Offering Myself to You

The next moment, many fist-sized bulges suddenly appeared on the ground. In just a few seconds, accompanied by the sound of something tearing through the air, nearly a hundred cherry-white vines emerged from the ground and struck Liu Bai.

"Cut--!"

As soon as the vines emerged, a furious shout caused the surrounding space and time to freeze. In the next instant, all the fist-thick vines that had sprung from the ground snapped off at the waist... no, they were severed from their roots.

Surrounded by enemies, Liu Bai clearly saw the remaining vines quickly retreat back underground.

Sakura, who had just swung her sword, had a dark face. "You bastard, back then no Honkai Beast ever attacked my master. What are you to dare do this?"

However, looking at the craters in the ground, even without Liu Bai's explanation, Ying's rich combat experience made her realize the problem.

"... Honkai Beast, underground? Or plant-type?"

"That's right."

Plant-type Honkai Beast are almost like pandas among Honkai Beast. The records of Schicksal and Moth Chasers to Fire combined probably don't even reach 100.

Moreover, they are all very ordinary low-level Honkai Beast. At most, they will pretend to be normal plants and act as predators by the roadside. How could they launch an attack from underground?

Sakura is really having a headache now. No wonder she couldn't sense the source of the Honkai Energy. If the opponent's true form is really underground, then to be honest, this thing is the Honkai Beast that is most effective against her.

Sakura has destructive power, but it is far from being a massive ground-clearing attack that can alter terrain or penetrate through obstacles.

Sakura has mobility, but her opponent is underground, so there's no way she can teleport in. Teleporting without knowing what's inside could easily get her stuck in the wall, which is no joke. If she's lucky, she might be able to save herself, but if she's unlucky, she'll die instantly.

It's a real headache; the mutual restraint between our personalities is too severe.

"Speaking of which, plant-type Honkai Beast also need photosynthesis, right... or rather, they absorb Honkai Energy from the air." Sakura looked thoughtful. "Honey, do you think that Honkai Beast has some kind of communication channel with the outside world?"

To be fair, even plant -Honkai Beast need to eat, and they definitely eat much more than normal plants.

Absorb Honkai Energy from the ground? Do you think this is the moon?!

You mean a communication channel? Yes, there is.

Liu Bai looked at the towering cherry tree in the courtyard with a cold smile.

Sakura noticed Liu Bai's gaze and froze, "N-no way?"

If this cherry tree is actually Honkai Beast, then we're in deep trouble. A top-tier Fusion Warrior has lived here for six or seven years without noticing the Honkai Beast around her. Sakura might as well slit her own throat.

What kind of plant- Honkai Beast is good at disguise? These are not excuses. The ecological niche of the Fusion Warrior in the Honkai system is originally comparable to the Judgment-class and Emperor-class. It would be dereliction of duty not to discover a quasi -Emperor-class.

"It's not Honkai Beast, but it's most likely related to Honkai Beast. Do you remember the two gods worshipped at the Yae Shrine?"

Liu Bai reacted very quickly. Although it was just speculation, Liu Bai had already connected certain things.

"The Fox God and the Sakura God, with the Fox God as the main deity and the Sakura God as the secondary one. At the time, we all thought that this tree was simply called a god because it grew big and well-proportioned and was located in a shrine. But now it seems that it's not that simple. We've all fallen into a misconception."

Sakura's expression darkened. Liu Bai's words made perfect sense, and Sakura found it hard to refute them.

Sakura looked at the towering cherry tree in front of her, gripped the hilt of her sword, and only when Liu Bai gave the order did she chop down the tree in one stroke.

"I'm not very good at plants, but logically speaking, could two plants exchange nutrients using their Honkai Beast? Could the Honkai Beast even modify the plants to some extent?"

Liu Bai frowned.

Although he stopped talking there, Liu Bai still had a guess in his mind.

This thing might have been tainted with a bit of Honkai Consciousness, and its intelligence far surpasses that of ordinary lower-level Honkai Beast. Otherwise, in an environment where it had no natural enemies before Liu Bai and Sakura appeared, what need did it have to hide?

In this era, a quasi -Emperor-class being could be called a great monster or a demon god, and no one could argue with that. Let alone a village, even a country could be occupied without question.

Then another question arises: why are there signs of the Honkai Consciousness's fate?

Liu Bai glanced at Ying.

I wonder if Sakura realized that the attack just now was less aimed at him and more aimed at Rin inside his body.

Even the raging Chiyou knew that mud didn't taste good! If Liu Bai hadn't blocked his way and provoked him back then, Chiyou probably wouldn't have bothered with Liu Bai at all.

Mud, especially mud without Honkai Energy or life processes, is a source of ridicule in the eyes of any low-intelligence Honkai Beast.

You Honkai Beast attacked a Mudman first, and you're a plant, living in the soil all day, why would you do that?! Do you think people are idiots?!

Even if the Honkai Beast are highly sensitive and can detect Rin within Liu Bai's body, do they really think Sakura next to them is just a sitting duck? Wouldn't it be better to kill the villagers down the mountain than to do it inside the shrine?

Its action is equivalent to someone kicking down a tiger's den in front of a tiger...

Aside from coming for Rin, Liu Bai really couldn't think of any other reason.

On the other hand, what good would killing Rin do?

Liu Bai fell into deep thought once again.

What if I hadn't started the simulation? How would the world have turned out?

Sakura will still wake up.

After all, when I arrived, Sakura in her fox form was already showing signs of awakening. It wouldn't be surprising if she could awaken in four, five, or even six years. With good luck, she might even awaken in one or two months or one or two years.

Therefore, Sakura would most likely be able to catch up with Rin's sacrifice. If she wakes up early, she might even be able to form a bond with Rin like she does now.

If Rin were to die at this moment, what would happen to Sakura?

... If I'm not here, Sakura will be heartbroken.

Although Sakura always appears heroic and spirited, she is not actually strong inside. Or rather, Sakura is the kind of person who is strong for the sake of others.

Although it sounds a bit presumptuous, Liu Bai knew very well that he was the pillar in Ying's heart. As long as the pillar was there, Ying could overcome anything. But if the pillar was gone, and the newly found emotional support was brutally murdered before his eyes...

Sakura won't turn evil, but she will definitely break down. She might desperately kill Honkai Beast and then fall into a permanent sleep.

Hmm... Sakura in the real world is very likely to follow this path.

The other people's abnormal status and inability to be teleported refer to a dormant state, while Sakura is most likely experiencing a mental breakdown.

Is the Honkai Consciousness's objective this time to eliminate the Fusion Warrior from the Previous Era?

"... Sakura, cut down the tree first, and dig out the roots."

If we had the technology, we could just survey the area and forcefully dig a hole. After all, plant-type Honkai Beast aren't good at long-distance movement. Without surveying, we can only analyze the situation and find a weak point to attack.

If, as I said, the cherry tree and the Honkai Beast's roots are connected and transmit nutrients, then breaking open the roots will allow me to directly access their location. If not... well, then I'll have to think of another way.

"Yes!"

With a single slash, nine-tenths of the tree instantly shattered into dust.

Sakura showed no mercy to her Frozen Hell, Icy Sky, using it directly as a crowbar to try and pry open the tree stump.

Pfft—!

Nearly a hundred more vines sprouted from the ground, half of them whipping towards Ying and the other half towards Liu Bai.

However, Sakura's freezing technique showed no mercy to the vines. Although she couldn't swing her sword, freezing them in mid-air was no problem at all.

"Drink it...!"

The sakura officer uprooted the cherry tree stump with a knife.

It was very heavy, but with Sakura's immense strength as Fusion Warrior, the ground of the entire shrine still bulged slightly with her movements.

Sakura could feel something underground wrestling with her.

The boss was right... you bastard.

Although the scales of advantage are tipping in Sakura's favor, she is still struggling.

Wrestling is not her forte, and her opponent has a home-field advantage in the underground arena.

"Ha... If Eden were here..." Eden could pull this thing out without even breaking a sweat.

Sakura made a comment while catching her breath, and then unleashed all her strength at that moment.

"Get up!"

The tree stump was flung into the air by Cherry Blossom, and at the same time, a huge white cherry wood burl with a radius of six or seven meters and an eye in the center was also pulled out.

"Waaaaah! There's been this thing under my tree all along?"

Rin, who had been calm all along, finally cried out, "This thing really does cause sanity loss!"

Hmm... Liu Bai actually wanted to say that if the wood lumps were replaced with chunks of meat, then it would be a proper Kryptonian style.

"Yes, but it was probably dormant before and only woke up today... It was unexpectedly pulled out."

Its intelligence is still rather low. Even though it knows that Sakura's combat power is abnormal, it still subconsciously chose to fight Sakura when Sakura wanted to destroy its lair.

Of course, it was also because Sakura didn't give this thing a chance. If she had taken it slow, this thing would definitely have realized that its struggles were useless and started thinking of ways to escape.

However, Sakura, a veteran of countless battles, simply wouldn't give him that chance.

Upon discovering something was struggling against her, Sakura immediately realized she had caught a fish. Then, despite her chaotic breathing, she unleashed a burst of energy and pulled the thing out.

Who can I complain to about this?

However... there's no need to reason with them anymore.

The Wood- Honkai Beast tried to struggle, swinging out hundreds of vines as it retreated.

But for Sakura... freeze her, and finish her off in one strike.

Adjusting your breath? Adjust my ass! Just chop it up. After chopping it up, Sakura, still with a dark face, continued to freeze the space and chopped up the thing that looked like a seed again.

This thing almost beat up the boss! How will she ever face anyone if word gets out? I'll grind you to dust before I quit being a mistress!

After confirming that there were no large pieces of residue outside or in the pit, Sakura froze the powder into several ice blocks to prevent these Honkai Energy- laden things from drifting around.

"Is this considered a wrap-up?"

"... Okay, that's a wrap."

Liu Bai actually really wanted to do some physical research, but seeing Ying's displeased expression, he ultimately didn't say it out loud...

Chapter 535 Offering Myself in Return

After tidying everything up in the shrine, Liu Bai breathed a sigh of relief.

This matter will most likely just pass like this. The Honkai didn't anticipate its own existence, otherwise it could have really driven Sakura to a mental breakdown.

"Sakura, double-check that the surroundings are safe."

"... Everything is safe."

This time, Sakura briefly flashed all around her before answering.

What happened today really lifted Sakura's spirits.

"The Honkai reaction has disappeared."

After receiving Sakura's affirmative answer, Liu Bai reverted to his ghost form and released Rin.

"Rin, you go back first. Your sister Sakura and I will go find your sister."

"Okay, brother, go quickly."

Rin isn't stupid. Sakura just killed a monster right in front of her. How could she not know that something's wrong today?

She wholeheartedly supported Liu Bai's decision to go find her older sister.

After Rin jogged back into the house, Sakura led Liu Bai directly in the direction Sakura had left earlier.

As soon as they left the village, Sakura's expression became subtle again.

"Ah... Honkai Energy reaction, a normal lower-level reaction."

Meanwhile, the clanging of metal in the forest did not escape Sakura's ears.

"There's a fight going on. Is it Sakura?"

Sakura teleported to the source of the sound in just two breaths.

"Are you crazy?!" Yae Sakura shouted coldly at the woman with the sickly smile in front of her.

Even a clay figure has a temper. Yae Sakura initially tried to stall for time, but this woman kept pushing her luck. Even though Yae Sakura is usually good-tempered, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Ha! What do you think?"

The swift blade fell, and the purple-haired female swordsman did not deny the term "madwoman" at all.

"... Am I still half asleep?" Sakura asked, propping her head up. "Seeing myself fighting with Mei and stuff like that feels a little strange."

"Theoretically speaking, if Mei and you were both sixteen, you might not be able to beat Mei."

Liu Bai watched the scene unfold with a rather subtle expression.