Lin Xiao helplessly sighed as he watched Bacon climb up the tree.
Forget it, let him go, the tree is thick and large so they need someone like him to go pick the fruit and if Bacon wants to be a meat shield then he won’t stop him.
He still had more important things to do.
“Elena, have you found anything?”
“There’s a certain energy inside the ancient tree, but it seems like there’s a barrier hiding it.”
“If that’s the case, then let’s break the barrier first.”
He looked at ShenDai Ying and they made preparations.
“There’s a large tree three hundred meters to the south and there’s a circle on the trunk and it seems like it’s a part of the barrier, I can’t be certain.” Elena closed her eyes and pointed in a certain direction.
“Alright, let me try bombing it.”
With a snap of a finger, a meteor fell from the sky and precisely blew that tree to smithereens.
“How is it, did it work?”
“It’s a bit weaker.”
“Then it seems like you were right and there’s a hidden barrier… Elena, continue, let’s completely destroy the barrier so you can use your detection!”
“Where’s the next circle?”
“To the north, there’s a large stone in the shrubs, blow it up.”
“No problem, I…”
“Hehe, leave this one to me!”
ShenDai Ying smiled and vanished before arriving at the target and drawing her sword.
“Cherry dance, blossom!”
She gracefully cut with her sword and split the stone in half, revealing the hidden circle on the inside. Seeing that, ShenDai Ying didn’t keep cutting, she sheathed her sword and simply walked in front of it and stepped onto the rock, piercing through the strange circle.
“Good work.”
“Hehe, it’s nothing much.”
She was still in the distance previously and in the next second she was back next to him… Lin Xiao still didn’t understand how she could blink around so quickly.
After destroying two circles, Elena could feel her detection spreading quite a bit, and at the same time, Bacon was already halfway up the tree and was soon to the top.
“Elena, how is it?”
“We still need to continue getting rid of the other ones.”
“How many more?”
“Seven.”
“Okay, leave it to us!”
Lin Xiao and ShenDai Ying looked at each other and got back to work. But for safety, this time they didn’t split up, once Elena found another circle, SehnDai Ying would destroy it… or rather, step on it, while Lin Xiao protected her.
But Lin Xiao who never forgets anything, forgot about somebody, and that person was Mina. Once they started Mina became someone invisible, it was good that she had the self-awareness to stand quietly behind Elena.
… The reason she was standing like a mannequin was simply because she was terrified!
Lin Xiao could casually cast seventh-level magic in an instant, if she never saw it personally, she never would have believed it.
Bacon was focused on climbing and ignored everything else, he could only hear the explosion sounds and just thought they were messing around for no reason. But thankfully he didn’t see, otherwise, he would have fallen from the tree from shock.
But Mina wasn’t shocked because of just Lin Xiao casting seventh-level magic so easily, what truly made her confused were his companions.
Everyone, including Mina, Bacon, Deborah, and Gerrard thought that those two women were just his companions, a servant and a lover…
But Mina never expected them to be so strong! It seems like it wasn’t just Lin Xiao, but his companions were female dragons as well!
“The last one is in the depths of a cave a thousand meters from here.”
“I’ll go, you stay here to protect them.”
“Un… Sister Ying, be careful!”
Even though there were no enemies nearby, Lin Xiao still warned her and made ShenDai Ying feel all warm inside as she got ready to destroy the last circle.
While she was doing that, Lin Xiao finally had some time to investigate the surroundings, as he recalled the locations of the nine circles, he suddenly thought of something!
“Could this be… the nine soul demon binding formation?”
Its actual use wasn’t to suppress detection, but to suppress large magic power fluctuations and to not be detected from the outside, which suppressed Elena’s detection as a side-effect.
Lin Xiao still remembered Snow saying that this was a powerful barrier that was extremely difficult to set up, it required someone with a lot of magic power and nine living sacrifices, and even Snow has never done anything so cruel.
“It seems like they really want me dead.”
Along with a swing of ShenDai Ying’s sword, it was an end to the formation and Elena could finally spread out her detection and at the same time, Lin Xiao realized their situation!
Yes, this was indeed a trap that was aiming for him from the start!
But… what was the finishing blow? What was the formation hiding?
Could it be…
“Lin Xiao, we have to get out of here!”
In a breath of time, Elena was able to see through the trap and quickly warned him!
“What, are there enemies? Where are they?”
“Right in front of you!”
“In front? There’s nothing in front, just the tree… What!? Don’t tell me…”
“That’s right, it’s that tree!”
Elena stared at the large gray tree with a serious expression and Lin Xiao finally understood. He quickly called ShenDai Ying over and got her to leave with Elena and Mina while he stayed behind to try and do something. Although he was someone who identified as someone who didn’t care if anyone else died or not, his actions contradicted himself every time.
“Bacon! Stop climbing, get down here!” Lin Xiao called up to Bacon who was almost at the top.
“Hah? I’m already all the way up here and you want me to go down? Is there something wrong with you?”
“I’m saying this one last time, Bacon, get down, here, it’s too dangerous!”
“Dangerous? This branch may be slender, but it shouldn’t break, give me a bit more time, I can get the fruit soon.”
“You idiot, you can still live if you jump down now, otherwise I can’t save you!”
“Tsk, self-conceited, just wait down there patiently.”
Bacon didn’t want to hear his nonsense as he finally reached to pick a fruit and started smiling smugly!
“Look! How is it dangerous? You guys are scared of even climbing to pick fruit, how weak!”
Bacon laughed at them who ran away then threw the fruit down which Lin Xiao coincidentally caught.
He thought everything was going smoothly, until a sudden sharp cracking sound.
“Eh? W-what’s….”
The branch snapped and Bacon dropped.
“Ahhhh!”
He had thought he would be splattered on the ground, but he was suddenly caught in midair?
“Was I saved?”
Bacon relaxed as he felt something tight around his waist, but when he took a look, his soul flew out of his body!
“Why… why is this tree alive???”
