In less than three minutes, a pit more than three meters deep appeared. Wei Huan remembered that in the first phase, they had dug three meters down, hit the building, and could not dig further.
But now, three meters was not the bottom. While paying attention to the activity on the other side, Wei Huan sped up the excavation by the Facehuggers. This time, at about seven meters deep, he finally saw the familiar black stone blocks. The blocks were carved with solidified magic patterns that made them impossible to destroy easily.
Whether he could dig to the bottom was not important. What was important was that Wei Huan saw what he wanted to see. Standing on the edge of the pit, he could see the tree root change from deep purple to brown about half a meter up.
Deep purple—the contaminant that fell from outside the heavens. In the previous iteration, Wei Huan and the others had discovered the 12-Leaf Sapling was contaminated, and Captain Fang had stayed there specifically to purify the sapling.
But in this current timeline, Captain Fang was clearly absent, so this tree had been growing right on top of the contamination. Wei Huan couldn't figure out whether this was a tree of purification blossoming atop the pollution, or the source of the pollution disguised as a sacred tree.
Or, perhaps it indeed had an extremely special ability but accidentally rooted itself in the source of contamination. Even though it survived with the sacred object's powerful life force, this unhealthy environment from birth made its growth exceptionally difficult.
Wei Huan carefully checked again with his data glasses, confirming the display still showed [Sacred Tree].
The Sacred Tree? Wei Huan looked at the sky, then at the ground, having an inexplicable feeling that this tree seemed to be sealed.
As soon as this thought appeared, Wei Huan raised an eyebrow. He felt he was getting closer to the truth.
He turned and jumped back to the ground. Wei Huan quickly approached the Moon Herder Great Priest and said: "The condition of this Sacred Tree seems dire. We must find a way to release it from here."
The Moon Herder Great Priest was immersed in prayer and ignored Wei Huan.
Wei Huan thought for a moment and then said: "If you don't take it away from here, it will eventually die, and your clan will perish with it."
Whether it was a keyword in Wei Huan's speech or if the plot had simply reached this point, just as Wei Huan was about to continue speaking, the Moon Herder Great Priest suddenly opened its eyes.
There was a look of fear and panic in its eyes. It then turned to its clansmen behind it and said: "Do you hear the voice of the Sacred Tree?"
The Moon Herder Giants nodded: "Yes, I hear it too. It says it's in pain. It says it's dying. It's asking for help."
After receiving affirmative answers from all its clansmen, the Moon Herder Great Priest said with a firm expression: "Hurry, find a way to communicate with the Sacred Tree. We must find a way to save it."
Subsequently, the Moon Herder people joined hands, formed a circle, and prayed devoutly, hand in hand.
Time seemed to accelerate a hundredfold at that moment. He watched the Moon Herders and Sun Herders pray day and night, sometimes many people, sometimes few. But as time passed, the number of people in these two Titan clans was indeed decreasing. He also saw the aging process of the always-present Moon Herder Great Priest. The Titan race must have long lifespans, but they still couldn't resist the encroachment of time. Wrinkles appeared on the Great Priest's face, its back hunched, and for a long time, it simply sat under the tree without moving.
Wei Huan, watching intently, suddenly felt a sharp pang in his heart.
He traced the source of the palpitation and looked back, his pupils rapidly contracting. What did he see!?
A Sacred Tree that was severely contaminated by purple spots. The last time he saw it, only the root was contaminated, and it suffered from leaf loss. But with the rapid passage of time, this Sacred Tree now stood before him like a gravely ill old tree, tottering. The purple spots had completely invaded the great tree. The contamination spread from the root all the way to the branches. The leaves were long gone, leaving only crooked, collapsed dead branches. Purple pus oozed from the folds of the bark, forming tumor-like masses of various sizes piled together. It looked like it was about to drip onto Wei Huan's head the next second.
Wei Huan stepped back three paces. Just as he was contemplating what to do next, a series of mournful screams erupted behind him.
He sharply turned his head and saw the frenzied Moon Herder Great Priest. It flailed its arms and roared: "They're all dead! All dead! You are not the Sacred Tree! You are not! You are the source of contamination! The culprit of all this! Aaaah—!!!"
The Moon Herder Great Priest raised its staff and staggered to its feet. The surrounding air pressure and spiritual energy frantically converged with its movements. The immense power temporarily straightened its body, as if it had returned to its youth. But the wrinkles on its face burst open into bloody gashes, and its eyes bulged out as if they might fall off. It looked like a hideous demon, swinging a desperate blow at the Sacred Tree it had worshipped its entire life.
"Alas..."
"Rumble!!"
Accompanied by a sigh from a different space, the Sacred Tree endured the Great Priest's full-force attack. The tree split open in the middle, the trunk snapping and falling down, hitting the Great Priest with loud cracks.
Wei Huan's first reaction, upon realizing that he too would be crushed by the collapsing Sacred Tree, was to rush out. But he was blocked by an invisible barrier. After bouncing back, he realized he seemed to have been captured by time. He could only move within the range of this event. He could even see Jones peering in from outside the time flow, his face frozen in a fixed expression.
Time in the outside world seemed paused. Or perhaps the flow of time where he was was so fast that everything outside seemed to have stopped.
Wei Huan couldn't think of a way to escape this place and was forced to be swept into the plot. The Moon Herder Priest had gone mad, attacking the Sacred Tree it had guarded all its life. Black streaks of light slammed into the trunk, and branches fell down with loud crashes. Wei Huan could only summon the Dot Mother, holding it above his head like a large umbrella. He also summoned Undead like the Shura Horse to surround himself, pushing himself as far as possible to the very edge he could reach.
"Crack!" A black falling rock descended.
Wei Huan looked up at the ceiling, which had started to crack again, and muttered: "Again?"
Although it felt absurd, Wei Huan continued to summon his Undead army ceaselessly, surrounding himself layer after layer. What if he got crushed? Who would believe it if he died here?
While Wei Huan was busy building his nest, the Great Priest's frenzy reached its climax. Finally, after its relentless hacking, it cut the main trunk of the Sacred Tree to its center. A pure burst of natural power violently erupted.
Wei Huan's attention was drawn over. He was surprised to find that the tree was not completely contaminated. At its very center, there was still a pure white tree core, radiating a purifying power.
Shrouded by this natural power, the Moon Herder Great Priest regained a sliver of consciousness. Its hacking motion hesitated for a few seconds, but it quickly relapsed into madness.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
A continuous stream of Moon Power relentlessly hacked at the intact tree core. Each strike released an extremely dense natural power. Under the shroud of the natural power, Wei Huan could feel his realm slowly increasing. This was literally like AFK training! A cheat tool!
Unfortunately, now was not the time to cultivate. The Great Priest was completely insane, screaming and determined to chop the giant tree into two. Large clumps of branches fell from the giant tree, hitting the Dot Mother's shell with dull thuds. Some branches fell in front of him, almost obscuring the plot unfolding ahead.
Wei Huan moved forward involuntarily. The Undead pushed the branches aside. The disgusting purple sap was blocked by the bodies of the Facehuggers. He stepped onto the Facehuggers' backs, moving to the front line of the drama without getting his soles dirty.
In this brief moment, the Great Priest had indeed almost cut the Sacred Tree in half, completely disregarding the collapsing ceiling. Just then, the Sacred Tree seemed to know it was about to die, letting out another soft sigh that pierced through space.
"Alas..."
An extremely dense and pure power erupted from the breaking point of the tree core. Simultaneously, the entire field of vision turned a brilliant green. Wei Huan's eyes suddenly widened. Before his brain registered what was emerging from the tree core, his body acted on instinct.
The Shura Horse and Ghost Crows rushed forward like a chasing wind. After several consecutive misses, Wei Huan followed closely behind, mounting the back of a Shura Horse.
"Giddy up!"
The Shura Horse leaped across. Wei Huan grasped one of the Shura Horse's hands, flipped over onto its back, reached out, and snatched a hard object from the green light, firmly gripping it in his palm.
The green light vanished.
The world also went silent for an instant.
Wei Huan, riding the Shura Horse, returned to the corner. Just as he was about to check the item in his hand, a crazed gaze fell upon him.
Wei Huan looked up and met the eyes of the frenzied Moon Herder Great Priest. This was the first time the Great Priest had noticed his existence since he entered this time zone. Was it because of the object in his hand?
Wei Huan felt the pure power in his hand and the slow increase in his realm. His fingers slowly tightened. It was his now that he had taken it!
"Aooow!" The Moon Herder Great Priest shrieked and charged toward him.
The portal behind Wei Huan appeared with a whoosh, and the Undead poured out like a cascading torrent. The two forces violently clashed.
Aglis had previously speculated that these Titans were likely around Sequence Seven. And this Great Priest, being a special existence within the clan, would only be stronger. Logically, Wei Huan should not be able to contend with it.
But perhaps because this assessment was only for a Tier 5 world, or perhaps due to sheer luck, Wei Huan was fighting this Great Priest at its twilight. In its madness, its combat was completely disorganized, and the majority of its spiritual energy had been spent bombing the Sacred Tree.
When it came to fighting Wei Huan, even though the Undead army was dying in droves, the Great Priest was unable to break through to Wei Huan, which meant this battle was completely winnable. Fighting a Necromancer who acts as a one-man army requires the power to sweep away entire hordes. Otherwise, being overwhelmed by the Undead is only a matter of time.
The Big Bear finally endured six Flying Monkeys and a ball of green light to reach the Great Priest. "Come at me, you bastard!" The Big Bear roared and incessantly hammered the ground, finally catching the Great Priest's attention.
The Great Priest's attack landed on it. One Flying Monkey vanished with a "squeak," but the Big Bear stood firm, the green light above its head flashing. One hit was resisted.
The Great Priest naturally launched a second attack at the Big Bear. Another Flying Monkey disappeared, but the Big Bear kept roaring. The Great Priest struck the Big Bear repeatedly, finally sending it away on the fifth strike. The fallen Big Bear was pulled back to the Great Tomb by the Hand of the Undead, revived, and queued up to return.
But the Great Priest's nightmare had just begun. Within those five strikes, the Great Priest was surrounded by Undead from above and below, front and back. The Flying Monkeys emitted a "cheep" sound, applying buffs to the Undead army. The Shura Horse climbed onto the Great Priest's body, its three heads and six arms relentlessly tearing at the Great Priest's body like a meat grinder. The Demon Eye Lords hovered above the Great Priest like a black cloud, and beams of light rained down densely.
The Great Priest, struggling to cope, finally collapsed under the assault of the Undead army and was quickly engulfed. Only then did Wei Huan's clenched fist relax.
He was a little nervous. He had been under the protection of the war machine for so long that he hadn't fought like this in a long time. Although the Great Priest's power was weakened, it was only relatively so. Wei Huan felt that this BOSS battle, for anyone other than himself, even for Captain Fang and his group, would have been a fierce fight.
After all, Wei Huan's current strength was somewhat overpowered. Without considering Mofidi, who might catch up, he had already touched the ceiling of a Tier 5 world. The Great Priest was only at the intermediate level of Sequence Six.
The Great Priest was completely torn apart by the Undead army. The Sacred Tree collapsed at the same time. Without the support of the Sacred Tree's branches, the ceiling began to fall in large chunks.
"Whoosh!"
Wei Huan frowned. Just as he was about to reinforce the White Bone Fortress, his vision suddenly blurred. The darkened world completely vanished, and he found himself outdoors.
He was stunned.
The sky was dark purple, and the surrounding trees were slowly turning green from their purple-spotted state. The two-hundred-kilometer mountain stood before him, and he was currently standing on the Sun Herders' ancient sailboat, near the bow.
Was he... teleported out?
"Wei Huan!? Why is he here?"
Before Wei Huan could observe more, the voices behind him abruptly startled him awake. As he turned, he casually tossed the hard object he had been holding into his portable space and looked at the few people behind him.
It was the Aosam faction. Including the group that Aglis brought, there were over ten people here. They seemed to have just climbed back onto the ancient sailboat and were completely surprised to find Wei Huan here.
Then, an Aosam leader, whom Wei Huan had likely met before, said: "Wei Huan, we are all here for the trial. You have yours, and we have ours. Don't block us."
Wei Huan looked at the six of them and, without a word, deployed eight portals, from which the Undead army, whose buffs had not yet worn off, streamed out with a whoosh. This made Wei Huan even more certain that everything he had just experienced was real.
Wei Huan's action made the Aosam group extremely tense. The one who spoke raised his voice: "This isn't a killing game, Wei Huan. Calm down!"
Wei Huan's expressionless face shifted. He simply felt insecure without the Undead army by his side. Besides, the exploration of these people was destined to be fruitless. Seeing Wei Huan turn to look off the ship, merely drawing a cordon of Undead between them, these people finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They then exchanged glances, their expressions complex. The reason they chose to return here was that Wei Huan and Aglis were ahead. Feeling that it would be difficult to benefit under the presence of these two powerhouses, they avoided the direction the two were heading, trying to see if they could find something else.
But now that Wei Huan had appeared here, perhaps anything useful was already gone?
"Should we continue?"
"We can't go back either. The front has been explored unknown how far; there's
no chance for us. Since we're here..."
"Fine."
The ten-plus people bypassed Wei Huan and quickly disappeared into the cabin.
Seeing that no one was around, Wei Huan wanted to check what he had taken, but it seemed fate wouldn't give him the chance. No sooner had these people left than a confused-looking Jones appeared on the ship not far away.
He spotted Wei Huan immediately and happily ran over: "Lord Wei, my Lord, I got something good."
Jones tiptoed through the Undead army and finally reached Wei Huan, opening his hand and presenting it to him. It was maple-leaf shaped. Wei Huan recognized it as a leaf from the Sacred Tree.
Wei Huan looked at the leaf, then at Jones, and said: "You should know the use of this leaf."
Jones nodded: "I know. It grants an opportunity for a state of epiphany."
"Not keeping it for yourself?"
Jones scratched his head and smiled: "I know my own limits. Even with ten more opportunities for epiphany, I couldn't become a powerhouse like you. So, I hope to offer this leaf and follow you forever, my Lord."
Wei Huan picked up the leaf, looked at Jones's expectant eyes, and nodded: "Good. Contact me after we leave, and get ready to get on the car."
"Thank you, my Lord!" Jones's lips trembled with excitement, and he gave him the highest salute of their country.
Wei Huan put the leaf into his storage space and inquired about Jones's experience after they split up. Jones told him everything, big and small, without holding anything back.
In simple terms, after Wei Huan entered the separate time-flow zone, he vanished. Jones tried to find him but was suppressed by the aura of the Sacred Tree and blocked outside. Just as he was anxiously pacing, the Giants of the Sun Herders and Moon Herders completed their ritual. The Sacred Tree bestowed a blessing, a few leaves scattered down, and Jones also obtained one. Upon receiving the leaf, he was also teleported back to the ship and saw Wei Huan.
Jones also said: "There was a fight nearby, but because I stayed close to the Lord, I couldn't gather any useful information."
Wei Huan was indeed a little curious, recalling the scene he saw earlier with the Demon Eye Lord. That seemed to be the Giants' warehouse, but the group had started fighting before they even entered the warehouse. He didn't know if Captain Liu and his team were affected.
Although entering the assessment area meant inevitable risks and taking responsibility for life and death, Wei Huan still didn't want them to be harmed.
"Let's go, let's go in and take a look again."
Waiting here was just waiting. The things inside the warehouse were not absolutely essential to him, but the lives of Captain Liu and the others still needed protection.
Jones naturally followed quietly. And this time, because of the offering, Wei Huan's attitude toward him was indeed much better. He not only arranged a Burrow Beast mount but also specifically assigned some Undead to ensure his safety.
However, as they left the ancient sailboat and moved forward again, they noticed that something was different. They seemed to be traveling through time again. With every step forward, the mountain ahead changed. Trees were growing backward, the soil gradually became thinner, revealing the dark mountain body. Broken stone blocks were scattered on the ground, as if a recent earthquake had occurred, and were even still falling.
Until they arrived at the closest point, where they could touch the stone with an outstretched hand, Wei Huan was absolutely certain that they had returned to the past. That is, the very beginning.
Had the assessment not ended yet? Wei Huan frowned.
He flew higher to search for the entrance. Sure enough, after circling half way, he found the passage they had used to enter. In the passage, there were still challengers guarding the place. They saw Wei Huan return, stood up excitedly, and waved at them.
From a distance, someone said: "You finally sailed the ship over. We've been waiting for several days. Was the journey smooth?"
Then someone noticed a person was missing and became anxious: "Where is Liyav?"
Wei Huan thought of Liyav, who went to fight over the warehouse, and shook his head: "I don't know."
This person was from the Great Bear Nation. Hearing Wei Huan's answer, his face darkened, and he looked at Wei Huan with a hint of vigilance. Wei Huan did not bother to explain further. He jumped from the back of the Burrow Beast onto the back of a Facehugger. The Facehugger's eight legs ran wildly, and it quickly disappeared into the passage.
Of course, Jones was taken with him. That group of people was not trustworthy now.
The long passage spiraled downward, seemingly leading deep into the earth's core. The Facehugger's moving speed was fast, but it still took almost half an hour to reach the destination.
When he saw Captain Fang's safe figure guarding the sapling, the breath he had been holding finally slowly eased. Captain Fang radiated a sacred glow, and his gaze carried an inexplicable compassion. Wei Huan, who had been adventuring and killing outside, retracted all outward-facing auras, dismounted from the Facehugger's back, and sat down next to Captain Fang. He looked at him, then at the sapling, and recounted his entire experience—except for the hard object he had obtained in the time-flow that he hadn't had time to examine.
After finishing, Wei Huan said: "I've thought of a way to leave."
Captain Fang was still immersed in the experience Wei Huan described. Hearing this, he looked at him: "I think I know too."
Wei Huan added: "And if things go smoothly, this sapling might become our final reward."
"That's right. If this sapling can be taken out, all of humanity will benefit. My realm has also improved significantly during the time I've spent here beside it."
Wei Huan felt much better after hearing this. He had taken seven leaves upon entering this time. It didn't matter if others got some, but Captain Fang couldn't return empty-handed. It was good that he had made progress.
Wei Huan's tone lightened, and he smiled: "Then let's go. It's almost time to leave."