The Forest's Edge and the Soul Devouring Ghost Vine

At the end of the official road stood a stark dividing line.

On one side was the smooth dirt road left behind by human civilization. On the other was endless dark green wilderness—primitive, savage, and devouring all light.

Before him lay the Star Dou Great Forest.

Han Yuchen stopped and narrowed his deep, starry eyes slightly.

There was a scent in the air.

It was damp, carrying the rotting stench of decaying leaves.

Most importantly, there was that faint presence mixed with violence and bloodlust.

It was like stepping into an unswept slaughterhouse piled with the bones of massive beasts, a smell that could stain even the soul with rust.

This place has its underworld filter cranked all the way up, huh.

Not even a bird could be heard.

The silence was enough to make one's skin crawl.

Han Yuchen kept grumbling inwardly.

The ground beneath his feet was black and soft.

Thick fallen leaves had piled up for who knew how many years. One step could sink half his ankle into them.

Who knew what was hiding underneath.

Venomous snakes? Or freaky bugs that specialized in biting ankles?

Or perhaps some even more indescribable horror.

For ordinary Soul Masters, this place was fraught with danger. Every step could lead into a deadly trap.

But for Han Yuchen, this was merely the beginning of a game.

Han Yuchen's divine soul power silently spread out like an invisible radar net.

The drifting particles of Soul Power in the air were no longer invisible, intangible things in his eyes.

They were colorful, flickering points of light.

Most of them were mild and harmless.

Yet scattered among them were many violent, chaotic red specks.

Those were traces left behind by Soul Beasts.

My scouting range is still too small.

In a godforsaken place like this, limited visibility is practically suicide.

His gaze fell upon an unremarkable puddle by his feet.

The corner of his lips curved slightly.

Where there's water, that's my home ground.

He silently extended a wisp of Soul Power into the puddle, as fine as a spider's thread.

Martial Soul, Yulian.

Activated.

Buzz—

The world changed in an instant.

His perception was no longer limited to his eyes and ears.

Instead, it spread wildly through the underground Water Veins like a virus.

Everything within several hundred meters—the grass, the trees—was within his grasp!

He could "hear" underground water trickling through cracks in the rocks.

He could "smell" the thick, inescapable stench of blood from a small pool three hundred meters away, beside which lay several half-eaten beast bones.

He could even "feel" the roots of a large tree greedily drawing moisture from the soil.

This feeling of having everything under control was even better than unlocking the full map in a game.

Then, amid this omniscient god's-eye view.

A discordant image abruptly intruded.

Straight ahead, roughly one hundred and fifty meters away.

There was an ordinary-looking clearing in the woods.

Several long-rotted white skeletons lay scattered there, with strips of tattered cloth still clinging to the bones.

Beside them, several rusted weapons were stuck in the dirt.

It looked like an unfortunate Soul Master squad had been wiped out there.

Interesting.

This was only the outermost edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

What could have left a Soul Master squad without even a chance to escape?

Anyone else would probably have taken a detour long ago.

But who was Han Yuchen?

A scheming troublemaker who lived for entertainment.

If there's excitement to watch and I don't watch it, wouldn't that be like losing a hundred million?

Besides, if he did not figure out an unknown danger, it would remain a hidden threat.

He concealed every trace of his presence and even slowed his heartbeat considerably.

His entire body moved soundlessly toward the clearing like a weightless fallen leaf.

His movements were as light as those of a midnight spirit cat.

Soon, he had slipped behind a bush at the edge of the clearing.

The scene before him was exactly the same as what he had sensed.

Several skeletons lay scattered about in twisted poses, revealing the despair they had felt before death.

A faint stench of corpses permeated the air.

The clearing itself appeared completely ordinary.

It was simply an ordinary patch of grass in the forest.

Too ordinary.

So ordinary that it seemed as though someone had deliberately cleaned it.

That alone was the greatest anomaly.

Han Yuchen did not act rashly.

His perception had already scanned the area countless times through the moisture in the air.

He quickly found the problem.

The moisture beneath this clearing was draining away at an abnormally fast rate!

It was as though a high-powered water pump had been buried underground.

His gaze finally fixed on an ancient towering tree at the edge of the clearing.

Several thick green vines, each as wide as a bowl, were wrapped around that tree.

The vines looked utterly unremarkable, no different from the plants found everywhere in the forest.

A perfect disguise.

Heh, trying to play stealth?

In front of someone with cheats like me, you're the brightest little fool around.

Han Yuchen did not test it himself.

Only a brute would use his own body to trigger traps.

Smart people knew how to gain the most information at the lowest cost.

With a thought, he took out a palm-sized piece of roasted beef left over from yesterday from his Dimensional Space.

It still carried the rich aroma of spices.

He infused the meat with a faint wisp of Soul Power, imitating the aura of living flesh and blood.

Then, with a gentle flick of his arm.

The piece of roasted beef traced a perfect arc through the air and landed precisely in the center of the clearing.

Plop.

The meat hit the ground with a soft sound.

The next second!

A sudden mutation occurred!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

The previously calm ground exploded!

Dozens of green vines, like venomous snakes that had lain in wait for ages, shot violently out of the earth!

And not just from underground!

The vines wrapped around the surrounding trees also came alive in an instant!

At a speed too fast for the naked eye to catch, they lunged madly toward that tiny piece of roasted meat.

In an instant, the meat was wrapped tightly inside them like a green rice dumpling!

Then, an even more scalp-numbing scene unfolded.

Countless fine, needle-like spikes extended from the vines and viciously pierced the meat.

The meat rapidly shriveled and withered at a visible rate!

Its aroma, Soul Power, juices...

Everything was sucked clean within three short seconds!

In the end, only a few scraps fell from the gaps between the vines.

After finishing all that, the vines receded like a retreating tide, shrinking back underground and onto the tree trunks.

The clearing returned to silence.

As though that horrifying scene had never happened.

If not for the scraps of meat on the ground, no one would have known such deadly danger was hidden there.

Han Yuchen watched everything clearly from behind the bushes, and not a ripple appeared in his eyes.

So it really was this thing.

Ding.

A pale blue information panel automatically appeared in his mind from the Star Atlas.

[Name: Soul Devouring Ghost Vine]

[Age: Approximately 130 years]

[Type: Plant-type Soul Beast, communal]

[Traits: Highly skilled at camouflage. Detects vibrations and Soul Power fluctuations through its roots.]

[Abilities: Devours flesh, blood, and Soul Power.]

[Weaknesses: Fears extreme flames or sharp cutting attacks.]