Over the weekend after the operation, the group of four gathered in the backyard of Lin Hai's medicinal plant shop, sitting around a wooden table covered with Chinese tea snacks as they reviewed their operation against the Mexican Gang.
Chen Bing was seeing patients in the clinic's front hall and had no intention of joining the four high school students' weekend gathering.
Even so, none of them dared speak too loudly. If Chen Bing heard them, it would do nothing but make him worry more.
"First of all, the operation was a success." Harry lifted his teacup, his tone steady. "But we also exposed some problems."
Pointing at the energy distribution chart on the laptop screen, Gwen said, "Lin, your Azure-Edge Leaf and Heartbind Vine are currently better suited for restraining enemies, but you lack explosive offensive methods capable of dealing decisive blows. And when facing multiple enemies, Vine Whip isn't efficient enough.
"So I think there are two things you need to consider going forward. First, a decisive offensive method. Second, the amount of energy in your body. Otherwise, if you use one big move, drain all your energy, and collapse into bed, that won't work either."
After Gwen finished speaking, she took a sip of tea and gestured for the other two to speak freely.
Peter eagerly raised his hand. "Also, even though your self-healing ability is amazing, it hasn't reached the level of instant recovery! If it's just superficial wounds, you can recover quickly, but if you get shot or suffer something more serious, you might not have time to heal yourself!"
After thinking for a moment, Harry added, "Mm, I basically agree with Gwen. Aside from your relatively limited attack methods, what you lack most is a way to suppress a large area.
"This operation was simple, and the enemies we faced were only scattered low-level gang members. To put it bluntly, they were just street punks. It was difficult for them to cause you any serious trouble.
"But we have to consider what happens if you encounter more than five enemies working together. Your current methods would start to fall short. If you faced more than ten enemies acting as a group, you could only rely on harassment tactics to wear them down.
"That's why wide-area methods capable of targeting multiple people at once are so important."
Lin Hai nodded, his gaze falling on the faint green glow in his palm. His friends were right. After this operation, he had gained a much deeper understanding of his abilities and methods.
Practice was the sole criterion for testing truth. Only through practice could true knowledge be gained. Those words were absolutely correct.
Lin Hai rubbed the rim of his teacup thoughtfully and said, "You're right. My abilities are indeed still in their early stages. Although I can control plants, I'm far from being able to do so freely."
Gwen offered another suggestion. "Peter just said that if you were seriously injured, your healing ability would have trouble treating you completely. I was thinking, what if plants could form a wearable defensive layer, like the bulletproof vests my dad wears whenever he goes on a mission? Even if it only improves your defense a little, it could reduce the pressure caused by your healing ability's shortcomings while greatly improving your survivability."
As Lin Hai listened to his friends' suggestions, his thoughts became tangled. Then a name suddenly flashed through his mind—Hashirama Senju.
That was right. A character from the hugely popular anime Naruto in his previous life. A man known as the "God of Shinobi," a man who could suppress the seventy-meter-tall chakra beast Nine-Tails by himself, and who could stand on equal footing with Madara Uchiha, the man called the "Asura of the Shinobi World," who could summon a Susanoo even larger than Nine-Tails.
Hashirama Senju had dominated the shinobi world with his powerful Wood Release, controlling massive trees as easily as his own limbs. He could even summon a Wood Dragon hundreds of meters long and a Wood Buddha a thousand meters tall to suppress his enemies.
Although Lin Hai did not know ninjutsu, energy shared the same essence. Only the methods of using it differed. Hashirama Senju could use the power known as Wood Release to communicate with plants, alter their forms, and awaken their potential. Why couldn't Lin Hai do the same with the energy known as Life Force?
"Maybe I can try Wood Release," he murmured.
"Wood what?" Peter looked completely lost.
Lin Hai smiled and explained, "A plant-centered fighting style. Thanks for your thoughts and advice. I think I have an idea now."
That night, after seeing his friends off, Lin Hai sat alone in the backyard with his eyes closed in thought. Chen Bing did not disturb him.
Lin Hai compared and analyzed everything point by point.
What was the core of Hashirama Senju's abilities?
Plant control—communicating with natural energy, making plants grow, transform, and attack.
Self-healing—extremely powerful vitality, enough to instantly recover from severe injuries.
Giant constructs—materializing chakra, or energy, into enormous Wood Dragons and Wood Buddhas, combining offense and defense.
A comparison with Lin Hai's current abilities:
Plant control: He had mastered the basics, but lacked large-scale destructive methods.
Self-healing: He could only treat minor wounds and could not handle fatal injuries.
Giant constructs: Completely undeveloped.
"The gap is huge, but the direction is right." He opened his eyes, his gaze resolute.
"Hashirama Senju could communicate with plants, alter them, awaken their potential, instantly create forests, and create giant Buddhas. He possessed incredibly powerful self-healing. His taijutsu and combat awareness were also among the best."
"And my current weaknesses are exactly my limited attack methods, excessive energy consumption, and lack of large-scale suppression. But if I can develop my plant control to the extreme like Hashirama Senju, my combat strength will undergo a qualitative transformation!"
"For my excessive energy consumption, I can start with the Red Moon I encountered before. Although its energy has already been transferred into my body, the other high-energy plants discovered alongside it are still intact. Once I find out where those plants were discovered, I can go there and see if I can uncover anything."
"Next are the areas I can currently strengthen. First, I need to expand the range and precision of my plant control. Hashirama Senju's Wood Release could instantly create an entire forest, while I can currently only sense an area within twenty meters and control plants within a dozen meters."
"Second, I need to develop a large-scale suppression skill." He pointed at the words Deep Forest Emergence written on the paper. "For example, could I make countless giant trees burst from the ground in an instant and trap my enemies, like he did?"
Lin Hai clenched his fist and felt the energy flowing within him. Clearly, his current energy was not enough to achieve that level, but he could already begin the foundational training.
Lin Hai decided to conduct Plant Resonance training every day, attempting to form connections with plants farther away and gradually expand his control radius.
At the same time, he would imitate Deep Forest Emergence and try to make seeds undergo explosive growth in an instant. Forming giant trees or vine cages was still beyond him for now, but the Heartbind Vine he already possessed was an excellent beginning. Next, he only needed to strengthen it further.
"My ability should be able to go even further. Maybe one day, I won't just control plants. I'll directly use Life Force to create plants, perhaps even give them temporary consciousness and create plant life."
That was theoretically possible, because the Marvel Universe had a unique plant-based lifeform—the Flora Colossus. Groot, the tree-like being from Guardians of the Galaxy, was a descendant of that race.
The Flora Colossus possessed incredible regenerative abilities. As long as a portion of a branch remained, it could grow into a large tree with water and fertilizer. They also possessed super strength and defense, could grow into giants through self-growth, stretch their bodies as freely as rubber, extend their tree-like bodies to attack enemies, spread spores to control other plants, and heal others.
In the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Groot sacrificed himself to protect his teammates. But Rocket Raccoon revived him with just a small piece of his remains, showing just how tenacious his vitality was.
Without accumulating small steps, one could not travel a thousand miles. Without gathering small streams, one could not form rivers and seas. Every grand goal had to begin with the smallest basics.
Besides conducting Plant Resonance training, Lin Hai also wanted to see if he could learn Wood Release: Cutting Technique. When Hashirama Senju used that ninjutsu, sharp branches could extend from his arms and pierce the target. After piercing the enemy, the wooden spikes could absorb the opponent's chakra and continue growing, dealing repeated damage.
Lin Hai was still far from that level, but simply accelerating seeds into wooden rods or vines, hardening them for close combat, or throwing them like javelins should not be a problem.
"The theory exists. Time to put it into practice." Lin Hai stood up, fighting spirit blazing in his eyes. "I'll start with the Cutting Technique!"
After a week of practice, he could already harden wooden structures briefly, but they did not last long and consumed an enormous amount of energy.
But as long as he was making progress, it meant this path was viable. And as long as it was viable, nothing could stop Lin Hai from continuing down it.
The level of "Susanoo wrapped around a Wood Buddha, two men wiping out a nation" was still far in the distance, but the dawn of hope shone before Lin Hai, illuminating his smiling face and the road beneath his feet.
Before you continue