Celestial Fiend Tree's Characteristics

"Shut up and save me already!" Xiaoshuai cried.

Mu Yu wasn't worried about Xiaoshuai dying because he knew better than that. He sprinted toward the tree that began firing on him again, accompanying his valiant charge with a war cry. The tree swept up dust as it plugged the ground with leaves. Suddenly, he changed gears and ran further away from the tree. Hence, the tree threw feints to keep him at bay.

Mu Yu sat down to catch his breath. "This is mission impossible. Unlimited leaves unless its target dies. This isn't funny, man. Ageless Changqing wouldn't set a task that can't be completed, though, would he? It constantly protected its trunk whenever I aimed for the trunk. Shall I try brute forcing my through using Nameless Swordsman's sword spirit? Oh, wait, it took my damn sword. There goes that idea."

"Help! Help Xiaoshuai! Xiaoshuai doesn't taste good. Chicken drumsticks taste good. Let's talk this out over some chicken drumsticks," cried Xiaoshuai, voice fading gradually.

"Hang in there, Xiaoshuai. I'm thinking!" Mu Yu got to his feet. "I can outpace the tree or get pass using sheer brute force. Where there's a will, there's a will. Think. Think."

Mu Yu threw a rock at the tree trunk; however, it was shot down before it made contact. He tried hurling a rock at the tree branches, but the tree branch just took it. He threw it at a celestial fiend friend and heard a similar sound as when he threw it at the trunk. He took it as a sign of confirmation that the trunk was the crux of the problem.

What if the weakness is some tiny mark on the tree? Sounds unlikely. Hold on a minute… How can it aim at me or detect me if it can't see me? Plants aren't animals. It didn't attack until Xiaoshuai tried to bite the fruit. I retaliated to help Xiaoshuai. I suppose that explains the hostility. How is it pinpointing my whereabouts, though? My smell? Sounds? It also reacted when hurled my flying sword when my sword doesn't have a smell. It didn't strike when I was shouting, yet it pinpointed me still.The only variable remaining is spiritual qi. The tree must be sensitive to spiritual qi in the atmosphere. If the theory holds true, it's tracking me based off the changes in the atmospheric spiritual qi during my movements. This makes things hard…

As the next breeze blew, Mu Yu caught on to something he forgot.

If the tree doesn't react when the wind disturbs the flow of spiritual qi in the atmosphere, does that mean it's habituated to spiritual qi movements resulting from gales? If it does habituate, can I condition it to habituate to my movements? If it didn't attack me straight off the bat, perhaps I can reset my presence so that it perceives me as someone visiting for the first time.

Mu Yu crept as close to the tree as possible, then began going back and forth, shaking his body out to rile the spiritual qi as much as possible. After repeating the process for a while, his small steps generated a shake but no leaf darts.

Mu Yu repeated the process for another fifteen minutes before taking a step closer. The tree shook out of instinct but didn't attack. He repeated it over and over, avoiding repetition of the things he did the first time around. It took hours to finally reach the tree. He doubted anyone didn't make the same amateur mistake he made.

Although Mu Yu planned to rescue Xiaoshuai, there was a bit of a problem… There were thousands of celestial fiend fruits… He couldn't determine which one swallowed Xiaoshuai. As such, he circled around the tree for clues. Since the door was made from timber, he dove into it, lest there be another attack. He couldn't discern any problems with the tree. While striking the tree branch was the most direct approach, he didn't have anything that he could use for the purpose.

Left with no choice, Mu Yu took two steps back and poised himself to punch. Before he could, howbeit, a branch caught him around the waist because he took on the stance he used the first time around.

"Crap!"

It was only the beginning of Mu Yu's troubles. The celestial fiend fruits gathered around and opened their mouths. Irritated to no end, Mu Yu, in a booming voice, cursed, "Just piss, off already!"