Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

On the cliffs on either side of the canyon, among the vine-armored guards who had been controlling the rotten heart willow vines on the plank road, dozens of shadow guards, their faces smeared with a special blood-red paint, suddenly appeared, like awakened puppets, their eyes instantly blazing with a crimson glow! They let out inhuman roars, recklessly dropping the vines in their hands and leaping from the cliffs like mad tigers descending the mountain! Their target—the black-armored vanguards fighting the poisonous vines and the frenzied soldiers below!

These shadow guards were fearless and undaunted! Their bodies twisted and deformed in mid-air! It felt as if countless poisonous insects were wriggling beneath their skin! Upon landing, they ignored the blows of swords and knives, and like self-destructing poison sacs, they madly pounced on the nearest black-armored soldier! Their bodies violently expanded and exploded upon contact, spurting out a thick, dark green slurry that reeked of sulfur and corruption!

"Pfft——!"

"Ugh—!"

The armored soldiers splashed by the dark green liquid instantly let out shrill howls! Their skin, corroded by strong acid, quickly festered and smoked! Their muscles and bones spasmed and twisted in excruciating pain! Even more terrifying, the liquid seemed to contain a potent mental toxin, instantly sending the nearby soldiers into an even more violent frenzy of slaughter!

Chaos! Even more devastating chaos! The Xuanjia vanguard's formation was instantly shattered by these self-destructing poisonous people! Meng Zhi's roar was drowned out by the crazy howling and explosions!

"Damn it!" Ying Qi was disturbed by the sudden chaos and his movements paused slightly!

Agula seized this crucial opportunity! A fierce gleam flashed in his eyes! He suddenly stuffed the bone whistle into his mouth and blew it again!

"Woo——!!!"

A sharper and more piercing whistle!

This time, the whistle's target was the massive Rot Heart Willow tree deep in the canyon below, rooted among piles of bones and temporarily suppressed by the flames of the black-armored soldiers!

Om-! ! !

The massive, pitch-black trunk of the Rot Heart Willow, resembling the coils of countless pythons, trembled violently! Countless pale flowers swayed wildly from the treetops! From deep within the stamens, a pale green pollen a hundred times richer than before, carrying a powerful hallucinogenic and paralyzing toxin, gushed out! Like a green sandstorm, the pollen instantly swept through the depths of the canyon, completely enveloping the area near the high platform!

“Uh… cough… cough…”

On the high platform, Han De, whose throat was being strangled by Helian Tieshu, inhaled the strong pollen, and his single eye instantly became bloodshot! A choking cough erupted from his throat! His strength to struggle quickly weakened!

Helian Tieshu was also choked by the sudden pollen storm and froze in his tracks! He subconsciously loosened his grip on Han De's throat and covered his mouth and nose!

"Now!" A resolute light flashed in Agula's eyes! He suddenly tore off the black animal hide from his back! With all his strength, he threw it towards the platform—hard!

The package arced in the air! The hide fell apart, revealing a dark, twisted object covered in dense, dark red veins that pulsed like blood vessels.

A fragment of the sacred tree's heart! At the core of the fragment, a faint, dark golden light, yet carrying an ancient and barbaric aura, flickered faintly in the green pollen storm, like a sleeping beast opening its eyes!

"Stop it!" Helian Tieshu roared, and his huge palm suddenly grabbed the flying debris!

"Don't even think about it!" Ying Qi's figure emerged from the chaos like a ghost!

The short blade, with a sharp whistling sound that tore through the air, pierced straight into Helian Tieshu's giant palm that was grabbing at the fragments!

A fierce light flashed in Helian Tieshu's eyes! His other hand struck Ying Qi like a hammer! The wind from his fist whistled!

boom!

The short blade and the iron fist collided fiercely! Ying Qi groaned, and his body flew backwards like a kite with a broken string! Helian Tieshu's hand was also cut open, a bloody wound deep enough to see the bone! But he didn't care! His huge palm continued to grab the fragments flying towards the platform!

Just when Helian Tieshu's fingers were about to touch the fragments!

A sudden change occurred!

At the entrance to the canyon! On the heavily guarded stretcher!

Liu Yueli's charred, broken, lifeless body, at the moment when the dark golden light at the core of the fragment of the sacred tree's heart flashed—

Suddenly! Violently! A convulsion!

"Uhhh-!!!"

An inhuman howl, filled with extreme pain and the aura of ancient barbarism, burst from the depths of her long-dead throat! Like the roar of a dying beast, it echoed throughout the entire canyon!

Next!

The charred, carbonized skin on her chest, stimulated by the green pollen storm, flakes off like burnt ash, revealing a horrific wound beneath, deep enough to reveal the bone and branded with dark animal patterns!

Deep within the beast pattern imprinted on the charred spine! That faint ember of dark gold! Like an ice cube thrown into boiling oil! Suddenly, it burst into an unprecedented, blinding, dark golden light!

The light was like a physical shockwave! With Liu Yueli as its center, it suddenly spread outwards, instantly dispelling the swirling poisonous miasma and pollen around it!

Forming a short and strange "clearance" area!

The moment the light comes on!

The fragment of the sacred tree's heart flew towards the platform! The dark golden light at its core seemed to be attracted by a fatal force from the same source! It suddenly flashed violently! The fragment itself strangely froze in mid-air!

Then, as if being pulled by an invisible giant hand, it suddenly changed direction! It no longer flew towards the platform! Instead, it flew like a meteor!

It shot towards the entrance of the canyon - the stretcher where Liu Yueli was!

"No!!" On the platform, Hua Yunhong lost his composure for the first time! Incredible horror and rage erupted from his narrow eyes! He lunged forward, trying to grab the fragment that had changed its trajectory!

But it's too late!

The fragment seemed to possess life! It disregarded spatial distance! It instantly crossed the chaotic battlefield! With incredible precision, it slammed fiercely into the exposed, charred wound on Liu Yueli's chest, branded with the same beast pattern!

Pfft——! ! !

Like a red-hot iron pressed into grease! The harsh sound of corrosion, accompanied by the strong stench of burning sulfur and flesh, rose to the sky!

"Uhhh-!!!"

Liu Yueli's body felt like it was being pierced by high voltage electricity! It suddenly arched upwards!

A more shrill, inhuman howl erupted from her throat! At the wound on her chest, the fragment of the Heart of the Sacred Tree twisted madly like a living thing! Trying to burrow deep into her flesh! The dark red lines on the surface of the fragment pulsated violently like blood vessels!

The dark golden light at the core and the dark golden light of the brand on Liu Yueli's spine flashed, collided, and tried to merge wildly!

An indescribable, terrifying aura, a mixture of ancient barbarism, scorching sulfur, bloody slaughter, and extreme pain, erupted from Liu Yueli's shattered body like an erupting volcano, instantly sweeping across the entire canyon!

Deep in the canyon, the massive mother plant of the Rot Heart Willow was struck by this same, yet violent, aura, as if struck by an invisible hammer! All its entwined branches convulsed wildly! The pale flowers instantly withered and died! The gushing pollen abruptly ceased!