Chapter 266 - I'm Scared

Liu Xiaodan only stared at the black bird. After asking about the witch doctor, he didn't actually hear another word from the black bird. It seemed that the black bird was busy recalling something and had ended up ignoring Liu Xiaodan. Still, that didn't make Liu Xiaodan feel bad.

Actually, that form was different from the ancient demon form that Guangru had taken. This one… was a real tree. The form Liu Xiaodan had seen before was a humanoid version of a walking dark bark with a pareidolic face. Perhaps, this was Guangru's most natural form. Then again, he was a wishing tree? Wouldn't that mean that he… was once a spirit that was filled with positive energy? Was that why the guardians were helping him out?

Then again, God Raven ended up speaking again as if waking up from its daze on its own. "He's feeding. There's a live one among those..."

"Feng?" Liu Xiaodan twitched and walked closer, climbing the roots that would move slightly as he passed them by. God Raven remained outside, scared of being eaten by the ancient demon. The father continued until he got to the middle. From there, he looked around, soon seeing Li Feng in a very bad condition. The roots had stabbed into his body, and his skin was beginning to turn into gray from the wounds.

Liu Xiaodan reached out and touched Li Feng's face, tilting it a little as if checking whether the poor man was conscious or not. He then turned to the forming pareidolic face on the back of the tree. "Guangru, you should release him. Can you do that for me?"

"Who… are you?" The low howl coming from the rustling branches had produced words in Liu Xiaodan's mind. He then walked towards the bark, unafraid and even daring enough to walk on that big root. The branches started to move as if preparing to stab Liu Xiaodan's body. Just a few more steps, and the tree would retaliate.

"Guangru, I heard that Feng completed your seal. Is this a side effect of what they had to you?" Liu Xiaodan didn't care about the branches, but he stopped walking and just stood three meters from the pareidolic face. "Guangru, it's me. My name is Liu Xiaodan. I have promised you that I will grant your wish to be born. Can you remember the night when we met?"

"...you're my father?" The low howl asked, and Liu Xiaodan spread his arms as if welcoming the tree. He answered, "I might not be fully human, but I am… I am your Baba. You can taste my blood and find your faded blood on it. We have been together for a very long time. Guangru, I need you to come back to me."

The wishing tree only stared with its unmoving pareidolic face. It continued to stare at Liu Xiaodan, but it could feel any familiar feeling. However, how did this man know of his dream? His very own wish?

Shatter! The wishing tree's soft look suddenly hardened as he felt that something had entered his deemed territory. Even Liu Xiaodan reacted to the strong presence of a demon screaming its assertive dominance over the place. The wishing tree made the branches dance wildly, expressing his anger.

"Guangru! Wait, stop!" Liu Xiaodan felt the tremor from underneath his feet when the roots moved accordingly. The tree then started crushing the bodies that he collected to feed on. At this rate, even Li Feng would be crushed by the powerful roots. The father then ran back to the shaman and tried to pull on the roots that moved forward, making Li Feng groan as the wounds grow bigger. "Guangru, don't make me hurt you!"

"Help..." Liu Xiaodan twitched as he heard Li Feng's soft voice. His eyes moved to take a look at Li Feng's face, and he actually saw a crying man. Since a root was wrapped around his face and was invading through his mouth, Li Feng could only cry and make muffled noises. However, these words were quite clear to the father. "Xiaodan..."

Asana suddenly materialized from the blood Liu Xiaodan bleed from his hand. The spawned King used its heavy foot to crush the roots that were in front of Li Feng. When the wood broke, the body fell down, and Liu Xiaodan carefully pulled out the one inside Li Feng's throat. Of course, this action had hurt the wishing tree. Low howling came from the winds, but Liu Xiaodan actually gritted his teeth and unleashed the other Kings.

The pareidolic face shifted, and the gigantic humanoid creature with antlers and huge arms emerged from the bark. This was the Guangru Liu Xiaodan had seen before. However, there was a dark miasma that circulated Guangru's demon body. As it was Guangru's power, Liu Xiaodan couldn't summon the miasma as well—he could only resort to the blood mist coming from his actual body.

"Guangru, don't make me do this. I want my baby back..." Liu Xiaodan didn't know what to do. He couldn't possibly stand against Guangru. Not only was he unwilling to harm the child, but he was also clear that he couldn't win against the child.

"How dare you…!" The howling resounded, and the creature dashed towards Liu Xiaodan. Its hand was actually a broken bark with five broken stems as fingers. The edges on it looked extremely sharp and could easily decimate anything on its path.

Bang! Cyclops and the rest attacked. However, the angered demon was the most powerful to date. One blow was enough to explode the Kings in a blood mist. Even if it was helpful for Liu Xiaodan who was doing his best to damage Guangru with the swirling red miasma, a transcendent was nothing to an ancient demon. It wasn't much of a fight; it was completely a slaughter.

The hand even shot towards Liu Xiaodan. Time started to slow down in Liu Xiaodan's mind. He didn't know if he could really evade that hit, but he ended up feeling every spike on those edges pierce through his skin. He knew the exact second when his body lost control and accepted the fact that the left side was completely destroyed. One blow from the hand of this ancient demon was enough to get rid of anything… even Liu Xiaodan.

The remaining of his body flew to the side, and time was so slow. Liu Xiaodan's life flashed right before his eyes as he was thrown away. Like a rag doll, he hit the floor and even bounced off from the hit lightly. Ending his flight with a splatter, his remaining eye only stared at the figure before him.

"Guangru..." He managed to call out, and the creature turned to look as if shocked that he was still alive. However, speaking was the most Liu Xiaodan could do. Tears welled at his eyelid as he stared at the colossal figure coming to him. His mouth then opened one last time. 

"I'm scared..."