“Ha! I knew it!” Upon hearing this, Feng Bujue sternly shouted at the grotesque face, “Monster! Quickly reveal your true form!” He shouted with great momentum, but his actions still showed no intention of approaching the creature.

The monster was also straightforward. Since it couldn't maintain the pretense, it abandoned the clumsy disguise. The sallow, grotesque face rapidly transformed, the countless coarse wrinkles on its face turning into the texture of tree bark.

Before long, the head and the section of arm “hiding” behind the tree transformed into two branches on the trunk. A small bell hung from the tip of the “arm”-turned branch.

At the same time, two long, narrow slits the color of tainted blood abruptly appeared on the tree trunk, facing the direction Si Yu was looking. They were like a pair of eyes, suddenly opened, their eyelids made of bark. And beneath the bark, there really was a pair of massive, inky pupils.

“Such meddling…” The muffled, deep voice came directly from inside the tree trunk this time, “If you have the ability, come over here…”

Si Yu didn't reply; she had nothing to say and instead responded with action.

The light of the Fengsheng Sword flashed, and she swung her arm in a diagonal slash, sending out a burst of sword energy mixed with spiritual energy. It was unclear how powerful Si Yu's move was, but it managed to tear open a gash more than two meters long in the tree trunk from a distance.

The large tree obviously couldn't move or dodge, and the trunk took the blow head-on. From the severed bark, a stream of foul blood flowed.

“Ah!” A miserable cry came from the tree trunk, as if the monster was experiencing great pain.

Feng Bujue had already circled around to Si Yu's side from the other direction. He knew that as long as he kept a few meters away from the tree, there wouldn't be any threat, so he circled around with peace of mind.

“Its defensive capabilities seem quite poor…” Feng Bujue muttered, “Its attack range also seems to be very short, hmm…” He turned to look at Si Yu. “Then this guy's damage output is probably extremely high. If you get close to it, you might be killed in one hit.”

“The cooldown time for my last move isn’t long, but it consumes some spiritual energy,” Si Yu said, understanding Feng Bujue’s meaning. Her ranged attack methods were indeed limited.

“Yeah, so… leave it to me then,” Feng Bujue said with a smile. His expression at this moment was one of anticipation.

Si Yu heard this and put away her sword. “As you wish.”

“You…” The large tree seemed to sense Feng Bujue's ill intentions and immediately asked, “What… do you want to do…?”

“Don't be afraid, I just want to ask you a few questions.” As Feng Bujue spoke, he set down the folding stool, then knelt on one knee, and took out [Miss Moxxi's Bad Touch] from his knapsack, placing it on the stool to steadily aim at the huge, immobile target a few meters away.

Si Yu watched from the side with a cold eye. She had never seen a player say “Don't be afraid” to a monster before, and she couldn't have imagined such a scene.

“What if I don't want to answer?” The monster responded with the same vicious tone.

*Tat-tat-tat…* The sound of gunfire answered its question.

Feng Bujue lightly pulled the trigger, and several bullets instantly poured out of the submachine gun's muzzle. His gun's attribute was fire, and its special effect read, “Especially effective against flesh.” Clearly, whether this large tree was considered an animal or a plant, it was a type of monster severely countered by this weapon.

“Ah! Ah! Ah…” The monster roared incessantly. Just a few bullets left spots of fire on its body. If it weren't for the bloody filth flowing out from under the bark extinguishing the flames, it would probably have been completely consumed.

“If you don't want to turn into firewood scraps, from now on, I ask, and you answer…” Feng Bujue used practical actions to make it impossible for the other party to refuse. He then asked, “First, tell me what kind of monster you are, and what is your name?”

“I don't know,” the monster replied.

“Oh ho! You've got guts!” Feng Bujue immediately prepared to open fire again.

“Wait! I'm telling the truth!” the monster quickly explained.

“Is that so… okay, anyway, your name isn't important.” Feng Bujue raised his head, temporarily abandoning his aiming posture. “Then… first tell me, what do you mean by ‘No Return Forest’ that you mentioned earlier?”

The monster thought for a few seconds, then asked in return, “If I tell you, will you let me go?”

*Tat-tat-tat…*

“Ah! Okay! I'll talk! Stop quickly!” The monster howled for mercy after being shot.

It was silent for a short while, seemingly waiting for the feeling of pain to subside, then said, “Decades ago, the villagers of the small town at the foot of the mountain were very fearful of this forest, so they gave it the name No Return Forest. Almost no one dared to come into this forest. Once they came… they couldn't get out.”

“Because there are many monsters like you in the forest?” Feng Bujue asked.

“There are, but not many.” The large tree sneered. “I don't even know if I count as a monster. I was originally just an old tree in this forest. But because ‘that child’s’ resentment was too strong, the entire forest was steeped in it. Influenced by that, I became like this…” As it said this, the crack that Si Yu had cut on the bark suddenly widened. Along with a splash of foul blood, the inside of the tree trunk was revealed to Feng Bujue and Si Yu.

It turned out that the tree trunk was filled with dead people. The corpses were extremely horrifying, their expressions frozen in terror. Every corpse was missing limbs, but they were not completely rotten, and all the corpses were twisted together like braided dough, blood constantly seeping out from all seven orifices.

“These villagers of Hidden Bell Town are all reaping what they sowed. Their descendants will also suffer retribution.” As the monster spoke, it closed the crack again. “You are also Daoists invited by the villagers to exorcise ghosts, right?”

Feng Bujue said, “A mountain demon tree also knows that there are Daoists in this world?”

“Many years ago, many enlightened monks, wandering Daoists, and exorcists who specialized in catching ghosts came to the mountain… I can't count how many people there were. But in the end, they all lost their lives at the hands of ‘that child’,” the monster replied.

“It said Hidden Bell just now?” Si Yu interjected at this moment.

Feng Bujue was also thinking of asking this. He said to the monster again, “The small town at the foot of the mountain is clearly called Azure Spirit Town, but why do you say ‘Hidden Bell Town’?”

“This place has always been called Hidden Bell Town. When did it change to Azure Spirit Town?” the monster replied.

Feng Bujue looked at Si Yu and lowered his voice. “Something must have happened decades ago… The truth behind the village's abandonment is probably related to the person who left those three characters at the entrance of the village.”

Si Yu followed Feng Bujue's train of thought and thought about it, but she couldn't reach any conclusions for the time being. She simply replied softly, “Ask about the wronged spirit's matter.”

Feng Bujue raised his head and said to the monster again, “The ‘child’ you mentioned was killed by the villagers, right? What exactly happened?”

“You have to ask her yourself about that. I only know that her resentment is overwhelming and that she hates those villagers to the bone. She must have died unjustly, but I really don't know how she died,” the monster replied.

“Then where is she?” Feng Bujue asked again.

“Hidden Bell Temple,” the monster answered.

“Where is Hidden Bell Temple? How do we get there?” Feng Bujue said.

“Hold my bell in front of your eyes. As long as you face the direction of the temple, the bell will ring.”

“Oh…” Feng Bujue's gaze shifted to the branch where the bell was hanging. “Is it possible… for you to throw the thing over to me?”

The monster replied, “I can't do it.”

“Hmm… I see…” Feng Bujue suddenly interrupted himself, put on a surprised expression, and pointed to the other side of the large tree, “Ah! What's that!”

Even Si Yu, who was standing next to Feng Bujue, was startled. Although she was standing right next to him, and their fields of vision were essentially the same, and she hadn't seen anything unusual, Feng Bujue's sudden jump, his expression and tone incredibly lifelike, made her subconsciously tense up.

The demon tree didn't know what had happened. Its pair of eyes suddenly rotated along the bark, turning to the other side, as if a human had turned their head.

In that instant, Feng Bujue activated Spiritual Sense Gathering Technique, burst forth, and with lightning speed, successfully stole the bell, tearing it off the branch and retreating back to a safe distance.

The demon tree's last hope was also completely shattered at this moment, because the only opportunity it had to attack was when the players approached to take the bell, but now that was no longer possible. Feng Bujue used such a childish trick, similar to “Watch out behind you!”, to get his hands on the quest item.

[Name: Bell]

[Type: Story Related]

[Quality: Common]

[Function: Locates the Hidden Bell Temple]

[Can it be brought out of this scenario: No]

[Note: This small bell seems to have a connection with a powerful evil spirit]

“Okay, done, let's go,” Feng Bujue said to Si Yu. After succeeding, he immediately deactivated Spiritual Sense Gathering Technique and also put away the folding stool and gun, as if he felt that the demon tree had no remaining value to exploit.

“Isn't killing it to prevent future trouble?” Si Yu asked.

“Let's save some bullets,” Feng Bujue replied while raising the bell, extending his arm, and slowly rotating around his axis. When he turned to the northwest, the bell suddenly moved twice on its own, making a *ding-ling… ding-ling…* sound.

Feng Bujue turned his head and exchanged a look with Si Yu. The two didn't say anything more, ignoring the monster behind them and heading in the direction the bell was pointing without looking back.

After the two had walked far away, the demon tree said in a deep voice, “Ah… After you are killed by that child, she will still bring the bell back and hang it on me…” After saying this, all the abnormal phenomena on the tree trunk disappeared, returning it to the appearance of an ordinary tree.