Chapter 63

As Mumu pounced over, Lu Xiaodeng stood still, now the contest was of the divine soul. She couldn’t defend herself without the tripod. She silently counted in her heart, waiting for the plant puppet to take effect.

Before she released the poison, she had no idea that Mumu was trapped. At that time, she only thought of the divine soul's heart, which was completely exposed without any defense. Even if the body's defense was strong, the heart exposed outside was always weak. She was betting on this.

Mumu drooled uncontrollably when he saw her, and Lu Xiaodeng also wanted to eat him. Between the spirit of the artifact and the divine soul, it was either you devour me or I devour you. Both sides found each other delicious. Although Mumu's body stank due to the influence of human souls, his divine soul was still delicious.

The long spear stabbed over quickly, and Lu Xiaodeng stretched out her hand to block it, but a large piece of her divine soul was cut off. Mumu immediately ate it, and his whole body trembled with indescribable comfort. He roared excitedly, "So comfortable, this is the taste. What if I can't eat such a delicious spirit of the artifact in the future?"

"Then let me eat you. I'm not picky. I can even eat something as smelly as you," Lu Xiaodeng said, not afraid of angering the other party.

"Ha ha ha ha, then come on," Mumu smacked his lips in reminiscence, swallowed his saliva ungracefully, and pounced over excitedly again.

Suddenly, he stopped and fell to his knees, then looked up at Lu Xiaodeng with wide eyes. The long spear disappeared, and he tightly clutched his heart with both hands, gritting his teeth and snarling, "You actually destroyed my heart!"

"I already told you just now, you didn't listen at all," Lu Xiaodeng said helplessly, then made a gesture of wiping sweat, "I was scared to death, thinking the plant puppet had lost its effect and I had no way to deal with a late-stage Formless tree soul. I didn't expect it to still work, now it's your turn to be my meal."

Mumu struggled to stand up and pointed at her, cursing, "If my body wasn't trapped, you wouldn't have been able to get to my heart. This poison would have been useless against me."

"What's the point of saying that? Why didn't you keep your heart with your body? If you had hidden it in the tree, it would have been very thick. Maybe you would have eaten me, and the plant puppet would have only melted a layer of your skin." Lu Xiaodeng shrugged apologetically. This had little to do with her. It was his own fault for leaving such an important thing in the stone wall.

Even if Mumu's wooden head knew it was dangerous, he had no choice. It wasn't that he wanted to separate his heart from his body, but he couldn't help it. In the past, he followed his master, wreaking havoc, and was very successful. Divine souls and spirits of artifacts would tremble at the mention of his name.

Unfortunately, his master was trapped by love, refusing to leave his lover and no longer venturing out. Not needing to go out meant he wasn't needed. Thinking of Mumu's great power, he wanted to leave him for someone worthy, so he bound him.

High-level cultivators often gave away things they no longer needed before or after their death, but they were a bit reluctant, as each item had accompanied them for over a hundred years. Keeping them around was useless, and they took up space, so they wanted to pass them on.

Bored high-level cultivators decided to use a lottery to decide who would get the items. Of course, they wouldn't find a spacious place to gather everyone and queue for the draw. Remembering their own early days, when they occasionally found secret realms or the trash of seniors, they would be overjoyed.

Plus, they never simply picked up the trash. They suffered greatly, and some even died in the tests. They decided to make the next generation suffer too. How could they easily give away what they had worked hard to obtain? Even if they wanted to give it, they would make it difficult for the juniors, so they would appreciate what they got.

Under this mentality, Mumu's body was trapped in a conspicuous place, but his heart was hidden. His master thought that if the other party didn't have the right opportunity, meaning bad luck, and didn't find Mumu's heart, the result would be Mumu being released and killing them.

Those with the right opportunity would naturally find the heart. By controlling the heart with divine consciousness, they could make Mumu obey. Even the method of finding a soul to help was taught by his master, mainly to prevent Mumu from being too clumsy and failing to deceive others.

Now, it seemed that Mumu's master's arrangements were very successful. At least Mumu had deceived the Ghost Spirit Sect and brought them so many souls.

"Are you okay? Tell me when you're about to die, or I might miss the chance to eat you." Lu Xiaodeng was afraid he would suddenly burst out, so she took a few steps back and spoke from a distance.

Sure enough, her words enraged Mumu. He roared, and his body crackled with black smoke pouring out of his armor, trying to grow into a tree. The pressure he released was suffocating, and his late-stage Formless power was too strong for Lu Xiaodeng.

"Wow, so powerful. I wonder if I can even bite through this." At this moment, she was considering retreating. It would be better to unlock the Spirit Realm and find a chance to escape. The plant puppet outside must have taken effect, and the vines restraining her should have broken. There was a chance to run.

But not eating a late-stage Formless divine soul would be a sin. She gritted her teeth and decided to wait a bit longer. However, she didn't dare to stand still and started running around him, watching the pressure grow, which made her tremble in fear.

Yuan Zhi was listening to his subordinates report that the girl had fallen into the underground river and disappeared. He didn't know what to scold them for. Such a useless group, if not for their current usefulness, he would have killed them all to feed the Black Wood Fruit.

Just as he was about to kick them, the Black Corpse Wood, bound by the spirit talisman chain, suddenly trembled, and a nauseating stench filled the air. Several spirit talismans on the chain burst into flames. The spirit talisman chain glowed with golden light, trying to suppress the Black Corpse Wood, but it seemed to be struggling.

"What's happening?" Yuan Zhi was shocked and quickly scanned with his divine consciousness, but was repelled. He urgently shouted to Yuan Zisi, "Quickly activate the array, we must protect the Black Wood Fruit. The Black Corpse Wood is suddenly resisting."

Yuan Zisi was alarmed. If the trapped Black Corpse Wood broke free, no one here, not even a Nascent Soul cultivator, could stand against it. This was no longer about the Black Wood Fruit; their lives were at stake.

She quickly called the eight Foundation Establishment cultivators on standby, had them sit at the eight corners, and injected their spiritual power into the array. A huge array immediately lit up.

This was a high-priced array diagram bought by the Ghost Spirit Sect's leader to prevent the Black Corpse Wood from breaking free. Using this array to borrow spiritual power could enhance the spirit talisman chain's power. Now was the time to use it.

Yuan Zhi didn't know why it was causing trouble, but its power was astonishing. As a Golden Core cultivator, he felt the terrifying pressure even standing nearby. The eight people in the array would have collapsed if not for the array's protection.

Yuan Zisi wasn't so lucky. Not in the array and not at the Golden Core level, she was forced to bleed from her nose by the pressure. She quickly circulated her spiritual power to prevent serious injury and losing consciousness.

The other irrelevant people struggled to retreat, as staying here would mean certain death. It was better to guard outside.

At this moment, Ge Pi ran back in, and as soon as he entered, he was hit by the pressure and spat blood. The injury from being kicked by Lu Xiaodeng worsened, and he would have been finished if not for his good protective artifact.

"Senior Brother, I found a Golden Core cultivator outside. It might be the Cloud Sword Sect attacking," he said, not knowing what had happened while he was away. But when he saw the Black Corpse Wood, which looked strange, and everyone trying to suppress it, a chill ran up his spine.

Yuan Zhi, who had already taken out a Soul Thousand Mirror and thrown it above the Black Corpse Wood, injecting spiritual power to suppress it, turned to Ge Pi and demanded, "Weren't you looking for people inside? Why did you run outside? Did you really see someone coming?"

His wooden puppet hadn't detected any intruders, so he didn't believe Ge Pi's unreliable words. He wondered if Ge Pi was lying because he couldn't catch the child.

Ge Pi was startled, thinking he might be fed to the Black Wood Fruit, and stammered, "I... I didn't see clearly, Senior Brother, don't worry, I'll check again." He turned and ran out, not wanting to stay a moment longer.

"This idiot, what is he doing?" Yuan Zhi cursed, hearing that he didn't see clearly and no one else reported it. He quickly focused on suppressing the Black Corpse Wood. If he couldn't hold it, he would have to take the unripe Black Wood Fruit and sacrifice some subordinates to escape with Yuan Zisi.

As long as he had the Black Wood Fruit, today's losses could be ignored, but there would be no reward.

Lu Xiaodeng watched as Mumu's pressure suddenly surged, then saw him painfully suppressed back into human form. She was confused. Was someone helping her against him?

Mumu was almost furious. Those stupid evil cultivators actually used an array and artifacts against him, forcefully suppressing his divine soul power. They were still suppressing him to prevent further resistance, and if it continued, he would be eaten.

Lu Xiaodeng, a bit lost, played with her fingers, staring at him for a while before confirming, "Could it be that your outburst made those evil cultivators think you wanted to eat them, so they suppressed you?"

Mumu didn't respond. Thinking that he would ponder if she hit the mark, Lu Xiaodeng laughed happily, "To have such good luck, would I be struck by lightning? Poor Mumu, you're finished."