Deep Dive!

Five hundred paces away lay an area where the vegetation had withered into a distinct, sickly yellow.

It was not the ordinary yellow of seasonal decay, but a withered state suggesting something had drained the life force from them. The leaves drooped, the grass lay flattened and brittle, and even the air felt heavy and stagnant.

The diameter of this blighted circle was approximately two hundred paces.

Huang Fei's heart rate quickened. A blighted circle of two hundred paces corresponded to a soul beast of at least four thousand years. Such entities rarely appeared at the boundary between the outer and middle rings; soul beasts over four thousand years old required more life energy and typically resided in the deeper reaches.

He did not know why this soul beast had appeared in such a place—perhaps it had been driven out by a stronger predator, or perhaps it had abandoned its original habitat for some other reason. Regardless, encountering it was an opportunity.

Huang Fei steadied his breathing, narrowing the sensory range of his Purple Demon Eye to a two-hundred-pace radius centered on himself, and approached the blighted circle at a glacial pace. His footsteps were as light as a cat's, each landing softly on the moss without making a sound.

Fifty paces.

At the edge of the blighted circle stood a fallen, dead tree. The trunk was already rotting, covered in white fungi that would crumble into powder at the slightest touch.

One hundred paces.

The vegetation inside the circle was even more thoroughly dead. There was almost no green left on the ground, only a layer of gray-white withered leaves and exposed black soil. The air carried a strange, cloying sweetness, as if something were rotting or perhaps over-ripening.

One hundred and fifty paces.

Huang Fei stopped. It was not because he sensed danger, but because he had seen the thing itself.

In the very center of the blighted circle stood a large tree. But it was not an ordinary tree—the trunk lacked bark, and the exposed wood possessed a sickly, grayish-white hue, as if something had hollowed out its nutrients from within. The entire tree stood crookedly, like an ancient specimen that had been dead for a very long time.

Yet, through Huang Fei's Purple Demon Eye, the tree was alive.

And it was not merely alive in any ordinary sense.

The tree's root system was exposed above the ground, resembling gray-white pythons coiled upon the black soil. The tips of those roots were embedded into the surrounding dead vegetation, slowly, bit by bit, absorbing something.

It was not nutrients.

It was life force.

This thing was not a tree, but a Parasitic Vine disguised as one. Its true body was hidden inside the trunk, and the wood outside was merely a shell. Its roots were a form of parasitic vine that absorbed life force by piercing the stems and roots of other plants, converting that energy into its own.

Its age was even higher than he had estimated.

Huang Fei pushed the perception of his Purple Demon Eye to the limit. The insight granted by his Mustard Seed Realm allowed him to pierce through that gray-white wooden shell and see the true form within.

A vine. A completely translucent vine, appearing as if made from some gelatinous material, with pale green life energy flowing within. The vine was roughly as thick as an adult's thigh, and its length was impossible to determine, as the majority of its body was hidden within the trunk and beneath the soil.

It was between four thousand eight hundred and five thousand years old.

Huang Fei leaned against a tree trunk, mentally rehearsing the battle from start to finish.

Plant-type soul beasts had three weaknesses: first, they could not move; second, their attack patterns were singular; third, they had poor resistance to sustained attacks.

The attack method of this Parasitic Vine should be root Entangle and life absorption. Once those gray-white roots exposed on the surface sensed the presence of prey, they would erupt in a very short time to bind the target, then use the suckers on the roots to drain the prey's life force and soul power.

To deal with such an enemy, the most critical point was this: one must not be entangled.

Once bound, the life absorption would begin. With his level thirty soul power, how long could he hold out? He did not know. And he did not want to find out. The best defense was to never let its roots touch him.

Huang Fei's Blue Silver Grass was the perfect counter.

His Blue Silver Grass was the ultimate manifestation of life force, while the Parasitic Vine relied on absorbing life force to sustain itself. If his Blue Silver Grass was sufficiently tough and powerful, he could bind those roots before they ever touched his body, severing their connection to the main body.

He was not here to fight; he was here to "chop vegetables."

Huang Fei took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the tree trunk. He no longer concealed his aura, instead releasing his soul power completely. The level thirty soul power fluctuations rippled through the blighted circle like a stone thrown into a calm pool.

The Parasitic Vine's sensory system was triggered.

It felt him.

It did not feel a threat; it felt a feast. To its senses, his level thirty soul power was a massive light source overflowing with life energy, shining far brighter than the surrounding dead vegetation.

The ground began to tremble.

Those gray-white roots exposed on the surface stirred like a nest of snakes awakened from a deep sleep. They pulled themselves from the black soil and lashed out in the air, their tips blooming like flowers to reveal dense clusters of suckers—each as small as a needle point and as packed as a honeycomb, every one of them craving the taste of life force.

Huang Fei did not retreat.

He raised his right hand, and the Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm. Six ink-green vines extended from his arm simultaneously, forming a semicircular defensive screen in front of him.

Six vines. Each was two fingers thick, entirely ink-green, with a metallic luster on the surface. Under Huang Fei's mental control, they swayed flexibly, like six well-trained snakes ready to strike at any moment.

The Parasitic Vine's roots began their assault.

It was not a probing attack, but an all-out, unreserved pounce. Dozens of gray-white roots lunged at Huang Fei from every direction, like dozens of starving snakes striking at a helpless prey.

They were shockingly fast, emitting sharp whistling sounds as they tore through the air.

But Huang Fei was faster.

The six ink-green vines snapped forward simultaneously, precisely meeting every incoming root. It was not a clash of brute force, but a slaughter bordering on art—Huang Fei's vines acted like six sharp surgical scalpels, weaving rapidly between the gray-white roots, severing the tip of a root with every contact.

The moment the root suckers were severed, they emitted a "hissing" sound, like a leaking balloon. Pale green life energy gushed from the wounds, dissipating into the air as a cloud of green mist.

The Parasitic Vine let out a silent scream.

It had no vocal cords, but Huang Fei could feel it "screaming." The entire blighted circle trembled, the ground shook, and the gray-white tree swayed violently.

More roots erupted from the earth. Not dozens, but hundreds. They surged from every direction, flooding toward Huang Fei like a tidal wave.