After traveling through vast stretches of primeval forest, Xiao Chen and the others finally began to close in on their destination.
"Ya-ya ya-ya…" Keke leaped onto Xiao Chen's shoulder, stretching out a small beast claw to point at the mountain ranges ahead.
"Roar…" "Howl…" … Suddenly, from among those peaks came the sound of draconic roars, causing the entire mountain range to tremble. The trees shook violently, and fallen leaves swirled through the air.
There was no way it could be a single ancient ferocious dragon—judging by the sound, there were no fewer than seven or eight!
Xiao Chen silently groaned. It seemed he had truly stumbled into a nest of savage beasts. And this little one, Keke, apparently had a fearsome origin!
The lotus marks on the forehead bones of the three skeletons flashed with light. They watched their surroundings warily, their joints cracking loudly, clearly sensing the danger ahead.
"Keke, did you really live in a lair of vicious beasts before? What kind of little savage beast are you, anyway?"
Keke was very displeased, apparently offended by Xiao Chen calling it a little savage beast. Huffing, it jumped onto Xiao Chen's head and grabbed wildly at his hair, leaving his long locks in a complete mess.
"Alright, alright, I'm afraid of you." Xiao Chen hastily caught it and set it on the ground.
Entering this mountainous terrain, he could clearly see many enormous claw prints—all from ferocious dragons! Climbing over a ridge, Xiao Chen beheld a shocking sight: a black mountain range glittering with dark light stretched across several mountain chains! It sparkled like polished black jade.
Keke bounded happily across the skulls of King Qin, King Yanluo, and King Wheel, clearly having reached its home. Then it leaped down joyfully and ran toward the black-jade ridge ahead. Xiao Chen and the three skeletons followed closely behind. Since they had come this far, they could not turn back just because of the dragon roars nearby.
But as they neared the black-jade ridge, Xiao Chen froze. He realized that the so-called black mountain range looked exactly like… a tree trunk! A gigantic tree trunk lying fallen among the mountains, glittering with dark light.
Drawing closer, Xiao Chen was utterly stunned. The black mountain range was indeed a tree trunk. Following it a short distance, he could see enormous branches spreading outward.
This was inconceivable!
The trunk was as thick as a mountain range. If this glittering black giant tree were still alive, still standing on the earth, how tall would it be? It would pierce the clouds! It could only be called a Celestial Tree.
Not far ahead, the ground was shattered, as if a terrible earthquake had struck. Nearly all the peaks had collapsed, and the occasional standing stone mountain was filled with huge cracks. Most of the terrain had sunk. If one set aside the crumbling stone peaks, this place could be described as an extremely broad basin. The basin was strange—mostly rock, and even where there was soil, not a single blade of grass grew. It was utterly dead.
The Celestial Tree extended this far and then broke off. The enormous canopy, of unknown size, was nowhere to be seen, seemingly buried underground along with the shattered mountain region, leaving endless room for imagination.
One could not help but wonder: had a great catastrophe occurred here long ago? Countless peaks shattered, the ancient Celestial Tree's crown broken off?
"Eh, where's Keke?" Xiao Chen suddenly noticed that Keke had vanished.
"Crack crack crack…" King Wheel comically clacked its jaw, pointing toward the other end of the divine tree, indicating that Keke had run in the direction of the roots.
"Let's go take a look too." Xiao Chen and the three skeletons quickly followed.
Although the Celestial Tree, like black jade, had long since withered and fallen among the mountains, it was still as tall as the surrounding peaks. It was far too massive—like a mountain range lying there, more imposing than any of the nearby summits.
Xiao Chen and the others traversed dense forests for nearly two and a half miles before approaching the broken root of the ancient tree. And those two and a half miles did not represent the true length of the trunk, since a large section of both trunk and canopy had been completely destroyed.
The broken root of the Celestial Tree was equally awe-inspiring. The stump on the surface of the ground was as vast as a mountain, both thicker and taller than the nearby peaks. Truly breathtaking! Several enormous exposed root systems were like mountain ranges in themselves, vanishing into the distant earth, leaving one speechless.
"Roar…" "Howl…"
Draconic roars sounded nearby, as if seven or eight ferocious dragons were bellowing. Not only that—there seemed to be other savage beasts howling like thunder.
Any creature daring to roar in a territory frequented by ferocious dragons was undoubtedly a primeval beast no weaker than the dragon race!
This place, as Xiao Chen had guessed, was truly a nest of vicious beasts!
"Where is Keke?" Xiao Chen looked around, worried that Keke had run into the mountains, into the area where so many savage beasts were roaring.
"Crack crack…" King Qin worked its jaw, pointing toward the stump of the divine tree.
The stump was also pitch-black and glossy, like polished black jade. Xiao Chen looked up and saw Keke climbing the smooth, mountain-sized trunk like an agile little monkey, already nearly half a mile above the ground.
The three skeletons seemed eager to climb up and see for themselves. Xiao Chen laughed. "Alright, let's go up and check out this little savage beast's lair."
Only pract.i.tioners of their caliber could scale such a surface, for the ancient tree's trunk was as smooth as jade, offering little purchase.
The stump of the divine tree was about fifteen hundred meters high, while most of the mountains on Dragon Island were under thirteen hundred meters. The stump stood taller than the surrounding thousand-meter peaks.
When Xiao Chen and the others reached the top, they were shocked once more. The top of the stump was perfectly flat, as if it had been cleanly severed by a sharp weapon—definitely not broken by any other cause!
A divine tree trunk as thick as a mountain, cut off cleanly—this was utterly unbelievable. It led one to imagine many things…
The severed surface was also gleaming with dark light, the same color as the trunk. It was extremely broad, equivalent to a flat-topped mountain.
In the distance, Keke was walking aimlessly, looking lost and forlorn. Xiao Chen approached and saw that its bright eyes were filled with confusion, like a lost child, pitiful and helpless.
"Keke, what's wrong?"
Keke, for once, was not being mischievous. It quietly lay down, curling up on the ground, and began to whimper—like a lonely child crying, like a wounded little beast that had lost its mother, lying there pitifully without moving. Moisture gathered in its large eyes.
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