An ancient tree the likes of which he had never seen stood before his eyes, likely the true body of the Wood Charm.
Zhou Chun gazed at the ancient tree, his face etched with seriousness.
He first leaped onto a tall tree nearby to scout the sky, ensuring that Huang Boxiong was not in the vicinity before swiftly jumping down.
Then, after a moment's thought, he took out the bodies of the three Huang Family Cultivators from his Storage Pouch and tossed them beside the ancient tree.
Next, he held a third-grade Defensive Talisman in one hand and summoned the "Sun Glare Wheel" with the other, slashing it toward a branch of the ancient tree.
The golden wheel Magic Artifact, spinning like a gear, landed on the branch of the tree. A surge of verdant spirit light suddenly burst forth from the branch, trying to fend off the cutting edge of the blade.
But the spirit light only helped the tree persevere for a few moments before the golden wheel Magic Artifact slashed it down to the ground.
This extraordinary phenomenon, however, confirmed Zhou Chun's suspicion.
This ancient tree, which he had never seen before, was indeed the true body of the Wood Charm!
After chopping off a branch of the ancient tree, he pointed at the tree and flicked a golden sword beam, which crashed into the trunk, leaving a deep hole and leaking emerald sap.
Having done this, Zhou Chun patiently waited.
It wasn't long before the treetop flickered with green light, and the silhouette of the Wood Charm in its Spirit Deer form appeared atop the tree.
At this moment, the power within the Azure Deer had diminished significantly, existing somewhere between the second and third rank—far weaker than when Zhou Chun first encountered it.
And when it emerged atop the tree, its eyes, like green gems, immediately turned towards Zhou Chun, brimming with a human-like loathing.
Undoubtedly, Zhou Chun, a cultivator who practiced the pure Metal Element Cultivation Method, was not a favored entity by it.
Furthermore, Zhou Chun's recent actions, injuring its body, had angered it.
Faced with the disdain pouring from those deer eyes, Zhou Chun remained calm and spoke lightly, "I know you understand my words, so I'll make this brief!"
"Your existence has already been discovered. Even if you can escape from Zhou and that fire-starter today, when more powerful Human Clan Cultivators arrive later, you'll have nowhere to hide."
"However, if you are willing to come with me today, I can't promise much else, but helping you advance to the third rank is certainly no issue, and even reaching the fourth rank is a strong possibility!"
"To show my sincerity, I have already killed those humans who were setting fire to the forest for you!"
This was him playing nice before getting tough.
In the capture of the Wood Charm, Zhou Chun shared the same goal with the Huang Family.
However, their methods of dealing with the captured Wood Charm were likely to differ.
The Huang Family, not hesitating to set fire to the forest to capture the Wood Charm, probably didn't plan to tame it as a Spirit Pet but to capture and sell it for a high price. They naturally didn't mind being loathed by the Wood Charm.
But Zhou Chun, intent on taming the Wood Charm, obviously couldn't do something to arouse its hatred.
That would bring considerable trouble to his taming endeavors.
However, in the face of Zhou Chun's overture, the Wood Charm didn't show much appreciation.
It glanced at the three corpses on the ground, and beneath them, the earth cracked open, revealing numerous red-black roots.
These roots quickly bound the three bodies and dragged them into the ground, seemingly to use them as fertilizer.
Soon, a "yoyo" of deer calls came from the Azure Deer's mouth—a warning for Zhou Chun to leave.
Seeing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but sigh softly, "So be it. Since you don't trust me, I guess I'll have to force you to calm down with some violence!"
With that, he tapped his Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist and released all his "Mystical Armor Golden Feather" Demon Insects.
By this time, after years of cultivation, he had over seven thousand "Mystical Armor Golden Feather" Demon Insects, of which more than eight hundred were mature and over four thousand were adults.
With over five thousand Demon Insects released, a faint golden insect cloud swiftly formed over his head.
Zhou Chun pointed towards the ancient tree, and instantly, thousands of Demon Insects swarmed towards it.
Seeing this, the Azure Deer let out an angry cry and spat a stream of green mist from its mouth towards the invading insects.
As the green mist swept over them, a large number of Demon Insects dropped like dumplings toward the ground.
But most of the mature "Mystical Armor Golden Feather" insects simply staggered in the air before continuing their charge at the ancient tree.
This only fueled the Azure Deer's anger, prompting it to stomp its hooves. The trunk beneath its feet cracked, releasing countless tiny fissures that spat out streams of fine green sap at the approaching insects.
Upon contact, this sap immediately crystallized into green crystals, encasing and dragging the Demon Insects down to the ground.
Yet the mature "Mystical Armor Golden Feathers" were not so easily subdued.
No sooner had the green crystals hit the ground than the trapped Demon Insects quickly bit through them and emerged.
They resumed their master's will to dive toward the ancient tree.
The undying resilience of these creatures brought a look of surprise to the Azure Deer's eyes.
After all, this sticky tree sap was evolved specifically to combat Demon Insects during its evolution; never before in this forest had any Demon Insect survived after being coated with the sap.