Chapter 274: Symbiotic Withered Ancient Tree, Undead Beings Attack Again

Plantation area.

Su Hao approached the treant and asked softly, "I recall your talent hasn't been used yet, is that right?"

"Ah? Oh, yes, yes."

The treant blinked slightly, then felt a surge of joy and quickly nodded.

Although the treant didn't know what Su Hao intended, since he asked that way, there must be something in the territory that matches his talent.

After a brief time in Su Hao's territory, the treant's understanding was refreshed once again, especially upon entering the plantation area, where he was deeply shocked anew.

Other survivors either worry about how to increase their strength while trying to stay alive in the apocalypse,

or they have decent strength and strive to obtain more necessary supplies for survival.

But Su Hao is different; he not only possesses a strong territory with numerous powerful guards stationed throughout, protecting its safety.

Moreover, his plantation area contains a large quantity of plants.

Even more importantly, among these plants, the treant hardly sees any ordinary crops.

Even a large portion of the rice is a special first-rank supernatural plant.

As for the other crops, needless to say, he even feels some plants have reached third-rank supernatural, and all the plants are cultivated in extensive patches.

Another point that shocked him even more is that the growth speed of these supernatural plants is absurdly fast.

Because of the treant's nature, even after just a brief observation he could clearly feel that in this plantation area, whether ordinary plants or the many supernatural ones, their growth rates are abnormal.

Usually, unless they are some special supernatural plants, the growth speed of supernatural plants tends to be extremely slow.

Yet the plants in this plantation area are not like that; the growth speed of these supernatural plants, regardless of variety, is faster than ordinary plants outside.

If they continue growing at this speed, it won't be long before they complete a cycle of flowering and fruiting.

Without any ominous curse affecting them, and with so many plants growing so quickly, food shortage? That simply doesn't exist.

You can't eat it all, you simply can't finish it!

Just seeing these, the treant is quite certain Su Hao cannot be called a mere survivor; he is essentially an overlord! Now Su Hao actively seeks him out to ask about his talent—how could he not be excited?

His talent ability is simple: after binding to a supernatural plant or related structure, he can gain part of that plant's or structure's ability.

Moreover, his physique and mental strength are enhanced, and the bound plant or structure likewise receives corresponding strengthening.

If the two are close enough, as long as one side remains alive, the other will not die no matter how much damage it suffers, and can recover by absorbing the other's vitality.

Previously he hadn't used this talent because of two reasons.

First, supernatural plants are usually fixed in their growing location; once bound to a particular supernatural plant, the treant's range of movement would be limited to that area.

Unless the treant transplants that bound supernatural plant, he cannot stray too far.

As for transplanting supernatural plants, the treant would hardly dare to do so casually.

Supernatural plants have extremely high demands for their growing environment; casual transplantation could cause them to wither due to unsuitable soil and water.

Even if, thanks to the symbiotic bond, that supernatural plant won't die, the treant would need to expend his own life force to sustain its growth—essentially seeking suffering for himself.

In today's world, if a place lacks absolute security, nobody would give up exploration and stay long-term in one spot.

Second, his talent can be used only once in a lifetime, binding to just a single supernatural plant.

If possible, he would naturally hope to find a supernatural plant of higher grade and more special effect to bind.

Such plants aren't easy to find; even if found, the surrounding environment is likely unsafe.

Precisely because of these two considerations, the treant has refrained from using his talent.

However, within Su Hao's territory, these two worries do not exist.

At least in the treant's understanding, Su Hao's territory is the safest place, guarded everywhere by supernatural beings, with no chance for fallen creatures to invade.

If any faction truly dared to challenge, they'd likely be wiped out before even entering the territory.

As for supernatural plants, needless to say, the entire plantation area is filled with them, and many of these supernatural plants make him feel immensely powerful.

If he could use his talent here, he would surely approve wholeheartedly, with absolutely no hesitation.

Seeing the anticipation on the treant's face, Su Hao laughed and shook his head.

"Come with me first, let's see if we can bind this thing; if successful, it will be a significant boost for you, and our territory's strength can be further enhanced."

Afterward, Su Hao led the treant toward the living area, arriving beside the Withered Ancient Tree.

Su Hao intended for the treant to bind to precisely this Withered Ancient Tree.

As the number of souls killed by the Withering Curse increased, within Su Hao's territory the count of scarecrows grew ever more, the Withered Ancient Tree's power became stronger, and its coverage expanded.

But this created a problem.

The Withered Ancient Tree is merely a structure; it has no self-awareness or thinking ability, only able to accept simple commands.

For example, if Su Hao has the Withered Ancient Tree temporarily treat incoming humans or dwarves as allies, then the Withering Curse won't affect humans or dwarves.

Otherwise, anyone entering the Withering Curse's coverage will be infected, eventually turning into a scarecrow standing on the ground, thereby enhancing the Withered Ancient Tree's ability.

As the Withered Ancient Tree's curse coverage expands, the number of souls mistakenly killed also increases.

To avoid this, Su Hao once considered targeting the curse at fallen beings, but it had no effect; the Withered Ancient Tree cannot distinguish which species are fallen.

The reason is simple: fallen humans and normal humans are both humans, and the Withered Ancient Tree's discernment cannot tell the difference.

Thus, to reduce friendly fire, he could only regard most species as allies—but Su Hao couldn't accept that; although he doesn't want to accidentally harm other souls, he also doesn't want to let fallen beings off the hook, nor does he want to slow the Withered Ancient Tree's power growth.

So he merely left some warning signs within the Withered Ancient Tree's coverage.

Unfortunately, that was useless.

There are two reasons: first, not all souls can read Chinese characters; second, the larger the Withered Ancient Tree's coverage, the faster its expansion speed.

Perhaps Su Hao just placed the warning signs today, but tomorrow the Withered Ancient Tree's range will surpass this area.

If someone could control the Withering Curse, the Withered Ancient Tree's expansion efficiency would not decrease much.

Moreover, it could be more targeted, preventing people who come to trade with Su Hao from turning into scarecrows before they even meet him.

If this happens often, few will dare to come trade, which would greatly affect Su Hao's future development.

What Su Hao wanted to try was to see whether, after binding the tree person's talent with the Withered Ancient Tree, he could exert some control over the Withering Curse.

Give it a try and see if you can bind with this Withered Ancient Tree.

Su Hao patted the tree person on the shoulder and smiled faintly.

Okay, okay!

Upon hearing Su Hao's command, the tree person snapped to attention, his face flashing with ecstasy.

When he had just arrived in Su Hao's territory, he had also noticed this Withered Ancient Tree.

The Withered Ancient Tree is truly enormous; anyone who isn't blind basically cannot miss it.

Initially, the Withered Ancient Tree's height already exceeded a hundred meters.

As the number of living beings killed by the Withering Curse continually increased, not only did the scarecrow population grow, but the Withered Ancient Tree itself also kept enlarging.

From its original height of over a hundred meters, it has now grown to over three hundred meters; the area covered by its roots is even more terrifying, with the ground within a radius of several kilometers completely filled with the Withered Ancient Tree's roots.

Without exaggeration, the Withered Ancient Tree is the largest plant the tree person has ever seen, and also the strongest.

His intuition told him that, without Su Hao's permission, even if he possessed Supernatural Second Rank strength and outstanding survivability, standing so close to the Withered Ancient Tree would likely mean only death.

The tree person's thought was correct: as more and more forests fell to the Withering Curse, the curse's power grew stronger.

The closer one is to the Withering Curse of the Withered Ancient Tree, the stronger it becomes.

Even a Supernatural Second Rank individual would find it hard to resist the Withering Curse when approaching within about five hundred meters of the Withered Ancient Tree.

Even in the farthest areas, it can easily kill ordinary living beings.

The tree person's current position, without Su Hao's permission, would already be a scarecrow stuck in the ground.

If I could coexist with this great tree, then my strength...

Thinking of this, the tree person's breathing grew ragged; he then stopped pondering and immediately activated his talent ability.

The next moment.

A strand of emerald-green energy burst from his body, twining like silk around the withered ancient tree's base and slowly spreading upward.

However, when the green light climbed to a height of a hundred meters, its glow began to gradually fade.

Obviously, this was because the tree person's spiritual power was nearly exhausted.

The Withered Ancient Tree is truly massive, standing over three hundred meters tall, not to mention the area covered by its roots.

Relying solely on the tree person's Supernatural Second Rank spiritual power, it is far insufficient to achieve symbiosis with it.

Su Hao noticed this, lightly patted the tree person's shoulder, and whispered, 'Relax, don't resist.'

Immediately after.

A surge of pure, ocean-like spiritual power poured through Su Hao's palm into the tree person's body like a flood, swiftly filling his spiritual deficit.

Under the bolstering of Su Hao's spiritual power, the green light entwined around the Withered Ancient Tree shone again.

Moreover, this time the light was even more brilliant and dazzling, and its upward spread sped up considerably.

In no time, the entire ancient tree, towering over three hundred meters, was completely enveloped in green light.

But this was only the beginning; the aboveground portion of the Withered Ancient Tree accounted for only a small fraction of the whole.

The Withered Ancient Tree's root system is immensely vast, its root network spreading over a radius of more than ten kilometers, accounting for over ninety percent of the tree's total mass.

To achieve symbiosis, the roots naturally cannot be overlooked.

The green halo at the base of the Withered Ancient Tree began to slowly seep underground, wrapping around each of the tree's roots.

To envelop all these tangled roots in green light is obviously a monumental project.

Fortunately, with Su Hao's endless spiritual power as a solid backing, the tree person need not worry about exhaustion; as time passed, the ground where the Withered Ancient Tree's roots lay gradually showed patches of green light.

After six hours of effort, the tree person's emitted green light finally enveloped all the roots gently.

Then, a strong green light encircled the tree person, slowly rose into the air, and ultimately merged into the trunk of the Withered Ancient Tree.

Fusing with the withered ancient tree, the symbiosis between tree person and ancient tree is now settled; awaiting time's baptism, they will be able to fully merge.

But just then, Ling Xue'er suddenly ran over from not far away, her face solemn as she said, 'Boss, we've observed that sixteen void openings have appeared around the territory.'

According to our analysis, these openings are the same as those produced during the last undead creature attack.

If all goes as expected, it shouldn't be long before large numbers of undead creatures emerge from these openings; should we take the initiative to attack now?

Perfect timing; go make arrangements so they don't get near the territory, and don't rush to kill them.

Su Hao glanced at the Withered Ancient Tree wrapped in green light, a playful smile appearing on his face.

He had expended such a great amount of spiritual power merely to let the tree person complete the preparations for symbiosis.

Then, after completing symbiosis, the tree person ought to be able to grant the Withered Ancient Tree considerable enhancement, and his own strength should also gain some improvement.

It's just right to use these Undead creatures sent by the Evil God Faction to test how much combat power the tree person and the Withered Ancient Tree can exhibit after symbiosis.

As long as we have the ability to swiftly clear away first- and second-rank undead creatures, Su Hao's expectations will be met.

(End of chapter)