Ch. 129 - Fleeing Without a Fight

Chapter 129: Fleeing Without a Fight

When Tianyang was watching Xiaoniao, the girl suddenly screamed and pointed behind him, shouting, "Quick, look! Is it about to give birth?"

Give birth?

Tianyang turned around and saw that the Dead Tree in the pool had its arm-thick branches slowly hanging down. The water droplet-shaped cocoons hanging from the ends of these branches suddenly detached and fell into the water with a splash.

Splash! Splash!

One by one, the cocoons fell into the water, floating up and writhing and changing shape under the deep purple light emitted by the mist crystals.

Finally, one of the cocoons made a tearing sound, and a hand emerged from it, ripping it open.

Thick, viscous black liquid immediately flowed out, spreading through the pool and gradually turning the water pitch black.

In the black water, the cocoons were being torn open one by one, and wanderers crawled out from inside.

They crossed the pool and, with their strange and twisted movements, climbed onto the ground, starting to approach Tianyang and the others.

A beam of light suddenly streaked past Tianyang and struck one of the wanderers emerging from the pool. Then, Xie Miao’s voice came from behind, “What are you all dawdling for? Hurry up and kill them! There are only a few wanderers left! Oh, and leave the Dead Tree to me!”

Xie Miao, accompanied by seven or eight other exalted warriors, excitedly ran up. His eyes were fixed on the Dead Tree as if it were already in his grasp.

But before he could get past Tianyang's vanguard team, the mountain cavity space suddenly began to shake, and stones continued to fall from the dark ceiling.

Tianyang suddenly looked toward the pool. His intuition told him that the source of the tremor was below the pool.

What could be in the pool but piles of mist crystals and the Dead Tree?

Could it be that the Dead Tree could move?

Just as this thought surfaced, the ground at the edge of the pool suddenly cracked open, a jagged fissure extending towards Tianyang and the others.

Without warning, a shadow sprang up from the crack. With the light from the illumination flares, almost everyone could see clearly that it was a tree root!

This root, with numerous tendrils hanging down, suddenly lashed out like a whip, and a soldier at the bottom was struck without time to react.

A series of cracking noises followed as the soldier’s helmet was deformed by the impact, the mask made of composite material covered with fine cracks.

Bright red blood sprayed onto the cracked mask, slowly trickling down.

As for the soldier’s body, it was no longer recognizable, clearly broken in several places by the tree root.

The sudden turn of events left Xie Miao, who was charging forward, stunned and dumbfounded, staring at the tree root without reacting.

Tianyang was the first to come to his senses and hurriedly warned everyone, “Be careful, the Dead Tree is alive!”

Although hard to believe, the plant capable of nurturing wanderers clearly had living characteristics.

As if to confirm Tianyang’s thoughts, more roots burst from the ground like evil long arms.

They swung, lashed, and attacked the vanguard team frenziedly!

The shaking in the mountain cavity continued, and in the already pitch-black pool, the Dead Tree appeared to have risen slightly and showed signs of movement.

When it "crawled" out of the pool, Xie Miao drew a sharp breath. At the top of the strange tree, there were structures resembling human legs!

These things stepped forward, allowing the Dead Tree to crawl out of the pool and onto the ground.

At this moment, the Dead Tree’s canopy began to tremble, and a faint sound of something sharp slicing through the air filled the space.

Xie Miao heard a swoosh as a thirty-centimeter-long, finger-thick black branch impaled the ground right in front of him.

The end of the branch continued to tremble, while the front had embedded itself into the hard ground!

More black branches fell from the sky like arrows, significantly reducing the number of soldiers in the vanguard team. Many soldiers, unable to avoid or too busy dodging the roots, were struck by these arrow-like branches.

They couldn't penetrate defensive armor, but they were more than enough to pierce unprotected areas.

Although getting hit by the branches might not be fatal, the injuries would slow down their movements. In such chaos, the roots took advantage to attack.

Some roots coiled around soldiers like pythons, tightening relentlessly and strangling them to death! Others pierced into soldiers’ bodies, draining blood and flesh, and turning them into dry corpses quickly.

Seeing this scene, Xie Miao's face turned pale.

A few battle-tier warriors were about to rush in to help when Xie Miao suddenly remembered something and shouted, “Don’t go in!”

The others looked at him.

Xie Miao shook his head and said, “It’s too dangerous. We need to retreat first and decide whether to continue the attack based on the situation.”

An exalted warrior looked at the vanguard team, which was continuously falling. “What about them?”

Xie Miao shook his head, "The Dead Tree is too dangerous. They’re beyond saving. We have no choice but to abandon them!"

As he spoke, Xie Miao glanced at the Xiaoniao.

"You ungrateful wretch, you insisted on following that white-haired boy instead of staying with me! If you like him so much, you can die with him!"

"But..." Some of the Ascenders hesitated. After all, they were all members of the Night Walkers. Abandoning their comrades like this was hard to bear.

Xie Miao's face twisted with anger as he shouted, "If you want to die with them, go ahead. Anyone who wants to live, follow me!"

He began to retreat, then turned and quickly headed back the way he came.

The other Ascenders exchanged glances, sighed, and began to retreat as well.

On the battlefield, Tianyang grabbed Yan Bing and pulled him towards himself, dodging a tree root that whipped down from the air.

Tianyang looked around. The forward team was dwindling rapidly. He called out, "Commander, we..."

Suddenly, he saw Xie Miao leading people to retreat and realized immediately, "Xie Miao, you bastard! You’re running away without fighting!"

The boy's angry shout echoed through the mountains, causing Xie Miao’s face to change several times before turning into a cold laugh. "I’m here to screw you over. What can you do about it!"

Back on the battlefield, Tianyang, momentarily distracted, found himself entangled by a tree root. The root tightened painfully around him, turning his face red.

Fortunately, one of Tianyang's arms was free. He drew out the Crimson Moon Warblade, and with the infusion of star essence, the edge of the blade glowed with a scarlet light.

With a swing of the blade, Tianyang effortlessly split the root in two. Black, blood-like slime gushed out from the broken root.

At the same time, a piercing scream came from the Dead Tree!

The boy fell to the ground as the root around him loosened. Yan Bing hurried over to help Tianyang pull the root away, allowing him to take a deep breath.

He looked up to see a wanderer swaying towards him and was about to strike it down.

Suddenly, a tree root impaled the wanderer from behind. The wanderer began to tremble violently, its body growing rapidly and expanding in size.

Although it still looked misshapen, it exuded a palpable sense of pressure. Blood vessels surfaced on its skin, glowing with a dim yellow light.

The wanderer impaled by the root charged forward as if on steroids. Tianyang quickly pushed Yan Bing away. As the faint light of star essence flickered in his hair, the boy became a blur of light and shadow.

He maneuvered around the wanderer and leaped onto the root. Tianyang thrust down with his blade, and the searing edge cut through the wanderer’s chest, dimming the yellow light in its blood vessels.

The root withdrew from the wanderer's body and moved towards another monster.

Before Tianyang could repeat the trick, a streak of scarlet light flashed, slicing the root in half and causing black slime to spray everywhere.

However, many wanderers had already been captured and strengthened by the Dead Tree.

The enhanced wanderers were much faster and stronger. Some even developed misshapen limbs as weapons.

With the new wanderers joining the battlefield, the forward team’s numbers dwindled even faster. Soon, only Tianyang, the Xiaoniao, and Yan Bing remained!

This situation couldn’t continue!

Tianyang looked at the Dead Tree, hoping to find its will cage if it was a type of dark creature.

Where is it?

Where is the will cage?!

As his gaze inadvertently swept over the tree trunk where a woman was entangled by branches, Tianyang's vision began to shift, and the surroundings gradually faded.

Finally, only the woman clutching her chest remained in his view.

Her tightly shut eyes suddenly opened, and her eye sockets blazed with a blood-red light.

A red haze rapidly spread from head to toe, engulfing her entire body!

A piercing scream suddenly erupted from the Dead Tree’s trunk. The canopy shook, and a hail of arrows shot toward Tianyang. Not only that, the wanderers controlled by the roots abandoned Yan Bing and the Xiaoniao, crazily charging at Tianyang!

"That woman!" Tianyang yelled, "Xiaoniao, quickly! The woman on that tree is the will cage for this thing!"

As he shouted, the boy swiftly moved, dodging the black branches that flew at him like arrows. Despite this, he was still cut by the branches.

His legs and arms were pierced by several branches, but fortunately, these didn’t have toxins, and the pierced areas didn’t hinder his movement.

Otherwise, the subsequent attack by a dozen enhanced wanderers would have cost him his life.

Tianyang raised his hand and slashed with his blade, shattering one will cage. He drew out the Death Knell with his other hand, pressing it against another monster's chest. Before the monster's hands could grasp his neck, he fired a shot that shattered both the will cage and the monster’s chest.

But the wanderers kept coming, and eventually, Tianyang made a mistake. His ankle tightened suddenly, and he realized a root had wrapped around it.

He quickly swung his blade, severing the root. Two wanderers tackled him to the ground, pinning his hands and feet, making it hard for him to move.

Then his vision darkened as a wanderer fell from the sky. Its misshapen limb, like an axe blade, swung down heavily at the boy's face!

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