The idea is that the sacred object of the Ancient Banyan Village is calling for He Wen. Could the sacred object of the Ancient Banyan Village be a big black stick?

"Brother Yu, what's wrong?" Seeing Gu Yu looking at him with surprise, He Wen looked flustered. It was one thing for the big black stick to call him, but it also disrupted his breathing and made it difficult for him to cultivate. This was a very serious matter.

"Sigh! It seems we have no choice but to covet their divine artifact." Gu Yu sighed. He had never wanted to covet the divine artifact of his savior from his previous life, but given He Wen's current situation, he had no choice but to covet it.

The key question is, if it is indeed a divine being calling out to He Wen, then He Wen is very likely the chosen master of that divine being.

“Brother Yu, you mean…” He Wen instantly understood Gu Yu’s meaning, after all, the words were already quite clear, “But I’ve never seen that divine object at all, so how could it call to me?”

“A divine object is a divine object after all, and it is difficult to explain with common sense,” Gu Yu said. “It seems I should go and ask Mu Jie.”

At this moment, Mu Jie arrived deep within the ancient banyan forest, where a massive banyan tree stump, dozens of meters in diameter, stood. This stump, like a piece of coal that had stood for a thousand years, was pitch black and deep, forming a stark contrast to the vibrant banyan trees around it. The stump was covered with the marks of time, each crack seemingly telling an ancient story.

There is a hole in the center of the ancient banyan tree stump, surrounded by moss and unknown vines. The inside of the hole is pitch black, as if it has swallowed up all the light.

Mu Jie did not dare to enter the cave. Instead, he knelt on one knee at the entrance and respectfully said, "Elder Chief, Mu Jie has come to request an audience."

"Mujie, how is it? Have those people who coveted the treasure all left?" A hoarse voice came from inside the cave.

“They were all killed by the same people I told you about before,” Mu Jie replied. “Elder Chief, they shouldn’t be working together. The man didn’t seem like a bad person to me.”

"You can know a person's face but not their heart. They suddenly arrived and inexplicably helped us. Do you think such a good thing exists in the world?" the hoarse voice said.

"No," Mu Jie answered directly. "Elder Chief, has the divine object truly lost its divine power?"

"Are you questioning me? Didn't I already tell you this before?" The hoarse voice sounded somewhat displeased.

"Elder Chief, Mu Jie wouldn't dare." Upon hearing this voice, Mu Jie immediately sprang to attention and hurriedly replied.

“Over the years, we’ve only known how to take, not how to give back. That’s the real reason why the divine artifact has withered,” the hoarse voice said.

"Elder Chief, how should we respond?" Mu Jie asked when he heard the hoarse voice say this. It seemed that there was a way to restore the divine object.

"Go ahead! I'll let you know how to give feedback in a few days," the hoarse voice said.

"Yes, Elder Chief." Mu Jie bowed and got up to leave.

Deep within the dark cave, the faint light barely illuminated a chilling figure. It was an old man, gaunt and disheveled, like a ghost that had crawled back from the edge of hell. His eyes were bloodshot, as if soaked in blood, exuding an indescribable eeriness and terror.

He slowly raised his head, his blood-red eyes staring directly at the cave entrance, a sinister smile playing on his lips. His withered fingers lightly rubbed the stone wall beside him, producing a piercing, teeth-grinding sound. He seemed to be waiting for something; the entire cave was filled with an atmosphere of oppression and unease.

"Hehe... You don't need to struggle anymore, just obediently give up your body."

"No, I won't allow you to harm my people!" The withered old man's eyes suddenly regained their normal color. He clutched his head with both hands and struggled desperately. "Mujie, get the people out of here! Hurry!"

"Hehe... He's gone. He can't hear you anymore. Once I've completely possessed you and freed you from the suppression of the Nine Nether Soul-Seizing Spear, I'll kill them one by one, hehe..." The withered old man's eyes turned blood red again, and a bloodthirsty smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"No, I won't let you have your way, no..."

“You insignificant ant, if it weren’t for the Nine Nether Soul-Seizing Spear destroying my body and suppressing me for tens of thousands of years, why would I need your crippled and weak body?”

Mu Jie, upon returning to Gu Rong Village, was unaware of all this. Instead, a hint of joy appeared on his face. According to the old clan chief, the divine object might regain its divine power, which would allow Gu Rong Village to be protected once again, eliminating the need for the entire clan to migrate.

"Mu Jie, I have something to ask you." Gu Yu said, looking at Mu Jie. Gu Yu had already noticed the subtle change in Mu Jie's expression.

"Young hero, please speak." Mu Jie said very politely. Gu Yu had saved their Ancient Banyan Village twice, which made him feel grateful to Gu Yu from the bottom of his heart.

"Is your divine object a big black stick?" Gu Yu didn't try to hide anything this time, but asked without any hesitation.

"Young hero, why are you asking this?" Sure enough, when he heard Gu Yu ask about the divine object, a look of wariness appeared on Mu Jie's face. He thought of the old patriarch's words: "You can know a person's face but not their heart; there is no such thing as a free lunch."

“Mu Jie, my brother, said he saw a big black stick, and the big black stick was calling to him, so I asked if your divine object is a big black stick.” Gu Yu didn’t hide anything and said the truth. As for whether Mu Jie believed it or not, that was Mu Jie’s business.

"A big black stick?" Mu Jie's eyes were still wary. "Young hero, to be honest, I don't know what the divine object is either. I've never seen it before."

"You don't know?" Gu Yu frowned. Even the clan leader didn't know what the divine object was. He felt that Mu Jie was very likely lying. How could a clan that had been guarding something for so long not know what it was? This was ridiculous!

“Young hero, you saved my entire clan. No matter what, I hope to be your friend, and all the villagers of Gu Rong Village will remember your great kindness. However, the divine object is also related to the very foundation of my clan, so I cannot say anything, and I hope that you can…” Mu Jie looked at Gu Yu with sincere eyes. As for Gu Yu saying that his brother said there was a big black stick calling to him, Mu Jie did not believe it.

"Alright! In that case, I was presumptuous," Gu Yu said after listening to Mu Jie's words.

Mu Jie's wariness towards him was understandable, but He Wen's problem also needed to be solved.

"Young hero, I'm sorry, I..."

"It's alright." Gu Yu waved his hand. Although Mu Jie was wary of Gu Yu at the moment, he also felt a little apologetic. After all, Gu Yu had saved Gu Rong Village twice, and this favor was greater than the sky.

Just then, Gu Yu suddenly frowned and rushed towards He Wen's wooden house. He Wen's aura was chaotic, his face was very ugly, and the veins on his forehead were bulging.

His body was surrounded by black qi, which had a strong devouring power.

Upon seeing this, Gu Yu unleashed divine and demonic power, directly suppressing He Wen. Under the suppression of this divine and demonic power, He Wen slowly returned to normal.

"What happened?" Gu Yu asked when he saw He Wen open his eyes.

"Brother, I saw that big black stick again," He Wen said, still shaken. He had almost lost control just now.

"Didn't I tell you not to use your Origin Qi?" Gu Yu frowned.

“Brother, I didn’t use any source energy. I just went back to my room and felt something attracting me, and then…” He Wen explained.

"It seems that only by finding that big black stick can we figure out what's going on," Gu Yu said.

“Brother, this time that big black stick said something else to me. It said it couldn’t hold on any longer,” He Wen said.

"Can't hold on anymore?" Gu Yu frowned again. "Can't hold on to what?"

"I don't know." He Wen shook his head.

"It seems we need to go and find out what that divine object is as soon as possible," Gu Yu said.

Just as Gu Yu was preparing to investigate what the divine object was, within the Hundred Wood Sect, there was a person who was extremely angry.

"Hai'er, Zhen'er, Jiang'er, and Zhou Heng's primordial spirit imprints have all been extinguished?" An old man's face was ashen, as if he had eaten shit. He knew very well what this meant, and that wasn't all. One five-cone, one four-cone, two three-cone, four two-cone, and eleven one-cone members of his Hundred Wood Sect had all died.

Now, with him gone, the Hundred Wood Sect only has one person in the Four Cones, three people in the Three Cones, four people in the Two Cones, and seven people in the One Cone. This is a devastating blow to the Hundred Wood Sect.

"Father, could it be that the sacred artifact of Ancient Banyan Village has regained its power?" a middle-aged man asked in a panic. "What should we do?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. I saw that divine object years ago and was even healed by it. I also knew that it was about to wither and could never recover." The old man kept shaking his head as he spoke, but now he seemed to hardly believe his own words.

"Father, what exactly is that divine object? Do we absolutely have to get it?" the middle-aged man asked. Although the Hundred Wood Sect wasn't very strong, it was still a powerful force in its own right. Now, it had lost half of its strength—half of the sect! All those years of effort were for a divine object they had never seen before.

Although Wan Yang had always hoped that something would happen to his three brothers, preferably that they would die, so that he could become the next sect leader of the Hundred Wood Sect, he suddenly found it hard to accept that they had died.

“We must obtain that item. If we can get it, within a hundred years, our Hundred Wood Sect will be able to stand proudly among all heroes. We won’t even need to care about those at the Emperor Realm, because it is a divine artifact.” The old man’s eyes showed longing at this moment. “A divine artifact! It is a weapon comparable to a true god. There are only a few of them in this world.”

"A divine artifact?" Wan Yang's expression changed immediately upon hearing the old man's words. A divine artifact was a legendary existence. "Father, are you telling the truth?"

"If it weren't for the divine artifact, how could your grandfather have acted so impulsively back then? How could he have turned to ashes!" The old man said, his face showing a hint of sorrow.

"Father, what do we do now?" Wan Yang asked.

"Wan Yang, immediately gather everyone in the sect. I need to go there personally," the old man said in a deep voice.

"Father, what if we end up like Uncle and my brothers?" Wan Yang suddenly asked in a panic.

“You worthless thing, when I was saved by the divine artifact back then, I received a portion of its divine power. I have been refining this divine power all these years, and now I have finally refined it completely. With this power, that divine artifact will not be able to destroy me.” The old man said. He had been in seclusion for many years, and even the death of his father could not bring him out of seclusion. Today, he was overjoyed to emerge from seclusion, but he never expected that what awaited him was the death of his three sons.

But none of that matters. As long as he gets that artifact, he can become stronger, live longer, and even regenerate. He heard with his own ears that the old man Mu Ya Zi had lived for thousands of years because he had always been guarding the artifact. Otherwise, with that old man's strength of five cones, he could only live for a thousand years at most.

"Father, I will gather the people in the sect and head to Ancient Banyan Village right away," Wan Yang said immediately upon hearing his father's words.

At this moment, Gu Yu and his two companions walked deeper into the ancient banyan village and soon saw the dark ancient banyan tree stump.

Gu Yu walked up to the ancient banyan tree stump, looked at the dark cave, and his brows immediately furrowed.

At this moment, He Wen suddenly lost control again. His body was radiating dark energy, his eyes turned blood red, and waves of devouring power emanated from his body.

Suddenly, a power emanated from the dark cave, causing the earth to tremble.

Suddenly, the gaunt old man inside the cave showed joy on his face, "Great, great! Heaven has not forsaken my Gu clan."

"This is impossible, how could this be? The Nine Nether Soul-Seizing Spear, ah! No, I will not allow it." The withered old man's face suddenly turned extremely ugly, his eyes were bloodshot, and boundless killing intent emanated from him.

"What's going on?" Gu Yu and Ri Jiu were immediately pushed back by the power emanating from He Wen. Ri Jiu asked, puzzled.

He Wen's cultivation level was not high, but the power around him had the ability to devour. Although it did not pose a great threat to Ri Jiu, who was at the peak of the fourth cone, he was still very wary of him.

"Just as I suspected, it was that divine object that was affecting him," Gu Yu said, now completely certain.

whoosh...

The next second, He Wen, like a wild horse, rushed into the dark cave.

Gu Yu frowned. The cave always gave him a terrifying feeling, but since He Wen had gone in, he had to go in too.

"Wait." Seeing Gu Yu follow He Wen into the cave without hesitation, Ri Jiu wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

“The fluctuations of divine power... that divine object must be extraordinary.” Ri Jiu’s face turned solemn, and the next second, she also leaped in after her.

"What happened? Was it an earthquake?" The villagers of Gu Rong Village were also startled by the tremors and were puzzled.

"Oh no, it's a divine object." Mu Jie frowned, and the next second he instantly ran towards the depths of the ancient banyan forest.

At this moment, the group from the Hundred Woods Sect had also arrived at the ancient banyan forest.

"As expected, the power of the divine artifact has indeed been exhausted." The leading elder sensed this as they approached the ancient banyan forest.

"Father, are you sure?" Wan Yang asked, still quite wary of that divine object.

“I refined a trace of the divine power of the artifact, so I have some connection to it. I can sense that it no longer possesses any divine power,” the old man said.

Just as he finished speaking, a violent tremor struck, and the expressions of everyone in the Hundred Wood Sect changed drastically.

Most of them scattered in all directions like startled birds, creating chaos.

They were all very clear about why they had been summoned here today, and they also knew that the masters in their sect had all died because of coming here. So none of them were willing to come and were trembling with fear. However, out of fear of the old man, Wan Jin Kui, the sect master of the Hundred Wood Sect, they had no choice but to come. Now, this sudden tremor amplified their fear to an extreme, resulting in a scene of them scattering and fleeing.

"Come back! All of you, come back!" Wan Yang shouted at the scene, but with so many people running away, how could he possibly stop them all? At this point, no one listened to him at all.

Moreover, even he, upon hearing the noise, immediately turned around and ran a few steps before realizing what was happening and stopping.

"Not good." At this moment, Wan Jin Kui didn't care about the fleeing subordinates, but her face turned somewhat ugly.

"Father, what's wrong?" Wan Yang asked, shrinking his neck as he saw his father's expression suddenly turn serious and his face turn deathly pale.

“It’s a divine artifact; it actually moved,” Wan Jin Kui said.

"The artifact moved?" Wan Yang was completely baffled.

However, Wan Jin Kui did not explain anything to Wan Yang. He immediately moved and headed into the depths of the ancient banyan forest.

Watching this scene, Wan Yang hesitated, wondering whether to follow. In his mind, two little figures were fiercely fighting.

If his life were in danger, would his father save him? At this moment, in his father's eyes, there was probably only the divine artifact, not his son. You know, his three younger brothers had all died, but his father was not sad at all.

But if he doesn't go, will his father punish him when he gets the artifact?

After much deliberation, he gritted his teeth! He was his father's only son, and he refused to believe that his father would abandon him if he were in mortal danger.

He immediately chased after Wan Jin Kui in the direction she had left.

As Gu Yu and Ri Jiu entered the cave, they immediately felt a powerful pressure rushing towards them.

"Is this the oppressive aura of that divine being?" Gu Yu muttered to himself, somewhat uncertainly.

"No, Gu Yu, let's leave here quickly! It's very dangerous here." Ri Jiu felt the oppressive aura, and her expression was very grave.

"Do you know what this pressure is?" Gu Yu asked Ri Jiu, taken aback.

"Didn't you guess some of it too?" Rijiu countered.

"Is this a domain?" Gu Yu voiced his thoughts.

“That’s right, this is a domain.” Ri Jiu nodded. “Only those at the God Realm possess a domain. Under the domain of a god, everything is an ant, unless you are also at the God Realm.”