Chapter 96: Chapter 94: Dead Man’s Legacy_1

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

It swung its willow branches, trying to strike back.

But it could only block, unable to disperse the sand fists.

With a blow to its humanoid face, the Sweet-eating Tree Demon was enraged and abandoned its defense, letting the willow branches attack the Desert Witch herself.

"Shaaa..."

The yellow sand beneath her feet propelled her backward by precisely six meters. The willow branches missed by a stretch, simply unable to reach her.

Taking advantage of the Tree Demon’s momentary stupor, she landed a straight punch that broke a branch, reducing the number of willow branches once more.

"Grr! Grr!"

The Sweet-eating Tree Demon was seething.

Overwhelmed by emotion, the speed of its swinging branches increased, but so did its vulnerabilities.

Huazhu remained calm and collected. Her gaze was undisturbed throughout.

She employed a kite-flying combat strategy as taught by adults. When the enemy advanced, she retreated; when the enemy retreated, she advanced, shattering the branches piece by piece. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

In the end, the willow branches left by the Sweet-eating Tree Demon were less than a tenth of what they had started with.

At this point, its threat was virtually non-existent. Huazhu charged in, using her pincers to wildly hack, leaving the demon bald.

Then, the bare Sweet-eating Tree Demon was repeatedly pummeled with ten punches, its face sinking in.

It no longer dared to show a ferocious expression, only showing eyes of terror and pleas for mercy.

"Split open your trunk and hand over your ’Tree Heart,’ and I’ll let you go."

Ye Hanjun coldly commanded. To make sure the Tree Demon understood, he pointed to his own abdomen.

"Grr... grr?"

After a pause of nearly thirty seconds, just as Ye Hanjun slightly narrowed his eyes and revealed a hint of murderous intent.

The Sweet-eating Tree Demon shivered. The trunk, over half a meter in diameter, suddenly split into four segments with a bang, and a ball encased in sticky fluid rolled out.

"Grr ..." ﾍ(;´Д｀ﾍ)

The Sweet-eating Tree Demon fled without looking back using its tree roots.

Ye Hanjun didn’t pay it any mind, carefully cradling the ball with a measure of seriousness. He peeled off the membrane with caution.

"What is this?"

Su Mei, Huang Dengshan, Zhang Wu, and Zhao Li curiously gathered around.

Seeing Assistant Han handle the Tree Demon with a playful attitude, they were no longer surprised.

However, they were surprised that Assistant Han didn’t kill it, but was more concerned with this so-called ’Tree Heart.’ What was so precious about it that it deserved his attention?

"Huh?"

Zhao Li, with sharp eyesight, standing behind Ye Hanjun, saw that under the torn membrane was... a frog?

"Ribbet... ribbet ribbet..."

Inside the ball, there indeed were frogs.

But not one, there were eight in total.

Each one was palm-sized, had green skin, robust leg muscles, and black bean-sized eyes.

What intrigued the four of them the most was that their backs were not bare. Instead, they were carrying something.

Zhao Li didn’t know how to describe it as some were triangular, some round, and the colors ranged from green to red to purple.

When these frogs appeared, the Sweet-eating Tree Demon had already fled 100 meters away.

But in the air, the sweet smell that had diffused once again became strong.

"Lucky, to actually get eight..."

Ye Hanjun raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"These are Cake Frogs, a rather special type of Fond Spirit frog."

"They possess a parasite-like ability, from their tadpole stage, they’ll take up residence in the Sweet-eating Tree Demon."

"Once they turn into young frogs, they will live symbiotically with the Tree Demon. The Sweet-eating Tree Demon provides them with a safe habitat in return for their daily dose of essential sugar, which it takes from the Cake Frogs."

Both Huang Dengshan and Zhang Wu’s eyes widened. When they received the palm-sized Cake Frogs, their fingers trembled slightly.

At Ye Hanjun’s nod, they braced themselves and took a bite from the layer cake strapped to the back of the Cake Frogs.

As the perfect sweetness sprung forth on their tongues, their pupils dilated. They both lowered their heads in silence, amazed at how delicious the tiny cake was.

"The cakes from the Cake Frogs are all-natural, without any additives."

"It’s also highly nutritious, and some juvenile spirits can consume it to boost their development."

"Su Mei, Zhao Li, you should try it too."

"After eating this cake, you won’t need to eat anything else today. You’ll feel warm all over, your spirits will be full, and these are all the inherent benefits of the Cake Frog."

By the time Su Mei and Zhao Li had heard this, they were already salivating.

After they tasted their first piece, they looked at each other, unable to conceal their amazement.

"The pastries made by many pastry chefs at the academy... they can’t even compare to the soft and delicate texture of this!"

"If we could cultivate this Tree Demon, these Cake Frogs... would probably be very popular?"

Ye Hanjun was the last to taste the cake. After finishing, he exhibited a satisfied expression.

He used a white handkerchief to wipe off the cream on his fingers while he watched the Cake Frog - now devoid of cake - hopping away in the direction of the Sweet-eating Tree Demon and casually shook his head.

"Both the Sweet-Eating Tree Demon and the Cake Frog have excessively long growth cycles."

"Just to reach the stage of a Clay Body, it takes thirty years, much more difficult to cultivate than a normal spirit."

"What a pity." Su Mei expressed her regret.

"Here, let your Tuotuo try some."

Ye Hanjun passed the second Cake Frog to Su Mei.

Meanwhile, the remaining two were given to Huang Dengshan and Zhang Wu.

"Such living things are too troublesome to carry around. If you’re not careful, you could ruin the cake."

"Let your spirits eat them, it’s better than wasting."

Under the watchful eyes of the group, the Pink Ostrich, Iron Wolf, and Big-eyed Deer began to try this never-before-eaten food.

Obviously, the sensitivity of their taste buds varied. The ostrich ate indifferently as if chewing wax, but it showed no specific expression of whether it was tasty or not. It was enough for it to maintain its cool and dignified demeanor.

The big-eyed deer seemed to be enjoying itself, gobbling up its food in just a few bites.

The Iron Wolf was the pickiest. After licking a bite, it looked at its master with a gaze that suggested it wanted meat.

...

The group continued their journey.

Thanks to Ye Hanjun’s strong perception, the five of them persistently advanced toward the centre of the trial area.

So far, they hadn’t seen any fully manifested clay bodies or powerful Rainbow Light Fetuses.

Occasionally, they would encounter a fully grown clay body, but if it did not have high hunting value, Ye Hanjun would lead the students around it.

Not all Fond Spirits needed to be hunted.

Out in the wild, resources are everywhere, and constant fighting has more disadvantages than advantages.

If they don’t pay attention to their physical strength, energy, and material reserves.

Next, they could potentially shift from the role of a hunter to being the prey.

...

In the afternoon.

Around two o’clock.

Ye Hanjun, moving at a normal pace, suddenly halted.

He raised his hand and the four behind him immediately became alert, unconsciously lowering their posture to form a defensive stance in all directions.

Ye Hanjun tilted his ear, beginning to listen.

The sounds around him were unusually quiet, even the bugs chirping were few and far between.

In addition, from a while ago, the light up front was getting darker. A suppressed power within him was stirring, eager to activate, eager to awaken.

Ye Hanjun squatted down, took the long sword from Su Mei, and gently lifted the leaves that covered the ground.

A broken and eroded bone was exposed.

The interesting part was, the shape of this bone couldn’t possibly belong to a beast-shaped Fond Spirit, but instead...

...Human!

"Interesting."

Ye Hanjun gave a slight head nod and surveyed his surroundings before climbing a tall, old tree.

With the advantage of height, he peered into the dark depths.

—No end in sight.

Even without activating his dark attribute power, with his eyesight, he couldn’t see the end of it?

Pensive, Ye Hanjun climbed down the tree.

"Master Han, do you have any concerns?"

"Is it too dangerous ahead? Should we take a detour?"

"No." Ye Hanjun rubbed his chin and chuckled.

"Ahead, lies a land cloaked in darkness."

"Even under the high noon sun, only a small amount of sunlight can penetrate through these leaves, reaching into the forest."

"Such an environment is rather perilous for all of you."

"We won’t venture too far in, however..."

Ye Hanjun looked at the ground, stepped on it casually, and murmured,

"Right here, everyone together, we will dig a trench."

"At least thirty meters long, twenty meters wide and about fifteen meters deep."

"Dig a trench???"

The four students were a little unable to keep up with Assistant Han’s thought process.

They never thought that after becoming Patrons, there would come a day when they had to dig a trench together with their Contracted Fond Spirits.

"Less questioning, more doing. You’ll understand by tonight."

Ye Hanjun didn’t answer their questions. He marked the boundaries with his sword and stated,

"Hurry up. After digging the trench, we have to go back to where we just passed and cut down some bamboos."

"Understood."

Huang Dengshan and Zhangwu responded, rolling up their sleeves, they got to work immediately.

The Iron Wolf, with its claws, naturally assumed the main task of digging the hole.

First, they dug downwards at an angle, then the big-eyed deer would come over and kick, kicking a large chunk of soil away with every kick.

The pink ostrich was a bit stunned. It had never done something like this before and found it difficult to adapt.

But Su Mei was patient, teaching it over and over again.

Even though it was still clumsy in the end, the pink ostrich kicked forcefully and sent a rock that was half the size of its head flying over ten meters away, making an impressive impact.

"Ah! Bone... human bone!"

Zhao Li suddenly retreated a few steps, almost falling on her backside.

Her Contracted Spirit was the Broom Ghost, naturally, it didn’t have the ability to dig holes.

However, just a few minutes after the excavation work started, a semi-corpse skeleton kicked up into the sky by the pink ostrich disintegrated mid-air, causing Zhao Li to jump in fright, her eyes filled with fear.

"Not just one..."

Su Mei was a bit scared too, but she was calmer than Zhao Li.

She took a deep breath, lit a match, and cautiously leaned towards the newly dug hole.

"There are humans and Fond Spirits..."

"It seems like they’ve been dead a long time, their bones have been bitten hollow by bugs..."

"Ignore these bones and continue digging."

Ye Hanjun patted Zhao Li’s shoulder and calmly said,

"This should be a mass grave, finding corpses is normal."

"Speaking of, your Contracted Spirit is a ghost, and you’re scared of mere bones?"