Chapter 265 - The Wishing Tree is Actually a Snob

"What?" The shamans felt strange, but their apprehension turned into horror as the young lady summoned the red dress behind her. Actually, no… this time, the red dress had the snow skin of the demon Hongfei. Her very image was enough for their skin to crawl as the wind seemed to have blown differently. The woman reflected the same smile on Qiao Shan's face, sending terror straight to the originally courageous shamans.

Even if they had been handling the Black March for a while, the shamans had never received the ire of the demons. Now that one was standing before them, they could only feel their knees buckling. "W-What are you?!"

Qiao Shan dropped the red cloths from her palms, letting Hongfei chuckle behind her. "I… have become death."

…

The faint light shone in the pitch-black void of a hallway, and Liu Xiaodan found himself on a rather familiar floor. It was easy to trace the central design of the Treatment Hall from the walls of the place. However, due to this maze-like attribute, it was hard to actually tell which part of the Treatment Hall they had gone to. It's just that the Mother, who had given them the coordinates, knew exactly they had been transported. 

Wasn't this the same place where the core of the maze formation was previously located? Why would this be the same place where Guangru went? 

Liu Xiaodan had known this place as one of the deepest parts of the Treatment Hall. It was once guarded by the Mother, but ever since she had gone to sleep, no one had kept an eye on it… until such a time that Guangru actually went to break the formation.

Still, he got a glimpse of God Raven gawking at the open double doors. Just one look at the black bird could tell the father that it was looking at a rather grand creature up ahead. From this distance, he could tell that Guangru was inside. As for why he couldn't detect him from afar… perhaps what awaited him could give an explanation.

"I should have known… no wonder he's very powerful…" God Raven murmured before turning to the father approaching from the side. "Xiaodan, are you ready?" 

"…Guangru had always been a tree…" Liu Xiaodan took a look at the center of the wide room. Where the formation stood hours ago now erected a dead tree with long and thick sharp branches. The twisted trunk was right in the middle while the dead branches and the fibrous roots took up the top and bottom of the image. However, he suddenly realized that there were dead bodies threaded through the roots. "What is he doing?"

"Being what he used to be…" God Raven almost shuddered. "I knew him more than I thought I do. He's that tree that used to rule over the dead village erected here before the one ravaged by the black things. He used to be the all-powerful wishing tree that brought prosperity to the land. It's just that the drought had dampened the humans' faith in him… so much more when that witch doctor came."

God Raven could remember that time. He was just a small-time greater ghost back when the ancient wishing tree was protecting the village from evil spirits like him. However, the tree wasn't hostile to them. If anything, the very spirit of the dead forest where everyone else was living in hung out with the wishing tree a lot. From the eyes of the ethereal, humans were born to make mistakes.

If the human asked for the wishing tree's blessing of safe passage, the spirits could not attack them. If the humans ventured into the forest at night for fun, it was already their misfortune if the spirits got to shred them apart. To those who are not mortal, the living humans were nothing but a source of entertainment and things to do.

Things began to change when the drought hit the village. Occasionally, the humans would do processions to appease the wishing tree as if it had the power over the weather and their crops. Of course, the wishing tree would try its best to plead moving spirits to find anyone to make it rain. To a small village with no deities to speak of, the tree couldn't do anything. 

...

"It must be hard for you to endure their cries..." God Raven had once seen a peculiar man standing next to the wishing tree. He was patting the sacred bark of the wishing tree, and he wasn't tying a wish onto the ropes on its branches. He continued speaking, "Do you know all the other villages are also suffering from drought? However, the village deities could make it rain somehow. 

"How about this? I will help you, but you have to do something in return for me." The man had a very confident smile on, but the wishing tree did not respond. He sighed after a few breaths. "I see, maybe I should tie a wish first. Here, I'm actually prepared. I'm a witch doctor who chases the plagues caused by the changes in nature, but the next village accused me of poisoning them instead.

"My wish is to find a home here. I will stop my antics, but if you need my help, you can call onto me. 

"Right now, I'll ask the farmers to help me dig a stream branching from the river up ahead. Can you grant them protection?" The man stayed and waited for a response, but nothing came even after he finished knotting the cloth containing the wish. He then patted the tree one last time before leaving.

God Raven, who was only the size of a human, moved through the shadows to find the man again, but it never knew where the man went. The river in question was in the dead forest, and it was also where some spirits take energy in case they couldn't find anything to eat. If the humans touched the river, would that mean they would lose their river? Even if they were guarded by the tree, the spirits would be angry.

The goggle eyes looked and looked, not getting a glimpse of the man again. Soon, a warm hand tapped against the crouching bird's head. When it turned, the witch doctor was standing behind it. With a smile that God Raven couldn't forget, the man spoke, "You're a spirit in the forest, right? Do you know if the wishing tree is actually a snob? He's not really responding to me..."

…

God Raven digressed in his mind. However, that only showed that the wishing tree never actually spoke to anyone else but the dead forest spirit and the family of that witch doctor. As for what he meant by 'being what he used to', this was what the wishing tree had become after the village burned and the witch doctor was killed. The tree revolted and killed the villagers, using their bodies as his food.

"He's feeding..." God Raven glared at the sight. "There's a live one among those..."