“It's over!” William Harper was tightly bound by vines, the immense pressure on his chest making it nearly impossible to breathe. Was he really going to die here?

William Harper summoned all his strength, making a final struggle against the vines. If he could just hold on a little longer, the tree demon would die before he did!

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his arm, followed by a strange gurgling sound. William Harper struggled to lower his head and look at his arm, only to see a vine burrowing into his skin, drawing his blood from his body.

On the green vine, a stream of red blood flowed toward the tree demon.

Was he going to be sucked dry by the tree demon as well? Remembering those nauseating dried corpses, William Harper felt a deep sense of unwillingness surge within him. A powerful will to survive took over his body, and his energy burst forth once more. He struggled within the tree demon’s vines, nearly breaking free several times.

The crack in the tree demon’s heart slowly widened, and the entire heart swelled like an inflating balloon, expanding rapidly.

Suddenly, the tree demon let out a piercing scream. Its green leaves turned blood red, its body swelling uncontrollably until—with a loud bang—it exploded. Countless severed vines flew in all directions, blood rained down, drenching William Harper.

William Harper suddenly felt the pressure on his body ease. He flipped over and fell from the sky, staggering to his feet, gasping for breath. Looking at the ground ahead, he saw utter chaos, with broken vines scattered everywhere.

In the end, the tree demon still failed to outlast him. But the tree demon’s final self-destruction was just too bizarre, a little too unnatural.

William Harper looked down and saw a faint golden hue in the blood flowing from his arm, just like the blood of the Ancestral Dragon from before. Could it be that after crossing over, his body had also undergone some kind of mutation?

Suppressing his doubts, he applied some healing medicine to his wound, which quickly healed.

He rummaged through the remains left by the tree demon’s self-destruction and found a pale green wood-element core. It was only at the initial stage of the lower Xuan level, but to William Harper, it was priceless. William Harper’s soul ring contained many items, but aside from a few things like the cold iron scalpel, most were beyond his current level to use. So this core was extremely valuable to William Harper right now.

William Harper put away the wood-element core, planning to refine it when he had time.

William Harper searched through the nearby dried corpses. These bodies were all disciples of the Hao clan; maybe one or two of them had left behind some treasures. All the immortal swords had been drained of their spiritual energy, reduced to piles of scrap metal, useless now. He walked over to a fresh corpse, whose owner looked only six or seven years old. He found a damaged storage pouch, and after searching through it, saw that all the pills and such had long since been eaten by the tree demon, leaving only two black iron nails.

William Harper examined them and figured they must be hidden weapons of some sort, coated with deadly poison. The tree demon hadn’t dared to touch them, which was why they survived.

This corpse had a waist token hanging from its belt. William Harper bent down and picked it up. The token was crystal clear and pure white, of much better quality than William Harper’s own.

All the other corpses’ tokens had been destroyed, but this one had survived!

On the token was written an ancient character: Hao. This must be an inner sect token of the Hao clan. To think an inner sect disciple had died here—William Harper was a bit surprised, guessing this was a disciple out training from the inner sect.

Inner sect members were usually exceptionally talented, able to reach the innate realm before the age of five, with awakened intelligence and some strength by six or seven. Normally, they should have had no trouble traveling and training in the world of fortune, but they’d encountered a rare tree demon that had cultivated to the Xuan level, and lost their life. Every inner sect disciple was extremely precious to the Hao clan, yet one had died here. The inner sect would surely investigate soon.

After thinking it over, William Harper put away the inner sect token. Finding nothing else, he was about to leave when a faint demonic aura made him shudder. A white shadow flashed through the distant bushes.

William Harper got a good look at it and chuckled—it was just a palm-sized little white tiger. Even if it had cultivated into a demon, it probably hadn’t fully formed yet. It seemed that after being ambushed by the tree demon, he was seeing threats everywhere.

The little white tiger had a round head, looking adorably fierce. It didn’t seem afraid of William Harper at all, wobbling out of the bushes, sitting on the ground, licking its paw with its tongue, and curiously watching William Harper.

“You’re probably not even a year old yet. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you go. Run along now, and don’t come back,” William Harper said. He was in a good mood—this was the first time he’d ever shown mercy. He ignored the little white tiger and turned to leave.

At that moment, a long howl echoed from the sky, like a chanting Sanskrit hymn, rolling in with a heavy, deep resonance that shook the soul and made it impossible to move.

This was the Hao clan’s Heavenly Sound Break. Anyone able to cultivate this technique was at least a top-level expert. The sound seemed both near and far, perhaps coming from a thousand miles away.

William Harper was also a bit curious about the Hao clan’s martial arts. As an outer sect disciple, he’d only ever encountered the most superficial aspects of their techniques.

There was some commotion behind him. When William Harper looked back, the little white tiger was already gone—probably scared off by the Heavenly Sound Break.

“This little guy sure runs fast.” William Harper leapt away, disappearing into the depths of the forest.