I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

Eastern Mountains, Xia Clan Branch.

Arrows rained down like locusts, covering the sky and the earth.

Hundreds of demonic wolves surged out of the dense forest, their gray-black fur gleaming with a bloody sheen in the morning light.

The leader was a fully grown demon wolf, its mane bristling like iron spikes.

It raised its head and let out a mournful howl, and the pack of wolves responded by speeding up, raising dust that obscured their vision.

"put!"

Xuan's voice rang out sharply from the stockade wall.

Thirty stiff bows were simultaneously released, and arrows shot through the air, embedding themselves in the wolf pack.

Several of the leading wolves rolled over in response, but more wolves continued their charge, stepping over the corpses of their companions.

"Balloon!"

Inside the stockade wall, three massive crossbows fired simultaneously.

This is a heavy weapon that Hui has painstakingly crafted over several years—

The crossbow's bow arm was made of a combination of century-old ironwood and the tendons of demonic beasts, requiring three strong men to work together to twist the string.

The crossbow bolts were as thick as a child's arm, with iron armor-piercing spikes embedded at the front. They were soaked in tung oil and gleamed with a cold luster in the morning light.

"Buzz—"

A dull twang suddenly burst forth, and three dark figures tore through the air, shooting into the wolf pack with sharp howls.

The crossbow bolts carved three bloody paths, halting the wolf pack's charge.

"Follow me!"

Xuan roared, grabbed an iron axe, and leaped off the stockade wall.

More than twenty totem walkers followed closely behind, their iron weapons gleaming coldly in the morning light.

They formed groups of three, back to back, and charged into the wolf pack.

Xuan cleaved the head of a demon wolf with an axe, dodged the attack of another wolf, and swung the iron axe to sever its spine.

Blood splattered all over his face.

But he did not back down.

Behind them, archers on the stockade wall kept firing arrows, and the crossbows were reloaded with a creaking sound from the winches, unleashing another volley.

The battle lasted for the entire morning.

When the last demon wolf, dragging its broken leg, disappeared into the dense forest, the open ground outside the stockade wall was littered with wolf corpses.

The soil was soaked in blood, turning it blackish-red, and the stench was overwhelming.

Xuan leaned on his iron axe, panting heavily.

His armor was covered in crisscrossing claw marks and layers of bloodstains, making it impossible to distinguish friend from foe.

"casualties?"

"Three died and more than a dozen were injured."

Hui came down from the village wall, carrying a bundle of spare bowstrings on his shoulder.

"besides……"

"Two crossbows were destroyed, and seven or eight bowstrings were broken."

Upon hearing Hui's battle report, Xuan coldly gazed into the depths of the dense forest.

In the deep shadows of the trees, the blood-red eyes of a wolf could be vaguely seen gleaming.

The demon wolves did not retreat far; they were waiting.

Wait until it gets dark.

"Can the crossbow still be repaired?"

"It can be repaired, but it will take time."

Hui crouched down, stroking the broken bow arm with his rough fingers, his brow furrowed.

"There's not much ironwood left, so we have to use it sparingly."

Xuan was about to speak when his body suddenly stiffened.

A warm feeling surged from the lush green sapling and flowed into his mind.

In my mind, there was a voice.

Old, hoarse, yet as hard as iron.

It wasn't the voice of the tree spirit.

It is a swan.

"The Xia family's children—"

That voice resounded in the minds of every member of the Xia clan, from the eastern mountains to the northern wilderness, from the southern border river to the western swamp...

All members of the Xia clan, regardless of age or gender, stopped what they were doing at the same time.

They heard it.

"By the Tree God."

"I am Hong, the leader of the Xia clan."

"Today, a wolf demon broke into the Valley of the Divine Tree, representing the demon race to negotiate."

"It demands that we kneel and submit."

"It requires us to pay tribute of 500 tribesmen every year."

"It wants us to hand over the tree spirit and give up our home."

"They say it's a blessing..."

Hong's voice suddenly rose, booming like thunder in everyone's mind.

"To hell with the gift!"

"By the Tree God! We, the Xia Clan, will not kneel!"

In an instant, a fire was ignited in the chest of every Xia clan member.

That is the pride of being human!

"From this day forward, from this moment forward, we shall fight!"

"We will fight in the wilderness, we will fight in the mountains and seas, we will fight on every inch of this land!"

"Even if it means fighting to the last man, to the last drop of blood—"

"We will never tarnish the name of the Xia family!"

Xuan's hand gripping the iron axe trembled, and his heart pounded like a drum.

He gazed into the distance, in the direction where the Xia clan's totem was located.

Valley of the Sacred Tree.

Yu Su's senses enveloped the entire valley.

Hong's figure is receding into the distance.

The white-haired old man donned his armor once more, wielding an iron sword, and led the totem walkers of the Divine Tree Valley into the northern wilderness.

Yu Su remained silent for a long time.

The light flowed through the tree trunk like blood, each pulse heavy as a mountain.

He recalled many years ago.

The young man kneeling beside the tree roots, his forehead buried deep in the soil.

At that time, Hong was young, covered in scars, with a burning desire for survival in his eyes.

He recalled the tears that welled up in Hong's eyes when she first heard the word "Xia".

He recalled the image of Hong kneeling proudly before the altar after leading his people to hunt down the two-headed venomous python...

Over a hundred years.

Yu Su thought of herself as just a tree.

Human beings' birth, aging, sickness, and death are nothing more than a season of flourishing and decay under the shade of a tree.

But when this familiar face, which has been with us for a century, is about to leave us.

His heart, dormant for a century, finally trembled slightly.

A tender branch droops down, with a leaf hanging at its tip, shimmering with iridescent light, its veins shimmering with rainbow hues.

That was a wisp of Yu Su's innate spiritual light.

Yu Su's voice rang in Hong's mind, carrying a somewhat inexplicable meaning.

"Take it with you."

"It can save your life if necessary."

Hong stopped and looked down at the leaf floating in front of him.

The light illuminated his aged face, each wrinkle resembling a furrow etched by time.

He was silent for a moment, then smiled.

His smile was gentle and peaceful, like a fallen leaf finally returning to the earth.

He shook his head.

"Tree God, you never interfere with our choices."

"From the day you gave us writing, you let us walk on our own."

"Please forgive my stubbornness this time too!"

He reached out and gently pushed the branch aside.

Yu Su's branches paused slightly, and a flash of light appeared on the leaves.

Hong knelt down and kowtowed three times to the towering tree.

The dull thud of his forehead hitting the ground echoed for a long time in the valley.

Then he turned around and never looked back.

The northern wilderness, where swamps and dense forests meet.

This place is rife with poisonous miasma and riddled with demonic lairs, making it the most challenging of the four branches.

As soon as Hong led the totem walkers to the aid of the enemy into this perilous land, countless snake demons sprang out of the mud and pounced from all directions.

Their cold, vertical pupils gleamed in the darkness, their tongues hissing and flickering, greedily capturing the scent of humans.

The next moment, a suffocating pressure surged up from the depths of the swamp.

Mud churned and trees fell.

A colossal creature emerged from the darkness, its body as thick as a water bucket, its single horn gleaming with a sinister purple light.

It was clearly another being beyond the ordinary.

A great demon of the serpent clan!

Hong gazed at the slowly approaching behemoth, a relieved smile appearing on his lips.

Only now did the first leader of the Xia clan and the first totem walker of the human race finally become certain—

This is the battlefield of his destiny!