On the way back, Xu Liang asked, "Aren't we going to go take a look?"

Xu Anran said, "We will definitely take a look, but let's forget about agreeing to save them, since we don't know their strength."

The next day, they flew their aircraft to a high altitude near the county town and looked down from above.

On the city wall, three people were hanging: Granny Huang, her daughter, and her son-in-law. The three of them were hanging on the wall, half-dead, and it seemed that they had not eaten or drunk anything since they were captured. At their feet, there were two blood-sucked infant corpses on the ground.

The person who was hanging was surrounded by a crowd of people, all of whom had smiles on their faces.

With red and swollen eyes, Huang Da Niang's daughter, with a smile on her face and a hoarse voice, shouted, "Mother, hahahahaha... It's your daughter's fault... hahaha..." She kept saying sorry, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud. The scene was bizarre and comical, yet full of helplessness and pain.

Listening to her daughter's words and laughter, Aunt Huang's tears flowed incessantly. She comforted her, saying, "Don't blame your child, blame this world! Why must we ordinary people suffer like this! Heaven, please open your eyes..."

The people around her included relatives of Aunt Huang, her son-in-law's family, and neighbors she had known for many years. Everyone was silently shedding tears, but the smiles on their lips and the occasional bursts of laughter made the scene seem particularly strange.

Just then, a sound came from afar, and a dozen people, armed with weapons, ran towards the city wall. One of them was the man that Qi Ziqi had caught in the teahouse.

They reached the city wall, cut the ropes with their knives, and released the three men. Just then, many tree branches appeared on the ground and began to fight with them.

Their swords and knives cut through the tree branches in an attempt to rescue the people, but the branches that sprouted from the ground kept coming back, no matter how much they cut, they couldn't cut them all. Then, the people around suddenly lost consciousness, and like walking corpses, they scattered to both sides, and the sound of running footsteps, "thump thump thump..." could be heard coming from the city.

Many tree-bark people, who are trees that look like humans, have facial features and limbs, and can extend their arms at will, growing many branches. These tree-bark people surround them, and the branches extending from their hands are like snakes, trying to bind them.

The bark people are incredibly tough. Neither swords nor fire can harm them in the slightest.

Using their own magic, they created qi swords that pierced the bark men, and it worked. The qi swords pierced through the bark men's bodies, and together they unleashed many qi swords to finish them off.

But as the bark people fell, they were absorbed by the soil below, and soon a new batch of bark people emerged, more and more of them appearing from all directions. Their physical magical power was limited, and they were no match for so many bark people.

Seeing that things were not going well, these people prepared to use magic to turn into smoke and escape.

They transformed into the mist along with the three others, but at that moment, the entire earth trembled, and countless branches surged forth, weaving a large net that completely surrounded the area. These people had no way to escape. One person was a step ahead and was not caught in the encirclement, but in the next second, he was grabbed by the foot by a branch that stretched out from the ground and dragged down.

Just when it seemed they were about to be wiped out, another group of people arrived, carrying tools to knock down the branches. These were the people from the cave that Xu Anran and her group had rescued.

How could ordinary people like them be a match for this tree demon? Soon they were hoisted up by the branches.

Seeing that the people below were about to be killed, Xu Liang asked, "Should we make a move?"

The others looked at Xu Anran, who was frowning and staring down at the scene below, remaining silent for a long while. Just as everyone saw that the people below were about to die, some looked anxiously at Xu Anran, about to ask her more questions, when they heard her voice: "Let's go, there's no way to save them."

Momo, who was standing nearby, didn't understand and asked, "Why can't it be saved?"

Xu Anran patted her little head and smiled bitterly: "Going down there would be suicide. Not only would we not be able to save them, we would also lose ourselves. It's too strong, and the timing isn't right."

After saying that, she ordered her men to head the aircraft south.

They stopped in an open space, and Xu Anran led the group northeast for about half an hour before they heard a sound.

They saw a group of people dealing with several snake demons.

Xu Anran looked at everyone: "These people are the key to killing the tree demon."

As she stepped forward, the group of people looked at her warily, but when they saw Xu Anran, they were clearly surprised.

The person inside came out; it was Ao Zipeng. He walked up to Xu Anran warmly and said, "Oh? I didn't expect to run into you here."

Xu Anran also smiled and said, "Yes, I didn't expect that either. How's Captain Ao doing lately?"

"It's alright, we've had a good harvest here." Among the people from the Xuanwu team this time, there were some familiar faces, but there were many more that Xu Anran had never seen before.

Seeing Xu Anran looking at his teammates, Ao Zipeng gave a wry smile and introduced, "Our team was tricked by that Taoist priest before, and suffered heavy casualties. Now a batch of new people have joined us."

Afterwards, both sides introduced their team members to each other and ate together around the fire.

The Xuanwu team was very curious about the younger members, Momo and Maisui. One of the Xuanwu team members, a girl named Qu Xin, wanted to tease them.

During the meal, she took out a few pieces of cream cake and gave them to Mai Sui and Mo Mo, saying, "Call me 'sister,' and I'll give you the cake."

Momo, that little glutton, wanted to rush over immediately upon seeing it, but Mai Sui stopped her, not letting her go. Mai Sui looked very wary; she was extremely cautious of everyone except the people in her team.

Momo pulled away from Mai Sui's hand and rushed forward regardless, which made Mai Sui anxious. She suddenly shouted, "Stop! Come back!"

The voice was like a spell, and Momo's body suddenly stopped obeying her will. She stopped and turned back to Mai Sui's side.

Momo was stunned. Similarly, the commotion on their side also attracted everyone's attention, and everyone looked at Mai Sui in disbelief.

Xu Anran carried Mai Sui and Momo away and asked Mai Sui, "Don't be afraid, tell your sister what happened?"

Mai Sui and Mo Mo then recounted what had just happened.

Xu Anran asked Mai Sui, "Were you controlling Momo just now?"

Mai Sui nodded and said, "I don't know what's going on either. It's happened before. Sometimes what I say can control other people and even conjure things, but it's not always effective."

Xu Anran looked at Mai Sui, who seemed a little nervous, and comforted her, "It's okay. You must have awakened your special ability. Don't be nervous. Just practice slowly."