Cao Yun had completely failed to sense the presence behind him. Yanzhen and the twins had not even realized it was there. Even now, they couldn't sense it at all. Focusing on the presence, Cao Yun understood what was going on. He was perceiving the Dao of Death. Slowly, death had surrounded the group without them even sensing anything out of the ordinary. However, there was no Death Energy, nor Ghost Energy. What Cao Yun perceived was the pure Dao of Death. Thankfully, it was extremely faint. Otherwise, he would have felt it much earlier.
Behind Cao Yun, moss was creeping along the ground. As soon as Cao Yun noticed it, it reacted as if it knew. Most likely, it did know, somehow. From the moss, roots emerged and attacked Cao Yun in a straight line. They were like javelins thrown at the human who was trying to uncover secrets he shouldn't have meddled with. There was a thick concentration of death around the roots. Clearly, Cao Yun was facing dead roots. He was most likely fighting the very dead tree he had been studying.
Considering that his Black Heart Flame had been unable to pierce the main root, the cultivator didn't try to face them head-on. Instead, Cao Yun mobilized all his speed. In an instant, he turned into lightning and grabbed the three Flameborns. As he tried to take them to safety, roots emerged everywhere. There were even roots in the walls of the giant maze. They were forming a complex net all around the large root, even blocking any escape through the air. Although the net wasn't perfectly closed, the roots would lash out at anyone coming too close. In other words, Cao Yun could not take the Flameborns to safety. As such, he took out his flying swords and surrounded them with his own weapons.
After his flying swords, Cao Yun obviously took out his 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear', and circulated his 'Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms'. Without waiting any longer, Cao Yun immediately mobilized his full strength because he had no idea about the strength of his enemy, apart from the fact that he had been unable to really damage the main root. Hopefully, the smaller roots would be less resistant.
Before attacking, Cao Yun analyzed the net all around him. Unfortunately, he couldn't sense the roots when they were underground or inside the walls. He used 'See Through the Mud' to its limit, but he could only vaguely sense them. After all, 'See Through the Mud' was meant to sense Death Energy, not the Dao of Death itself. In fact, Cao Yun didn't really know how those roots were animated, as they were clearly dead, but he couldn't sense any Death Energy within them. Maybe it was just too faint or something was blocking him. Or, maybe, there was no Death Energy at all. This last thought sent shivers down Cao Yun's spine. Without explanation, he was quite literally fighting an undead creature. He had thought of dead entities, but animated by energies that he understood. Those roots seemed to be animated by the Dao of Death itself.
In a sense, Cao Yun felt as though he was surrounded by death.
He didn't lose his focus and analyzed the net. Before Cao Yun was done, he heard Dian Mo's voice. The spirit had found a weakness. A root was more important than the others in a specific spot. If he could strike it down, he might open a way out because the surrounding roots would be disorganized. For a moment, Cao Yun focused all his 'See Through the Mud' toward this root that was going from the main root toward a nearby wall and then into the air above Cao Yun and the Flameborns.
'Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky'!
He immediately targeted the root Dian Mo had found. Cao Yun's 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear' turned into a black dragon as Cao Yun used everything he had, including the Black Heart Flame. Although it wasn't very efficient, it was still better to use it. Anything that could increase Cao Yun's chances of success was worth using.
All the roots around reacted almost as fast as Cao Yun. Pushing his speed to the limit, the 3rd-grade Sage broke the sound barrier several times in a few instants. Unfortunately, so did the roots. For the Flameborns, everything was so fast that even they didn't see anything. However, Cao Yun was seeing everything as though time had slowed down. Thankfully, the roots didn't seem to have any sentience, or at least, they lacked any understanding of martial arts. They struck at Cao Yun randomly. Apart from the sheer number, dodging them was easy. Several roots tried to block his path, but he turned into lightning and disappeared, retreating in order to take another path. This reduced his momentum, but this increased his chances of success.
Cao Yun even used 'Ashen Feather Seal' for an instant, causing more confusion among the roots that only acted on pure instinct and impulse. A sentient enemy wouldn't have lost Cao Yun's presence in the middle of a fight, but the technique confused the roots, which apparently completely lacked intelligence. They were probably imitating the reaction of the original tree but couldn't really make independent decisions. Honestly, Cao Yun had a hard time even imagining how a tree would think or act. Anyway, it wasn't the moment for that.
Finally, he struck true. The root he had targeted was right in front of him. Contrary to his fears, the 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear' sliced through the root with little difficulty. After all, his momentum had been so great that his force was incredible. Without a moment of respite, Cao Yun controlled his flying swords to send the Flameborns through the hole in the net he had just created. Although they wanted to resist Cao Yun, the twins didn't act as Yanzhen held them. Instead, Yanzhen helped the swords by flying with them so that Cao Yun wouldn't have to divert some strength to keep them surrounded by the swords, which would have slowed them down even if only a little.
Yanzhen obeyed Cao Yun perfectly and flew into the distance in order to protect the twins. Some roots tried to attack, but they literally got in each other's way. Fortunately, Yanzhen's group was able to get away safely. However, Cao Yun was still trapped, and the roots became even more violent. They all wriggled and flew toward Cao Yun.
With no time to rest or think, Cao Yun used all of his speed to evade the many attacks. Although he was a bit faster, the roots were too numerous and extremely agile, able to change direction at any moment. Dian Mo helped him analyze the attacks to find the best trajectory. But they could both tell that it was just a matter of time before Cao Yun got trapped. Even if Cao Yun could keep flying at the same speed for days, weeks or months, which was impossible, he would ultimately be caught and killed. Indeed, he had absolutely no doubt that those dead roots could kill him as they were full of death.
Since he had no other choice, Cao Yun tried something. He used his own knowledge of the Dao of Death through 'Death Verses'. First of all, he turned most of his Po into Death Energy thanks to 'Living Death'. Then, he used 'Soul Chains'. Dozens of chains appeared out of thin air. Those chains could move just as well as the dead roots and were just as fast. A chain was able to coil around a root. When Cao Yun exerted pressure, the root simply broke apart and collapsed into dust. Honestly, Cao Yun was extremely surprised. Even though his Black Heart Flame seemed almost useless against the main root, his own Death Energy was incredibly effective. Sadly, there were just too many roots all over the place. But Cao Yun had found a very good weapon, and he wouldn't stop there.
He grabbed a chain of materialized Death Energy and broke it apart. Dozens of links flew in every direction, crushing roots and breaking them apart. The more roots Cao Yun destroyed, the more agitated the others became. In fact, Cao Yun sensed that the main root was wriggling a little. It was barely perceptible, but he did sense it. Attacking the main root might be a good solution, but Cao Yun couldn't stay immobile at all, or he would be skewered by all the roots at the same time.
From the outside, no one could have understood the fight unless their eyes were exceptional. Cao Yun was flying much faster than sound, and so were the roots, in a very confined space. There was incredible turbulence of both air and space itself all around the area. If Yanzhen and the twins had not flown away, they could have been injured by the shock waves alone.
Sacrificing two chains, Cao Yun threw them toward the main root. Instinctively, a wall of roots emerged between them. They shattered the chains while being turned to dust themselves.
Cao Yun could tell that he was getting exhausted. His body could last longer, but his Po couldn't. With most of his Corporeal Soul turned into Death Energy, Cao Yun was exerting it over and over again within those 'Soul Chains'. In fact, he was quite literally consuming his own soul. This wasn't something he could keep on doing. Although he knew how to replenish this Death Energy to a certain degree, he simply couldn't go too far. Even now, he could feel his fingers becoming necrotic. This wasn't sustainable at all. And he had to try something else.
Obviously, Cao Yun refused to die in such a place against a dead tree. He would not even be killed by a dead tree, but by a dead root that was a tiny part of a larger tree. In a sense, it was like being killed by the phalanx of a cultivator who had lost a finger long ago, or worse, simply a nail.
After studying the roots and his own Dao of Death, Cao Yun had an idea he wasn't sure about. But he had nothing more to lose. If it failed, he would simply look for another exit. Maybe he would be injured, but he was almost certain that the roots wouldn't follow him too far. After all, they had not lashed out at Yanzhen and the twins once they had left. Most likely, the roots had been triggered by him damaging the main root, even if only slightly. It had been dormant for an exceptional amount of time, and Cao Yun had quite literally poked the bear. However, the roots seemed to lack actual sentience. Their movements didn't appear intelligent, but only reactive, instinctive in a sense. To be fair, Cao Yun had no idea what kind of thoughts a sentient tree would have. All things considered, he couldn't feel any intent or emotion at all.
Honestly, it was a good thing. If those roots had truly been intelligent, Cao Yun would have been dead already. It was hard to admit it, but he was clearly overwhelmed by this enemy. Thus, it made him rethink his goals. Clearly, there was no way he could fight the Withering Fusang Tree. Even if he broke through a lot, he wasn't sure he had any hope of winning at all. Unless he became a Monarch and was able to materialize a complete Domain, such a fight was probably mere suicide. Even then, he would need much more than what he had. Hopefully, his journey through the various realms of the Withering Fusang Domains would give him what he was hoping for.
Ready, Cao Yun launched his assault.
'Asura God Bathes the World in Blood'!
With all of his physical force, Cao Yun swept the battlefield with his spear. Such a heavy weapon wielded with incredible speed caused a terrible hurricane as Cao Yun poured all of his martial arts and Spear Spirit into it.
'Crafty Harassment'!
Using his Spear Spirit, Cao Yun pushed this technique to the limit. His body got covered in lightning, and doubles of Cao Yun made of crackling electricity flew all over the battlefield from his body. There were twelve doubles with different spears. Their positions created a large battle array formation. Every time the roots moved, bolts of electricity attacked them instantaneously in order to restrict their movements. It wasn't perfect, as the roots were simply slowed down. But they also focused on the doubles instead of Cao Yun since they simply couldn't comprehend anything. The real threat was obviously Cao Yun.
Using this crackling array formation, Cao Yun took advantage of this weakness.
'Dragon's Heart'. 'The Son of Heaven's Cavalry'.
Pushing his blood to the limit, Cao Yun focused all his power on the tip of his spear. Suddenly, he moved. For a brief moment, Cao Yun was in two different places at the same time. It wasn't a double or anything. Even Cao Yun barely felt it, as it ceased as soon as it began, but he was actually physically in two different places. His body disappeared with a huge boom. Before the shock wave could even move, Cao Yun was already atop the main dead root. By the time the shock wave began to move, he had plunged his 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear' as deep as he could into the dead root.
Despite his unimaginable strength, Cao Yun was unable to even put the entire tip of his spear into the dead wood. Still, he had actually pierced it, and he didn't want anything more. In order to increase his chances, he had targeted the spot where he had already taken off a small bit of the root.
The shock wave he himself had created hit Cao Yun in the back, pushing the spear a tiny bit deeper, almost nothing. Now was the moment to test his idea. From the tip of the spear, Cao Yun sent a large part of his own soul turned into Death Energy. It was slightly different from 'Soul Chains' because Cao Yun didn't try to materialize it. He was literally sending his soul itself, but in a state of death.
While he was doing so, he also focused as much as he could on the world tree within him. The second floor of his pagoda was brimming with life and spreading a powerful fragrance all around the pagoda, even though Cao Yun's inner world was a vast wasteland covered in cold bones.