Swish!
Over a hundred figures simultaneously dashed forward. Just like Xu Huang and the rest, their gazes towards the Divine Spiritual Tree were a little scarlet-red. Their breathing grew heavier as unconcealable greed filled their eyes. The allure of this Divine Spiritual Fruit was simply too great for them.
Mu Chen and the rest watched this scene unfold, but did not take any action. Instead, they merely stared apathetically at these greedy fellows.
Their speed was extremely quick, and in the short span of a dozen breaths, they had already neared the Divine Spiritual Tree. What was even more surprising was that they did not meet with any resistance. With a gust of wind, the Divine Spiritual Fruits were forcefully sucked into their hands from the tree.
"Haha, Divine Spiritual Fruit, I can finally pass my Human Body Disaster!"
As they grasped the Divine Spiritual Fruits, which were emitting boundless Spiritual Energy, they could not help but burst into laughter. Their eyes were filled with ecstasy as they stuffed the Divine Spiritual Fruits into their mouths.
Boundless Spiritual Energy rippled out from their bodies. However, in the next instant, their faces were filled with shock as they sensed an indescribable heat gushing out from their bodies. In the next instant, their skin started to turn scarlet-red as black blood started to seep out from their pores. Within the blood, there were even black-coloured flames mixed within.
"Ah!"
A miserable shriek suddenly rang out. A figure was suddenly drenched in black blood, as black flames unfurled from within his body, enveloping his entire body. Soon after, with a loud bang, he exploded, transforming into a bloody mist. This bloody mist floated in the air, before ultimately landing back on the "Divine Spiritual Tree". When it condensed, it once again transformed into a Divine Spiritual Fruit...
This strange scene caused the bodies of those who still had some rationality and had not acted rashly to turn cold.
Bang!
Bang!
After the first person's body was engulfed in flames, the others who had also consumed the Divine Spirit Fruit quickly met the same fate. Black flames burst forth from within their bodies, instantly turning them into clouds of blood mist. Eventually, the blood mist was absorbed by the Divine Spirit Tree and transformed into Divine Spirit Fruits, which hung plump on the tree and swayed with the wind.
In a short span of a few minutes, dozens of unlucky fellows who had consumed the Divine Spiritual Fruit had exploded into bloody mists, transforming into Divine Spiritual Fruits …
Gulp.
The faces of Xu Huang and the rest turned deathly pale as they looked at the slightly terrifying scene before them. They could not help gulping down a mouthful of saliva. Fortunately, they were obstructed by Mu Chen earlier. If not, their fates would be exactly the same as those people.
Mu Chen also exhaled deeply as he stared at the Celestial Spiritual Tree with a serious expression. He slowly said, "This thing is definitely not a Celestial Spiritual Tree!"
In this region, all the teams had turned silent. Some of the teams had pale faces, and even figures like Xia Hou had tightly knitted his brows. They had spent a great deal of effort to get through the Dark Forest that was filled with demonic trees and come here. Could this be the outcome?
What about the so-called ancient ruins?
Could it be this extremely strange demonic tree?
"Eh?
The Celestial Spiritual Tree is changing! "
Amidst this silence, someone suddenly cried out in alarm. Gaze after gaze hurriedly turned to look, and sure enough, they saw that within the pillar of light, the Celestial Spiritual Tree's previously vibrant emerald green colour was slowly turning black. In less than half a minute, the originally overflowing Divine Spiritual Tree had become overflowing with demonic Qi. The Divine Spiritual Fruits had also transformed into sinister human faces, and black blood continuously dripped from them.
"This is …"
Tang Mei'er stared at the greatly transformed demonic tree before her and immediately sucked in a breath of cold air. "So this is a Demonic Spiritual Tree, and not a Celestial Spiritual Tree at all!"
Mu Chen and the rest nodded their heads solemnly. Although the Demonic Spiritual Tree and the Celestial Spiritual Tree only differed by a single word, they were two completely different things. It was said that this strange tree possessed the ability to confuse one's mind. From afar, it emitted a heavenly treasure like fragrance that attracted greedy treasure hunters. At the same time, it would transform into all kinds of heavenly treasures. Once someone consumed one of its fruits, their body would be ignited by demonic flames and turned into a bloody mist that was absorbed by the Demonic Spiritual Tree.
Only now did Mu Chen understand why he kept feeling that something was amiss. It turned out that the tree before them was not a Celestial Spiritual Tree, but a strange and terrifying Demonic Spiritual Tree …
"Were we lured here by this damned thing?"
Tang Mei'er gritted her teeth as she unwillingly said: "Could it be that the ancient ruins here are also a scam?"
Mu Chen's eyebrows were also furrowed.
"Mu Chen." Suddenly, Lin Zhou quietly spoke out from the side, before retrieving an emerald-green jade card from his bosom. Numerous tree patterns were engraved on the surface of the jade card. At this moment, the jade card was currently radiating with a lustrous green light. Handing the jade card over to Mu Chen, Lin Zhou said, "There seems to be some activity from this thing!"
Mu Chen was taken aback. Soon after, he received the tablet. This jade tablet should be the one that Lin Zhou and the rest had obtained.
Mu Chen held the jade tablet as he felt the warmth emitted from it. His gaze turned towards the Demonic Spiritual Tree. At this moment, the Demonic Spiritual Tree seemed to be absorbing the bloody mist, as rays of black light surfaced on its surface. Every time that light appeared, the temperature of the jade tablet would rise.
Mu Chen's eyes faintly flickered. Soon after, he flicked his finger and the jade tablet transformed into a ray of green light and shot forth.
Whoosh!
As the jade tablet shot out, it had unexpectedly rushed straight into the Demonic Spirit Tree. In the next instant, a mournful shriek rang out from within the Demonic Spirit Tree, before beams of light explosively shot out from within the Demonic Spirit Tree. In the next instant, the Demonic Spirit Tree's body rapidly split apart, as boundless Spiritual Energy rippled in the air. In the next instant, distortions started to appear in the space. In the next instant, a gigantic tree palace appeared!
The tree palace floated in the air, with the space around it distorting. Evidently, it had formed a small space of its own, while ancient and vicissitudes of life radiated from within.
This unforeseen event caused everyone to be shocked, including the instigator, Mu Chen.
Gazes tightly locked onto the ancient tree palace. However, this time, no one dared to act rashly. Those unlucky fellows from before had taught them a rather bloody lesson.
Under the attentive gazes of the crowd, a buzzing sound suddenly rang out from the ancient tree palace. At this moment, the tightly shut thick and heavy wooden doors unexpectedly started to slowly open, while an ancient aura swept out, rippling across the entire region.
"Looks like only after the Demonic Spiritual Tree has absorbed enough fresh blood will it trigger a reaction from the jade tablet." Mu Chen said in a soft voice. From the looks of it, the survivors of the ancient ruins weren't any kind souls. To think that they would actually require such a bloody method to open it. Although the majority of them had ended up this way due to their greed, ordinary people would not be able to think of such a vicious method.
"This is the ancient ruins hidden here." Looking towards Tang Mei 'er and the rest, Mu Chen said with a smile, "How about it?
Are you interested? "
Upon hearing his words, a smile blossomed on Tang Mei 'er's face as she charmingly replied, "It wasn't easy for us to get here. If we were to return empty-handed, that wouldn't be our style."
"Alright, let's do it."
Mu Chen took in a deep breath. Soon after, his expression abruptly turned serious. He shot a glance at Xia Hou and the rest nearby, before his figure flashed and directly dashed towards the tree palace. Behind him, Luo Li, Tang Mei 'er and the rest immediately followed.
"Let's go!"
Upon seeing this, Xia Hou let out an indifferent chuckle. With a wave of his hand, the five of them turned into glowing figures and closely followed behind him, heading towards the ancient tree palace.
With them taking the lead, the entire region instantly became lively. The teams hurriedly soared into the sky. Now that they had paid such a huge price to obtain this ancient remnant, it would be inexcusable if they did not make a good profit from it.
"Captain, are we still going in?"
The remaining three members of Wu Ling's Academy team looked at the ancient tree palace in the sky and asked in a low voice.
Zhou Yuan's complexion was pale, but there was some madness in his eyes. Tightly gripping his metal rod, he said in a chilling voice, "Go!
The team that ambushed us will definitely appear there. Damnit, I will tear them apart alive! "
Without the slightest hesitation, his foot stomped on the ground and he shot forward.
As the groups continued to charge towards the opened ancient palace, this region became exceptionally noisy. Some of the groups that were missing members were searching for partners that they could cooperate with. After all, it was impossible to return with a full load in this place without sufficient strength.
At the edge of the Dark Forest, shadows rippled. Soon after, a couple of black figures slowly walked out from the shadows. Their leader raised his pale face and looked at the ancient palace. With a faint smile, he softly said, "It's indeed the Divine Wood Palace. Looks like we've found the right place."
"It seems that the teams from the four great academies have all entered."
"What a pity. I originally wanted to get rid of one or two teams in the forest, but in the end, not a single one has been taken care of. These fellows are indeed not weak, forcing us to use other methods."
The black figure shook his head and walked forward, an indifferent and sinister laughter spreading from the shadows.
"However, I will not give you the chance to walk out of this Divine Wood Palace."
(Second update)
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