The ancient voice of the Shaking Light Star Soul suddenly echoed in Xu Luo's mind.
The answer delighted Xu Luo. So the Peach Tree was a Spiritual Object! 'It makes sense, now that I think about it,' he mused. 'When I first entered this Small World, I saw an old ginseng root bolting for its life. How could a Peach Tree bearing hundreds of Top-Grade Treasure Medicines possibly be a normal, unthinking plant?'
"Are you willing to come with me?" Xu Luo tentatively sent a Divine Thought to the Peach Tree.
The Chaos Peach Tree didn't stir, appearing just like an ordinary old tree.
"You're not willing, are you? Fine. I'll just chop down your trunk and stuff you in my Spatial Ring!" Xu Luo threatened.
"I can't leave."
Finally, a bleak and ancient thought, tinged with fear, reached Xu Luo's Sea of Spiritual Consciousness.
"Why?" Xu Luo stood beneath the Peach Tree, practically one with its trunk. He hadn't picked any of the Peaches of Immortality, because he knew that the moment he plucked a single one, the giant black tiger and the great golden bird would sense it and discover his presence.
"I am sealed here and cannot leave. Otherwise, none of you would have ever found a trace of me!" the bleak thought conveyed to Xu Luo, tinged with a hint of resentment.
'Who could have sealed you here?' Xu Luo wondered, then a thought struck him. 'Of course. This Small World was once the territory of an Ancient Great Sect. The only ones capable of sealing a Spiritual Object like this would naturally be people from that era.'
"Is there no way?" Xu Luo asked, unwilling to give up. 'Taking a hundred Chaos Peaches would be an incredible haul, but how could that possibly be as satisfying as digging up the whole tree?'
"It's not that there's no way, but you lack the strength. Unless... you can break my seal."
"How do I do it? And where?" Xu Luo asked.
"You really want to try?" The bleak thought returned, now laced with disdain, as if it looked down on Xu Luo.
"Of course I do! If I break the seal, you'll come with me, right?" Xu Luo said.
"Of course! I've had more than enough of this damned place!" The thought was no longer bleak; instead, it was so full of human-like emotion that it startled Xu Luo.
The corner of Xu Luo's mouth twitched, but his tone was resolute. "Alright then. Tell me where and what to do!"
"Come in!" The moment the thought formed, a Light Gate taller than a man materialized on the purple trunk of the Chaos Peach Tree.
Purple Chaos Qi swirled within the Light Gate, giving it an aura of profound mystery.
Xu Luo hesitated for a moment, but the Shaking Light Star Soul inside him suddenly advised, "You can enter."
Without further hesitation, Xu Luo took a step forward. His body submerged into the purple Light Gate and vanished.
The giant black tiger and the great golden bird seemed to sense something at that exact moment. They glanced back in confusion, but saw nothing.
Besides, they still had to deal with those persistent humans, so they didn't give it a second thought. They turned back and resumed their assault on the damned, troublesome humans.
Xu Luo felt as if he had arrived in a magnificent and vast Earth Palace. He was stunned. Just then, the Chaos Peach Tree's thought entered his mind: "The object that seals me is somewhere within this Earth Palace. If you can find it and break the seal, I will leave this place with you!"
"You don't know the exact location either?" Xu Luo stared down the seemingly endless passageway before him, the corner of his mouth twitching violently.
"I do not. You'll have to find it yourself."
"'You've got to be kidding me!'" Xu Luo couldn't help but mutter.
He then asked the Shaking Light Star Soul inside him, "Do you know?"
"I do not." The Shaking Light Star Soul's reply was even more concise, leaving Xu Luo speechless.
'Looks like I'll have to search for it bit by bit. If I'd known it would be like this, I should have just snatched a dozen peaches and run for itβ¦' Xu Luo grumbled to himself as he walked deeper into the passageway.
This mysterious Earth Palace didn't seem like it was built for humans at all. It was simply too vast. Compared to the massive passageway, Xu Luo was like a tiny ant.
'Maybe this Earth Palace was actually built by Holy Beasts?' Xu Luo wondered silently, though he knew it was nearly impossible.
The huge murals lining both sides of the passageway depicted scenes of human life and battles from the Ancient Era.
A single glance was enough to tell that humans were the main subjects of the murals.