Page 214

What was more, the entire village had been built atop this giant tree. What was exposed at the center was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Wen Xu was certain that they had been climbing upward just now; there had never been any sign of descending. So this "solid ground" beneath their feet—what exactly was it? That was still hard to say.

Senior Sister Xiang He immediately caught Bian Chunchou, and the four of them began retreating swiftly. But Wen Xu soon realized, "No, go back!"

If this place truly lay entirely within the giant tree's domain, then those two hundred or so villagers had grown so powerful by sucking up the tree's energy. Yet the people pursuing them had only grown stronger and stronger. That could only mean they had gone the wrong way!

Without wind, it was far too easy to lose one's sense of direction.

Wen Xu had noticed this back in the Back Mountain Secret Realm. He had been trying hard to correct it, but wind was simply too useful; he could not break the habit overnight.

"Too late." Xiang He's face darkened as she took half a step back. "We've been surrounded."

To the naked eye, Little Tree Village looked no different from an ordinary village. Every household had a low little house, vegetable plots before the doors, fences, and wells. There were no chickens or ducks raised, and—

There was not a single stream of water in the entire village. They relied wholly on underground wells for their lives.

A thought flashed through Xiang He's mind, but the fight had already consumed most of her attention. She no longer had the strength to ponder what those wells meant.

Wen Xu, on the other hand, had already begun considering whether to call for his master's