as it was about to catch him—
A commotion suddenly came from up ahead.
Yu Xiaogang looked up, and his face turned green.
A pack of Wind Baboons.
A dozen or so of them were crouched in the trees, staring at him.
No, they weren't staring at him.
They were staring at the pink haze behind him.
The haze drifted outward, spreading through the air with a faint, sweet scent.
The Wind Baboons sniffed.
Then their eyes changed, too.
Just like the datura snake's.
Dreamy.
Ardent.
Tender and adoring.
Yu Xiaogang's mind went blank.
The next moment—
The datura snake caught up with him.
The Wind Baboons jumped down from the trees.
They had him surrounded, front and back.
Yu Xiaogang let out a scream and turned, diving into the bushes beside him.
Thorns tore his clothes and scratched his skin, but he didn't care about the pain. He crawled forward on his hands and feet.
"Riiip—"
There was a sharp tearing sound.
His pants snagged on a thorn and split wide open.
His pale backside was exposed to the moonlight.
When the pursuers saw those two pale cheeks, they grew even more excited and made all kinds of strange noises.
Yu Xiaogang was on the verge of tears.
Clutching his butt, he writhed through the bushes, desperately crawling forward.
As he crawled, he cried out:
"Stay back! Don't come near me!"
"I'm a man! I'm human!"
"Help—!"
No one came to save him.
Only a pack of frenzied Soul Beasts pursued him relentlessly.
Just as the story went.
For some people, an adventure was the beginning of a legend.
For others, it was simply an accident.
The campfire slowly died down, leaving only a few sparks flickering.
Su Mo fell asleep.
He had a dream.
In it, he had fallen into the deep sea.
Boundless darkness surrounded him, and icy seawater enveloped him.
Suddenly, something wrapped around his leg.
Soft and slick, like a tentacle.
He looked down—
A gigantic octopus was winding its thick tentacles around his body, squeezing tighter and tighter.
The tips of its tentacles were slowly reaching toward his lower body.
Su Mo shuddered with revulsion.
What kind of Lovecraftian play was this?!
He struggled with all his might, trying to push the tentacles away.
But the octopus was too strong. He couldn't break free.
The tentacles crept closer and closer—
Su Mo's eyes snapped open.
In the moonlight, a face was right in front of him.
Xiao Wu.
Her eyes were closed, and she had his pants between her teeth, tugging them toward her mouth.
She mumbled indistinctly around the fabric:
"Carrot... such a big carrot..."
Su Mo looked down.
She was biting the crotch of his pants.
She was almost about to pull them off.
Su Mo: "..."
He took a deep breath.
"Xiao Wu."
No response.
"Xiao Wu!"
Xiao Wu opened her eyes and gazed at him blearily.
"Master? How did you get smaller?"
Su Mo's face turned dark.
"Get up."
Xiao Wu blinked and looked down at the thing she was biting.
She fell silent for three seconds.
Then—
"Wuuuu!"
She leaped backward, her face bright red.
"Master! You-you-you—!"
Su Mo expressionlessly straightened his pants.
"If you're going to sleep, then sleep. Don't go eating random things."
Xiao Wu covered her mouth, her face red as a ripe shrimp.
"I-I thought it was a big carrot! It looked so much like one! I wanted to eat it!"
Su Mo: "..."
What kind of thing was that to say?
Even if you were hungry, you couldn't bite me!