50: The Demon Forest in Turmoil

When one Demon Tree spoke, the others also chimed in.

"Exactly! I heard there are three particularly vicious ones, killing everywhere they go. Now, over a hundred of our brothers have been killed by those three humans, it's truly detestable!"

"There's nothing we can do. Those brothers resisted with all their might, but they still ended up having their wood hearts dug out and their Springs of Life taken..."

Upon hearing this, several Demon Trees felt a sense of shared sorrow. They had lived for hundreds of years, staying here without ever leaving, yet they were invaded and hunted by wave after wave of humans.

"This is too much! I'm going to awaken the Tree King who survived the previous generation. I can no longer tolerate these humans. Even if there's a price to pay, we must make them suffer!"

"Yes, that's right! Kill the invaders, kill the humans!"

"Kill the invaders, kill..."

...As several Demon Trees cried out, more and more Demon Trees around them joined in, rising from the ground and heading towards the center of the Demonization Forest. There lay their King, the King who would preside over them!

Elsewhere, Ye Ming had just knocked down a Demon Tree and was about to retrieve its wood heart and Spring of Life when a series of rumbling sounds suddenly came from not far away, as if a terrifying giant beast was awakening, and the ground trembled violently.

What happened?

Ye Ming and the two Puppets exchanged glances, then looked up together towards the center of the Demonization Forest. They were the closest.

"Hahaha, you humans are finished! My King is about to awaken, just wait for death!"

A crazy laugh erupted from the fallen Demon Tree. It had lived for over five hundred years, experienced five human invasions, and had long since learned human language, harboring deep hatred for humans.

A strange human face appeared on the Demon Tree's main trunk, with distorted features, eyes of different sizes, a crooked mouth, and a long, curved nose.

Coupled with its crazy laughter, it appeared truly terrifying; an ordinary person would lose sleep for three days after seeing it.

However, Ye Ming merely frowned, not paying much attention to the Demon Tree's true appearance, but instead stared intently at it and asked, "You still have a Fourth-Rank Tree King, one that surpasses Third-Rank?"

"So what? Hahaha, you're going to die, haha..."

The Demon Tree's face was ferocious, staring intently at Ye Ming and the two Puppets, as if they were about to die soon.

Hearing that his guess was correct, Ye Ming's expression changed slightly, but the Demon Tree's laughter was truly annoying, so he slapped the Demon Tree to death, and the piercing, crazy laughter abruptly ceased.

Indeed, his ears were much clearer.

Ye Ming's expression also improved slightly, but he still needed to leave this place quickly. A Fourth-Rank Tree King was equivalent to a Nascent Soul True Lord. Even if he had five of himself, he would have no chance against the Tree King, let alone with only three of them.

The gap and changes between each Realm are too great; it's impossible to forcefully kill someone across a major Realm. Even if he reached Peak Golden Core, he could only barely contend with a Nascent Soul, and at this moment, his Five Elements Power was still so strong.

However, the oppressive aura he just sensed was not that of a newly advanced Fourth-Rank, but rather a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank. If a Golden Core dared to provoke a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank existence, he might as well prepare for his own funeral!

Thinking this, Ye Ming immediately cast Divine Concealment Art, flying away with the two Puppets, but he was actually unwilling to leave. He had only obtained 529 bottles of Spring of Life, which was less than half of what he had anticipated.

Among them were many First-Rank to Second-Rank Springs of Life, with only 291 bottles of Third-Rank. What a pity, he couldn't extract any more.

Although Ye Ming felt regret, his speed increased by another third, because he sensed that the Fourth-Rank Tree King had already awakened, and a terrifying oppressive aura came from behind him, making Ye Ming accelerate.

At the same time, several groups of people from different forces were also hunting Demon Trees in the Demonization Forest. Before long, they also felt the rumbling sounds coming from deep within the forest. Some people realized what was happening and turned to flee, not even bothering to pick up the wood hearts on the ground.

However, some thought it was the emergence of a treasure and rushed directly towards the source of the rumbling sound. Once they went, they were never seen again.

As time passed, everyone in the Demonization Forest knew that a Fourth-Rank Demon Tree had appeared, and they all desperately fled the area. If it were a newly advanced Fourth-Rank, they might have gathered everyone in the area to kill this Demon Tree together.

But it was a Middle Stage Fourth-Rank! Gathering everyone would just be sending them to their deaths. It was better to run!

Half a day later, the entire Demonization Forest finally quieted down, and no one came to this area anymore, though it was only temporary.

Elsewhere, in a certain part of Blood Jiao Lake.

Ye Ming had returned. He had said that after finding Cold Beauty, he would try the taste of these Blood Python Snakes if he had the chance. Now that he had time, he naturally wanted to kill a few snakes to taste them.

"Hiss~"

A twenty-zhang-long, red, Middle Stage Third-Rank great python slowly crawled out of a patch of grass. Its belly was bulging, clearly having just finished a meal and returning, intending to rest in its nest.

Suddenly, the python felt a sense of danger. Before it could react, a large white cloud-like hand descended from the sky, directly smashing its head. Even its gallbladder burst, and its body twitched unconsciously a few times before going limp.

As soon as the Blood Python Snake died, three figures appeared nearby: Ye Ming and the two Puppets. As this python passed by, Ye Ming and his companions had been observing it from the side. Ultimately, Ye Ming made his move.

He wanted to see if a Blood Python Snake could survive with its head completely smashed. The result was obvious: it died.

Looking at the dead Blood Python Snake, Ye Ming waved his hand. Cold Beauty understood, walked to the python's corpse, and began to process it.

Extracting the demon core, skinning the snake, portioning the meat, draining the blood—her movements were fluid and seamless. In less than ten breaths, the entire snake was processed. This was something she learned in the Ye Immortal Residence; her master liked to eat, so she learned hundreds of cooking techniques!

Seeing Cold Beauty's perfect handling, Ye Ming clapped his hands and smiled at her encouragingly, "Excellent, Cold Beauty, you have truly inherited my teachings. It won't be long before you surpass me!"

"It's all thanks to Master's excellent teaching. Cold Beauty's culinary skills will never compare to Master's in a lifetime!" Cold Beauty lowered her head, responding to Ye Ming with a serious tone.

Seeing her serious expression, Ye Ming merely shook his head and chuckled softly, not mentioning it again, but instead changed the subject. Cold Beauty's cooking had already caught up to his.

"Let's go, find a place for a grand meal!"

"Yes, Master!"

Cold Beauty and the others responded and followed Ye Ming to find a good spot.

They searched for fifteen minutes and finally found a mountain cave with relatively fresh air. The previous owner of the cave was a Second-Rank large black bear. It was usually quite clean, but it never expected that this very habit would bring its bear life to an end.

"Good. We'll add four bear paws later!"

Looking at the black bear's corpse on the ground, Ye Ming smiled slightly. He had long wanted to try the taste of Yao Beast-level bear paws.

"Okay, Master!"

Cold Beauty immediately went to process the black bear, perfectly cutting off the four bear paws. Afterwards, she began to set up a pot, start a fire, and prepare for the python feast!