Gao Wu: I became the minor villain that the protagonist was about to destroy.

Dozens of sharp, angular ice shards, gleaming with a chilling blue light, shot out from the depths of the snowy forest like arrows fired from a powerful bow! Their speed was comparable to that of bullets!

Leng Ruoxue reacted extremely quickly, her longsword "Snow Chant" instantly unsheathed, drawing a cold arc as it precisely slashed at the largest ice spike coming from the front!

The blade clashed violently with the ice shards! Instead of the expected scattering of ice fragments, a tremendous force, heavy as a mountain and carrying an extreme chill, traveled along the blade!

Leng Ruoxue's hand trembled violently, and she let out a muffled groan. She was uncontrollably thrown back more than ten meters, carving two deep furrows beneath her feet. Her sword-wielding arm went slightly numb. Such power from a mere casual ranged attack!

"Your level of understanding is completely insufficient; leave the rest to us!"

With a low shout, Baki flashed and stood like an iron tower in front of Leng Ruoxue.

Faced with a new, even denser rain of ice spikes, his eyes sharpened, and with a casual wave of his right hand, an invisible yet incredibly resilient wall of energy instantly materialized.

Dense ice crystals crashed against the air wall, producing a crackling sound like raindrops hitting banana leaves, and splashing out a sky full of ice mist, but none of them could break through the defense. Before they could even touch his figure, they all shattered into the most primitive ice elements.

"Ho-hum——!"

Suddenly, without warning, the earth trembled violently. An ancient, deep hum, as if from the depths of the earth, surged from the snowfield like a tide, instantly engulfing the three people! The sound was not deafening, but it penetrated their souls, causing them to feel disgusted and even making their spiritual energy flow somewhat sluggish!

"It's the sound of trees chirping!"

Leng Ruoxue urgently warned, as terrifying memories of the tree demon from her past life surfaced in her mind. According to records, when the number of tree chirps reaches 100, it will evolve into the even more terrifying "Whispers of the Ancient Tree," forming a domain-like suppression that is enough to suppress enemies of the same level, rendering them unable to move.

However, to her surprise, Baki, who had been directly hit, seemed completely unaffected, his posture as upright as ever. On the contrary, she and Momiji beside her were both emitting a dark red glow, a sign that their physical strength had been weakened.

"Is this... due to its unique characteristics?!"

As Hongye unleashed her protective aura, she explained, "That's right, it is indeed related to Baki's characteristics, which allow him to be immune to all negative forces."

Leng Ruoxue was immediately shocked: "You must be kidding me, how could someone have such a characteristic..."

It is important to know that most monsters have skills that can weaken the power of their enemies. The stronger the monster, the stronger the weakening effect. This ability to be immune to all negative forces is undoubtedly an extremely rare, or even impossible, characteristic.

"interesting."

Baki cracked his neck, making a soft clicking sound. Far from showing fear, his face broke into an even more excited smile, his gaze fixed intently on the massive shadows that had begun to move slowly.

Deep within the forest shrouded in icy mist, a colossal tree, its entire body sculpted from black ice and its branches like sharp swords, slowly turned around. In the center of its trunk, two points of eerie blue light suddenly shone, like eyes, coldly locking onto the intruder.

Battle is imminent.

Baki slammed his feet down, and with a deafening boom, the snow around him was flung away by the violent shockwave. Like a ferocious beast breaking free of its shackles, his eyes flashed with a fierce blue-white light, and his figure shot out like an arrow!

In an instant, countless sharp branches, like a dense forest of gunfire, attacked from all directions.

However, Baki's movements were like a ghost, always dodging at the last second by the slightest margin, as if he could predict all attacks, strolling leisurely through the deadly thicket of thorns.

Seeing that their attacks were ineffective, the tree demons plunged their branches into the ground. In the next instant, countless sharp thorns burst forth from the earth with a "crackling" sound, instantly turning the land into a thorny hell.

Baki's expression remained unchanged. He lightly touched the protruding wooden spikes with his toes for leverage, and his figure leaped and darted on the deadly spear tip like a nimble ape, so fast that only a series of afterimages remained.

"Found you!"

Using the force of his final stomp, Baki's body shot into the sky, leaping into the air.

From this vantage point, the view opened up dramatically, revealing the Ice Tree Demon, its entire body radiating a chilling blue aura, being heavily guarded at the very center of the horde of tree demons.

High in the sky, Baki clenched his right fist, a surge of powerful spiritual energy gathering wildly, and a blood-red, menacing aura erupted from his body. He then unleashed a punch at his target below!

"Triceratops Fist!!"

"roar--!!"

The psychic energy surged, manifesting as a giant triceratops phantom roaring to the sky, descending with primordial power capable of shattering everything!

In front of the Ice Tree Demon, a large number of branches instantly intertwined to form a thick, huge wooden shield.

However, the wooden shield was easily pierced and shattered as if it were made of paper the moment it made contact with the Triceratops's menacing horn!

"Crack—Boom!!!"

The massive psionic triceratops slammed into the center of the treant horde, triggering a devastating explosion. The violent energy shockwave, accompanied by a flurry of snowflakes, turned the entire battlefield a pure white.

Baki landed steadily, and the snow dust he kicked up gradually subsided. The ordinary tree demons around him had been reduced to dust by the attack, but the ice tree demon, though slightly disheveled, exuded an even stronger, cold, and powerful aura.

Just then, a huge ice blade tree branch formed from solidified ice, with a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air, cleaved through the snow-covered sky and slashed down! The ground beneath Baki's feet exploded, and his figure left a slowly dissipating afterimage in place.

"Whoosh—snap!!"

Where the ice blade struck, a deep, grotesque crack was cleaved open in the earth.

Meanwhile, Baki's true form appeared behind the Ice Tree Demon, his fist, brimming with power, slammed into its trunk!

"Bang!!"

With a dull thud, the Ice Tree Demon was slammed forward dozens of meters by the immense force, its incredibly hard icy bark shattering inch by inch.

But Baki frowned slightly—the torn bark was regenerating rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and within a few breaths it was restored to its original state, as if it had never been damaged.

"roar!!!"

The Ice Tree Demon let out a deafening roar, the sound waves impacting like a tangible force, clearing away all the snow and debris within a hundred meters. Its eerie blue eyes locked onto its bladed fangs, and then, its thick roots, as if alive, plunged deep into the earth.

"Crackling!"

Its body began to emit a teeth-grinding growth sound, and its already enormous size expanded wildly again, transforming in an instant into a towering tree thirty meters tall that blotted out the sky! A suffocatingly heavy pressure swept out like a tsunami.

Baki felt the sudden increase in pressure, but instead of being afraid, his eyes burned with an even more intense fighting spirit.