Powerful Taboo Ability
Faced with such an opponent, Gu Ding was truly troubled. Without the amplification of his domain, his maximum Combat Strength could barely reach the five-star level. Attacks at this level could not inflict fatal damage on a true Five-Star Low-rank God; they could only gradually deplete the opponent's energy.
That Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine was already enormous; his flames probably couldn't even cover a tenth of its body. Moreover, the roots of the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine stored so much energy; its insane regenerative ability was dozens of times stronger than that of Five-Star Low-rank God. He'd likely run out of his three-hour Combat Strength boost before the vine even finished depleting its energy. Then, he'd truly become a lamb to the slaughter. Forget the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine; even those two gods, one tall and one short, watching the spectacle from the sidelines, could easily take him down.
Sea Emperor's words made Gu Ding think a lot. He wasn't without a solution to this situation; he was just weighing which solution would be better and have less impact on his later battles.
"Sea Emperor, this Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine can split into so many vines. If I use my Absolute Seal ability on one of its vines, can I seal its main body?" Gu Ding asked this question because he didn't want to waste a life-saving ability at such a critical moment.
"Yes, because these vines originally grew from the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, just like human hands and feet. Your Absolute Seal Ability can seal anything by touching any part of a human body, and it applies to him as well. Moreover, your Absolute Seal Ability cannot be applied to anything other than a living being. If he automatically cuts the vines before you touch them, the cut vines are essentially inanimate objects. Your sealing ability will not be triggered." Sea Emperor explained, "Are you sure you want to use the sealing ability first? I think it's better to save the sealing ability for dealing with Queen, because we don't yet have a definite answer as to how strong she is. With the sealing ability in hand, even if her Combat Strength is comparable to a god, you can still seal her."
Gu Ding remained silent, but he had already made up his mind. The sealing ability wasn't suitable for use against Queen, mainly for three reasons.
First, Queen already knows she possesses Absolute Seal abilities, so she will definitely be on guard during the fight, and therefore she will certainly not choose close combat. The chances of successfully sealing her are slim.
Secondly, there are only three ways to escape the domain: destroy the domain, kill the domain owner, or be released voluntarily by the domain owner. Once you are pulled into Queen's domain, even if you successfully seal her, you cannot escape from her domain unless you kill her.
Third, Queen cannot die, because she is the chief guardian of the Fei Me Universe Country. Johnny and Lei Lute are only serving as guardians because of an agreement with the Federal Government. If Queen dies, the Federal Government will need another person to take over as chief guardian. As things stand, Elizabeth is the only suitable candidate. Therefore, the Federal Government will definitely do everything possible to keep her in the position of guardian. In this way, Elizabeth's desired freedom will be taken away, so Queen cannot die.
The chief guardian must be a citizen of the nation. If the chief guardian dies, the first in line to succeed the chief guardian is the king who has become a god. Elizabeth had mentioned the topic of guardians to Gu Ding during a previous conversation, and Gu Ding remembered this rule very clearly.
In the blink of Gu Ding, the green vines swept in again. This time, they were even more ferocious than before. The black flames devoured them very slowly, leaving only the surface of the thick vines charred, but this did not hinder the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine from launching its attack. Hundreds of green vines, as thick as bowls, coiled around Gu Ding like giant pythons.
"Gu Ding, give up. Don't struggle in vain. You can't win against the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine." Johnny was watching from a distance, shouted at Gu Ding, "The more you struggle, the more violent the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine's attacks will become, and the more pain you will suffer."
"Is that so?" Gu Ding suddenly grinned. "Unfortunately, this plant's arrogance should come to an end here!"
As Gu Ding spoke, his frantic dodging suddenly stopped, and in the next instant, he was simultaneously entangled by dozens of vines.
"Got it!" Johnny and Lei Lute were overjoyed at the sight; they hadn't expected victory to come so easily. But then they noticed something amiss: after the vines had wrapped around Gu Ding, they suddenly stopped moving, and at the same time, a Black Flame seeped out from the gaps in the vines. They then remembered what Gu Ding said.
"Snap, snap..."
Several sounds of dry firewood snapping suddenly came from Gu Ding was, followed by a sudden burst of black flames that quickly devoured the vines, at a speed more than a hundred times faster than before.
Gu Ding broke free from a patch of charred vines, glanced at Johnny and Lei Lute, and sped off toward the vines' original location.
At the same time, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine let out a series of shrill screams. This time, the screams were completely different from the first one. This time, the screams were filled with pain and fear, which were completely different from the anger before.
Johnny and Lei Lute immediately gave chase.
Wherever Gu Ding passed, black flames spread out, and the howls of the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine grew increasingly shrill, making the two of them tremble.
Under the guidance of the Sea Emperor, Gu Ding quickly located the true form of the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine.
It was a black vine that twisted and turned itself, climbing towards the sky. Its base was so thick that it would take a hundred people to encircle it. Gu Ding looked up at the sky but couldn't see where the top of the vine was.
"Make your move. Not only has it lost its regenerative abilities, but it also has no resistance to your Devouring Fire. Without energy support, it has also lost its mobility and is unable to retaliate." The Sea Emperor showed no sympathy for this creature; the existence of such a predator would cause immense damage to the ecosystem wherever it was placed. This mutated plant even exhibits characteristics that resemble those of creatures from the Abyssal Plane.
Under the watchful eyes of Johnny and Lei Lute, Gu Ding slowly walked to the root of the vine, extended a finger and pressed it onto the thick vine. A Black Flame emanated from his fingertip, rapidly spreading outwards. From within the vine came a frenzied and shrill scream, but it was nothing more than a scream. The surrounding vines twisted slowly, but without the vitality of their previous attacks, and were unable to effectively harm Gu Ding.
"What did you do?" Johnny stared in horror at what was happening before him, yet he was powerless to stop it.
"Don't you know? I have Sealing Taboo Ability." Gu Ding turned his head and gave his answer. "The sealed Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine is only slightly larger than an ordinary vine, and it has no resistance to fire."
"Stop right now!" Johnny suddenly attacked, still feeling some affection for the magical vine he had raised.
Seeing Johnny make his move, Lei Lute also made his move at the same time.
Two flashes of different colors, one blue and one white, hurtled directly towards Gu Ding.
Gu Ding showed no intention of backing down in the face of their attacks. With a wave of his hand, black flames instantly enveloped the two orbs of light, annihilating their attacks in an instant.
Then Gu Ding turned around, took Shadow Step forward, and went straight to meet the two of them.
The two men unleashed their fists repeatedly, but they were all swallowed up by the flames surrounding Gu Ding.
In less than ten seconds, Gu Ding finally pounced on the two of them.
In close combat, the two were no match for Gu Ding. Gu Ding immediately activated his damage stacking ability, unleashing a barrage of powerful punches, elbow strikes, knee strikes, leg attacks, and even headbutts, each blow landing heavily on the two men.
Lei Lute's body was quickly shattered by Gu Ding's finger strike. He was only at the initial three-star level, and he was already severely injured by Gu Ding's fifth strike. Gu Ding's sixth Finger Force unsurprisingly blasted a hole the size of a football in his left chest. His energy was completely exhausted by Gu Ding's attack, and he couldn't care less about anything else. His round body quickly disengaged from the battle to avoid being killed on the spot.
Johnny fared no better. He only took two more attacks than Lei Lute before Gu Ding's toe struck his chin, causing his head to explode and exhausting all his remaining energy. He was then forced to retreat from the battle.
Gu Ding did not continue to pursue the two, but shouted at them, "If you two leave this area before I deal with the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, I will kill you."
After saying that, Gu Ding turned and walked towards the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine.
The black flames continued to spread, and streams of pure Black Flame were continuously fed back into Gu Ding's body. Gu Ding could even clearly feel that his divine source had been significantly strengthened under the infusion of this energy.
Johnny and Lei Lute dared not leave, and could only watch from afar as the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine's enormous body rapidly turned into charcoal, leaving them both deeply shocked.
Time passed second by second, and after about ten minutes, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine finally collapsed completely, and its huge body was finally consumed by Gu Ding's flames.
Gu Ding also felt that after he devoured the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, the density of divine source in his body increased by more than two times.
Just as Gu Ding turned to leave, he was stopped by the Sea Emperor.
"Gu Ding, wait a minute, there's something else inside the roots of the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine!"
Gu Ding then remembered that Johnny had mentioned that the plant's root system also stored a large number of energy spheres.
(I had some trouble with this chapter yesterday, so I started revising it this morning and only just managed to post it now... I'll be posting at least three chapters today to make up for yesterday's missed chapter.)