Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine Reappears
The black whip lashed out at Robert with incredible speed, but Robert's eyes shot out two white beams that instantly struck the black whip.
Those two rays were Freezing Ray, which directly froze the items that were attacking the group.
But the ice seal only lasted a moment before collapsing. It didn't launch a second attack, but instead retreated quickly. Gu Ding could only vaguely make out that the thing resembled a black tentacle.
Robert's brief freezing of the object finally allowed many demigods to see that Gu Ding had not been exaggerating, but that something was indeed attacking them.
Gu Ding flashed back to Liliath and the others, looking around warily. He had thought that rescuing Dokter would allow him to leave as soon as possible. But judging from the current situation, it seemed he wouldn't be able to leave anytime soon.
"What was that tentacle-like thing just now?" Liliath couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know either." Gu Ding shook his head, but that thing's attack power was not weak. The force of that impact just now was obviously not much less than that of Gu Ding now.
"It's Will Projection of a Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, but even though it's just a projection, it's much more powerful than the one you killed before, Gu Ding." The Sea Emperor's answer surprised Gu Ding.
"The one I killed was already at the Combat Strength of Five-Star Low-rank God." Gu Ding found it somewhat unbelievable when he heard the Sea Emperor say this. "Could it be that the true form of this plant is already a god?"
"Judging from the intensity of the energy fluctuations of the Will Projection, yes." The Sea Emperor gave an affirmative answer. "Its energy fluctuations are no weaker than yours now; you should have felt it yourself during that impact. However, compared to the one you killed before, this one is merely Will Projection, and its roots do not have energy spheres to replenish its energy."
"Tell me its location!" Gu Ding made a decision immediately. He wanted to destroy the Will Projection of the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine's will.
"Right under your feet!" The Sea Emperor's voice had barely faded when several black vines stretched out simultaneously, engulfing more than twenty demigods and instantly shredding them to dust.
The onlookers were horrified.
Gu Ding unleashed several streaks of dark blue flame, which instantly adhered to the vines.
A piercing roar immediately came from underground. The roar contained pain and anger, and several thick black vines, as thick as buckets, stretched out from underground without warning, simultaneously strangling at Gu Ding.
"I was afraid you wouldn't come!" Gu Ding grinned, spreading his fingers wide. Five black chains extended from between his fingers, quickly wrapping around the black vines. Upon touching the black vines, they seemed to come alive, automatically winding and climbing deeper into the soil.
This ability is Gu Ding's newly acquired forbidden ability— Weakening Shackles, which is also a derivative ability of Absolute Seal. Coincidentally, after his ability evolved, the Absolute Seal ability was also refreshed, and he had just used the latest Absolute Seal. Therefore, during the three days that the Absolute Seal is in effect, Weakening Shackles is usable.
The Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, bound by the Weakening Shackles, had its Combat Strength instantly reduced to one-tenth of its original strength.
Gu Ding's hands didn't stop moving. After releasing the Weakening Shackles, a dark bluish-black flame erupted, directly engulfing the black vines. Moments later, the vines completely disintegrated, transforming into pure energy, which was then consumed by Gu Ding's flames.
A series of piercing screams echoed from the ground once more. This time, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine unleashed its full ferocity, unleashing hundreds of thick tendrils. The tips of these tendrils had transformed into spiraling thorns, covered in a strange sap. This sap seemed to possess fire-resistant properties; despite being enveloped in bluish-black flames, the tendrils did not disintegrate this time. Instead, they pierced through the flames and directly strangled Gu Ding.
Everyone stared in horror at the scene before them: hundreds of vines. Each one generated an incredibly terrifying force, like a giant python baring its sharp fangs. Most demigods knew that even a single vine could instantly kill them, let alone hundreds coiled around them at once.
Gu Ding, however, remained completely calm. He quickly rose into the air, his ten fingers shooting out streaks of dark blue energy that snapped the vines in half.
Suddenly, a vine shot up rapidly, its sharp black thorns piercing through Gu Ding's body.
Upon witnessing this scene, everyone couldn't help but gasp in surprise. But then many people saw that the vine had spontaneously disintegrated after attacking Gu Ding.
Gu Ding was somewhat surprised by this result. He hadn't expected this body to have such a strange effect, being able to directly absorb attacks that couldn't break through his defenses.
This Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine was actually no weaker than Gu Ding, but after being bound by the Weakening Shackles, its strength was reduced to only one-tenth, causing its attacks to be greatly weakened and making it completely countered by Gu Ding.
In less than a minute, the hundreds of pursuing vines were completely blasted apart by Gu Ding.
This encounter finally made the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine realize just how powerful Gu Ding was, and it actually fled into the depths of the earth, trying to escape.
"Gu Ding, it's trying to escape!" the Sea Emperor warned immediately after discovering it.
"Trying to escape? Do you think it's that easy?" Gu Ding spread his fingers again, revealing the five black chains once more. Everyone saw that one end of the chain was attached to Gu Ding's fingers, while the other end was already embedded in the ground. Gu Ding hovered in mid-air, and with a sudden tug of his right hand, the chains between his fingers slowly retracted. The chains were taut, clearly indicating that something was pulling on the other end.
Seeing that the pulling speed was too slow, Gu Ding stretched out his left hand, grabbed the chain, and pulled hard as if in a tug-of-war.
"What is he doing?" someone asked, puzzled.
"The other end of the chain must be that monster; he's trying to pull that thing out," someone nearby suggested.
His guess was correct; Gu Ding genuinely wanted to uproot the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine and eliminate this future threat completely. If it were allowed to escape, Dragon Dock Star would likely descend into chaos. Moreover, this Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine was already incredibly powerful, crushing even demigods in an instant. If allowed to grow further, even Queen's true form might not be a match for it. Furthermore, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine instinctively attacked all living things within its sphere of influence; allowing it to escape would pose a significant threat to the ordinary people of Dragon Dock Star.
With the Weakening Shackles, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine Will Projection power was less than one-tenth of Gu Ding's, and it was quickly pulled to the ground amidst urgent and fearful howls.
It was a colossal creature nearly ten thousand meters long, entirely black in color. After being pulled up by Gu Ding, it frantically twisted its body, trying to burrow back into the ground, but it was bound by the chains in Gu Ding's hands and could not escape.
Realizing it could not escape, it launched another frenzied attack on Gu Ding, its enormous body lashing out at Gu Ding.
"Hmph!" Gu Ding snorted coldly, his feet firmly planted on the ground, showing no sign of backing down. He unleashed his Steel Fist, carrying dark blue energy, and clashed head-on with the massive vine.
"Boom!" A deafening roar, like a world-destroying thunderclap, exploded in everyone's ears. The once solid ground, like a turbulent sea, began to ripple with huge waves from Gu Ding's feet.
"Boom!" Another loud noise rang out, but this time it was the sound of a giant building collapsing. Accompanying this sound was the massive vine crashing to the ground.
This scene stunned everyone.
Everyone assumed that Gu Ding would win because he was bound by chains and had fire as a counter. But what they didn't expect was that Gu Ding could actually overwhelm his opponent with sheer power, and completely dominate him.
Everyone could see that after the impact, Gu Ding was completely unharmed. But the huge vine barely moved, clearly indicating that it had been severely damaged by the attack.
Actually, things weren't as everyone imagined. Gu Ding's attack didn't cause much damage to the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, given its enormous size and thick skin. The shockwave from the punch only caused it severe dizziness, making it weak even to move.
Seeing that the enormous creature had finally calmed down, Gu Ding began to consider how to deal with it. Such a large Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine would probably take him several hours to fully absorb.
Just then, Queen suddenly flashed and appeared not far in front of Gu Ding.
Bigge and the others looked at her with some wariness.
"Gu Ding, give me the Will Projection of this Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine." Queen's request surprised Gu Ding.
"I can give it to you, but what will you offer in exchange?" Gu Ding had just absorbed a large amount of energy not long ago, and his strength probably wouldn't break through any further in the short term. Therefore, he wasn't in a great hurry to get the energy contained in this Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine, and selling it would be a good option.
"Wait!" Liliath suddenly spoke up, "We have a condition before the exchange! Otherwise, we won't give up the Bloodthirsty Demonic Vine!"
"What are the conditions?" Queen raised an eyebrow. Few people dared to negotiate with her, but now the situation was beyond her control. Gu Ding's Combat Strength had completely surpassed her own, and even if her true form appeared, she might not be able to suppress him.
"The condition is simple: you must lift the death sentence on us!" Liliath said with an expression of utter certainty.