Without even looking, Xiang Shaoyun could sense that behind him was a greenhead lizard. The greenhead lizard was about seven meters long. Its green head was massive, and its entire body was green. It was perfectly camouflaged among the vegetation, making it hard to detect.

This was most definitely an Emperor greenhead lizard. Its scales were extremely thick and could block blades. Its massive pair of eyes were focused on Xiang Shaoyun while its tongue flickered about, exuding a bloodthirsty aura.

It slowly approached, and when it saw that Xiang Shaoyun did not react, it was confident that this human would be its next meal.

Whoosh!

Moving cautiously, the lizard shot out its tongue before it even arrived, trying to swallow Xiang Shaoyun with one attack. Right as the tongue was about to reach Xiang Shaoyun, he suddenly shifted away. Using the side of his palm, he chopped at the thick tongue.

Using the palm as a blade, Xiang Shaoyun severed the tongue, causing the lizard to whine in pain. The lizard was infuriated and pounced at Xiang Shaoyun, moving nimbly and violently. It arrived before him in a flash.

Instead of moving out of the way, Xiang Shaoyun met the advance with a punch. His fist shot out like a tyrannical dragon soaring out of the sea. The jaws of the lizard were smashed apart, and after several punches, the lizard was dead.

Xiang Shaoyun thought that he would win some peace after killing the lizard, but it had actually attracted more trouble. Devil trees, devil vines, and others appeared to consume the lizard corpse. The scene of the plants devouring the lizard intrigued Xiang Shaoyun. Apart from that, some green poison bees also appeared, giving him a fright.

These green poison bees had extremely sharp stingers. When they attacked together, they were akin to a volley of numerous arrows being launched. Furthermore, these bees were highly poisonous.

Why is this damn place so dangerous? Xiang Shaoyun grumbled inwardly.

He did not dare to waste any time thinking and directly killed the bees with his mighty combat prowess. But when Xiang Shaoyun fought the bees, the trees and vines worked together to attack him, trying to take him down.

Protecting himself with his Goldplates and attacking with flame attacks, he was capable of both offense and defense. He waged war on these plants and bugs, causing absolute chaos in his surroundings.

Even so, he wasn't having an easy time. The trees and vines seemed capable of growing endlessly, interfering and preventing him from unleashing any powerful attacks. The bees also seemed endless, as there was no end to them.

Xiang Shaoyun quickly used the power of wind and lightning to crush everything around him into smithereens. Numerous bees were sent flying away, and the rain of lightning basted away the trees and vines. By the time he once again resolved the danger around him, his points had grown greatly.

"Money, come out!" Xiang Shaoyun released Money.

Money had been spending all his time digesting the dragon bone recently. His strength had reached a terrifying level, and Xiang Shaoyun did not wish for Money to keep slacking. Thus, he was planning to let Money temper himself here.

Money was somewhat unwilling to leave, but he had no choice but to obey and keep watch for Xiang Shaoyun.

"Vicious One, Two, and Three, come out as well," Xiang Shaoyun released the three birds after some thought.

Even though the three beasts were only late-stage Demon Kings and were probably too weak to survive, Xiang Shaoyun still wished to give them more combat experience. With Money as the leader, the four stood guard while Xiang Shaoyun sank into cultivation once again.

With his cultivation method, he continued absorbing the wood energy around him, rapidly increasing his understanding of the power of wood. At this time, changes started happening to the tiny tree in his astral cosmos sea. It was seemingly trying to communicate that it wanted to come out.

Xiang Shaoyun had not imagined that the tiny tree would actually have intelligence. The tiny tree started shining brightly, exuding strands of pure energy throughout the astral cosmos sea, giving him a soothing and comfortable sensation.

Xiang Shaoyun had known that the tiny tree was special, but he had never expected it to be this unique. After a slight hesitation, he released the tiny tree and said, "I hope you don't disappoint me."

After it was released, the tiny tree started rapidly absorbing the wood energy in the area. A massive amount of wood energy converged around it at a speed that gave even Xiang Shaoyun a shock.

He was a late-stage Emperor who could rapidly absorb energy, but when compared to this tiny tree, his speed was still nothing. Perhaps not even a Sovereign could absorb energy faster.

Soon, the tiny tree started glowing again, creating ripples of green radiance that enveloped the area around it.

Beside the tiny tree, Xiang Shaoyun could sense a concentration of exceedingly pure wood energy around him. The purity of the newly gathered wood energy was much higher than what he had gathered. It was almost completely pure.

After absorbing the wood energy, the tiny tree's branches and leaves started slowly changing. Evidently, it was growing healthily.

"Good fellow. If I can meditate on the energy here for a while, comprehending the profundity of wood won't be anything difficult," said Xiang Shaoyun in excitement.

Just as he was about to sit down cross-legged, he found many plants approaching them, including numerous old devil trees. They had tough trunks and branches, showcasing their age. They seemed rather interested in the tiny tree as their branches reached over toward the tiny tree.

When Xiang Shaoyun was about to stop them, he sensed the energy around the tiny tree shifting into a powerful defensive barrier, stopping the devil trees' approach.

"This little fellow can't be a young devil tree, right?" Xiang Shaoyun wondered.

Alas, although the tiny tree wasn't weak, its defensive barrier was destroyed after the old devil trees personally acted. As a response, the tiny tree quickly hid behind Xiang Shaoyun, rendering him speechless. Now was not the time for him to think. He had to first deal with these old devil trees. He took out his saber and swung at the old tree branches.

Cling! Clank!

To his surprise, the saber actually failed to sever the branches. Instead, a series of sharp clanking sounds rang out. He finally realized that things might be getting troublesome.