No one knew how much time had passed.
The canopy swayed and heaved, dead leaves scattering through the air.
The enormous python body coiled around the trunk slowly shifted, its sinews and bones creaking against one another. Then, a pair of huge dark-green vertical pupils abruptly opened.
Two jets of air burst from its nostrils.
"Cough, cough... Hong Zhao, it hurts so much. It really hurts. Avenge me—you must avenge me!
"That old ghost injured my body and nearly reduced my centuries of bitter cultivation to nothing. I hate him so much I could eat his flesh and gnaw his bones!"
A rough, hoarse roar erupted from the python's mouth.
Its dark-green eyes brimmed with venomous hatred that could not be dispelled.
"You're already in this state. Calm down."
An aged voice sounded from within the banyan tree.
It did not sound like human speech. It carried an ancient, weathered air, as though it possessed a kind of magic that gradually calmed the Black Python Wyrm's agitated emotions.
"Huff, huff... Hong Zhao, has that consciousness not fallen asleep yet?"
The Black Python Wyrm gradually settled down and struggled to shift its massive body.
"Yes. With the growth of my cultivation, I should have been able to break free from this Blood-Flesh labyrinth long ago, but I swallowed something I never should have swallowed.
"That thing possesses a powerful will and an ancient origin. I do not dare touch it in the slightest, for fear it might launch a sudden counterattack and leave me gravely injured.
"Now, I can only wait for that consciousness to fall completely asleep before I can free myself. Because of that, there is no point thinking about revenge for the time being."
The Blood-Flesh Banyan seemed to speak in a low voice, its branches and leaves