Chapter 356: Chapter 289: The Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Tree, Cui Xiabing’s Ambition!_1
In the valley.

Cui Xiabing was sensing the environment of the entire valley with a serious face, as she had awakened over thirty ancient trees, each with a lifespan of over a thousand years, into war treants.

These ancient war treants were powerful; besides controlling a large number of vines and roots, their unique attributes also gave birth to different innate abilities.

For example, a silver needle tree of a thousand years could shoot arrow-like silver needles.

The poison leaf tree could emit deadly toxins, which kept the jackal werewolves at bay.

The iron skin tree, with a body tough as steel, appeared like a steel-made war puppet, suppressing hundreds of lizard-men and jackal werewolves.

“Cui Xiabing, they used a fire attack,” said a figure who swiftly rushed from outside the valley.

“What? Fire attack! Have those lizard-men thought of that?”

“What should we do? Fire is naturally the bane of trees…”

“How about we split up and run? The valley is so big, they can’t possibly encircle the entire valley!”

Next to Cui Xiabing were four or five other students, all of whom had been accidentally transported to this area.

Originally, they too were being chased and killed by lizard-men and jackal werewolves; some were killed while others fled.

But they had gathered here under the influence of Cui Xiabing’s Shepherd Tree People, with the guidance and protection of the trees.

Cui Xiabing stopped the panicked group and said, “Don’t worry, my treants are ancient trees with their own intellect, not the kind of trees that can’t move; they don’t fear ordinary flames.”

“You all stay at the entrance of the valley and report any emergency at any time.”

Someone voiced their doubt: “Cui Xiabing, why do we have to keep guarding this valley?”

“Yeah, before the encirclement of the Cave Beastmen formed, we could have broken out. Why did we come back?”

“And Zhang Xiaojing and the others were captured, we don’t even know how they are now?”

Hearing their words, Cui Xiabing’s eyes also dimmed for a moment.

Originally, she had gathered seven people, hoping to return to the human camp by relying on the strength of everyone together.

Unfortunately, they were ambushed by the lizard-men!

Especially those Fallen Ones, who kept attacking by surprise and were powerful; out of the original group of seven, now only five remained.

Zhang Xiaojing, who came with her, and another student named Wang Dong had both been captured.

Now, it was unknown whether they were dead or alive.

Moreover, now…

Looking at the panicked group, Cui Xiabing could only grit her teeth and reassure them, “Don’t worry, as long as I can stay here, I can surely lead you all out!”

“Deep in this valley, there is an ancient willow tree that has lived for ten thousand years! It has developed its own consciousness, even awakening a trace of supernatural power.”

“I am going to awaken it as a treant; as long as the awakening succeeds, we will have a companion whose strength can match that of an epic level warrior!”

“By then, not to mention that group of lizard-men and jackal werewolves outside, even if it’s the entire Wilderness’s Cave Beastmen Tribe, I will not fear them!”

“Really?!”

Upon hearing what Cui Xiabing said, everyone around her was shocked.

Ancient trees with a lifespan of over a thousand years are already extremely rare, particularly those supernatural species that possess supernatural powers are even less common.

Most of them have turned into members of the Devil Clan or the Spirit Tribe, or some other tribes.

The ancient trees that Cui Xiabing had awakened in the past few days were ordinary trees, and even so, they had managed to hold off hundreds of lizard-men, jackal werewolves, and numerous Professionists.

One can imagine the terrifying strength of war treants.

And now, Cui Xiabing had said she found a supernatural species tree that had lived for ten thousand years — this was more unlikely than winning a big lottery!

Once it is successfully awakened as a treant, its strength would be unfathomable.

Epic level?

Legendary Level?

At this thought, everyone present became excited.

“Extraordinary trees with a ten thousand year history, how is that possible?”

“Ten thousand years… not even a normal Epic Level could live that long, right?”

“I know there are a few tree demons in the Devil Clan who have lived over ten thousand years, but I never expected to find one here!”

“And what kind of extraordinary tree is it that hasn’t awakened its self-awareness until now?”

“Shall we go take a look?”

Seeing everyone’s eager discussion, Cui Xiabing couldn’t refuse and could only say, “Follow me then, I too was guided by some mysterious force when I found it…”

The group walked deeper into the valley, and the scene before them quickly opened up.

What appeared before them was a broad canyon, surrounded by a thick fog.

A giant ancient tree with intertwined branches was rooted along the canyon’s sidewall, its massive roots even seemed to overturn the mountainside.

The tree’s trunk extended diagonally upwards into the sky, morphing into a dense canopy that covered the entire valley above.

From a distance, it looked like a vast mountain forest.

No one could have imagined that the woodland covering the top of the valley was actually the trunk of an ancient tree!

“This is a divine sign! It’s rooted on the side of the canyon, making its canopy parallel with the canyon; no wonder the Cave Beastmen Tribe hasn’t discovered it.”

“Every newly formed battlefield of other races has many treasures, and this ancient tree must also be counted as one of those treasures!”

“Definitely! If we could transport it back to our Blue Star…”

Just as they were excitedly discussing, a large number of vines suddenly spread around them, like giant pythons, encircling everyone in the middle.

The faces of the group changed dramatically, and they hurriedly clustered together. Cui Xiabing also quickly said, “Honored Ancient Tree, they are my companions, please don’t hurt them.”

“Companions… what are those?”

A hoarse yet profound voice came from the depths of the fog, forming ripples in the air.

Cui Xiabing quickly said, “Companions are friends, family, just like the ancient trees around you.”

“Family… I see…” the profound voice came again, “Yet I sense no tree spirit aura from them.”

“Never mind, I am suppressed by the rules of this world and can’t transform into a real tree spirit. If you can help me, I will serve you for a hundred years… I agree to this deal.”

Cui Xiabing’s eyes lit up fiercely, “Really, Honored Ancient Tree?”

“Yes,” the profound voice continued, “but my form and the life force within me are too vast, even with your help, it will take a long time to transform into a real tree spirit…”

Cui Xiabing said, “Please don’t worry, Honored Ancient Tree, my ability is specifically to transform trees into Shepherd Tree People. With my assistance, your transformation into a tree spirit will be greatly expedited.”

“Please rest assured!”

After leading the group out of the canyon, Cui Xiabing said, “You’ve heard it, this is a crucial moment for us; we can’t leave the place, we mustn’t give up halfway.”

“Otherwise, the ancient tree might be snatched away by the Cave Beastmen!”

“So we must stay here and wait until the ancient tree is successfully transformed!”

Someone asked, “How long do we need to defend?”

After thinking for a moment, Cui Xiabing replied, “Approximately… three days!”

“Three days…”

The faces of the group changed dramatically; they wouldn’t be able to hold out even for one day.

Cui Xiabing gritted her teeth and said, “This ancient tree is not only our hope for survival but also the biggest guarantee for Blue Star Humans to claim the Wilderness.”

“I will use my Shepherd Tree People talent to graze this forest for a short time. All trees will receive a brief life force to help me fend off the outside Cave Beastmen.”

“At the same time, I will also scout for any humans in this forest and have them assist us as quickly as possible.”

Cui Xiabing said, “Everyone, for the sake of our Humans, please help me!”