PD -Chapter 185 Underground Monster Tree

I looked at Old Li. Out of all of us, he was probably in the worst condition. A black shadow clung to his neck—like a pair of withered hands choking his throat. His own hands clawed at his neck while his feet kicked desperately against the wall. If this went on, he would be strangled to death on the spot.

I cursed under my breath and lowered my head to check what had wrapped around my legs. It looked like some kind of dried vines… They were like snakes, drilling out from the cellar walls and ambushing us.

With a cold snort, I pulled out a fire talisman from my chest and channeled spiritual energy into it.

Boom…

The talisman ignited in my hand, and I immediately threw it down at my feet.

The vine-like tendrils recoiled violently the moment they saw the flames, as if they had encountered a natural enemy. They trembled and quickly retreated back into the walls.

My legs were instantly freed. I quickly handed the fire talisman to Tang Shanshan.

“Do you still remember the incantation I taught you?”

Tang Shanshan nodded. Right now, the most urgent matter was saving Old Li. If we didn’t act immediately, he was as good as dead.

I gritted my teeth, kicked off the wall, and leapt forward. Flames of burning demon fire ignited in my hand as I reached toward the withered claws around Old Li’s neck.

The Burning Demon Fire was formed from my spiritual energy and yang force—it only harmed evil entities and would not hurt Old Li at all.

So my hand grabbed directly at his neck. The roots wrapped around him were instantly burned apart by the flames. Both Old Li and I fell to the ground.

At the same time, Tang Shanshan successfully followed my instructions, using the incantation and spiritual activation method I had taught her to ignite the fire talisman. She managed to free herself and Zhenzhen from their bind.

“Cough… cough…” Old Li lay on the ground, coughing violently, but thankfully he was not in serious danger.

But I knew this was not the time to relax. This cellar seemed to be dug right into the lair of those tree roots. The walls were covered with countless holes left behind by the vines—dense and overlapping, like a beehive, making my scalp tingle.

Even more bizarrely, inside each hole lurked a root, like a snake, occasionally poking out to observe us.

Fortunately, they were extremely afraid of fire. I had brought many talismans with me due to my lack of spiritual energy this time, and now they were proving useful.

Tang Shanshan and I kept igniting fire talismans from time to time to force the roots back. I also stuck several talismans onto the walls—if any of those things tried to emerge, I could immediately ignite them and burn them off.

This stalemate lasted several minutes. Just as I was thinking about whether we could use these roots to find a way out, the entire cellar suddenly began to tremble violently, as if a massive earthquake was happening outside.

Everyone inside lost their balance and fell to the ground. Even the talismans on the wall were shaken loose.

It seemed as if all the roots had been waiting for this moment. They erupted at once, like countless giant snakes bursting out of their nests, rapidly lunging toward us.

Even though I ignited more talismans, this time they were far less effective.

It was as if these roots had received some kind of command. They ignored everything and wrapped around us, pinning everyone against the walls. My body was tightly bound, pressed against the cellar wall, as if I was being dragged into it.

No matter how we struggled, it was useless.

Especially me—I was being “taken care of” in particular. My Burning Demon Fire could burn them, yes…

But it couldn’t keep up with the endless roots emerging from behind the walls like hair—layer after layer, endlessly.

Soon, the last bit of spiritual energy in my body was nearly exhausted, and I had no choice but to extinguish the flames.

The shaking of the cellar still hadn’t stopped. At that moment, I noticed the soil beneath it begin to surge, as if something enormous was trying to break out from underground.

Before I could warn everyone, a huge black shadow suddenly burst out from the ground.

It was a tree. A massive tree.

It had apparently been completely buried underground, and only now did I realize—the things binding us were not roots at all, but the branches of this underground giant tree.

This monstrous tree was like a creature with countless claws, dragging us up from beneath the cellar and out to the surface.

By now, night had fallen. In the cover of the mountains and forests, the light was dim and gloomy. We, who had been deep underground in the cellar, were now hanging from towering branches.

After breaking through the ground, the giant tree stood upright among the surrounding forest like any other tree—but it was different.

Unlike the others with lush green leaves, this tree was bare, as if it had long been deprived of sunlight. Its entire body was covered in jagged, twisted branches, completely leafless.

Its branches tightly bound us. Suspended in midair, I couldn’t use any strength at all. Countless claw-like limbs swayed in front of us, as if mocking us—or watching us to ensure we couldn’t escape.

“Ah!”

Zhenzhen suddenly screamed. I turned to look and saw a sharp branch slicing open the vein in her wrist. Blood instantly poured out.

Then it was Old Li—his wrist was also cut, blood dripping down. The branches eagerly absorbed the falling blood, letting it seep into their dry bodies… and then, strangely, tiny green buds began to sprout from them.

Soon, a sharp branch moved toward Tang Shanshan’s wrist, trying to do the same.

“Ngh…” Tang Shanshan gritted her teeth and struggled desperately, but it was useless under the countless bindings.

“No!”

I glared at the sharp branch and roared. Golden light erupted from my body as I tried to protect her.

But I was too far away. Only the edge of my Golden Light Spell managed to collide with the branch.

The branch twisted like a snake and, enraged, turned and slithered toward me instead.

Seeing its attention shift from Tang Shanshan to me, I actually felt a brief sense of relief instead of fear.

“Good… come at me! All of you, come at me!” I laughed coldly, letting my Golden Light Spell fade as I shouted at the approaching branch.

Maybe my provocation worked.

In the next moment, the branch shot straight in front of me.

A sharp pain exploded at my wrist—the vein was instantly cut open.