Shen Changyuan slowed his breathing; his body was slightly lowered, and his sharp eyes were fixed in a direction.
Suddenly, he jumped and stomped down onto the damp soil.
Black dust suddenly rushed up from the previously still ground. A brown-black tree root emerged from the ground, shaking off a piece of damp soil.
Shen Changyuan landed on a boulder and quickly leaped down again, rushing towards the exposed tree root.
The root trembled and quickly retreated into the ground.
“Brother Yuanyuan!” Lu Yaoyao’s eyes lit up. It must be a tree demon!
The little furball and the black qilin quickly chased after the roots. The tree demon tried to hide its trail, but having exposed itself, it could no longer hide from the relentless pursuit of Shen Changyuan and Lu Yaoyao. Finally, the tree demon gave up. A voice, similar to that of an old man’s, sounded from seemingly all directions: “Stop chasing, stop chasing.”
“This old man is about to run out of breath.”
Lu Yaoyao looked left and right. Where did the voice come from?
“This old man is here.”
As soon as the voice fell, the tree root in front of Lu Yaoyao transformed into an old man’s face. Simultaneously, the tree roots that Lu Yaoyao and Shen Changyuan originally thought to be just ordinary tree roots also moved.
Unexpectedly, it turned out that all the exposed roots in this area were the body of this tree demon. They had been spinning around the person they had been looking for…
The tree demon disguised himself perfectly, and not a single trace of demonic aura could be felt from his body, so it was no wonder that he could stay undetected. When Lu Yaoyao accidentally dropped the water bottle onto the ground, the tree demon could not control his desire to absorb the spilled water, thus exposing himself. If not for this accident, Shen Changyuan and Lu Yaoyao would never have been able to find him.
Lu Yaoyao looked at the tree demon curiously. This tree demon was very different from any tree demons she had seen before, so no wonder she missed seeing it. There were several tree demons in the Duanping Mountain Range, such as the peach tree granny and locust tree grandpa. Their tree bodies were huge with lush green leaves, so how could Lu Yaoyao know there were tree demons who didn’t even have leaves?
But when she thought of the trees she had seen in the Abyss so far, it seemed normal for this demon to have no leaves?
Lu Yaoyao raised her head and asked curiously, “Are you the tree demon grandpa who has lived for thousands of years?”
The old tree demon responded: “Aren’t you here to find this old man? Don’t you have something to ask me?”
“Yeah! So you are really the tree demon grandpa?” Lu Yaoyao was ecstatic to find the old tree demon so friendly, unlike other beasts she had encountered. Was it because trees didn’t eat meat?
“That’s right. It’s this old man.” The old tree demon said, “This old man knows what you are looking for and only have one sentence: since you are already here, just accept your fate.”
Lu Yaoyao tilted her fluffy head, “But we haven’t asked anything yet?”
The old tree demon shook his ‘head,’ “This old man knows your purpose of coming here.”
“Since you know, can you tell us why the Abyss exists? How do we get out here?”
The old tree demon said: “You can only go in. There is no way out of the Abyss.”
Lu Yaoyao repeated the argument she used to persuade Shen Changyuan in the beginning: If no one ever gets out of the Abyss, how do the people outside know its existence?
Old tree demon: “…”
Shen Changyuan squinted his eyes slightly. The next moment, he jumped in the air and landed directly on the tree demon’s body, stomping heavily. His qilin’s horn pressed against the ‘face’ as he threatened in a cold voice: “Speak!”
The old tree demon was fuming: “Young people really don’t know how to respect the elders.”
Shen Changyuan’s hoofs pressed heavier.
“I don’t know anything, didn’t I say that?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“Put your feet away. My body is about to be trampled flat by you.”
“…”
Lu Yaoyao silently took out a bottle and held it in front of the tree demon. She then asked cutely: “Does tree demon grandpa really know nothing?”
The old tree demon, who was still fuming just now, suddenly gleamed his eyes when he saw the familiar bottle. His attitude instantly changed: “What do you want to know? This old man knows everything!”
Lu Yaoyao smiled sweetly, “If grandpa is willing to answer all our questions, we will give this bottle of water as a reward.”
The old tree demon looked at the cub affectionately. A root slithered, rolled up the cub, and transformed into a comfortable little chair. He then said kindly: “I heard from beasts passing by. Apparently, you like to listen to stories?”
Lu Yaoyao: “…” What? Had this matter spread so far?
Before Lu Yaoyao had time to react, the old tree demon had begun his story.
He couldn’t remember how many years he had lived. When his hazy consciousness first emerged, he only remembered being in a dark world. Then one day, his consciousness suddenly became clear, and there was a man in a gray robe standing in front of him.
The old tree demon was a native tree born in the Abyss. After living for a long, long time, he gradually developed spiritual consciousness. Later, thanks to the human cultivator, he transformed into a tree demon, and the tone of his speech was also learned from the same person back then.
The tree demon did not eat meat as he drew his nutrients from the ground of the Abyss. His tree body couldn’t be used as food, and he also didn’t have the aura that could be used by other living beings, so he could coexist peacefully with other creatures of the Abyss.
As the days went by, his roots grew more, occupying more and more territories, enabling him to hear and see a lot of things.
Lu Yaoyao was fascinated by the tree demon’s story.
“What about the human cultivator?”
“He? He’s already dead.” The old tree demon sighed.
Lu Yaoyao felt sorry for that human cultivator. Listening to tree demon grandpa’s story, that human cultivator was a good person!
“He insisted on going his own way, disregarding my persuasion, and resolutely went to the serpent’s lair…” The old tree demon said slowly. “That human is the most powerful being I have ever seen, but in the end, he still met his end in the hands of the serpent. That Serpent Lord was already so powerful back then. After a thousand years, he is even harder to deal with!”
Lu Yaoyao said, “If the sliver of possibility is really on the Serpent Lord’s side, we have to try no matter the outcome. It’s better than being trapped here for the rest of our life.”
“That person said the same thing back then too.”
Lu Yaoyao raised her head and asked, “Tree demon grandpa, don’t you want to go out of the Abyss and have a look at the outside world?”
“This old man is different from you,” The old tree demon said slowly, “This old man was born here and grew up here. The Abyss is my home.”
“You guys are so persistent in looking for the exit; isn’t it because you want to go home?”
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