349: Leading the overall situation

Under everyone's gaze, Chu Tong, suspended high in the sky, directly took out a token shimmering with golden specks of light.

The aura emanating from the token made everyone feel that it was a token of extremely high status.

Clearly, this was a powerful method specifically prepared for him by the Great Wu Crown Prince!

Such tokens, even within the current Great Wu Dynasty, were extremely rare and precious, their value astonishing!

The moment Chu Tong took out this token, Xiao Shi felt a familiar aura from the token in his hand.

This made his heart sink.

He instantly realized what Chu Tong was going to do!

After taking out the token, Chu Tong immediately crushed it at the fastest speed.

Crack!

As the token shattered, dense golden light instantly burst forth from within it.

Under Chu Tong's control, this golden light instantly adhered to his guards and his Crimson Refining Corpse.

Whoosh!

With a flash of golden light, whether it was Chu Tong in the sky, his guards, or the Crimson Refining Corpse, they instantly vanished into thin air under the golden glow.

All of this happened in just one second.

When Chu Tong took out the token and crushed it, he, his guards, and his corpse all disappeared.

This left everyone stunned.

They had completely not expected Chu Tong to make such a move.

"He... he ran away??"

Someone's eyes widened in disbelief.

As their strongest combatant, Chu Tong, with both the Crimson Refining Corpse he controlled and the various trump cards provided by the Great Wu Crown Prince, was the most hopeful candidate to confront the Saint here.

But no one had expected that upon seeing the Saint in this checkpoint, Chu Tong would not only fail to engage, but instead directly teleport away from everyone with his guards and the Crimson Refining Corpse.

"That token... can teleport!"

Xiao Shi's expression was also grim.

The reason he felt a sense of familiarity when Chu Tong took out that token was because when he and Xiang Zizhen were brought from Star Luo Territory to the Imperial Domain, they had moved there through a similar teleportation.

Xiao Shi knew clearly that this kind of teleportation was a more advanced ability than simple transmission.

And now, Chu Tong had clearly used the token's teleportation to move himself and his guards out of this checkpoint.

It was just like the method Xiao Shi had used to clear the second checkpoint.

This was something no one had expected!

The reason Chu Tong did this was not just because the Saint in this checkpoint was difficult to deal with; more importantly, he felt he didn't need to expend too much in this checkpoint.

After all, Chu Tong had entered this special area to refine it.

Therefore, he had to consider the later issues.

Even if he could deal with the Saint in this checkpoint through his series of methods, if it resulted in too much loss, it would not be beneficial for his final refinement.

After all, this checkpoint was not the key to finally refining this area.

Before that, he had to preserve his strength to prepare for the final refinement.

Naturally, he couldn't exhaust all his methods and trump cards here.

The more strength he could preserve, the greater his confidence in refining this special area when he finally reached the sacred land!

Therefore, when he felt that the Saint in this checkpoint was not easy to deal with, he directly chose to use teleportation to preserve his strength to the greatest extent.

After a moment of stunned silence, everyone quickly reacted and understood Chu Tong's thoughts.

This made their faces turn grim and ugly.

Clearly, for Chu Tong, he didn't care about their lives or deaths at all.

In Chu Tong's eyes, they were just a group of tools to help him refine this special area.

If necessary, they could be directly abandoned.

It wasn't just Chu Tong who thought this way.

The Great Wu Crown Prince clearly had the same idea.

Otherwise, the Great Wu Crown Prince would not have given Chu Tong such a teleportation token.

From the very beginning, the Great Wu Crown Prince had already hinted to Chu Tong that he could abandon these Martial Demons at any time.

As long as Chu Tong could ultimately complete the refinement of this special area and become the strongest Saint, then even if all the Martial Demons who entered here died, it would still be a gain for the Great Wu Dynasty.

This filled everyone with anger, but also a sense of desolation.

Although they had already realized they would only serve as Chu Tong's tools when the Great Wu Crown Prince placed a taboo on them, they hadn't expected him to abandon them so easily.

At the same time, the vine, like a giant snake, rose high again, creating a sharp tearing sound in the air, and then struck down once more.

Everyone continued to use the Iron Refining Corpse to resist.

After three consecutive resistances, the Iron Refining Corpses' damage worsened, with some of their bodies already largely broken.

This made everyone realize that the Iron Refining Corpses alone were not enough to resolve the current crisis; they could resist at most two more times.

At that point, the Iron Refining Corpses would inevitably shatter completely and be unable to continue resisting.

An extremely strong sense of crisis enveloped everyone's hearts.

Now, without Chu Tong, the most powerful Martial Demon, they all felt a deep sense of powerlessness when facing the Saint in this checkpoint, seeing no hope at all.

Just as the giant vine rose again, about to fall, a crimson-gold figure suddenly shot out, moving so fast that it transformed into a crimson-gold light invisible to the naked eye.

In a flash, it had already reached the vine before it could descend.

Chirp!

With a flash of blade light, the crimson-gold Crimson Refining Corpse Blade struck the giant vine, directly cutting a huge gash in it, from which numerous green viscous liquids spurted out like blood.

At the same time, the entire vine, which was about to smash down, also paused with the single strike of the Crimson Refining Corpse Blade.

This sudden scene startled everyone, and then a strong sense of excitement and ecstasy surged in their hearts.

They realized that someone among them controlled a Crimson Refining Corpse!

Xiao Shi knew very well that at this moment, the Crimson Refining Corpse could no longer be hidden; only the Crimson Refining Corpse could contend with this vine now.

If the Iron Refining Corpses of others were damaged by continuous resistance, they would find it even more difficult to contend with the Saint here later.

At this moment, he had to make the Crimson Refining Corpse act!

One could see that the gash cut into the vine was constantly wriggling, desperately trying to heal.

However, under the Crimson Refining Corpse Blade's wound-stopping effect, no matter how fast they wriggled, they could not heal or recover.

The Crimson Refining Corpse continued to strike rapidly.

It not only possessed extreme speed, but the power of the slashes brought by the Crimson Refining Corpse Blade was also very impressive, coupled with the wound-stopping effect of the Crimson Refining Corpse Blade.

In an instant, under the continuous high-speed slashes of the Crimson Refining Corpse Blade, this giant vine was directly severed.

With a rumble, the broken vine crashed to the ground, creating a deep pit in the entire ground.

Xiao Shi stepped on the ground and leaped up.

From high in the sky, he clearly saw the enormous giant tree not far away.

The rest of the people also flew up one after another.

Upon seeing the giant tree not far away, their faces all turned pale, and their entire minds were violently shaken.

Just one vine from this giant tree had left them helpless.

And to pass this checkpoint, it was clearly not as simple as just cutting off this vine, but rather solving this Sacred Giant Tree.

This filled their hearts with a sense of despair that it was simply impossible to overcome.

Xiao Shi's expression was also solemn.

However, when he felt the surrounding atmosphere, he knew that he had to give everyone hope at this moment, otherwise these people wouldn't even have the courage to fight against it.

"Don't be scared by its appearance. Don't forget, it is currently in a suppressed state."

Xiao Shi glanced around at everyone and said in a deep voice.

"Chu Tong has a Crimson Refining Corpse, and I do too. Even without him, we can still pass this checkpoint, but I need your cooperation, so..."

"In the upcoming actions, if you want to pass and survive, obey all my arrangements, and don't hold anything back anymore."

Xiao Shi knew that these people must still have some unused exclusive items in their hands.

If they held the same mentality as Chu Tong, wanting to preserve their strength and save these exclusive items for later use, they would inevitably fail to pass this stage.

Xiao Shi needed them to give their all, without reservation.

And his words rekindled hope in everyone's hearts.

After all, Xiao Shi's meticulous observation of the area and his analysis had previously made his status in everyone's hearts second only to Chu Tong.

Now, after revealing the Crimson Refining Corpse, he replaced Chu Tong's position in everyone's hearts, taking the lead.

This gave everyone a certain degree of trust and hope in him.

"From the current situation, it seems that this Sacred Giant Tree, like the other trees in this domain, cannot move..."

"Its attack method is likely only through vine attacks, and the number of vines it can mobilize each time will also be limited. Otherwise, it would have only needed to attack with multiple vines at once to instantly annihilate all of us!"

"I will have the Crimson Refining Corpse handle the vine attacks."

"We can deal with it through long-range attacks."

Xiao Shi informed everyone of his thoughts.

Given that the Sacred Giant Tree's strength surpassed theirs, they had to fully utilize its weaknesses.

Since it couldn't move, they would launch long-range, fixed-point attacks.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

However, the current distance between them and the Sacred Giant Tree was quite far; they couldn't attack it from this position and needed to move closer.

And so, they all followed Xiao Shi, making their way to a position not too far from the Sacred Giant Tree.

Standing here, they could no longer see the entire Sacred Giant Tree, only feeling that the tree trunk in front of them was like a city wall, extending to an extremely distant place, so much so that they couldn't even clearly see the curve of the trunk.

The grayish-brown bark was distinctly scaly, with dense, interlocking pieces.

Following the tactics Xiao Shi had previously laid out, upon arriving here, they immediately began their long-range offensive.

However, when their attacks landed on the tree trunk, they were unable to shake the Sacred Giant Tree, not even breaking its bark.

"If it's just Martial Demon Realm-level attacks, it's not enough to break its bark. Even if we can attack from a distance here, it won't have much meaning; we need to first break its bark with exclusive items."

Xiao Shi said in a deep voice.

Since the Crimson Refining Corpse needed to guard against vines that could appear at any time, Xiao Shi couldn't have the Crimson Refining Corpse attack.

Moreover, the Crimson Refining Corpse's attack method was close-range, not long-range.

"Let's all use our exclusive items!"

As Xiao Shi spoke, the Ice Domain Yama Blade and Myriad Mirrors Handle appeared directly in his hands.

After plunging the Ice Domain Yama Blade into the ground, with the point where the Ice Domain Yama Blade was inserted as the center, dense cold air rapidly spread in all directions, freezing everything in its path, completely transforming the area where the Sacred Giant Tree was located into an ice domain.

At the same time, the Myriad Mirrors Handle also rapidly transformed into a mirror image that inherited all of Xiao Shi's own strength and was controlled by him, swiftly charging towards the Sacred Giant Tree.

With Xiao Shi setting an example, everyone else no longer hesitated.

They all began to use their respective exclusive items.

Many of their exclusive items were obtained in the second checkpoint, and they were also ice domain-related exclusive items.

This caused the ice domain formed by Xiao Shi through the Ice Domain Yama Blade to be greatly enhanced when stacked with the exclusive items of others.

It directly spread to the trunk of the Sacred Giant Tree, covering the entire trunk and canopy with a layer of ice.

At the same time, within the ice domain, one ice mirror image after another formed.

They all charged towards the Sacred Giant Tree at extremely fast speeds.

Upon reaching the Sacred Giant Tree, these mirror images immediately launched attacks against it.

At the same time, these mirror images also had some exclusive items from the first checkpoint wrapped around them.

Since these exclusive items could not be used from a distance, these Martial Demons could only use them by having the mirror images approach the target.

These exclusive items from the first checkpoint were mainly focused on entanglement, slowing, and power drain.

And they were all various different evil plants.

As the mirror images approached, some vines capable of draining the target's power immediately shot towards the tree trunk.

Even with the sturdy bark of this Sacred Giant Tree, it could not stop these vines.

With a puff, they were deeply embedded by these vines.

These exclusive items could all affect Saints; even the strongest Saints could not evade them.

Immediately, the Sacred Giant Tree's power began to drain under the effect of these exclusive items.