The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

Jiang Shaosheng's gaze fell on the corpse of the miasma beast not far away.

In that instant, he saw it.

He saw wisps of dark green energy escaping from the corpse of the miasma beast, and then being continuously absorbed by the revived giant tree.

It turned out to be the case.

After the miasma beast died, the immense life energy and miasma essence contained within its body became the best nourishment for this tree.

This tree is devouring the corpses of the miasma beasts.

Jiang Shaosheng looked at the strange and magical scene before him, and his heart was filled with emotion.

The world is full of surprises.

He even developed a ridiculous delusion.

Perhaps this entire underground cave, this miasma beast that has guarded it for many years, and this giant tree that has been sleeping for who knows how long, are all different fragments of a vast mystery.

He, however, was merely a product of fate's manipulation, standing at the point where the fragments were pieced together.

Just as he was wavering, the giant tree, which had fully recovered, suddenly began to tremble violently.

"Rumble..."

The trunk of the tree had a huge crack split in the middle.

Something enveloped in a dense green light slowly rose from the crack.

Is that a coffin?

No, that's not right.

It looked like a coffin-like tree cocoon woven from tree roots and vines!

The surface of the tree cocoon was covered with mysterious runes, radiating a powerful life force.

What is this?

Jiang Shaosheng gripped the dagger in his hand, looking warily at the mysterious tree cocoon rising from the heart of the tree.

The enormous tree cocoon floated silently in mid-air after rising into the air.

It was enveloped in a dense green light, obscuring the view of what was inside.

Jiang Shaosheng stood not far away, his muscles tense, as if facing a formidable enemy.

What was happening underground was completely beyond his comprehension.

First there was the monster, then the sacred tree, and now a coffin-like thing is emerging from the heart of the tree.

Who knows what might pop out of there?

He waited for a long time, but the tree cocoon didn't move at all.

It neither opened nor fell down.

Jiang Shaosheng frowned, feeling somewhat uneasy.

What exactly is this thing?

He hesitated for a moment, and seeing that Wei Jue had no instinctive reaction, he mustered his courage and took a few more steps forward, wanting to see more clearly.

Only when he got closer did he realize that the tree cocoon was not completely sealed.

On one side, there is a palm-sized semi-circular groove.

The shape of that groove looked somewhat familiar.

Jiang Shaosheng thought for a moment, and then a thought suddenly struck him.

He took out the inner core of the miasma beast from his bosom.

The dark green bead was slightly warm in his palm, and the aura inside the pill flowed more and more intensely, as if it had sensed something.

He looked up at the groove on the tree cocoon.

Semi-circular, about the size of a palm.

Its shape and inner elixir are exactly the same.

Jiang Shaosheng frowned.

Could this be the inner core of a miasma beast?

All of this was too coincidental; the miasma beast, the giant tree, the inner core, and the groove seemed to be connected by an invisible thread.

And he has reached the end of that line.

He hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward, held the inner core in his palm, and carefully pressed it into the groove.

A soft click.

The inner core was fitted in perfectly.

Jiang Shaosheng immediately took two steps back and gripped the dagger tightly.

The tree cocoon began to tremble.

The intertwined tree roots and vines seemed to come alive, slowly wriggling and peeling away layer by layer.

The peeling process made a rustling sound, like some ancient incantation being chanted.

A rich green light shone through the cracks, growing brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding him.

He squinted, staring intently through his fingers.

The light gradually faded.

The tree cocoons were completely exposed to Jiang Shaosheng's view.

He squinted, staring at the slowly peeling tree roots and vines.

Then he suddenly froze.

There was nothing in the cocoon he had imagined.

There is only one scroll.

An old, yellowed scroll lay quietly at the bottom of the tree cocoon, supported by a faint green light.

The scroll was about a foot long, dark brown in color, with some wear on the edges, and looked extremely old.

Its surface is completely unadorned, as plain as a piece of scrap paper carelessly discarded there.

But it just so happens to appear here.

It happens to be inside a tree cocoon.

It happened precisely after the inner core of the miasma beast was embedded.

Jiang Shaosheng took a deep breath and slowly walked forward.

The green light was soft and non-aggressive. As he approached, the light seemed to sense something and gradually dissipated.

Jiang Shaosheng extended his hand.

His hand hovered above the reel for a moment.

Then he took it.

The scroll felt slightly cool to the touch and had a rough texture, as if it were made from some kind of tanned animal hide.

It's very light, so light you can barely feel it.

He looked down at the scroll in his hand, then looked up at the empty cocoon.

The inner wall of the tree cocoon is smooth and empty.

Only this scroll exists.

Jiang Shaosheng frowned, held the scroll in both hands, and carefully unrolled it.

The spool is very long.

He unfolded it inch by inch, his gaze following the lines.

Mountains and rivers.

river.

canyon.

Ravines.

Every line is meticulously detailed, and every turn is clearly discernible, as if someone had used the most devout attitude to depict the entire land stroke by stroke.

As he watched, his breathing gradually became rapid.

This terrain.

It looks exactly like the Canglong Mountain in the eastern part of Suzhou City that I remember.

In his memory, his mother was from Suhe.

He also lived in Suzhou City with his parents for a few years when he was young.

Most importantly, he had been to Canglong Mountain more than once.

Every ravine and every ridge in the mountains vaguely overlaps with the ancient map before our eyes.

What alarmed him even more was that there was a red circle in the center of the scroll, slightly to the east.

The circle was a glaring red, as if it had been dotted with blood, or like some kind of special cinnabar that had not faded over the years.

Next to the circle are three ancient characters.

He leaned closer, squinted, and carefully examined it.

Canglong Mountain.

That is Canglong Mountain.

The circled area on the map is the depths of Canglong Mountain.

The red circle stood out starkly against the dim underground.

It's like a mark, and also like a call.

The miasma beast guards this tree.

This tree guards this picture.

So what is this picture guarding?

He remained motionless for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, he slowly and carefully rolled up the scroll and tucked it into the closest place to his body.

The scroll was pressed against his chest, carrying a slight coolness.

He took one last look at the empty cocoon.

The tree roots and vines had lost their luster and hung limply down, like a lifeless shell.

The giant tree was slowly returning to calm; its branches and leaves stopped swaying, and its light gradually faded.

everything is over.

It's as if everything is just beginning.

It all felt like a dream.

But he knew this was not a dream.