Legendary Son-in-Law: The Man with Poison Talismans

It was eerily quiet; there wasn't even the chirping of insects or the sound of the wind. The only sounds were the cracking of the skull's joints and my own heartbeat.

The skeleton walked a little further, and the fog suddenly thinned out.

It wasn't because the fog had cleared, but because something was blocking it from the way ahead.

Through the skull's vision, Lin Mu saw a huge, blurry outline. Taking a few more steps closer, he saw clearly: it was a tree.

A towering tree with an extremely strange appearance, its trunk so thick that dozens of people could not encircle it. Its bark was grayish-black, covered with layers upon layers of scars and nodules, like countless faces crushed and pasted onto the trunk, twisted, overlapping, and squeezed together, appearing and disappearing in the mist.

The tree canopy blocked out the sun, but it wasn't green; it was grayish-white, as if it had been dead for hundreds of years. The branches were bare, without a single leaf, with only countless thin twigs swaying gently in the mist, like countless withered fingers scratching in the wind.

The tree was surrounded by a black pool of water, thick as ink, with an oily sheen on the surface. Occasionally, a bubble would rise to the surface, releasing a strong, putrid stench when it burst.

There was only a narrow stone bridge leading to the tree. The bridge surface was paved with bluestone slabs, but most of the slabs were broken.

Chapter 194 The Test of Scorched Earth (Part 2)

The tree spirit grew in the middle of the pool. Its trunk was thick and its roots, like countless giant pythons, stretched out from the pool, coiled on the bank, and plunged into the scorched earth.

Lin Mu estimated that he was about 500 meters away from the tree demon.

The more he looked, the more horrified he became. The tree didn't seem like a plant; it was more like a sleeping behemoth that hadn't woken up, or rather, it disdained to wake up.

"Go forward." Lin Mu gave the skeleton a mental command. The skeleton took a step and walked towards the tree demon. 100 meters. The ground beneath its feet changed; it was no longer scorched, cracked soil, but a grayish-white, soft powder that looked like it had been corroded by something.

The skeleton's foot stepped on it, leaving a deep footprint. Powder flew up and landed on the skeleton, tickling it but not hurting it.

The fog thickened, and the tree's outline became clearer. The scars and knots on the trunk seemed alive, slowly wriggling as the skull approached.

Lin Mu stared at the scars, a chill running down his spine, but the skeleton didn't stop.

200 m.

The powder turned into a thin, hard shell that crunched when stepped on, like stepping on a thin layer of ice, with no idea what lay beneath. The sweet and fishy smells in the air disappeared, replaced by a pungent, burnt smell, like something was burning.

Lin Mu's nasal passages felt tight and his throat was dry. Through the skull's vision, he saw some tiny, blood vessel-like things pulsating on the trunk of the tree in the distance, pulsating like a heart beating.

300 m.

The hard shell was gone, revealing the real soil beneath. It wasn't charred black, but a dark red, moist soil, as if it had just been soaked in blood.

It feels soft and spongy when you step on it, like stepping on the flesh of some living thing, with a slight, elastic rebound.

The skeleton looked down at the ground beneath its feet, and Lin Mu saw it too. On the dark red soil surface, there were some tiny, hair-like things swaying gently. They weren't grass or roots, but more like the mycelium of some kind of fungus, densely covering the entire ground.

When the skeleton stepped on it, the mycelium retracted; when the skeleton lifted its foot, it stretched out again, as if testing the waters or hesitating.

When the skeleton was within 50 meters of the tree spirit, a slight tremor suddenly came from beneath its feet. It wasn't a loud, rumbling tremor like an earthquake, but rather a sensation like something moving rapidly underground, approaching from afar, getting closer and closer, faster and faster.

The skeleton stopped and looked down at the ground beneath its feet.

"Pfft..." A grayish-white spike suddenly shot out from the ground, so fast that the skeleton had no time to react.

The spikes, sharp as spears, aimed straight for the skull between its legs, piercing its hip bone.

After stabbing, the spikes retracted back into the ground, and the ground returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

The skeleton was jolted upwards by the stab, its joints cracking, and the flames in its eye sockets contracted sharply before blazing brightly again.

Lin Mu, even from a distance, was startled through the skeleton's vision. His heart pounded as if it would leap out of his throat. He couldn't see how much blood the skeleton had lost, but the skeleton's data panel in his mind clearly displayed the figures.

[HP: 4000/4000→3630/4000].

One stab, 370 points of damage.

If an ordinary mage or Taoist priest went there, they would be instantly killed.

Before the skeleton could recover from its shock, new small bumps appeared on the ground beneath its feet.

This time it learned its lesson. Sensing a slight tremor in the ground, the skeleton pushed off with its legs and leaped high into the air.

That day on the arena, Jiang Yanzhou tried to jump over the skeleton to attack Lin Mu, but the skeleton not only learned the move, but also jumped much higher than him.

But the speed at which the spikes pierce the ground is faster than the speed at which they jump.

Grayish-white spikes rose from its feet, chasing its rising body upwards and piercing its groin, pressing against its hip bone.

The skeleton's body suddenly arched in mid-air, its joints cracking.

-352.

The skeleton landed, ran a few steps, felt a tremor in the ground, and then leaped high into the air once more.

This time it used all its strength, jumping higher and farther than before, and landing three or four steps away from its original position.

But the spikes still caught up with it.

Grayish-white spikes burst from the ground and pierced the skull's hip bone, sending bone fragments flying.

-357.

No matter how high or far the skeleton jumps, the spikes always manage to pierce it, as if they have eyes.

Something's not right.

Without hesitation, Lin Mu commanded the skeleton to run back.

Upon receiving the order, the skeleton turned and ran, its bony feet thumping softly on the dark red soil.

It ran very fast, much faster than before, covering more than ten meters in just a few steps.

After running 50 meters, and reaching a distance of more than 60 meters from the tree demon, Lin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. The skeleton also seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and its pace slowed down.

Just when they thought they were safe, the ground beneath their feet shook again, rising up from directly below the skull.

The skeleton didn't stop running; it continued to run quickly.

But it seems that something underground is constantly chasing the skeleton.

Just as the skeleton took two more steps, suddenly grayish-white spikes shot straight up from the ground, piercing the skeleton's groin and hurtling towards the most vulnerable spot between its legs.

-371.

The blow sent a chill down Lin Mu's spine, and he instinctively clenched his legs. Why did this tree demon always stab him there?

This attack method is disgusting in the game, but it's even more disgusting here.

He made the skeleton keep running.

The skeleton ran a few more steps before Lin Mu realized something was wrong. When the skeleton had run 50 meters away, it was clearly out of attack range, so why was it still being attacked by the ground spikes?

He looked around: a hazy fog, a scorched sky, and dark red earth; there was no sign of any other tree spirits. Could this tree spirit's attack range be more than 50 meters?

Or perhaps the skeleton hasn't escaped its attack range yet?

Lin Mu felt something was wrong the more he thought about it, but he didn't stop and commanded the skeleton to continue running back.

The skeleton ran back, the tremors beneath it catching up with its steps time and time again. Spikes pierced the dark red soil one after another, making muffled thuds, and finally landed between the skeleton's hip bones.

Lin Mu counted the time as he ran; the ground spikes were about once every 2.5 seconds.

And no matter how fast the skeleton runs or how agile its movements are, it cannot dodge the spikes' attack.

When the skeleton was about 270 meters away from the tree spirit, the spikes reappeared from under its feet.

A snap.

The skeleton's frame was scattered, ribs, spine, and limbs crumbling to pieces on the ground, grayish-white bone fragments lying on the dark red soil. The flames in the two eye sockets flickered and then went out.

Chapter 195 The Tree Spirit's Mechanism

Lin Mu stood there, stunned.

A skeleton with 4000 HP just fell down like that?

He closed his eyes, and with a thought, summoned a skeleton.

Silvery-white light surged from the void, coalescing and reshaping beside him. The skeleton emerged from the light, completely restored, and the flames in its eye sockets ignited once more.

The skeleton stopped, turned its head, and stared at Lin Mu with two dark eye sockets, its knuckles cracking twice.

Lin Mu felt that it was complaining, that it made him go in such a dangerous situation.

But he still patted its shoulder blade and pointed in the direction of the tree spirit. The skeleton hesitated for a moment, then took a step.

This time, the skeleton easily walked to within 50 meters of the tree spirit.

As soon as he took a step forward and his foot landed within 50 meters of the tree spirit, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble and bulge again. Then, spikes suddenly shot out from the ground and pierced the middle of the skeleton's hip bone.

The skeleton was jolted by the stab, its joints cracking, but it didn't stop. It continued running outwards, even faster than before.

No matter how fast the skeleton runs, once the spikes emerge from the ground, they move horizontally underground, chasing after it and stabbing it in the groin area before stopping.

And so the spikes beneath it chased after it, one after another piercing its hip bone.

After an unknown amount of time, when the skeleton had run to within 300 meters of the tree spirit, the ground beneath it finally fell silent.

There were no more bulges, no more vibrations, and no more splinters.

The skeleton stopped, its joints cracking twice, as if to confirm that it was still alive.

Lin Mu had the skeleton continue walking out, and when it reached him, he fully healed it, cast magic defense on it, and then had the skeleton go back in and try twice more.

He finally understood.

The treant's attack range is 50 meters.

And once the attack is triggered, the attack range will become a radius of 300 meters.

This old tree demon lets people in first, and only makes its move when they are within 50 meters. By the time you try to run away, you've already entered its 300-meter encirclement.

No wonder it's written in the monster atlas.

Two hundred years ago, a guild called the "Iron Blood Alliance" mobilized its entire forces to attack the Tree Demon. Three thousand members went in, but none of them came out.

It's not that the Iron Blood Alliance is incompetent, it's just that this old sixth tree demon is too good at putting on airs.

Ordinary people think its attack range is only 50 meters, but when they get close, they find that 50 meters is its trap, and 300 meters is its hunting ground.

Even if 3000 people run as fast as they can, they will still get hit by seven or eight spikes when they run from 50 meters to 300 meters away.

Furthermore, this attack method specifically targets the lower body, directly striking weak points. It's estimated that one hit would render the person immobile, lying on the ground clutching their groin, with no strength left to run.

The spikes followed, piercing each one one by one. There were 3000 people, and they didn't even have a chance to run away.