The moment Gui Mei's withdrawing mental power touched that strand of mycelium, his chest caved inward. Ji Yuan seized the opportunity to unleash his devouring, and his root tips caught the surging ninety-fifth-level soul power.
"Tang San, what else did you plant?"
Tang San raised his head from the rock crevice, holding his short blade across his chest. Yet its tip kept drooping as strength drained from his arm, and the red soul ring beside him had returned to its earlier dimness.
"Come over and see for yourself!"
"I asked what you have hidden inside you!"
Gui Mei's form unfurled in midair, black vapor spreading outward from his shoulders and back. But Ji Yuan's roots, clinging to the shadow origin, stretched with him and were not shaken loose by the transformation.
Trying to abandon your form and escape?
Then you had better leave behind the origin sustaining it first.
The main root contracted along the nodes it had already connected to. Soul power pathways that had still been supplying energy outward a few breaths earlier now all channeled nourishment toward the Ambrosial Arbor Core.
Gui Mei landed back on the ground, but the shadows beneath his feet did not draw back with him.
"Come out! I order you to come out!"
His right hand clawed toward his chest. Black vapor burrowed into his body along his five fingers, only to recoil immediately upon touching the dark red mycelium. Ji Yuan had already discarded the outermost layer of fine roots.
Severing a few tips was useless.
Deeper root tips extended upward along the returning flow of soul power, intercepting all the strength Gui Mei tried to retrieve. The black shadows that had been drifting outside his body also began to lose their support.
Tang San supported Tang Hao as he edged