"Damn it, what time is it now? Stop fooling around; we're talking serious business. Fatty, do you even know the purpose of us coming to this place?" Ma Xiong cursed.

Fatty pondered for a moment. "I can't quite figure it out now, but I have a feeling the reason we're here is to get out of this place. I keep feeling like someone led us in here by the nose. Don't you think so? It seems like we were guided here by someone else. I trust my intuition; those who brought us here must have some arrangement for us. Oh, by the way, do you remember the reanimated corpses we discussed before? I bet the ones who brought us here are those walking dead—the messengers specifically tasked with relaying messages from the Underworld to the living world."

Ma Xiong spat, "Damn it, messenger or not, our primary goal right now is figuring out how to leave. As for what kind of things we might encounter inside, that's up to the Creator's luck. Let's hurry up and go."

As soon as his words fell, he noticed a pillar in front of him subtly shift, immediately drawing his attention. He quickly moved forward. The team regrouped, which gave Ma Xiong a great surge of confidence. Seeing a new development outside the stone door, Ma Xiong called out to the group, "Let's go take a look!"

The other three followed Ma Xiong slowly out of the stone door. Stepping outside, they looked up and saw a withered ancient tree standing before them. They were in a cylindrical, enclosed space, standing inside the cylinder. The surrounding ring-shaped stone walls and the ceiling were all constructed from massive blocks, while the ground was hard-packed earth. The withered ancient tree stood right in the center.

The group approached the old tree and found it truly colossal—about twenty meters tall, requiring four or five people to encircle its trunk. However, after so many years, the tree had completely died, leaving only its desiccated trunk and bare branches. Ma Xiong circled the tree slowly, unable to identify the species of this dead wood. Seeing nothing else around, he suggested they rest right there, leaning against the giant tree.

As they sat down, Lu Zong came over and asked Ma Xiong why a tree would be planted in this place and if there was any hidden meaning.

Ma Xiong told her, "We don't know the purpose of this ancient tree being placed here yet, but I suspect it's likely some ancient arrangement, perhaps symbolic, without any concrete objective."

Fatty interjected, "That's hard to say. A dead tree standing in the center of this enclosed space—wood inside a circle—can be interpreted as the character 'Kùn' (, meaning 'trapped' or 'confined'). Perhaps this place is meant to trap people."

Ma Xiong inwardly cursed Fatty for being so obtuse; anyone could see that layout. He had only said that to Lu Zong to avoid dampening morale. Now that Fatty had exposed it, he wondered what the others would start speculating.

Hearing Fatty's words, Lu Zong immediately felt uneasy. She looked around, a flicker of apprehension in her eyes.

The Company Commander opened his canteen, took a sip of water, and wiped his mouth. "If we're trapped, we're trapped. We've been trapped enough times; we might as well not care about this one."

Just as Ma Xiong was about to speak, the entire space slowly began to rotate. The group, unprepared for another change in the palace's layout, scrambled to their feet in alarm. The space rotated for about five or six seconds before stopping. Ma Xiong shone his flashlight toward the stone door they had entered through, only to find it had vanished. Clearly, his earlier concerns were justified; they were now truly trapped.

Lu Zong hung her head dejectedly. "We really are trapped again. I wonder if we'll ever be able to get out next time."

The Company Commander remarked, "Trapped, trapped, I'm used to it. Honestly, I feel uneasy if I'm not trapped for a while."

Ma Xiong shook his head with a wry smile. The Company Commander was surprisingly optimistic now. At that moment, Fatty spoke to the group, "Everyone doesn't need to worry too much. Since the layout here keeps changing, perhaps a new exit will appear before long."

Lu Zong countered, "Even if a new exit appears, it will just be another trap, to put it plainly."

Everyone had lost their spirit from being trapped repeatedly and slumped back down, leaning against the ancient tree. Fatty, having entered the Demon Pagoda before the others, was already quite exhausted.

He sighed and said, "I wonder if Cao Cao's original purpose in building the Demon Pagoda was truly as described in the legends—that it buried the corpses of numerous demons and monstrous beings. In that case, it should be considered an ancient tomb. But now it seems this Demon Pagoda is worlds away from a typical tomb. While some layouts resemble what a tomb should have, most of it consists of arrays, deadly mechanisms, and monsters. I always feel that the purpose of building this tower wasn't to bury corpses, but to guard something!"

Hearing Fatty’s words, Ma Xiong recalled the mummified ancient queen. This Demon Pagoda was utterly bizarre. If that dried corpse was truly an ancient demon that lived from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, perhaps clues could be found within the structure of this so-called tomb. If the queen's corpse had really lived for nearly a thousand years, observing the layout might reveal secrets about the Four Great Forbidden Zones. With this thought, he turned on his flashlight to examine the space meticulously.

However, he couldn't discern any layout detail that connected to the queen's mummy. The layout here was simply that of a 'Kùn' character—the ring-shaped walls and the ceiling showed no anomalies. Seeing no clues within the space, Ma Xiong shifted his gaze back to the ancient tree he was leaning against.

The tree was completely decayed, and its trunk was hard. Ma Xiong began walking around the trunk again, back and forth. Lu Zong, seemingly bored, followed behind Ma Xiong. After walking for a while, they found the ancient tree unremarkable, with nothing on it. Just as Ma Xiong was about to give up, Lu Zong behind him suddenly exclaimed, "Ma Xiong, look, this tree seems to still be alive!" Still alive? Thinking this, Ma Xiong looked at Lu Zong with suspicion in his eyes.

Lu Zong pointed to a lower spot on the trunk and said to Ma Xiong, "Look, the bark here is green, and there seems to be moss on it."

Ma Xiong followed Lu Zong's direction and looked down, immediately letting out a gasp of surprise. The area Lu Zong indicated indeed showed green bark, covered in a small patch of oily, bright green moss. This moss was sparse but undeniably alive. Moss on a tree meant the tree could supply nutrients to it! In other words, this tree might still be alive!

The others gathered upon hearing the commotion. The Company Commander stepped forward, bent down to look, and told them, "Ma Xiong said it; it’s clearly impossible for living plants to exist in this barren place. This moss growth is suspicious!"

Ma Xiong inwardly praised the Company Commander for his sudden keen observation, noting the moss's abnormality. Just as Ma Xiong, who had always been frustrated with the young man's lack of discipline, was about to offer a word of praise, the Company Commander suddenly reached out to touch the moss.

Ma Xiong quickly shouted at the Company Commander, "Idiot, don't touch it randomly! This thing might be poisonous!"

Unfortunately, Ma Xiong's warning was a step too late; the Company Commander's finger had already brushed against the moss. At that moment, Ma Xiong heard Fatty mutter, "He himself said the moss was strange, and then he touched it. This kid really is..."

The Company Commander retracted his hand sheepishly and laughed, "Don't make such a fuss, see? I'm fine, aren't I?"

He then held out his hand for them to see. Ma Xiong looked at his dirty, black hand and wondered if the skin had been poisoned. Just as he was about to tell the Company Commander to wash his hand, Fatty and Lu Zong simultaneously let out cries of alarm.

Ma Xiong turned to look at them and saw them staring wide-eyed at the roots of the ancient tree. He lowered his head to look and was instantly stunned. A patch of green spread slowly from the tree roots, advancing up the trunk at a visibly rapid pace. Seeing that the situation was deteriorating, Fatty quickly urged everyone to retreat.

The group backed up several paces before stopping. Ma Xiong's wolf-eye flashlight remained fixed on the ancient tree, allowing them all to see the spreading green patch. Soon, the green blotch had spread upward by over a meter. Seeing how bizarre the situation was, Ma Xiong called for everyone to retreat a few more steps. The flashlight beam followed the creeping green stain. The stain reached the tree's branches, and then, an even stranger sight unfolded.

As the green reached the branches, patches of yellowish-green leaves slowly sprouted from them. These leaves were odd, unfurling in clusters, resembling clumps of wild grass growing directly out of the trunk. Upon seeing this, Lu Zong cried out, "This... this ancient tree is coming back to life!"

Witnessing something that completely defied natural law happening before their eyes, the group couldn't help but draw a sharp, cold breath.

"How is this possible?" Lu Zong murmured, looking in disbelief at the clusters of leaves slowly emerging from the ancient tree.

Suddenly, a tentacle began to grow slowly from a branch. This tentacle bore a strong resemblance to the root structures they had encountered in the Three Lives Corpse Tomb. Ma Xiong recalled Old Man Qian mentioning that those roots were called Nether Snake Tendrils—something between animal and plant that lived deep underground. The surface of the tendrils was covered in a flammable, oily substance, making them extremely afraid of fire. He remembered how he had used fire to burn those tendrils to rescue the Company Commander and Liu Quansheng back then. Fortunately, Ma Xiong didn't know they were flammable at the time, but both men emerged unharmed later.

Looking at the newly grown appendage, Fatty suddenly wondered aloud, "Nether Snake Tendrils?"

Ma Xiong looked at Fatty and asked, "Senior, you know about this thing too?"

Fatty didn't answer, instead frowning deeply. "No, that's not right. Why would Nether Snake Tendrils grow together with a tree?"

As Ma Xiong puzzled over this, he noticed several more of those root-like appendages sprouting from the ancient tree, extending outward. Fearing they were indeed Nether Snake Tendrils, Ma Xiong was about to light a fire to test them when those roots suddenly moved, shooting toward the group, drawn by the flashlight beam.

The group gasped and recoiled. The Company Commander yelled, "Fatty, isn't this the same stuff we ran into last time? I think we should burn them with fire before they fully grow. Getting entangled by this thing would be terrible!"

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