Chapter 121: The Tree Core

Yang Hao stepped back to evade the Vine-Man’s attack. The green hue in his eyes faded, replaced by a surge of azure mist that swept forth like a rising tide.

"Ice Spirit."

His eyes turned entirely blue. As he uttered these two simple words, the temperature in the surrounding area seemed to plummet with every syllable.

"Do you guys feel like it’s getting colder?"

Ye Bai, Cao Xiaoseng, and Yao Ling were sitting near the burning remains of the tree-body puppet. Just moments ago, the raging inferno had begun to wither, and the scorching air was now laced with a biting chill.

Within the guard station—a facility capable of housing hundreds, if not thousands—ice crystals began to drift down like tiny snowflakes.

Xiao Mo placed Huang Di on her seat and watched the battle unfold in silence. On the display screen before her, tiny white snowflakes appeared in the air around Yang Hao under the sunlight, and his bio-armor seemed to be encased in a shell of blue ice crystals.

Not far away, the massive feet of the Tree-Vine-Man were frozen to the ground by the falling frost. Stray crystals drifted past its body, leaving shallow scratches in their wake.

Xiao Mo noted the display: the temperature around Yang Hao had dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

*Is this the power of a high-tier Growth-level?* Xiao Mo wondered. *To influence the very cycle of nature with a single gesture... Then how terrifying must those in the Inner Hall be?*

She remembered Yang Hao telling her and Huang Di that the minimum strength requirement for the Inner Hall was the Master level. Every squad consisted of one peak-level, one mid-level, and one entry-level Master, unlike the Outer Hall, where the presence of a single high-tier Growth-level was sufficient, regardless of the other members' strength.

Yang Hao’s blue eyes grew colder, as if he intended to freeze everything in his sight.

"Dragon's Roar."

His lips parted slightly. The water-attribute power within his body surged like a high-powered engine. Yang Hao held his hands out, as if waiting for something, then drew his arms into a circle, bracing himself as if to unleash a mighty shout.

The water-attribute energy in the air rippled rapidly, staining his surroundings a deep blue. Suddenly, the energy outside his body began to pull back in a frenzy. The white ice crystals dancing in the sky seemed to catch a tether, all converging toward the top of Yang Hao's head, where the shape of a dragon’s head began to manifest.

As Yang Hao held his stance, the white crystalline dragon eyes suddenly snapped open, and the previously closed dragon maw slowly parted.

"Execution."

Yang Hao roared. He raised his hands high, and the water-attribute power erupted from within him. It was as if a blizzard had descended; white ice crystals frantically condensed behind the dragon's head, forming a body, claws, and a tail.

"ROAR!"

A silver-white ice dragon appeared out of thin air, eyes blazing, teeth like snow, its white whiskers swaying in the wind. One could clearly see the sound waves of the dragon’s roar, with white ice crystals constantly condensing around the shockwaves.

The roar descended from the sky, the sound waves intensifying as they neared the Vine-Man. With a thunderous boom, the very ground seemed to sink.

The ten-meter-tall green Vine-Man turned entirely white. Its vines were covered in dense cracks, and deep within those fissures, white frost proliferated, threatening to encase the entire creature in ice.

"What was that sound?"

Yao Ling looked up, seeing blue light spilling from the direction of the guard station. Something seemed to appear in the sky, only to vanish as quickly as it came.

"It sounded like a dragon’s roar?"

During the entrance exams, everyone except Yao Ling had encountered a Frost Giant Dragon, and that was exactly how it had sounded. Ye Bai looked toward the guard station, his eyes flashing with a strange light, lost in thought. Cao Xiaoseng remained seated, dazed and trapped in his own world.

After unleashing the Dragon's Roar, the ice dragon circled in the air at Yang Hao's command, tilted its head toward the heavens, and shot upward. Frost drifted from its white tail, only to melt and evaporate before hitting the ground.

"ROAR! ROAR!"

Successive dragon roars thundered down. Two distinct sound waves could be seen in the sky, slamming into the frozen Vine-Man.

With a crisp *crack*, the sound waves shattered the ice encasing the Vine-Man. The creature, regaining its mobility, looked up at the diving ice dragon and tried to flee. But the dragon was too fast. It gave the tree-body no time to react; before the creature could even lift its unfrozen legs, the massive dragon swallowed it whole.

The dragon flashed like a streak of silver. Once it passed, the Vine-Man stood perfectly still, turned entirely blue. Only then did the echo of Yang Hao's command—"Execution"—finally fade away.

That final word was the straw that broke the camel's back. The blue Vine-Man shattered like brittle ice, its fragments scattering across the guard station, filling the massive crater created by their battle.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Blue light flashed in Yang Hao’s cold eyes. His form shifted rapidly, and a pair of blue wings sprouted from his bio-armor in an instant.

Just after the giant Vine-Man shattered, a green figure had emerged from the debris, fleeing desperately toward the edge of the station.

The blue wings left a trail of frigid air in the sky. When Yang Hao reappeared, he was already beside the fleeing tree-body. He gripped his right hand, and water-attribute energy condensed into a blue blade.

He thrust it directly into the tree-body, aiming to gouge out its core. Suddenly, a plea for mercy came from the creature.

"Human, don't kill me! Don't you want to know why I crossed the Sacred Wood Mountain range into human territory? Aren't you afraid of your Kings hunting me down?"

The tree-body felt the blade stop just inches from its crystal core. Had it been a second slower, the human warrior would have ripped it out.

Yang Hao paused, frowning as he considered this. "Tell me what’s going on. If I’m satisfied, I might leave your corpse intact."

He loathed such situations—delays while an enemy still lived often invited disaster. Yet, the frequency of such incidents had piqued his interest. If he could uncover the truth, it would be a massive achievement, perhaps even earning him guidance from a King.

The humanoid form of the vine-creature flickered with a sinister green light in its eyes. "The truth is, many of us from the Wood Clan were sent to your territory to stir up trouble. There were at least ten of us injected with the pollutant in my batch alone. The lower our rank, the more of us they use."

As it spoke, the sinister glow in its eyes intensified. Its hands and feet morphed into black vines, encircling Yang Hao.

"Brother, watch out!"

Xiao Mo’s voice suddenly rang in Yang Hao’s mind. "The tree-body is planning something!"

"HAHAHA!"

The tree-body being held by Yang Hao laughed maniacally. "Die! Everyone die! Let’s all perish together! No creature can escape this fate!"

No sooner had the words left its mouth than the creature turned pitch black and exploded. The entire world seemed to be swallowed by a pillar of black light. Yang Hao, caught too close to react, was instantly engulfed.

Following a deafening explosion, the guard station—already nearly filled with the debris of the Vine-Man—was blown into an even larger and deeper crater.

"Brother!"

Xiao Mo stared, frozen, as Yang Hao was consumed by the black pillar. They had executed many missions together, and Yang Hao had always been invincible. How could this happen?

*BOOM.*

Ye Bai and the others, sitting under the tree, felt the ground shake. A thunderous roar followed, and leaves began to rain down from the mutated tree. They looked toward the guard station—only the battle there could cause such a commotion.

They saw the black pillar of light piercing the heavens. Even from this distance, they could feel the violent, tyrannical energy hidden within it.

"Is it trying to destroy the entire guard station?" one of them muttered.

The Black Kylin vehicle hovering in the air was tossed dozens of meters away by the shockwave. Its plasma shield shattered, and the impact caused both Xiao Mo and the unconscious Huang Di to cough up blood.

Xiao Mo ignored her injuries and scrambled out of the vehicle, desperate to find Yang Hao at the epicenter. But the moment she stepped out, her mind was flooded with intrusive sensations, as if something were being forced into her brain. In an instant, the scene before her shifted.

"Look at that seductive look on her face. Who knows what secret deals she has with the brother from the Main City?"

"Heh heh, exactly. So young, yet so cunning. She has a bright future ahead of her."

Xiao Mo saw two women mocking a young girl passing by—a girl who was, in fact, her younger self.

"Ye Bai." Suddenly, the scene shifted, like a mirror shattering, only for another to appear. Xiao Mo called out Ye Bai’s name while stumbling forward.

"Mo’er, it’s been so long. Did you miss me?" The Ye Bai before her grinned with an evil expression, walking toward her with a strange, undulating gait.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms, his other hand reaching for her belt. He whispered things she had never heard before, causing her face to flush crimson.

Just as he leaned in to kiss her, Xiao Mo shoved him away. "Who are you? You’re not Ye Bai!"

"Who am I? Am I not the Ye Bai you dream of?" The smile on his face grew more twisted.

Xiao Mo ran in the opposite direction, trying to escape him. "Where... where exactly is this place?"