Chapter 138: The Vicious Vine

Rustling. The vines ensnared Li Zhinan tightly, dragging him deep into the tunnel.
On the wall, a human face had grown on the trunk of a tree. Its fake eyes stared at Li Zhinan, who was now tightly bound by the vines.
{A feeble creature, but you’re all I have… Take my juvenile offspring out of here.}
Slap! The vine let out a sound under the impact of a segment of vibrant green plant, which fell onto Li Zhinan the moment the connection was severed.
“What—what is this?!”
{In your world, the more bio-life it absorbs, the faster it grows. The energy from that piece of land can also replenish its chronology, let it reach 50,000 years as quickly as possible.}
“Fifty thousand years!” Li Zhinan almost choked on his own saliva.
{Hurry. There’s too much death energy here. I’ll be assimilated in a few months. If you get me out, I’ll reward you with secret human cultivation techniques.}
As he spoke, Li Zhinan was flung toward the door by the ever-extending vines, the emerald green tubers growing from the stems clinging tightly to his body.
High atop the mountain, a phantom-like figure appeared, gazing toward the mouth of the cave.
Countless wild beasts in the surrounding mountains and forests, as if receiving an invisible command, charged swiftly toward where Li Zhinan was.
……
Qiao Ming no longer harbored any hope of finding that sword.
He gradually calmed down from the anxious and dejected feeling of losing the Chrono Weapon, accepting that it probably couldn’t be recovered. What shocked him now was that the friend from the deputy town had actually managed to get so much Chrono through a single A-class interleaving point.
It was said they had already earned a pure profit of over 200,000 Chrono, far exceeding the value of an 80N weapon.
“Sigh, with so many people in the mountain forest, our weapons must be gone by now.”
Now he couldn’t even find anyone from the deputy town. Disappointed, he got up and left the town hall, thinking as he walked…
If only he could have participated too.
……
Outside the mountain area, near the temporary camp, traffic was heavy, with various horror sedan cars and motorcycles gathering.
The crowds of people buying and selling goods walked through it as if it were nothing unusual, as if they were at a monster party in the wilderness.
On a nightmare tricycle, a hoarse, humming voice sang: {A bouquet~ was given to me by Sibel~ poor me.}
It hummed softly as it moved along with its owner at the edge of the bumpy marketplace, rattling the goods with a clatter.
As Yang Zicang passed by, a person from Ning Yang’s encampment was waving a small brush for chasing insects and shouting:
“Special deal on incense pellets today, only for collection teams! The first ten also get free realgar powder to repel snakes and insects!”
“Can the scent last five days? If so, I’ll take two servings.”
“Busy at work, Captain Jia.”
Yang Zicang nodded with a smile, sidestepping an older woman who was bargaining while holding a monster cub under her arm.
Nowadays, rumors about perilous incidents in several mountains were increasing. Ordinary people could finally understand how far their strength fell short of exploring Grade A fault zones.
As time went on and information became more transparent, the price of incense pellets had dropped to about one hundred and ten to twenty years’ worth per piece.
“Yang, another team has gone missing today.”
As soon as he approached the small wooden cabin, a man waiting at the door reported in a low voice. Yang Zicang gave a slight nod.
“Let’s talk inside.”
Inside, Lyu Zhi and a young woman were organizing a few mountain area map documents. Seeing Yang Zicang and the others enter, they immediately stood up and vacated seats by the table.
“That dangerous zone that appeared in the mountains these past two days—over a dozen people have died entering it.”
The man beside Yang Zicang said:
“After checks by experts from Kongshan Great Tent, Huanghun Great Tent, and a few masters of the Qin Shi merchant team and Shaoguang, it was confirmed that inside there are man-eating vines. Countless beast carcasses were scattered all over, turning it into a near-death zone.”
“Man-eating vines?”
Yang Zicang took the document, which sketched the approximate shape of the vines.
“Yeah, wasn’t there a group of beasts annihilated before? It’s probably the work of this thing. So terrifying—hundreds of frenzied beasts were all wiped out in one wave.”
“A group of beasts… near that mountain, right? This vine actually moved? It can shift locations?”
Before Yang Zicang could finish speaking, another person opened the door and barged in, shouting:
“Captain Jia, save us!”
Watching his panting and anxious expression, Yang Zicang took the initiative to ask:
“This isn’t about those vines again, is it?”
“Yes, Captain Zijian. My teammate said they wanted to check out that cave, but suddenly got pulled in by vines on the ground.”
“A cave?”
Yang Zicang and Lyu Zhi beside him both glanced at the papers in their hands. These vines had a growing footprint opening up everywhere.
“Even the Twilight Canopy couldn’t handle it. Captain Jia, only you can rescue them.”
Many experts from various canopy areas had already gone, almost all returning in defeat. Now, the newcomer turned his gaze to the builder of this market.
A folded beam shot over.
{Buddy, Brother Zhuang is asking for a favor.}
“Go ahead.”
{A cave in your mountains just swallowed my buddy’s team. Can you help get them out? Don’t worry, they’ll compensate you.}
Looks like he’s truly desperate—going around asking people to help persuade him to act, even tracking him down at the Du Pin Inn. Zhuang must have raked in quite a lot of favours this time.
“Since you’re asking personally, fine then.”
Yang Zicang finished speaking, picked up the sword that Lyu Zhi handed over, turned around, and went out to find a nightmare motorcycle to earn delivery tips, riding it buzzing toward the mountain.
In the pit below the cave.
A strange dark green plant had already claimed the lives of three people. Without a single sound, they became the prey of these faintly glowing vines, which moved with great speed.
“Be careful.”
Yang Zicang, who had descended from the collapsed slope along with the motorcycle rider, raised a lamp solemnly, gazing at the thick vines.
Whoosh~ Suddenly, the vines on the ground lashed toward the two like snakes.
“Ah!” The man with shoulder-length hair was instantly terrified and cried out, only to watch the cargo team leader in front—instead of retreating—charge forward, sword sweeping outward.
Boom! Flaming Blade activated!
Flames spread, and the vines quickly retracted.
“Good, they’re afraid of fire.” Yang Zicang nodded with satisfaction.
The White Shadow Thought-Dragon simply cannot find a psionic body in this thing, so it’s unable to attack it using psionic abilities.
Fortunately, it still follows some natural laws; otherwise, challenging a Fierce Moon-level crossover team like this in the city would require an extremely strong force to stabilize successfully.
YangZicang turned his head to look at the pale-faced rider beside him: “You go outside. I’ll go into the cave to see what this monster really is.”
The long-haired man swept his eyes over the newly sprouted, tiny emerald magic crystals clinging to the cave walls beneath these vines, then nodded.
“Then be careful, Captain Armor.”
“Thank you, I’ll be careful. Just wait for me outside.”
“These should be Wood-type magic crystals. Places where such crystals are born usually have dense elemental energy. Don’t, don’t let your guard down.”
“Alright, I understand. You go now.”
“Captain Jiazijian, if something happens to you, the camp will lose its backbone. People like us don’t have it easy earning some sequence points…”
Yang Zicang took a deep breath, turned to look at the man reeking of timidity, and said with a faint smile, one word at a time:
“Get out!”
“Uh… fine, but promise me—” The rider glanced at the white shadow thought-dragon phantom emerging behind Yang Zicang, swallowed hard, “I’m going now.”
As the man climbed up the earthen slope, intense flames instantly erupted from the longsword in Yang Zicang’s hand.
He headed toward the dark, pitch-black cave that emitted faint green glows.
Whoosh, whoosh! Vine tips shot forward!
Snap, snap! The sword swiftly cut through these vines.
[I have cancelled 1050N.]
This time, however, the vines did not quickly retreat. As if sensing that Yang Zicang could threaten its core, the charred plant parts shot out fresh green branches again, and along with more vines surging from deep within the dark cave, they charged at him from all directions.
Yang Zicang swung his sword rapidly, and mental notes of canceled sequences echoed continuously.
[I have cancelled 550N.]
[I canceled 1050N again.]
“It’s no use…”
Suddenly, a sluggish voice was heard. Yang Zicang, who had advanced several meters, leaped backward upon hearing this, dodging a few attacks from the plant vines then looking upward.
Illuminated by the firelight, a figure whose face could not be discerned hung in midair.
“Is that… Captain Huo… Thank you for your scent… it allowed me to stay clear-headed before my death…”
“Save your strength, don’t speak.”
Yang Zicang swung his sword and charged forward once more.
“It’s useless… It has over thirty to forty thousand temporal sequences, which amplify to nearly a hundred thousand… and even the canceled timelines are restored as spurious zero timelines.”
“Spurious zero timelines?”
Yang Zicang’s expression shifted slightly as he looked at the thick plant stalk on the cave wall ahead.
“Yes, it restores about fifty years of spurious zero surplus every two or three seconds. All of you, flee now, and do not let anyone near this place. This isn’t a… monster… that our level of strength can solve.”
Recovery every second! Yang Zicang stared in shock at the strange tree embedded in the tunnel beneath the main body.
Like ivy, it occupied the entire depths of the cave, its main trunk emitting a faint emerald glow—clearly no ordinary thing, appearing rather like an immortal vine tended by the gods.
Around the flames, the tendrils writhed slightly, like a nest of snakes vigilantly guarding their territory, poised to confront an intruder.
“How did you know all this?” Yang Zicang looked up gravely at the person entangled there.
“They’re eating me,” the man said in agony. “I’m now one with the plant; I can feel it. Unless you can launch a sustained attack with a frequency faster than its recovery rate…
“Or call more people to destroy it all at once, otherwise it’s impossible to exhaust the time sequence it contains… Coming to the Lost Frequency Zone has already lifted many of its constraints…”
Yang Zicang involuntarily glanced at the wooden magic crystals—indeed, a plant capable of birthing such things had astonishing recovery capabilities.
“If this continues, do you have any idea what this thing will become?”
“Perhaps, on this land, it could become an old-world entity as enduring as humans…”
“I see!”
If it really came to that, it would be too dangerous. The reproduction speed and aggression of this thing make it impossible for ordinary people to face its intrusion.
Yang Zicang scanned the area of the pit—it wasn’t large and couldn’t hold too many people.
It had to be dealt with now.
A diagonal beam shot over—it was Boss Zhuang again. These past two weeks, he’d been the most attentive, often dropping by to check in, let alone at this moment.
{Brother Zicang, do you need our help? I can arrange a rotating investment—how much each time, say, three thousand works for you?}
[Boss Zhuang intends to make an active investment of 3000N for me.]
[I rejected Boss Zhuang’s investment.]
“No need, the Chrono Weapon is sufficient.”