The ground undulated like waves.
The elders who were originally kneeling on the ground were knocked over by the sudden tremor, rolling into a heap.
"Alas—"
An extremely ancient sigh, as if traversing a hundred years of time, boomed in everyone's ears.
Rustle, rustle—
The leaves filling the sky shook violently.
On the rough, cracked tree trunk, the bark slowly writhed and twisted.
Eventually, a huge human face was squeezed out.
Jiang Yuechu narrowed her eyes, looking at the colossal creature before her.
Core Formation Realm.
Moreover, its aura was profound and even more solid than that White Flood Dragon's.
It was indeed a big fish.
"Finally willing to come out?"
Jiang Yuechu pressed her hand to her horizontal saber, her expression indifferent.
The old scholar tree's eyes moved slightly, and it said, "Since we've been at peace for many years, why bother to disturb this tranquility?"
"This Huai Shu Village is remote, with barren land, relying on the heavens for sustenance."
"If the weather is favorable, then so be it, but there are always years of war and chaos, and continuous droughts."
"In the year of the drought, within a hundred li, the land was parched for a thousand li, and people exchanged children to eat."
The old scholar tree paused, its branches and leaves rustling, as if in mockery.
"But Huai Shu Village survived."
"Why?"
"Because this Venerable One promised them a way to live."
As its voice fell.
From within its lush, gloomy canopy, countless slender branches suddenly hung down.
The end of each branch held a heavy cloth bag.
Some bags had torn openings, revealing the polished rice inside.
"This Venerable One does not cultivate killing, only the flourishing and wilting of plants."
"I give them grains to ensure their survival."
"They give me blood and flesh to aid my Dao Cultivation, entirely of their own free will, never forced."
Jiang Yuechu stood with her eyes lowered, finally understanding what had happened.
The old woman trembled as she explained, "My lord... back then, there was no food... rather than the whole family starving to death, it was better to... better to send one away, in exchange for the whole family's survival..."
The old scholar tree stared at Jiang Yuechu, "Little Girl, you are still young, you don't know the cruelty of this world."
"Although this Venerable One consumes flesh and blood, I also protect this land."
"Without this Venerable One, these dozens of families would have long become withered bones by the roadside, how could they still be clinging to life today?"
"Why bother... why bother..."
"All the 'why bother' in this world is because there was first the ultimate suffering of human life, and then the subsequent helplessness."
"…"
Jiang Yuechu sighed softly.
She wasn't particularly angry.
In this chaotic world of demons, to demand moral bottom lines from these ordinary people who scratch for food in the dirt was merely asking for trouble.
Living, in itself, was an extremely ugly thing.
Seeing her silence, the old scholar tree spoke again, "You may leave."
"This Venerable One knows it's not easy for you to achieve Core Formation, so I won't hold that one saber strike against you today."
Jiang Yuechu raised her eyelids, her clear, cold eyes unperturbed.
"What you said makes a lot of sense."
The girl's voice was calm, betraying no emotion.
"To survive in this world, one always has to pay a price."
The old scholar tree nodded in satisfaction.
"You are an understanding person..."
However, before its words finished.
Jiang Yuechu changed the subject, a faint hint of sarcasm curving her lips.
"Even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs, yet to cling to life, these people send their own children into a demon's maw. How are such people different from beasts?"
"Since they are beasts, what's regrettable about their deaths?"
The old scholar tree frowned, "This Venerable One has lived for two thousand eight hundred years, and has seen all the suffering in the world. How can someone like you, dressed in fine clothes and holding a high position, know what that taste is like? If you were in their shoes, you might not be any nobler than them!"
"I cannot understand them, and I am not killing you to seek justice for these beasts who sent their own flesh and blood into a tiger's mouth."
Jiang Yuechu interrupted it, stepping forward.
Boom—!
A powerful and domineering aura burst forth from her body.
Like wolf smoke soaring to the heavens, it actually forcefully pushed back the pervasive gloom.
The old scholar tree was startled, a hint of confusion appearing, "Then why are you..."
She tilted her head slightly, her voice clear and cold, yet imbued with an arrogant disdain for the world.
"I hold a saber in my hand, and there is injustice in my heart."
"I don't like you, I want to kill you, so I will kill you."
"This saber strike is not for justice, nor for the common people."
"It's just because I feel like it!"
As her voice fell.
Clang—!!!
The saber's cry was like a Dragon's roar.
Jiang Yuechu's figure shot up.
The yellow earth beneath her feet instantly shattered, blasting open a deep pit.
She transformed into a black streak of light, rushing directly towards the massive tree trunk.
"Arrogant!"
The old scholar tree let out an enraged roar.
Although it didn't want to provoke people from the Demon Suppression Division, that didn't mean it was afraid.
Even a clay figurine has a three-point temper, let alone a great demon that had cultivated for two thousand eight hundred years?
Rumble, rumble—
The earth trembled violently.
Countless thick roots broke out of the ground, stirring up dust everywhere, and lashed fiercely towards Jiang Yuechu!
The might of Perfected Core Formation erupted with a roar.
Liu Chen and the others, standing in the distance, only felt a tightness in their chests, and the terrifying oppressive force compelled them to retreat repeatedly, their faces pale.
"Miss Jiang!"
Liu Chen cried out in alarm.
However.
The Perfected level Spring-loaded Leg Shrinking the Ground, combined with the augmentation of Wolf Travels a Thousand Li.
The girl at the center of the storm instantly transformed into an afterimage, actually forcing a gap through the dense root attacks.
Close quarters.
Drawing the saber.
Her whole body's Qi and blood surged, her Golden Core vibrated, and a fierce, domineering Saber Intent shot into the sky.
"Roar—!!!"
In a trance.
Everyone seemed to hear a deafening lion's roar.
A golden lion phantom appeared, clinging to the saber light, opening its gaping maw, and biting fiercely towards the old scholar tree!
Golden Lion Overlord Saber!
Pfft—!!!
Those thick tree roots, capable of crushing rocks, were as fragile as tofu before this astonishing saber strike.
Wood chips flew everywhere.
Sap splattered.
The saber light's momentum remained unchecked, slashing fiercely across the old scholar tree's twisted human face.
"Ah—!!!"
A shrill scream echoed through the clouds.
A deep gash appeared on the huge tree trunk, and dark green sap gushed out like a fountain.
"Pain! This pain is killing me!!"
All the tree roots rose from the ground, transforming into countless whips, wildly lashing out at everything around them without any pattern.
Even the few elders who were kneeling on the ground begging for death were caught in the crossfire, directly whipped away, their bones broken and tendons snapped on the spot, their fates unknown. In a way, they got their wish to die.
The girl landed, and seeing tree roots about to smash down, she actually folded herself into a semicircle with an extremely strange and unnatural posture.
Whoosh—
Several thick tree roots brushed past her.
In fact, with her current physical strength, taking these two blows head-on would at most cause her Qi and blood to churn.
But Jiang Yuechu was not a masochist.
Why endure a beating for no reason?
"Hoo..."
She exhaled a breath of turbid Qi.
"Two thousand eight hundred years..."
"Did you live those two thousand eight hundred years for nothing?"
Although this old scholar tree was at Perfected Core Formation and had profound demonic power.
It was, after all, a plant spirit; its main body was restricted and difficult to move.
Furthermore, it had always been holed up in this remote, impoverished place, living off the offerings of a group of ignorant villagers, usually just scaring Mortals. When had it ever experienced a true life-or-death battle?
In Jiang Yuechu's eyes.
Where was this a great demon at Perfected Core Formation?
It was purely an experience package.
"Since you have no other abilities..."
Jiang Yuechu's lips curved slightly upward, "Then you can die."
Boom!
Her legs suddenly exerted force, and Spring-loaded Leg Shrinking the Ground was pushed to its limit.
She transformed into an afterimage, instantly appearing directly in front of the old scholar tree's human face.
Holding the saber with both hands, she raised it above her head.
"It's over."
The saber fell.
Between heaven and earth, it seemed only this brilliant golden light remained.
[Killed a Core Formation Realm creature, obtained two thousand eight hundred thirty-three years of its Dao Cultivation]