The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

What he saw before him was completely beyond his imagination.

This is an incredibly huge underground cavern, with its dome about ten feet above the ground.

Dozens of thick stone pillars rise from the ground and extend upwards, supporting the entire space, making it look like a stone forest.

The entire space was filled with a cool, moonlit glow.

Jiang Shaosheng then discovered that the walls of the cave and the stone pillars were covered with a kind of glowing moss, and it was this moss that illuminated this underground world.

There was a strange, pleasant fragrance in the air.

He took a deep breath and felt that the fatigue and tension of the past few days had dissipated considerably.

What place is this?

His gaze was quickly drawn to the scene in the center of the cave.

A tree grows there.

A giant tree about ten meters tall, whose trunk requires three people to encircle.

This tree is strange. Its trunk is grayish-white, with a texture like some kind of jade. Its surface is smooth, yet it is covered with patterns like dragon scales.

It has no leaves; its bare branches stretch out in all directions, gnarled and twisted, with a vigorous and ancient appearance.

It is precisely because the branches are so dense and intertwined that if someone is hiding among them, it is difficult to spot them from under the tree.

It is an incredible thing that such a huge tree could grow in such a dark and sunless place.

Jiang Shaosheng was filled with novelty and awe.

How has this tree, which never sees sunlight, survived until now?

He walked step by step toward the giant tree.

The closer he got, the more he could sense an indescribable, strange aura.

It was not just an unfamiliar scent, but also contained an ancient, magnificent vitality that seemed to originate from the beginning of time.

Standing under this tree, Jiang Shaosheng felt as insignificant as a speck of dust.

He looked up at the branches reaching towards the top, his heart filled with awe.

He instinctively reached out, wanting to touch the magical ancient tree.

His fingertips slowly approached the gray-white tree trunk.

The bark felt cool and smooth to him; that was his first impression.

But the texture doesn't feel like wood; it feels more like touching a piece of warm, smooth jade.

The moment his fingertips touched the bark, a strange coolness shot through his fingers like lightning into his palm, then flowed along the meridians of his arm and instantly spread throughout his entire body.

Jiang Shaosheng was suddenly jolted.

He felt as if his body had established a strange connection with the ancient tree.

Immediately afterwards, the panel that only he could see popped up on its own.

But this time, the content on the panel was completely different from usual.

[An extraordinary item has been detected...]

[Unlocking "???"...]

Current unlock progress: (1/100)

Jiang Shaosheng's eyebrows twitched.

An extraordinary item!

Unlock!

This tree is actually a treasure that can be recognized by the panel!

If I unlock progress to 100, will I gain some new ability?

Or is it a powerful item?

This unexpected surprise made him momentarily forget that he was still in danger.

He wished he could weld his hand to the tree right now and wait until the unlocking was complete.

Just then, the sound of falling gravel came from the tunnel he had come from.

Jiang Shaosheng felt a chill run down his spine.

Someone's coming!

It's that man in black!

He caught up so quickly?

Those traps couldn't stop him?

Jiang Shaosheng didn't have time to think much.

Although the cave was huge, it was completely exposed, and apart from the stone pillars, there seemed to be nowhere to hide.

wrong!

He glanced at the giant tree beside him.

There's an even better option: climb a tree!

The next moment, he used both his hands and feet to grab the thick tree trunk and climb up it.

Although the tree trunk is smooth, the dragon scale-like patterns provide perfect footholds for climbing.

After he climbed up, he found a spot with dense tree branches, hid himself in the shadows, held his breath, and cautiously looked down.

Just as Jiang Shaosheng had hidden himself in the shadow of the tree branches, a disheveled figure stumbled out of the tunnel he had come from earlier.

It was that man in black.

The man in black looked even more miserable than before.

His black night clothes were tattered and torn, covered with holes of all sizes and several corroded marks, emitting a foul odor of blue smoke.

His left arm, which had been splashed with venom, had turned completely bluish-black, swollen like a bucket, and hung limply at his side.

On his intact right arm, there was a short black needle, the tip of which glowed with a faint blue light, clearly coated with a deadly poison.

A long cut appeared on his face, stretching from his forehead to his chin, with the skin torn and blood dripping.

He walked along coughing violently, each cough bringing up several mouthfuls of black blood clots.

Seeing his expression, Jiang Shaosheng immediately understood.

This guy, although he didn't die in those traps, definitely suffered a lot.

Jiang Shaosheng hid in the tree, not daring to breathe.

He secretly rejoiced, thankful that he possessed the "danger instinct," otherwise he would be the one lying on the ground now.

However, this guy is really lucky. He took so many hits and still managed to get here alive.

The man in black was clearly also suffering from serious internal injuries. He leaned against the stone wall beside him and first cautiously surveyed his surroundings. When his gaze fell on the giant tree in the center of the cave, he froze.

The wariness and pain on his face were instantly replaced by a fanatical expression.

His eyes widened as he stared intently at the tree, his lips trembling, as if he had witnessed some miracle.

"Found it...finally...finally found it..."

He muttered to himself, his voice revealing undisguised excitement and greed.

He staggered step by step toward the giant tree, his eyes like those of a traveler dying of thirst in the desert who had spotted an oasis.

Jiang Shaosheng watched from the tree with his heart pounding.

This guy's target was indeed this tree!

The monster in the Fuchang warehouse and storeroom, this tunnel, those traps...

Everything seems to be closely related to this tree.

The man in black walked to the tree, stretched out his intact hand, trembling, wanting to touch the trunk, but as if afraid of something, he stopped halfway through.

He tilted his head back, gazing at the ancient tree with fascination, muttering incoherently, "Master Lian Qi... Master Lian Qi... I've found it... I've found it for you..."

Jiang Shaosheng could hear it clearly from the tree.

Master Lian Qi?

It turns out that the "our master" this person was referring to was named Lian Qi.

It sounds like Lian Qi is the mastermind behind it all.

This man in black was nothing more than one of his dogs.

Just then, a crisp, unhurried clapping sound suddenly came from another tunnel.

The applause sounded particularly clear and abrupt in the empty and silent cave.

The man in black shuddered, turned around abruptly, and the fanatical expression on his face vanished instantly, replaced by extreme vigilance.

He shouted sharply, "Who?!"

Jiang Shaosheng was also startled and quickly looked in the direction from which the sound came.