Hundreds of feet beneath the earth...
Underground, tunnels crisscrossed in every direction, forming a maze...
And at the end of one passage...
Roots as thick as arms coiled and intertwined into a root cocoon dozens of feet across. It was completely sealed, as though it had formed that way naturally...
Who knew how much time had passed...
Suddenly...
"Crack, crack, crack!" The cocoon of intertwined roots suddenly trembled and writhed. Dazzling blue-green light shone through the gaps between the roots. As they spread out in every direction like wriggling snakes, a translucent, liquid-like human figure appeared amid countless surging motes of blue-green light, hovering in midair...
Before long, all the roots had drawn apart. The blue-green radiance around the figure slowly faded, and his body gradually became solid, revealing a flesh-and-blood man with exceptionally handsome features...
"Hum!" The man's eyes abruptly opened. Blue-green light streamed from them, carrying a startling, searing aura...
This man was none other than Li Xiaoya...
"Phew!" Li Xiaoya let out a long breath and slowly descended to the ground. Looking at his palm, he murmured, "Healing this way really is much faster. It looks like I won't need a hundred or two hundred years to recover more than eighty percent!" As he spoke, he stood up and muttered, "I can't draw any more vitality from these trees. Time to move somewhere else!" With that, he beckoned with his fingers, and spiritual light surged...
Then...
"Rumble!" The tunnel wall near where Li Xiaoya had been meditating suddenly loosened. Several Steel-armored Beetles broke through it and appeared before him, then turned into specks of light and flew into his hand...
Indeed.
After several months of healing this way...
Li Xiaoya had naturally experienced the benefits of the life law. Drawing vitality from trees like this healed the