Hand it over

"Move."

Ye Qianfan offered no further explanation.

The others seemed to feel that following the two of them was better than retreating like this.

Of course, it was also possible that Shen Lang had simply hoodwinked them into believing Ye Qianfan's cultivation was higher than the seventh rank, so they all followed behind him.

Yet along the way...

Everywhere Ye Qianfan went really was as quiet as a roost of chickens!

Who knew whether the Tree Demons lurking in the shadows had all gone to attack the old beggar's group? Not a single one appeared before Ye Qianfan and the others again!

As they passed a cave, someone held up a candle to scout the way. "There's a draft. This cave should lead somewhere. Should we go underground? At least we could avoid the Tree Demons' attacks!"

"If you want to go, go by yourself." Ye Qianfan shook his head. "I'm staying aboveground! At least I only have to guard against Tree Demons here, without worrying about other monsters. Who the hell knows what we'd run into inside that cave?"

"Excellent insight, Brother Ye!"

Shen Lang immediately gave him a thumbs-up. "The surface is all Tree Demon territory. Apart from keeping an eye out for them, we don't need to worry about running into anything else. Monsters all have their own territories, after all! Wherever a great monster lives, lesser monsters and evil spirits alike will be wary of it to some degree!"

"But if we go underground and run into the other great and lesser monsters driven down there by the Tree Demons while we're inside the cave, wouldn't we be left crying to an unhearing heaven and calling to an unresponsive earth?"

"That makes sense!"

Shen Lang's analysis won everyone over, and their gazes filled with admiration as they looked at Ye Qianfan!

They probably thought Ye Qianfan had shown remarkable foresight.

But at that moment, Ye Qianfan...

Hadn't thought nearly that far ahead. The reason he chose to stay aboveground...

Was simply that the Daoist priest had told him the Mountain God Hag inside the Bagua Mirror could counter Tree Demons. Insects ate trees, so as long as he hung the Bagua Mirror in front of his chest, the Tree Demons wouldn't attack him!

That was why he wanted to travel aboveground, not for any other reason.

Besides...

Caves were tangled, complicated places. Who the hell knew where one led, or whether it led anywhere at all?

While Ye Qianfan's group had a journey full of scares but no real danger...

The other group, on the contrary...

"Help!"

"Ah! Someone save me! I'll give you years of my life!"

"Monk, save me... Aaaah!!!"

The old beggar led twenty-odd people swiftly toward the finish.

But who knew whether the Tree Demons had truly set their sights on them? Their attacks grew faster and faster along the way, and countless vines appeared in the mist, packed together in a dense mass.

Anyone who let their guard slip would have a noose-shaped vine loop around their neck and be hauled straight up a tree!

Those who were nimble might still manage to dodge.

But those who had relied on outside aids to force themselves to keep up with the old beggar's group—such as the man wearing a Movement Talisman—had already been hanged from the trees. The Tree Demons had drained every last drop of blood and vitality from his body, leaving him dangling alone from a branch like a strip of cured meat that had been air-dried for ages!

The monk carrying the old beggar, however, worked seamlessly with him throughout the journey.

The monk was swift on his feet, and although the old beggar was blind, he had cultivated Heavenly Ear to its utmost limit and could easily hear the movement of the surrounding vines. Whenever they attacked the pair, he flicked out a copper coin that struck the Tree Demon's vital point, hurting it so badly that it hurriedly withdrew its vines.

But those following him either lacked that ability or lacked that luck!

In any case, the old beggar's group dwindled as they ran!

In the end...

Only the old beggar and the monk remained.

"Stop!"

The old beggar suddenly shouted.

The monk immediately halted!

When he looked up again, the mist ahead parted, revealing vines twisting and intertwining like a waterfall before them, resembling both a wall and a mountain!

The vines were densely entwined with dried corpses and bleached bones. There were even humans who had been tortured until they were neither human nor ghost, squirming as they cried, "Help..."

"Help us..."

"Have we..." The monk sucked in a breath of cold air. "Reached the Tree Demon's lair?"

"Mountains upon mountains and winding waters leave no path in sight, yet beyond dark willows and bright blossoms lies another village!" With no time to shake his bowl, the old beggar rapidly moved his fingers to divine through the Nine Palaces. "Hurry, monk! There's a way to survival in the southeast!"

"Right!"

The monk swung his staff, driving back a number of attacking vines before hastily heading southeast.

The old beggar simply hurled his battered bowl at the Tree Demon. Naturally wary, the Tree Demon lashed out with a vine to swat the bowl away!

But the moment the vine struck the battered bowl, the copper coins inside exploded like bombs!

Boom!

Boom, boom!!

The blasts made the Tree Demon shake its trunk in fury, and the entire Fog Forest filled with the rustling of leaves.

The monk sprinted with the old beggar on his back, not even daring to turn his head. Yet after they had fled several li from the Tree Demon's main body, they saw something they could hardly believe!

"You..."

The monk stared at the people below the seventh rank whom they had abandoned. "How can all of you be unharmed?!"

"What, were you hoping something would happen to us?" Ye Qianfan looked at the monk in displeasure. "Besides, you take your broad, sunlit road, and we'll take our single-plank bridge. Whether we live or die is none of your business, is it?"

"No!"

The monk shook his head. "One of you must have a magical treasure!"

As he spoke, he began scanning everyone. Ye Qianfan instinctively tucked the Bagua Mirror on his chest farther inside his clothes. As the saying went, never display your wealth—especially before a monk whose eyes had gone red with bloodlust!

"Even if we have a magical treasure, what does that have to do with you?" Shen Lang frowned and snapped, "You were the ones who chose to abandon us!"

"Hand it over!"

Yet...

The monk clearly had no intention of listening to reason anymore.

His goal was to pass this trial by any means necessary!

"Get lost!"

Sensing Ye Fu's unease within his body, Ye Qianfan knew the Tree Demon had probably arrived. His displeasure with the monk only deepened. "Running away was one thing, but you actually brought the Tree Demon here!"

"Monk, the magical treasure is on that pale-faced boy in the lead."

The old beggar, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly twitched his ears and hurriedly pointed at Ye Qianfan as he shouted.

Ye Qianfan instinctively took half a step back!

"Hand it over, and I can spare your life!"

The monk's eyes lit up, and he immediately reached out to grab Ye Qianfan!