I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

The earth was crimson, reeking of decay, with rotting tree roots and decaying plants everywhere. The light was dim, and as far as the eye could see, the land was a blinding red.

Just then, in a corner of this land, space suddenly began to distort, and then a black vortex suddenly appeared out of thin air and began to grow larger and larger until it reached a size of ten meters. Then, countless Chinese warriors passed through the teleportation channel and appeared on this decaying land.

A few minutes later, Ivan and the others followed the main force through the portal and stepped onto this crimson land.

As soon as they landed, everyone was shocked by the sight before them.

Looking at this scene of decay, Xiang Feng asked in shock, "Where is this? Is this really the root of the World Tree on Blue Star?"

"Old Han made extremely meticulous calculations before adjusting the data of the space teleportation device, so there shouldn't be any mistakes."

Although he said that, Ivan himself also had some doubts.

"However, the danger here is indeed different from what I saw at the roots of the World Tree through the Heart of the Wind God... Just to be on the safe side, I'd better ask Elder Han and the others again."

The main force carried portable signal base stations using cross-space technology, so Ivan directly dialed the communication center of the Qianhai base. He was quickly connected by Hong Jianjun, who explained his intentions. Hong Jianjun then transferred the communication to Han Jie.

Finally, Han Jie joined the communication. After a brief exchange, Han Jie confirmed that the team's calculations were correct. Therefore, the crimson, decaying land that everyone was seeing was the root of the World Tree.

But why did the roots of the World Tree become like this?

The ground where the main force was standing was still relatively firm, but further ahead it was all "incredibly soft" soil. Ivan tried to lift his foot and stepped on it, and instantly felt as if he were stepping into a swamp. If he didn't lift his foot in time, his entire foot would soon be swallowed into the scarlet mud, and it would be extremely difficult to pull it out.

Looking around, the surrounding area is full of such swamps, some of which are still wriggling and bubbling, and you can smell a nauseating odor if you sniff them.

"Cough cough..."

After coughing twice, Ivan immediately covered his mouth and nose and reminded everyone, "Try not to smell the fumes from the swamp. It's not certain yet whether they will be harmful to humans. Xiang Feng, go and remind everyone in the main force to put on their protective gear immediately."

"Yes."

Xiang Feng immediately ran towards the main group, while Ivan frowned as he looked at the scene before him.

If nothing unexpected happens, this decaying land should be the result of the destructive aura eroding the World Tree. It is likely that the damage caused by the destructive aura to the World Tree of Blue Star has exceeded their imagination.

As the teleportation channel continued to operate, the main force had basically arrived in this space. Excluding Ivan and his group, there were a total of four regiments, about 10,000 fully armed modern troops. The only regret was the lack of armored units. After the advance troops had scouted the terrain in advance, they ruled out the possibility of heavy armored forces entering. In such swampy terrain, tanks and armored vehicles would immediately sink into the muddy swamp as soon as they drove out.

Before the operation, Ivan and his team held meetings for two or three days and made many preparations and plans. However, after the main force entered, they did not start the operation immediately. Instead, they set up a temporary camp near the landing point of the space teleportation channel and installed space teleportation devices. The purpose of this was to ensure that if the main force encountered any crisis that could not be handled, they could be withdrawn in time through the teleportation channel.

While the temporary camp and space teleportation device were being built, Ivan and his group also began to explore the surrounding area.

Abedo pulled a rotten, wood-like object from a patch of foul-smelling mud. After examining it briefly, he concluded, "This is a tree root."

"root?"

Ivan frowned: "It's probably the root of the World Tree."

As soon as he finished speaking, the tree root in Abedu's hand suddenly snapped and fell into the mud, turning into a grayish-white powder, like ashes after a fire.

Ke Qing said softly, "Things don't look good..."

At the same time, in a corner of this space, Arrogance suddenly opened his eyes, a look of shock on his face.

"What's going on? Have other living beings entered this place?"

Chapter 492 The Rotten Swamp and the Strange Noise

In front of the temporary camp, Abedo used tweezers to pick up a leaf and toss it into the swamp in front of him.

The next second, the green leaves that fell into the crimson swamp instantly began to curl up, shrinking into a ball in the blink of an eye.

Abedo used tweezers to take it out of the swamp again, smelled it under his nose, and then carefully observed the current state of the leaves.

"There's a musty, rotten smell. This crimson swamp will probably drain the life force of any creature that enters it. Never let your body come into direct contact with this swamp."

Xiang Feng, who was standing to the side, took an apple out of his waist pocket and said, "So, if I throw this apple in, it will rot instantly?"

Abedo nodded and said, "Yes."

Mu Ze Changhui looked at Xiang Feng in surprise and asked, "Brother Feng, where did you get those apples?"

"Ahem... I didn't finish my breakfast this morning and just put it in my pocket, it's not important..."

As he spoke, Xiang Feng tossed the apple into the swamp. In an instant, the apple shrank, spoiled, and rotted. What happened in that short second would have taken more than a week in the hot environment. The terrifying absorption of life force astonished everyone.

Kizawa Nagahiro said with lingering fear, "Fortunately, Lord Ivan had ordered that we not to touch the nearby swamp, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Ivan let out a heavy sigh of relief. He was also very glad that he had made the decision. When he first landed and realized that something was wrong with the surrounding environment, he had Xiang Feng inform the entire group to stay near the temporary camp as much as possible and not to approach the nearby crimson swamp without permission. Now it seemed that this decision was absolutely correct.

Kaiya stroked his chin and analyzed, "So, it seems those rotten branches and roots in this swamp are the roots of the World Tree of Blue Star?"

At this point, everyone felt a little apprehensive.

If the space they came to was the root part of the Blue Star World Tree, then at least they should be able to see a part of the Blue Star World Tree. But where is the shadow of the World Tree here? There is only a decaying land.

Therefore, all things considered, it seems that this is the only possibility.

At this moment, Xiang Feng interjected, "That's not necessarily true. When I was chatting with Qi Ji before, he mentioned the situation in the Teyvat Abyss. Isn't that the root of the World Tree in Teyvat? But Qi Ji and the others didn't see any roots of the World Tree there. Isn't the root of the World Tree invisible? Besides, isn't the Teyvat Abyss a sea? How come the root of the World Tree on Blue Star is a piece of land?"

Ivan provided an explanation in response to Xiang Feng's question.

"The manifestation of the World Tree's location may vary depending on the nature of the world it inhabits. Whether it's an ocean, land, mountains, or deserts, these are merely different manifestations; their essence is the same. Furthermore, the reason the World Tree's roots are not visible in the abyss of Teyvat is likely because Teyvat has triggered the Imaginary Tree's self-detection mechanism—Abyssal Energy, or Honkai Energy. When it appears in a world, it replaces the World Tree's roots, forming an abyss, thus concealing the World Tree's roots. Of course, another possibility cannot be ruled out: the World Tree's roots in Teyvat may have been eroded and destroyed by the aura of destruction during the great war of arrogant invasion thousands of years ago. However, I think the second possibility is unlikely. The World Tree's roots are the source of its energy from the Imaginary Tree; they are the veins of the Imaginary Tree's leaves. If the roots are completely destroyed, this world will wither away."

At this point, Ivan added, "So, the roots of the World Tree on Teyvat weren't destroyed, but rather hidden due to the arrival of the Abyss. But that's another matter. The real issue is that if we can't do anything about it now, the roots of the World Tree on Earth might truly be completely destroyed by the aura of destruction..."

Qin asked, "The problem is, where's the arrogance? This space is so vast, we can't possibly wade through such a dangerous swamp and conduct a thorough search bit by bit, can we?"

Ivan opened his hand, revealing the Heart of the Wind God, which was emitting a faint green light.

"I just briefly established a connection with the World Tree using my ability to communicate with it, and I can sense that the World Tree is currently very weak. This vast swamp of decay before us was formed from the decaying roots of the World Tree after they were eroded by the aura of destruction. Due to the World Tree's characteristics, these swamps formed from decaying roots absorb the life force of all living beings. As for arrogance..."

Ivan looked up in one direction.

"It should be in that direction; I can sense a great deal of destructive energy in that direction."

Kaiya shrugged and said, "Now there's a new problem: how do we get across?"

Abedo said calmly, "We can lay something across the swamp to make it passable, or wear protective gear that can completely block the swamp. The swamp only corrodes living creatures and does not affect ordinary items. Of course, if possible, we can also consider flying across."

After a brief discussion and consultation with Fang Hongjianjun, it was finally decided to build a pontoon bridge with drones providing aerial assistance.

Drones have limited attack capabilities; if they encounter major firepower, ground troops must still be relied upon.

Of course, the only problem now is that the main force did not anticipate the situation here before entering this deep-rooted space. The fully automated floating bridge construction device was not prepared and needs to be urgently transferred from the Qianhai base warehouse and other military regions in the region. Therefore, it may take some time.

Before this, the main force will use drones to scout the surrounding area and terrain, and at the same time, try to determine the distance between the main force and the target, so as to prepare for the operation after the pontoon bridge arrives. Without the assistance of satellite maps and other means, these are all necessary pre-battle tasks.

Once all the planned steps were finalized, the operation commenced swiftly.

The reconnaissance company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the Qianhai Base immediately deployed a drone launch platform. Then, with several ejection sounds, eight medium-sized fixed-wing reconnaissance drones took off instantly and flew in eight different directions. Under the operation of the operators, they quickly became black dots on the horizon.

Beside the operator's console, Ivan stared intently at the real-time footage displayed on the screen of the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, carefully observing every detail.

By this time, the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft had flown several thousand meters. Although not all the places it passed through were swamps, the distribution of swamps was extremely dense, with small swamps every few tens of meters and large swamps every few hundred meters, and the distribution had no discernible pattern.

However, just as the drone flew over a swamp, Ivan suddenly raised an eyebrow and called out to the operator.

"Wait a minute, let's go back and take a look at that swampy area."

The drone, following the operator's instructions, made an emergency turn and flew back to the swamp. It hovered over the swamp, and Ivan's brows furrowed in worry.

At this moment, the swamp was strangely churning, as if something was about to emerge from below.

It seems he wasn't mistaken.

Just as Ivan was about to have the operator get closer for a closer look, he heard a commotion in the distance, and all the nearby soldiers grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the source of the disturbance.

Seeing this, Ivan frowned, then hurriedly followed the crowd...

Chapter 493 The Rotten Root Serpent

"Team One, Team Two, stay alert!"

"Three teams, four teams, spread out to both sides!"

Upon arriving at the scene of the riot, Ivan saw Xiang Feng directing several small teams to disperse and move around. Seeing this, Ivan immediately went forward.

"what's the situation?"

"He is in command."

Xiang Feng raised an eyebrow and said, "Something's up."

Ivan exclaimed in surprise, "What?"

"look."

Xiang Feng pointed to a decaying swamp in the distance directly ahead. The muddy water in the swamp was constantly churning, with bubbles rising and falling, as if something was bubbling down there.

Upon seeing this scene, Ivan immediately thought of the footage that the drone had just captured in another swamp pool; it was practically identical.

Subsequently, security teams arrived at the scene, and Qin and her group also rushed over upon hearing the news.

Looking at the state of the swamp, Qin raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's at the bottom of the swamp?"

Ivan nodded and said, "Maybe. It's a pity we can't see clearly, so it's still hard to judge. Let's send a drone to get closer and observe."

Under Ivan's command, a drone took off and gradually approached the swamp.

Unlike before, this time a rotary-wing drone was used. Although rotary-wing drones are louder and slower than fixed-wing drones, they are smaller and can hover stably for filming. They also allow for better control over their movement, making them more suitable for close-up observation situations compared to fixed-wing drones.

Soon, the drone flew over the swamp where the anomaly had occurred, and then, under the operator's control, began to slowly reconnoiter the swamp at low altitude.

As high-definition images were transmitted back to the control panel in real time via the drone's camera, Ivan and the others were able to clearly see the true condition of the swamp.

In the muddy water beneath the swamp, a huge snake-like shadow seemed to be faintly visible, but unfortunately, because the crimson mud in the swamp was too thick, no one could see what it really looked like.

Kizawa Nagahiro asked in surprise, "Is that a snake down there? Were there originally creatures in this space?"

"No, that's impossible."

Ivan shook his head: "Ordinary creatures can't enter the space where the World Tree's roots are located. They can only enter by using ley lines for teleportation. Pride also entered here using this method."

Qin asked in confusion, "Then where did this snake come from?"

Ivan shook his head again.

"I don't know. It could be brought in by arrogance, or it could not be a snake at all, but something else entirely. After all, we can only vaguely see a shadow, and we can't make out its true form. In addition, the eight long-range reconnaissance drones we just sent out also discovered the same situation in other places. That means there is more than one thing under this swamp. And the biggest problem is that the direction this swamp is in is the direction we need to proceed next..."

Upon hearing Ivan's words, everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

The matter is now very clear.

They now had two options. One was to do nothing, as long as it didn't suddenly appear and interfere with the main force's next move. In that case, they wouldn't actively provoke the thing in the swamp, even if it was located in the direction their main force was heading.