Hooked

The deeper he ventured, the thicker the mist on the island became.

Fortunately, while this mist could obscure his vision, it could not block Lin Fan's telekinesis.

He had long since spread his telekinetic detection out like a net, pushing it forward slowly along the surface of the ground and the tree canopy.

It was as if he had activated a god's-eye view, enveloping everything within a radius of several hundred meters.

Behind him, Sky Splitter had broken down into its individual components, with over a hundred feather blades hovering within a three-meter radius around him, rhythmically pulsing to guard against any potential danger.

"Beep!"

"Master, high-energy reaction detected three hundred meters ahead."

The cochlear communicator vibrated slightly, and 101's voice came through clearly via bone conduction.

Lin Fan's footsteps faltered. He looked down at the holographic map on his watch; there was indeed a conspicuous red dot not far away.

He walked less than another hundred meters before an unusually clear patch of ground suddenly appeared ahead.

In the center of the clearing stood a massive plant, blood-red from top to bottom, as if carved from the finest red jade, with a faint, human-like silhouette.

This thing was over ten meters tall, its branches gnarled and powerful, with a faint, eerie blood-red light flowing across its surface.

Each leaf did not look like plant fiber at all, but rather like a sharp dagger, its edges shimmering with a chilling, lethal coldness.

A breeze blew by.

Clang.

As the leaves brushed against each other, they emitted a metallic, vibrating sound.

But what made Lin Fan's eyes light up was that this entire plant was exuding a mouth-watering aura of life from head to toe.

This is the real deal.

Lin Fan's lips curled into a grin; these were finally not the small fry from the outer perimeter.

Judging by the aura, this was a plant monster comparable to a high-level lord.

Because of its unique life form and its iron-hard body, it was even more troublesome and lethal than an ordinary monster.

Lin Fan didn't waste any words. His figure vanished from the spot instantly, leaving a blurred afterimage in the air.

Almost like teleporting, he appeared directly at the base of the blood-red plant.

"Mountain Collapse!"

Lin Fan let out a low shout, gripping Calamity tightly with both hands. At that moment, he coiled his entire body's strength into a single force, erupting it explosively along his spine!

He utilized the force-generating technique of the first level of the Calamity Killing Art, combined with the terrifying weight of Calamity and the reinforcement of his telekinesis.

Puchi!

A dull sound of something being pierced echoed out.

The trunk of this ginseng-like plant, which was hard as iron and capable of withstanding bombardment from thermal weapons, was as brittle as a white radish in the face of Calamity's edge and Lin Fan's monstrous explosive power.

Crack!

The sturdy main trunk was severed cleanly, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Boom!

The massive plant collapsed with a crash, and a small ginseng, the size of a baby's head and seemingly condensed from blood marrow, flew out from the severed stump.

Lin Fan was quick-witted; he swept it up with his telekinesis and grabbed it.

"Hiss... such rich life essence!"

Feeling the warmth in his hand, the rich fragrance drifted into his body through his nasal cavity, making him let out a satisfied sigh.

Just by taking a single whiff, the fatigue in his body was swept away, and even his telekinesis felt a bit more vibrant.

Lin Fan didn't stop for a second. He tossed the treasure into his backpack and vanished back into the mist.

After venturing a bit deeper, he encountered an ironwood tree growing on a cliff face.

This thing was emerald green all over, its canopy like a cover, with every branch as thick as a green python.

Slap!

Slap! Slap!

As the branches, which were as hard as Kro Alloy, whipped through the air, they created ear-piercing sonic booms.

If an ordinary God of War were to run into this, they probably wouldn't even be able to break its defense, only to be whipped into rolling on the ground and fleeing in a sorry state.

But in front of Calamity, so-called hardness was a joke.

When Lin Fan descended from the sky, the ironwood instantly went berserk. Thousands of branches lashed out wildly, layering over one another to seal off his landing spot, attempting to mince him on the spot.

Watching the incoming branches, Lin Fan had no intention of dodging. He simply delivered a plain, unadorned—

"Mountain Collapse!!"

Boom!

The incoming branches were instantly severed, and the seemingly indestructible trunk exploded on the spot.

Wood chips flew everywhere, and green sap rained down.

Lin Fan reached out, digging an emerald-green tree heart from the center of the broken trunk.

"Beep!"

"Master, there is another one not far to your left."

Lin Fan turned to look and saw a giant man-eating flower king lurking deep in the swamp.

Despite the massive commotion nearby, this thing hadn't reacted at all, clearly lacking the ability to move actively.

But the moment Lin Fan arrived nearby, the flower king suddenly opened its giant mouth, which was filled with fangs.

However, the next second.

Countless silver feather blades turned into a meat grinder, pouring directly into its wide-open mouth before churning wildly inside its soft interior.

Puchi-chi-chi!

After a burst of cutting sounds, the man-eating flower king was shredded into pieces, turning into a pile of mush.

Lin Fan disgustedly used his telekinesis to extract a viscous, glue-like marrow core that emitted a faint, sweet fragrance.

"Next."

Soon, Lin Fan found a bizarre vine covered in poisonous thorns, coiled on the ground like an octopus.

Its root system spread out like a damp, cold meat blanket, with dozens of vine arms swaying slowly in the mist.

As soon as Lin Fan stepped within a hundred meters, those vine arms erupted, and the poisonous thorns shot out like raindrops.

Swish!!

Over a hundred silver feather blades scattered like crushed silver, forming a circle of silver gears that blocked all the incoming thorns.

"Go!"

The feather blades instantly converged in the air into a silver-white roc. As its wings flapped, it sliced the vine into "minced meat" in mere moments.

As the roc sliced open the vine's root system, a green, crystalline thorn was revealed.

Lin Fan swept it up with his telekinesis and packed it into his bag.

In just ten minutes, he had obtained four Spirits of Vegetation comparable to a Ten-Thousand-Year Willow Heart.

"This amount is enough. As for the rest, only that one is left..."

After stowing the thorn, Lin Fan began to wander aimlessly through the area he had already plowed through.

His eyes looked somewhat unfocused, like a greedy treasure hunter searching for any fish that might have slipped through the net.

But these were all just appearances; his goal was to lull Babata into a false sense of security.

With his current telekinetic amplitude, it was very likely he could meet Babata's standards.

Once Babata confirmed his potential was sufficient, it would throw out a Wood Bud Crystal as bait to lure him toward the Yunmo Planet ship.

If his potential wasn't enough... then never mind.

To prevent Babata from throwing out a Wood Bud Crystal that he might miss, he had expanded his telekinesis to its maximum.

It formed a search net that covered a radius of several dozen meters, even penetrating beneath the surface of the ground.

Although the Wood Bud Crystal was different from these plant monsters and lacked a life aura, in the perception of his telekinesis, that pure life energy was as conspicuous as a candle in the dark night; there was no fear of not finding it.

He wandered aimlessly like this for about three minutes.

"Hmm?"

Lin Fan's brows arched. He suddenly sensed a very distinct cluster of life energy not far away.

And it was very small in size.

"Could it be..."

Lin Fan changed direction and ran toward that spot.

As soon as he got close, he smelled an intoxicating fragrance of rice.

He forcibly controlled his rising lips, pushed aside the weeds blocking his path, and looked forward.

There, half-buried in the moist soil, lay an unremarkable white crystal, emitting an alluring scent of rice.

"Heh, hooked."