Strange vines overlapped, knotted like serpents. The mountain path wound and twisted, and Tai Sui mushrooms carpeted the ground.
Bizarre tissues resembling organs of flesh and blood covered this blessed island once owned by the Nine Spirits Sect. Mushrooms sprouted and Tai Sui sprawled everywhere, their outlandish shapes lending an eerie vitality to this zombie-ridden land of death and crisis.
Walking among them, Li Ling felt something quite different from what he had experienced during Soul Projection.
Back then, he had explored this world through his spiritual consciousness, every sensation arising from perception and thought. Now his feet touched solid ground, and sight, sound, smell, and touch gave everything a tangible reality.
"This place seems full of life..."
He had felt this before, but now that he stood here in person, a sense of wonder welled up within him.
Not far away, a large clump of mushrooms suddenly blew bubbles. A head-sized, fleshy Tai Sui growth burst with a soft pop.
Everyone turned toward the sound and saw a strange flower roughly ten feet across unfurling rapidly, its five-colored fleshy petals releasing clouds of powdery dust into the wind.
Some of those fleshy growths were actually petals!
As though some switch had been triggered, more and more growths swelled, split, and bloomed, filling heaven and earth with dust.
"Watch out!"
The accompanying Merchant Association cultivators turned pale with alarm.
The man at their head raised his hand, lifting an incense-burner-shaped magic treasure. A rich, mellow fragrance spread with white, silken wisps of incense smoke.
Within moments, all the drifting gray-black dust-whether visible to the naked eye or invisible spores and viruses-was destroyed.
"It certainly is full of life."
Unlike the others, who braced themselves as though facing a formidable enemy, Elder Qi appeared utterly relaxed. He even had the leisure