In truth, Li Yunmu greatly desired to completely destroy the forest, but he was afraid that if everything was destroyed, the exit would also vanish. Then their last hope of returning to the western region would be destroyed.
Li Yunmu didn't dare to take such a risk casually so he tried to locate the exit first. If Yuan Biyao had really found it, then the situation looked pretty good for them.
However, when Li Yunmu reached the place where the ancient secret method was guiding him, he couldn't even see the shadow of Yuan Biyao.
That was strange! Yuan Biyao wouldn't trick him, so something unexpected had to have happened.
While he was pondering over, he caught sight of movement under his feet. The branches growing like thorns and thistles suddenly coiled around his feet and didd their utmost to drag him away.
It was quite likely then that Yuan Biyao was dragged away , but fortunately, she was a spirit, so Li Yunmu only needed to take out the secret ancient method and she would return inside it.
Because of the roots, Li Yunmu soon sensed the monster's location.
"You damned tree spirit!"
A hint of coldness flashed in his gaze, and the devil punishing sword chopped the thorns and thistles to free him. The vine shrank afterwards, and Li Yunmu chased after it until he found the exit Yuan Biyao had notified him about.
It was protected by an enormous tree spirit. Its body was gigantic, and countless vines twisted around it, one of which was trapping Yuan Biyao.
Li Yunmu was slightly startled upon seeing her. Just a moment ago, he had used the ancient secret method to collect her back. Could it be… that if someone was entangled by the tree spirit, that technique couldn't be used?
That tree spirit's countless vines suddenly took the initiative to attack Li Yunmu. He was extremely fast and evaded them, then he used Transformation to fade away, so it was impossible for them to catch him. By relying on the ability to become invisible, Li Yunmu approached the vine holding Yuan Biyao.
The instant he showed himself, the devil punishing sword in his hand chopped through the vine, and Yuan Biyao fell into Li Yunmu's embrace. Li Yunmu then operated the ancient secret method to turn Yuan Biyao into a spirit and collected her into the book.
It would be better if he was by himself in such a dangerous region; there was no need for Yuan Biyao to face the same danger. It wasn't his way of doing things.
Li Yunmu took a deep breath. Without a burden like Yuan Biyao, he could quickly destroy the tree spirit.
The countless vines of the tree spirit rushed to hit Li Yunmu, and the devil punishing sword in his hand flickered with golden light, which made all those vines shrink back.
The tree as enormous as the sky had two large eyes which were constantly blinking and a mouth issuing ghost-like wails and wolf-like howls.
Li Yunmu narrowed his eyes and calmly observed the tree spirit not far from him. He then said with complete calm, "So your weak point was your body! Are you afraid of the devil punishing sword in my hand?"
Li Yunmu hadn't finished speaking when the tree spirit burst out with its full strength. The countless vines attacked, but the devil punishing sword flickered with golden light once more and stopped them in their tracks.
Then, the devil punishing sword stabbed one of the tree spirit's large eyes. Endless black blood flowed out and dyed the devil punishing sword.
Li Yunmu was somewhat astonished to see that this devil punishing sword surprisingly absorbed the black blood.
He took a deep breath and indifferently said, "Has the tree spirit already been destroyed?"
He collected the devil punishing sword, and an enormous explosion happened in the tree spirit's body!
Boom!
After the loud sound, Li Yunmu quickly used the metal body transformation to avoid the explosion.
"Repulsive! This tree spirit is really crafty! It wanted to take me down with it while facing death's door?"
After the explosion of the tree spirit, Li Yunmu's eyes filled with shock. Countless broken body parts had fallen everywhere. It seemed like the tree spirit had eaten many people and was in the process of digesting them when it met Yuan Biyao.
Upon seeing the gory sight, Li Yunmu almost vomited. He forced himself to endure it, however. Killing the tree spirit could be regarded as getting rid of evil.
Just a moment ago, it had even wanted to swallow Yuan Biyao. However, since there was no human presence in her body, it chose to treat her as a bait. It wanted to use her human appearance to attract its prey.
After thinking about it, Li Yunmu heaved a sigh of relief and went to observe the exit that was not far away from him. It was the same as the entrance he saw when he entered the eastern domain for the first time.
There was a spatial vortex constantly spiraling as if it was a time travel door.
Li Yunmu stepped inside and finally returned to Scandinavia. After all they had experienced, he intended to let Yuan Biyao and Ling Youren have a proper rest inside the ancient secret method.
Returning to Land of Ice felt like coming back to a past lifetime. Since he went from there to central region's desert to eastern domain's Ancient Lands, then again to the northern part's Land of Ice, even he didn't know how much time had passed.
Perhaps he could have returned to Scandinavia long ago if he hadn't needed to recover his cultivation. Right then, however, he had already recovered his strength. Upon returning to Scandinavia, his confidence also increased greatly. At least he wouldn't Zeus leverage to use against him.
When Li Yunmu reached the rainbow bridge, Heimdall looked at him with some shock.
"You-you have returned alive from the eastern domain?" he asked with a hint of incredulity in his voice.
"What? Someone said I died in the eastern domain? No, right..."
"When you were in the central region, helping to unite the Two Poles of Morning and Evening, we all heard that you lost your cultivation, which also reached Zeus. He then allied with the southern region's Heavenly Eight to attack Scandinavia. In the end though, Scandinavia and Heavenly Gods Council joined hands, and the Eight were forced to retreat back to their lands."
Li Yunmu smiled. "So many things happened while I wasn't here. Seems like you guys worked hard!"
"I will send you off to the palace! Princess and the others are waiting for you!" Heimdall promptly said.
Li Yunmu nodded and stood on the rainbow bridge platform. Instantly, he returned to the palace.
His return filled everyone with great excitement!
"Princess, Li Yunmu has returned!"