We had barely run a few dozen meters when the roar of the Crab God and the girl's curses echoed from behind us. The surroundings remained the same: countless tree pods hung upside down across the vast plaza, emitting a faint blue glow.

However, the flickering of those lights had become significantly faster than before. I thought to myself that if these pods contained monsters like the mantises we had encountered, their escape from the underground tunnels would surely spell disaster; I had to stop it, no matter what.

As we ran, we swept our flashlights around, when suddenly, he called for us to stop, pointed upwards, and said, "Wait a minute. We didn't notice before.

Look, there seems to be a mural above us." At his words, Da Xiong and I halted and craned our necks upward. But the beams from our flashlights were too weak.

We could only make out that there was indeed a vaulted ceiling overhead, with some winding lines etched upon it, but the specifics were utterly unclear. Fortunately, Da Xiong had a large spotlight in his backpack.

He pulled it out, angled the beam, and shot it directly toward the ceiling above us. *Looking at the portable spotlight nearly the size of Da Xiong’s backpack, I remarked to him, "Damn, you actually carry this kind of thing around with you." Da Xiong shook his head and replied, "Are you two idiots?

I didn't have a backpack when I fell into the secret chamber! I scavenged this thing from the pile of corpses that used to be Feng Ze and the others." *Nodding, I said, "I didn't expect you to have such foresight." Da Xiong boasted proudly, "Of course...

Old man fears the dark the most." I was speechless for a moment, ignored him, and looked back up. Above us was a massive triangular vaulted ceiling.

On the inner wall of each side of the triangle, several richly colored murals were carved. Da Xiong cursed, "Holy hell, is this a cathedral?

Did we just stumble into the birthplace of the Virgin Mary?" I ignored him, thought for a moment, and suddenly understood: this was the interior of the spire building we had seen from the outside. The Fire-Giving Giant Wood grew underground, easily several hundred meters tall.

It was nearly impossible to construct a building large enough to encompass the entire tree. Therefore, the Wei people had devised a way to build this spire structure around the treetop to conceal the existence of the Fire-Giving Giant Wood.

This was also a protective measure, perhaps because the Wei people anticipated that as time passed and they might no longer rule this land, anyone discovering the ruins wouldn't immediately see the earth-shattering Fire-Giving Giant Wood. Or perhaps, the Wei people worshipped the tree, building such a sanctuary to shroud its crown and constructing palaces within the wood, expressing a belief in coexisting with nature.

If my deduction was correct, the content of these murals should depict the scenes of building the palace and worshipping the giant tree. However, as the spotlight swept across, the content I saw seemed to tell a different story.

The murals appeared to be depicting the outbreak of a catastrophe. The origin of the disaster was the destruction of this very spire building we were in, followed by countless giant insects swarming out from the roof.

Our ceiling was the access point to the ground tunnel, and those massive insects flew from there into the city, causing widespread devastation. But the most terrifying sight wasn't the insects; it was a colossal arm emerging from the tunnel, followed by a gigantic, peerless Treant climbing out.

The mural depicted this humanoid tree as immensely tall, its shoulders level with the clouds in the sky. As the giant tree crawled from the tunnel, the soil over all the graves burying the dead in the human world cracked open, and the deceased crawled from their tombs to attack the living around them—the entire scene resembled a hell on earth.

"This is Grandpa's goal!" I choked out, speaking with difficulty. *also broke out in a cold sweat and said, "I'm afraid so." "That's impossible, isn't it?

Does such a thing exist in the world?" Da Xiong exclaimed incredulously. However, the three of us fell silent afterward because Feng Ze's resurrection perfectly supported the possibility of this event.

Witnessing such a catastrophic vision, we stopped talking and accelerated our pace, running forward faster. After running for only a short while, the scene ahead finally changed.

The tree pods became sparser, replaced by numerous human figures. The three of us froze; the sight was painfully familiar.

We had seen the exact same scene deep beneath Black Bamboo Gully. We slowed our steps and gradually walked into the throng, examining the faces of these people one by one.

Just like in Black Bamboo Gully, there were men, women, and children of all ages, some dressed in ancient attire, others in modern clothes. Furthermore, they were all kneeling, facing one direction, expressionless, pale, and completely unresponsive to our arrival.

"Look quickly, isn't that Feng Ze!" Da Xiong, taking the lead, pointed to a person kneeling on the ground. *and I rushed over and saw that it was indeed Feng Ze.

However, when Feng Ze was resurrected previously, he still possessed consciousness and thought. Now, he was like a block of wood, merely staring at the ground, his complexion terribly white, his entire body trembling slightly.

We shone our flashlights in front of him, but his pupils showed no reaction, clearly indicating an unconscious state. I recalled what Grandpa had told me in Black Bamboo Gully—that these were no longer people.

Now, it made sense; these people couldn't truly be called human; they were merely husks. We didn't linger but continued moving forward, heading in the direction everyone was kneeling towards.

Soon, we saw, amidst the throng of kneeling figures, a transparent, yellow sphere at the very center. The sphere was about as tall as a person, shimmering with an inner radiance, much like a piece of amber.

Within the semi-transparent sphere, an embryonic form was visibly writhing. Standing beside this amber sphere were two people: my grandfather, Nie Haiyun, and Mu Yun.

Strangely, Mu Yun's hand had returned to its normal state, suggesting the mutation was not irreversible. The two stood with their backs to us, intensely focused on the amber sphere, seemingly engaged in conversation.

Finally seeing my grandfather again, I could no longer restrain myself and shouted, "Grandpa!" Hearing my voice, both men turned around simultaneously. Mu Yun looked surprised, glancing at me, then at Da Xiong, and said, "Strange.

Did you manage to defeat that mother crab? And why isn't Fatty Wang dead?" Seeing this despicable creature Mu Yun made my teeth grind with hatred, but at that moment, my focus was solely on my grandfather.

This was the first time I could speak to him face-to-face. Grandpa looked at my face, paused for a few seconds, then sighed and asked, "Nie Chuan...

you... you know everything now?" Seeing that familiar face, recalling his kindness and doting affection from my childhood, I couldn't control myself and cried out, "Grandpa!

Stop what you are doing!" Grandpa looked at me, let out a slight cold snort, and said, "Stop? Do you know what I am doing?

If you knew the whole truth, you would understand that everything I am doing is for you." "For me?" I asked, confused. "Exactly!

But you wouldn't understand if I told you now. You are currently constrained by your own thinking and misled by these people; I cannot explain it clearly.

When I finish what needs to be done here, I will naturally explain everything when we return!" Grandpa's tone was resolute. To awaken these dangerous giant insects and resurrect the dead from the graves to attack humanity—all for my own good?

Perhaps I was only seeing the surface, but I believed such actions could never be for my benefit. Unless I was inherently meant to stand against all of humanity—how could that be possible?

Thinking this, I shouted loudly, "Grandpa, if you truly mean well for me, then stop immediately. How could something like this possibly be for my sake?" Grandpa gave me a deep look, then sneered coldly, saying to Mu Yun beside him, "Don't let these three affect our plan." Mu Yun nodded, drew the pistol from his waist, and started walking towards us.

Da Xiong, having suffered immensely, saw Mu Yun and was so furious he nearly ground his teeth to dust. He stepped forward to shield us, saying, "No one interferes!

I'm going to tear this despicable bastard to shreds." Looking at Da Xiong's stout back, he possessed the bearing of a fierce mountain tiger; I knew he was genuinely enraged. However, Mu Yun possessed immortality and wasn't easy to deal with, so I handed the Silver Fish Blade to Da Xiong, saying, "This can handle him!" Da Xiong took the blade, signaled us to step back, and then let out a mighty yell before charging toward Mu Yun.

Mu Yun smiled slightly, clenched his right fist tightly, and then his entire right half suddenly swelled, sprouting countless green spikes. Simultaneously, the red flower in his right palm also bloomed, appearing especially grotesque.

"Don't think a mere broken Star-Iron Blade can defeat me. I possess perfect regenerative abilities; let me show you." With that, Mu Yun swung his arm, and the tongue-like appendage in his palm shot out, sweeping rapidly toward Da Xiong.

*and I shouted a warning from behind, but Da Xiong had already ducked to evade the strike. Wielding the Silver Fish Blade, he lunged toward Mu Yun.

At the same moment, *and I saw that a fissure had appeared in the yellow amber sphere.