The figure who had projected his soul was, naturally, Li Ling.
He had come here without alerting anyone, his physical body hidden on a nearby deserted island. With little effort, he passed through layer after layer of barriers and entered the ruins deep within the Inner Valley.
There, a Face Tree over a hundred feet tall stood upright.
Its visage was that of an unfamiliar man, like an abstract wooden carving growing at the top of its trunk. Three large flower buds stood half-open, giving off a peculiar fragrance.
This new tree had grown over ten years from Tai Sui Spores gathered here. Its cultivation was far inferior to Shi Jizi's former level, and it possessed no higher intelligence, only instinctive reactions akin to an animal's.
Face Trees of this kind had thick hides, tough flesh, and ferocious dispositions. They could radiate pressure comparable to the peak of Foundation Establishment. The many tendrils on their branches were extraordinarily nimble, and they could spit fireballs and unleash water projectiles, wind blades, thunder, and lightning, giving them formidable strength.
An ordinary Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator would find it troublesome. Without decades or even a century of cultivation, or a suitable Magic Treasure, they might well end up delivering themselves as fertilizer.
Li Ling opened a concealed secret chamber nearby and took out the magical longbow he had prepared beforehand, along with an ordinary flying sword he had casually refined. While he was at it, he shut down the viewing Array facing the Face Tree.
He opened his ambush from afar with an Ice Arrow formed through a spell.
With a crack, the Ice Arrow struck the trunk without even shaving off a layer of wood chips. It did, however, alert the tree, making the tendrils on its branches writhe like pythons and