Chapter 4076 Treehouse

As the saying goes, you can guard against anything, but it's hard to guard against a thief within your own household. Who would have thought that the two attendants brought by the prince would be so bold as to plot against the swaying wood?

Although there were quite a few soldiers in golden armor on the road, their cultivation levels were not very high. The slovenly Taoist priest and I took multiple precautions, and we put many talismans on our bodies to conceal our aura. Unless you are a top expert, you won't be able to detect us at all.

I was worried that there might be some kind of ball-shaped magical artifact on the trunk of that swaying tree that could detect our presence.

At this point, it's a do-or-die situation, and there's no time to worry about anything else. Since we've decided to pull off this big heist, there's no turning back even if we hit a brick wall.

Before long, the slovenly Taoist priest and I were very close to the swaying wooden tree.

In the dead of night, there were hardly any people in the place, but a very strong smell of blood still lingered in the air.

There weren't any people specifically assigned to guard the swaying log. The main reason was that the outer areas were heavily guarded, while the area in the very center was much less guarded.

I think the main reason is that there must be a master guarding that swaying wooden post, and maybe more than one.

Seeing that no one was around, the slovenly Taoist priest and I went to the vicinity of the large, swaying tree. I took out some copper coins and yellow paper talismans, and the slovenly Taoist priest gave me a few scales of some unknown animal, asking me to use them to set up a magic array.

These scales can serve as the core of the formation, and their effect is quite strong.

Actually, the magic array set up with the Five Elements Command Flags is the most secure, but I'm afraid that I won't have time to remove the Five Elements Command Flags, and then I'll suffer a great loss.

I can't just leave my Five Elements Flag here to help Li Chao retrieve the Zhaoyao Wood; that would be a huge loss for me.

The Five Elements Command Flags are a very important magical artifact to me.

The slovenly Taoist priest watched from the side. While I was invisible, it took me about ten minutes to set up a relatively sturdy magic array. Even a mid-stage Earth Immortal would not be able to easily break this array. If it were a high-level Immortal, that would be another story.

After setting up the magic array, the slovenly Taoist priest and I jumped onto the stone platforms surrounding the swaying wooden tree.

Looking down at the stone platform, one could see nothing but human heads, each with a ferocious expression, and beneath them lay piles of white bones, all skulls.

Before this, the people of Guanxiong Kingdom had sacrificed countless lives to this swaying tree.

Humans are the spirit of heaven and earth, and the effect of human sacrifices must be stronger than that of livestock. This is just what the kings and nobles of the Guanxiong Kingdom thought. In reality, it was useless.

The slovenly Taoist priest and I hesitated for a moment, then swayed and jumped toward the swaying log. We then used our gecko wall-climbing skills to climb up the log.

This gecko wall-climbing technique is actually a very simple method. It involves channeling spiritual energy into the palms, creating a gecko-like suction force on the hands. Using this force, one can quickly climb upwards. This technique can be mastered by those with some cultivation level.

The swaying tree was growing rather strangely. The slovenly Taoist priest and I climbed up forty or fifty meters, but there were no branches at all. The trunk was bare and very smooth. However, after climbing fifty meters, thick branches appeared on top, and leaves grew on the branches.

The leaves were quite tender and very small, completely different from the ones the prince gave us.

We don't know how the people of this country with pierced chests harvest the leaves. Logically, the leaves at the top are the most tender, but the leaves at the bottom of the 'Zhaoyaomu' tree are actually the most tender.

Looking down at the swaying tree from below, you can't see the top at all. After coming up, I felt a little dizzy when I looked down.

At this moment, I dare not activate the magic array below in advance. Once activated, the magic array will generate Qi field fluctuations, which will surely alert the enemy.

Therefore, I can only activate the magic array and try to buy some time if anything changes up here and the people below learn of it and rush here.

Once on the swaying tree, the slovenly Taoist priest, that good-for-nothing, immediately plucked a handful of leaves and stuffed them into his Qiankun Eight Treasures Pouch.

"Luo Laoliu, can you tone it down a bit? Let's get the 'Swish Tree' first. These leaves aren't ripe yet, so there's no use for them if you take them." I whispered to him.

"How do you know it won't work? Maybe it's not very effective. Let's take it back first, just in case it works." The slovenly Taoist priest's ever-ambitious nature kicked in again, and I could only keep urging him to climb up quickly, as we didn't have much time left.

The tree seemed to have no end. The slovenly Taoist priest and I climbed for seven or eight minutes, and it still seemed like there was a long way to go. The leaves of the swaying tree were still all tender buds, and we didn't see any mature leaves.

The slovenly Taoist priest stopped picking leaves and followed me, quickly climbing upwards.

We climbed up for another ten minutes or so in one go, when suddenly I noticed something strange.

A wooden house appeared on the broad branches of the swaying tree, which proved that there were people there.

The slovenly Taoist priest had obviously also noticed the wooden hut. He patted me on the shoulder, signaling me to stay away.

So, the slovenly Taoist priest and I slid for another ten meters or so before he lowered his voice and said, "There must be a master in that wooden house. Let's stay away from it and go around it. I feel like we've only climbed a little over half of this 'Shaking Tree,' and there's still a distance to the top. If we start fighting now, we probably won't be able to find the heartwood of the 'Shaking Tree.'"

I responded and followed the disheveled Taoist priest uphill, soon arriving near the wooden house again.

The door to the cabin was closed, and it wasn't very big. There didn't seem to be any lights inside.

At that moment, a thought suddenly popped into my head: Could the expert living in the wooden house stay on this swaying tree forever? What would he do when he ate or pooped? Would he use the leaves of this swaying tree to wipe his butt?

Neither the slovenly Taoist priest nor I dared to glance at the wooden hut. We walked a long way around it and continued climbing up the swaying tree.

However, after the slovenly Taoist priest and I climbed up more than ten meters, I suddenly felt a tightness in my ankle, as if I was entangled by something. I looked down, but I couldn't see anything.

"Oh no, it seems we've been discovered..." the slovenly Taoist priest whispered to me.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the disheveled Taoist priest's figure suddenly appeared, and then seemed to be pulled down towards the bottom of the tree by a tremendous force!

Then, I felt a powerful force coming from my ankle, pulling me down.