Chapter 492: Breaking Into the Treant Army
Xiao Hei had long ago set up a concealment formation atop a three-thousand-meter-high mountain peak. He charged toward the cliff face, claws digging in, and leaped upward, soaring into the sky before landing on the summit and rushing into the formation.
“Whoosh!”
His figure seemed to be swallowed by the void, vanishing instantly.
Following him, Zhang Ruochen, Ao Xinyan, and Orange Moon Star Envoy also ascended the peak, entered the formation, and temporarily concealed themselves.
“Boom!”
The treant army surged past the base of the mountain, then split into two groups, heading northwest and southeast, disappearing into the forest’s horizon.
Ao Xinyan breathed a sigh of relief. “Lucky we weren’t discovered. Otherwise, we’d probably be in a tight spot.”
“Thousand-year treants are extremely sensitive to fluctuations in the world’s spiritual energy. Setting up a concealment formation will inevitably cause subtle changes in the surrounding spiritual energy. If we encounter some highly cultivated thousand-year treants, we won’t get off so easily,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiao Hei stood proudly on the mountaintop, speaking calmly, “The concealment formation I set up is of the highest caliber. Unless it’s a treant king that has grown for over five thousand years, it’s impossible to detect any trace of the formation.”
Ao Xinyan added, “As far as I know, after the Wood Spirit Ruins Realm was discovered, the First Central Empire launched a purge, capturing all treants that had grown for over seven thousand years in that realm.”
“So, Captain, you don’t need to worry. The beings in the Wood Spirit Ruins Realm capable of seeing through Xiao Hei’s formation can be counted on one hand.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Zhang Ruochen said no more, took out the Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Vase, drank a mouthful of Wood Spirit Red Sap, and began healing his injuries.
Wood Spirit Red Sap could replenish a martial artist’s blood qi and help heal wounds, with effects superior to any healing pill.
As he continuously refined the Wood Spirit Red Sap, Zhang Ruochen’s injuries gradually recovered.
Wood Spirit Red Sap was the blood of thousand-year treants, the essence of their thousand years of cultivation, rich in intense wood-type spiritual energy. The more Zhang Ruochen drank, the more subtle changes occurred in his own blood, drawing it closer to a Wood Spirit Sacred Body.
“Consuming Wood Spirit Red Sap indeed helps me cultivate the Wood Spirit Sacred Body.”
Zhang Ruochen had already absorbed eight jin and five liang of Purple Cloud Agarwood, putting him close to mastering the Wood Spirit Sacred Body. Now, with large amounts of Wood Spirit Red Sap, his physique was nearing that state.
If he could master the Wood Spirit Sacred Body, he would be able to communicate with plants and trees, and even use wood-type spiritual energy to alter his body’s structure, transforming into vegetation or a treant.
“In the Kunlun Realm, Wood Spirit Red Sap is a precious spiritual medicine, only available to heirs of saintly clans, and even then, in very limited quantities. There’s no way they could drink it as freely as I do now.”
After consuming the Wood Spirit Red Sap, Zhang Ruochen felt his cultivation advancing rapidly, with significant progress each day.
The Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Vase contained a large amount of Wood Spirit Red Sap, so Zhang Ruochen wasn’t worried about running out.
He also planned to collect more to bring back to the Kunlun Realm, gifting it to Huang Yanchen, Duanmu Xingling, Luo Shuihan, Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, and others.
Moreover, Hanxue and Kong Xuan could also greatly benefit from large amounts of Wood Spirit Red Sap, which would be highly advantageous for them. By providing them with the best resources now, their future achievements would likely be astonishing.
Hanxue, in particular, was cultivating at a speed that even surpassed Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao from eight hundred years ago.
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had killed one treant king, one thousand-year treant, and seven thousand-year Fire Vines, accumulating a total of 117,000 military merit points.
Adding his previous merit points, his total now reached 712,000.
“With my current military merit points, my ranking on the Heavenly Ranking should have risen quite a bit.” Zhang Ruochen smiled.
Since his injuries were fully healed, it was time to go out again to earn more military merit points and collect Wood Spirit Red Sap.
The treant race had many powerful members, and without mastering the Wood Spirit Sacred Body, it was nearly impossible for Zhang Ruochen to silently infiltrate the depths of the Black Wood Plain.
So, for now, he could only rely on hit-and-run tactics, steadily weakening the treant race’s overall strength. Of course, this was also an opportunity to enhance his own cultivation and strive to master the Wood Spirit Sacred Body as soon as possible.
Once he mastered the Wood Spirit Sacred Body, he could mobilize large amounts of wood-type spiritual energy, even transforming into a treant to silently sneak into the depths of the Black Wood Plain and take the Wood Spirit Ruins Realm’s origin energy.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen was eager to succeed in cultivating the Wood Spirit Sacred Body.
This time, Zhang Ruochen chose to act alone.
Stepping out of the concealment formation, Zhang Ruochen stood gracefully on the cliff at the mountain’s summit, activating his Heavenly Eye to gaze into the distance.
Six hundred li away, to the southeast, there was a thousand-year treant.
“Avoid the treant armies as much as possible and focus on these lone thousand-year treants.”
Zhang Ruochen leaped from the mountain peak. Just before landing, he spread his arms and executed the Wind-Riding Flying Dragon Shadow technique.
Taking nine steps in succession, each covering a li of distance, he quickly closed in on the thousand-year treant six hundred li away.
A single thousand-year treant was no match for Zhang Ruochen.
With one sword strike, he killed it, collected the Wood Spirit Red Sap, and immediately fled to hunt down other thousand-year treants.
Over the entire day, Zhang Ruochen killed nineteen thousand-year treants that had grown for a millennium and three that had grown for two millennia, earning a total of 49,000 military merit points.
After nightfall, Zhang Ruochen ceased operations, returned to the concealment formation atop the mountain, and resumed consuming Wood Spirit Red Sap to continue his cultivation.
The next day, he ventured back into the Black Wood Plain to continue his hunting spree.
“Yesterday, I killed twenty-two thousand-year treants, dealing a heavy blow to the treant race. Today, they’ve become much more cautious—I can’t even find a single lone thousand-year treant. In that case, I’ll have to target the treant army.”
The treant army was teeming with experts, and unless absolutely necessary, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t engage them head-on.
Zhang Ruochen released his Space Domain, causing the space around him to warp. His body vanished from sight.
He wasn’t truly invisible; rather, the spatial distortion created a visual illusion, making him undetectable to ordinary treants.
At this moment, the treant army had temporarily halted, forming a black forest spread across a vast plain.
Looking out, all he saw were thick, towering trees. But at the slightest disturbance, they would instantly transform into treants and launch a fierce attack.
Within the treant army, there were five treant kings, all standing at the forest’s center like five colossal trees, radiating immense power.
Under the cover of his Space Domain, Zhang Ruochen carefully infiltrated the black forest, moving beneath the treants toward a thousand-year treant.
Treant kings had keen senses; they might detect Zhang Ruochen’s aura before he even struck. Moreover, the treant kings were clustered together at the forest’s center. If discovered, Zhang Ruochen would likely face a siege from all five.
Despite his confidence in his strength, Zhang Ruochen wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could take on five treant kings alone.
So, he didn’t target the treant kings but set his sights on a thousand-year treant that had grown for two millennia.
Killing it would earn him 10,000 military merit points, which was still substantial.
“That Outer Realm Death God is utterly detestable! Yesterday, he killed dozens of our kin. This enmity is irreconcilable!” said an eight-hundred-year-old treant.
A thousand-year treant added, “Now, aside from the two treant armies, all other treants have gathered at the center of the Black Wood Plain. The Outer Realm Death God won’t have another chance to strike.”
“What if the Outer Realm Death God targets the treant army?”
Silence fell, followed by laughter from all the treants in the forest.
“Our army has five treant kings and over a hundred thousand-year treants. If the Outer Realm Death God dares to come, we’ll activate the Heavenly Wood God-Slaying Formation. No matter how high his cultivation, he won’t escape death.”
Walking below, Zhang Ruochen suddenly stopped, his expression turning serious. “Heavenly Wood God-Slaying Formation.”
He hadn’t expected the treant race to know how to set up formations.
If that was the case, he needed to be even more cautious.
The two-thousand-year-old treant sneered, “That’s right! The Heavenly Wood God-Slaying Formation is presided over by five treant kings, assisted by one hundred and eight thousand-year treants. It unleashes a god-slaying grand formation. Even ten Outer Realm Death Gods would be suppressed and killed by it. Haha!”
Just then, the space beneath the treant rippled, and Zhang Ruochen leaped out, slashing with his sword.
“Not good!”
The treant sensed the danger and tried to dodge.
But Zhang Ruochen’s sword strike was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, the blade had already cut into the trunk.
“Slash!”
Severing the trunk, Zhang Ruochen acted decisively, immediately using Spatial Displacement to flee into the distance. He didn’t even stop to collect the treant’s Wood Spirit Red Sap.
The treant let out a scream, then crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.
The surrounding treants were all startled.
“Another kin has been killed… The Outer Realm Death God has appeared! The Outer Realm Death God has appeared again!”
Panicked, sharp, and fearful cries erupted in the forest. The treants fell into chaos, terrified that the Death God would strike again. They scattered in all directions, fleeing.
From deep within the forest, a earth-shaking roar sounded.
“Outer Realm Death God, you won’t escape this time!”
The five treant kings unleashed immense power, causing violent fluctuations in spiritual energy. Two of them stayed behind to calm the frightened treants.
The other three treant kings charged out, moving at top speed to pursue the fleeing Zhang Ruochen.
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