With a sickening crack, foul, black blood sprayed across the entire tree, letting off a plume of white smoke.

I finally understood why that creature’s tongue could pierce the trunk: its saliva and blood were both intensely acidic.

Blood jetted from the black, lizard-like face, making its appearance utterly horrifying.

I stupidly thought it would lunge at me, but to my surprise, it just twisted its head and bolted.

A bad feeling washed over me; it was probably going after Da Xiong and Nie Chuan.

But instead of charging them, it scrambled down the trunk with blinding speed, bypassing Da Xiong and Nie Chuan entirely. Then it shot through a thicket of weeds and vanished.

If this had happened before, I would have been completely baffled, but now I sensed something, and I quickly slid down the trunk.

“Hurry! Find cover!” I yelled to the two figures on the ground.

They seemed to sense the unusual situation too, quickly following me to hide within some dense grass.

Almost the very instant we concealed ourselves, we heard a frantic rustling above us in the canopy. Countless strange creatures were either crawling down the trunk or swooping into the air, creating a chaotic, chattering din.

Then came a dull thud, and the entire tree shuddered.

“Something landed on the tree…” Da Xiong whispered to me.

I nodded. “Right. Stay quiet.”

We didn't dare draw a breath while huddled in the grass.

Moments later, a loud rustling, scraping sound started up in the crown, much louder than before.

Just as we wondered what was happening, a gigantic object began to emerge from the foliage overhead.

“Holy hell, what is that? A five-headed snake?” Da Xiong mumbled.

I shook my head, cold sweat already beading on my forehead. “Look closer. What snake lacks scales, nostrils, and eyes?”

Nie Chuan, standing nearby, looked pale blue and whispered, “That’s a human hand.”

“Exactly…” My cold sweat now trickled down my brow.

Da Xiong choked out, “The palm alone is almost as wide as the canopy. Just how tall must that person be?”

He clamped a hand over his mouth immediately, realizing the consequences if we were discovered now.

That massive hand seemed to search the canopy for something, causing leaves and small branches to rain down.

We listened to the violent commotion above, not daring to move an inch.

The hand searched for a long time without finding what it wanted, and then suddenly retracted.

We finally let out a breath, easing the tension that had gripped us.

But just as our nerves relaxed, we heard a tremendous crash, like a mountain collapsing. With a booming sound, a dark shadow plummeted right before our eyes, sending shards of wood and leaf fragments scattering everywhere.

In that instant, none of us reacted; the impact was simply too violent, too terrifying.

Two seconds later, we were obscured by a hazy, gray mist.

“Did Master throw down the Ruyi Jingu Bang again to clear a path for us?” Da Xiong stammered, his voice trembling.

“No way. If it were Master, he would know that one strike like that would flatten us into pancakes,” Nie Chuan said, his face deathly pale.

I was about to say something when I saw a horizontal black shape stirring slowly in the mist in the distance, lifting itself off the ground.

I recognized the outline of a hand, and a gasp escaped my lungs.

As the smoke slowly dissipated, we saw that where the massive tree had stood moments before, there was now nothing but splinters of wood and rotten leaves.

“That giant hand just swatted the tree flat,” I stated in astonishment.

“No wonder the creatures in the trees fled. There was something that terrifying here—it’s purely destructive power,” Nie Chuan observed.

But I frowned. “Wait, that doesn’t add up. Think about it. To smash a fifty-meter-tall tree into dust with one palm, how tall would the being have to be? At least four or five hundred meters? But when we were on the cliff earlier, we never saw anyone that huge.”

Nie Chuan agreed. “That’s right, something is fishy. Could it be that after entering this strange forest, we’ve somehow shrunk?”

I shook my head. “No, if we’d shrunk, even the grass on the ground would look like towering trees. The proportions of everything around us look correct.”

Da Xiong seemed about to protest when we heard a tremendous shushing sound nearby, the noise of something massive moving.

“It seems to have left, but that sound isn't quite right. Shouldn’t a giant walking sound like thump-thump-thump?” Da Xiong commented.

I also found it strange; the movement sounded less like a person and more like a colossal serpent slithering.

“Should we go take a look?” Da Xiong suggested.

I put a hand on his shoulder. “No. Since it left, there’s no need for us to provoke it.”

After a while, when the sound had faded into the distance, we crawled out of the grass.

We stared at the ground littered with wood chips and leaves, momentarily stunned.

Further ahead, we noticed a deep indentation about ten meters wide, as if a tank had just driven through there.

“What do we do now? Should we follow it?” Da Xiong asked.

I looked at the dense, wall-like vegetation surrounding us, then at the path that looked like a clear track, and suddenly felt defeated.

Navigating the forest meant facing too many unknown dangers and moving slowly. But following the track might lead us to water, and as long as we didn’t get too close to that monster, perhaps we’d be safe.

“It got angry just now and crushed a tree with one hand. It must be extremely thirsty now, so it must be going for water,” Da Xiong reasoned, making up an excuse he barely believed himself, as he started following the track.

Nie Chuan glanced at me, patted my shoulder, and followed suit.

I stood there and gave a helpless smile; I had no choice but to follow them.

“What exactly was that thing you saw? I believed you at first when you said it was a human hand because it really looked like one. But looking at the track it left, it looks much more like a snake,” Nie Chuan said.

I nodded. “You’re right, but now isn’t the time for debate. We need to find water quickly and then get back to Master, or more danger awaits.”

“Oh right, food…” Da Xiong seemed to remember something and quickly ran back.

A moment later, he dragged something long, dark, and cylindrical out of the weeds, which made the hair stand up on my arms.

As he approached, I saw clearly that it was the severed, small tail of the man-faced lizard from before.

“Why did you drag that over?” I asked, feeling exasperated.

Da Xiong explained, “Haven’t you watched Dragon Ball? When Goku was training in the wilderness as a kid, he ate dinosaur tails. These tails only have one thin bone down the middle, they’re very meaty, and make excellent food. I bet Master will love it.”

I was speechless. “Goku from Dragon Ball and our Master Goku are two different things, alright? This thing looks inedible.”

Da Xiong ignored me, swallowed hard, and said, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. I’ll carry this thing. If you don’t want any roasted meat later, just don’t eat mine.”

With that, he tied the thick tail around his waist and continued walking forward, humming a tune.

I couldn't argue with his stubbornness. Looking at it now, the tail didn't look great, but tied around his waist, it actually looked quite fetching, if a bit bulky.

We continued along the track, moving forward while constantly listening for any sound nearby. If the creature returned, we needed to hide immediately.

Fortunately, the thing seemed to have gone far, which was a relief.

And it appeared the forest animals were terrified of it. Anywhere it had passed, we didn't see even a single fly.

We walked for about ten minutes when we suddenly heard the distinct sound of rushing water ahead of us.

That sound, reaching our ears, was like hearing celestial music; all three of us nearly jumped up with joy.

We practically jogged toward the sound.

Soon enough, we saw a clear stream winding its way through the dense woods ahead of us, flowing into the distance.

Seeing the clear water, thirsty as we were, we immediately cupped our hands and drank deeply.

After filling our canteens, we washed our faces before standing up to survey the area.

Nie Chuan spoke then. “Look, the track made by the monster seems to end right here. The vegetation across the stream is growing perfectly fine, untouched.”

I instantly grew alert. “That’s not right. That monster was huge, and this stream is only two meters wide. There’s no way it would just vanish here.”

“Yeah, but if the monster didn't disappear, where did it go?” Da Xiong asked.

As we pondered this, we heard a rustling sound from the treetops directly above us.

“Bad! Run!” I shouted, preparing to turn and flee.

But at that moment, five pillar-like objects suddenly dropped from the sky, surrounding us.

When I saw that the five pillars looked like human fingers, a very bad premonition struck me.

Just then, the five fingers suddenly clamped down toward us, intending to snatch us up along with the earth beneath our feet.

Cornered, I immediately unleashed the Wind Spell, aiming it at one of the fingers.

However, the attack seemed utterly useless. The three of us backed away, standing back-to-back, and suddenly everything went dark before our eyes.