Chapter 324 — The Poisoner and the Divine Physician

Meanwhile the great tree kept giving off rumbling booms, and at intervals countless branches suddenly grew madly, becoming a second crown, a third crown, a fourth. The two white bats dodged again and again; suddenly thunder and lightning clashed in midair, crac-crac, striking back and forth, and then a fine drizzling rain began to fall.

By the time they landed, the two white bats hastily shielded their lower bodies and looked around; they saw no sign of Shen Mu and the others, only the mountain-like, majestic trunk blocking their view.

The ground kept splitting open, and thick root tendrils, like dragons, appeared, crackling as they stretched madly away into the distance, until even several mountain peaks far off were wrapped so tightly in root tendrils that not a gap remained. And overhead the sunlight was blotted out entirely, leaving hardly any light at all.

The Bat brothers flew onto the trunk and climbed swiftly along it, searching for Shen Mu and the others.

Suddenly a whispering, rustling sound came from the lowest tree crown, and root tendrils hung down from it, swaying to and fro, each bearing a great flower bud. "This should be the root-tendril monster's true body, then?

" Shen Mu's voice came.

Fu Yuqiu and Fu Yuchun hastily scrambled across the tree and, catching sight of Shen Mu and the dragon qilin and the rest, heaved a sigh of relief and leapt down from the tree, using their fleshy wings to shield their bodies on landing lest they be exposed. Shen Mu looked up at the giant tree the root-tendril monster had become, astonished beyond measure, and stepped forward to peel open one of the hanging great buds.

The bud was peeled open, and a girl hung down from within, motionless, both hands dangling.

The girl opened her eyes feebly, glanced at Shen Mu, and said in a thread of a voice, "Heavenly Sage Hierarch.

. .

" Shen Mu closed the girl's eyes, and the girl opened them again, glaring at him viciously.

Shen Mu went to open the other buds, and within each hung a girl upside down — the strange things borne by the root-tendril monster of Withered Silence Ridge, hardly independent lives at all; these girls were merely part of the root-tendril monster's body. "The root-tendril monster is only a tangle of root tendrils that absorbed the blood of gods and demons and became a great demon.

It had no trunk, and now, having absorbed the power of the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl, it has grown a trunk, and is likely all the more terrifying for it. " Full of care, Shen Mu said, "We must leave this place as quickly as we can!

" The Bat brothers saw some of their own hairs on the ground, no longer woodified, and were delighted; hastily shaking their bodies, they took the hairs back.

The dragon qilin at their side likewise shook itself and drew back its scales, restored as before.

Xiong Xiyu shook her head. "What is in the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl is the true soul of the azure dragon; this great demon cannot absorb it.

Most likely it is controlled by the pearl's energy and cannot move at all.

As long as we find the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl it swallowed, we can turn defeat into victory and slay Yu Bochuan and these traitors! " Xiong Qi'er asked curiously, "Mother, after we take out the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl, will this root-tendril monster come back to life?

" Xiong Xiyu shuddered.

With the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl now suppressing the root-tendril monster, if they took the pearl out and the monster regained the power to move, they would be in deadly peril again.

Suddenly a voice came: "Young Master, the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl is here!

" Shen Mu's face changed greatly.

"This is bad! We cannot let them dig out the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl!

" They hurried over in the direction of the voice, and saw Yu Bochuan and the other True Heaven Palace experts staring at a stretch of the tree trunk, within which green light glowed like jade, lighting an area several mu across. Clearly, the root-tendril monster of Withered Silence Ridge had swallowed the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl, and the pearl's terrifying power had in an instant turned it to wood, so that the root tendrils grew into a trunk that pressed the pearl down here, the root tendrils themselves stiffening and unable to move.

"Do not take out the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl!

Take it out, and this great demon will recover at once, and no one will live!

" Having said this, Yu Bochuan looked toward Shen Mu and the others and frowned slightly; the people beside him at once stood on strict guard, protecting him.

Shen Mu smiled and said, "Greetings, senior brothers. Can you still use the divine powers of your True Heaven Palace here? If not, then we shall have to see you all on your way.

" Yu Bochuan's figure suddenly flashed, and he came to where the green light was, reached his hand into the tree trunk, and sneered, "Heavenly Sage Hierarch, if we die, we all die together.

. .

How fragrant.

What is that smell?

" No sooner had he said this than the world spun around him, and he toppled over with a thud. "The smell of Delirium Incense," Shen Mu said, smiling.

Thud, thud — one after another the people of True Heaven Palace fell to the ground, leaving only the three Heaven-Human realm experts still able to hold on, their faces flushed red; their cultivation was spent suppressing the Delirium Incense, and they could muster little dharma power. Suddenly a woman's voice came, laughing: "Delirium Incense — an anesthetic, is it?

Let me smell it!

" Xiong Xiyu's expression changed drastically, while the three Heaven-Human realm experts were overjoyed.

"The Poison Master! " "Mu Yingxue!

" Shen Mu looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a woman in black, hung with gold and silver ornaments and wearing a jade-beaded crown, walking over from among the girls hanging from the root tendrils; wherever she passed, the flower maidens withered, turning to handfuls of ash that fell to the ground. Shen Mu took out a jade bottle, tossed it over, and said with a smile, "It is an anesthetic.

Have a smell.

"