Xia Lunong stood in front of the pepper tree, frowning.

Xia Huoqu asked him, "What's wrong?"

"I feel like something is wrong."

Everyone's eyes fell on the pepper tree, and no one knew what was wrong with the short and dwarfed pepper tree.

Yan Xinian said, "Stand back a little, I'll take a look."

Xia Lunong quickly said, "Be careful of this pepper tree!"

Yan Xinian said "hmm", picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it gently at the pepper tree.

The stone hit the bark, making a small gap, revealing the light green and white wood.

The pepper tree did not react at all, and there was nothing unusual except the gap.

Xia Huoqu asked, "Xiao Nong, are you feeling wrong?"

"I think so." Xia Lunong said, "I always feel something is wrong."

Yan Xinian said, "We'll know once we dig it out."

Yan Xinian said, holding a hoe and approaching the prickly ash tree.

The whole prickly ash tree shook, as if it was blown by the wind.

However, the surroundings were quiet and there was no wind at all.

Yan Xinian stopped them and took a step back. Before

Xia Lunong could react, she saw the whole prickly ash tree jump up.

The root system at the bottom was like a brush head hanging down, thick and big, and looked very elastic. It hit the ground and suddenly jumped up, like a kangaroo, jumping two or three meters at a time.

Yan Xinian's eyes condensed and he reached out to grab the trunk of the tree.

Xia Lunong shouted at the side! "Be careful! There are thorns on the tree trunk!"

The prickly ash tree seemed to be reminded by Xia Lunong's voice. It would have been fine if Xia Lunong hadn't shouted. As soon as she shouted, the prickly ash branches and trunks all stood up with sharp thorns four or five centimeters long. The tips of the thorns were dark red and pointed directly at them. It looked very difficult to deal with.

The prickly ash tree ran straight towards Yan Xinian, and it seemed that it wanted to hit Yan Xinian directly.

Yan Xinian held a hatchet and chopped at the prickly ash tree brazenly.

The prickly ash tree did not dodge or avoid, but ran directly towards him, as if it wanted to die together.

Xia Huoqu quickly pulled Yan Xinian and brought him over.

The prickly ash tree did not want to fight, and its dense and thick roots hit the ground, and then with the reaction force, it jumped out a long way.

All this happened in just two or three seconds.

Xia Lunong was stunned as he watched from the side. He had never thought that plants could be more ferocious than wild animals! The

Sichuan pepper tree escaped, leaping more than ten meters and about to escape.

Kong Zhi had already arranged the rope in his hand. He took a few quick steps and threw the rope diagonally forward. There

was a hoe tied to the front of the rope. He threw it diagonally forward and it just hit the Sichuan pepper tree that had nowhere to gain support.

The Sichuan pepper tree that bounced into the air was hit by Kong Zhi and lost its balance. It fell heavily to the ground and rolled several times.

The Sichuan pepper tree reacted very quickly. The branches immediately spread out and spread on the ground in a big letter shape to stop its body from continuing to roll.

At the same time, its large and thick roots penetrated directly into the ground like running water, pulling the entire tree upright.

Xia Lunong looked at the flexible operation of the prickly ash tree and finally understood what was wrong.

The branches and leaves of the prickly ash tree grew too neatly, one on the left and one on the right. Although they could still form a crown when spread out, the branches of trees in nature grow in all directions. How could they be neatly arranged on the left and right?

The prickly ash tree moved quickly, but Kong Zhi was faster than it. The moment it pulled itself up, Kong Zhi had already formed the rope into a lasso and tied the trunk tightly.

The prickly ash tree wanted to run away, but Kong Zhi's hand holding the rope did not move.

The prickly ash tree jumped up once, then jumped up again, but was pulled by the rope and couldn't jump up at all.

After jumping twice, the crown of the prickly ash tree drooped down. Even without facial features, the people could feel its frustration.

Yan Xinian walked over with a hatchet and narrowed his eyes.

The prickly ash tree shook in a very human way, and its huge roots that were like pen tips were tangled together.

A smile flashed in Yan Xinian's eyes, but his hands did not move further.

Xia Lunong did not dare to get too close to the prickly ash tree, for fear that it would suddenly attack and hurt people. She only dared to stand two meters away and shook her head, "We have no ill intentions, we just want to invite you to live somewhere else."

The prickly ash tree continued to shake.

Xia Lunong waited for a while, and the prickly ash tree stopped shaking, and its crown drooped, as if it glanced at the rope tied to the trunk.

After a pause, the crown rose again, and it was slightly raised up at a strange angle, as if someone was raising its chin.

This action was extremely human.

Xia Lunong could almost imagine the prickly ash tree speaking: You said you have no ill intentions, if you have the guts, let me go!

Xia Lunong took a breath, closed his eyes and used his supernatural powers.

He felt something squeezed out of his body and sprayed all over the prickly ash tree more than a meter away.

The trunk of the prickly ash tree shook again, and the crown lifted to the left, then to the right, as if it was confused.

After a while, the broken branches and wounds of the prickly ash tree had grown back, the crown of the tree had grown a little bigger, and several new buds had sprouted on the branches.

The crown of the prickly ash tree trembled, and the sharp thorns on the trunk suddenly retracted.

The trunk of the prickly ash tree with its thorns retracted was actually a little smooth, and it looked much more docile.

Its crown trembled, but the amplitude was very small.

Xia Lunong strangely understood what the prickly ash tree meant. The prickly ash tree seemed to be inviting him to touch... the trunk?

Xia Lunong hesitantly reached out his hand, trying to touch the trunk.

The people next to him did not stop him.

Xia Lunong continued to reach out his hand boldly.

Xia Huoqu stood aside, watching his brother's actions in silence.

Yan Xinian was also paying attention to Xia Lunong's situation, but he saw from the corner of his eye that Xia Huoqu's back muscles suddenly contracted and his clothes slumped down a little.

This was a posture of preparing to attack. If Hua Jiaoshu attacked Xia Lunong, he would definitely be defeated before he even touched her.

The prickly ash tree had no intention of attacking. Xia Lunong reached over and felt the rough bark.

"Wow wow," the small, thin crown of the prickly ash tree trembled, as if laughing.

Xia Lunong turned and smiled at his brother, "It's okay."

Xia Huoqu nodded lightly, "Yeah."

Only Yan Xinian could see that his back muscles were not relaxed at all.

Xia Lunong touched the prickly ash tree and clearly felt the joy that the prickly ash tree conveyed to him.

Xia Lunong asked tentatively, "Then will you come back with us? Our land is much more fertile than here, and we can water it for you anytime you need it."

Xia Lunong was worried that the prickly ash tree didn't understand, so she thought about this sentence again in her mind, trying her best to convey her meaning. The prickly

ash tree did not respond.

Xia Lunong hesitated for a moment and said to Kong Zhi, "Let it go?"

Kong Zhi untied the rope.

The prickly ash tree shook its crown again, as if relieved. Then its long branches stretched down, rested in Xia Lunong's hands, and suddenly jumped up, jumped back a few meters, paused, and jumped a few meters again.

Xia Lunong subconsciously took a step forward, but soon stopped and had no intention of chasing forward.

Yan Xinian asked softly, "Don't you want to take it back?"

Xia Lunong: "It already has a very clear consciousness..."

At this point, Xia Lunong paused, looked at the prickly ash tree and whispered, "It's not consciousness, it has more obvious emotional tendencies, and feels a bit like an intelligent creature. Taking it away by force may backfire."

Yan Xinian: "Then give up just like that?"

Xia Lunong shook her head. "Let's go find another prickly ash tree first, and then see when we come back."

For intelligent creatures, where there is oppression, there will be resistance. You can't force it, you have to find a way to tame it.

Xia Huoqu also said, "This pepper tree is very big, we can't hide, let's go, at worst we can come back later."

Kong Zhi pointed in a direction, "The next pepper tree is here."

Kong Zhi's memory is very strong, he remembers exactly where there are pepper trees nearby and how big they are.

With his guidance, Xia Lunong and his team ran directly to each destination and easily dug out the pepper trees.

They dug some pepper trees that were more than one meter tall and not very old.

Xia Lunong originally planned to cut off the crowns of the pepper trees when digging them for easy transportation and transplantation.

Because there was a sneaky little figure behind him, Xia Lunong gave up this idea. He dug out each tree honestly and used his supernatural power to enhance its vitality, trying his best to avoid damaging any part of the prickly ash tree.

Yan Xinian chuckled, "The prickly ash tree behind is getting closer and closer."

Xia Lunong whispered, "It doesn't trust us completely yet."

"We have time, we can slowly waste time with it." Yan Xinian said, "Wrap the trunk tightly, this time I have to trouble Kong Zhi to transport the prickly ash down."

Kong Zhi nodded.

Xia Lunong and his team wrapped the trunk of the prickly ash tree with weeds, and specially tied the crown with a rope, and then handed it to Kong Zhi.

Kong Zhi transformed into a giant golden eagle, took a few steps to fly up, swooped down, grabbed the prickly ash tree with his claws, and spread his wings to fly down the mountain.

Kong Zhi's speed was very fast, and he could go up and down the mountain much faster than Yan Xinian and the others in their beast form.

After more than 20 minutes, he transported the prickly ash tree to the truck and put it away, then flew back, hovering over them and leading them to the next place.

Xia Huoqu and the others could obviously change back to their beast form, but they didn't. They even slowed down their steps when walking in human form to make it easier for the short and sneaky figure behind them to follow.

They wandered around the mountain for a day and dug up a total of eleven prickly ash trees that were more than one meter tall.

Most of these prickly ash trees had green prickly ash, which looked like they would mature soon.

Xia Lu was in a very good mood as she smelled the pepper smell all over her body.

While digging for peppercorns, they also picked a lot of wild fruits - mountain nuts, August fried nuts, wild chestnuts, and wild kiwis, all of which are very delicious wild fruits.

These mountain fruits accumulated in small quantities and were filled with half a sack.

They walked slowly down the mountain, with the setting sun on their backs.

The sneaky figure behind him is still there.

Yan Xinian said, "I didn't expect this little prickly ash tree to be so tenacious."

"I wonder how many branches and roots it has broken in a day." Xia Lunong felt a little distressed, "We have to water and fertilize it more when we go back."

Yan Xinian turned his head and glanced at it, "Are you sure it will really go back with us?"

"Of course." Xia Lunong lowered her voice, "If it wasn't interested in us, it would have run away long ago. Why would it stay with us for a day? As long as it is interested in us, it will go with us sooner or later."

Yan Xinian said, "Then it's up to you."

Xia Lunong said, "Let's go back to the truck first, rest for a night, and communicate with the prickly ash tree tomorrow."

Xia Huoqu looked at him and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to change back into beast form? We'll take you down."

"No need." Xia Lunong smiled and looked behind him. "I'm afraid that if I turn into a beast, the little prickly ash tree won't understand and will be scared away."

Xia Lunong turned back.

He didn't expect that this trip would bring him such an unexpected surprise. He was in a very happy mood and hummed the song they heard on the way here.