Above all else, the maternal tree was respected by the wood puppet race.
Without it, the race wouldn't have come into being. The maternal tree was their mother in this case.
The maternal trees were hidden in places that no other creatures had access to. In fact, most of the
other races were ignorant of their existence.
The only duty of the maternal trees was to give birth to more members of the wood puppet race. They
never met with outsiders.
Therefore, Austin's request had offended all members of the wood puppet race and they would not
accept it.
"Austin, it's an exceptionally rude request to see the maternal tree. You've disrespected the wood
puppet race.
If the governing gods of the wood puppet race knew about this, they would come for revenge.
Just drop it,"
Asa warned.
In Asa's mind, Austin only wanted to see the maternal tree of the wood puppet race because he was
curious.
"It doesn't matter. I must see it,"
Austin replied, smiling confidently at him.
"Brat, I don't think you want to see the maternal tree because you are curious. There must be another
reason,"
the gnome cut in.
"You are right. No one knows me better than you do,"
Austin replied with a nod.
"Wood puppet race, don't worry. I would never do anything to hurt your maternal tree,"
Austin said, turning to face the members of the wood puppet race.
"Human boy, you need to give up now. The maternal tree never visits with outsiders,"
a genuine premium-grade divine god of the wood puppet race growled, narrowing his eyes at Austin.
"Are you all this foolish? If you don't agree, I will kill you,"
Austin threatened.
"It would be an honor to die protecting the maternal tree,"
the genuine premium-grade divine god replied in a determined tone.
Austin slumped his shoulders. He had no idea what else he could try.
"Brat, kill us if you want to. We will never, ever take you to the maternal tree!"
"We all dream of dying for the maternal tree!"
"Brat, we will never bow to the enemy!"
Not a single member of the wood puppet race looked scared. They continued to roar loudly as Austin
tried to ignore it and think. Apparently they would rather die than lead an outsider to the maternal tree.
Their response was making Austin feel helpless. It would be easy for him to wipe out the wood puppet
race, but he didn't want to do that.
After all, he held no grudges against them.
"Boy, hold on a second. It's not that difficult to find the location of the maternal tree of the wood puppet
race.
You should be begging me, not them,"
the gnome said abruptly
"Oh?
You know where it is?"
Austin asked, spinning to face the gnome in surprise.
"Did you already forget what our race is good at?"
the gnome said, frowning slightly.
"You are good at the law of space and finding treasures!"
Austin blurted out.
"Exactly. Among the exclusive secret skills of our race, there are many spatial omnipotent skills which
can be used to hide things or track down others.
Besides, we are very sensitive to all kinds of precious natural resources. The maternal tree of the wood
puppet race is extremely precious.
If I wanted to find it, the maternal tree could not hide from me,"
the gnome explained.
"That's great.
Gnome, please help me find the maternal tree of the wood puppet race. I would really appreciate it,"
Austin begged as his face lit up in excitement.
"I can track it down, but I have to warn you that several governing gods from the wood puppet race will
probably be standing guard around it.
After all, it is the most important existence in their race.
And I suspect that the maternal tree itself is a formidable being.
So you'd better be sure that you can handle it all,"
the gnome reminded him.
"Don't worry about that. Governing gods aren't a threat to me anymore.
Do you really have no faith in me?"
Austin said, smiling jokingly.
"All right, then. I'll try my best to help you find the maternal tree,"
the gnome finally agreed with a nod.
"Great! Thank you so much, gnome,"
Austin exclaimed with glee.
"You're welcome. Now, I need you to release all these people from the wood puppet race. I think that
some of them will go back and report this to their superiors.
If they do, I can follow them secretly,"
the gnome added.
"You got it."
Austin nodded in agreement.
"Okay. All of you can leave now," Austin ordered.
With a wave of his hand, he unsealed all the members of the wood puppet race.
Walking about and stretching their limbs, the members of the wood puppet race were pleasantly
surprised.
"Are you really letting us go?"
their genuine premium-grade divine god leader asked in disbelief.
"Yes. You told me that you would rather die protecting the maternal tree than take me to it. I will not
push you then.
Now, hurry up and leave before I change my mind,"
Austin repeated, nodding at the leader.
"You heard him. Let's get out of here!"
The genuine premium-grade divine god turned around, collected his army, and they all left.
In a moment, Austin and his companions were left alone.
"Austin, I'm following them now,"
the gnome said before disappearing.
"Wow! Would you look at gnome's grasp on the law of space? That bodily movement skill is a very rare
omnipotent space skill.
It's kind of similar to my Shadowless Movement.
Shadowless Movement is more about speed while the bodily movement skill he has unleashed focuses
on hiding the user's traces,"
Austin commented.
He found it difficult to keep the gnome's location on his radar.
"Gnome's bodily movement skill is so advanced that we can't even sense where he is,"
the Eight Stone Saints remarked.
Even Austin couldn't locate the gnome, let alone the Eight Stone Saints.
"Follow me, Austin!"
Just then, Austin received a message from the gnome.
"On it," Austin responded.
He activated his bodily movement skill and dashed forward,
following all the marks that the gnome had left for him.
"Austin, wait for us."
He glanced back to find the Eight Stone Saints running towards him.
Two hours later,
they arrived at a vast, primitive forest.
All the trees in the forest towered into the clouds and their trunks were so thick that if all of them joined
hands, they couldn't surround the circumference.
The marks left by the gnome went deeper into the trees.
Austin led the way, gesturing for the Eight Stone Saints to follow.
They saw a thick, green mist in the forest.
"There's a strong sense of life here!"
Austin exclaimed as he traveled deeper.
It turned out that the green fog wasn't fog at all. It was life essence.
"This forest is filled with the law of life!"
Austin murmured to himself.
The law of life was one of the most magical laws.
Although it was very common to come across,
it was difficult to comprehend and cultivate.
Austin was fully aware of that.
He had mastered many laws,
but he didn't know much about the law of life yet.
He wanted to master it, but he couldn't find a way.
"I want to learn but I don't know where to begin," he said as he saw more and more of the law of life in
the forest.
He released his spiritual sense to sense it, but he couldn't understand any of it.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda