Chapter 96
Just as Yan Ning'an said, Su Xuan and the others had already anticipated the behavior patterns of several ferocious beasts.
Since several ferocious beasts want to use them to find the secrets of the ancient tribe, then they will go and find it.
With the help of Yan Ning'an and Xian Mo's witchcraft, they deliberately disguised the team into two groups - the all-spiritual power team and the all-human team.
The All-Spirit Team continued to search deeper into the village for the whereabouts of the ferocious beast, while the All-Human Team pretended to search the periphery to see if there were any lone villagers.
But the ferocious beasts will certainly suspect that the real purpose of the human team is to find the secret location of the ancient tribe.
——Isn't it impossible to force these ferocious beasts out using ordinary means? Then as long as they pretend to have really found the "treasure", the ferocious beasts will definitely come out. No matter how many ferocious beasts come to track down the human team, they will capture as many as come!
However, Su Xuan and his companions were surprised that the people of Zhourao would appear so quickly and point out the location of the Three Pearl Tree so easily.
Originally, they were planning to put on a show to lure those ferocious beasts out...
Su Xuan glanced at the short Zhou Rao man.
——The latter bit his lips tightly, his eyes flickering.
Su Xuan was stunned.
He thought for a moment and looked at Gu Shuo. Gu Shuo had obviously noticed the subtle changes in Zhou Rao's expression and looked at Su Xuan calmly.
The same guess obviously emerged in the minds of the two people.
Su Xuan's expression faltered slightly, but he suppressed it in a moment. After thinking for a moment, he turned back to ask Yan Yue, "How are things going with Yan Ning'an and the others? Is everything going well? Is Zhu Yan with them?"
Coincidentally, Yan Yue also received the message from Yan Ning'an.
The owl lying on the ground rolled its eyes.
Yan Yue paused after seeing the message. He looked up at Su Xuan and said calmly, "He said everything is going well over there. The two beasts are both here. One of them looks like an ape. It must be Zhu Yan."
Xiao Wei secretly curled his lips.
Hearing Yan Yue's words, Gu Shuo's face showed no expression, while Xian Mo lowered his eyes and smiled gently.
Su Xuan narrowed his eyes: "...Is that so."
He turned his head and walked towards Xiao Wei who was lying on the ground.
Xiao Wei saw him approaching, his expression turned serious, and he sneered, "Are you the Pixiu that Zhu Yan mentioned? You're quite powerful, aren't you? How come you were killed so easily by that guy Zhu Yan back then?"
There was a gloom in Gu Shuo's eyes.
Su Xuan kept walking and even started chatting: "Didn't he tell you that when he met me, I had just fought with others all night and only had half a spirit core left? He is quite good at pretending!"
Xiao Xiao was choked by Su Xuan's words. When Su Xuan stopped in front of him, he smiled sarcastically and said, "Really? I want to see whether Zhu Yan was lucky enough to get away with it, or you are just bragging now."
A powerful spiritual power suddenly burst out from his body, and the spiritual power that Su Xuan was suppressing on him was suddenly bounced away!
With a triumphant smile on his face, he spread his wings and rushed towards Su Xuan!
——This guy still has some strength left!
But he didn't expect that in the next second, two spiritual powers comparable to those of a first-generation monster would attack him from both sides, trapping him tightly in the middle!
There was a loud "clang" sound, the sound of two spiritual powers colliding with each other, mixed with Xiao Xiu's screams. His entire body was almost crushed and deformed, and his face was distorted as he stared at Gu Shuo and Xian Mo - these two people shouldn't be monsters, so how could their spiritual power be so strong?!
"There are so many friends here, why should I bother to fight you 1v1?" Su Xuan said as if it was a matter of course.
"Fuck you--woo!" Xiao Wei was hit head-on by a burst of spiritual power. With a "pop" sound, it was like being slapped in the face. His whole face immediately swelled up and two lines of blood flowed from his nose.
Gu Shuo looked calm.
Su Xuan: "I'm sorry, there's only one person in this world who can fuck me."
Yan Yue frowned from a distance: "We don't want to know about this!"
Ink: "Hahahaha."
Xiao Qiong knelt on the ground. Su Xuan bent down and lifted up Xiao Qiong's hair, saying calmly, "You ate a lot of villagers, didn't you?"
He bound Xiaoxiu's wings with a spiritual chain, forcing Xiaoxiu to reveal his round belly.
Xiao Xiao was dizzy from the blow just now. When he heard Su Xuan's words and realized what Su Xuan was planning to do, his face finally fell. He hurriedly said, "Wait, aren't you going to ask us what we plan to do after we get the Three Pearl Tree?!"
"After we cut open your stomach and fish out the villagers, we'll sew you up again. You'll still have a chance to confess."
Xiao Wei clearly felt the cold and sharp spiritual blade pressing against his stomach. The corners of his mouth twitched and twisted: "No, no, no, I may not survive this way-"
Su Xuan didn't listen to him at all, and the blade formed by spiritual power had already pierced into Xiao Xiu's flesh.
Xiao Xiao screamed: "Zhu Yan, are you still a human being? Come out here right now!!"
A low laugh was heard, followed by a huge spiritual power rushing down directly from above their heads.
Su Xuan's eyes turned cold.
When the spiritual power rushed down, a flood of spiritual power also burst out from his body, going straight up and colliding with the spiritual power!
The spiritual power on both sides was too strong. Even if the spiritual power did not directly affect the employees of the Monster Bureau, the pressure created by the impact had made it difficult for them to breathe!
Xian Mo waved his hand and set up a protective shield on the group of people, and countless spiritual power chains burst out from Gu Shuo's body and attacked the spiritual power waterfall. After a while, a figure was knocked out from it!
The figure flipped over nimbly in the air, stepped on the waterfall of spiritual power behind him, and attacked the tree that Zhou Rao had just pointed at like a bullet.
Just as Xiao Wei was about to take the opportunity to struggle to his feet, Su Xuan slapped him in the face, pinning him back to the ground. He pinned him down with his spiritual power and shouted, "Xianmo, get the villagers out of his stomach first!"
Xian Mo walked over with a smile: "Got it."
Xiao Qie's face turned pale: "Can you guys go deal with Zhu Yan first - Ahhhhh!"
After a scream, his stomach was ruthlessly cut open by Xian Mo.
On the other side, Zhu Yan shot towards the tree, and a high-speed rotating spiritual power ball formed in his palm. With a light wave, the spiritual power ball smashed towards the location where the tree was!
The next second, a figure appeared in front of him, and his spiritual power ball was split in half, smashing to both sides and creating two deep pits in the open space!
The wind was blowing hard and dust was rising everywhere. In the dust, Su Xuan looked straight at him.
Zhu Yan laughed and said, "You have guessed that the ape on the other side is not me, right?"
Is the monkey on Yan Ningan's side Zhu Yan? How can Yan Ningan and A Tu not tell the difference?
Not to mention that Yan Ningan himself is an encyclopedia, let's talk about A Tu——
"You forgot that A'Tu met you more than a thousand years ago." Su Xuan said slowly.
Zhu Yan raised an eyebrow: "Ah, you are not talking about your little crow friend? I remember now."
The message sent by Yan Ning'an probably meant that there were indeed two ferocious beasts on their side, and one of them looked like a monkey, but it was not Zhu Yan.
——There were actually four ferocious beasts that broke into the village, but the man from Huantou country only saw three of them!
The beasts had been using the villagers' empty bodies to follow them, and naturally they knew their misunderstanding, so they took advantage of their trick.
When Yan Yue received Yan Ning'an's message, he immediately guessed that Zhu Yan might be waiting for them here, so he disguised the message. Su Xuan and the others understood it as soon as they heard it, and naturally prepared for Zhu Yan to suddenly appear.
At this moment, the two of them slammed together——
The wind is howling!
Zhu Yan was puzzled. "That's strange! I rarely appear directly in front of those villagers. The man from Huantou who led the way probably hasn't seen me before, only Yonghe. He must have been telling you about a ferocious beast that looks like an ape, right? There are so many ferocious beasts that look like apes, how can you be so sure that I am one of them?"
Su Xuan suddenly turned around and a sharp spiritual blade rushed straight towards Zhu Yan!
Zhu Yan dodged, but several spiritual chains emerged from behind him and entangled his hands and feet!
Zhu Yan turned his head and saw Gu Shuo standing not far behind him, with his five fingers clenched together. At the same time, the spiritual power chain on Zhu Yan's body suddenly tightened!
Immediately afterwards, Su Xuan's spiritual power chain followed and tightly bound Zhu Yan's body!
Zhu Yan suddenly groaned and was unable to move.
Su Xuan said coldly, "It's just my intuition. After all, you left such a deep impression on me more than a thousand years ago. I still remember you clearly."
"I see," Zhu Yan was trapped but not panicked at all. He said gently, "I was too rude more than a thousand years ago, but maybe we can sit down and have a good talk now?"
"If we could have gotten along, we wouldn't have had to wait until now."
Zhu Yan nodded: "Indeed."
They knew each other clearly about this matter.
"But the situation is different now. The Three-Pearl Tree is right before our eyes. I'd like to try to resolve the issue in a more peaceful way," Zhu Yan said with a smile. "Do you know what the Three-Pearl Tree is?"
Su Xuan frowned.
Zhu Yan slowly spoke, "The Three-Pearl Tree grew in the ancient tribe's territory thousands of years ago. It's quite inconspicuous in the vast records of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. But thousands of years ago, before the natural spiritual energy between heaven and earth faded and the ancient tribe retreated into seclusion within the barrier of this mountain, someone saw the Three-Pearl Tree in its true form, and the legend has been passed down. 'Its tree is like a cypress, and its leaves are all pearls'—the 'pearls' in the Three-Pearl Tree were later interpreted as pearls."
When Zhu Yan said this, Su Xuan and the others suddenly thought of something at the same time and were slightly stunned.
Zhu Yan curled his lips and said word by word, "But in fact, the beads of the Three-Bead Tree are all spiritual beads, fruits formed by the condensation of highly concentrated spiritual energy."
Su Xuan tightened his grip.
As expected——
This is why the ancient tribal people were able to set up a barrier around the entire village and maintain it for thousands of years!
They borrowed the spiritual power of the Three Pearl Tree!
Zhu Yan noticed the expressions of Su Xuan and the others, and his smile deepened. "I'm afraid you can't guess, but this tree absorbs spiritual energy more quickly than any other living thing in the world. As long as the spiritual energy in nature does not return to zero, it will continue to grow and bear fruit. If the spiritual energy in the world ever disappears, the spiritual pearls remaining on this tree will be the world's last treasure."
"Whoever obtains the Three Pearl Tree will always be the greatest winner in the world. That's why, thousands of years ago, when all humans and monsters discovered that the spiritual power of nature was beginning to fade, the people of these ancient tribes immediately fled to this corner to live in seclusion, preferring to be cut off from the outside world for thousands of years rather than set foot here—"
"Because they know that once the secret of the Three Pearl Tree is known to everyone, they will be no match for others. After all, with their weak spiritual power, even if they swallow the spiritual pearl, they can only compete with the first generation of monsters. But as long as they can hold out until all the spiritual power in nature disappears, they will become the most powerful group in the world. They are the most cunning people."
Zhu Yan looked regretful.
Although the people of Huantou and Zhourao did not understand what he was saying, they probably sensed the atmosphere and became anxious and angry.
Zhu Yan looked straight at Su Xuan: "So, after hearing this, do you still want to stop us? As long as you are willing to take a step back, we are willing to share the Three Pearl Tree with you."
"Perhaps you feel that you have sufficient spiritual power now and don't need the help of the Three-Pearl Tree, but let me remind you that the spiritual power in nature shows no signs of stopping, and it's even disappearing at an increasingly rapid rate. One day, spiritual power will disappear from our world. By then, you will no longer be a powerful monster of the first generation. You will no longer possess spiritual power, nor will you have an endless lifespan. It will be even more impossible for you to share half of your spiritual core with your loved one when he is on the verge of death to help him overcome his difficulties—"
Zhu Yan's gaze swept lightly across Gu Shuo's body.
He raised the corner of his lips and said, "If you lose your power, you will also lose the opportunity to create miracles."
Not far away, Xiao Xiu, whose stomach had been cut open and then sewn back together, was already half dead. However, he still had the strength to shout at Xian Mo's feet, "...Why are you telling them this? The spiritual pearls on the Three Pearl Trees aren't even enough for us to eat—Ah!"
He was knocked unconscious by a burst of spiritual power.
The villagers dug out from his stomach had both spiritual and physical bodies. Yan Yue ordered several of his subordinates to help carry these villagers away, away from the "battlefield." Xian Mo walked over without getting a single scrap of his clothes dirty, chuckling, "The greedy people in this world have truly remained the same for thousands of years."
And this world has never been at peace.
Su Xuan looked at Gu Shuo.
Gu Shuo stood behind Zhu Yan, holding the spiritual power chain tightly in his hand.
Feeling Su Xuan's gaze, the man raised his eyes and looked straight at him.
Su Xuan suddenly remembered that more than a thousand years ago, when he was holding the dying Ashu, he had asked A Tu a few questions in confusion.
Why is there a distinction between monsters and mortals in this world? If there were no spiritual power in this world, and everyone was just an ordinary mortal, then things like devouring monsters and devouring their spirit cores, and trying every possible means to obtain spiritual power, wouldn't happen.
And the spiritual power between heaven and earth——
Su Xuan looked at Zhu Yan and suddenly said, "Why did the spiritual energy between heaven and earth begin to fade? Haven't you ever thought about this question?"
Zhu Yan raised his eyebrows.
"I thought about it at first, but I couldn't come up with an answer. I also thought, since spiritual power is fading, why not just not have it in the first place?"
Zhu Yan smiled, seemingly laughing at Su Xuan's folly. "When the world was first created and spiritual energy was abundant, even half-demons and wizards were as powerful as the current generation of monsters. How many myths were created back then that have been passed down to later generations? You must know this. I told you, power can create miracles. Without miracles, the world cannot develop."
"You're right. Spiritual power can create miracles," Su Xuan said calmly. "In ancient times, monsters, half-monsters, and sorcerers were able to cooperate with humans to win battles, create civilizations, and leave behind myths for future generations. Spiritual power can heal wounds, and with luck, it can even bring the dying back to life. Opening the spiritual consciousness can also allow people to see the souls of the dead. And a monster of a generation can grant others long lifespans if they so choose - these are all miracles created by spiritual power."
Zhu Yan narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"But if you insist that this world needs spiritual power to develop, isn't that too arrogant?" Su Xuan said.
Zhu Yan's smile paused and slightly faded.
A gust of wind blew from the distant hills, blowing over everyone.
Su Xuan said slowly, "If spiritual power didn't exist, would civilization not have been born? If spiritual power didn't exist, would miracles not have occurred? Strength alone is power, and human emotions, thoughts, and wisdom are not power?"
Monsters and humans, the former are born with power but do not understand emotions, while the latter are born with changeable emotions and thoughts but do not have any power at all.
For thousands of years, not only monsters and sorcerers, but also humans have been pursuing power.
But when Su Xuan stepped into the human world with curiosity and caution, he felt that everything ordinary mortals had was splendid enough to create all kinds of miracles.
Aren’t those invisible things “power”?
The existence of spiritual power is destroying other miracles step by step.
"In the final analysis, if spiritual power didn't exist in the first place, there wouldn't be such a thing as a spiritual core in the world, and Ah Shuo wouldn't have developed that physique more than a thousand years ago, and he would have been able to live well. So in the end, I still think that spiritual power should have never existed in the first place. As for you, don't talk so righteously," Su Xuan said coldly, "You actually talked to me about world wonders. You're just thinking about gaining power to dominate the world, right?"
Zhu Yan narrowed his eyes.
"You still think the people of the Ancient Tribe are just as despicable as you. If they truly wanted to dominate the world, then with the Three-Pearl Tree in hand, they would have definitely found all sorts of ways to achieve their goals over the past thousands of years. But before you broke in here, they hadn't even set foot outside this village, right?"
"Their bodies probably can't handle the spiritual pearls at all. Otherwise, they would have devoured all the spiritual pearls from the Three Pearl Trees by now, and then come out to kill you all, leaving you with room to bully others like you?" Su Xuan sneered, "You really are dogs, so you see everyone else as dogs—you're insulting dogs by saying that!"
Zhu Yan's expression also turned cold: "So you don't plan to cooperate with us, right?"
"What kind of bullshit dream are you having?" Su Xuan asked back rudely.
Zhu Yan smiled.
He said, "Okay, I originally just wanted to try to solve the problem in a more peaceful way. After all, the other way would have wasted my time sharing the monsters with human gourmets to obtain the second spirit core refined with spiritual power, which is a bit of a waste. But since the peaceful way doesn't work, then there's nothing I can do——"
His muscles suddenly swelled up.
Xian Mo's expression changed, and he used his backhand to strengthen the protective shield around Yan Yue and the others.
Gu Shuo released the spiritual power chain and shouted sternly, "Ah Xuan, get out of the way!"
Su Xuan's pupils suddenly constricted, and he and Gu Shuo and Xian Mo jumped back at the same time. The next second, there was a loud "bang", and fierce flames erupted from Zhu Yan's body. For a moment, everyone was shocked and turned their heads and closed their eyes, only to feel a violent wave of air rushing towards them!
Su Xuan released a burst of spiritual power to disperse the dust and fog. Everyone looked closely and saw that a huge hole had been blown open where Zhu Yan was. The hole extended to the place where the evergreen tree had been.
The faces of several people changed and they rushed forward. The short and small Zhou Rao man rolled and crawled over and quickly stuck his head out to look down!
I saw a huge cave underground, and in the cave grew a huge tree with winding roots, stretched branches, and heavy blue spiritual beads hanging on it. The tree itself also emitted a faint glow.
This scene shocked everyone instantly, and Zhu Yan was standing on a branch of the tree. Under the tree were villagers who were knocked to the ground by the force of the spiritual core explosion. Among them, the villager in the front was none other than the Xuanyuan man with a human face and a snake body!
They guarded the Three Pearl Tree underground for thousands of years, but Zhu Yan finally broke into this place!
The people of Xuanyuan stood up one after another, blocking the other villagers, gritting their teeth and looking at Zhu Yan as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Zhu Yan discarded his somewhat refined facade, looked up at Su Xuan, and sneered, "So, you haven't told me yet, why did the spiritual energy between heaven and earth begin to fade? Have you come up with the answer?"
Before Su Xuan could answer, Zhu Yan said, "Ah, but the answer doesn't seem that important."
He placed his hand on a spiritual fruit beside him and smiled, "Because no matter whether the spiritual power in the world disappears or not, it is all in my hands anyway."
As soon as the words fell, his grip suddenly tightened. The villagers below screamed, and the people of Zhou Rao also shouted with pale faces. The faces of everyone else changed drastically.
And everything that happened next happened in just a moment.
All the bright blue fruits on the three-pearl tree actually stretched out arms and legs. Dozens of hands closest to Zhu Yan wrapped around his body, and behind him, a sharp blade made of flesh and bones pierced his chest!
Zhu Yan was completely unprepared and his whole body stiffened. The tip of the flesh blade that pierced his chest instantly changed back into the shape of a hand, and with a strong pull, it pulled his spirit core out of his body!
Zhu Yan looked at his feet in disbelief.
Those spirit beads had already transformed into individuals.
The villagers, including Su Xuan, whose faces had changed drastically just now, had shed their disguise of panic at some point and were looking at him calmly.
Zhu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood, shook his body, opened his eyes wide, and gritted his teeth, "You..."
He was knocked down by a spiritual force and was trapped in place the moment he landed on the ground. Su Xuan and the others fell from the edge of the cave entrance, and Xian Mo was still holding the Zhou Rao man by the back of his collar.
After landing, Su Xuan looked up at the people hanging on the tree again: "This is..."
"They should be from the Wuqi nation," Gu Shuo said, pondering for a moment beside him. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas states that their hearts never decay, and they can be reborn as humans one hundred and twenty years after death. But since they've been waiting here prepared, their true ability is probably to be resurrected at any time. They can even change the shape of their bodies at will. Those things that looked like spirit beads just now seemed to be beating slightly, so they must be their hearts."
——The villagers had already picked the spiritual pearls from the three-pearl tree and replaced them with the hearts of the Wuqi people!
When the time comes, the people of Wuqi will be able to resurrect on the spot and catch Zhu Yan off guard!
At this moment, a huge hole appeared in Zhu Yan's chest.
He lay on the ground, spitting out blood, staring intently at Su Xuan and the others and asking, "When did you collude with these villagers..."
"There is no collusion. I just guessed it, so I cooperated." Su Xuan walked over.
The short Zhou Rao man ran towards the villagers after landing, crying and laughing as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
——Just now, when Su Xuan and the others noticed something was wrong, they thought about it for a moment and guessed something.
The Zhou Rao people appeared too easily, and their action of pointing out the location of the Three-Pearl Tree to them was too hasty. These villagers had been in a stalemate with several ferocious beasts to this point, and they should have known that the ferocious beasts could control the villagers' empty bodies and monitor them everywhere. Once they exposed the location of the Three-Pearl Tree, the ferocious beasts would arrive at the first time.
But the Zhourao man still did it. When Su Xuan and others stopped the flying Xiao Xiu, the Zhourao man even showed an expression as if he wanted to say something but stopped.
——I’m afraid he originally wanted to put on a show to lure the ferocious beasts over.
And why did he do that?
It was impossible that he was betraying them - because he still showed a certain degree of fear towards the appearance of the ferocious beasts. If he wanted to betray them, he could just rush to Zhu Yan and the others and show them the way, without having to pull the corner of his black T-shirt and block the way of Yan Yue and the others.
He wanted the ferocious beasts to let down their guard and rush into the place where the three-bead tree was without any preparation.
Then, there might be traps that the villagers had prepared long ago, waiting for the ferocious beasts.
Su Xuan and the others guessed the villagers' plan, so they cooperated in this drama.
Su Xuan stood in front of Zhu Yan and said, "Why is the spiritual energy between heaven and earth beginning to fade? I will tell you the answer I came up with after thinking about it."
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