"So, finding it will take time." Li Feng looked at Xu Wuyi.

"Based on experience, we first need to figure out its recent movement patterns, then set bait or search section by section. If we’re lucky, we’ll find it in a day or two. If we’re not, it could take three or four days."

Xu Wuyi was silent for a few seconds.

"Too slow."

Li Feng was taken aback. "What?"

"I said, this method is too slow." Xu Wuyi picked up his teacup and took a sip. The tea was from a low-quality synthetic teabag and tasted bitter and astringent. "Is there a faster way?"

Han Qingqing couldn’t help but chime in, "But the Rotting Wood Demon moves around. If we don’t track it like this, what are you going to do, make it reveal itself?"

Xu Wuyi set down his cup, thought for a moment, and said, "Since it’s a Plant-type Star Beast, it should have spreading branches, vines, or roots. If we burn all of those, won’t it be forced to come out?"

Li Feng frowned. "Theoretically, that could work, but ordinary flames have very little effect on it. Its Regeneration Ability is too strong..."

"We can try it first," Xu Wuyi interrupted him. "Get ready. We’re leaving now."

Li Feng and Han Qingqing looked at each other again.

They saw the same doubt in each other’s eyes, but also a flicker of uncertainty.

This young man was too calm. So calm that it didn’t seem like he was bluffing.

"...Alright." Li Feng finally nodded. "Han Qingqing, go get the gear. Three sets of all-environment protective masks, Antitoxic Potions, and Signal Flares."

"Yes."

「 」

At one in the morning, the three of them left the outpost and stepped into the Rotting Swamp Forest.

The environment changed drastically the moment they entered.

The snow from the outskirts was almost gone, replaced by damp, soft black mud that reeked of rot.

A grayish-white miasma filled the air, and visibility quickly dropped to less than fifty meters.

Tall, twisted trees reached menacingly toward the sky, their bark covered in dark green moss and fungi.

From time to time, a CRUNCHING sound came from underfoot—the sound of snapping dry branches or sinking into the mire.

Li Feng walked at the front, holding a handheld Energy Detector. The waveform on its screen jumped continuously.

"The miasma is toxic, but the concentration isn’t high. The masks’ filtration systems can handle it," he said in a low voice.

"Watch your step. Some of the bogs are soft, and falling in is a real hassle. Also, watch above you and behind the trees. The vines controlled by the Rotting Wood Demon might attack without warning."

Han Qingqing walked in the middle. She had already deployed her Compound Crossbow, and a faint blue Energy sheen glinted on the Crossbow Arrow.

Xu Wuyi followed at the rear, spear in hand, his gaze sweeping over their surroundings.

He had already extended his Spiritual Power. At level 37.6, its range far surpassed that of Li Feng and Han Qingqing.

He could "see" the tangled network of roots underground, "hear" the faint rustling in the distance, and "smell" the woody, acrid stench hidden within the rot.

It was the scent of the Rotting Wood Demon.

"Energy readings are rising." Li Feng suddenly stopped, staring at the detector. "Ahead and to the left, about three hundred meters. There’s a strong life sign."

The three of them crouched low, using the trees for cover as they crept forward.

The further they went, the stranger the environment became.

The shapes of the trees grew more contorted; some even looked like humans writhing in agony.

Ghastly white branches, like bones, began to appear on the ground, and the woody, acrid stench in the air grew thicker.

Finally, they stopped at the edge of a relatively open clearing in the forest.

In the center of the clearing stood a massive, grotesque tree with a trunk more than three meters in diameter.

Its bark was dark brown and covered in tumor-like protrusions. Some of the protrusions were squirming slightly, as if something were breathing inside them.

The treetop had long since withered, leaving only a few bare branches reaching for the sky.

But surrounding the trunk were dozens of bowl-thick, dark green vines, slithering slowly across the ground like snakes.

"Is that it?" Han Qingqing asked, her voice low.

"No." Li Feng shook his head, pointing at the detector. "The reading’s off. This reaction is too weak, probably only around level 30. It might be an offshoot of the Rotting Wood Demon, or a decoy it’s using to attract attention."

Xu Wuyi stared at the grotesque tree, then glanced around.

In his perception, this tree was indeed just one piece of a larger whole.

Underground, a much larger and more complex network of roots spread out in all directions, connecting to something farther away.

The main body of the Rotting Wood Demon was likely located at one of the nodes in this root network.

"It moves around." Han Qingqing sounded a little discouraged. "We only found an offshoot. To lock onto the main body, we’ll have to follow the roots bit by bit. How long is that going to take...?"

Li Feng looked at Xu Wuyi. "What do you say? Do we start tracking it now, or do we fall back to the outpost and draw up a more detailed plan?"

Xu Wuyi didn’t answer.

He took a few steps forward, leaving the cover of the trees, and stood at the edge of the clearing.

"Mr. Xu!" Han Qingqing exclaimed in alarm.

Li Feng also frowned but didn’t stop him. He just tightened his grip on his blade’s hilt, ready to provide backup at any moment.

Xu Wuyi raised his right hand.

Palm up.

BUZZ—

Dark red Qi and Blood was forced from his palm, hovering and taking shape.

Immediately after, a wisp of dark golden flame rose from his Dantian, traveled up through his meridians, and came into contact with the Qi and Blood.

HISS!

A fist-sized, dark golden flame ignited in his palm.

The Undying Flame!

The moment the flame appeared, the surrounding temperature didn’t seem to rise noticeably, yet Li Feng and Han Qingqing both felt a sudden pang of dread.

It wasn’t a fear of high heat, but an instinctual fear of some kind of "concept."

It was as if the flame didn’t burn matter, but something far more fundamental.

With a thought, Xu Wuyi acted.

A small, fingertip-sized cluster broke off from the flame in his palm and drifted lightly toward the grotesque tree in the center of the clearing.

It flew slowly, like a feather.

But when it touched one of the vines squirming on the ground—

BOOM!

The entire vine was instantly engulfed in dark golden flames!

It didn’t spread from a single point; the entire vine ignited at the exact same moment.

The vine twisted madly, lashing the ground and making loud CRACKING noises.

But the flames didn’t go out. Instead, they burned even more fiercely, spreading rapidly along the vine to the other vines connected to it, to the roots in the ground, and toward the central trunk!

"This..." Han Qingqing’s eyes went wide.

Li Feng also drew in a sharp breath.

They had seen Fire Martial Artists fight. Their flames were either explosively fierce or insidiously corrosive, but they had never seen anything like this.

It was silent, relentless, as if it wouldn’t stop until its target was burned to nothingness.

And its speed of propagation was astonishing!

In just over ten seconds, the grotesque tree in the center was completely shrouded in the dark golden flames.

The flames flowed over the trunk. The tumor-like protrusions "melted" and vanished in the fire—not turning to ash, but simply disappearing.

What was even more terrifying was that the fire began to spread in all directions, following the network of roots underground.

Xu Wuyi could clearly sense that the roots touched by the flame were rapidly losing their vitality.

They weren’t being burned through; they were being disintegrated at a structural level, as if they had never existed at all.