Chapter 123: Soul Devouring Tree
The yellow ox didn’t move, letting two burly men drag her to some Soul Well. This, however, made Hua Changxi breathe a sigh of relief; as long as she wasn’t dead, there was a chance of escape.
Hua Changxi was dragged by two burly men to the entrance of a well cave emitting white light within the stone mountain.
The well cave entrance was about ten meters in diameter. Hua Changxi was pushed to the edge of the cave, bathed in the white light. Not only did she feel no discomfort, but she also felt quite comfortable.
The two burly men also had expressions of intoxication, greedily inhaling the white light.
Just as Hua Changxi was guessing what the white light was, one of the burly men took the prayer beads from her wrist. After confirming she had no other storage magic treasures, he removed the iron claw from her left shoulder.
Before she could react, another burly man kicked her in the lower back, sending her into the well cave.
Falling into the well, Hua Changxi found that without the iron claw, she could control her body again. She immediately condensed spiritual energy, and a spirit cloud appeared beneath her feet, stabilizing her falling body.
Just then, rustling sounds came from her ears.
Because the white light in the well was too intense, she couldn’t see anything. She could only carefully avoid the source of the sounds with her cloud.
“Crackling~”
Hua Changxi originally thought that by carefully dodging, she could avoid the dangers in the dark. Unexpectedly, a crystal-clear white tree branch appeared out of nowhere and accurately struck her.
What it means to have one’s soul tremble, Hua Changxi understood at this moment.
This pain was different from the physical pain she had experienced before. It was equally unbearable, and amidst the suffering, it made one feel despair and want to give up.
“Crackling~”
Another tree branch accurately struck the rapidly dodging Hua Changxi, almost causing her to lose control of her spirit cloud and fall.
Realizing she couldn’t avoid the branches’ strikes, Hua Changxi didn’t care if the two burly men at the well entrance had left. She rode her cloud and rushed directly towards the well entrance.
Perhaps sensing her attempt to escape, the next moment, she was met with even more ferocious strikes, with several branches breaking through the air simultaneously.
“Crackling~”
Hua Changxi dodged in a sorry state on her cloud, but no matter how she dodged, she couldn’t avoid the branches. The branches seemed to know her exact location with extreme precision.
Under the continuous strikes of seven or eight branches, Hua Changxi couldn’t hold on and fell from the air.
“Bang!”
Hua Changxi heavily landed on the ground. The light near the ground was not as dazzling as the light in the air. At this moment, she could see some things more clearly.
The next moment, she was speechless.
A crystal-clear, lush, intricately rooted, umbrella-shaped giant tree, at least several thousand meters tall and emitting a soft white glow, appeared in her sight.
Sacredness was Hua Changxi’s first impression of the giant tree, but slowly, a look of horror appeared on her face.
She remembered the records of this tree in the Hundred Herbs Annotation, it was a Soul Devouring Tree that specialized in devouring souls and spiritual energy.
No wonder this place was called the Soul Well. The yellow ox had thrown her down to be nourishment for the Soul Devouring Tree.
“Rustle~”
The sound of branches rubbing against the ground reached her ears. Hua Changxi looked in the direction of the sound and saw several snake-like white tree roots attacking her, trying to bind her.
Seeing this, Hua Changxi didn’t dodge. Since she knew it was the Soul Devouring Tree, she had a way to deal with it.
Others who encountered the Soul Devouring Tree might not be able to escape, but she could.
“Boom~”
Hua Changxi circulated her spiritual energy, and flames ignited around her. Then, fire lotuses bloomed on her body.
From the fire lotuses, a fire bird flew out and circled above Hua Changxi’s head.
As if sensing a threat, the tree roots trying to bind Hua Changxi paused, but after a moment, they continued to wrap around her.
At this moment, the fire bird flew out and sprayed flames at the tree roots.
Vermilion Bird Fire was like maggots on the bone to the Soul Devouring Tree’s roots. Once contaminated, the Soul Devouring Tree couldn’t get rid of it. Although it couldn’t directly burn them to ashes, it made the roots twist in pain.
Sensing danger, the Soul Devouring Tree’s roots directly severed themselves, discarding the root tips contaminated with flames. The remaining parts rapidly retracted with a “whoosh.”
Seeing the Soul Devouring Tree’s roots retreat, Hua Changxi immediately walked to the discarded roots contaminated with Vermilion Bird Fire and waved her hand to extinguish the flames.
Although the Soul Devouring Tree posed a fatal danger, its entire body was a treasure. Whether it was its branches, leaves, roots, or the soul flowers and soul fruits it produced, they were all rare treasures for replenishing soul power.
Hua Changxi picked up a few sections of Soul Devouring Tree roots and put them into the Shen Nong Cauldron.
After the Nascent Soul Realm came the Spiritual Platform Realm.
In the Spiritual Platform Realm, cultivators needed to absorb a large amount of soul power to strengthen their soul bodies, preparing for the subsequent condensation of the Primordial Spirit.
Since she had encountered the Soul Devouring Tree, and relying on the Vermilion Bird Fire, Hua Changxi wanted to take more items from the Soul Devouring Tree back with her. She cautiously approached the isolated roots.
The roots of the Soul Devouring Tree were intertwined. The part connected to the trunk resembled a volcanic eruption. Below, countless roots radiated outwards, deeply rooting into the earth.
Hua Changxi dared not go to the area where the roots were densely clustered. She only dared to target the sparsely distributed roots. Because she hadn’t condensed the Vermilion Bird Fire, the Soul Devouring Tree’s root tips, which didn’t sense danger, tried to entangle Hua Changxi and pull her out of the ground to attack her.
At this moment, Hua Changxi condensed a fire lotus and let the fire bird fly out, burning the roots.
After luring and obtaining more than ten sections of roots in this manner, the other roots stopped falling for the bait.
At this time, Hua Changxi also discovered something special. In a pit dug by a tree root, specks of white light were revealed.
Hua Changxi dug in the depression for a while and unearthed dozens of stones like white jade.
Soul Crystals!
Seeing the Soul Crystals, excitement appeared in Hua Changxi’s eyes. These were essential resources for cultivating the Primordial Spirit!
Hua Changxi began to dig in other depressions left by tree roots and unearthed dozens more Soul Crystals.
As she put the Soul Crystals into the Shen Nong Cauldron, Hua Changxi was surprised to find that the Shen Nong Cauldron had absorbed the previously collected Soul Devouring Tree roots and Soul Crystals. However, soon, she showed a look of realization.
As she read more cultivator books, she also learned a lot of common knowledge.
She guessed that the Shen Nong Cauldron was likely a Divine Artifact, also known as a Soul Artifact.
There were two types of magic tools used by cultivators: Spiritual Artifacts and Divine Artifacts.
Higher quality Spiritual Artifacts could be taken into a cultivator’s Dantian Qi Sea as a life-bound magic tool, and could be carried when the Nascent Soul left the body. High-quality Divine Artifacts could be stored in a cultivator’s spiritual platform within their mind, and could be carried when the Primordial Spirit left the body.
Spiritual Artifacts were nourished by spiritual energy, while Divine Artifacts required both spiritual energy and soul power for nourishment.
“Shen Nong Cauldron, you could have left me some.”
The Soul Devouring Tree roots and Soul Crystals were all absorbed by the Shen Nong Cauldron. Hua Changxi was a bit helpless. Although she didn’t need them now, she still wanted to prepare some.
Hua Changxi could only tentatively continue to obtain Soul Devouring Tree roots. As a result, she got closer and closer to the area where the roots were clustered.
After burning a Soul Devouring Tree root with a diameter of half a meter, the sound of breaking air echoed. Seven or eight branches, over a meter thick, descended from the sky, striking heavily towards Hua Changxi.
Hua Changxi knew she couldn’t dodge the branches, so she chose to resist them head-on.
Fire lotuses surrounded her body, and a fire bird circled above her head.
“Crack, crack, crack~”
The Soul Devouring Tree branches struck the fire lotus petals, directly extinguishing dozens of flaming petals. However, the branches didn’t fare well either; they were contaminated with Vermilion Bird Fire and were eventually forced to break off and quickly retract.
Seeing the branches retreat, Hua Changxi breathed a sigh of relief. After waiting for a while and confirming that no more branches were attacking, she retracted the fire lotuses.
Looking at the seven sections of Soul Devouring Tree branches, over a meter thick and more than ten meters long, lying on the ground, Hua Changxi rejoiced inwardly and quickly went to collect them into the Shen Nong Cauldron.
This time, the Shen Nong Cauldron finally didn’t absorb everything, leaving her one section.
After this, Hua Changxi no longer intended to dig for Soul Devouring Tree roots. Although she had the Vermilion Bird Fire that could burn soul power, using such a divine ability consumed a large amount of spiritual energy.
She was still in danger now and needed to conserve her spiritual energy to escape.
Just as Hua Changxi was preparing to find a way to leave this Soul Devouring Well, she heard a faint cry.
“Help!”
Hua Changxi searched for a long time, following the sound, and finally saw dozens of cocoon-like humanoid objects in the area where the roots were most densely clustered and the light was brightest.
There was no need to guess; those cocoons were likely cultivators entangled by the tree roots.
The humanoid cocoons were surrounded by wisps of white light, which continuously converged towards the upper part of the Soul Devouring Tree’s trunk. Hua Changxi knew that the Soul Devouring Tree was absorbing their soul power.
“Help!”
The weak cry sounded again.
Hearing this, Hua Changxi’s expression became hesitant. To save them, she would have to burn the Soul Devouring Tree’s roots, which would undoubtedly provoke a fierce attack from the Soul Devouring Tree.
These people had nothing to do with her. From the two battles she witnessed when crossing the wooden bridge, many cultivators who came to the Ghost Market were hostile to each other, and they would rob and kill those weaker than themselves.
She didn’t want to risk her life for such people.
She definitely wanted to escape this Soul Devouring Well, preferably without alerting the yellow ox in the stone mountain.
The yellow ox could transform into human form and had no spiritual energy fluctuations. She guessed that the yellow ox was likely a demon beast that cultivated souls.
She was currently only a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, and hadn’t even opened her spiritual platform. She couldn’t withstand a soul attack.
Saving these people and causing the Soul Devouring Tree to riot would definitely alert the yellow ox, which would be very disadvantageous for her.
Thinking this, Hua Changxi moved away from the Soul Devouring Tree roots to a spacious area. While warily guarding against a sudden attack from the Soul Devouring Tree, she held a top-grade spirit stone and quickly replenished her depleted spiritual energy.
One top-grade spirit stone after another turned to dust in her hands. After she replenished all her depleted spiritual energy, a spirit cloud condensed beneath her feet, and she prepared to escape this Soul Devouring Well.
The spirit cloud didn’t rise for a long time. Hua Changxi looked back at the dozens of humanoid cocoons. Should she really let these human cultivators become nourishment for the Soul Devouring Tree, and wait for the Soul Devouring Tree to bloom soul flowers and bear soul fruits to enhance the strength of the yellow ox and other demon races?
After much hesitation, Hua Changxi still rode her cloud towards the Soul Devouring Tree roots. When she was still dozens of meters away from the root cluster, she condensed one fire lotus after another and rapidly sent them towards the humanoid cocoons.
The next moment, regardless of whether the fire lotuses burned the Soul Devouring Tree roots or if the cultivators inside could come out, she threw several bottles of spirit-resolving pills in a place where no roots were growing, and then rushed towards the well entrance without looking back.
As expected, dozens of fire lotuses attacked, and the Soul Devouring Tree became enraged. Dozens of branches broke through the air and struck towards the fire lotuses.
This, however, benefited Hua Changxi. The Soul Devouring Tree attacked the fire lotuses instead of stopping her as she escaped the deep well.
Hua Changxi didn’t expect such a gain. Seeing the branches thrashing below, she felt a little guilty and threw down a few more bottles of healing pills. After that, she no longer paid attention to what was happening below and focused on rushing towards the well entrance.
Upon reaching the well entrance, Hua Changxi didn’t rush out directly. Instead, she hung on the edge of the well and investigated the situation above. Seeing that no one was there, she quickly exited the Soul Devouring Well.
After exiting the Soul Devouring Well, she carefully retraced her steps along the route the two burly men had taken her.
Previously, she had been held by the iron claw, like a walking corpse, but her eyes could still move, and she had memorized the route.
Just as Hua Changxi passed the hall where the yellow ox was located, a noisy commotion suddenly erupted in the stone mountain.
“Bad news, something has happened at the Soul Well.”
“Quickly inform the Venerable that something has happened at the Soul Well.”
Previously, Hua Changxi had not encountered any living beings while walking in the stone mountain, but at this moment, countless demon races rushed out of the stone mountain, all running towards the Soul Well.
Hua Changxi took advantage of the distraction of the demons and quickly slipped away, soon arriving at the entrance of Ox Head Mountain.
She didn’t sense any spiritual energy at the mountain gate, but she didn’t dare to be careless. This Ghost Market, no, she felt it should be called the Ghost Realm, felt like the territory of soul cultivators.
Without reaching the Spiritual Platform Realm, she couldn’t project her spiritual sense. She had no way of knowing if there were any soul-cultivating demon beasts hiding outside.
The commotion in the stone mountain was growing louder. Hua Changxi observed the mountain gate quietly for a while, gritted her teeth, and rode her cloud to swiftly rush out of the mountain gate.
Just as she was about to fly out of the mountain gate, a giant python, integrated with the dim mist, appeared out of thin air and blocked her path.
Guessing that there would be guards at the mountain gate, Hua Changxi was not surprised. She condensed a fire lotus and proactively attacked the giant python.
Only when the battle began did she see the full extent of the giant python.
It was too large. The giant python’s body was several meters thick and hundreds of meters long.
Seeing the white moon marking on the giant python’s forehead, Hua Changxi recognized it as the Moon Nether Python mentioned in the Myriad Meridians Chart provided by the Shen Nong Cauldron.
The Moon Nether Python could emit a poisonous mist. Once inhaled, the mist would pollute the spiritual platform, and the Primordial Spirit would be trapped.
She hadn’t condensed her Primordial Spirit yet, but her soul body was naturally present. After inhaling the poisonous mist, she would likely be unable to control her body, similar to when she was caught by the iron claw before.
Hua Changxi saw mist already surging from the giant python’s body, her expression changed drastically. She gathered spiritual energy in her hands and condensed a fire lotus.
“Boom~”
Countless spiritual energy surged out, and the fire lotus rapidly enlarged. Seventy-two flaming lotus petals quickly enveloped the entire mountain gate, directly engulfing the Moon Nether Python within the fire lotus.
After burning the Buddha’s Hand at Five Finger Mountain, the fire lotus possessed the power to burn mountains and boil seas. After activating her lotus bloodline, the fire lotus unlocked the Lotus Domain Divine Ability. Coupled with the Vermilion Bird Fire, which could burn the Primordial Spirit, or rather, the soul body, the Moon Nether Python, which had just been preparing to attack, panicked and began to charge wildly within the fire lotus.
With three divine abilities unleashed simultaneously, Hua Changxi consumed nearly thirty percent of her spiritual energy. Seeing the Moon Nether Python trapped, she immediately rushed out of the fire lotus and rode her cloud to quickly leave Ox Head Mountain.
After she flew over a thousand meters away from Ox Head Mountain, an enraged bellow of a bull echoed in the night sky. Then, a giant bull figure, emitting a brilliant white light, appeared above Ox Head Mountain.
Hua Changxi initially thought that she had angered the yellow ox by blocking Ox Head Mountain with her fire lotus. However, the next moment, a golden” Manji” character flew out and directly shattered the giant bull.
