Given how excitedly the wood spirits were chattering away around Zhang Lie, he believed that at least two-thirds of the wood spirits would be willing to leave with him.

"We will not accept such a transaction."

Zhang Lie smirked. "Is that so? As far as I'm aware, the wood spirits are ill-suited to combat, and the creature in that direction has already taken over half the forest. At this rate, I can't imagine that you'll be able to hold out."

"That's none of your concern."

"If I don't step in, I'm afraid the wood spirits will go extinct. Haven't you considered how many of your kin will have to die if you try to fight against those corrupted beasts?"

Even the shaman's guards seemed to have doubtful looks on their faces—it was apparent that the wood spirits really didn't have a good grasp of the situation at all.

"Let me handle the problem," Zhang Lie wheedled. "If I die, then the transaction is annulled. But if I succeed, you'll allow me to leave with whichever spirits are willing to leave with me. Isn't that a fair trade?"

The shaman finally relented. "How am I to believe your word?"

"Do you have a choice?"

The shaman turned silent. Only after long minutes did he finally reply, "You are correct, human. The wood spirits will need outside help to clear the forest of this threat."

One of their guards frowned and murmured, "Shaman, is this wise? Who knows what these humans are planning?"

"More than anyone else here, you know the perils our tribe is facing. Against any other foe, we would have means by which to defend ourselves, but this particular creature is anathema to us. If we don't do anything quickly, our tribe will surely perish. Even if we meet it head-on in a direct confrontation, many of us will surely lose our lives. In that case, why not seek outside help and preserve as much of our tribe as we can?"

Their guard had nothing to say in their defense.

The shaman turned back to the hunters. "I hope that you will keep your word."

"Leave it to us."

Zhang Lie left with his hunters.

"What do we do now?" Hong Xi asked.

"There's no rush. We'll find a place to make camp and set up a defensive perimeter. Prepare for a long fight."

The wood spirits clearly didn't seem to believe that they would be able to resolve the problem, and Zhang Lie wasn't fully committed to doing so just yet. No—he wanted them to feel like they had no choice but to depend on him first.

At this stage, only half the forest had been corrupted, and the wood spirits didn't yet have an acute sense of the danger they were facing.

As such, Zhang Lie decided to drag matters out until the wood spirits truly had a sense of their perilous straits.

He and his hunters caped out in the nearby forest. During the day, he would go out and clear away some of the corrupted lifeforms, but at night, he would remain in his campsite without any intention of heading into the corrupted forest.

The wood spirits watched on from afar, but they weren't impartial observers. From time to time, they would lure a few lifeforms over to Zhang Lie's main camp, causing a fair bit of trouble before Zhang Lie and the others took them down.

When the elder who had lured the corrupted lifeforms over saw that the humans were unharmed, he clicked his tongue. "Useless pieces of trash!"

Beside the elder, a guard murmured, "Elder, surely we shouldn't do this? The humans are here to help us cleanse the forest, after all."

The elder scoffed. "Who knows what these humans are plotting? They're not wood spirits, and I don't believe they'll work wholeheartedly for us. Better that they all die facing the corrupted lifeforms!"

Zhang Lie walked out of the camp and glanced at the tree in which the elder was hiding, causing the elder to jump as though he had been discovered.

When Zhang Lie did nothing more, however, the elder exhaled in relief. "Hmph! Indeed, these humans can't see through our magnificent racial talent of being able to hide within trees!"

With Zhang Lie and his hunters stalling for time, and the elder's continued mischief, the forest became more and more corrupted.

Eventually, the wood spirits couldn't sit still any longer, and the elder was sent out to urge Zhang Lie to work faster.

"What do you mean by this? You've been sitting here all day without dealing with the root cause of the problem at all!"

Zhang Lie snorted. "The lifeforms we've dealt with over the past few days would have been enough to slaughter your entire tribe."

The elder was so angry that they were waving their arms and legs around, but the shaman had warned them not to strike the humans. Just as the elder was prepared to continue arguing, a shrill cry came from the distance, much like the whistling of a steam locomotive.

The elder's eyes bulged. "What's going on?"

"It looks like the rampage started early, then."

The elder turned to Zhang Lie in shock. "Do you know what's going on, human?"

"Open your eyes wide and you'll see!"

A horde of corrupted, pitch-black lifeforms were rushing to the uncorrupted half of the forest. Some among them were as large as boulders, and Zhang Lie announced confidently, "These are superior-grade lifeforms."

The wood spirits were shocked to see what was going on.

"A full-scale frontal attack, too," Zhang Lie murmured, as though he were just a bystander.

"A full-scale attack?"

"Now that the creature's corrupted more than half the forest, it thinks that it can take the other half down in one fell swoop as well. There's no reason for it to wait and amass more strength any longer."

What Zhang Lie didn't say was that the creature had undoubtedly noticed Zhang Lie and the other hunters' presence, and it didn't want to wait until even more reinforcements arrived.

"[Lunarflame Shot]!"

Sun Mengmeng loosed an arrow, which transformed into a firebird and swooped down into the middle of the corrupted beast stampede.

The elder thundered, "Human, did you know this was going to happen?"

"More or less."

"In that case, this happened because you humans were so slow to act!"

"If you humans had rushed in earlier, there wouldn't have been a problem!"

"It's all your fault, humans!"

The wood spirits that accompanied the elder began criticizing Zhang Lie and the others.

"Indeed, it's our fault. We'll take responsibility, pack up, and leave, then. Let's annul the transaction between us. Everyone, pack up!"

The elder immediately became flustered—it was clear the wood spirits wouldn't be able to deal with this on their own. Without Zhang Lie and the others, their tribe would go extinct.

"What are you doing?!"

"We're packing up and leaving, of course," Zhang Lie replied. "Didn't you claim that we were the cause of the stampede? In that case, we're willing to take responsibility and leave!"

The elder's face turned red. "How do you expect to take responsibility by leaving? If you agree that you're responsible, then clean up the mess you've left behind first!"