The Valley of Metamorphosis

Now Xiao Chen finally understood why he had been able to dig up the Little Sacred Tree so smoothly back then. Most likely, the little beast had simply tossed it aside and left it lying there. And the three skeletons had known about the sacred tree and the little beast for even longer—maybe it had abandoned the tree in the Death Swamp before as well.

Xiao Chen really felt like giving it a hard smack!

The little beast was sprawled lazily among the flowers and grass, as if savoring its delicious meal. It even smacked its lips.

Xiao Chen was about to set the valley ablaze when the little beast, as though it had rested enough, suddenly rolled over and sat up. It tugged at Xiao Chen's clothes, signaling him to follow.

Remembering that the Little Sacred Tree was still in the valley and he did not want it consumed by fire, Xiao Chen followed. At the same time, he wanted to see what the little beast had eaten.

The three skeletons also crept along like thieves, raising their legs high and setting their feet down lightly as they trailed behind. The sight of three walking skeletons moving so furtively was rather comical.

Climbing over trees and following the valley wall, they descended into the depths. Once inside, the little beast led them on a winding path, keeping far from the places where flames had flickered before. They narrowly avoided two tree-men and headed toward the deepest part of the valley.

Deep in the valley, the forest was dark and dense. Every ancient tree required over a dozen people to encircle, standing like giant umbrellas propping up the sky. Some were so lush that a single crown covered nearly a square kilometer, a flourishing scene at its peak.

After advancing several li, they reached the very end of the valley.

A faint light flickered ahead, eerie in the silent valley. When the source of that light became clear, Xiao Chen and the three skeletons all stopped in shock.

A giant figure stood there, its body a deep turquoise and sparkling with points of green light. It seemed to be in great pain, hunched over—far taller than the three tree-men they had seen earlier, fully over twenty meters high. This was an old tree-man, his face lined with wrinkles, long green beard hanging down to his chest.

What truly shocked Xiao Chen and the others was not the old tree-man's extraordinary height, but the large crack in his chest and abdomen. Inside, a naked man about two meters tall was struggling to force his way out!

The man had a physical body, no different from an ordinary human. But although he appeared to be a youth, his features still bore the shadow of the old tree-man, and on closer inspection, faint green light circulated through his form.

Xiao Chen was stunned. The man seemed to be struggling to metamorphose out of the old tree-man's body!

As the man slowly pushed his way out, bit by bit, the twenty-meter-tall old tree-man gradually withered. His life force drained away swiftly, while motes of light gathered toward the naked man.

A different kind of evolution! Xiao Chen was utterly astonished.

A ten-thousand-year-old tree could evolve into a tree-man, but a tree-man could completely transform into a human form!

He sensed a powerful force rippling from the naked man—no weaker than a fierce dragon. The man's metamorphosis seemed agonizing. Xiao Chen had no idea how long it had been going on, but only half his body had emerged so far.

The snow-white little beast blinked its large eyes and tugged at Xiao Chen's pant leg, signaling him to keep moving, though they gave the transforming man a wide berth.

About a hundred paces past the old tree-man, a patch of fragrant flowers and grass appeared, every plant suffused with spiritual energy. At the center, divine light blazed brilliantly, dazzling in the night.

Right in the middle of the flowers lay a small pool barely half a chi across. The radiant light originated from it; boundless life-essence flowed through the air. And the little beast's treasure tree was rooted right in that pool, its seven-colored halo shrouded in a luminous mist. The whole tree glittered, while the liquid in the pool was nearly dry.

Xiao Chen stared, dumbfounded. Although he had never heard of tree-men in the mortal world, he knew of the sparkling liquid in that pool by reputation—it was Life Nectar!

A crystallization of nature itself. Legend said that vast, untouched primeval forests could produce only a few drops after years upon years, and that it had the power to revive the dead and regrow flesh and bone. But ordinary people could never find it. It was truly the stuff of life.

Yet here… a pool half a chi across had formed!

No matter how amazed Xiao Chen was, it was too late. Most of the Life Nectar had already gone into the little beast's round little belly, and what remained had been drained dry by the sacred tree. Both regretful and awed, he marveled that this little creature could be so miraculous—it had actually found the nectar.

The palm-high tree had undergone a startling change. The translucent white-jade leaf had grown fully, now the same size as the ink-jade leaf, and a new emerald-jade leaf had sprouted, shimmering with green light.

Compared to discovering the Life Nectar, Xiao Chen was even more astonished by the state of the little beast and the treasure tree. The tiny beast must have drunk an enormous amount of nectar; its belly was round and taut. Yet no change had occurred in it at all—a truly mind-boggling fact. Even a great dragon, having consumed that much Life Nectar, would probably have undergone some transformation.

Such an extraordinary little beast!

And the little tree had absorbed half the nectar with nothing more than a single new leaf. That, too, was shocking—did one new leaf equal half a pool of Life Nectar?

All men have selfish desires. Xiao Chen was no saint. He decided he must find a way to keep both the little beast and the treasure tree by his side. This creature was far too incredible.

The snow-white little beast pulled the treasure tree out and casually plopped it onto its own fuzzy head, unconcerned.

With a splash, as the tree was uprooted, three translucent crystals emerged from the dried-up pool. The little beast picked them up suspiciously, stuffed one into its mouth like a candy bean, crunched it down, and casually tossed one to Xiao Chen.

It all happened too fast for Xiao Chen to stop it. He had never expected crystallized nectar to remain in the pool. The little beast was truly wasting a divine treasure—after just gulping down a bellyful of Life Nectar, it had now swallowed a whole crystal!

Waste! Utter waste!

As if finding the taste unappealing, the little beast threw the remaining crystal to Qin Guangwang. Such a casual gesture nearly drove Xiao Chen mad. Had this little beast grown up in a divine spring? It was simply beyond words!