Volume Three: Rising Fame - Chapter Eighty-Three: Another Encounter

Barely having enough time to turn sideways, a dark shadow brushed past him.

Li Yu wore a solemn expression. The next moment, he raised a hand to block, and the lightning shield condensed before his arm shattered under a tremendous force.

"A tree puppet!"

Li Yu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Although he had been on guard against that recent strike, the immense force still caused his internal organs to churn violently.

The second attacker was a massive ox-shaped fierce beast. At this moment, it was treading on the water's surface, its two gigantic ox eyes glowing with an eerie green light. On its body were countless hair-thin green filaments that thrashed wildly outside its flesh.

This sight was, in truth, extremely nauseating.

Those green hairs were dense and disgusting, and as they swayed, they gave off a distinctly living sensation.

"A fourth-tier Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit that actually possesses tree puppets!?"

Li Yu felt a sense of lingering fear. Having just discovered the numerous anomalies of this Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit, he had elevated its threat level significantly in his mind. It was precisely because of this caution that he had managed to narrowly evade a fatal blow.

The green hair covering the bodies of these tree puppets emerging from the water was actually the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit's method of controlling them. Although these tree puppets still possessed vital signs, they were in reality nothing more than walking corpses.

That was why these tree puppets had been able to remain completely motionless, passively absorbing the lightning Li Yu had scattered across the water, before plotting a sneak attack from behind.

"Where is the first tree puppet?" Li Yu carefully guarded his surroundings.

That exceptionally fast first tree puppet, having missed its initial strike, had plunged back into the water and vanished without a trace.

Aside from that one, there were a total of five beast tree puppets—including the ox-shaped fierce beast—and three humanoid tree puppets.

"The Imperial Court... members of the Midnight Guard!?" Li Yu's gaze fell upon those three figures, a trace of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

The Midnight Guard—under the reign of Great Ming, the intention behind this name was exceedingly easy to guess. This was a force dedicated to protecting Great Ming, tasked with eradicating the dark parasites lurking beneath the brilliance of the empire. In fact, quite a few members of the Qing clan had died at the hands of this Midnight Guard.

How could a powerful unit possessing such formidable strength have suffered total annihilation here?!

This was a troop that had been carefully cultivated for a single purpose: a force that understood only slaughter!

Li Yu's gaze grew much more serious, though he relaxed slightly the next moment upon noticing that these individuals bore severe injuries.

The five fierce beasts also bore many terrifying wounds deep enough to expose their bones, except that those ruptured openings were likewise swaying with countless green hairs, making them appear even more ferocious and horrific!

Clearly, these members of the Midnight Guard had tracked their way here, discovered the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit, and subsequently engaged in a fierce conflict, which ultimately ended in the victory of the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit.

"The Midnight Guard operates in teams of five, but there are only three here. It seems the battle was exceptionally brutal; two of them must have had their limbs shattered beyond recognition, which is why they weren't transformed into tree puppets!"

"Tree puppets retain eighty percent of the cultivation they had in life. Two of these Midnight Guard members were severely injured, so they should only retain sixty to seventy percent of their combat power. As for these five fierce beasts, two of them were at the fifth tier, plus there is that one tree puppet that has remained unseen..."

"Did it not kill me just now so it could turn me into a tree puppet?!"

Li Yu pondered for a moment, his heart settling as he concluded that the pendulum of victory was currently tipping in his favor!

This was not mere boasting on Li Yu's part. Although one of the primary reasons the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit was jointly attacked by crowds was its ability to enslave humans, the humans enslaved by it would only retain a portion of their physical cultivation while losing their self-awareness. In truth, this severely limited the abilities and threat level of a tree puppet. Only a conscious human could make optimal judgments and perform at their best; once constrained and left with only simple commands to guard and attack, they were much easier to deal with!

"Not fearing death does not mean being truly undying!"

"Come on. Once I defeat you all, I can deal with the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit with peace of mind!" Li Yu let out a sharp cry, taking the initiative to charge and attack the tree puppets.

His actions triggered a reaction from the tree puppets as well, and they similarly swarmed toward him to slaughter him!

The two sides clashed. While it looked like a chaotic brawl, in reality, Li Yu firmly held the upper hand.

*As expected!*

Upon contact, Li Yu understood that these tree puppets were no different from what he had anticipated.

The strength displayed by the three Midnight Guard members after becoming tree puppets was roughly at the threshold of the early fifth tier, yet in truth, they were inferior to some peak sixth-tier cultivators.

Lacking personal thought and merely obeying the commands of the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit to launch attacks, these three fought with straight, rigid movements and employed only the simplest uses of spiritual energy.

"Boom!"

With a fierce strike, Li Yu shattered the arm of a Midnight Guard tree puppet. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and countless green hairs swayed amidst the gore.

Many fragments of flesh flying toward Li Yu were reduced to flying ash by the rampaging lightning power.

Yet the Midnight Guard tree puppet remained expressionless, the green light in its eyes growing even more intense as it swept its single arm horizontally, attempting to inflict damage upon Li Yu.

Such behavior was entirely inhuman!

Li Yu's figure flashed, the spiritual energy within his spiritual domain surging violently, and in a split second, he literally tore apart those fierce beasts that hadn't even reached the fifth tier in life!

"Perhaps while you were alive you could have caused me some damage, but now that you are dead, don't even dream of it!"

With a stern expression, Li Yu looked toward the three Midnight Guard members.

Their faces were pale, their eyes radiating green light. At a glance, their youthful features carried an air of death, clearly indicating that they had cultivated some bizarre secret technique to drastically elevate their cultivation.

As former death-defying soldiers, these Midnight Guard members had lost their greatest threat the moment they lost their minds.

Li Yu's figure flashed as he charged out once more, fighting hand-to-hand with the remaining fifth-tier tree puppets.

Blood splattered, and some chunks of flesh even fell into the pool of water.

Despite the intense battle, the tree puppets, who were in an absolute position of disadvantage, did not change expression, intent only on leaving scars upon Li Yu's body.

The one-sided battle was quickly drawing to a close.

Li Yu swept one hand horizontally, and the condensed lightning sword slashed across the head of the last standing Midnight Guard tree puppet.

*Still not appearing?*

Li Yu felt a trace of doubt. This was already the final tree puppet, yet that exceptionally swift tree puppet still hadn't shown its face. What was going on here?

Wasn't this completely wasting the opening he had deliberately exposed?!

However, since that agile tree puppet refused to appear, Li Yu hardened his heart: he would finish off the tree puppet before him, then march straight onto the island and see if that tree puppet could still hold back then!

"Boom!"

A sharp pain pierced his mind, and the condensed lightning sword flickered and dissipated, unable to be maintained.

"Damn it!"

Li Yu only had time to let out a low curse before catching sight of a figure abruptly leaping out from the water in his peripheral vision, hurtling toward him at high speed.

At the same time, the Midnight Guard tree puppet before him lunged fiercely at him as well.

A death trap!

What the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit was waiting for was precisely this moment. The instant Li Yu closed in on any fifth-tier tree puppet, it would launch a thunderous strike to rob him of his resistance; the moment Li Yu lost his ability to defend, the other ultra-fast tree puppet would also unleash a killing blow, coordinating with the tree puppet beside Li Yu to deliver a fatal strike.

"This mystical attack recovered so quickly?! This Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit truly has many anomalies. I was careless!"

Li Yu felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, making it difficult even to maintain his spiritual domain.

During the previous onslaught, he had maintained his caution, but what he was guarding against was the tree puppet that had remained perpetually hidden. Only until the very last one did he risk closing in on the Midnight Guard tree puppet, with the intention of luring out that hidden entity. Who could have expected that this would play right into the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit's hands?

A fierce gale struck, causing a stinging pain on Li Yu's cheeks, which testified to the sheer ferocity of the hidden tree puppet's assault.

"Move! Move, damn you!" Li Yu roared. Just as the attack with its jet-black fingernails was practically upon him, driven by the crisis of life and death, Li Yu broke free from the influence of the mystical attack, and his spiritual domain expanded outward.

"Bang!"

The fingernails brushed against his eyelashes, only to be forced away by the spiritual domain spreading from within his body. As the spiritual domain fully expanded, both tree puppets were flung far backward.

"Hoo! Hoo!"

Li Yu supported his forehead with one hand, his eyes filled with grimness and... ruthlessness.

Just a fraction of a second!

If he had been a fraction of a second slower just now, those jet-black fingernails would have already dug into his eyeball.

And the palm of that Midnight Guard tree puppet would likely have already plunged into his heart!

"Boom!"

A simple lightning ball was unleashed, and taken completely by surprise, the Midnight Guard tree puppet was blasted into smithereens.

Clearly, the Soul-Devouring Tree Spirit had exhausted its strength to launch that attack earlier, which was why the tree puppet's reaction had been sluggish.

"It seems my skill is superior after all!" Li Yu sneered. The lightning ball in his hand was about to be hurled toward the other tree puppet that had nearly sent him to his grave, but he suddenly froze.

"..."

Li Yu rubbed his eyes fiercely, looking again. The appearance of the tree puppet before him remained unchanged.

He opened his mouth, trembling slightly: "Mu Yinhua..."

When he first arrived in this world, it was a young woman who had pulled him onto the platform, had him test his bloodline, and laid the foundation for everything that followed in this otherworldly realm.

Without that test, he would never have known to use the Lightning Bloodline as a tiger skin to masquerade under in the future, nor would he have joined the Qing clan to live a life free from worries about food and clothing.

It was also the latter who had taught him the language and writing of this world, allowing him to integrate into it.

And it was she who, when the bandits attacked, had carried him on her back and fled into the dense forest to hide!

Perhaps to her, many of those matters were merely equal exchanges, but Li Yu had always kept them engraved in his heart. After joining the Qing clan, he had even thought of offering some assistance to the sole survivor of Stone Village.

Yet after the latter personally executed the mastermind behind the village massacre and returned to Stone Village, she disappeared shortly thereafter.

Li Yu never could have imagined that their reunion would take place in a setting like this.

Green hairs fluttered as Li Yu raised his eyes to meet Mu Yinhua's. Within them, green light burned fiercely, accompanied by the sharp fluctuations of fifth-tier power.

"Is this an illusion... or have you encountered some bizarre fortune?!"

Li Yu murmured.

Mu Yinhua possessed merely a sixth-tier bloodline and lacked any cultivation resources; how could she have broken through the sixth tier in such a short span of time, let alone shattered her own shackles to reach the fifth tier?!

Yet, recalling the blowing snow crystal ghosts covering the mountains outside, Li Yu fell silent.

Though he didn't know how the latter had entered this secret realm, having such an opportunity upon entry made her rapid cultivation somewhat easier to accept.

Only... meeting under such circumstances...