The old tree, who now had a new name - Dragon Pool, was standing in the special army camp, in confusion. The leopard leant against his roots, seemed also not knowing what to do.
All human warriors in this camp were dashing around, seeming so busy. Some of them were checking their credits in the council; some carried bleeding enemy heads back to register as credits; some exchanged their credits into magic medicines that could help the activation of meridians and Magus Acupoints, and use those medicines immediately; some carried their gravely injured teammates, whose bodies were all covered in sticky blood and deep wounds, and yelled themselves hoarse for medical help.
Every corner of this camp was a mess and was filled with a busy, tense atmosphere. In the meanwhile, a strange and strong sense of life had been growing and spreading out from this camp; that sense of life was truly hard to describe.
"Dragon Pool." The old tree was carefully pondered upon this odd name given by Man Man. "I am a tree, why do I have a watery word in my name? What does 'water generated wood' mean? I am not a wood that grew in the water at all!"
"Man Man! Man Man?" Long Tan had just come to this place not long ago. This place was completely strange to him; a strange land, strange people, and strange things. What these special army warriors had been doing also made him feel weird.
When he was living deeply in the forest, he never ever killed any living creature. The leopard hunted for food quite frequently, but he would not engage in any pointless killing either, all he needed was to fill his own stomach. However, at this moment, all these special army warriors had been so busy, for nothing else but killing warriors from another race.
Not for eating, but for slaughtering itself.
Long Tan was confused pretty badly. He was thrown into panic and didn't know how to react. He wanted to talk to someone familiar, but Ji Hao, Yu Mu and Feng Xing were called away by Si Wen Ming, while Man Man had carried her pair of hammers and…god knew where did she go, seeking for fun - this naughty and over energetic girl, it was obviously impossible for her to stay quietly in one place, for a relatively long span of time. Especially that Dragon Pool's fruits were actually not delicious at all, which made staying in the camp with Dragon Pool and the leopard even less attractive to Man Man.
Those special army warriors, who were speedily walking or rushing around, always looked at Dragon Pool in a curious and surprised way. They didn't know why an old tree abruptly appeared in their camp, nevertheless, none of them had over reacted to his existence.
Some warriors who came from big-scale clans were quite polite, and would nod and salute to the old tree and leopard, while some warriors from small clans were frank and straightforward, most of them would just simply and carelessly threw the old tree a quick glance, then walk away with their weapons carried in their hands.
"Where did Man Man go…this place is so noisy!" The old tree scratched his tree-crown and mumbled, "Even noisier than the few squirrel families which once lived in my head."
The leopard responded with a moan. The booze was great and grilled meat was delicious, but all these people who had been dashing around all the time had indeed caused him a headache. He liked to run freely in the forest, as much as he wanted; when tired, he would go back to Dragon Pool and rest; when hungry, he would hunt a beast to stuff his own stomach, when thirsty, he would go drink some fresh spring water… that kind of life was free, happy and peaceful.
But now, he couldn't say if the current life was better or worse than the old one. For sure, things were nice when Ji Hao and his friends were around. However, he always felt that something had been different now, and he couldn't adapt to this change in such a short span of time.
When Dragon Pool and the leopard were lost in confusion, a special sense of power reached them from far away. Dragon Pool's branches slightly flicked together, after which, he curiously looked at a forest area outside the special army camp.
Dragon Pool then slowly pulled his roots out of the ground and walked towards that forest area with big steps and along with thunderous rumbles. He had sensed a strong sense of calling from his own kind. Not another purple grain dragon sandalwood, but a powerful treeman, just outside the special army camp.
A few apprentices, who were sent over by the Magi Palace to serve Dragon Pool, hurriedly followed up. They silently followed Dragon Pool without knowing where he was heading to, just following him because of the orders they had received.
Dragon Pool gave a glance at these few apprentices, besides that, he didn't do or say anything to them. Treemen had their special temper, and would barely communicate with strangers, only talking to their friends. In Dragon Pool's eyes, these few Magi Palace Apprentices were just like passerby, and he didn't need to say anything to them.
Because of that Magi Master ID tablet hanging on his body, Dragon Pool easily walked out of the special army camp. After a quarter of an hour, he arrived at the woods that were located around ten miles away from the camp, and was on the Southern side of the camp.
"Who are you?" Standing in front of another tall and towering tree, Dragon Pool asked in a muffled voice.
That tree, which seemed quite old as well, and was tens of zhang tall, slightly shook its trunk. Afterwards, the tree bark cracked, showing a pair of dark eye sockets and a gigantic, deep mouth. This big tree, which only had sparse branches and leaves, suddenly released a strong sense of life-force and after that, countless new branches and leaves grew out from its body. This strong life-force had even affected the other plants around it, such that the ground surrounding it was quickly covered by a thick layer of fresh green grass.
A patrolling troop of human warriors speedily moved past. They quickly glanced across Dragon Pool's ID tablet and those Magi Palace apprentices following behind him, with their dagger-sharp eyes, then quickly moved away without any stop. This place was only around ten miles away from the special army camp, and was within the core zone, where the forces of the alliance of human clans gathered; therefore, they didn't need to be too vigilant.
Dragon Pool looked at the tree in front of him and said in a muffled voice, "Don't waste your power to turn such a big tree into your replication. This is very harmful to you, hrr…hrr…especially when your real body is so far away."
This big tree, which had suddenly changed into a treeman, was actually an ordinary cypress. The reason it had changed was only that an especially powerful treeman had transferred a stream of his own spiritual power onto it, from tens of miles away and through the complicated net of plant roots of this forest area. By doing this, the powerful treeman had turned this cypress into a part of his body, temporarily.
To treemen, this would cost a lot. To produce one's temporary replication could cost all the life-force that a powerful treeman had accumulated during hundreds of years. If not necessary, not a single treeman would be stupid enough to do this. However, any treeman that was powerful enough to produce replications was undoubtedly, extremely powerful and wise, and might have lived for incalculable years.
"I am Song Gu, my real body is an iron-bone dragon-skin pine." That big tree began talking, also in a muffled voice. "I am the king of trees, elected by all treemen in the Chi Ban Mountain area, and the bigger surrounding areas. What is your name?"
Snakes could not live without a head, and birds could not fly without wings; any race would naturally elect a king among all members. However, treemen were different. During all of the years, the treemen had always been the most free, most natural creatures in the world, who enjoyed their solitude. Song Gu said that he was the king of trees, which shocked Dragon Pool pretty seriously.
"The king of trees?" Dragon Pool shook his branches and said, "I don't understand…I am Dragon Pool, dragon as the dragon-kind, pool as a pool of water."
'Dragon as the dragon-kind, pool as a pool of water', this was exactly what Man Man said when she gave this name to the old tree, now, which he repeated every word to Song Gu.
"I, Song Gu, am the king of trees, elected by fourteen-thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-eight treemen of the Chi Ban Mountain area and surrounding areas." said Song Gu in a deep voice, "Purple grain dragon sandalwood, I hope that you can join us. You're a treeman as well… you should be with your own kind!"
Dragon Pool remained silent for a while, then responded with that muffled voice, "Where were you when I was hunted by the others?"
Song Gu closed his mouth, staring at Dragon Pool with a pair of deadly hollowed, dark eye sockets.