Battle at Lakeheart Island

Xu Feng, who had been cautious all along, suddenly leaped upward, dodging the first bolt of lightning. Then, amid the dense lightning bolts that filled the sky, Xu Feng immediately unleashed his beginner-level Perfect Level Movement Technique, continuously leaving afterimages in the air!

Even though he failed to dodge a few bolts of lightning, they were blocked by the shield beneath his feet. It was a close call, but he escaped unharmed.

Seeing that its lightning had failed to knock the human out of the air, the blue monster head poking out from beneath the water suddenly multiplied from one into several.

"Not good."

Xu Feng, who had been secretly watching the situation below, inwardly cried out.

Sure enough, before Xu Feng could take any countermeasures, lightning bolts several times denser than before rapidly enveloped him from below. Like an enormous electric net with incomparably dense mesh, it left Xu Feng no room to evade. No matter how skilled his movement technique was, there was nothing he could do.

Just as he was about to propel the shield higher into the sky, Xu Feng suddenly felt his entire body go numb. His mind reeled, and his body fell straight down from midair!

His thoughts had only been paralyzed for an instant, but his body had already dropped to less than ten meters above the lake. Xu Feng immediately jolted fully awake.

"Fuck!"

He swiftly flipped himself upright and steadied himself atop the shield. His back was already drenched in cold sweat.

On the lake beneath him, aside from the several Monster Fish that had originally grown horns and were firing lightning at Xu Feng, several more hornless Monster Fish appeared. Seeing Xu Feng descend, they leaped from the water one after another, opening their gaping maws as they waited for him to fall into their mouths!

Some elongated aquatic monsters angrily fired bolt after bolt of lightning, electric serpents streaking across the sky.

Whoosh!

Xu Feng hurriedly rode the shield rapidly upward and seized the opportunity to dash forward.

"Damn, it really is dangerous. I nearly died here. I can't let my guard down!"

As he traveled through the air fifty or sixty meters above the ground, Xu Feng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered fearfully to himself.

"Awoo."

Not long after leaving the area of the lightning-firing Monster Fish, a strange, piercing sound suddenly came from the lake below. The sound exploded beside Xu Feng's ears, bringing a stabbing pain that seemed to make even his soul tremble. Xu Feng's body swayed dazedly atop the shield.

"Damn it, what kind of monster is this? It can use sonic attacks—and they attack the soul!"

Xu Feng was a Psychic Master whose Mental Power was only one step away from that of a High-level War God, yet he had been attacked by a monster in his strongest field and was nearly unable to stay upright.

"Charge!"

Xu Feng bit the tip of his tongue and forcibly steadied himself. He did not dare turn back to investigate. Fiercely controlling the shield, he no longer cared about whatever dangers might lie ahead in the sky and charged forward desperately.

"Awoo. Awoo."

As Xu Feng sped onward, he heard the frenzied howls by his ears drawing closer and closer. Besides the intense stabbing pain in his mind caused by the assault on his soul, he could clearly feel a powerful suction force coming from below, as if a devouring vortex had suddenly appeared beneath him, intending to swallow him whole.

Xu Feng's flying speed involuntarily slowed, and his altitude gradually dropped. From fifty meters high, he fell to twenty meters in less than a few minutes.

"No, hold on!"

Xu Feng clenched his teeth, endured the intense pain in his head, and strained forward with every ounce of his strength. At the same time, an SS-rank Throwing Knife flew out from each of his calves. Guided by instinct, they shot downward, but he no longer had the ability to retrieve them.

As the throwing knives flew out, an enraged howl sounded below. At the same time, Xu Feng felt the pulling force restricting his advance suddenly weaken greatly. Seizing the chance, Xu Feng did not dare look back. He swiftly shot diagonally upward again, accelerating forward in an explosive burst.

Unwilling howls rang out behind him, but the strange force attacking his soul and the pulling force suddenly vanished completely. At the same time, the scenery ahead abruptly changed, and Xu Feng let out a deep breath of relief.

Lakeheart Island had finally arrived!

Xu Feng deeply exhaled a foul breath. He had suffered no small number of scares along the way, and twice he had nearly lost his life in that eerie lake.

However, the moment he landed on the island, all attacks and all the clamor of monsters immediately vanished without a trace. Ahead of the beach was a dense forest, yet not the slightest Life Aura could be sensed.

There was only absolute silence!

There were no flying monsters, no beast-type monsters, and not even aquatic monsters approaching the shallows near the beach.

"Is this the deterrence of those Spirit of Plants?"

The black membrane formed by the Black God Suit wrapped around Xu Feng's entire body. His body floated as he slowly advanced into the island's mountain forest. After killing three mutated man-eating flowers, he finally discovered the nine mutated willow trees standing side by side.

Looking at the mutated willow trees before him—the thinnest over thirty meters tall, while the thickest was nearly a hundred meters high—Xu Feng's eyes lit up.

"Go!"

Twelve throwing knives shot out at high speed, transforming into twelve streaks of light.

"Swish, swish~~~"

They swept through everything like rotten wood.

With the speed enhancement, each throwing knife carrying a million kilograms of force severed thousands of willow branches in succession.

Only when the thickest Willow Tree King joined the battle, its vast number of pale golden willow branches filling the sky, was the offensive of the flying throwing knives slightly restrained.

"Hmph!" Xu Feng snorted coldly.

Xu Feng, who had been controlling the throwing knives from the side, now gripped the Blood Shadow Saber and charged toward the Willow Tree King at astonishing speed. With the Hidden Strength amplification of his Nine Heavens Thunder Blade, combined with Mental Power imbued into it, his force neared two hundred thousand kilograms. The willow branches rushing toward him could not hinder him at all. In an instant, he rushed through them and arrived before the Willow Tree King's main trunk, which was more than three meters in diameter.

"Break!" Xu Feng roared.

The Blood Shadow Saber in his hand slashed fiercely across the Willow Tree King's trunk. The blow cut half a meter deep. A large amount of green, dewdrop-like liquid splattered out, then was swiftly drawn in and absorbed into Xu Feng's body as the light around him distorted.

"Haha, again!" Having unleashed his full strength for the first time after breaking through to God level, Xu Feng grew excited as well.

After shouting, he twisted his body. The muscles on his back bulged, stretching the membrane of the Black God Suit covering his body.

The tremendous explosive force traveled into his right arm, and the Blood Shadow Saber savagely chopped into the opening he had just made. This time, the entire saber sank into the Willow Tree King's trunk.

Sensing the threat of death, the Willow Tree King's nearly ten thousand pale golden willow branches whipped about madly, completely surrounding Xu Feng from all directions.

The streaks of light formed by the twelve throwing knives circled around his body, severing willow branches one after another. Ignoring the Willow Tree King's attacks, Xu Feng leaped up and kicked the saber embedded in the trunk with his right foot.

Boom~~~

Wood fragments flew everywhere, and the Blood Shadow Saber was flung upward as well.

Catching the saber in passing, he delivered another fierce slash. Three consecutive strikes landed on the same spot. Moreover, the closer he got to the center of the trunk, the softer the wood became. At this point, the Willow Tree King's three-meter-wide trunk could no longer withstand the overwhelming attacks of a God level warrior.

Crack—boom—

The Willow Tree King, nearly a hundred meters tall and three meters in diameter, crashed down after its main trunk broke. The immense impact made the entire ground tremble as though an earthquake had struck.

After swiftly using his saber to cut down the remaining eight mutated willow trees, the area returned to silence. Only the nine enormous willow trunks lying on the ground and the severed branches scattered everywhere remained.

Xu Feng looked at the eight green Willow Wood Hearts and one with faint golden threads floating before him. Feeling the immense vitality contained within them, he could not help sighing in amazement.

"Mist Island has truly been turned into a treasure land by Bata's cultivation. The essence of plants within these mutated willow trees, cultivated with Wood Essence Crystals, contains such enormous wood-element energy. I wonder how much is inside the Wood Essence Crystals themselves!"

"Mm, the liquid beneath the hard crystalline shell of these Willow Wood Hearts is the true essence. I'll drink one and try it."

He casually summoned an SSS-rank Throwing Knife and pierced one of the green Willow Wood Hearts, which was about the size of an egg.

Its hard outer shell was pierced directly. The essence liquid inside flowed out from the crystal and, controlled by his Mental Power, flew into his mouth.

When the essence entered his body through his esophagus, an incomparably cool and comfortable sensation instantly spread throughout his body, making even his soul tremble.

Refreshing! His entire body felt cool!

It was as though the flesh throughout his body had separated from his bones and lost control, trembling continuously as if being massaged.

Surging, endless vitality erupted within Xu Feng's body almost instantly, causing the cells in his tendons, bones, and muscles to undergo astonishing changes once more.