Hum—
The moment the witch pressed her hand to the tree, a long, resonant hum came from the void. Even Xiao Xiao could not tell where it began or ended. But he stood close enough to see a thin black line quietly appear beneath Jiang Yu's palm. Like ink spreading through clear water, it followed the grain of the trunk upward and down.
Upward, it threaded through the branching limbs and spread into the entire crown.
Downward, it followed the roots beneath the skin of the rock.
The line was not thick, but its color was remarkably pure—darker than shadow, yet a little lighter than night, as though tempered by the color of the void.
He pushed up his glasses out of habit.
"Can you see it?"
He did not move. His gaze followed the rising black line as it climbed the trunk, split into seven or eight fine branches, slipped into the leaf veins, and vanished.
"Those black lines? Of course. We're not blind," the Fat Wizard muttered. After a pause, he added, "It's probably the color of that Black Gem."
His wording was cautious, but his tone was certain.
Xiao Xiao nodded in agreement.
Nothing else black could have seeped into this treasured tree so easily. Besides, the tree was far too still while the line traveled across it. Earlier, when Big Mao Dragon had tried to come a little closer, it had thrust out two "arms" to block the Furry Dragon. Now a black line crawled all over it, and it did not budge, as though the line were part of its own body.
"What are they doing?"
Zhang Jixin scratched his head in frustration and turned to their Diviner. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Just standing here like this... I feel a bit stupid."
"Form