Boom!
As Hai Rongyang hid in the underground fortress, anxiously awaiting the outcome, a muffled boom suddenly reached him, followed by a tremor that rocked heaven and earth.
Then a bone-piercing chill swept over him, making his whole body shudder involuntarily.
His expression changed drastically. He sprang to his feet and raced toward the other side of the underground fortress.
"Fellow Daoist Qunyao, what happened?"
Next door was a specially constructed secret chamber. Ritual Platforms stood within it like enormous square pillars, supporting an underground space more than a hundred zhang across.
But from the chamber's vaulted ceiling hung countless roots resembling giant pythons. Each had a different shape, manifesting arms, legs, heads, hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and all manner of other forms.
Qunyao bore the title "Wood Spirit Ghost." When Wu Lianyi had recruited him as a subordinate years ago, he had bestowed upon him a branch of the divine tree Jianmu. From then on, Qunyao had also possessed the abilities of this Primordial Mutant.
The "Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of Regions Within the Seas" recorded: There is a tree shaped like an ox; when pulled, its bark comes away like tassels or yellow serpents. Its leaves resemble gauze, its fruit resembles that of the goldenrain tree, and its wood resembles a rush. Its name is Jianmu.
This was a legendary divine tree, also called the "Wood Ancestor" and "Tree Patriarch," a supreme treasure for cultivating the Wood Dao.
It was precisely the opportunity afforded by this gift that had allowed Qunyao to stand out swiftly among the many Warriors, eventually advancing to earth rank and becoming one of Wu Lianyi's trusted generals.
A fully grown Jianmu tree possessed heaven-tier quality. Even a single branch, after years of continual exploration and refinement, was enough to allow Qunyao