Chapter 282: Deal
Jiang Che saw the branches of the Dark Tree closing in, fierce and writhing like monstrous serpents, twisting madly toward him.
The branches writhed, carrying the roaring wind, as if they meant to devour him in an instant.
This time, he didn’t ask Ding Ning. Instead, he nodded without hesitating, "I agree to work with you."
His thoughts were clear: this secret was known only to a select few, but the Dark Tree knew every detail.
There were two possibilities: one, someone betrayed him.
Two, it was telling the truth.
After he finished listening, the Dark Tree withdrew its vines, its voice suddenly turning frail, completely different from before—like two trees.
Now, there was no trace of the earlier madness or viciousness.
"I’ve occupied this passage for a long time. Now, most cities have been devoured, staying here gains me nothing."
"Constantly attacked, my mother body is still taking damage." It shook its head and sighed.
Its mother body cannot move positions on its own. Once separated, the Dark Tree here will wither, its seed won’t take root immediately, nor does it have any means of moving by itself.
If it stayed here, once those Lords emerged, there would only be destruction.
"I will vacate this position, but you must take my seed back to your territory and plant it."
Jiang Che’s brows furrowed, his heart filled with vigilance as he stared coldly at the Dark Tree.
The Dark Forest devours all life; carrying its seed back would only become a massive threat.
The Dark Tree continued, "But I will provide you with all the information I hear, at any time."
As it said before, it can hear all sounds within its range, learning everyone’s plans. Jiang Che hesitated; what he lacked most now was information. The Black Crow’s actions made him realize information’s importance.
Jiang Che: "Tell me Black Crow’s goal first."
The Dark Forest chuckled, its laughter disturbingly sinister in the silence.
"It’s all about waiting for you to succeed, then reaping the benefits."
Jiang Che frowned; he’d considered this, but it seemed too simple: he would grow stronger after, and dying in his own dungeon would be wasting a life.
Seeing it lay the Black Crow’s plan bare right away, Jiang Che finally understood—this Dark Mother Tree keeps no secrets.
He frowned, pondering whether this deal was worthwhile. He knew the Dark Mother Tree wasn’t alone—this was only one of many.
Whether it lived or died, Jiang Che didn’t think it would affect him much.
Noticing he remained motionless after its words, it continued offering terms.
"If you plant my seed in your territory, I can let everyone in your territory move freely within the Dark Forest—they won’t be devoured."
Hearing this, Jiang Che realized he had no idea where the Black Crow’s people were hiding.
He knew Black Crow certainly wasn’t limited to just Gray Crow.
"So you’ve promised Black Crow as well, allowing his people to act freely?"
The Dark Tree felt no shame, answering boldly, "Of course!"
Only then did Jiang Che recall that the Dark Tree’s seed wouldn’t just happen to be planted in the passage by accident—with its migratory nature requiring others to help relocate, its being rooted here before must have been Black Crow’s arrangement.
As if seeing the confusion in Jiang Che’s eyes, the Dark Tree continued, "It’s all a matter of bio-migration tactics—I provide what you want, you place me where I want to go."
The Dark Tree was immensely powerful, needing only a spark of life to constantly devour, propagate, and grow.
Its twisted branches were like demonic claws reaching toward every direction.
Wherever it traveled, all vitality vanished, leaving a wasteland behind.
Even the faintest hint of life force could become nourishment fueling its wild expansion.
Jiang Che unlocked his phone, gazing grimly at the faded, mottled map—already marked with cities destroyed by the Dark Tree.
Those once bustling, vibrant cities had now vanished completely from the map.
The spots on the map once representing these cities were now marked as granaries, glaringly conspicuous.
The places where people once lived were nothing but storerooms for food, since the supplies couldn’t be moved all at once; the map showed how much food remained in these places.
That’s all it showed.
These cities seemed wiped from existence by an invisible giant hand—no trace of their former liveliness or life remains.
Jiang Che’s brow was tight, his heart filled with doubts.
Black Crow’s people were nowhere to be seen; he stared at the markings, suspecting perhaps Black Crow’s followers hid in the already destroyed cities.
"Deal!" Jiang Che’s lips curled. If others could trade, so could he.
With Jiang Che’s agreement, the Dark Tree instantly turned into a streak of light, rapidly shrinking—its enormous, menacing form contracted swiftly; its thick branches writhing thin as threads, and its lush leaves falling away fast.
Soon, it became a tiny seed, and in a flash, it drilled precisely into Jiang Che’s wrist.
In that instant, Jiang Che only felt a slight numbness in his wrist, as if a small bug had gently bitten him.
The seed seemed to enter a state of dormancy; Jiang Che tried to sense its presence but felt nothing from it at all.
Still, a certain indescribable intuition gave Jiang Che a clear sense of a subtle bond between himself and the seed.
Jiang Che sensed that if he failed to take the seed back within the required time, it would become like a beast lurking in darkness, quietly using his body’s energy to root itself and sprout, settling in again.
The force of rooting would pierce through his flesh, greedily devouring his vitality, making him fodder for the evil seed’s growth.
Jiang Che’s gaze grew grave as he watched the passage rapidly wither—what was once covered and shackled by the Dark Forest’s power was now changing at a phenomenal speed, visible to the naked eye.
Inside the passage, all scenes of darkness and oppression gradually faded; the previously twisted, interwoven branches and vines shriveled and dropped away, as though drained of life’s essence.
As the Dark Forest’s restraints vanished, the passage kept expanding.
What was once a narrow, cramped space now seemed pulled outward by an invisible giant hand, stretching on all sides.
The walls of the passage crackled, space fracturing, air currents swirling wildly.
This was the first time a true passage between realms had opened—the barrier dividing the Evil Spirit Realm and the Human Realm was finally broken.
A wave of mysterious, immense force surged out from deep within the passage, radiating an aura of danger and the unknown.
Two utterly different worlds were at last completely connected!
At the same time, Jiang Che felt a figure inside the passage rushing toward him at incredible speed.