The magic image of the lofty blood-red tree had a pair of long and bulky branches… like a rattan. The top of these branches was covered with lush green sharp thorns.

　　The rattan-like branches shook once. Numerous green sharp thorns burst out of them, and swept straight toward Shi Mu. After that, a ray of green light flashed on the surface of the branches. And, this gave birth to numerous vast-stretched thorns once again.

　　But, Shi Mu’s entire body was wrapped up in a layer of blue light as well as a layer of golden light at this moment.

　　The fact was that Shi Mu had already added the support of the Wind Shadow Magic Charm and the Golden Star Magic Charm to his body. He had done so the moment the magic image of the big tree had appeared before his eyes. His black blade miraculously transformed into several layers of blade-lights, and resisted Lord Xue Kui’s attack. Simultaneously, Shi Mu tried to evade the bombardment of those incisive green thorns.

　　However, the opposite party possessed the strength of an Earth-ranked middle-stage powerhouse. On top of that, he had summoned the magic image to draw support from. This had imposed a surplus pressure on Shi Mu. And, Shi Mu was gradually finding it hard to endure this pressure.

　　Consequently, the Golden Star Protective Shield on the surface of Shi Mu’s body disappeared only after a few rounds of fight. His clothes had been torn to shreds. And, the scales on his body had become tainted with blood.

　　Fortunately, the firmness of his body had far surpassed that of any ordinary martial warrior after having practiced the sixth stage of the Art of Breeding Strong Evil Ape. Otherwise, these attacks would have long fractured his muscles and bone even though he had the scales to protect his body.

　　Droplets of sweat were oozing from Shi Mu’s forehead at the moment. He was exerting the entirety of his might to ward off the enemy’s attack. He was making use of his black blade as well as all kind of magic charms. However, he had been continually retreating from the battle encirclement.

　　But, Lord Xue Kui hadn’t loosened a bit. Instead, he had been pressing Shi Mu harder and harder.

　　The black blade and the thick rattan suddenly collided with each other in a violent manner. This rendered a powerful jolt to Shi Mu’s body, and he staggered for a moment.

　　“Ga Ga!” Lord Xue Kui burst into a strange laughter, and stamped his foot on the ground.

　　Several long blood-red rattans drilled out of the ground, and wound around Shi Mu’s feet at lightening speed. This left Shi Mu incapable of budging.

　　“Conceited boy, now die!”

　　Lord Xue Kui thundered loudly. The green thorns on the surface of the magic image’s two branches radiated splendid green luminescence in his background. They were about to fire again. It seemed that they wanted to strike and kill Shi Mu in one fell swoop.

　　However, Shi Mu raised his head at this moment, and the corners of his mouth curved into an arc.

　　A mass of black smoke flashed behind Lord Xue Kui the next moment. And, a white silhouette came into appearance. Its whole body was enveloped in a mass of white light. So, it was difficult to see its appearance clearly. However, a graceful and slender figure could be vaguely seen amid the light.

　　The white silhouette waved its hand, and a short black stick-like thing emerged in its hand. The silhouette lifted the heavy stick in a manner that made it seem very light. And then, it pounded it toward Lord Xue Kui’s back.

　　Lord Xue Kui also responded considerably fast. He stimulated the magic image behind him to stop the attack at once. And, two rattan-like branches intertwined and condensed into a blood-red rattan shield in front of him. Then, a faint green light appeared on the surface of the shield, and several barbs appeared on the shield.

　　The spiritual aura this white silhouette was exuding didn’t seem stronger than that of Xue Kui in any respect.

　　However, the next act still left Xue Kui with a profound shock.

　　The black short stick appeared as if it was as light as a feather… as if it lacked strength. However, the surface of the blood-red rattan shield revealed a fit of tremor as soon as the short stick fell on it. In addition, the spirit power contained in the rattan shield reduced to half in an instant. Even the green barbs started to shatter and disperse in quick succession. Then, the surface of the shield turned gloomy, and collapsed along with the big blood-red tree’s magic image.

　　The short stick then moved, and pounded on Lord Xue Kui’s body in a fierce manner.

　　Boom!

　　The wisp of an incomparably large force rushed forth from the short stick in a crazy manner, and infiltrated his body.

　　Lord Xue Kui’s facial expression profoundly changed. Then, a “Ka-cha” sound spread from his body, and his body split into two segments the next moment.

　　Then, a “whoosh” sound was heard as an armored palm stretched out with a lightning speed. It grabbed Lord Xue Kui’s head, and exerted its full strength on it.

　　A crisp “Ka-cha” sound was heard.

　　Lord Xue Kui’s head was crushed to pieces… as if it were a watermelon. Consequently, red and white substances splashed in all directions.

　　Then, a cluster of green light flashed, and flew out of his crushed head. A miniature tree demon was curled up in that green light. His face was suffused with an appalled look that couldn’t be explained in words. It was the soul of that Radish Shuttle Demon’s General.

　　The General’s beast soul had barely flown a little distance after its appearance when a mass of black smoke followed after. This black smoke caught up with the soul, and wrapped around it.

　　Then, the white silhouette pulled the black smoke back towards its hand. It grabbed the cluster of green light, and swallowed it. After that, the silhouette flashed, and vanished into thin air.

　　Only two or three seconds had passed since the appearance of the white silhouette. It hadn’t only killed an Earth-rank middle stage powerhouse, but had also gobbled up his soul within a matter of seconds.

　　The facial expression of the other two Radish Shuttle Tree Demons abruptly changed as they saw that their lord had been slaughtered. They blocked a few attacks of the golden sword shadows. Then, a green light flashed on their bodies. And, they drilled into the ground, and made a clean escape from the battlefield.

　　Shi Mu felt as if his feet had loosened. The blood-red rattan which had wound his feet started to wither away at a fast speed. Shi Mu waved his hand, and recalled the golden sword. Then, his eyes turned and looked at the battling group on the other side.

　　The people of the Dark Moon Cult had summoned a large number of Dead Spirit creatures under Altar Lord Qin’s leadership. And, they all were in a tangle with the Chief and the other people of the Giant Tree Tribe. In addition, over a dozen corpses lay on the ground. Most of these corpses were of the low-ranked disciples of the Dark Moon Cult. But, two or three corpses belonged to the Giant Tree Tribe as well.

　　“Lord Xue Kui has been killed!” someone shouted at this time.

　　Everyone was absorbed in a fierce battle. Therefore, there were only a handful of people apart from Altar Lord Qin and the Giant Tree Tribe’s Chief who had their attention fixed on Shi Mu’s battle situation.

　　They turned pale with fright and shock when they discovered that Shi Mu had taken down Lord Xue Kui — an Earth-ranked middle-stage powerhouse.

　　“Let’s go!”

　　Altar Lord Qin stole a glance at Shi Mu with a sense of fear in his heart, and shouted in a loud voice. He held a grey bone-stick in his hand; it was a spirit tool. It gleamed with a magnificent grey radiance, and condensed into a massive grey human skull. Then, the grey skull pounced toward the Giant Tree Tribe’s Chief, and compelled him to draw a few steps back. Meanwhile, Altar Lord Qin turned his hand and took out a yellow magic charm. He then held it between his fingers, and crushed it to pieces.

　　An expansive yellow light emerged, and shrouded the surrounding area within a few feet. Then, the yellow light flashed, and all the disciples of the Dark Moon Cult disappeared without a trace along with the Dead Spirit creatures.

　　Altar Lord Qin had played a very decisive role here as soon as he had realized that the situation had turned very bad. And, he had taken the decision to retreat without any hesitation.

　　Only the people of the Giant Tree Tribe and Shi Mu remained in the valley at this moment.

　　The Giant Tree Tribe’s Chief and a few people beside him exchanged glances with one another. Then, they walked over to Shi Mu, touched their chest single-handedly, and said with deep veneration, “Thank you so much for breaking the siege, Mr Mu. Your Excellency is indeed very strong. We have offended you before. But, we hope that Your Excellency will forgive us.”

　　“Those people have retreated from here. So, this Mu’s promise should be considered fulfilled. So, I’ll take my leave now,” Shi Mu didn’t say anything further. He simply waved his hand, and the blue jade shuttle propped up his body. It then flew him outside the mountain valley.

　　Lu Tang also wanted to say something to Shi Mu, but Shi Mu had flown away without giving her a chance to speak. So, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed… as if she had lost something.

　　“It is fortunate that he took only one peach king fruit.” The Chief looked at the fire-attribute tree king, and heaved a sigh of relief.

　　“Little Tang, you and Elder Peng return to the tribe and invite a few priests to this place. We need those people to fix the Totem magic array here,” the Chief said to Lu Tang and another middle-aged barbarian.

　　Lu Tang complied, and left the place along with the middle-aged barbarian.

　　“Great Elder, you must’ve noticed that white person’s silhouette a moment ago, right?” the Chief spoke to a grizzled-haired old barbarian man who stood next to him.

　　“That white silhouette stayed here for only a fleeting moment. So, even I couldn’t see it clearly. It seems to have some relation with the Soul magician’s magic arts of the Dark Moon Cult. However, it was formidable enough to kill the Earth-ranked middle stage demon general in an instant. This kind of strength is appalling,” the grizzled-haired old barbarian man replied while shaking his head.

　　“Right. But, Mu Shi had undergone a beastly transformation. And, that technique was clearly the secret technique of our barbarian race. Anyway, he didn’t use his power to take away all our peach king fruits. And, that is indeed a fortunate thing for us,” the Chief said with a long and deep sigh.

　　…. ….

　　Shi Mu flew away from the valley at first. After that, he prompted the movement of the blue jade shuttle, and flew for some time. He soon found a secluded mountain to descend.

　　He was about to land when a plume of black smoke bubbled-up beside him. Then, a white person’s silhouette emerged from that smoke; it was Yan Luo. It held the black meteoric iron stick in its hand.

　　“Yan Luo, I’m extremely grateful to you. I know I wasn’t a suitable match for that Earth-ranked tree demon,” Shi Mu said as his eyes fell on Yan Luo.

　　“I had come there to return your stick. Arrange a lot of spirit stones for the next time. I’ll consider this instance as an advance payment,” Yan Luo threw the black stick towards Shi Mu while it was speaking. Then, it turned around since it wanted to return to the Dead Spirit World.

　　“Wait a minute.” Shi Mu put out his hand, and received the black stick. Then, he shouted to stop Yan Luo.

　　Yan Luo stopped, and turned its head to look at him.

　　“How do you make this stick swallow the spirit power? I tried it plenty of times. But, I didn’t reap any concrete benefits… except for arousing the devouring ability of my black blade,” Shi Mu said.

　　“It’s impossible to achieve this level with your current strength. You have to wait until your strength soars to the Earth-rank. Then, we’ll talk about it,” Yan Luo hesitated for a moment. Then, it replied in a dull and sinking voice. After that, a grey smoke flashed on its body, and Yan Luo blended into the void.

　　Shi Mu still wanted to say something, but Yan Luo had already returned to the Dead Spirit World.

　　He raised his black stick… only to find that its weight had returned to what it had been when it had been refined. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly while shaking his head.

　　Shi Mu had obtained many spirit stones from here. But, they would certainly be squandered by Yan Luo in due course.

　　However, Shi Mu had got the green flower as well as Yan Luo’s timely help in-exchange for those spirit stones. This could still be regarded as fairly good deal.

　　Shi Mu thought about such points in order to console himself. And, he was able to calm himself down as a result.

　　He returned the short stick to his back. Then, a purple light flashed in his hand as he took out the peach king fruit.

　　There was a hint of excitement across his face since he had finally obtained this fire-attribute peach king fruit. He was now confident that he could practice the Book of Flaming Red Ape to the ninth stage within half-a-year of time as long as he found a suitable fire-spirit place. Moreover, he could step into the Xian Tian Advanced stage by doing so.

　　He knew that he could’ve obtained all three fire-attribute peach kings. But then, he would’ve been no different than a robber or bandit. He had helped the opposite party to drive away such a formidable enemy. So, one peach fruit could be considered as an ample reward for this help. He couldn’t have staked his claim for the other two peach kings since his conscience wouldn’t have allowed him to do so.

　　Shi Mu put away the peach king. Then, he slipped his hand in his bosom, and fished out a bracelet-sized black ring.

　　This was a storage magic tool which Shi Mu had obtained from Lord Xue Kui’s body. It could be regarded as today’s second harvest. However, he hadn’t checked it yet.

　　Shi Mu’s brows furrowed as he poured a wisp of his spirit sense into the round black ring in order to explore it.

　　There was enormous space in the ring. In fact, it was almost twice as large as the Vast Earth Ring. But, the things inside…

　　His eyebrows creased. It couldn’t be denied that the space in the ring was considerably large. However, there was hardly anything in it. There was only a small pile of spirit stones and some miscellaneous items. Some books were also among those items.

　　It seemed that there were more or less ten-thousand spirit stones in the ring. However, those miscellaneous items could be regarded as precious stuff. All these things surely constituted fairly good wealth for Shi Mu. But, they didn’t seem to match Lord Xue Kui’s status. After all, he had been an Earth-ranked powerhouse.

　　Shi Mu transferred everything from the black ring into his Vast Earth Ring.

　　“Eh…” His eyes suddenly moved. He turned his hand, and took out a booklet. It was one of the many ancient books that were stored in the black ring.

　　“The Demon Race’s Directory.”

　　A gleam of happiness flashed through Shi Mu’s face. He was in an urgent need to learn more about the Western Continent at this time. And, this book was exactly what he needed.

　　But, this wasn’t an appropriate place to begin his exploration of the book. Shi Mu’s gazed suddenly shifted to a shadow that was far away…

　　Cai was flying toward him at a very fast speed from the direction of the valley.