Xu Hei was not a kind soul. The fact that he was willing to risk his life to attack the Grand Elder of the Ancient Tomb Sect earlier already spoke volumes about his character.

Once or twice could be overlooked, but since the other party was so disrespectful and still wanted to suppress him, Xu Hei didn't mind going all out to see if he could carve out a path to survival.

Moreover, aside from its powerful divine sense, this strange tree didn't seem as terrifying as imagined.

Especially every time he unleashed the divine ability of the Heavenly Demon Technique, the opponent would always become slightly sluggish, as if the Heavenly Demon Technique could not only restrain other fierce creatures but also this strange tree to some extent.

Of course, thinking of using this to contend with the strange tree was still wishful thinking; it could only give Xu Hei a chance to escape.

"Heavenly Demon Technique, Fifth Form, Gate of Hell!"

Xu Hei shouted again, and at that moment, his entire body was boiling with energy and blood.

"Stop! Do you want to die?"

The strange tree was shocked and hurriedly shouted.

Xu Hei held the Heavenly Demon Mirror in his left hand, the Ten-thousand-year Cold Marrow in his right, stood on the Wutong wood sword, spat out Lunar Mystic Fire, had the Black and Yellow Stone Tablet above his head, the White Emperor Ancient Diagram around his waist, Night Demon Wings on his back, surrounded by an endless army of spirit insects, and within him, dragon blood burned fiercely.

Seeing such an astonishing aura, the strange tree was completely dumbfounded.

Xu Hei stared intently at the strange tree, ready to risk everything if his opponent made any sudden moves.

In truth, Xu Hei didn't really want to fight to the death. The reason he displayed so many trump cards was to intimidate his opponent, to make them understand that he wasn't truly afraid.

The strange tree stared at the Heavenly Demon Mirror and the ancient diagram for a long time before suddenly bursting into laughter, with a hint of relief in its voice.

"Hahaha! Not bad, not bad! As expected of someone favored by the Heavenly Demon Scattered Person and Elder Bai, you win!"

It retracted all its roots, and the wood chips in the distance flew back, reassembling into two branches, with the roots taking hold underground, restoring its original state.

Xu Hei remained vigilant and asked, "Senior, may I know your identity?"

"Of course," the strange tree replied. "I am a 350,000-year-old Soul Nourishing Tree, a spirit demon, who has cultivated to the peak of the Divine Transformation Stage on my own. You can call me the Soul Tree King, or by another, more familiar name."

"What?" Xu Hei squinted his eyes.

The strange tree smiled slightly and said slowly, "Heavenly Demon Scattered Person."

…………

Beyond the Seven Stars, in the endless dark universe.

A black battleship was slowly sailing towards the direction of the Seven Stars. They had already crossed the initial space barrier, and now, the path ahead was clear, allowing them to accelerate continuously. The surrounding space rippled violently like waves, layer upon layer, causing the battleship to move faster and faster.

On the battleship's flag was a large character "Jiang."

On the deck stood an old and a young man. The young man, about twenty years old, had a flame-shaped mark on his forehead, exuding an aura of authority and dominance. He was the sixth young master of the Jiang family, Jiang Liuyu.

"The Seven Stars Alignment, what a coincidence. This way, I don't have to capture people one star at a time," Jiang Liuyu sneered.

"Sixth Young Master, descending to the lower realm this time, we are affected by the suppression of the laws and can only exert Void Shattering Stage strength. We should act discreetly," the red-robed elder behind him said.

"Heh, discreet? This realm is just one insignificant star system among the three thousand mortal realms, with not a single person ascending in 350,000 years. So weak, is there a need to be discreet? Besides, Elder Mo, your Concealment Order has limited time, finding her quickly is the priority, everything else is irrelevant," Jiang Liuyu said indifferently.

The red-robed elder sighed and did not persuade further.

"Of course, Elder Mo, you need not worry. I, Jiang Liuyu, am not a reckless brute."

Jiang Liuyu took out a palm-sized crow and said, "This is a Star-Seeking Beast I bought from the Shadow Clan. It's extremely fast and can reach the Seven Stars ahead of us to send back information. This way, we can monitor the movements of their higher-ups and see what level of experts they have at a glance."

"If there are really any ascended cultivators, I can change my plans accordingly."

With that, Jiang Liuyu smiled slightly and said, "Besides, with Elder Mo's strength, even if suppressed by the laws, dealing with some ascended cultivators is more than enough. How can a bunch of natives from the mortal realm compare to our Spirit Realm's divine abilities?"

The red-robed elder remained silent, simply cupping his fists and saying, "Sixth Young Master flatters me. The mortal realm did produce some great figures back in the day, with divine abilities that surpassed others. However, I believe I can handle it."

Jiang Liuyu waved his hand, and the crow flew out of the battleship, shooting towards the direction of the Seven Stars at twice the speed of the battleship, disappearing into the void.

…………

…………

Heavenly Demon Scattered Person!

As soon as these four words were spoken, Xu Hei's eyes widened instantly, his pupils contracting to a point. He stared at the strange tree in shock, his mind momentarily frozen.

Although he had indeed thought in that direction, this didn't seem logical at all!

"...a split soul," the strange tree added.

Upon hearing this, Xu Hei finally exhaled and came back to his senses.

"Can't you just say everything at once?" Xu Hei said.

"Saying it all at once would be no fun," the strange tree laughed.

"..." Xu Hei was speechless. This guy was actually keeping him in suspense.

"Back then, when I passed by this place, I discovered a Soul Nourishing Tree here. So, I released a wisp of my split soul to parasitize it and borrowed some maturing spiritual liquid from the Old Green Demon. With the effect of the Soul Nourishing Tree, even a split soul can be preserved for a long time."

The strange tree roughly recounted what it had done back then.

With this, everything made sense!

No wonder it was so familiar with the Heavenly Demon Technique, no wonder it was so capricious and eccentric; it turned out to be a wisp of the Heavenly Demon Scattered Person's split soul.

Over the years, this demon had been laying out plans, hiding its roots and veins in various locations within the Land of the Moon, parasitizing every ancient fierce creature.

Through the sensing of the Demon Blood Vine, it detected Xu Hei's Heavenly Demon Technique aura from afar.

The large group of ancient fierce creatures at the exit was also arranged by it to find Xu Hei.

However, because it was a split soul, it didn't have the memories of the main soul from later on, so it didn't know about Xu Hei.

It speculated that Xu Hei might be an enemy, perhaps a Demon Child from the Demon Realm, always coveting its Demon Seed. Therefore, it was eager to find out the truth.

As for its previous actions, they were partly to uncover the truth and partly to test. To see what means Xu Hei, the inheritor of the Heavenly Demon Technique, had and what kind of person he was.

Xu Hei's response, fighting when necessary and retreating when needed, was quite to its liking.

"So it was the old dog, you should have said so earlier, scared me for nothing."

Xu Hei cursed, putting away all his magical treasures, and retracted the Lunar Mystic Fire and spirit insects into his body.

"What old dog?" the strange tree glared.

"Nothing, now it's the old tree," Xu Hei said somewhat sheepishly.