Chapter 480: The Holy Tree Fluid

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　In a flash of red both Ma Lie and Ma Long had appeared close to where the Blue Root Man was.

　　Behind Ma Long stood an Energy Construct of a colossus about seven to eight yards tall, boasting a bodacious figure and four arms, which each wielded an apparition of a saber, sword, hammer, and rod.

　　Ma Lie had summoned his own Energy Construct who looked exactly the same as Ma Long’s, except for being a lot smaller.

　　Shi Mu wasn’t exactly surprised that they would join the fight. If the two of them decided to flee, that Blue Root Man surely would not let them off so easily; It might have switched all of its attention to the two of them, which ended up giving Shi Mu a chance to break away from the fight and escape.

　　Ma Long extended her delicate, slim finger at the space before her and tapped the air gracefully, commanding, “Rend!”

　　The crimson large saber hanging in midair flared brightly before splitting into mirages of three exactly identical large sabers diving towards the flames below them.

　　“Go!” Ma Lie commanded his Energy Construct to summon a mirage of meteor star chain hammer engulfed in crimson-black flames which were shoved alongside of the three crimson sabers.

　　Boom!

　　It was then when a blinding explosion of blue lights—every single one of them saturated with chilling coldness—shot out from the flames below and scattered all around it like tidal waves, easily putting out the crimson-black flames around it.

　　The three crimson sabers and the meteor shower chain hammer managed to resist only a second before being completely overwhelmed by the blue light, flying backward by the bursting force. Halfway in the process of being sent away, two of the sabers and the chain hammer both instantly broke down and disappeared.

　　The crimson ogre head saber shimmered erratically before returning to its original form, this time with an extra layer of frost glued to its blade. The spirit weapon whimpered as if its power had been greatly damaged. The saber’s owner, Ma Long, turned pale in a second and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

　　She quickly commanded her Energy Construct to leap into a spot before her to brace the scattering wave of blue light.

　　Ma Lie’s Energy Construct, however, had long been completely decimated by the same wave of blue light; The Demon race youth himself was flung backward like a broken sack being tossed, his fall only breaking by rolling several times beside Ma Long.

　　Meanwhile, Shi Mu’s concentrated salvo of golden fist mirages was completely consumed by this ensuing blue light as well. The man himself became victim to the force of the blue light, causing him to fly backward about ten yards away before finally regaining his control over his body.

　　Within that apparently endless sea of blue light, the Blue Root Man reemerged before them slowly.

　　It wasn’t just completely unwounded from the attacks—its body had enlarged even more, now sprouting with four arms like a multi-armed monstrous being.

　　It turned its pate towards Ma Long and Ma Lie… and suddenly it moved, its body a single trail of blue light lunging towards the two.

　　“Watch out!” Shi Mu shouted, his flame wings spreading wide and propelling him towards the two.

　　He was certain that none of the two could brace even a single hit from that thing.

　　Ma Long’s face was white as paper, but surprisingly, there wasn’t a trace of panic. She started brandishing and waving her hands, each holding onto a large ring, around. In response, the fiery red ring above her head responsible for projecting a barrier around her disappeared.

　　At the next second, the incoming blue trail of light which was the Blue Root Man suddenly halted in mid-action—for some reason, it was now completely ensnared by Ma Long’s ring!

　　That fiery red ring seemed to possess a sort of disproportionately formidable binding ability enough to completely nullify the Blue Root Man’s brute strength, preventing it from freeing itself.

　　“Gaarrwwwghhhh!” The Blue Root Man let out an angry bellow, its body scintillating frequently in blue light. A thick fog of chilliness started to ooze out from its body like an actual liquid of some sort, causing a layer of frost to start accumulating and spreading on the fiery red ring.

　　The fiery red ring started to dim, and if this kept up—it would go dark completely.

　　Shi Mu’s flame wings flapped harder, and a layer of white light dazzled before the wings grew even several times it original size.

　　In a blue, he disappeared from where he was and reappeared right before the Blue Root Man, his left sleeve completely burnt away to reveal a completely scorched black arm engulfed in white flames, which had swung into a punch right at the Blue Root Man’s head.

　　The Blue Root Man jumped, growled hoarsely, and swung its six arms into three layers of protective crosses before itself—

　　Thoooom!

　　Shi Mu’s left hand smacked right at its six arms. Snap! The arms shattered under the force while both the Blue Root Man and the fiery red ring trapping it were knocked out of their spot.

　　As it sailed through the air, the monster let out a low yelp and once again, as it shone in blue light, emitted a wave of biting coldness from its body, causing the temperature of an area measuring ten yards from it to suddenly dropped to artic level in an uncanny speed. It was as if the void itself was being frozen.

　　Snap!

　　The fiery red ring was now completely dominated by layers of frost corroding its light. The ring went dark, and in the very next second, it shattered into pieces and fell away from the Blue Root Man.

　　Ma Long moaned, her beautiful face now completely white; With two of her spirit tools damaged, her own Primordial Spirit was greatly wounded as well.

　　The Blue Root Man encased itself within a single shroud of blue light and shot away from Shi Mu.

　　With a sneer, Shi Mu’s flame wings spread wide. Once again, he was gone before reappearing again behind the Blue Root Man, his left hand now a bolt of white lightning striking at the target with full force.

　　The Blue Root Man let out an unnatural shriek and glowed even more brightly. Among the light, countless blue roots sprung from its body at lightning speed and wrapped around it, forming a protective cocoon.

　　Shi Mu’s eyebrow furrowed but he did not stop nor hold his punch, ramming his fist right on the Blue Root Man, causing the white flame to explode.

　　Boom!

　　Ten of the newly sprouted blue roots were crushed into pieces while the Blue Root Man itself was burnt quite significantly by the white flame. It was lucky that its roots-formed cocooned had absorbed most of the impact, averting most of the damage dealt to its true body.

　　Shi Mu frowned and moved its flame wings again, his body appearing at the Blue Root Man’s side like a ghost as he dished out yet another punch.

　　The Blue Root Man kept screaming in fury, but it had now reduced into Shi Mu’s punching bag. The man kept disappearing and appearing with a painful punch around it, each punch chipping parts of the protective blue roots around its body away from its body and leaving scorched marks all over itself, making it look more and more like a ragdoll.

　　It couldn’t match up to Shi Mu’s phantom-like speed at all, let alone retaliate or counter him.

　　With a blur, Shi Mu reappeared behind the Blue Root Man, swinging his left fist forward again and slamming it down on its true body, now exposed from its cocoon.

　　Pwtchhh! The Blue Root Man’s battered true body’s defense was finally completely broken down, allowing Shi Mu’s left arm to completely sank into its body, burrowing a large hole in it.

　　The Blue Root Man spat out a surge of blue liquid, its eyes shining brightly as a thick blue tendril sprung from its new wound and wrapped around Shi Mu’s left arm like a snake.

　　Whoosh! The Blue Root Man let out a low growl and swung the tendril hard, tossing Shi Mu away from itself. Then, taking the opening, it flew towards the earth like a blue meteor about to crash.

　　It would be able to escape from Shi Mu completely and rebuilt its body for another time—if it could just reach the earth!

　　A single burst of green light smacked onto the Blue Root Man from behind.

　　It was a green charm filled with all kinds of runes inscribed on it, radiating a terrifying amount of Spiritual Energy way above any other High-ranking charm ever encountered.

　　The green charm burst upon contact and extended into countless green lassoes binding the Blue Root Man tightly into space.

　　The Blue Root Man now realized that it could not move at all. It was frozen in spot right there in midair!

　　There was a blur again before Shi Mu had reappeared before the Blue Root Man, wearing a placid and icy expression, his left hand burning brightly with white flames.

　　“I’ll erase you!”

　　Shi Mu smacked his left hand right onto the Blue Root Man’s head.

　　Its head cracked and burst into countless blue smithereens while its colossal body crumbled and fell onto the earth like a plummeting boulder.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes glinted faintly and waved his left hand, fashioning the blazing white flames on his arm into a saber before cutting the Blue Root Man’s body into pieces.

　　The pieces fell onto the earth and stopped moving altogether.

　　There wasn’t a Demon Nucleus anywhere within the piles that once made up the Blue Root Man.

　　Shi Mu finally exhaled a breath of relief, retracting the white flames and his flame wings back into his body before falling into a sit on the ground. His left hand held onto a Mid-rank Spirit Stone as he panted hard.

　　The brother and sister pair did not look better either. Ma Long had slumped to the ground limply, her face was sickly white due to her damaged Primordial Spirit. Ma Lie looked even worse—his clothes had been torn into pieces, barring several cuts so deep one could even see his bones. Worse still, a thick layer of blue chill was still swirling around the cuts.

　　He was shivering as he tried to summon his internal strength to stop the biting frost from spreading into his body.

　　The three of them took about half an hour to recompose themselves.

　　“This lowly one thinks this is a good time to divulge into the details of this Sylvan King now,” Shi Mu finally asked, breaking the silence.

　　The pair stared looked at each other with different expressions before Ma Long coughed softly and began, “Yes. Telling you the whole truth is the least we can do to repay your great kindness in saving our lives, respectable Sir. You see, the Sylvan King isn’t any kind of normal demon beasts at all—it’s a monster formed by plants after being incubated by the quintessence of the environment as well as the essence of the moon and sun.”

　　She paused pensively, and continued, “In its body held the Holy Tree Fluid—an incredibly prized treasure formed only every ten million years. It is said to be the crystallized amalgamation of every energy and essence of the world around it… And those who managed to consume it will reap tremendous benefits in their cultivation progress.”

　　“This Shi noticed a lot of youths from prominent families rushing towards the center of the land while on his way. Are they all here for the Sylvan King?”

　　“That’s right,” Ma Long said, nodding.

　　“But I don’t really understand this: this Verdant Hills in the Green Waters is opened every ten years, where an influx of disciples and candidates would swarm in. If the Sylvan King has been here the whole time, it should have been discovered by everyone else ages ago. How is anyone so sure that this once-in-a-ten-million-years Holy Tree Fluid still exists now?” Shi Mu probed.

　　“Well, finding the Sylvan King is not as simple as you think, Brother Shi. It is a very shrewd and cunning creature, who only assume its many derivative forms every year during the Entrance Test while its true form remains elusive. As a result, the mysterious Holy Tree Fluid had not appeared for ten million years,” Ma Long explained, “According to the predictions and conjectures of many prominent families in this Star Field, something has caused the Sylvan King’s true body to appear in this test this time, which is why so many powerful youths and geniuses have made their ways into the Entrance Test this time.”

　　“Oh, I see!” Shi Mu nodded thoughtfully.

　　Ma Long’s beautiful eyes fell on Shi Mu as a strange sentiment crossed into her eyes briefly.

　　“Brother Shi, the two of us are here for this treasure as well,” She said. “If you’re interested in it, you could join us to hunt for that Sylvan King. With your tremendous powers as well as our combined forces, we might actually stand a chance… And if we really found it, we could divide the treasure into three. The Holy Tree Fluid might not amount much, but even a single drop of it is imbued with indescribable value and power.”