The Undying Ancient Tree

Golden spears rained down from the sky.

A dense chorus of whistling filled the forest as thousands of golden leaves transformed into sharp spears, blanketing the entire clearing from every direction.

The six wings behind Qian Daoliu blazed with light in unison.

Vast angelic power gathered into a golden barrier, enclosing Light Feather Douluo, Lin Yuan, and Qian Renxue.

On the other side, Di Tian raised his right hand.

Dark dragon power condensed into an enormous black dragon claw in midair, shielding Xiong Jun and all the Soul Beasts behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Golden spears struck one after another.

Each collision burst into a shower of golden light.

Those motes did not dissipate. Instead, they became tiny seeds that clung to the surfaces of the two Soul Power barriers.

The seeds swiftly took root and sprouted.

Countless tiny vines spread wildly across the barriers, greedily devouring the Soul Power within.

Qian Daoliu's gaze sharpened slightly.

Sacred flames rose from the Angel Domain, burning those vines to nothing.

Yet the moment the charred remains hit the ground, golden shoots grew anew from their broken ends.

On the other side, Di Tian closed his fingers.

Dark dragon power erupted, shattering every vine clinging to the phantom dragon claw into dust.

"We can't keep defending."

Di Tian looked up at the golden crown blotting out the sky.

"We have to destroy its main body."

As his words fell, his figure had already vanished.

The next instant, Di Tian appeared above the Ancient Tree of Abundance.

Dark dragon power swept across the sky, and the enormous phantom of a black dragon slowly emerged behind him.

Terrifying draconic might descended with a crash.

Di Tian's right hand transformed completely into a dragon claw covered in black scales.

"Dragon God Claw!"

An immense black dragon claw slammed down from the sky.

Boom!

The crown of the Ancient Tree of Abundance collapsed instantly.

Thousands of golden branches snapped at once, and leaves poured down like a torrential rain. Di Tian's blow tore open the tree's upper half, sending golden sap gushing from its broken boughs.

Xiong Jun roared at the sky, his burly body abruptly swelling.

His dark gold fur stood on end, and a heart-stopping sharpness gathered over his five claws.

"Sky-Rending Claw!"

Five streaks of dark gold claw light swept across the forest floor.

Every root blocking their path shattered before they struck the Ancient Tree of Abundance's main trunk with savage force.

The golden eye in the center of the trunk was instantly torn apart.

Five unfathomably deep fissures cut through the trunk, almost severing the enormous ancient tree at its waist.

Copious golden sap sprayed from the wounds.

A vicious grin had only just appeared on Xiong Jun's face when the splashing liquid suddenly stopped in midair.

Several tiny tendrils emerged from every drop of golden sap.

The tendrils intertwined, and flesh, branches, and leaves rapidly grew.

Within mere breaths, monsters pieced together from rotting flesh and branches fell from midair.

They had no complete set of facial features.

A golden eye grew in each chest, and writhing rootlets covered their twisted limbs.

The moment one Abomination of Abundance landed, it lunged at Xiong Jun.

"Get lost!"

Xiong Jun smashed it apart with a swipe of his palm.

The abomination burst apart, but countless vines emerged from its shattered flesh and swiftly coiled around Xiong Jun's arm.

Thorns extended from the vines' tips, attempting to pierce his skin.

Dark gold Soul Power erupted within Xiong Jun.

All the vines wrapped around him shattered.

Yet more Abominations of Abundance had already emerged from the golden sap, swarming around him in dense masses.

High above, Qian Daoliu had also made his move.

Nine Soul Rings encircled his body.

His Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul manifested fully, its sacred, blazing radiance dispersing all the pale golden mist around him.

Qian Daoliu gripped a golden holy sword condensed from angelic power in both hands.

He slashed down.

Brilliant sword light pierced the ancient tree's main trunk, tearing its already ravaged body completely apart.

At that moment, Light Feather Douluo drew his bowstring as well.

A nearly transparent ice-blue arrow appeared on his longbow.

The bowstring quivered softly.

The ice arrow instantly sank into the cleft Qian Daoliu had cut.

The next instant, bitterly cold Soul Power erupted from within the ancient tree.

Crack!

Thick frost spread rapidly from the inside out.

Roots, trunk, branches, and leaves were all encased in solid ice.

Di Tian swung his dragon claw again.

Dark dragon power poured into the ancient tree through its cleft.

Qian Daoliu, Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and Light Feather Douluo's attacks erupted at the same instant.

Boom-

A deafening explosion rang through the Star Dou Great Forest.

A terrifying shock wave swept in every direction, uprooting the trees within hundreds of meters and splitting the ground into unfathomably deep gullies.

The ice barrier around Lin Yuan and Qian Renxue shook violently.

Qian Renxue had already released her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul and was continuously pouring Soul Power into the barrier.

Lin Yuan stood beside her, never once summoning the Imperial Bow.

The will of The Hunt within the Imperial Bow had long since grown restless to the extreme.

Yet he still forcibly suppressed that impulse.

The battle before him far exceeded the level he could currently take part in.

If he acted rashly, not only would he fail to change the course of battle, but he would draw the ancient tree's full attention and distract Qian Daoliu and Light Feather Douluo into protecting him.

The dust gradually cleared.

The Ancient Tree of Abundance that had blotted out the sky was gone.

Only a broken, charred stump remained in the center of the clearing.

Cracks covered its surface, and sacred flames, bitterly cold Soul Power, and dark dragon power still lingered within.

Xiong Jun tore the last Abomination of Abundance beside him in half, looked at the stump, and sneered:

"Nothing more than that."

"I actually thought this thing couldn't be killed."

Di Tian, however, did not rein in his presence.

He hovered in midair, his golden dragon eyes fixed on the ground around the stump.

Qian Daoliu likewise did not withdraw his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.

For the ancient tree's signs of life had not disappeared.

Thump.

A dull sound came from deep underground.

The smile on Xiong Jun's face stiffened slightly.

Thump!

The second sound was clearer than the first.

It was as though an enormous heart had begun beating again beneath the earth.

The soil beside the ruined stump rose slightly.

A pale golden shoot emerged from a crack.

The shoot looked exceedingly fragile, as though a casual touch could crush it.

Yet in the next instant, it began growing wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

One foot.

Ten feet.

A hundred feet!

A thick trunk shot up from the ground.

Golden branches spread in every direction, and a dense crown swiftly took shape.

Within just a few breaths, a new Ancient Tree of Abundance stood before them once more.

And it was even larger than before.

In the center of the trunk, the golden eye Xiong Jun had torn apart opened again.

Around that enormous eye, dozens more eyes of varying sizes opened one after another.

All the eyes turned at once.

They looked toward Qian Daoliu, Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and Light Feather Douluo respectively.

Xiong Jun stared fixedly at the ancient tree, his face filled with disbelief.

"How is that possible?"

Their attacks just now had destroyed the crown, the main trunk, and even vast portions of its root system.

Even a Plant-type Soul Beast with the strongest vitality could not possibly recover in so little time.

Di Tian suddenly raised his right hand.

A drop of golden sap splashed during the battle clung to his palm.

Now, a tiny shoot had actually grown from that drop of sap.

Di Tian closed his fingers.

Dark dragon power crushed the shoot completely.

But before the shoot vanished, he clearly sensed that it had devoured a trace of his power.

Di Tian looked up at the newly grown ancient tree and said in a low voice:

"It absorbed our power."

Only then did they notice that the regrown ancient tree had changed.

Black dragon scales covered the surfaces of some of its roots.

Sacred angelic power flowed within its golden leaves.

Frost had formed along the outside of its branches, and sharp structures resembling Dark Gold Dreadclaws had even grown at the ends of some thick roots.

Light Feather Douluo slowly lowered his bowstring.

"It isn't just recovering."

"It's adapting to our attacks."

As though responding to his judgment, the Ancient Tree of Abundance's crown suddenly shook violently.

One enormous golden fruit after another grew from its branches.

The fruits' surfaces pulsed continuously, and curled-up human figures could faintly be seen inside.

Crack.

The first fruit split open.

An Abomination of Abundance covered in black scales fell from within.

The second fruit burst open after it.

The abomination that emerged had six wings formed from golden branches growing from its back.

The third abomination's arms transformed into dark gold claws.

The fourth abomination was covered in thick frost.

They were imitating the powers the ancient tree had just endured.

Qian Daoliu's expression gradually grew grave.

"We can't keep attacking it without holding back."

Di Tian lowered his head to look at the constantly spreading roots.

"If we don't attack, it will keep devouring the forest."

"If we keep attacking, it will only grow stronger."

They fell into a brief silence.

Against an ordinary enemy, they could gradually wear their opponent down simply by dealing damage continuously.

But the Ancient Tree of Abundance before them was entirely different.

Every injury stimulated it to grow faster.

Every kind of power that fell upon it would ultimately become fresh nourishment.

The Ancient Tree of Abundance gave them no chance to keep thinking.

Boom!

The entire expanse of ground suddenly burst apart.

Thousands upon thousands of roots erupted from the earth.

Some roots were covered in hard dragon scales, some shimmered with holy radiance, and others had dark-gold claws growing at their tips.

The ancient tree began using their own powers.

Qian Daoliu swung his sword, severing the roots rushing toward him.

But the severed ends absorbed the lingering angelic power, sprouting even more branches shimmering with golden light in the blink of an eye.

Di Tian tore several dragon-scaled abominations apart.

Their shattered flesh immediately sank underground, turning into new roots.

Xiong Jun was surrounded by a mass of monsters.

Whenever he tore an abomination apart, its remaining flesh would split into two smaller monsters.

Light Feather Douluo kept firing ice arrows, trying to slow the ancient tree's growth.

But the ancient tree's resistance to the power of extreme cold was rapidly increasing.

At first, a single arrow could freeze more than a dozen roots.

Now, it could barely freeze one.

As the battle continued, the space in which they could move grew smaller and smaller.

Qian Daoliu and Di Tian had yet to suffer any injuries.

They were also nowhere near their limits.

Yet every time they struck, they had no choice but to hold back.

If their attacks were too weak, they could not stop the swarming roots and abominations.

If their attacks were too strong, they would give the ancient tree new power.

Having initially taken the initiative to surround and attack the ancient tree, they were now being forced onto the defensive.

Inside the ice barrier, Qian Renxue watched the battlefield outside, her fingers involuntarily tightening.

"Grandfather and the others are falling back."

Lin Yuan's gaze was grave.

"It's not because they lack power."

"It's because they can no longer attack with their full strength."

Qian Renxue turned to look at him.

"Can this tree really not be killed?"

Lin Yuan did not answer.

His gaze passed over the chaotic battlefield and settled on the enormous eye at the center of the Ancient Tree of Abundance.

The trunk could be destroyed.

The roots could be severed.

But as long as the power of Abundance sustaining its existence remained, it could be reborn without end.

To kill it, the power of Soul Masters or Soul Beasts alone was probably no longer enough.

Just then, the Imperial Bow within Lin Yuan suddenly stopped trembling.

All its agitation vanished in an instant.

In its place came an unprecedented coldness and stillness.

Lin Yuan froze for a moment.

Deep within his consciousness, a long-slumbering gleam of starlight seemed to slowly light up.

That was not a power granted to him by a Soul Ring.

It did not even belong to this world's Soul Master system.

It was another gift that had descended upon him alongside the Path of the Hunt when the Imperial Bow awakened.

It was also something he had never truly used-

His second trump card.