Living Within
The water here is the deepest part of the gourd, reaching a depth of eight zhang (approximately 33 meters).
The massive impact of the water created a large hole, and the space inside the tree hollow was shattered into pieces.
Many tree spirits that relied on the roots to crawl were washed away along with the soil.
Although these tree spirits possess considerable strength, capable of easily binding people, they are generally between one and two zhang tall.
Even if these tree demons doubled their size in the depth of the water, they still wouldn't be able to surface.
As Zhang Xuezhou descended, he reached out and touched various haphazardly arranged tree clusters.
Physiologically speaking, Zhang Xuezhou believed that these tree spirits had drowned, with only the tree bodies remaining at the bottom of the water.
This was the first time he had ever seen so many demons die in battle at once, which made Zhang Xuezhou sigh, feeling as if he had witnessed another rare and strange event.
Tree spirits and trees are fundamentally different; the former have developed consciousness, while the latter can only survive on plant instincts.
These trees might survive and grow if transplanted, but the consciousness of the tree spirits would be difficult to awaken.
To these tree spirits, they had already drowned, much like humans who had become brain dead and were in a vegetative state; their bodies were alive, but the people were dead.
Zhang Xuezhou patted the tree roots and felt that they were cold and no longer struggling.
"The sacred spring has also been destroyed, what a pity!"
Zhang Xuezhou infiltrated the old territory and relied on measuring the distance, as well as the central point where the demon trees gathered, which allowed him to find the accurate location relatively quickly.
When they found the spring again, only a stone wall remained where the spring water had flowed out, making it difficult to find any trace of the springhead.
The tree spirit's cave, which lured and influenced them, was about ten feet away.
Li Shaojun made a rough location, while Zhang Xuezhou made a detailed location, and once again accurately found the underground space of the tree demon where they had been.
As the first place to be hit, this area was desolate. Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong had both rushed several miles away. The huge tree roots in this area had been overturned, and it looked extremely chaotic.
Finding a special tree root in this area is difficult; there is almost no light underwater, so Zhang Xuezhou could only grope around aimlessly.
"This should be it!"
Zhang Xuezhou still remembers the tree roots wrapped in vines, which twisted and coiled like a dragon.
He couldn't find the special tree root, but Zhang Xuezhou felt a delicate leaf at the bottom of the water.
He reached out and grabbed the gourd vine.
With just a gentle tug, Zhang Xuezhou easily pulled down the gourd vines clinging to the tree roots.
Although it exists inside the gourd year after year, the gourd vine is not an aquatic plant. After being soaked overnight, this special vine could not survive.
Perhaps grasping at straws when drowning isn't just for humans; the gourd vines entwined themselves among these tree roots, but didn't float to the surface.
After pulling for a while, Zhang Xuezhou pulled down the gourd vine, which was three to five zhang long, and found the source of the Zhang Xuezhou's roots.
He shook it hard, only to find that the tree roots were not as stable as he had imagined. With just a sway, the tree roots, which were entangled by the gourd vines, had already loosened.
When Zhang Xuezhou turned it around, the section of tree root was unscrewed like a screw, leaving only a few thin sections of root, each about the thickness of a finger, pulling at it.
A faint blue light entered his eyes, and Zhang Xuezhou felt the tree root in his hand slip. His right hand had already swiftly retracted the Eye of the Bashe.
Before he could fall into a hallucination, Zhang Xuezhou also resorted to intimidation and suppression.
Under normal circumstances, Zhang Xuezhou felt that his deterrence and suppression would most likely be ineffective, but the tree roots had been submerged overnight and were barely surviving, so they couldn't be very strong.
He showed no mercy in beating a dog that had fallen into the water.
The tree root he was holding with his left hand fell still in a short moment, ceasing its struggle and movement.
"So your head was hidden down there! No wonder we couldn't find you anywhere; you were hitting us with your head upside down!"
The faint bluish light at the base of the tree roots allowed Zhang Xuezhou to barely see the situation in the water.
Like a bald red-crowned crane, a bluish mark has also grown at the base of this tree root.
He intimidated and subdued the rather strange tree demon. After examining the cyan mark, Zhang Xuezhou realized that it was likely parasitic in the tree roots and could be pulled out like a hermit crab.
The tree roots, which served as shelter, had a hole bitten by a sleep bug, and it was this hole that brought about the fatal risk.
Once the gourd vine's suckers had fully penetrated the inside, the other party was thrown into panic and struggled desperately, ultimately leading to a flood.
The world is so big, there are countless wonders!
Zhang Xuezhou tapped on the blue mark and even tried to pry it open repeatedly until he finally managed to pull out the piece of wood with the blue mark.
After a series of feeble twists, Zhang Xuezhou felt the piece of wood harden and straighten, and the bluish light gradually dimmed.
The overwhelming feeling of powerlessness and lack of objective overwhelmed Zhang Xuezhou, who figured the unknown monster had probably finished its work.
Let alone demons, even a great cultivator who is not good at water would not survive being submerged for half a day and then beaten up while weakened.
The powerful cultivator, exhausted on the battlefield, was killed by the young general, and this uniquely capable demonic creature also couldn't withstand Zhang Xuezhou's attack.
He touched the section of tree root that he couldn't tear off, and realizing he couldn't budge it, Zhang Xuezhou quickly surfaced.
"Have you found it yet?" Li Shaojun shouted from afar.
"You unreliable thing, how did you detect risks? This thing almost attacked me!"
Zhang Xuezhou exclaimed, and Li Shaojun involuntarily shrank back.
With Zhang Xuezhou's words, he was at a disadvantage when seeking job assignments.
"Aren't you still alive?"
Li Shaojun grunted.
"I've left you half down there; you can dive down and get it yourself if you want!"
What about your half?
When Zhang Xuezhou replied, Li Shaojun felt extremely upset.
He watched as Zhang Xuezhou raised a wooden staff that resembled white jade, and felt as if his heart was bleeding.
"Is this really the tree spirit?" Li Shaojun asked doubtfully.
"Dongfang Shuo, your hands are swollen and blue!"
Li Shaojun was concerned about the treasure in Zhang Xuezhou's possession, while Gongsun Hong was more attentive to Zhang Xuezhou's health.
Gongsun Hong called out, which allowed Zhang Xuezhou to see his left hand, which was gripping the cyan mark.
His left hand, just as Gongsun Hong had said, had turned blue and swollen, as if it had been poisoned.
The underwater light was barely visible, making the intrusion almost imperceptible to Zhang Xuezhou.
However, this poison is not considered serious; it has not only stopped spreading but is also slowly receding.
Zhang Xuezhou didn't need to actively activate the Poison Avoidance Technique; his body's automatic functions were already dissipating the toxins.
"I knew this thing attacked me!" Zhang Xuezhou shouted. "If you had gone down there, you would have been dead!"
"Even if I die, I can get back up!"
Li Shaojun offered a weak defense.
With things having come to this, he had no choice but to try his best to dive in and out of the area where Zhang Xuezhou was to see which half Zhang Xuezhou had left for him.
As for the present, Li Shaojun felt it would be better to let this dangerous thing soak in water for a while longer. As long as Gongsun Hong didn't try to take it from him, Li Shaojun felt he would have no problem finding his other half.
His gaze was fixed on the piece of white jade-like wood that Zhang Xuezhou was holding, and he felt that Zhang Xuezhou's piece of wood looked too new, like a peeled bamboo shoot.
If a Spirit Root is poisonous, it is not suitable for consumption and is more often used as a special type of Law Artifact.
However, Zhang Xuezhou did not die from the poison, which proves that the toxicity of this Chaos Spirit Root is limited, far less than those substances that kill instantly upon contact with blood.
For a moment, Li Shaojun felt less envious.
He felt that Zhang Xuezhou's chaotic spiritual object might be of low grade, or perhaps it was the other half left behind by Zhang Xuezhou that had the most wonderful uses. With this thought in mind, he had even more longing for the other half left behind by Zhang Xuezhou.