Spirits of Vegetation

What secrets did Mist Island hold? Looking down from above, all Liu Yun could see were lush trees, bright flowers, and tangled thickets... It seemed bursting with life.

There were no animals, though—not even a single bird or beast. A few pollinating insects had been allowed to survive, but that was all.

On the battleship's bridge, Liu Yun watched as the "resurrected" Li Yao relayed everything to Venina. Ruby and the others stood off to one side, watching the bizarre scene.

"Venina, it's me!" Li Yao said into his Communication Watch, his voice brimming with barely restrained excitement.

"Yao, what happened?" Venina asked from the other end.

"We found it! We found it! The island I'm on is a mysterious island filled with endless wealth and treasures. And I've already found more than twelve Spirits of Vegetation!" Li Yao's words were full of undisguised excitement.

Venina was stunned by what he said. She asked curiously,

"What? Doesn't that mean we've struck it rich? What about Liu Yun? Did you kill him?"

Venina was delighted, but she also asked about Liu Yun. Li Yao said he hadn't seen Liu Yun. They'd run into a beast tide and ended up in the Australian wilderness, but they'd turned their misfortune into good luck and found many Spirits of Vegetation.

Even as she rejoiced, Venina felt a faint unease. She'd spent a long time thinking things over at home, and felt perhaps she ought to move on.

"Dear, maybe we should let go of what happened to Wei'er. You can bring the Spirits of Vegetation back, and I can have another child for you. Why not forget about Liu Yun?"

She tried to persuade Li Yao to let go of his hatred, as though only that could ease the unease in her heart. But with Liu Yun controlling him, Li Yao flatly refused.

"Hmph. I'll make sure Liu Yun dies. I have to go."

Li Yao hung up. His expression went blank in an instant, and he stood motionless like a robot. In truth, he was little more than a robot made with some human tissue—or perhaps a monster.

Yan Hai and the Mysterious Elder stood nearby in the same way, their expressions vacant, motionless as wooden dolls. The sight was deeply unsettling.

The bold Yang Xiaolong ignored the puppets and stepped forward to speak to Liu Yun.

"So you're saying you gained your incredible powers after accidentally discovering this spaceship? That... is unbelievable!"

She'd already reached the "truth"—indeed, she was standing aboard the very battleship that was the truth. How could she still have any doubts? All she felt was shock.

Xueni, who came from a powerful family and had been the one to suggest turning Li Yao and the others into puppets, finally spoke.

"Although I suspect you're still holding something back from me, Captain, you did bring us here and let us board the battleship. We'll continue following you from now on."

She said she would keep following Liu Yun and had already given a great deal of thought to his interests—more than Ruby had. Xueni had tried to minimize the fallout and arranged everything accordingly. Liu Yun, however, wasn't particularly worried about the Mysterious Elder's threat of revenge.

His martial arts level still lagged behind his Planetary Stage cultivation, but as long as he relied on his Machine Race Clone, he could contend with opponents two stages above him. Why be afraid of this and that? Xueni was simply timid and overthought things.

Liu Yun didn't care about any of it. He released Li Yao as casually as he would a bug. Li Yao could act only with Liu Yun's permission.

"Fine! If I can return to Venina, at least she won't learn the truth and be heartbroken..."

The bio-engineered "Li Yao" still retained a little of his former consciousness. Thinking this, he left. Liu Yun had modified his vital parts, making Li Yao his most pitiful puppet. But Liu Yun wouldn't interfere with his life.

As for the Mysterious Elder and Yan Hai, they had no grudge against Liu Yun; he had only altered their brains. They said to him,

"Master, we'll return at once and mobilize our connections to provide you with an endless supply of resources. Rest assured."

Once they returned, they would work for Liu Yun, using their influence to supply the base with what it needed. That was how they could serve him best.

"Mm!"

Liu Yun nodded. The enormous supply of resources he'd need was taken care of. Xueni really had planned things out precisely. She showed no mercy at all to those who'd tried to harm him.

With everything arranged, Liu Yun stated his final objective. Once he'd taken care of it, he could return to Jiangnan Base. He had even bigger plans ahead.

Liu Yun gave a slight wave, signaling for the advanced intelligent robot beside him to come forward. It obeyed, carrying a delicate tray on its mechanical arm. On the tray sat four crystal-clear pendants shaped like orbs, each glowing faintly. Each held a different color and energy signature, mysterious and

.

Some truths had to stay buried forever. Liu Yun could never reveal the existence of his Machine Race Clone, so all he could do was make his lies more convincing.

"These four Crystal Ball pendants were specially made to suit each of you and your needs. They're what I use to connect to the battleship. They can also hack into every network on Earth and even provide combat guidance. Now you know all my secrets."

He claimed to have revealed every secret. The four women were deeply moved. Each picked up a Crystal Ball and listened to the wondrous computer voice coming from within.

"That's so unfair! Have you been fighting with one of these things all along?"

Ruby was agitated. She felt Liu Yun had been cheating his way to victory all this time, and now she finally understood the Crystal Ball's incredible power. They knew these weren't just gifts; they were a sign of Liu Yun's trust in them.

Liu Yun couldn't be bothered to answer. He opened the battleship's hatch and leaped out. He still had to collect the Spirits of Vegetation.

These were extremely precious treasures. Even a Councilor would be astonished to come across one, so of course Liu Yun intended to take every last one.

The women, touched by Liu Yun's generosity, jumped down after him. Using the Crystal Balls against their chests, they connected to the battleship's network and saw the intelligence it had gathered on the entire island.

"With the Spirits of Vegetation, we'll definitely become War Gods!"

They all cried out as they leaped down. Their strength was still far behind Liu Yun's, and they wouldn't amount to much without a breakthrough from the Spirits of Vegetation. Of course, Liu Yun's own martial arts level was low, so he wasn't about to look down on them.

They walked through Mist Island, on their guard. Just as Liu Yun prepared to explore farther—

Whoosh!

It was as if some force in the air had suddenly been activated. A vivid pink flower, its bloom larger than a washbasin, had been growing quietly in the forest. Suddenly, it swelled as if infused with life, its diameter rapidly expanding to three or four meters. Like a cloud swept along by a gale—or a streak of lightning—it shot toward Liu Yun at astonishing speed.

It plunged from above in an almost vertical line, like a giant canopy, and covered Liu Yun. An eerie light shimmered along the edges of its petals, as if they contained some indescribable power meant to swallow Liu Yun whole in that dazzling yet deadly sea of flowers.

But Liu Yun was ready. His throwing knives shot into the air. In his eyes, the pink flower—which had been so lovely one moment and a colossal threat the next—was no more than a fleeting illusion. Three sharp knives shredded it to pieces.

"Hmph. A mere Man-eating Flower dares to act up in front of me?" Liu Yun scoffed, his tone full of contempt for the unknown and confidence in his own strength. His sharp gaze swept across the surroundings, alert to any other danger.

The flower fragments, sliced apart by the knives, fell limply to the ground like torn cloth. The severed blood-red stem was even more gruesome. Blood kept pouring from it, stark against the green grass, while an indescribably bloody, sweet, and eerie smell filled the air.

Liu Yun only wanted to confirm the locations of the Spirits of Vegetation. Whenever he reached one, he placed a Coordinate Indicator there.

Then the Excalibur Brave would arrive and lift away the land along with the Spirit of Vegetation. That was right—Liu Yun intended to transplant them and use the battleship's technology to make sustainable use of them.

Nine writhing willow trees had no ability to resist the battleship's tractor beam. They were uprooted in an instant.

"Mm! I'll need these to make more powerful Cell Evolution Fluid. With them, perhaps I can change the whole world!"

Liu Yun had a sustainable ecological economy in mind, which was why he'd brought the battleship. Once he transplanted these Spirits of Vegetation, Machine Race technology would let him keep cultivating new ones. Their effectiveness would surely decline over time as their genes degraded, but then Liu Yun could eat Spirits of Vegetation like cabbages.

Once he'd achieved that, he could sell the formula for ordinary Cell Evolution Fluid to the major powers and make another fortune. As long as he had the best medicinal formula, there was no reason he couldn't help other Martial Artists, too.

"Ah, our captain is going to rule the whole world," Xueni murmured. She'd also realized what the Spirits of Vegetation could do. It seemed the whole world would soon belong to Liu Yun.

But so what? Liu Yun's strength was her strength, too. She could use it to secure benefits for her family and even change its fate.