"Symbols determine the quadrant!"
The Long-haired Treant was already puzzled when Chen Bugu uttered five inexplicable words.
However, to his surprise, the five Muka people at the cave entrance understood and replied with five equally inexplicable words.
Upon hearing this, Chen Bugu's taut body visibly relaxed, and he lowered the arrow in his left hand. He turned his head towards the Long-haired Treant, his tone somewhat relaxed.
"It's fine now, they're our people."
After speaking, Chen Bugu walked out towards the cave entrance.
Bai Ting and Han Badou looked back, confirming there were no pursuers behind them, then walked into the cave with relief.
After arriving in this secret realm, they found themselves in a tribe, transformed into treants.
Fortunately, the other treants around them showed no hostility, so they decided to stay in the tribe, searching for other companions while trying to gather information to understand their situation.
However, after everyone had gathered, they realized that Chen Bugu was still missing.
Yan Kuan saw a treant, somewhat different in form from them, being carried and thrown into the stone prison, and even joked with Bai Ting that, given Chen Bugu's luck, the one locked up might very well be him.
This reminded Han Badou, who took the opportunity to inquire about the treants with legs. Only then did he learn that they were Muka people who had betrayed their god, and that they were about to become sacrifices on the execution altar.
During the day, treants came and went in the tribe, and Han Badou was worried about arousing suspicion, so he planned to secretly go to the stone prison at night, after the other Muka Tribe members had fallen asleep, to probe the two Muka people who had betrayed their god, in case Chen Bugu was among them.
If that were truly the case, then he would have to find a way to rescue Chen Bugu.
For this, Han Badou had even specifically sought out the Muka guard of the stone prison beforehand, attempting to inquire from him about how to unlock the Qianxin Ball Lock.
It was a pity that his 【Brain Enhancement: Thousand Mechanisms】 had mysteriously disappeared; otherwise, perhaps he could have memorized how to unlock the Qianxin Ball Lock just by seeing it once.
However, as soon as the guard talked about the Qianxin Ball Lock, he would become extremely vigilant and refuse to speak, leaving Han Badou with no choice but to return empty-handed.
Night fell in a blink of an eye. Although there was still no method to solve the Qianxin Ball Lock, Han Badou decided to first secretly go to the stone prison with Bai Ting to probe the two Muka people who had betrayed their god and see if Chen Bugu was indeed among them.
However, when they stood before the stone prison, looking at the already open cell door, there were no Muka people who had betrayed their god left.
They exchanged glances, and a strange intuition simultaneously arose: one of the two who had escaped must be Chen Bugu!
Han Badou and Bai Ting quietly returned to the tribe, found Yan Kuan and the Lin Sisters, who were anxiously waiting, and told them about the situation they encountered.
The group left the tribe that night, plunging into the dark forest, and began searching around the stone prison in the forest. They finally found the mark left by Chen Bugu.
As early as in the Starting Forest, Chen Bugu had agreed upon a set of marks with them. He would carve arrows on trees, but considering various situations, that was not meant to be the true direction.
Under the tree where the arrow was carved, Chen Bugu would place three leaves to form a T-shape, pressing them down with a stone. The direction opposite to the vertical bar of the T-shape was the true direction Chen Bugu had left in.
Bai Ting and the others tracked him all night and finally found the cave where Chen Bugu was at dawn.
"Are you all alright?"
When the Long-haired Treant said that only they were left of the Muka people who had abandoned their god, and that the stone prison had not yet received new members, Chen Bugu already realized that Bai Ting and the others' consciousness might have fallen into the bodies of the new Muka Tribe members.
Chen Bugu looked at the five Muka Tribe members in front of him; they had no legs, their roots embedded in the earth.
The one over 2 meters tall should be Han Badou, the one with a relatively sturdy body was Yan Kuan, and Bai Ting was also easy to recognize; he didn't know where he found a white cloth to drape over himself...
Lin Xiaoxiao and Lin Lin, he really couldn't recognize them and could only rely on their voices.
"We're fine, but our abilities have disappeared."
Chen Bugu gave a wry smile. Sure enough, it was the effect of this secret realm; it seemed that when he was captured, he hadn't seen any other Muka Tribe members use their abilities either.
"But we've gained the Muka Tribe's abilities."
It was Lin Xiaoxiao who spoke. As she spoke, she extended her right hand, and the branches on her right hand coiled and transformed into a giant shuriken.
Chen Bugu was stunned. Wait, why was he the only one who couldn't use the Muka Tribe's innate abilities?
"But Chen Dage, how did you grow legs and become a Muka person who betrayed the god?"
Han Badou suddenly spoke, looking at Chen Bugu's legs with great curiosity.
Chen Bugu also didn't know. In the stone prison, he had thought that the final enemy of this secret realm was that god, but only now did he realize that his stance was unique.
"Not betrayal! Not betrayal! We actively abandoned the god."
The Long-haired Treant stood behind Chen Bugu. He despised these servile lackeys who chose to surrender from the bottom of his heart, but out of respect for Chen Bugu, he had been listening quietly.
Until this moment, he furiously stepped forward, defending their reputation.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce, this is..."
Chen Bugu saw the Long-haired Treant step forward and was about to introduce him, but then he paused again, realizing that he still didn't seem to know the Long-haired Treant's name.
"It's alright, Chen Dage, we know him. He's our former Muka King."
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Han Badou would truly be unwilling to believe that this furious treant in front of him was the former Muka King often mentioned by the elders in the tribe.
"What!?"
This time, it was Chen Bugu who was surprised. He turned his head incredulously to look at the Long-haired Treant.
"You're the Muka King? You never said."
Chen Bugu hadn't heard this guy mention it!
"What's there to say about a former king locked in a cage by his own people?"
The Long-haired Treant seemed somewhat dejected upon hearing the title "King," and turned his head away, not looking at Chen Bugu.
"Chen Dage, you still don't seem to know, he is the Muka King, but he betrayed the god, and he also betrayed his own people."
Han Badou looked at the Long-haired Treant with a hint of disdain.
Next, from Han Badou's narration, Chen Bugu learned that this Long-haired Treant had once been so terrified during the struggle against the god that he was powerless to resist.
When his followers fell one after another in battle, he, however, was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, trembling.
The god did not kill him, but the remaining followers, seeing his state, were utterly disappointed and left one after another. They found the devil in the forest, exchanged their souls for power, and continued to fight against the god.
Unfortunately, those Muka Tribe members who exchanged power from the devil also died at the hands of the god. Since then, only this useless former Muka King remained, lingering on, waiting to die.
Chen Bugu looked at the Long-haired Treant and suddenly remembered what he had said the night before when he wanted to stay in the stone prison.
This guy really is a hopeless mess!
"Are you that afraid of the god?"
Chen Bugu looked at the Long-haired Treant, who had already turned away, unwilling to face anyone, and asked in a flat tone.
"The god is invincible."
The Long-haired Treant's voice trembled along with his body, then both stopped.
"It's alright, he's here, he's here. You'll soon understand how terrifying the god is."
The Long-haired Treant turned his head, his face already showing unconcealable terror.
Chen Bugu was stunned at the words, then quickly looked outside the cave.
At this moment, a huge and dazzling golden light was pouring down from the sky.
Beneath that golden light, even the morning sun became dim.