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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Malice of the Grove
"Devour?" Such a word sent shivers down their spines. The strange sight before Lin Chuyu and Ji Zichen transformed like an illusion. Beneath their feet, there were no solid tree trunks or branches; it was merely the shadow of a tree. The Rong Tree King was abnormally gigantic, its reflection covering the entire village.
Standing in the shadow, Ji Zichen and Lin Chuyu found themselves facing a Banyan Tree that towered higher than the mountains, its appearance even more ferocious.
Lin Chuyu's eyes could not fully capture the entirety of the tree, but within her line of sight, the entire leafless Banyan Tree was adorned with villagers. Their mouths were glued to the trunk, their bodies suspended in mid-air like hanged men.
Lin Chuyu gazed in horror at the villagers hanging from the tree, their bodies gradually turning green. The color of these corpses resembled that of leaves, as if the tree was treating their bodies as nourishment.
A gust of wind swept through, causing the leafless branches to sway menacingly. The corpses of the villagers swayed with the wind, making it seem as if the Rong Tree King was furious.
Ji Zichen stared coldly at the Banyan Tree and declared with a fair judgment, "You absolutely deserve to go to hell!"
Who was he speaking to? It was just him and Lin Chuyu here.
At that moment, someone emerged from behind the Banyan Tree. Lin Chuyu recognized this person instantly. "A-Jiao!"
A-Jiao appeared disheveled, her movements stiff. She stood three yards away from them. Ji Zichen fixed his gaze on A-Jiao's hollow, vacant eyes. "She is not A-Jiao."
A-Jiao opened her mouth, her tone devoid of life, much like the Banyan Tree itself. She spoke on behalf of the tree: "The ones who should go to hell are these villagers. They extract poison, depriving us of our right to breathe freely at night and are the culprits behind the destruction of our Banyan Grove. I am merely a tree; hell's Judge cannot judge me. They knew full well that their actions would bring about dire consequences yet chose not to restrain themselves but instead escalated their actions. I am simply seeking revenge."
A figure approached with a lantern, moving unsteadily. As they drew closer, Lin Chuyu gasped softly, "It's A-Jiao's grandmother!"
The grandmother held a lantern in one hand and a hatchet in the other. Her voice carried a painful shout: "Extracting golden silk toxin is a survival skill passed down by our ancestors in Jinsi Village. We know how to do nothing else. Agreeing to help Corner Lodge refine highly toxic substances was a decision made by the village chief and other elders; it has nothing to do with my granddaughter. If you seek revenge, let my granddaughter go! I will die in her place; otherwise, I will chop you down!"
A-Jiao let out a strange laugh. "Is that so? Why don’t you come up and try chopping?"
Grandma stepped forward, and Lin Chuyu, sensing the underlying meaning in her words, quickly intervened, "Grandma, don't be anxious. There might be other ways."
Tears streamed down Grandma's face as she exclaimed, "Other ways? What other ways? I have only one granddaughter. If she dies, I won't live either."
Ji Zichen stood silently, seemingly deep in thought.
Seeing that Ji Zichen and Lin Chuyu were at a loss for what to do, Grandma turned to the Banyan Tree and asked, "Are you going to release her or not?"
A-Jiao shot a provocative glance and laughed maniacally, "If you can chop down the tree, I'll let her go!"
Upon hearing this response, Grandma realized that A-Jiao had no chance of survival. With a determined heart, she stepped forward and swung her axe at the tree trunk. The entire Banyan Tree shook violently. A-Jiao and the villagers hanging from the tree screamed in agony. A-Jiao's voice echoed painfully, "Ahhh! It hurts, Grandma... Don't chop anymore. A-Jiao is in so much pain..."
The villagers clinging to the tree could not cry out due to their mouths being stuck to the trunk, but the muffled groans filled the air. Grandma was stunned by the sight before her; the villagers' muffled sounds and A-Jiao's cries seemed to merge with the Banyan Tree itself. Each swing of the axe at the Banyan Tree felt like it was striking A-Jiao.
Terrified, Grandma dropped the axe and rushed forward to support A-Jiao. "A-Jiao! A-Jiao! I won't chop anymore... Are you still in pain? Does it hurt?"
Lin Chuyu's eyes turned red as she watched, unsure of how to respond. "Brother Ji, what should we do..."
Before Ji Zichen could answer, A-Jiao opened her mouth and exhaled a thick mist that knocked Grandma unconscious. Then A-Jiao stood upright like a pillar of smoke, continuously spewing out dense fog that grew heavier by the moment.
Ji Zichen and Lin Chuyu found themselves enveloped in the thick mist. Ji Zichen said softly, "Focus."
Amidst the swirling fog came rustling sounds as something moved within it. Suddenly, a bright light flickered through the mist. They saw over a dozen glowing objects emerging from the fog. As the mist gradually dissipated, Lin Chuyu exclaimed, "Look! It's white fireflies!"
These white fireflies were much larger than those found in lanterns; each was as big as a cow. They resembled a cross between fireflies and flies but emitted light from their tails. The large fireflies seemed aggressive; their antennae reached out toward Lin Chuyu. She quickly drew her Vajra and screamed, "Ahhh!" as she sliced off one of their antennae. "What... what kind of fireflies are these? They're enormous..."
The fireflies hesitated upon seeing the sharpness of the Vajra, emitting low-frequency sounds of distress but did not advance further.
A-Jiao spoke again, "These white fireflies survive by absorbing the essence of Banyan Grove. Once they stray too far from Banyan Grove, they will perish. They hate you just as much as we do for destroying our habitat."
At that moment, Lin Chuyu felt a wave of nausea wash over her, and she let out a retch.
A-Jiao let out a chilling laugh. "The mist I exhale is the most toxic poison. Even the entire Tree Cluster cannot purify such a toxin. Now, I return it to you, so you can reap what you sow."
More than a dozen fireflies lunged at the two of them. Ji Zichen remained calm, and with a flicker of the Thunder Buddha Bead, he declared, "Furnace Thunder!"
Dozens of bolts of lightning struck down, scorching the fireflies instantly.
After pondering for a moment, Ji Zichen seemed to grasp the key issue. He coldly stated, "I understand now. Your revenge has nothing to do with the poisonous mist; you simply want to kill. You aim to claim Mountain Valley for yourself. I found it strange from the beginning—why would such poisonous mist only appear after sunset? Why limit it to that time? It turns out it was all your doing. My master once said that many creatures stop moving and choose to sleep at night, while only trees prefer to wander in the dark. You release a pure essence while inhaling a highly concentrated harmful essence."
"My master often practiced in the morning but found the morning essence rather turbid. He told me that meditating and absorbing energy is best done at night. The fact that you can inhale and exhale essences means you possess purifying abilities, yet you have not utilized them. The nighttime poison mist is released by your Banyan Grove, while Tree Cluster absorbs high concentrations of harmful essences and exhales pure essences. At night, inhaling pure essences leads to exhaling harmful ones."
"You are competing with the villagers for pure essences, making them believe it is due to toxins when in fact there is not a trace of golden silk toxin in the mist. You have misled the villagers into thinking that vomiting and fainting are caused by golden silk poison, but the real cause of these symptoms is your deliberate release of high concentrations of harmful essences from Tree Cluster."
"I always thought that human hearts were the most terrifying thing in this world, but I never expected that Malice of the Grove could be even more frightening!"
Ji Zichen spoke each word deliberately, "Am I right? Rong Tree King!"
A-Jiao's face twisted in rage. "You are not simple at all!"
Lin Chuyu collapsed to the ground with a thud, while Ji Zichen remained still, staring intently at A-Jiao. Seeing him still standing, A-Jiao couldn't help but admire him. "Are you holding your breath?"
Ji Zichen did not hide it. "Yes."
A-Jiao continued, "In our Banyan Grove, we refer to pure essence as Oxygen. She fainted from lack of oxygen; yet here you stand. But how long can you hold your breath? What I want is quite simple: this Mountain Valley does not welcome humans. Golden Swallow is also part of this Mountain Valley; you slaughter them at will, and I cannot stand idly by. Other animals may fear you, but we Tree Cluster can control Oxygen. All living things need Oxygen—including you—so I am not afraid of you."
Ji Zichen said, "You control Oxygen to scare the villagers out of Mountain Valley, but you didn't consider that human adaptability is beyond your imagination. That's why you've started to hate them and resorted to murder!"
A-Jiao replied, "Some people are dead, some are not. I can let them go, but only if you can persuade them to leave. This place naturally belongs to us, not to you humans!"
Ji Zichen pondered for a moment and finally said sincerely, "I have no ability to persuade them to leave because this is their home. You cannot seal off Mountain Valley, and that is the difference between you and humans. The villagers have already adapted to this Mountain Valley, and you must find a way to adapt to them as well. Mutual adaptation is the natural law. Although I can't convince them to leave, I can ensure they stop hunting Golden Swallow."
A-Jiao gritted her teeth and glared at Ji Zichen, shouting, "Does it make a difference? Not hunting Golden Swallow will still lead to the killing of other animals. I'm giving you a way out; don't blame me for being rude if you refuse!"
As soon as she finished speaking, A-Jiao suddenly collapsed to the ground. The moment her body touched the earth, the ground rumbled violently as if it were shaking the mountains. The roots of the Banyan Tree violently uprooted themselves, and the massive Banyan Tree stood upright, its roots acting as feet and branches as arms. At the top of its trunk appeared a human-like face resembling an old man with a long beard.
When the Banyan Tree moved, the entire mist dissipated. It seemed that the Banyan Tree could only release the mist while remaining grounded.
Ji Zichen had been holding his breath for too long, and upon seeing the mist vanish, he took a long deep breath. His senses fully revived as Oxygen flowed back into him. Lin Chuyu also awakened with a start, greedily inhaling Oxygen. Seeing Lin Chuyu regain consciousness filled Ji Zichen with joy as he hurriedly said, "Keep an eye on A-Jiao and her grandmother!"
Lin Chuyu rushed toward A-Jiao.
The Banyan Tree shook its trunk, causing villagers on its branches to fall like stones. Some villagers landed with tree vines growing from their bodies while others did not. In a moment of urgency, Ji Zichen predicted, "Those with vines must be dead; those without should still be alive."
Seeing several villagers who were alive but unconscious falling from high above, Ji Zichen activated his Water Bead technique—Five Lotus Water—and shot out Water Ropes to catch and bind as many villagers as possible.
Lin Chuyu was right under the tree with A-Jiao. The falling bodies could easily crush someone; she quickly woke A-Jiao and helped both of them rise up while dodging the villagers falling with tree vines.
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