Global Lords: My Territory Heart Is a World Tree

"Move, move, move!! We’re leaving right now!!!"

Everyone quickly started packing. Rose immediately absorbed all the surrounding death energy, using it to cover their tracks and erase any lingering traces of their presence.

Yuan Xiaobo’s own Space Backpack was broken, so he took Rose’s and helped everyone pack.

A little over ten minutes later, the squad emerged from the other end of the U-shaped tunnel. Niu Armor stomped, causing the ground to tremble and the tunnel to collapse, completely burying their tracks.

Then, the squad climbed up the rock wall and back into the passage they had used to enter, hastily making their way out.

-----------------

With Squad Yuan no longer interfering, the underground cavern returned to its natural order.

A small number of the dragon-like creatures gathered around the Frost Giant Dragon’s corpse, waiting for a burst of energy, while the majority headed back to the surface through various tunnels to hunt.

After digesting the Dragon Blood it had consumed the day before, the sub-dragon returned to the massive corpse and began to beat against it with a specific rhythm.

It had discovered this rhythmic beating by accident, and it was the very key to its evolution into a sub-dragon.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...

Today, the strikes on the great dragon’s corpse were exceptionally loud. The sub-dragon grew excited; in the past, a sound like this meant a bountiful harvest was imminent.

Hearing the noise, other dragon-like creatures scurried out from the tunnels and surrounded the great dragon, waiting to feed on the sub-dragon’s scraps.

RIIIIIP—

A large gash tore open in the great dragon’s hide, and Dragon Blood gushed out.

The sub-dragon froze for a moment. It hadn’t expected such a large amount of Dragon Blood.

The surrounding dragon-like creatures went into a frenzy. ’With this much Dragon Blood, I’ll definitely get a mouthful!’

One of the closest creatures took a huge gulp of Dragon Blood. It was about to scurry away when it paused, confused, then took another drink before finally leaving, satisfied.

The sub-dragon was enraged by this sight!

’These damn, unevolved creatures! It’s a blessing I even allow them one sip. Give them an inch and they take a mile—they actually drank twice!!!’

"ROAR—"

The sub-dragon let out a roar and unleashed a frosty breath, instantly freezing the surrounding dragon-like creatures into ice statues.

It then bent down and began to greedily gulp down the Dragon Blood.

GLUG... GLUG...

A flicker of confusion crossed the sub-dragon’s eyes. ’The energy content in this Dragon Blood is so much lower than yesterday.’

’The quality of the Dragon Blood has been declining over the years, but never this drastically!!’

While it was distracted, more fearless dragon-like creatures ran over to drink the Dragon Blood, completely unafraid of its authority.

And so, to ensure it drank its fill first, the sub-dragon pushed its doubts aside and continued to drink.

Once it had drunk its fill, the sub-dragon returned to its lair, satisfied, to digest the day’s gains.

The dragon-like creatures, unsatisfied with mere scraps, began to imitate the sub-dragon, with many of the newer arrivals striking the great dragon’s corpse. The ones that had been around longer watched from the sidelines, waiting to steal from any lucky individual that managed to get a meal.

SQUELCH—

A powerful dragon-like creature tore through the Scale Armor on the corpse. (As time went on and the energy within the corpse dissipated, its toughness was decreasing exponentially.)

A stream of Dragon Blood flowed out, and the surrounding creatures swarmed forward. Within seconds, they had lapped it all up.

The creature was furious and frantically attacked the others who had stolen its Dragon Blood. Unconcerned, the others simply scattered as it charged.

Once the others had scattered, the powerful dragon-like creature immediately began striking the great dragon’s corpse. The fragile body broke once more. This time, it took longer to create a gash, and the amount of Dragon Blood that flowed out was less.

It immediately opened its maw, pressed it against the gash, and began drinking greedily.

Seeing this creature draw Dragon Blood from the great dragon’s corpse so easily, the other dragon-like creatures were spurred into action. They all began to attack the corpse.

As more powerful dragon-like creatures joined in, the great dragon’s corpse was covered in more and more wounds, Dragon Blood pouring out as if it were free.

The dragon-like creatures erupted into a collective frenzy. It was like striking gold.

In an instant, the great dragon’s corpse was swarmed with dragon-like creatures, all drinking their fill of Dragon Blood...

Within the great dragon’s body, without the Ice Energy Core to suppress it, and with the corpse’s Ice Energy rapidly dissipating, death energy began to manifest.

In the steadily concentrating death energy, the Corpse Insects began to multiply at a terrifying rate, rapidly starting to spread.

The appearance of more Corpse Insects put the great dragon’s decomposition into overdrive...

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In the Ice and Snow Jungle, Squad Yuan reached the Haiqiu Race’s temporary camp and immediately began organizing everyone for the journey back.

Just then, Lin Kong suddenly received a message from Lin Yu.

"Lin Kong, great news!!"

"Since we brought the Ice Element Core back to our territory and eliminated its effect on the Glacier World (an act of world-saving), the World Tree has gained a massive amount of authority over the Glacier World. The Ice Crystal Tree is now rapidly expanding its domain."

"I’ve sent its roots growing toward you from underground, so don’t wander off. Wait for it to follow your soul connection to that underground cavern. After it kills the sub-dragon, our progress in taking over the Glacier World should jump up another notch."

"Okay, got it!"

After replying to his main body’s message, Lin Kong watched the Haiqiu People bustling about as they packed, and he scratched his head in resignation.

Relying on the connection between his soul and the World Tree, Lin Kong could indeed feel the roots of the Ice Crystal Tree rapidly extending toward him. To shorten the journey, they were even tunneling straight through a layer of magma. At the speed he was sensing, the roots would arrive in less than half a day.

Lin Kong walked over to Yuan Xiaobo, tugged on his sleeve, and said in a low voice, "Captain, there might be a change of plans."

"What’s wrong?"

"The Ice Crystal Tree is expanding faster. It’s on its way here now."

"I think I need to stay here and wait for it."

"Isn’t that a good thing? It means we don’t have to make the trip back. We can just set up camp here."

"Ahem... It’s a bit different from what you’re imagining. I need to go down into the underground cavern to wait, not stay up here."

"Why?"

"I can’t really get into the specifics, but you just need to know that I have to give the Ice Crystal Tree some guidance. Its target is that underground cavern."

"But why??" Yuan Xiaobo was even more confused. ’To expand its territory, why does it have to go into that cavern?’ he thought.

"We need to kill that sub-dragon, and the Ice Crystal Tree can do it on its own. All I need to do is give it a little guidance to make sure it doesn’t go anywhere else."

"The Ice Crystal Tree is that powerful?" Yuan Xiaobo was astonished, but then he remembered it was an avatar of the divine tree, and it made sense. "Still, it’s too dangerous for you to go down there alone!"

"I’ll be fine. I can hide myself well."

"Hah! You think I don’t know what you’re capable of?" Yuan Xiaobo shot him a skeptical look. "I’m going with you. We can watch each other’s backs that way. It’s safer."

"Deputy Captain Luo, you’re in charge of the camp for now. Let’s hold off on relocating. If all goes well, this area will soon be part of our territory, so they won’t need to follow us back." Without waiting for Lin Kong to agree, Yuan Xiaobo had already started giving orders.

"Well, Captain Yuan, I never thought you’d learn to delegate at such a young age. Looks like you’ve got management potential," Lin Yan teased.

"It’s not like that! It’s just that Lin Kong and I have to go back down to the cavern, so naturally I can’t manage things here."

"Why are you going back to the cavern? It’s extremely dangerous down there now."

"Well, Lin Kong said..." Yuan Xiaobo relayed everything Lin Kong had told him.

After hearing the explanation, the other squad members protested. How could they let Lin Kong and Yuan Xiaobo handle such a dangerous task alone? As members of the same expedition team, they had to face it together, shoulder to shoulder.

Lin Kong quickly tried to stop them, insisting he had a way to stay hidden. He had a plan: ’If I can’t hide down there and the sub-dragon finds and kills me, my body will just serve as a beacon to guide the Ice Crystal Tree. Besides, if I die, my soul just returns to my main body. It’s no big deal.’

But he was the weakest member of the team, and everyone knew what he was capable of, so naturally, no one believed him. And he couldn’t very well admit that he could be resurrected after death.

In the end, after much debate, the entire expedition team decided they would all descend into the cavern together one more time. Aburara, of course, would remain at the camp to look after the Haiqiu People.