Chapter 27: Tree Brother

  A loud noise, the entire altar surroundings were filled with dust and dirt flying everywhere. A gust of wind came from nowhere, blowing out of the cave entrance, carrying what seemed to be sticky mist that stuck to people's skin, making it feel sticky to the touch.

  "Where did the wind come from?" Qin Zhong asked himself, it was his habit, after he finished asking, he would often go and study again, for such natural phenomena, he liked to observe them carefully.

  Guo Dafu was different. Seeing the strong wind blowing from the cave, he didn't care what it was and directly turned his head away without saying a word.

  But the old mushroom knew what this omen meant: "Everyone, get down quickly. This is the wind of a shaman's death throes, also known as the stinky wind."

  "What does it mean?" Qin Zhong asked.

  The old mushroom pressed down on Qin Zhong and Yingzi, one hand pressing on Qin Zhong and the other hand pressing on Yingzi, pressing both people to the ground, motionless. Before the old mushroom could speak, Guo Dafu had already fallen to the ground.

  Qin Zhong turned his head and asked: "What's the going wind, tell me and let me hear."

  "It's just that after the shaman's physical body dies, a strong gust of wind will rise up. The strength of this gust of wind depends on how powerful his curse was and how strong his powers were."

  "What's this time?"

  "Ah, crazy wind." Old Mushroom replied succinctly: "We're lucky to be alive, it seems I'll have to die again even as a ghost." He furrowed his brow and also lay down on the ground.

  At this moment, the strong wind blowing from the cave rolled up some broken stones in the cave, like a hail of bullets, towards Qin Zhong and others. The green bats that had just eaten their fill were also blown back by the strong wind, some of which were cut into segments by the wind, some were blown to death on harder surfaces, while others were swept into mid-air and crashed down.

  Qin Zhong and others were pushed hard, their bodies stuck to the ground skin, from the gap under the altar, until they reached the thousand-year-old pine tree below. He tried to go around from the front of the big tree to the back, all in order to avoid being hurt by things blowing out of the hole.

  They pinned all their hopes on this big tree, the three men and a ghost leaned against it, waiting for the storm to stop.

  It was unclear how long it took for this strange gust of wind to stop, and the so-called "traveling wind" in Lao Mo's mouth also came to a halt.

  Qin Zhong cautiously leaned against the tree, stretched out his head and looked towards the entrance of the cave. He reached out to feel the air until he was sure the wind had stopped. Then, he slowly extended half of his body and carefully looked at the entrance again. At the same time, a green bat's corpse suddenly fell from the top of the tree, its body probably dried instantly by the gust of wind, which gave Qin Zhong a fright.

  "My god, the bats are dry?" Qin Zhong was shocked, and then Guo Daifu also followed him out. After Qin Zhong turned around the big tree, he carefully looked at the yellow land in front of the altar, and the corpses all over the ground were a scene that had never been seen before. The ground was filled with the white bones of the Yingzi tribe, while the green corpses covered the ground piece by piece.

  It can be seen that this messy corpse is like a beach of rotten flesh and bones. If someone tries to step on it, won't they get stained with sticky, stinky liquid from the rotting corpse?

  Qin Zhong suddenly covered his own nose and turned back to ask the old mushroom: "Don't you shamans have any way to eliminate the strange smell?"

  "There is indeed a way, my method is to find some carrion beetles to eat away the bones on the ground and then get rid of them." After he finished speaking, he asked Yingzi again: "I don't know if you have any other ways to fulfill Qin Zhong's request?"

  "There is, that's asking for help from this thousand-year-old tree spirit." Yingzi said it with not much confidence, and her expression didn't seem to be very reassuring either.

  Qin Zhong walked around the big tree and looked at it from underneath, this big tree was indeed a wonder of the world, seemingly even Baidu couldn't find such a strong and gigantic pine tree.

  He expressed his gratitude very respectfully, and then said kindly: "Tree brother, Tree brother, thank you very much for your protection just now. This time Yingzi wants to talk to you, please help us again, thank you."

  Guo Dafu walked up to Qin Zhong, looking at him with a very surprised expression, and said while stroking his big beard: "Boss, you can really talk to this tree?"

  "No!"

  "Oh!"

  The old mushroom didn't know when he inserted the flag, started jumping up his unique dance steps, and kept reciting some strange incantations in his mouth.

  And Yingzi was still in that silent manner, and with the few flags she brought, she set up a triangle, speaking fluently.

  Guo Dafu asked straightforwardly: "Old mushroom, what are you jumping for? Think of a way to deal with the corpses on the ground first."

  "This isn't what's going on, but there shouldn't be any corpse worms here. I've used so much energy, and I still can't feel their presence. Let Yingzi come instead." Lao Mo said, then stopped, the two of them staring blankly at Yingzi who was chanting something with all her might.

  Time had almost passed half a day, and Yingzi was still muttering non-stop, never distracted.

  But Qin Zhong's patience was put to the test, and the clothes covering his nose were already filled with the stench of rotting flesh. Just as he was about to explode and go collect the bodies on the ground, he felt a slight swaying motion behind him from the big tree. Looking back at the tree roots, they seemed to be slowly moving outward from the earth, as if the tree was preparing for some major action.

  Qin Zhong's heart was shocked by the big tree's movement, and he couldn't help but say: "Brother Tree, don't play tricks on us, we've been tossed around enough already."

  But at this moment, Yingzi's incantation seemed to have no intention of stopping, which was enough to show how serious and rigid she was.

  "Everyone be careful, hold the tree tightly, don't let go." Qin Zhong said, and then shouted to Yingzi: "Hurry up and stop, if we continue to mess with this tree, Brother Tree will either live or die."

  Yingzi was also awakened by Qin Zhong's shout, and she too was flustered. She hastily rushed to Qin Zhong's side and grabbed his arm, while Guo Dafu also hugged Qin Zhong's other arm.

  Qin Zhong turned his head and gave Guo Dafu a fierce glare, as if he was extremely disgusted. Guo Dafu seemed to feel a bit embarrassed, and his body hastily retreated backwards.

  "Look, corpse worms, so big!" Old Mushroom was excited to see him alive, looking at the emerging corpse worms, each as large as a palm, he couldn't help but speed up his incantation, letting the corpse worms come out from under the tree roots and listen to his command, directly rushing towards the green corpse bones on the ground, sweeping away all the corpse bones in an instant.

  At this moment, Qin Zhongyan felt a very ominous premonition. The roots of the pine tree seemed to be a mechanical arm, and together with the old mushroom, all the ghosts were tightly wrapped around it. After the soil under the roots was torn apart, a ten-meter-square well appeared, and the corpse insects that had eaten their fill jumped back into the pit.

  At this moment, the so-called mechanical arm wrapped around Qin Zhong and others, sending them to the bottom of the well.

  "Tree brother, stop it! We haven't lived enough yet, quickly put us down!" Qin Zhong's words still had some force to them, but the willow tree's branches suddenly tossed Qin Zhong into the well and then quickly returned to its original state.

  It just so happened that under the roots of the tree, a ten-meter square sky appeared, and Qin Zhong was thrown into the depths of the so-called Tree Brother's pit. After Qin Zhong landed, he found himself seemingly in the water, and the temperature of this water was warm. On the surface of the water floated large and small black shiny corpses, emitting green light.

  "Big brother, save me! I don't know how to swim, save me!" Guo Dafu was extremely anxious.

  Qin Zhong's feet kicked downwards, already touching the bottom of the water, and he suddenly stood up his body. A disdainful gaze stared at Guo Dafu, and his mouth involuntarily grumbled: "If you think it's a disabled person, then lie down in the water."

  Qin Zhong looked up and saw that this tree was several times taller than a person. If he wanted to climb higher, it would be more difficult than ascending to heaven.