Chapter 500: 500 Natural Ancient Trees
In Li Yao’s view, strategies devised by others always suit their own teams. Starfire had its own team structure, and if they rigidly and blindly applied the strategies of others, they would undoubtedly be annihilated.
Time passed quickly. Li Yao and Sister Li arrived at the instance half an hour earlier, and the core team members were ecstatic and arrived not much later.
Li Yao took advantage of the cooking time to send out the video and said, “This is the way for the second instance, take a look.”
“Didn’t Feng Yi also get the video of the Devil Alliance? It seems to look pretty similar, like a fantastic forest,” said Unparalleled Fairy.
“It seems that many teams have not been able to exit this forest, and the ones who managed to do so won’t reveal how they did it,” Feng Yi added.
Li Yao smiled and said, “Actually, it’s quite simple. Just ask the trees.”
“Ask the trees?” Sister Li frowned.
“Alright, let’s set off now and I will explain on the way,” Li Yao said as he walked. “Haven’t you all noticed a problem?”
“What problem?” Cute D- asked.
Li Yao smiled and said, “Let me ask you, what is the biggest difference between the forests in the West Continent and the East Continent?”
“Different environments.”
“Different climates.”
There were all sorts of answers, leaving Li Yao speechless. After a while, he said, “Never mind, all of you just stop talking. The Ancient God World is a world transformed by the Titans, where every map has its own climate. This place is the Titan’s testing ground, so the environments definitely cannot be the same.”
The Alluring Fairy said, “Then stop beating around the bush and tell us.”
Li Yao chuckled and said, “Alright, all of you couldn’t even answer such a simple question. Let me ask you another one. Which forests in the East Continent have Natural Ancient Trees?”
All of the team members were stunned. Most of the maps in the Ancient God World were already opened up, and each map was thoroughly explained.
Especially the library, many geographical books were available. They all had a solid understanding of those, mainly because of Li Yao.
Now, listening to Li Yao’s question, they began to recall.
Sister Li thought for a while and said, “It seems like the East Continent does not have Ancient Trees.”
The so-called Natural Ancient Tree was a life form transformed from an Ancient Tree. These Ancient Trees were categorized based on their age and purpose.
These Ancient Trees were mostly descendants or offspring of the Mother Tree, and they had existed for an extremely long time.
Examples include the Tree of Life, Ancient Tree of War, Ancient Tree Guardians, Treants, etc. The Druid’s healing form was a Treant.
“Then what about the West Continent where we are now?” Li Yao asked again.
Everyone suddenly realized. The north of the West Continent was the location protected by the natural demigods, and also the place where the natural creatures liked to dwell. Almost all the Ancient Trees or Treants could be found in the north of the West Continent.
This forest was incredibly lush. There were even trees so big that it took more than ten people to wrap their arms around them. In such an excellent area, Ancient Trees had to exist.
“It seems there are no signs of the centaurs around here. In that case, why don’t we split up and contact each other once we find an Ancient Tree?” Sister Li suggested.
Li Yao nodded and said, “That’s exactly what we should do, let’s split up.”
“By the way, boss, there are so many trees, how can we tell which ones are Ancient Trees?” Shadow Dance added awkwardly. “I scouted for over an hour earlier on and didn’t seem to find any Ancient Trees.”
Li Yao said on the team channel, “Can’t all of you even think of this? Think about it, the Nightmare God, who the Evil Hoof Tribe worships is absorbing the bloodline power within the centaurs. There’s no way the Ancient Trees here wouldn’t react. There’s a possibility that they’ve been fighting against the Nightmare God. As time passes and the Nightmare God grows stronger, the Ancient Trees must be having a hard time. In other words, all you need to do is to look for large trees that look withered. There’s a possibility they are Ancient Trees.”
“Is it really that simple?” Cute D- wondered.
Li Yao said, “Of course, you all should know that the Ancient Trees and the Druids are alike. They are both crazy enough to give up their lives to protect the natural environment. Even if they died in battle, they would never absorb the life from the flowers, trees, and plants to replenish their own. After long periods of hardship, of course, they would become malnourished.”
Ah pfft…
Everyone was stunned…
“Seriously? It seems so unbelievable.” Guardian Angel muttered.
Persuasive Fairy said, “You’re really block-headed, of course, you wouldn’t think of that. Li Yao’s mind is detailed, and he can link ordinary information together to decipher the instance. No wonder I totally submit to you.”
Li Yao didn’t say anything. This was the approach he had been practicing for ten years, and there was nothing to be proud of.
“Boss, your prediction is correct. I have found one.”
After about ten minutes, the newcomer Mu Zi said in the team voice chat.
“Everyone, gather at Mu Zi’s location,” Li Yao ordered.
After that, the whole team began to converge quickly towards Mu Zi’s position.
“A group of young adventurers, why have you come here?” The Ancient Tree asked when he saw Li Yao and a group of more than twenty people.
The newcomer Mu Zi didn’t dare to converse with the Ancient Tree, fearing that it might trigger a plot and summon a large number of monsters to kill everyone.
Li Yao stepped forward and said, “Respected Natural Ancient Tree, we mean no disrespect. The abnormality of the Evil Hoof Tribe has finally been noticed by the outside world. We are the soldiers sent by the outside world to investigate the truth.”
“The outside world finally sent someone. That’s great.” A glimmer of joy flashed in the Natural Ancient Tree’s eyes.
“Yes, we want to eliminate this tribe, and kindly request your help,” Li Yao politely said.
The Natural Ancient Tree said, “I am sorry, but I cannot trust you. This tribe has been controlled and polluted by an evil god. We lost many comrades to form a Natural Barrier, sealing the majority of the centaurs deep within the valley. Now, under the assistance of the evil god, the centaur priests are looking for loopholes and nodes in the barrier. If we let you in, others will detect those loopholes.”
“If we kill them once we get inside, what could possibly happen even if there were loopholes?” Li Yao frowned.
“No, we can’t let the sacrifice of our tribesmen be in vain. Just leave and report the situation here to the great Druids and they will naturally send people to rescue us,” the Natural Ancient Tree dismissed Li Yao’s suggestion.
Li Yao smiled bitterly, “Well, truth to be told, the centaurs have long forgotten that they are descendants of the Natural Demigods. They have become evil and aggressive. Now, the United Army is fighting the main force of the centaurs and can’t afford to be distracted. You can only trust us.”
“You want me to trust you… I suppose you have the Natural Crystal. As long as you give me one and let me strengthen the barrier, I will then teleport you to the altar of the centaur’s priests. Once you kill them, no one can threaten the barrier and you can then calmly deal with the subsequent enemies,” the Natural Ancient Tree hesitated before finally speaking…