Chapter 2195 Prayer Temple
In a moment, a group of tree spirit tribe members entered the Prayer Temple.
They were of the Wood tribe.
Fang Heng observed from the shadows.
Soon, several Wood tribe members roughly searched the entire temple and returned to the courtyard to report to the elders.
"Elders, we found nothing, nor any traces of battle."
"It seems something has happened."
Patriarch Harold of the Wood tribe furrowed his brow.
Since entering the Inner World through the teleportation passage, they hadn't seen a single member of the tree spirit tribe. Following the orders of the Great Elder, they immediately rushed to the nearest Prayer Temple to investigate.
But the temple was just as empty.
The Prayer Temple was extremely important to the entire tree spirit tribe.
Unless it was a matter of life and death, the tree spirit tribe would never abandon it.
Could it be...
They were too late...
As Harold pondered, he looked up and said, "Search the area, see if there are any traces left behind."
"Yes!"
Soon, another clan member hurriedly approached and reported, "Elder, we've checked, everything here is gone."
"What?" Harold frowned and asked, "Gone?"
"Yes, Great Elder. We found signs of tampering here, and they're fresh. It seems everything that was originally left behind is now missing."
The two Wood tribe members exchanged glances.
It was terrifyingly clean!
All the drawers were completely empty, and even the cabinets that stored kitchen utensils were devoid of anything.
It was as if they had stripped the walls bare.
"Hmm, it seems someone got here before us," Harold felt puzzled.
Was it people from other clans?
Why did they take everything?
And why was the search so thorough?
Were they looking for something specific?
After some thought, Harold looked up and said, "The Great Elder has already gone to the Elders Council, and all the major clans are gathering there. We'll stay here for now and guard the place. No one is allowed in until the Great Elder returns."
"Understood!"
Seeing that the tree spirit tribe showed no intention of leaving, Fang Heng also felt puzzled.
What were these people doing here?
Could it be that the Prayer Temple still served some special purpose?
For a moment, Fang Heng considered just grabbing a tree spirit tribe member and questioning them directly.
But after some thought, he determined against it.
At least for now, it wasn't suitable to completely turn against the tree spirit tribe.
It seemed that something significant had indeed happened within the tree spirit tribe.
From what he gathered from their conversation, were they all gathering at the Elders Council?
Why?
Fang Heng pondered.
Since entering the Inner World, apart from the current group of tree spirit tribe members, Fang Heng hadn't seen a single soul, not even monsters, except for some peculiar beetle-like creatures.
While these creatures had impressive defenses, their aggression was extremely low.
They posed hardly any threat.
It was difficult to imagine what external threat the tree spirit tribe could have encountered.
But dwelling on it wouldn't be productive. It was better to go check out the Elders Council!
Let's go!
Fang Heng wasted no more time. He departed the Prayer Temple and swiftly headed towards the direction marked as the Elders Council on the map.
...
The Inner World was vast.
A preliminary estimate suggested it was approximately 1.1 times the size of the real world.
The area Fang Heng was in was quite a distance from the Elders Council.
Despite having the ability to fly, it took Fang Heng more than a day of non-stop travel to reach the Elders Council.
During this time, Fang Heng continued to communicate with Mo Jiawei every four hours.
The situation at the teleportation passage was relatively good.
Ji Haiting secretly dispatched a group of OmniTech Company personnel to the Inner World to establish a camp.
Gu Qingzhu, on the other hand, led Mo Jiawei and a few others around the camp area, clearing some of the surrounding beetle-like creatures, but found no trace of the tree spirit tribe.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, the tree spirit tribe seemed to have vanished just as they had anticipated, as if the spiritual domain blockade had never occurred.
Amidst this apparent calmness, there seemed to be some hidden, looming crisis.
Huh?
As Fang Heng, in his bat form, swiftly flew towards the Elders Council domain, he suddenly noticed something, furrowing his brow and peering ahead.
A pale blue shield of light enveloped a large area ahead.
Judging from the map's indication, this was the domain of the tree spirit tribe's Elders Council.
According to some ancient tree spirit texts Fang Heng had previously examined, the main hall of the tree spirit tribe was situated at the top of the sacred tree's domain, considered by the tribe as a sacred place connecting heaven and earth.
"The withered sacred tree..." Fang Heng murmured.
Through the external barrier, Fang Heng saw a towering tree standing within.
The sacred tree of the tree spirit tribe!
The enormous tree rising into the dome had completely withered. Its once lush foliage had withered away, and its sturdy trunk had become dilapidated, covered in cracks.
Even the sacred tree had reached this state. It seemed the tree spirit tribe had indeed encountered significant trouble.
Fang Heng circled the area from above for a moment, then suddenly sensed something.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Over a dozen green arrows shot out from the vine-covered bushes below!
Fang Heng quickly twisted his body to evade, but several arrows grazed past him.
Instantly, vines wrapped around the areas where his body had been grazed.
"Bang!!"
Fang Heng exerted force, immediately breaking free from the vines and swiftly plummeting to the right.
Upon landing, Fang Heng rapidly reverted to his human form, observing his surroundings.
It was the tree spirit tribe!
The tree spirit tribe had employed a special concealment technique, blending perfectly into the surrounding forest. Fang Heng's perceptive vampire blood sense hadn't detected them.
Over a dozen hidden tree spirit individuals swiftly flew in the direction Fang Heng had fallen.
"Where is he?"
The tree spirit tribe members arrived but discovered no trace of Fang Heng, searching around in confusion.
"Where did he go?"
"Are you searching for me?"
"Who's there!"
Several tree spirit individuals heard a voice suddenly sound from behind them, their expressions changing abruptly as they turned to look behind them.
A human?!
A hint of astonishment flashed in the eyes of the tree spirit individuals.
It was indeed a human.
How did he appear here!
Fang Heng looked calmly at the several tree spirit individuals, preparing for the worst in his mind.
At the moment, he didn't want to engage in direct conflict with the tree spirit tribe.
Especially after eliminating the electronic spirit and gaining a contribution from the tree spirit tribe.
He couldn't afford to waste it.
Fang Heng contemplated cashing in his mission reward before things turned sour with the tree spirit tribe. He also wanted to check on his old friend, Senzo.
"Tree spirit tribe, I need to see your Great Elder, Senzo," Fang Heng requested.
Several tree spirit individuals exchanged glances, unsure of Fang Heng's origins upon hearing him easily mention Senzo's name. Could he have been brought into the Inner World by the Great Elder?
"Who are you?"
"Fang Heng."
Upon hearing this, the captain of the tree spirit patrol team looked surprised. This was Fang Heng?
Feeling that it wasn't safe to stay there, the captain determined to take Fang Heng back to see Senzo.
