Divergence, Jade Evergreen Vine

"Farts like thunder, shaking the heavens and splitting the earth, Luo Sanpao!"

Seeing over a dozen vines lunging out from the smoke, Grandmaster felt a surge of panic and hurriedly issued the command to Luo Sanpao.

He had not expected the Jade Evergreen Vine to have such tenacious vitality. After the Datura Snake's desperate strike and Luo Sanpao's soul skill, the number of vines the Jade Evergreen Vine could mobilize had decreased sharply, yet its combat power remained formidable.

As expected, Luo Sanpao is still too weak as a martial soul.

Complaining in his heart once more, Grandmaster began to retreat the moment he issued the command.

His Luo Sanpao could only fire three shots in a short period; having already exhausted all three, he feared for his life if he remained in place.

However, Grandmaster had underestimated the Jade Evergreen Vine.

Seeing the human who had interrupted its feast trying to escape, the Jade Evergreen Vine abandoned its resistance against the toxins within its body and instead surged its output of life force.

The dozen or so vines that had been beaten back by Luo Sanpao were instantly replaced by dozens more erupting outward.

"Ah!"

Grandmaster shrieked, his escape speed increasing by a notch, yet he still could not shake off the dense thicket of vines behind him.

"Grandmaster, watch out!" Tang Sanmei, hiding not far away, called out a warning, but this was clearly of no help to Grandmaster at this moment.

First, a vine slithering along the ground ensnared Grandmaster's thigh, causing him to stumble, and then more vines clung to his body like maggots on bone.

In the blink of an eye, Grandmaster was bound like a rice dumpling and slowly dragged back toward the main body of the Jade Evergreen Vine.

"Brother, are we still not going to intervene?"

Tang Sanmei's face flashed with anxiety. Although Grandmaster could be quite eccentric at times, he was, after all, helping them obtain their soul rings, and she felt grateful for that.

"I didn't expect Grandmaster to be so fragile either," Tang Yin said with a sheepish smile, rubbing his nose.

Just moments ago, Sanmei had wanted to coordinate with Grandmaster, but he had held her back under the pretext of not causing trouble for him.

However, it wouldn't do to just watch him die, so he decided to act.

"Alright, Sanmei. I'll take the lead. While I draw most of its attention, you circle around to its main body."

"Remember, use the Clear Sky Hammer to execute the Chaotic Cloak at full power. Build up your stacks on the surrounding vines as you approach the main body, then deliver the final blow to settle the outcome."

"En." Sanmei was slightly stunned but nodded. Though she didn't know how her brother had learned the essence of the Chaotic Cloak, there was no time to dwell on it.

"Project!"

As Tang Yin whispered in his heart, a flash of light appeared in his hands, and two weapons—one long and one short—materialized in his left and right hands respectively.

The short blade in his left hand was the very one Tang Sanmei had seen not long ago, while the right hand held a primitive-looking longsword nearly a meter in length. Its patterns were identical to the short blade, clearly projected using the same method.

He used the longsword for offense and the short blade for defense, having given them the pretentious names of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

Tightening his grip on the weapons, Tang Yin's expression hardened. He flashed forward and vanished from his spot, with Tang Sanmei following closely behind.

Whoosh!

The Jade Evergreen Vine had naturally noticed the two figures nearby long ago, so the moment Tang Yin moved, it split off several more vines.

Clack, clack!

Like chopping melons and vegetables, the longsword in Tang Yin's hand continuously cleared the vines blocking his path, while every swing of the short blade caused a vine attempting a sneak attack from a tricky angle to meet its end.

But the Jade Evergreen Vine was truly a plant-type soul beast renowned for its vitality. Even after being subjected to three consecutive waves of soul beasts and humans, especially after feeling the pressure Tang Yin exerted, it lashed out with wave after wave of vines. Naturally, the number of vines elsewhere decreased accordingly.

Tang Sanmei, following behind Tang Yin, summoned her Clear Sky Hammer. Without drawing attention, she used the occasional vine lashing out at her to stack the layers of the Chaotic Cloak.

Before long, the two drew closer and closer to the main body of the Jade Evergreen Vine.

"In the end, my level is too low, and my soul power is insufficient!"

They were now only a few meters from the main body, but the Jade Evergreen Vine had become even more frenzied.

The soul power Tang Yin possessed at his current level was ultimately too little; facing this dense thicket of vines, he was bound to run dry eventually.

Snap!

Accompanied by a crisp sound, the longsword in Tang Yin's right hand finally shattered due to the exhaustion of his soul power.

"Sanmei, is this distance enough?" Switching the short blade to his right hand to parry the vines attacking him, Tang Yin turned to look at Tang Sanmei.

Because she had been behind him the whole time, Tang Sanmei's soul power consumption was minimal.

"En, it's enough, Brother. Leave the rest to me." Tang Sanmei had naturally noticed Tang Yin's state and was worried. Hearing his words, she gauged the distance, gritted her teeth, and nodded.

"Good, strike!" After saying this, Tang Yin narrowly dodged a few vines and sidestepped to clear the path.

The moment Tang Yin stepped aside, Tang Sanmei gripped the Clear Sky Hammer—which had been dragging on the ground—with both hands. Her momentum surged forth like a flood breaking through a dam.

"Chaotic~ Cloak~"

Wherever the Clear Sky Hammer passed, countless intercepting vines instantly disintegrated, and the hammer continued its momentum, slamming into the main body of the Jade Evergreen Vine.

BOOM!

Accompanied by a violent explosion, the shockwave generated by the collision of the Clear Sky Hammer instantly shattered the dense vines in the vicinity, even blowing Tang Yin, who was nearby, onto his backside.

The power of the Clear Sky Hammer under the stacks of the Chaotic Cloak was truly terrifying. What kind of power would it have if augmented by the Ring Detonation secret technique?

Novels were just novels, after all. To feel the power of the Clear Sky Hammer so intuitively, it would be a lie for Tang Yin to say he wasn't envious.

"Brother, I did it!" Tang Sanmei leaned both hands on the handle of the Clear Sky Hammer, panting heavily as she looked at Tang Yin with the expression of a student who had scored a perfect grade and was desperate for praise.

"Mm, well done!" Tang Yin offered Tang Sanmei an encouraging smile.

"Hehe!" Tang Sanmei was delighted at first, but seemingly remembering something, she hurriedly asked, "Right, I didn't hold back my strength just now and the commotion was quite large. How is Grandmaster?"

"Don't worry about anything else for now. Hurry and go absorb the soul ring of the Jade Evergreen Vine. Although its age is nearly five hundred years—a few decades more than the Datura Snake—it shouldn't be a problem for you."

Tang Yin was confident in this; in the original work, Tang San had been able to withstand the soul ring of a Datura Snake, which possessed poisonous attributes, despite suffering from malnutrition since childhood.

Because Tang Sanmei had him as a brother, although her life remained impoverished, she was at least barely able to eat her fill. Furthermore, since the Jade Evergreen Vine was a plant-type soul beast also known for its vitality, there was no reason for Tang Sanmei to fail the absorption.

After all, Yu Xiaogang's theory on the limit of soul ring ages was complete nonsense to begin with.

"Okay, Brother!"

Tang Sanmei did not hesitate at all; she walked to the side of the Jade Evergreen Vine, sat cross-legged, and began to draw in the deep yellow soul ring to start the absorption.

Seeing this, Tang Yin first scanned his surroundings, and finding no immediate danger, he stood up and walked over to a patch of scattered vines to find Yu Xiaogang, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling.

"Thank goodness, there's no danger to his life."

Tang Yin let out a sigh of relief, then used a short blade to cut through the vines.

"How is Sanmei? Has she already started absorbing the Datura Snake's soul ring?"

The very first words out of Yu Xiaogang's mouth the moment he saw the light of day again were these; as for the process of how they had been saved, he did not care in the slightest.