"Hm?" Having turned to inspect the weird small tree with blue leaves, Qing Yi could not help letting out a surprised sound, as she discovered that the small tree that Chu Yang had described to her was far bigger than a normal tree. Almost standing a full fifty meters tall, while also filling out most of the space in the underground ravine. Only leaving a few small spaces empty where the rabbit demon beasts were nesting.
Didn't Chu Yang say that it was just a small tree with blue leaves? How is this in any way considered to be a small tree?
Feeling doubtful about Chu Yang's earlier explanation of the tree, Qing Yi turned to look towards him with a confused expression on her face. Clearly not understanding how he could have mistaken a tree that filled out almost all the available space of what was left after the collapse of a large part of the underground ravine.
"Why is it so big!? I could swear that it was far smaller when I saw it through my divine sense earlier!" Similarly taken aback by the sheer size of the tree, Chu Yang looked up at the large tree filled with disbelief. Making it obvious to Qing Yi, that he was also taken aback by the size of the tree.
But… He should have already known about the size of the tree after investigating it with his divine sense earlier…
Narrowing both as she thought about this, Qing Yi's gaze became even more intense than before, as she grew more curious about why Chu Yang had been unable to see the true size of the tree through his divine sense.
"Senior sister… I really have no idea how the tree suddenly became so big! Earlier when I saw it through my divine sense, it looked no different from an ordinary tree. Expect the blue colored leaves." Feeling the intense look Qing Yi was giving him, Chu Yang understood that she wanted to find out how he had managed to make a mistake. Unfortunately, he also had no idea why his divine sense had not managed to grasp to true scale of the tree with blue colored leaves.
"Haaa… I guessed as much from your earlier reaction." Shaking her head as she said this with a somewhat disappointed expression on her face, Qing Yi soon turned her attention back towards the large tree with a hint of fear in her eyes. "For now, we should find out whether or not the tree is dangerous. Don't trust what you see through your divine sense, as the tree clearly has some sort of effect on it…"
"Indeed, for it to be able to mess with my divine sense without me discovering anything, it might be something dangerous. Maybe even one of those demonic spiritual trees that I read about…" Nodding his head in agreement with what Qing Yi said, Chu Yang could not help being reminded of the more dangerous type of demonic spiritual trees that devoured the blood and soul of cultivators to increase their own strength.
If they really had encountered a demonic spiritual tree that had the ability to mess with his divine sense without him realizing anything was wrong, Chu Yang understood that they were in an incredibly dangerous situation, as messing with someone's divine sense required far greater strength than the other party. Given his own strength, Chu Yang understood that only someone in the Domain Lord Realm would have the ability to do something like this.
For this reason, he had already taken out one of the talismans that had been given to him by their master. Ready to use it the moment that he discovered something off about the tree that indicated that it was a demonic spiritual tree.
Whoosh~
As both Qing Yi and Chu Yang were cautiously looking towards the large tree. Waiting to see if it was going to do something, a gentle breeze swept through the underground ravine before reaching the tree, causing the blue leaves to gently move in the wind.
Rumble~!
"Wha-!?"
"This…"
Already starting to tense up even more than before after feeling the weird breeze that had suddenly emerged out of nowhere, Chu Yang and Qing Yi could not stop themselves from letting out a shocked sound, as the ground beneath the large tree where the roots were located suddenly rose up by a few meters before forming a small hill that the large tree now stood on top of.
However, this was not the most shocking thing. Instead, it was the fact that a well decorated stone door had appeared on the side of the hill that was facing them!
"Well… This is not suspicious at all… Does that tree demon really think it can fool us into walking into what is a disguised version of its mouth?! Hmph! Let's see if you will continue hiding your true appearance if I start attacking you!" Having fully settled on the conclusion that the large tree was some sort of demonic spiritual tree after seeing the small hill with the small, decorated stone door appearing, Chu Yang was readied his spear and got ready to launch an attack on the large tree-
"Stop! It's not a demonic spiritual tree!"
However, before he had a chance to attack, Qing Yi jumped in and stopped him at the last second.
"Hm? What do you mean? Did you figure out what kind of tree this is…?" Knowing that Qing Yi would not stop him without a good reason, Chu Yang calmed down and put down his spear before asking this.
"Yes, I think I have an idea about what kind of spiritual tree this is. Although, the information on it was extremely limited and only came from a few ancient records that I managed to find while looking through the sect's records on mystic realms. If I'm not wrong, the spiritual tree in front of us should be a passage tree!"
"A passage tree…?" Hearing what Qing Yi said, Chu Yang could not help showing a confused expression on his face. Not understanding what kind of spiritual tree, the passage tree was.
"Yes, a passage tree. From the little information I found about mystic realms. If I'm not wrong, passage trees are a special kind of spiritual tree that are used by powerful cultivators who wanted to develop a mystic realm and use it.
As for what purpose these spiritual trees serve in helping develop a mystic realm, I have no idea, the only information about them other than this, is that the passage trees are also used as some sort of gateways between different parts of the mystic realm." Shaking her head as she said this with a look of amazement on her face, Qing Yi could not help gazing towards the large passage tree in front of them with a sense of awe in her voice.
"Gateway between different parts of the mystic realm… Serving as a way to help powerful cultivators develop a mystic realm… Qing Yi… You mean to tell me that this mystic realm was once developed and used by some kind of powerful cultivator…?"
"Ah… I didn't think about that…"
Suddenly realizing the implications of her earlier words after hearing what chu Yang said, Qing Yi could not help freezing on the spot.
"This… it looks like the mystic realm that master send us into is more amazing than we first thought… But, if the mystic realm really was developed by a powerful cultivator in the past, this also means there are a lot of opportunities for us if we are lucky enough to find some of the ruins left behind by this powerful cultivator! More importantly than this, it means that the tree in front of us is not some kind of demonic spiritual tree!" Filled with a similar sense of amazement and awe as he said this, Chu Yang also began fantasizing about the different powerful artifacts or other things that they might be able to find if they could encounter the ruins left behind by the powerful expert that had once developed the mystic realm.
"Indeed… it should also be safe for us to go through the stone door. The only problem is whether the place on the other side of the door is dangerous and filled with powerful demon beasts-"
RUMBLE-!
ROOOAR!
ROOAR!
Just as Qing Yi had started talking, the familiar rumbling sound followed by demon beasts suddenly sounded out from somewhere above them. Getting louder and louder with each passing second.
"Well… Even if it's dangerous on the other side, I doubt it will be more dangerous to stay behind and face those demon beasts… I doubt they will be kind enough to let us escape again. Not to mention, I think they will find us this time around."
"That… Is true…"
Whoosh-!
Understanding that it was not a good idea for them to stay behind, both Qing Yi and Chu Yang charged towards the stone door.