“Ha! I knew it! ” After Feng Bujue heard Rain’s words, he exclaimed harshly, “Evildoer! Reveal your true body!” He shouted vigorously, not moving an inch.
The monster simply gave up its wretched disguise since she needn’t keep it up. Its waxy face quickly transformed, and the rough, dense wrinkles of its face were reduced to the grain of the bark. Soon its head and arm behind the tree became two branches. There was a little bell atop the branch where the arm was. At the same time, on the trunk facing the direction of Like Rain, two bloody huge cracks suddenly appeared. It was like a pair of eyes, and the eyelids were the bark. Under the bark was a pair of huge dark pupils.
“You are so nosey… “A deep dull voice sounded from the trunk “If you want the bell, then come and get it…”
Like Rain did not answer, and she didn’t have anything to say. She just acted.
Using her Sword Canonization, she slanted her arms to produce psionic energy. Feng Bujue didn’t know how powerful it was. It ripped a hole more than two meters long in the trunk through the air. The tree was clearly unable to move or dodge, so the trunk received the blow. Surprisingly, it gargled and bled blood.
“Ah!” the monster cried out in pain.
Feng Bujue had come around to Like Rain from the other side. He knew that if he didn’t get close to the tree, it cannot hurt players at all.
“It’s defenses sucks” He muttered,” And the range of its attack seems very low, too.” He turned his head and looked at Like Rain. “This guy could probably directly kill us with one slash if we get too close though”.
“My ability is on cooldown and it took a little bit of spiritual value.” Like Rain knew what Feng Bujue meant, but her ranged attacks were limited.
“Okay, leave it to me.” Feng Bujue smiled, looking eager to act.
Like Rain heard his words and stored her sword, “Go ahead”
“You… “The big tree saw Feng Bujue’s expression, immediately asking,” What are you going to do?”
“Don’t be afraid, I just want to ask a few questions.” He kneeled on one knee and took out [Miss Moxxi’s Bad Toucher] laying it on top of the stool, aiming steadily at the great, immobile object a few meters away.
Like Rain just observed, it was weird to see a player saying “Don’t be afraid” to a monster. It was too hilarious.
“What if I don’t want to answer? “The monster responded fiercely.
Bang… Bang… The gunshots answering its question.
Shots fired from the muzzle of the submachine gun. His gun had fire properties and the special effect said that it was “Especially suitable for killing live beings”. Obviously, whether the tree was an animal or a plant, it would still be severely restrained by this weapon.
“Ah! Ah! Ah…” The monster roared, a few bullets leaving a trail of fire on its body and if it were not for the blood from the bark she would’ve been burnt to ashes.
“If you don’t want to become firewood then you should answer, now, I will ask you… “Feng Bujue practical actions made the other side unable to refuse. He immediately asked, ” First of all, tell me who you are”
“I don’t know” The monster answered.
“Ah! There we go!” Feng Bujue readied his gun without warning.
“Wait! I’m telling you the truth! “The monster quickly explained.
“Okay, it doesn’t matter anyway.” Feng Bujue raised his head and aimed at the ground temporarily “Alright, first things first, what do you mean by ” The Forest of No Return?”
The monster thought for a few seconds and then asked, “Will you let me off?”
Bang… Bang… “Ah! Good! I’ll answer! Stop it!” The monster shrieked, begging for mercy.
It remained silent for a while as if waiting for the pain to subside, “Decades ago, the villagers of the small town below the mountain were so afraid of the forest that they named it The Forest of No Return. Almost nobody dared to come into the forest… Even when they came, they couldn’t get out.”
“Are there a lot of monsters like you in the forest?” Asked Feng Bujue.
“Yes, but not much” The tree sneered, “I’m not sure whether I am a monster or not, I am just an old tree in a forest. ‘The child’s’ anger was too strong and the whole forest was corrupted with its hatred, I was influenced by it… “Suddenly, the hole in the bark cut open by Like Rain split open and blood spewed all over the ground revealing the trunk’s innards to Feng Bujue and Like Rain.
The trunk was full of corpses and its faces were so horrible. Their expression of terror was carved on their faces, everybody looked limp but not rotten. All the corpses were tangled up like braids and were bleeding from their eyes and noses.
“The villagers of Cangling Town were at fault and their descendants shall be punished.” The monster closed the hole as it spoke. “You are the ghost-hunter invited by the villagers, aren’t you?”
Feng Bujue asked, “How can an evil tree in the mountains know that this world has ghost hunters?”
“Many years ago, lots of well-trained Monks, Taoists, and Magicians specializing in ghost hunting arrived… There were too many to count. All of them died in the hands of ‘the child’”. The monster replied.
“Did it say Cangling?” said Rain. [1]
Feng Bujue was curious too, “The small town at the foot of the mountain is clearly called Canglin town, why do you say ‘Cangling town’?”
“This has been called Cangling town for many years when the town called Canglin town?” Monster returned.
Feng Bujue looked at Like Rain, lowering his voice, “Something must have happened Decades ago. The fact that the village has been abandoned may have something to do with the man who left three big words at the entering of the village.”
Like Rain tried to follow Feng Bujue‘s line of thinking but couldn’t conclude anything. She only softly replied, “Ask about the dead soul”.
Feng Bujue continued,” ‘The child’, from what you implied was killed by the villagers, right? What happened?”
“You have to ask her yourself. I only know she resents the villagers. I think she must have died wrongfully. I don’t know how she died.” The monster replied.
“Where is she? ”
“Cangling Temple” The monster answered.
“Where is Cangling Temple? How do we get there?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Take my bell and hold it in front of your eyes. Once you’re facing in the direction of the temple the bell will ring.”
“Oh… “Feng Bujue’s gaze moved towards the monster’s branch where the bell was hanging ” Couldn’t you just… throw it over to me?”
The monster replied, “Can’t”
“Well… That’s O – “Feng Bujue suddenly exclaimed, looking surprised and pointed to the other side of the tree, shouting “Ah! What is that?”
Even Like Rain on the side was startled. She was standing by him, their vision basically the same, yet she didn’t see anything abnormal, but Feng Bujue’s facial expression and tone were so lifelike that she unconsciously became nervous.
The tree, not knowing what happened, turned its eyes to the other side like a human. Feng Bujue suddenly opened the Body-Spirit Congregation Technique and the bell was easily lifted from the branch, he then swiftly backed away to a safer distance.
That last hope of the evil tree was shattered. Because the player got the bell, its only chance of attack was no longer possible. Feng Bujue used such a child-like lie, “Be careful, behind your back!” used commonly by kindergartens… and he got the item.
[Name: Bell]
[Type: Plot related]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Effect: Locate the location of Cangling Temple]
[Being able to bring out of the scenario: No]
[Note: The little bell seems to have a connection with some powerful evil spirit.]
“OK, we’re done. Let’s go.” Feng Bujue said to Like Rain.
After he got the bell, he immediately disarmed the Body-Spirit Congregation Technique and put away his stool and gun.
“Why don’t we kill the tree monster? “Asked Like Rain.
“Save ammo” Feng Bujue replied, stretching his arm out, raising the bell. When he faced northwest, the bell suddenly moved by itself twice, tinkling.
Feng Bujue exchanged a look with Like Rain. They didn’t say anything more and ignored the monster. They walked towards the direction where the bell was tinkling.
After the two vanished from sigh, the tree said in a sunken voice “Ah… When you’re killed by that kid, she’d just return the bell and hang it back on me”. After speaking, the waxy face disappeared from the trunk of the tree, looking just like an ordinary tree.
[1]This is a mistranslation. In Chinese, the names of the two towns have different meanings. The one before was “The town of the sky with anima”, while the name mentioned by the tree was “The town that hides a bell”. They have almost the same pronunciation in Chinese, which is Cangling. So, it was a mistranslation of “Canglin Tournament”. But for convenience sake, I will use Canglin as the original name, and Cangling as the name mentioned by the tree.
Thriller Paradise 