Chapter 327 - 325: When the Enemy Advances, We Retreat; When the Enemy Does Not Advance, We Still Retreat

It had just been a probing question, yet he hadn't expected this thing to actually go silent out of guilty conscience.

The doubt in Jiang Che and the others' hearts grew stronger and stronger. They stared intently at the Dark Mother Plant, trying to find some clues from its reactions.

"H-how is that possible! W-what does that have to do with you!" The Dark Mother Plant's tiny sapling trembled, and its voice lowered a little along with it.

Its reaction further confirmed everyone's suspicions, and its reaction also left people utterly speechless.

Hearing this, the Blood Slaughter Couple also turned their heads.

"Then what are they staying over there for?" Ding Ning drawled lazily from the side.

"Why should I tell you!" The Dark Mother Plant's voice pitched up again; it seemed to want to use this way to cover its own guilty conscience.

"Now that all the Lords have come over, what's the point of them still staying there? For territory?" Blood Slaughter walked to the side, frowning.

He really couldn't figure it out. Only now did he realize these Dark Mother Plants were nothing like the clumsy, bullying-the-weak image he'd imagined.

Deep confusion and contemplation flickered in Blood Slaughter's eyes. He recalled his past understanding of the Dark Mother Plant and only felt that he had been misled by appearances.

These things not only had strength and intelligence, they even had their own plans.

This tiny sapling was obviously not the main body, yet it already had the strength to fight three at once.

He didn't dare imagine how terrifyingly strong the main body would be if it were here.

With strength like that, it simply had no need to hide.

Blood Slaughter's brows were tightly knitted as he sank into thought.

You could say this entire Dark Forest had no need to hide; even when fighting the evil spirits, they didn't need to give the evil spirits any space.

But the reality was the exact opposite. Not only did they make room for the evil spirits, they even yielded ground as soon as the evil spirits came to attack.

They'd always had a stance of not fighting, not competing with anyone.

They knew of many Mother Plants, they just weren't clear on the exact number.

These Mother Plants all looked identical on the surface; they hadn't carefully counted how many there actually were.

But as long as their main body wasn't harmed, these Mother Plants would basically never care how much of their forest was being cut down, nor how much territory the evil spirits had carved out within the forest.

When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy doesn't advance, we still retreat.

All along, these Dark Trees had looked like something anyone could step on.

But now…

"No! Absolutely not!" The small sapling covered in strange black patterns shook violently, its voice sharp yet tinged with a faint quiver.

Seeing this, Blood Slaughter fell silent on the spot.

This thing hadn't admitted to anything, but it felt like it had admitted to everything.

Ding Ning frowned. She just felt that this Dark Forest was truly bizarre.

According to this sapling before her, all the information Black Crow got came from it.

And the information she got was something Black Crow had deliberately arranged for her to learn.

At the start, when she first learned this information, she had believed it.

Because she thought she'd gotten the information from some very strange object.

Later, when she learned this was all set up by Black Crow, she threw away eighty percent of her trust in her heart.

After that, once this Dark Mother Plant said it was the one who had told Black Crow about this matter, the remaining sliver of trust completely vanished.

The reason she brought Jiang Che to test it was just to test.

For now, aside from the inherent danger of the Dungeon's own Lord, there wasn't much of a problem.

But now she'd figured one thing out: if there really was a Road to Godhood, then why wasn't this Dark Forest walking it?

"If they won't come out, why did you come out instead?" Jiang Che looked at the Dark Mother Tree before him, brow tightly furrowed.

"Hmph, none of your business!" The Dark Mother Plant said nothing more and instead slipped into the ground.

Seeing it leave, Jiang Che and Ding Ning exchanged a glance.

The two of them instantly knew what the other was thinking.

Without speaking out loud, they began communicating via thought.

This Dark Mother Plant seemed to have left, but they both knew that every tree in this forest was its eyes and ears.

"You haven't felt anything off lately, right?" Ding Ning remembered that Mother Plant had taken root inside Jiang Che's Dungeon.

Jiang Che shook his head.

Not only had he not felt any discomfort, after that Mother Plant took root he had even felt a trace of feedback.

This forest taking root here had not only brought no downside, it had actually brought many benefits.

That surging life force was constantly nourishing him at every moment.

"I might need to go back once." Ding Ning sighed. After she left, Hua had stayed at home the whole time, helping her watch over the territory Dungeon.

After hearing what that Mother Plant said today, she suddenly felt a bit worried about Hua.

She had originally thought that the Evil Spirit Realm was relatively safe now, since all the Lords had already left.

Even if they came to clear the Dungeon, to test that so-called throne above, Ding Ning had already left instructions: as long as a Lord came to challenge the Dungeon, just open the passage and let them leave directly.

No need to fight them.

Her Dungeon was just a regular Dungeon; once you found the exit you could leave, there weren't many obstacles.

She had thought that place was still relatively safe; now it seemed that might actually be the most dangerous place.

"I'll go with you."

Ding Ning shook her head in refusal. "That Mother Tree doesn't seem willing to talk much when it's at someone else's place."

"I'll go back and check on Hua. While we're gone, you try to pry a bit more information out of it." After she finished speaking, Ding Ning once again walked toward the other end of the passage.

She didn't let Jiang Che follow her. Although Jiang Che now had strength, he was still ultimately only below the throne.

If it was something even she couldn't resolve, bringing him over would be useless.

"Then I'll go back and dig up more info. You be careful on the way." Jiang Che looked at Ding Ning with reluctance.

He knew time was pressing. If the Dark Trees were going to make a move, now was definitely the best time to act, not after he went back, asked for information, and then had Ding Ning return over there.

He had no idea when he would be able to get answers.

It was just that he had already mastered the method for questioning that Dark Mother Tree.

He shouldn't ask it what the answer was, but rather bring his own answer and ask if that answer was correct.

If he asked wrong, it would mock him ruthlessly with disdain.

If he asked right, it would become incredibly guilty.

At this moment even Jiang Che couldn't figure it out.

If those Mother Plants still harbored covetousness toward the territories after the Lords left,

then the only thing they coveted would be the Dungeon itself.

Just like the Mother Plant on his side. The only thing it could do was to take root.

Take root inside the Dungeon.

Thinking of this, he immediately looked back at Ding Ning, who had just been about to leave.

"It's very likely that, just like here, that Mother Tree is inside the Dungeon, intending to take root."

Ever since the Mother Tree on his side displayed its strength, Jiang Che had been baffled by its desire to take root in his territory.

He had originally thought this thing had done so out of helplessness, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.