Chapter 1397 - 705: Devouring Demon Vine Tribe (Bonus for Juebanhuo and He Shi Bi)_2

But none of these things are the point. Whoever enters this valley will, at first glance, only see the lush forest at the bottom of the valley. The trees stand at least ten meters high, and the thickest tree would take more than ten people to encircle it. People usually live in the Bashe Forest, and just a few glances are enough to see that this expansive forest, at least five acres wide, is all formed by a single tree!

One tree forms a forest.

This is an ancient banyan tree, its age unknown, yet its branches and leaves are evergreen, full of vitality. The enormous canopy weaves into a net, blocking the snowflakes carried by the cold winds of early spring. Every year, aerial roots grow from its branches, burrowing into the earth, subsequently branching out into fine roots, stems, and tender leaves, until a new giant tree forms... It expands in this manner in all directions, occupying most of the valley. If a cultivator were to fly across the sky, the dense foliage would obscure the view, making it impossible to see the scenery within the valley.

There are also banyan trees in the Bashe Forest, but the competition for survival space there is fierce, and none can grow so recklessly.

Is it just like the Bashe Forest, where plants grow in the off-season? But the closer she gets, the more she perceives an invisible fluctuation in the air with a faintly aggressive and domineering undertone, not as gentle and pure as the Bashe’s Power of Growth. Obviously, this power also has its limitations, becoming more pronounced the closer to the valley, while farther away, like in Xiaohecang Town, it poses little danger to low-level cultivators.

Thus, the range it covers is actually not large.

Seeing this, she secretly laments how the Washing Sword Pavilion has been lax in managing its territory, or else such an abnormal place would not have remained hidden, unvisited until now. The Southern Continent is indeed vast, with countless ancient relics falling into unknown corners, uncharted. On a crowded Earth, a place as peculiar as this would have been discovered long ago and thoroughly studied.

Silence reigns all around. Everyone notices that, although the valley is beautiful, everything remains static, like the stiff scenes in an oil painting. In other words, it’s as oppressive as a graveyard, where not a single living thing can be found apart from the flora, making it unusually eerie.

She glanced left and right, then picked a direction to stride forward—what made the Soul-devouring Arrow leap with joy is at the deepest part of the valley.

Walking over the gentle slope, only then did she see behind the giant trees, at the base of nearly vertical cliffs, a strange, massive mound resembling a large pile of dirt, or perhaps a small hill. In this gentle valley, it stands out starkly. A mountain blanket of flowers covers the mound densely, not revealing any hint of what’s beneath.

Her foot was already raised, yet she prudently put it down again without stepping forward, stopping in place. The Hidden Guards around her felt instinctively uneasy, scattering to vigilance, warily watching the surroundings.

Her gaze was fixed on the giant forest ahead, and she slowly said, "Surely there is an ambush."

As soon as she spoke, the silent forest suddenly came to life.

Actually, it might be somewhat inaccurate to say it ’came to life.’ The four people looked around and noticed countless vines entangled around the giant trees, suddenly writhing like spirit snakes. Despite their varying colors and thicknesses, they seemed to obey a silent command, slithering down the trees toward the four of them from all directions. Their numbers were probably in the thousands or tens of thousands.

Hei Hao’s expression changed, and he exclaimed in a low voice, "Devouring Demon Vine!"

This valley has been occupied by the same species as Meat Ball, becoming their base camp. The four who entered here fell into traps set by these plants.

No wonder this place is as quiet as a graveyard. Ning Xiaoxian secretly chuckled bitterly; it indeed is a graveyard. Any creature that wandered here might have been buried in the bellies of the Devouring Demon Vines. These innately greedy plants spare neither the beetles in the earth nor the birds roosting in the trees.

Devouring Demon Vine is a very special creature, naturally adept at hiding and ambushing. It doesn’t belong to demons, nor does it emit demon energy, so when the four entered, they noticed only the absence of animals or demons, overlooking the peculiar beings between animals and plants.

Several vines tentatively launched an attack at this moment, octopus-like tentacles suddenly extending to strike at the Hidden Guard’s lower body from behind. Hei Hao slightly tilted his head, and the Wolf Teeth Blade in his hand flashed with icy light, already cutting down several attacking vines. The blade was instantly smeared with green slime, which then seemed to vaporize directly into the air, emitting an unpleasant smell.

He glanced at it, eyes filling with frost: "This stuff is corrosive." If his weapon were not his life-bound treasure, it might also have been corroded clean by the liquid seeping from the vines.

Another Hidden Guard, upon hearing this, instead sheathed his weapon. Just as he completed this action, a vine seized the opportunity and pierced through his back, its spear-like front end directly stabbing through his chest.

Yet, the others’ expressions did not change even a bit, as if they hadn’t noticed their companion’s tragic death. And this Hidden Guard did not even look at the vine tip protruding from his chest, directly revealing his true form—a very peculiar Insect Man.

This odd demon species is formed by the aggregation of thousands of bugs into a humanoid body, akin to bees, with the King Insect acting as the central brain to issue commands, other bugs following its orders. Unless this King Insect is captured and killed, the Insect Man will not die. In normal times, he moves about like a Human, and Ning Xiaoxian first encountered him during Plague Demon hunts with Miluo at the outskirts of Chiming City, later often meeting him in Hidden Stream.