The Tree Demons' Leader

If they encountered a demon that required extraordinary power to defeat, such as Ao Sheng and his ilk, Zhang Xuezhou was still a bit short of that level.

However, Zhang Xuezhou felt he had no problem dealing with those monsters that launched sneak attacks.

Knowing yourself and your enemy is key. Just as he knew his own worth, Zhang Xuezhou also knew exactly what kind of person his opponent was.

"Monster, I've seen you! As long as you're in this secret place, you can't escape! Come out now!"

He yelled and, unusually, stood up straight, ready for a direct confrontation.

The fossil spell not only solidified the ground but also imprisoned the tree roots that were pulling at him within the stone.

He looked at the big tree in front of him, then at its roots. He had finally found the demon's true form, but it was still somewhat different from what he had imagined.

"Li Shaojun, come and set this fire!"

Zhang Xuezhou didn't care about anything else. He called out, but when no one responded, he had no choice but to take the Golden Crow Great Emperor's feather.

After chanting an incantation, the feathers began to burst into flames.

Ordinary flames cannot ignite trees that are still alive; the moisture contained in the trees makes it difficult for flames to burn. However, this does not include the demonic fire of a top-tier demon king.

Zhang Xuezhou threw the feather into the dark hole, then chanted a spell. The feather's flames immediately intensified, and crackling sounds came from under the tree.

Seeing the several tree roots beginning to struggle, Zhang Xuezhou took a few steps back to avoid being slapped around by the tree demon.

"The roots of this thing are somewhat like those of a peach tree from the Kunlun Sacred Land, but unfortunately it doesn't bear fruit, and it's not a ginseng root!"

Tree spirits and vine monsters are extremely rare, with a probability tens or hundreds of times lower than that of animals becoming monsters.

There are tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of demons in the Three Realms, but the number of tree demons and vine monsters is probably less than a thousand.

If a demon does not give birth to offspring of a top-tier demon, becoming a demon through other means requires extremely favorable geographical conditions, and the development of sentience is almost a matter of luck.

The tree in front of them was clearly not in its own mind; after being burned by the Golden Crow Great Emperor's demonic fire, it struggled wildly like a crab that had fallen into a pot of boiling oil.

The Golden Crow Demon Fire not only ignited the flames, but burned them intensely. When the flames rose from the base of the tree to the trunk, the demon tree stopped struggling.

Just as Zhang Xuezhou was about to try to knock down the demon tree to see where the dark hole led, he felt that there was now a patch of darkness under the starlight.

As Zhang Xuezhou glanced around, he saw countless tree shadows swaying back and forth, their roots slowly coiling and wriggling, propelling the various trees forward.

"So many tree spirits?"

Zhang Xuezhou leaped high and looked around. He saw that the trees all over the mountain seemed to have come to life and were beginning to surge towards him.

This made him glance at the Golden Crow Great Emperor's feathers, which had just displayed great power and burned the tree demons, and then at the tree demons whose numbers were difficult to ascertain in a short time. He felt that he couldn't do anything about what was to come.

"Could it be that drinking from the abbot's spiritual spring every day has turned you all into demons? How come we didn't notice you were tree demons during the day?"

Zhang Xuezhou looked around and felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of tree spirits.

Trees that have transformed into demons must have extremely high-quality wood. Even if they cannot be used to make armor like ironwood trees, most of them must be able to be used to create Law Artifact.

Goodness gracious, who's going to develop Abbot Island?!

Zhang Xuezhou exclaimed, feeling that he could easily become rich by simply selling this prime piece of land.

Fangzhang Island not only sells spiritual spring water, but also Law Treasure wood.

"Young Master Li, you can make a fortune outside! Come out and see all the treasures!"

Zhang Xuezhou shouted again.

Compared to his use of the Golden Crow Great Emperor's feathers to start a fire, this was far inferior to Li Shaojun's half-baked Six Ding Divine Fire.

Zhang Xuezhou never worried that Li Shaojun had been murdered, given that people could die repeatedly.

As long as the other party can hear, Zhang Xuezhou feels that Li Shaojun will be unable to suppress his greed and will come to check the situation.

"No response at all?"

Zhang Xuezhou tried to entice Li Shaojun with a few suggestive calls, but failed to lure him out to use him as a scapegoat to investigate the situation, leaving him quite disgruntled.

Looking down at the large tree whose branches were swaying and trying to sweep him down, he floated up and left only the large tree with its many wriggling roots below, its branches waving wildly.

"How is that possible? This secret realm is full of tree spirits?"

Looking out from the high vantage point, Zhang Xuezhou saw that the shadows of trees in the distance were also swaying, and that some of the trees were moving.

If one is not skilled in flying, being trapped in this forest of tree spirits would undoubtedly lead to despair.

This is not an opponent that can be defeated by cutting down a single tree; rather, it will be an endless entanglement, where one cannot even stand on the ground for a moment to catch one's breath.

Of course, even soaring through the air does not guarantee safety. Those skilled in flying cannot remain in the air forever; once their Law Power is exhausted and they land, they will be attacked by tree demons.

The scene before him made Zhang Xuezhou question the meaning of life.

He didn't think that every spiritual spring that could create a secret realm was a case of tree demons, but the fact that the tree roots seemed to have feet and could walk made Zhang Xuezhou have to admit that these trees were different from ordinary trees and could be called demon trees.

"It would be much more convenient if we brought some fuel from the Mohists's Mechanical City!"

All wood is afraid of fire, so the tree spirit is undoubtedly restrained by fire.

Zhang Xuezhou could only start a fire with a single feather from the Golden Crow Great Emperor, which greatly troubled him.

"Wait, is there something I've overlooked?"

Zhang Xuezhou was stunned by the tree spirits that covered the mountains and fields, but he suddenly came to his senses.

No matter what, he is a cultivator at the Body Transformation Realm, and his mental strength is extraordinary. It is extremely difficult to make him hallucinate.

However, the tree spirit he burned struggled very weakly and did not give Zhang Xuezhou a strong feeling.

This feeling can also be applied to the tree spirits that cover the mountains and fields. Zhang Xuezhou judged these tree spirits to be troublesome and extremely restraining to those who are not good at flying. In the end, people would be exhausted after constantly fighting or trying to escape, and thus be captured and killed by the tree spirits.

Tree demons may be troublesome, but their abilities are more like a tactic of overwhelming numbers than a battle between individual, highly skilled cultivators.

The circumstances that caused Zhang Xuezhou to hallucinate were addressed separately.

"Could these tree spirits have a leader?"

Zhang Xuezhou looked down at the burning and collapsed trees below, then at the dark hole he had been dragged into earlier.

The thought had barely crossed his mind before he leaped off.

He passed through two sweeping branches, reached out and grabbed the Golden Crow Great Emperor's feather, and as he did so, Zhang Xuezhou fell to the ground.

The firelight illuminated the underground space. The entrance to the cave wasn't spacious, but after crawling forward a few steps, one entered a more spacious area where one could even run with their head up.

"You guys actually got dragged in here?"

Although he had been somewhat prepared, Zhang Xuezhou hadn't expected that both Li Shaojun and Gongsun Hong would fall into the trap and be dragged into this underground space.

After walking only a few dozen steps, Zhang Xuezhou saw the two lying on either side of a tree root as thick as an arm, their faces beaming with a strange yet blissful smile.

A tender sprout emerged from Li Shaojun's mouth, as if some plant was growing inside his body.

Tender buds also sprouted from Gongsun Hong's mouth, but compared to the fresh green buds in Li Shaojun's mouth, the buds in Gongsun Hong's mouth were black and white, as if they were about to rot.

At the center of the tree roots was Zhang Xuezhou's water hyacinth.

At this time, a tender leaf also sprouted from the water hyacinth, as if the gourd had been used as a petri dish, and this tender leaf grew out of the gourd.