“Xshhh, Xshhh, Xhsshhh…”
The deeper Li Qiye went, the more often the tree roots attacked. They became increasingly thick and had stronger power.
Towards the deeper area, the tree roots seemed to be made of steel and bronze. To the dismay of others, even Life Treasures wouldn't be able to easily cut through them.
“What is this?”
Li Shuangyan was surprised. At this moment, the metal tree roots began to attack her.
“Ten thousand year old ancient roots of the Evil Typha Tree. We are coming closer to its nest so it is pressing its attack.”
Li Qiye continued:
“Use the lotus ashes, don't mess around with them. As long as we can find its main root, the other roots won't be able to do anything.”
With that, Li Qiye sprinkled the lotus ashes and Niu Fen and Li Shuangyan did the same. Sure enough, the ancient roots immediately retreated and didn't dare to approach. They were very wary against these lotus ashes.
Suddenly, the cave right behind Li Qiye was packed with branches of the ancient roots. It seemed as if poisonous snakes were creepily staring at them.
“So magical!”
Li Shuangyan couldn't believe how amazing the seemingly ordinary lotus ashes were. They were even able to deter the ancient roots of the Evil Typha Tree so that they didn't dare to come closer.
“The Six Dao Lotus is the bane of the Evil Typha Tree. These are the ashes of the true ancient tree, so the true root of the Evil Typha Tree still wouldn't dare to get close. These things were only thirty thousand year old at the very most, so they naturally can't compete with it. If touched by these ashes, that would be their end.”
Finished speaking, Li Qiye threw out a handful of lotus ashes as if he was a shooting arrow.
Seeing the lotus arrow coming, all of the ancient roots immediately retreated in rapid succession. However, there was still one branch of ancient root that was struck; it immediately struggled around on the ground and died a pitiful death, like a dried, dead snake.
“The Six Dao Lotus!”
Li Shuangyan asked with some astonishment:
“Is that the giant tree in the south?”
“Yes, but also no.”
Li Qiye continued:
“The truth is that the Six Dao Lotus was the previous life of the Cassia Lotus Tree. In this world, I'm afraid the Six Dao Lotus is no more.”
As they were speaking, they stepped inside a giant cave that was made out of rocks and had no end.
The creepy thing was that these rocks were as red as blood, and they oozed out a fog-like mist. The entire cave was hazy with this bloody mist, nearly blinding the people within.
Walking into this huge cave was akin to walking into a hole made out of blood. The inside permeated a stench of fresh blood, as if it used to house a frightening fiend.
“Where is this place?”
Stepping into the cave, even Niu Fen was a bit afraid. He felt uncomfortable, as if there was evil magic in the air.
“The soul of the Evil Typha Tree used to be here in the past.”
Li Qiye gravely said, and his sight swept through all four directions.
At this time, Li Shuangyan gently pulled on Li Qiye's sleeve and hinted at another direction with her chin, and then said:
“Over there…”
Li Qiye focused his sight and saw a shadow in the far distance. This shadow was wrapped by the bloody mist so other couldn't see it clearly. It looked like a human from afar, but also not like one. At a second glance, it was more like a small dragon flying around.
“Poof…”
In the blink of an eye, the two Invisible Dual Blades of Li Qiye flew out — as fast as lightning — towards the shadow in the bloody mist.
However, the shadow was extremely agile. It felt the danger of the Invisible Dual Blades, so it immediately escaped with an unbelievable speed!
The blades swung back into Li Qiye's hands, but it couldn't cut the shadow and, instead, had allowed it to escape. The shadow knew how frightening the blades were, so it didn't appear again.
“That was the main root of the Evil Typha Tree?”
Seeing Li Qiye's failure, Li Shuangyan worriedly asked.
“No.”
At this time, Li Qiye's eyes became fierce, and he coldly uttered:
“That year, someone opened the Evil Infested Ridge and something else went inside as well.”
“The main root of the Evil Typha Tree isn't in this place?”
Niu Fen also went around the bloody cave, but he couldn't find anything else.
“If it isn't here, then it must be in a different place.”
Li Qiye continued:
“It has to be in the other direction. Come, we will go!”
Li Shuangyan and Niu Fen hurried to keep up with Li Qiye. They didn't dare to ask anything. Li Qiye knew this place like the palm of his hand, and he even knew the area where the soul of the Evil Typha Tree used to be. Even though Li Shuangyan was extremely curious, she knew that this was not the time to ask.
However, in a different direction, even the group of Heavenly Prince Qingxuan was having trouble.
Farther in their direction, they found that there were less and less caves. As the caves converged, it was as if they were all coming together.
All of the cultivators and sects that went in different directions were now coming together. However, they found that the tree roots became stronger and stronger. The ancient roots appeared more often, and with even more power. And further in, even Royal Nobles couldn't handle them.
Such a situation forced the sects to work together, and all of the Royal Nobles worked as one. But even then, it was still not very favorable.
When they had no other places to go and were backed into a corner, countless tree roots — like the current ones — blocked the exit. With countless rustling noises, the tree roots flooded this entire space like a tide.
“Ah…”
Sounds of screaming appeared left and right. Not to mention ordinary cultivators, but under this situation, even many Royal Nobles couldn't stand strong. A bit of inattentiveness resulted in them dying to the ancient roots and being drained of their blood.
In this place, there were not that many big caves left. The two strongest groups were Heavenly Prince Qingxuan and Dao Child Shengtian. Because of this, their two caves had the highest number of cultivators.
In this chaotic battle, Chen Baojiao and her old servant were also shunted to the cave with Dao Child Shengtian. At this moment, there was no turning back. Chen Baojiao didn't have any other choice besides going with the big group, but the ancient roots attacking from behind became even more numerous, like the flow of the ocean.
At this time, all of the cultivators were at a dead end. They felt that they were caught in a trap. Strong ancient roots blocked their retreat and were chasing them deeper into the caves. It felt like they were being lured deeper into the nest. At this moment, the main root of the Evil Typha Tree viewed the intruding cultivators as a delicious meal. It was entrenched on its spiderweb, waiting for its delicious meal to come.
However, for unknown reasons, wherever Chen Baojiao went, she especially attracted the roots of the Evil Typha Tree. They attacked her far more vigorously compared to the others.
Chen Baojiao naturally didn't know that she, with the Tyrannical Valley Immortal Spring Physique, was rare across the ages. Her blood essence was the most delicious feast in this world to the evil tree, as well as the best supplement, so she was attacked far more than others.
At first, Chen Baojiao was able to handle it, but later on, she couldn't cope any longer. Fortunately, the old man by her side took action.
People began to realize that Chen Baojiao was attracting major fire by a large amount of tree roots, so many of them quickly ran away from her so that they wouldn't be pulled down as well.
Under the crazy onslaught of the Evil Typha Tree's roots, Chen Baojiao and her old servant were forced back into a tunnel. This was a dead end without an escape path.
“Careful…”
Chen Baojiao was almost stabbed to death by an ancient root. The old servant took action and cut the ancient root down completely. At this point, he finally revealed his true strength.
“Huaaa— Huaaa— Huaaa”
In this moment, the roots and branches became crazy, and they pushed Chen Baojiao into the wall. Suddenly, all of the roots went inside this cave of death, like a flood, drowning this hole along with their delicious meal.
“Kill…”
The old servant loudly roared and his Enlightened Being aura pierced the sky. In a flash, he rushed to the tree and slashed off countless roots, but an infinite amount, like the tides, kept on coming.
“Bang…”
The old servant — once again — started his massacre. He swept through everything again, but the vanguard of the tree roots were not deterred.
Seeing this old man's true strength as an Enlightened Being, many cultivators in a different path were astonished.
A “Poof” sound appeared and blood rushed up in the air. Even though the old servant was powerful, he had to protect Chen Baojiao while killing the roots. A momentary lapse of focus let an ancient root penetrate his shoulder.
The old man cut off the ancient root, but it had already been rooted inside his body. This greatly changed the old man's expression as his entire body shivered.
“Grandpa Shi…”
Chen Baojiao frightenedly screamed. She wanted to go save the old servant.
“Hide behind me…”
The old man screamed and unleashed a heaven punishing move. However, at this moment, the ancient roots had formed a giant nest, wanting to devour the two of them. In the back, there were also countless tree roots rushing in, encompassing the entire cave of death.
Dao Child Shengtian had already retreated to another cave, but seeing this scene, he couldn't help but lose his colors. He wanted to rush up but Enlightened Being Si Tu held down his shoulder.
“Young Master, don't be impulsive.”
Enlightened Being Si Tu said.
“Xshhhh….”
At this time, inside the cave of death, the old servant were pierced by two ancient roots on his shoulder yet again. By now, he was completely bloody and tattered. Chen Baojiao was frightened and immediately held onto him.