The Sacred Tree Within

Xiao Chen looked at her in silence, offering no reply.

Yan Qingcheng's eyes shot forth two beams of divine light, and a suffocating pressure surged toward him—a power born of the spirit. It collided with Xiao Chen's formidable divine consciousness in a clash of pure mental force, a battle of spiritual wills.

The several trees between them shattered and dissolved like ice before the sun.

"Boom!"

Their spiritual might receded like opposing tides. Xiao Chen's face was somewhat pale; after the fierce battle he had just endured, contesting the power of the mind left him far from his peak.

Yan Qingcheng spoke. "Now that Dragon Island has established its rules, we will act accordingly. Starting tomorrow, we will play a legitimate game. If you can survive ten consecutive days of pursuit by the Undying Alliance without dying, I will let bygones be bygones."

Xiao Chen knew she had learned that Wang Zifeng and Liu Yue had been killed by him. Though the senior and junior disciples were at odds, they were still heirs of the Undying lineage. The death of a senior brother and sister touched upon the dignity of the sect.

With that, Yan Qingcheng swept away like a startled swan, vanishing into the forest.

A game of death? To hell with it! Xiao Chen rushed back to his secluded valley like the wind.

The first thing he did upon returning was to ask Keke for the sacred sapling. The little creature carelessly tossed it to him. Xiao Chen planted the tree in a patch of forest, sat cross-legged before it, and began circulating his profound art, intending to absorb the tree's spiritual energy and recover his vitality as quickly as possible.

After an unknown time, he opened his eyes and was astonished to find the sacred tree gone! A faint sense of wrongness in his chest. Looking inward, Xiao Chen was stunned—the sacred sapling had somehow… entered his body! It shone brilliantly inside him, causing no conflict with his organs.

The left Shangqiu acupoint, right Shangqiu acupoint, the Zhongting acupoint on his chest, and the left Jianjing acupoint on his shoulder—the four divinely transformed acupoints seemed to have energy channels connecting to the small tree, forming a delicate balance that ceaselessly drew the primal energy of heaven and earth into his body.

Xiao Chen's vitality had been restored, but he felt a shock of alarm—a seedling had entered his body after all! Yet, when he stopped the circulation of the profound art, the sacred sapling emerged from his flesh and took root in the ground.

Miraculous!

Xiao Chen was deeply shaken.

That night, he tried again and again but failed to draw the sacred tree back into his body.

The many great battles had passed; it was time to settle down and train. Xiao Chen decided to venture deep into Dragon Island to cultivate, hoping to seize opportunities—perhaps to acquire a dragon egg. He paid no heed to Yan Qingcheng's words. The next morning, he set out with the three skeletons; Keke followed lazily behind.

Yan Qingcheng, peerless in beauty, wore a displeased expression. She had been stood up. Xiao Chen had completely ignored her words and had been gone for three days.

Standing before a waterfall, she smiled faintly, then summoned a member of her alliance, gave instructions, and left the waterfall herself to begin a scheme.

That day, many alliances learned that Xiao Chen had agreed to a "death chase" with the Undying Alliance for a full month. It was all orchestrated by Yan Qingcheng. She had witnesses to corroborate the falsehood, manufacturing the illusion to make the chase perfectly "legitimate."

Meanwhile, Xiao Chen had already entered the depths of Dragon Island, though he had not yet reached the central zone. The island was vast. Along the way, he had seen numerous strange birds and savage beasts, including more than twenty ferocious dragons of different species. He encountered danger many times, and there were even more terrifying ancient beasts.

At this point, he still did not know that Yan Qingcheng had also led a pursuit party after him.

On the morning of the fourth day, thin mist wreathed the forest, draping the lush green woodlands in a light veil. As the sun rose, the hazy mist began to glow with multicolored radiance, like a rainbow-dyed cloud.

But the beauty did not last long; the gently swirling mist gradually faded.

A new day had begun. Amid the morning glow, a hundred birds warbled in the woods, and fresh floral fragrance drifted through the forest. At first glance, it seemed a place of deep peace—but Xiao Chen knew that danger lurked in these endless mountains, that countless nameless fierce beasts might roar out at any moment.

After breakfast, he set out again, heading toward the island's center.

At noon, he found a river in the forest and followed it deeper into the island. After traveling about ten li, the ancient trees on both banks grew thicker—each needing seven or eight men to encircle—and the deeper he went, the more ancient the trees became.

After a few more li, the river changed course, but Xiao Chen pressed on. Here, every ancient tree needed a dozen men to encircle—they rivaled or even surpassed the trees of Treefolk Valley.

It was a vast emerald ocean. Xiao Chen estimated he was nearing the island's central region.

Keke looked around curiously, her large bright eyes blinking constantly. The three skeletons seemed to sense something; after entering this area, they grew very restless.

Xiao Chen had also noticed—this forest was strange. Though the trees reached the heavens and stretched in an unbroken sea, there were no birds or beasts. A deathly silence reigned. Not a breath of wind stirred.

The dead-silent ancient forest. Every tree was thousands of years old. After traveling about ten li, Xiao Chen felt he was about to exit. Indeed, less than a li farther, they emerged from the sea of trees.

At the sight before him, Xiao Chen was instantly stunned!

Ahead stretched a vast bone sea—white bones as far as the eye could see. Crippled skeletons, giant bird bones over ten meters long, dragon bones fifty or sixty meters in length—pale bones covered the ground like snowdrifts. It seemed to be a well-preserved ancient battlefield! Deep within the bone sea, a colossal stele stood imposingly, wreathed in bands of black clouds…

But that was not all. To the west of the bone sea stretched an endless range of great snowy mountains, where snowflakes danced and mist swirled.

On this tropical island, to find snowy peaks was nearly impossible to believe.