Chapter 62

Lu Xiaodeng kept watching it, placing her finger to her lips, she thought for a moment and asked, "If you can't help me find my senior sister, I'll have to leave. I can't leave these children with you. Although they have nothing to do with me, they are related to our sect. When they grow up, they need to pay taxes to support the sect. If these seven are missing, they won't be able to have more children, the population will decrease, and the taxes will also be reduced."

Mumu listened silently, and after a long silence, he finally said dejectedly, "You're overthinking it. Seven people won't pay much tax in their entire lives, and besides, this place isn't necessarily your sect's territory. Moreover, you're not human, and they aren't your master's tools. You don't need to consider so much."

"Even if I'm a spirit, my senior sister has always treated me like a person. Forget it, since you disagree, I'll find my senior sister on my own." Seeing that it wouldn't help, Lu Xiaodeng turned around and was about to leave with the tripod.

As soon as she started to walk, a sobbing sound came from behind her. The peach heart actually started to cry. Drops of blackish-red liquid seeped out and fell to the ground, instantly filling the stone room with a foul smell.

"Please save me..." Mumu sobbed, "I was originally a divine tree. A long time ago, a cultivator took me and refined me into a black corpse tree. Before he died, he sealed me. Over the years, the corpse aura on my body has diminished a lot. If I can return to my original form, I can be free."

Lu Xiaodeng stopped and turned to look at it, her brows slightly furrowed.

Mumu's voice was hoarse, as if he had been crying for centuries, "But a few months ago, a group of cultivators came. They started forcing me to eat human souls, trying to turn me back into a black corpse tree. You saw the tip of my heart, right? Only there has remained pure. Now they are making me absorb the souls and flesh of children to speed up my corruption, and eventually control me to do evil."

"But I don't want to. I am a tree that loves humans. The fruits I bear are to make them happy. Kill me, pierce the talisman on my heart with a sharp weapon, that's my vital point." He shouted, filled with endless resolve.

Accompanied by his sobs, the black liquid flowed more and more, the stench so overwhelming that one breath could make you want to die.

"Do you really want to die?" Lu Xiaodeng, deeply moved, asked.

Mumu affirmed, "Yes."

"Alright, then I'll grant your wish. My master said that if someone asks for help, and if it's possible, you should help them." Lu Xiaodeng started searching around, occasionally picking up small stones, muttering, "I'll see if there's a sharp stone. Otherwise, I only have a fan, and no sharp weapon to pierce you."

She searched the entire stone room and finally said with her arms crossed, "There's none. The stones in this room won't do. I need a sharper one."

"Don't you have a small knife on your waist?" Mumu, whose eyes seemed to be nowhere, suddenly spoke.

Lu Xiaodeng looked down and felt a bit embarrassed, "I forgot. This small knife is for cutting tree bark to eat. It's like looking for a horse while riding one." She put the tripod aside, took out the small knife, and walked straight toward the peach heart oozing the foul black liquid.

"A little closer, and you can set me free." Mumu's voice trembled.

"It's really stinky here, making me lose my appetite." Lu Xiaodeng walked up to the peach, covering her nose with one hand and holding the knife in the other, touching the dirty peach and getting her hand covered in black liquid.

At that moment, Mumu suddenly burst into laughter, "Don't worry, as long as I have an appetite."

"What?" Lu Xiaodeng looked up in confusion and saw the tree vines hanging from the cave ceiling suddenly drop down and wrap around her. She quickly turned back and saw that many of the vines were trying to grab the children in the tripod but stopped just two palms away, stretching as hard as they could but unable to reach.

"You're so easy to deceive. You're so delicious that my mouth is watering, and I can't stop it." Mumu laughed loudly, the black liquid flowing from the peach like a spring.

Lu Xiaodeng, with her hand still covering her nose, was bound by the vines. She muffled her voice and said, "I thought those were tears, but they're saliva."

Mumu's saliva flowed profusely, to an extent that was unbelievable. Even when Qi Qi saw Lu Xiaodeng, it wasn't like this. She was a bit surprised, remembering that the Golden Wind Horned Snake also seemed very hungry, and wondered if all divine souls formed in the world had such a strong appetite for her.

However, she smiled, "Spirit Realm."

The stone room instantly plunged into darkness. The tripod, which she had placed outside, contained the children and couldn't be brought in.

Mumu laughed, "Using the Spirit Realm to resist is useless. I can eat your soul first, and then your body. A spirit with a physical form is quite unexpected, and the smell alone makes me hungry."

"Who said it's definitely for you? I was thinking of leaving you half, but now I won't be so polite." Lu Xiaodeng, unexpectedly, was not at all panicked and spoke happily.

Only her soul entered the Spirit Realm, and the vines that had bound her disappeared. She moved her limbs, turned her head, and looked at Mumu standing opposite her. She thought Mumu was a tree, so his soul should also be tree-like, but instead, she saw a black figure in armor.

The armor tightly covered his entire body, and the face below the helmet was pitch black, with only a pair of red eyes visible. He sat in the air, exuding a pressure that was completely different from his previous act of being pitiful and helpless.

"I've been trapped for too long. The souls those people brought were too weak, all ordinary humans. I don't know how useless they are, eating these tasteless human souls every day has made my mouth tasteless." He shrugged, not caring at all about being brought into the Spirit Realm, seeing Lu Xiaodeng as a dish ready to be eaten.

Lu Xiaodeng stared at him for a long time before exclaiming in surprise, "You're a tree demon at the Formless stage?"

"Formless stage? Hehehe, are you talking about my younger days? Once I swallow you, I'll reach the Soul Condensation stage, and then those chains won't be able to bind me anymore." Mumu looked impressive and spoke proudly.

"Who was crying just now? You suddenly changed like this, how can I talk to you?" Lu Xiaodeng thought Mumu must have some mental issues. If she ate such a soul, would she become like this?

Mumu fell silent, often falling into deep thought without a word. Lu Xiaodeng also watched him carefully, not rushing to die. This guy was at the late Formless stage, and even without a physical form, she was only at the early Spirit stage. She couldn't rashly attack him.

However, she wasn't worried. As long as Mumu didn't act, she would stall. The outcome was uncertain.

Both were silent. Lu Xiaodeng kept staring at Mumu's face and suddenly said, "You've been quiet for so long, are you thinking about what to say next?"

"What?" Mumu, without thinking, spoke with authority and ferocity.

"Definitely because you're a tree, it takes you a long time to think. I was clearly insulting you, and a soul at the Chaos stage would have been angry, but you were silent for a long time. I was getting impatient, and you still didn't react. The only reason is that your brain doesn't work well." Lu Xiaodeng, who couldn't keep quiet, said whatever came to mind. Being smarter than a late Formless stage soul was a happy thing.

Mumu suddenly stood up and walked toward her, speaking hoarsely, "Everyone thinks I'm stupid, just a tree that can only use force. Once I break free from these chains, I'll show everyone that quick thinking is nothing compared to absolute power, which can destroy everything before they come up with a plan."

"That's impossible. Although your cultivation is higher than mine, you're already losing here." Lu Xiaodeng shook her head and contradicted him, "A big mountain without firewood to burn describes you. But you're the firewood, so this analogy doesn't quite fit. No matter how you put it, it's impressive that you could think of such a plan to deceive me. You must have been planning this for a year or two, right?"

Mumu, furious, said, "Nonsense. It only took me a few weeks to think of this. I have many plans in my head, all to deceive you. Even those cultivators thought that by following my orders and bringing souls, they could control me and use me as their enforcer."

He was elated at the thought of deceiving cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, making them send so many people to catch souls for him, proving how smart he was.

Lu Xiaodeng almost laughed. The Ghost Spirit Sect people were so foolish, believing a tree. Souls are for spirits to eat; if they're in a good mood, they leave some to keep the spirits alive, but if they're not, they eat them all.

Spirits know this from the moment they are born. Cultivators think too much, actually believing the words of a spirit. Don't they know that spirits hate cultivators the most, and second, the spirits who help cultivators?

Generational enemies thinking of cooperation, these evil cultivators are truly blinded. Only with overwhelming power, completely suppressing the spirits, would they obey.

"Cultivators are cultivators, but I am a spirit." Lu Xiaodeng smiled, stepping back and saying, "While looking for a sharp stone, I spread poison on the vines around you. The touch on your heart was also coated with poison."

Mumu stopped, and this time he didn't remain silent for long. After a few breaths, he said disdainfully, "I'm not a beast. Poison is useless against me."

"That's not ordinary poison. It contains my Spirit Gathering Liquid, which can corrode plant puppets. I often collect various plants, but some fruits and tree barks are very hard, even cultivators using spiritual energy find it hard to cut them. So I refined this medicine, which is ineffective on other things but can corrode plants."

Lu Xiaodeng grinned, "I think it should also be effective on your roots and heart. If I remember correctly, you said chains bind you. Let's see if you can use your late Formless stage power."

"Damn it!" Mumu, without thinking, roared in anger, a black-green spear materializing in his hand as he charged at her with ferocity.