"Last time we entered Daqing Mountain, Jiang Wuya and a group of wooden puppet Dharma bodies were guarding it. Now that Jiang Wuya is sealed, the divine tree has actually created so many faceless demons to protect itself…"
Yan Shouyi frowned in thought. He always felt that the divine tree's intelligence was too extraordinary. If the divine tree possessed such intelligence itself, how could it have watched the Xuanmen team snatch Yu Lumin and the others back then?
Could the divine tree's intelligence require certain triggering conditions, such as Jiang Wuya not being within the divine tree's perception range?
Yan Shouyi continued to approach the divine tree, and as expected, he soon attracted the attention of other faceless demons. The two closest faceless demons flew towards him.
"You... why do you look different from us?" A faceless demon with a pair of wings sized Yan Shouyi up and down, its reaction no different from the low-level minions Yan Shouyi had encountered on the periphery.
This meant that these two creatures wouldn't be much smarter.
Yan Shouyi resorted to his old trick, straightened his back, and said coldly, "Presumptuous! Who allowed you to speak to a superior officer like this?!"
The two faceless demons were instantly startled and quickly bowed to show their humility.
Yan Shouyi pointed at their wings and said, "You only have one pair of wings, but I have three pairs. Surely you know which is superior and which is inferior?"
"Is... is that so?"
The two faceless demons were unsure. Clearly, their status wasn't determined by who had more wings, but it was certain that each rank of faceless demon looked identical. This meant that those with wings were definitely more powerful than those without.
They had never seen anyone like Yan Shouyi, who not only had three pairs of wings but also six arms. In any case, he was definitely different from their kind, who only had one pair of wings. By rights, he should be of a higher rank, because the more complex the body, the more thought and time the Mother Goddess spent creating it.
"Hmph?" Yan Shouyi raised his tone.
The two faceless demons immediately bowed obsequiously, "We were wrong, Officer!"
"It's good that you know your mistake," Yan Shouyi reprimanded. "Now, make way for this officer. I'm going to see the Mother Goddess!"
The faceless demons hesitated, "Why are you looking for the Mother Goddess, Officer?"
"Are you doubting me?" Yan Shouyi retorted.
"Never, never..."
Fortunately, Yan Shouyi was prepared. He casually took out a green life-force bead obtained from the low-level minions and showed it to the two faceless demons.
"I've come to offer a treasure to the Mother Goddess. I have many, many more beads like this!!"
The faceless demons knew what those green beads represented. When Yan Shouyi displayed them, the two faceless demons almost pounced to snatch them, showing how tempting life-force was to these faceless demons.
Yan Shouyi timely put the beads away, but after thinking for a moment, he took out all the beads.
Yan Shouyi had obtained over twenty beads from those low-level minions. He took them all out now and placed them into the hands of the two faceless demons in front of him.
"Officer, this..."
The two faceless demons, unaccustomed to social niceties, simply felt that the officer had given them so many beads, and they were so touched they almost cried.
Yan Shouyi smiled, "Compared to what I'm going to present to the Mother Goddess, these are just a drop in the bucket. Take them, don't be so polite with me!"
"Really? Thank you, Officer!!!"
The two faceless demons held the beads and danced with joy. Their happy expressions made Yan Shouyi feel a pang of guilt.
What truly innocent, naive, and easily deceived little fools.
After accepting Yan Shouyi's gifts, the two faceless demons not only stopped blocking him but even personally led the way, escorting him to the divine tree.
Along the way, other faceless demons also tilted their heads to observe Yan Shouyi. However, upon seeing that Yan Shouyi was being led in by two winged faceless demons, they didn't think much of it.
Flying unimpeded all the way, Yan Shouyi finally arrived before the divine tree.
He saw the scattered remains all over the ground in front of the divine tree, including the corpses of Yan Nanfei, Yan Guchao, and others. This caused Yan Shouyi's mood to plummet.
He no longer held any playful thoughts towards these faceless demons, and his gaze towards the divine tree grew colder.
The divine tree stood quietly on the ruins of Qingjiang Kingdom, continuously spewing death qi towards the sky. Large fruits occasionally fell from the tree, splitting open upon landing, and new faceless demons crawled out.
Indeed, the faceless demons were created by the divine tree.
Yan Shouyi's conjecture was confirmed.
He waved his hand, driving away the two guiding faceless demons, and then circled the divine tree alone, searching for clues.
"The divine tree is a life form. It relies on killing and devouring to gain power. However, Jiang Wuya's original purpose in planting it was to steal the national fortune of Qingjiang Kingdom. Moreover, they cooperated for over a thousand years. Either Jiang Wuya controlled the divine tree, or Jiang Wuya possessed something that the divine tree desired."
"Given Jiang Wuya's personality, he wouldn't leave any leverage in the divine tree's hands. Therefore, I'm more inclined to believe that Jiang Wuya controlled the divine tree and used it as a trump card against me."
"But since the divine tree was controlled by Jiang Wuya, and now Jiang Wuya is sealed, the divine tree should have fallen into a dormant state. Why is it even more active than before?!"
Yan Shouyi was full of confusion.
Suddenly, he noticed the large face on the trunk of the divine tree.
The large face's eyes were tightly closed, and it had not noticed Yan Shouyi's arrival.
Yan Shouyi's gaze slowly fell upon the forehead of the large face, at the location of the heavenly eye. There was a throne embedded in the divine tree. Yan Shouyi heard that Jiang Wuya's true form had once sat there.
"Should I... go up and sit there, and try to control the divine tree?"
There were no other clues around the divine tree. Once this thought emerged, it became uncontrollable.
In the end, Yan Shouyi didn't dwell on it. He directly flapped his wings and flew towards the throne, finding the right angle and plopping down onto it!
BOOM!!!
The moment Yan Shouyi sat on the throne, a deafening roar echoed in his mind.
Endless coldness enveloped him, as if his soul had been sent to the deepest part of the Arctic seabed!
In the darkness, small bubbles occasionally floated up. Yan Shouyi felt as if someone was hiding nearby, quietly observing him.
"Who's there?!"
Yan Shouyi shouted loudly and turned around, discovering a pair of scarlet eyes in the darkness. Those eyes were filled with hatred, anger, and malice...
It seemed as if Yan Shouyi had stolen everything from him.
Jiang Wuya?
No, Jiang Wuya had already been sealed. It couldn't be Jiang Wuya!
Yan Shouyi didn't have time to ponder further. He opened his eyes again and found himself back on the throne of the divine tree.
And before him, countless faceless demons were rushing towards him in a frenzy!!
"Alien invasion! Alien invasion!!!"
The faceless demons shouted angrily.