It was not enough to simply create a wooden puppet avatar; Yan Shouyi also filled its body with many talismans. He also invited other descendants of folk religions at the camp to display their unique skills and imbue their abilities within the wooden puppet avatar.
With all preparations complete, Yan Shouyi left his true body in the camp and, controlling the wooden puppet avatar, directly spread its wings and flew alone towards Daqing Mountain.
"President Yan, despite his young age, has already reached heights we can hardly attain in a lifetime... If this disaster can be safely overcome, President Yan's standing in the hearts of the people will likely be unmatched by anyone."
As the people in the camp watched the wooden puppet avatar fly away, their admiration was palpable.
...
"The flying speed is a bit slow, but comparing this crudely made wooden puppet avatar to the San Yuan is indeed asking too much."
A wisp of Yan Shouyi's soul, residing within the wooden puppet avatar, slowly adapted to the new body.
He flew over vast mountains and rivers, enjoying an excellent view, and soon spotted the death qi in the distance.
The death qi was like a large umbrella, obscuring the continuous mountain range, within which were some small towns, now devoid of any living inhabitants.
Taking advantage of the night, he flew further and finally reached the death qi.
Landing on a stretch of highway, Yan Shouyi observed his surroundings. The originally straight road was now swallowed by the death qi ahead, resembling a dead end.
The death qi stood like a wall in front of Yan Shouyi, with black miasma occasionally emanating from it, like probing claws.
It was expanding at a visible rate.
Yan Shouyi extended an arm and directly plunged it into the death qi.
He immediately felt a force tearing at his arm, but the sensation vanished in an instant. It seemed the death qi instinctively wanted to devour the intruder, but then, realizing it was an "insider," it awkwardly released its grip.
"The body of the faceless demon is indeed part of the divine tree, which is why the death qi did not consume my arm."
Yan Shouyi rejoiced inwardly, realizing his conjecture was correct.
With his hypothesis confirmed, it meant he could directly control this body and approach the divine tree when Jiang Wuya was not present, taking the opportunity to resolve the hidden danger posed by the divine tree.
Since that was the case...
Yan Shouyi, committed to his course of action, plunged headfirst into the death qi.
Initially, he felt an invisible force obstructing him, but as he delved deeper, the membrane of obstruction seemed to break, allowing him to proceed unimpeded.
Passing through a thick layer of death qi, Yan Shouyi suddenly opened his eyes.
What greeted his sight was a hazy world. The highway looked as if it hadn't been maintained for decades, falling into disrepair. The rows of roadside trees had completely withered, their trunks covered in black, charred marks. All the vegetation beneath the trees had died, and among them, the occasional skeletal remains of birds could be seen.
"The death qi has indeed consumed all life; calling this place a living hell would not be an exaggeration."
Yan Shouyi sighed and looked back. Behind him was the dense death qi. If he wished, he could control the wooden puppet avatar and return at any time.
However, he had no intention of turning back. Even if he had to sacrifice this wooden puppet avatar, he would explore near the divine tree.
Just as Yan Shouyi was about to spread his wings to fly towards Daqing Mountain, more than a dozen figures suddenly swept towards him from both sides of the highway.
Yan Shouyi frowned, adopting a combat stance. He saw that the approaching figures were a group of faceless demons.
This group of faceless demons stopped about ten meters away from Yan Shouyi. They were all hunched over, with bow legs and tilted heads, resembling old grandmothers. They seemed to be observing Yan Shouyi with curiosity and did not express any malice towards him as an outsider.
"Faceless demons are monsters that bite anyone they see, but they didn't attack me immediately. Could it be they mistake me for one of their own?" Yan Shouyi thought.
However, all the faceless demons looked identical. Although Yan Shouyi's scent was now the same as theirs, his appearance was vastly different, leading to some confusion among the faceless demons.
Suddenly, one faceless demon stepped forward, a slit appearing on its face, emitting a chirping sound akin to that of insects.
So, you do have mouths?
Yan Shouyi was taken aback. He had been worried about not understanding their language, but unexpectedly, his wooden puppet avatar body automatically comprehended the other party's meaning.
"Are you our commander?"
This was the meaning conveyed by that faceless demon.
Yan Shouyi couldn't help but chuckle. So, these faceless demons thought he looked more "advanced," mistaking him for a more powerful faceless demon?
Since the other party had already formulated the words, Yan Shouyi followed their lead, baring his teeth and emitting a "gugugugu" sound.
"Yes."
The faceless demons communicated through these strange sounds. Yan Shouyi merely thought of what he wanted to say, and the wooden puppet avatar, as if possessing muscle memory, uttered the words.
Upon hearing this, the dozen or so faceless demons became overjoyed, dancing with excitement. They then collectively prostrated themselves before Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi inquired, "What are you doing here?"
A faceless demon subordinate replied, "We are under the Mother God's command, searching for life forms that may have infiltrated the death qi."
Oh?
Are you referring to me?
Yan Shouyi thought, "The divine tree does seem to possess some consciousness. Even with the protection of the death qi, it still worries about outsiders harming its本体, so it dispatches these faceless demons to patrol here."
Mother God, that refers to the divine tree, right? Is she female?
This made Yan Shouyi even more eager to understand the divine tree's origin.
He instructed, "You all patrol this area. I will go report the situation to the Mother God."
The faceless demons promptly obeyed, looking at Yan Shouyi with faces full of admiration.
Just as Yan Shouyi was about to fly away, a faceless demon suddenly blocked his path.
Have I been discovered?
Yan Shouyi's heart skipped a beat. If he were exposed, he would have no choice but to kill all these faceless demons.
He heard the faceless demon ask somewhat sheepishly, "When can we have six arms and wings like you, allowing us to fly?"
Yan Shouyi coughed dryly in his mind and replied, "Serve the Mother God diligently, and that day will come soon."
"Then... then please, Commander, deliver these offerings to the Mother God on our behalf!"
The faceless demon seemed to have made a decision and then signaled the other faceless demons to come over. They opened their mouths and spat out emerald green beads.
Yan Shouyi took them and saw that they were all filled with pure life force.
"These are our spoils of war from leaving the death qi to hunt. Please be sure to deliver them to the Mother God, so she knows how devout we are to her!" the faceless demon urged.
Yan Shouyi sighed. No wonder this group of faceless demons had left the death qi to attack ordinary civilians; it was to refine these beads.
"I will deliver them for you."
"Thank you, Commander, long live the Mother God~~~" The faceless demons leaped and jumped in place, as happy as a group of two hundred-pound fatties.
As they were rejoicing, a sudden lightning bolt flashed, striking them all and leaving them burnt to a crisp.
They died on the spot.
To their last moments, they never realized that the one who attacked them was their most admired commander.
Yan Shouyi looked coldly at the group of faceless demons and muttered to himself, "I didn't want to kill you, but you killed so many civilians. I cannot tolerate this anger."
Collecting the emerald green beads, Yan Shouyi, too lazy to even deal with the corpses, spread his wings and flew away.
Faceless demons were primarily distributed on the periphery of the death qi. After venturing deep into Daqing Mountain, he encountered very few.
Relying on his memory, Yan Shouyi quickly found the ruins of the Qingjiang Kingdom in the depths of Daqing Mountain and saw the divine tree itself again.
However, to his surprise, he discovered that there was indeed a group of faceless demons with wings flying around the divine tree, patrolling with spears in hand!