The Wine Immortal Daoist's primal energy surged into Xu Mu's sea of consciousness.
Like a living spring, like heavenly manna, Xu Mu's damaged sea of consciousness barrier was completely repaired. Even the Dao Origin and abilities within his body changed with the arrival of that primal energy.
Humming...
They rejoiced, clustered together, intertwined, and then poured into Xu Mu's mind as one.
Thus, the once dead sea of the soul was revitalized by their arrival.
Boom!
In the sea of consciousness, a towering wave surged, slamming the Heavenly Tree Spirit's body in half.
"What is this!"
The Heavenly Tree Spirit felt pain and, shocked, spoke human words.
Just moments ago, the sea of consciousness barrier, which he was about to breach, had miraculously restored itself due to the influx of an unknown energy, and the human's soul power had also been strengthened.
"Cunning human!"
The Heavenly Tree Spirit roared, bracing his branches against the seabed, trying to struggle to his feet. But he had already suffered too much damage, and the sea was too ferocious at this moment, so he could only let the seawater erode him.
"Perhaps this is why Senior Wine Immortal loves to drink."
Xu Mu sighed. His mental state had once again returned to its peak. The energy that caused this had a strong smell of wine, so there was no need to guess who had helped him; it was certainly the Wine Immortal Daoist outside!
"Despicable human, your victory is unjust!"
With a crackling sound, the Heavenly Tree Spirit stood up from the seabed.
The branches on its body had all been snapped, and the lush leaves at the top were almost withered and completely ruined.
Clearly, he was close to his limit.
Hearing the Heavenly Tree Spirit's words, Xu Mu was about to retort when he suddenly sensed a familiar aura from the outside.
Dark, evil, and cold.
βIt was Vilitian!
A cold glint flashed in Xu Mu's eyes. He was eager to kill the other party.
But he knew that, for now, he had to deal with the Heavenly Tree first.
So, he stabilized his turbulent emotions and said to the Heavenly Tree Spirit,
"What is the meaning of victory or defeat? We are not enemies to begin with."
As Xu Mu spoke, the seawater around the Heavenly Tree Spirit receded in all directions.
The Heavenly Tree Spirit was stunned. He was already at his limit, but he hadn't expected that, just as it was about to end, the human would stop his attack and even leave an open space.
What did this mean? Was he trying to humiliate him?
The Heavenly Tree Spirit grunted:
"Human, kill me if you wish. As the leader of the Heavenly Tree clan, I will never bow to you!"
Xu Mu found the Heavenly Tree Spirit's words somewhat exasperating:
"You are already a being in the Human King realm. Haven't you sensed the commotion outside?"
The Heavenly Tree Spirit was startled by this. After a two-second silence, his body trembled, and he exclaimed in horror:
"Demon God?!"
"No, not just a Demon God, but also a similar spiritual body!"
Xu Mu nodded:
"That's right."
"Why don't you think about it? Why would I, a human who was pursuing you for inheritance, suddenly break the connection and offend you?"
"Actually, I attacked you because they cast an illusion on me."
Seeing that the time was right, Xu Mu slowly revealed the truth.
The Heavenly Tree Spirit was stunned.
Then, while restoring his soul power, he asked suspiciously:
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"
Xu Mu's tone was helpless:
"I wanted to say so before, but you attacked the moment we met, and you didn't give me a chance to explain."
The Heavenly Tree Spirit pondered this and then felt a bit awkward.
It seemed that was indeed the case. At that time, he was blinded by pride and anger, and his sole thought was to kill Xu Mu to vent his frustration. He had no intention of listening to any explanation. Now that his life was in someone else's hands, he had the inclination to think about it.
"Then what do you want to do?" the Heavenly Tree Spirit asked. It seemed to be time for negotiation, and the human would not let him go easily.
"I want to kill the Demon God, so I need your help," Xu Mu said.
The Heavenly Tree Spirit replied:
"The Demon God's whereabouts are secret. Even if he appears, I cannot catch him, so I cannot help you."
"Killing him isn't difficult. The difficulty lies in someone targeting me," Xu Mu continued, revealing his true purpose. "I need the power of your main body to help me deter the other humans."
"If you can agree, I can sign a contract with you. After the matter is resolved, the contract will be dissolved, and I will leave here."
The Heavenly Tree Spirit sighed:
"No, even though I am the leader of the Heavenly Tree Tomb, I cannot attack humans at will. It is only permissible if the other party violates the rules. Otherwise, I will be punished by the rules of this space."
Xu Mu frowned. There was such a thing? But it didn't matter.
"That's fine. I don't need you to attack them. You just need to help me scare them away."
The Heavenly Tree Spirit hesitated and said:
"Really?"
Xu Mu:
"Of course it's true."
Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Tree Spirit finally stopped hesitating. He sensed that Xu Mu's soul power was recovering much faster than his. If he didn't agree to the terms, he would truly die.
"I agree. Let's sign the contract now!"
The Heavenly Tree Spirit spoke as if he had made a great resolution, putting aside his pride as a leader and choosing to compromise for the sake of survival.
Xu Mu smiled and directly opened the door from his sea of consciousness to the outside world, saying:
"No need to sign. You can leave. I believe you will keep your promise."
"You..." The Heavenly Tree Spirit was completely stunned. He hadn't expected Xu Mu to let him go so directly without signing a contract. Wasn't he afraid of retaliation after he left?
"If you don't leave now, I'll close it."
Xu Mu's soul condensed into a human form, a smile on his face.
In fact, he had no contract that could establish such conditions. Everything he said before was a lie to trick the tree spirit, with the aim of making him feel guilty and thus willingly serve him.
Subduing through force was not as effective as relying on strategy.
"I take back what I said before. You are not a despicable human; you are a good person."
As expected, the Heavenly Tree Spirit was moved by Xu Mu's actions and immediately changed his tune. His soul then disappeared, returning to its original body.
Hearing this, Xu Mu's soul also began to blur. Three seconds later, the eyes on his physical body, which had been tightly closed, slowly opened.
"You're awake. How are you feeling?"
The Wine Immortal Daoist had been closely watching Xu Mu's movements and discovered his awakening immediately. He asked with concern.
Xu Mu looked at the Daoist in front of him, whose complexion was somewhat pale, and then at his wine gourd, which was held upside down but without any spillage. His heart was filled with emotion.
Just as he was about to say something to express his gratitude, he saw the Wine Immortal Daoist grab his arm and exclaim in horror:
"This is bad, the Heavenly Tree has also woken up!"
"Hurry and summon Qiongqi. I can hold him off for some time with my Dharma image!"
The Wine Immortal Daoist, with a grave expression, shielded him.
Seeing this, Xu Mu's eyes immediately turned red.
When he was young, and he and Wu Kui went into the mountains to hunt, it was Wu Kui who shielded him in the same way when they encountered danger. It was exactly the same.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry and run!"
The Wine Immortal Daoist's Dharma image soared into the sky, wielding a peach wood sword and wearing a lotus crown, shining brilliantly.
Xu Mu patted the Daoist's shoulder, then pulled him behind him, his voice hoarse:
"Senior, don't worry, we are no longer in danger."
He pointed at the Heavenly Tree in front of them, his voice filled with irrefutable confidence:
"From now on, the leader of this Heavenly Tree will obey my command!"