The little banyan gazed at the dangerous man. "Ah, another monster! Why am I so unlucky?" he internally shouted. But externally it tried to maintain his calm demure.
"Um, misters, I am just a humble tree passing along this path. Please excuse my intrusion," the banyan whispered and slowly crept inside the cave.
'As far as I got inside the cave, these beasts would not follow me,' it thought as it moved vigilantly.
"Wait! I have never met a tree cultivator before. Let's be friends," Xia shouted and ran towards it.
The little tree smirked. "Yes, let's be frien….." another glare was shot at him from behind. It was that dangerous man.
"Mister, I think I should go now," The tree corrected himself quickly. It dashed towards the swirling hole in the floor.
The ghoul stood in his way. "Why….. you in a hurry? Highness….. talking," he said in a broken sentence.
"Ah, my saviour. Kill these people who have intruded your precious sanctum," The little banyan shouted and hid behind the ghoul.
He knew that there were ghouls in this cave and that they were very ferocious. His mother had warned him not to come here. One day out of curiosity, he had visited this place. The ghouls were everywhere. But none of them attacked him because he is a tree, ah. Ghouls are not vegetarians.
The banyan glared at Long. 'Hehe. You monster just watch. You will be devoured by this ghoul in no time,' it chuckled mentally.
But the ghoul had a very confused look on his rotten face. 'Why is this tree telling me to kill my own master? Enemy!' he thought and attacked it with his long sword.
"AHHH, WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?" the tree shouted and ran around.
"Enemy.. Must kill," the ghoul stuttered and dashed after him.
The tree ran around in fear and the flexible Ghoul also jumped around after him.
Xia Che and Long Aotian watched this with a wooden look.
"He doesn't want to be my friend," Xia whispered with a sad look.
Long hugged his shoulders. "He is a weird person… no, weird tree. It's better not to associate with him." But internally he was thinking, 'how could I let that lecherous tree associate with my baby. Hmph,'
The little banyan ran all over the cave, accidentally it rushed towards Long and Xia. When it was at least a foot away, Long could smell a peculiar scent from it.
'eh why does this tree smell like that stupid woman? Wait, it smells like Raijin as well,' he looked at the tree from up and down. It looked very innocent. 'I still don't trust it,' he thought.
As the tree was prancing around, Long Aotian gripped its swinging roots and pulled it towards him. "Hey, have you seen a girl who is about yay tall with black hair. And have you also seen a furless wolf? You smell like them both," he said.
The little banyan started sweating sap. 'Oh my god, how did this guy know about the two in my tummy? I have to get away from this monster somehow,'
"Ah, I saw those two running around in the forest. They took rest next to my root and left. Maybe that's why you are able to smell them on me," it said in a uniform voice.
Long pulled the tree and held it in front of his face. Because Long had his face lowered, the tree was not able to see his expression.
'Phew, see my lying skill is up to notch,' it thought proudly.
"What have you done to them?" Long menacingly growled. He dragged the tree closer and took a sniff. The distinct smell of that woman and Raijin was very strong.
Xia trotted over to them and curiously watched their exchange. He too was curious as to what Long was sniffing. He took a sniff of the tree. "Gasp, I smell the rainbow head snake's poison in this tree's body," he exclaimed.
Long Aotian felt his anger reach a whole new level. "Did you eat them?" he shouted. There was fire gushing out of his mouth. Even his eyes turned blood red.
The tree trembled. He could feel the danger of that unknown fire from the guy's mouth. He shuddered and whispered, "I don't know what you are talking about."
'If I go back to my mom without this woman, I will be punished ah,' the little tree cried inside.
Long crushed few of its roots and slammed it on the floor. "Still not willing to tell the truth? Okay the, I will beat it out of you,"
"AHH spare me. That crazy beast deserved it thought," the tree cried in panic.
Long felt his rationality snap. He was working so hard to find the cure for that woman, but now that woman was eaten so easily by this vermin. "Die…." He growled as he loomed over it.
The little tree knew that his words had made things worse. He panicked even more. 'I can't lose my life here; I have to do something,'
It snapped its own roots that were being held by that man and started burrowing itself into the rocks. It was quite painful, but when it was life or death situation. The little tree chose pain over death.
"Don't come over here!" Long shouted and started clawing at the rocks. But the little tree had already crept through the gaps and reached the small whirlpool.
It turned back and laughed. "Haha, I did eat her. She is going to be punished by my mother," it said and jumped in.
The ghoul watched this and followed after it.
Long clenched his fist, trying to control his over flowing anger. Eh subtly gazed at his worried lover. He really did not want to scare Xia with his violence.
Xia gazed up at him and sniffed loudly. "Felia…. She…. is she dead?" he whispered
The golden dragon hugged him and whispered, "Love, wait for me here. That tree looks like it just now ate Felia. It most probably would not have digested it. I will bring her back," he assured his worried little lover.
Xia sobbed silently. He nodded his head and whispered, "I will also come."
"No, that… that Demon is there he will do something to you. You should wait here," Long whispered and dashed into the swirling hole.
Xia silently followed to jump in, but cleverly Long had already set up a restriction around it.
"Long, you have grown smarter," Xia raged and kicked the shield around the hole.
After punching and kicking for a long time, there was no damage to the bloody shield.
Xia Che huffed and ran around the cave. "How could he do this? Felia is my friend I want to save her too. Why does he have to save her?" he whispered.
In a corner of his heart, he felt a strange anger when Long jumped to save Felia. He could not figure out what it was. He held his silently aching chest and whispered, "why, is my heart is sick?"
But the silly little crayfish did not know that this feeling is what humans call jealousy.
Xia's eyes started tearing up unconsciously. "is he worried so much about her? Why did he have to leave me alone for that? I thought he promised that he would be with me forever. That deceiver," he murmured.
Inside the swirling hole, Long sneezed. Underwater, sneezes are considered deadly. He lost a lot of air because of it.
The ghoul noticed this and took him to the nearby trapped air bubble. Long took a deep breath and wondered. 'Is my Dear darling Xia thinking me? I never sneeze usually. This is definitely my lover thinking about me,' he internally gushed in joy.
The Ghoul gazed at him with its rotten head tilted. His new master is very weird. He often chuckles by himself. Gets very possessive of that man named Xia. 'There are a lot of things to learn if I have to please my master,' he thought with a resolute mind.
Long held onto the rocky walls and whispered, "Hey do you see that tree nearby?" his senses underwater was completely nullified. His great sense of smell and vision was reduced to half.
But it was not the case for the ghoul. He was undead. Even though they could not see underwater very well, he would be able to sense things much accurately.
The Ghoul nodded and swam to the nearby hole.
The little banyan tree hiding in it started trembling. His tears ran down as sap from his beady eyes. "Oh my god, who the hell did I offend? Whys did I create a huge problem for myself?"
Soon he was dragged out of the hold by a smirking monstrous man. His eyes turned red again, and he was holding onto a ball of fire in his hands.
"Sir, at least inform my mother about my death," the tree said and closed his eyes for the upcoming attack.
Meanwhile, outside the hole, Xia got bored of running around. He went to the mouth of the cave and sat on one of the rocks. "Why is he taking so long? I am so lonely," Xia whispered as he sloshed the water around with his legs.
Suddenly something grabbed him from underwater and dragged him down.