Withered Bone Demon Forest

Deep within the stellar meteors.

At the Martial Alliance's base, endless thunder roared densely through the air. Dark clouds churned, ravaging the starry sky and crushing one stellar meteor after another.

After a long while, the thunder domain that filled the heavens dissipated, and a figure slowly emerged from the lightning.

It was the Martial Alliance warrior at the Divine Ability Realm of Thunder Domain who had been frightened into fleeing by Situ Ting, terrified that if he took one step too slowly, he would be crushed to death.

The thunder filling the sky gradually vanished completely.

A light rain fell, gathering into another warrior at the Divine Ability Realm of Water Marsh.

The moment he appeared, he stood beside the Thunder Domain Divine Ability warrior, his expression grave. "Situ Ting is about to break through to the Dharma Manifestation Realm..."

"I know!" The Thunder Domain Divine Ability warrior's eyes were cold and sinister.

"I can't afford to provoke Situ Ting, but I can afford to hide from him."

The Water Marsh Divine Ability warrior gave him a deep look and did not continue trying to persuade him. They were both at the Divine Ability Realm, with roughly equal strength and seniority.

What was more, he too had once had a junior descendant with decent aptitude and talent, who had died at Situ Ting's hands.

When it came to taking sides and such, he truly had no standing to lecture anyone.

In any case, he had said what needed to be said. Even if the other man truly could not swallow this grievance and insisted on going to his death, that was his own choice.

The Water Marsh Divine Ability warrior said no more and turned to leave.

His task was to patrol the star region where Trial Star was located, preventing warriors of the myriad races from sneaking onto Trial Star and massacring the younger generation of human warriors.

Not long after he left, the Thunder Domain Divine Ability warrior looked toward Trial Star again.

"Hm?"

"Where did that brat go?"

On the other side, Situ Ting was cursing too. "Damn it..."

"How was this brat even better than me at barging into random places?"

Forbidden Land—Withered Bone Demon Forest.

Whoosh...

From the dim shadows, a vine shot through the air like a straight long spear, tearing through the air and igniting flames like ghostly blue fire.

It shot straight for the head of the person walking through the forest...

Sword light gleamed with a bloody radiance in the darkness. With a backhand slash, Su Bo split apart the incoming vine spear, sword light flashing repeatedly from his hand.

The showering vines snapped several times and were cut into sections. The remaining parts swiftly withdrew into the shadows and disappeared.

Su Bo glanced at the retreating vines but did not pursue them or pay them any further attention. He had already suffered this kind of attack more times than he could count.

The first few times, he had chased after them, wanting to see what kind of plant demon beast it was.

The first time, he had walked straight into the demon beast's ambush. Vines spread like a net across the sky, crashing down over his head in a crackling torrent.

He had nearly been caught like a fish in a net.

Fortunately, the instant he reacted, he took one step out of the range covered by the vine net.

Then...

With one sword strike, he chopped them all to pieces.

Then, when he tried to find the demon beast that had ambushed him, all the vines and trees went as still as death, utterly motionless.

Even after he had chopped apart every tree and vine within dozens of meters, the demon beast never appeared again.

The second time, the third time...

They had been much the same as the first. He found nothing.

So he gave up searching for the demon beast and continued wandering through the forest, dealing with its occasional sneak attacks one after another.

After resolving several more sudden attacks.

He had barely taken a few steps when tree roots and vines suddenly shot out from the darkness again.

Su Bo moved with extreme speed. His sword swept out, and the vines were all severed into scattered segments that fell to the ground, spraying dark green juice.

Before he could even sheath his sword, more than a dozen vines shot out from the dense forest's shadows. The towering trees beside him also seemed to come alive.

Their trunks lowered, their branches trembled and shook with a rustle, and countless leaves shot forth all at once.

Vines formed a vast net that fell over him, while more than a dozen great trees fired their leaves. In an instant, it formed a killing formation like a dark green torrent.

"Oh, looks like I found you at last~" Su Bo grinned darkly.

If he could not determine the direction or find the demon beast attacking him, then he would not bother looking. He only needed to pick a direction and keep going; perhaps he would run into the real culprit.

And hadn't he just found it?

The massive vine net descending over his head, the steel-hard vines and branches, and the razor-sharp leaves all fell like they were blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

Su Bo gave his longsword a light shake, and the blade let out a clear ring.

"Luminous—Starfall!"

Like a meteor streaking across the heavens, Su Bo's sword shook out countless meteor showers, meeting the vines, branches, and fluttering leaves that filled the sky.

The force of tens of thousands of jin empowered his sword, tearing open the curtain woven from forest leaves and vines.

Su Bo activated Wind-Treading Step and charged in the direction the vines had come from. Along the way, tree after tree came alive, swinging their branches at him like whips.

Sword light flashed, and the branches shattered into segments while the trunks were completely severed.

"Found you!"

Just as he cut through the trunk of the last great tree, a jade-green vine suddenly pulled free from it and swiftly shrank back into the shadows like a slithering serpent.

A wisp of breeze drifted past. Su Bo rode the wind, vanishing into the depths of darkness in an instant.

The next moment, scorching sword light lit up in the darkness. Crimson flames surged as Su Bo's cold voice rang out, "Luminous—Blazing Sun!"

"Shriek..." It sounded as though a soul were letting out a shrill, agonized howl.

Sparks ignited into flickering flames, bringing a faint glow to the darkness. Within that firelight, a sword was embedded at the very center of the flames.

A jade-green vine like a serpent's body had been pierced clean through by the sword, flames blazing across its length.

Su Bo stood not far away. Surging blood and qi condensed into a bloody glow around him. With his mind focused to the utmost limit, he scanned his surroundings, his spiritual power trembling faintly.

Danger... danger, extreme danger!

A warning of danger stabbed painfully at his mind.

Within the firelight, the vine that twisted like a serpent and emitted soul-piercing shrieks gradually burned into a lump of foul-smelling black charcoal.

Su Bo did not retrieve his sword. He remained focused, warily watching his surroundings.

That vine, which moved like a serpent and was extraordinarily nimble, had retreated into the darkness at tremendous speed. Even with his Wind-Treading Step at major accomplishment, he could not catch it in a short time.

Moreover, the thing had no aura of life, making it difficult to detect. He could only search for it with his eyes.

Just as it was about to disappear back into the shadows.

Su Bo could only throw his sword to pierce it through and nail it to the ground.

Then, he realized he had entered a place that was somewhat extraordinary. An indescribable terror warning stabbed wildly at his brain.

At this moment, using the burning firelight, Su Bo also saw his surroundings clearly.

Gravestones, graves...

The shadowy darkness into which that small jade-green vine had fled was covered with grave mounds. Before every mound stood a pitch-black gravestone.

The gravestones were black from top to bottom, not a single word carved upon them.

Su Bo's sword was embedded at the very top of one raised grave mound. That serpent-like jade-green vine had been trying to burrow inside.

Only then had it been pierced through by the sword he threw using the Luminous Sword Art, burning into a charred black lump.

"Thump~"

After watching for quite a while without discovering any danger, Su Bo was about to retrieve his sword and leave this eerie place when a sudden "thump" rang out.

It exploded through this eerie grave forest.

"Thump thump~!!"