It was a big relief that the Ancient Tree of the Netherworld was able to leave safely. It was originally a plant. After spending years listening to the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva preach about Dao and the long-term absorption of filthy Qi of the Netherworld, it evolved to its current spiritual form. Despite that, the speed of its light traveling skill was just average and would never be able to travel from the North Sea to the southern Mount Changwu within a day.

　　In order to escape from the group of people earlier on, the Ancient Tree did not hesitate to use its divine Qi to speed up its light travel. When it felt that it had traveled far enough and was exhausted, it slowed down.

　　Soon, it noticed that something was not right. Regardless of how slow it was, it should be able to travel over a hundred miles within a split second. Although the Netherworld was vast and there were no objects to serve as a reference point, the Ancient Tree could tell that it could not go beyond a mile.

　　It was as if space had infinitely lengthened. What would originally take a step to complete became ten steps or more.

　　The Ancient Tree of the Netherworld thought it was odd but it could not sense any changes. It lived for many years and was equipped with the wisdom and instinct to survive. It could have surrendered to Shen Lian earlier on. Despite being trapped, it still kept calm and secretly observed the surroundings without revealing any flaws.

　　After about ten minutes, the branch of the Ancient Tree stretched forward and exploded. The essence Qi of the wood element shook the void and triggered a shift in space. The Ancient Tree could no longer see what was happening at its surrounding.

　　A pearl then descended and shined through all directions to prevent the void from shifting. With a shaky voice, the Ancient Tree of the Netherworld said, “The Void Setting Pearl.”

　　Like the name suggested, the Void Setting Pearl could set the void and was a first-class numinous treasure. Although it was not as well known as the Sea Setting Pearl and the Wind Setting Pearl, it was capable in freezing the void and turn the ground into a prison to trap enemies within the range of the pearl’s divine aura.

　　The pearl was a magical talisman made by an ancient ancestor of the void. The ancestor of the void was then slaughtered by the Master of the Netherworld and the pearl ended up in the possession of the Netherworld Master. However, not many people were aware of that as the Master of the Netherworld barely left the Blood Sea. The Ancient Tree would not have recognized this numinous treasure if it had never been for the underling of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. He also would not have known about the rivalry between the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and the Netherworld Master.

　　A flash of blood appeared and got really close to the Ancient Tree. The Ancient Tree was trapped by the Void Setting Pearl and it would take it some time to break free from it. All it could do at that moment was to look ahead. A handsome teenager dressed in white came to its sight. The teenager was sitting on a bloody throne, smiling at the Ancient Tree.

　　The Ancient Tree shook its branches and communicated with his divine thoughts. “Young man, who are you?”

　　“I am Ye Liuyun, the Master of the Underworld Demon Sect. I would like to invite you to follow me to the Mount Youdu.” Ye Liuyun smiled.

　　The Ancient Tree responded, “Since when was there another Underworld Demon Sect? I can feel that you possess the breath of Avici. Could it be that the Underworld Demon Sect was founded by that fellow Avici?”

　　Ye Liuyun said, “Ancient Tree, come with me if you want to know more about it.”

　　“What if I refuse?” The Ancient Tree of the Netherworld secretly accumulated Qi of the essence. Ye Liuyun’s had a very strong gush of devilry Qi in him and was way beyond the level of the little girl. The Ancient Tree could tell that he was a wicked character, unlike the gentleman it met earlier. Shen Lian and his people may have outnumbered the Ancient Tree but this time, it would not allow Ye Liuyun to walk over it so easily.

　　Ye Liuyun calmly answered, “You can either choose to follow me or I can take you along with me by force. There are no other options for you to choose from.”

　　Ye Liuyun’s words caused the Ancient Tree to shiver. That kid was confident, determined, and had the Void Setting Pearl. There was no way the Ancient Tree would escape without putting up a fight. It was indeed a bad year for the Ancient Tree. It encountered so many misfortunes after breaking free. Perhaps the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was right. If the Ancient Tree did not try to break free, misfortunes would not strike it. The moment it came out, its life would lie in the hands of fate and not in itself.

　　Since the matter had unfolded to that point, the Ancient Tree was not willing to just sit still and wait for death. The trunk of the tree started to disintegrate into fumes of the Netherworld and spread out across the space that was locked by the Void Setting Pearl.

　　The fumes of the Netherworld was the most filthy of all. The void was filled with dust and it overshadowed the divine aura of the Void Setting Pearl. The Ancient Tree took this opportunity to escape from the range of the Void Setting Pearl.

　　Ye Liuyun smirked and a big bloody hand shielded against the fumes of the Netherworld.

　　The Ancient Tree was not afraid of Ye Liuyun’s big bloody hand, but his opponent predicted his next move and was obviously a step ahead of it. The Ancient Tree would always lose out whenever it fights with someone so unfathomable.

　　It did not want to fight any further and thus released a gush of dark and heavy divine aura. The divine aura was its cultivation of the innate divine Xuanming Qi and it struck the big bloody hand. The Ancient Tree was not willing to use this against Shen Lian earlier on. It felt sad as this divine Qi was extremely difficult to condense and it would require over a hundred years of cultivation to recover completely.

　　If it was not desperate, it would not have taken such drastic actions.

　　Ye Liuyun groaned. His big bloody hand was struck and his divine Qi took a toll.

　　However, he still felt leisure and was not worried that the Ancient Tree may escape.

　　The sky rang with a grotesque laughter. The Ancient Tree sensed something bad as a gust of ghostly wind breezed through and dispersed its spirit.

　　An extremely menace whiff of devilry Qi charged towards the Ancient Tree’s Netherworld fumes, sending chills down to the spine of the Ancient Tree. It was fully aware that this was the sign of a damaged Daoist body.

　　The person who assaulted it in the dark was obviously very sneaky. He cleverly hid his tracks and when the Ancient Tree made a move, he pulled the trigger. It was a shameless act yet effective.

　　The Netherworld Ancient Tree was about the accept its fate. That assault did not only damage its Daoist body but also put it in a sticky situation.

　　The battle with Shen Lian earlier on had drained a lot of its energy and this assault had pushed him to the edge. Although its body was immortal, nobody knew what the opponents would do to him.

　　Just when it was feeling helpless, a ray of sword gleam shone through and slashed the ghost wind. A black hole that was connected to other parts of the world appeared and revealed an escape route for the Ancient Tree.

　　The Netherworld Ancient Tree did not hesitate to escape. Ye Liuyun’s big bloody hand tried to chase the Ancient Tree but it was stopped by the sword gleam. Within a split second, the black hole disappeared without a trace and Ye Liuyun failed to capture the Ancient Tree.

　　The owner of the grotesque laughter snorted. “Zhenren Shen of Qing Xuan, you are as impressive as usual.”

　　The sword gleam transformed into a teenage Daoist with a vague figure. He fixed his gaze on Ye Liuyun and said, “Brother Ye, it has been a long time.”

　　Ye Liuyun responded, “Brother Shen, you are indeed brilliant. You hid your sword Qi so flawlessly on the Ancient Tree.”

　　Shen Lian replied, “This is the work of my brilliant Senior Apprentice-Brother Chen. He attained the Anatta Sword and I borrowed a hint of his imagery to conceal myself from your senses.”

　　Ye Liuyun sighed. “Damn Chen Jianmei. Unfortunately, I do not have the chance to have an exchange with him.”