An hour ago,
Boom—
Falling from the sky, Xing Jinglei struck the ground with a cannon fist, splitting the earth, and a sweeping kick sent all the cultists in front of him flying.
Neither ordinary cultists, gray-robed cultists, nor even black-robed cultists were his match.
His fists shattered the bodies of these enemies.
Xing Jinglei barely needed to dodge.
He wore only the cheapest, lowest-grade combat suit. The sharp claws of the Red Moon cultists pierced through the suit's defenses but could not penetrate his bronzed skin, which was as hard as steel.
They only produced the crisp sound of metal clashing.
Xing Jinglei laughed heartily and unleashed his fists.
The Phoenix Fire warriors, such as Shan Xiong and Dao Hun, who were with him, were also charging forward.
In a flash, they eradicated the group of cultists before them.
During a brief respite, Xing Jinglei glanced at the mission interface, which allowed him to accept tasks and displayed the map of the entire Mist City for strategic planning.
Any team could mark their discoveries on the map.
It was very convenient.
Xing Jinglei marked 'eradicated' at his current coordinates and then noticed a mission exclamation mark appear.
"Planting the Seeds of Thorns?"
"What kind of mission is this?"
"Boss, it seems like these seeds are in our supply backpacks."
"Plant them, plant them."
Xing Jinglei waved his hand, and then used his Cunning Tracking skill to observe the flow of energy under the red moon.
Suddenly, another mission notification popped up with a ding.
"War Mission: Plant the Seeds of Thorns in thirty-seven areas, including 101, 104, 139, 148, 195, and cover them with a layer of special soil."
"Note: This mission has high priority, please complete it as soon as possible."
Xing Jinglei froze, veins bulging on his forehead.
He, a dignified high-ranking member of Phoenix Fire, a world-class powerhouse, the great Lord Xing, the Saint of Shattered Fists, was being asked to become a gardener?!
Preposterous!
"Let's go, let's quickly plant these seeds."
…
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Thick, thorny vines broke through the soil one after another, growing wildly and absorbing all the nutrients from the surrounding soil.
The landscape trees around the vines withered visibly, one by one.
The grown, thorny vines, like venomous dragons, swiftly bound all the cultists within sight.
Their sharp thorns pierced the skin.
All their blood was drained, becoming nutrients to further nourish the growing thorny vines.
The Siren was born from the Seeds of Thorns and naturally inherited their ability to suck blood, life energy, and vitality, even surpassing it.
The vines fought to sustain themselves. Beautiful flowers bloomed on the vines, scattering new Seeds of Thorns, which quickly absorbed nutrients and grew upon landing.
"Street Sixty-Nine, 19 cultists eradicated."
"Street Twenty-Four, a cultist nest discovered, likely containing a node, proceeding with demolition."
"Street Forty-Four, 3 three-star Anomalies and 26 two-star Anomalies eradicated."
"Street Fifty-Seven, ..."
"Street One Hundred and Eight, ..."
Within Mist City,
In the densest areas of thorny vines, dark green tendrils intertwined, guarding a giant flower bud, three to four meters tall, with tightly closed petals, at the center.
Inside the bud, two graceful figures sat facing each other.
Liu Shang closed her eyes, using these vines, which she had cultivated, to extend her vision, capturing the figures of enemies and coordinating tactics.
The specific operations, naturally, fell to...
"Liu Ji, Vine Seventy-Nine, medium-strength enemy."
"Understood, Sister."
The Siren of Thorns, Liu Ji, controlled the vines, her power extending through the seeds, each of which was equivalent to a clone of hers.
Dozens of kilometers away,
Bang—
Thick vines broke through the window and continuously poured into the house, strangling the cultists in their astonishment.
Then, the Siren of Thorns, Liu Ji, shifted her gaze to the next area.
Under the coverage of the vines, more than half of Mist City had become her hunting ground.
Above, the red moon hung high.
Below, the world was shrouded by the tree realm.
In the most severely affected disaster area of Mist City, the Divine Mage Anthony watched in astonishment as the thick vines continuously extended, soon reaching areas where powerful Anomalies were clustered.
These strange vines began to fight the Anomalies.
Some vines coiled around the Anomalies, while others were torn apart by them.
But the number of vines kept increasing, seeds fell, new vines grew, and thick, dark green tendrils shot up into the sky.
They grew longer and thicker.
Like vine dragons, they bound two colossal shadows in the distance, restraining them by force! Even as some vines broke, countless more climbed onto them.
Entwining! Restraining!
Coil after coil! Constantly piling up!
In a short while, countless vine dragons intertwined to form a colossal mountain of vines, standing tall on the ruined land before the Divine Mage Anthony and the other powerhouses of the Sunset Kingdom!
The mountain body trembled and bulged.
The roars of the Anomalies echoed far away.
But they were also held as if by two giant hands, constantly tightening, ever tighter.
The tremors, the bulges gradually subsided, and the vine mountain, like two man-eating behemoths, slowly became calm.
Only in the distance, the powerhouses of the Sunset Kingdom, watching this scene, felt as if their hearts were churned by monstrous waves that refused to subside.
At this moment,
The Divine Mage Anthony blinked and looked up to find that the crimson moon, which had been hanging high above Mist City, had disappeared at some unknown time.
The red light was gone, and the night was as cool as water.
A cold wind blew across the faces of the night patrollers. In a daze, they found that the surrounding vines and the distant vine mountain had also disappeared, along with the terrifying Anomalies.
It was as if the disaster they had just experienced was an illusion.
However,
The ruins before them, the scattered mess, the occasional wisps of smoke from the limbs of Anomalies, the broken vines with green liquid oozing out, and the even more shocking, blurred corpses—all these told them it was not an illusion.
The sky had not yet dawned. The night patrollers tightened their clothes and hurried forward.
…
"Another red energy shield covering a city has disappeared!"
In Huangdu, at the headquarters of the Investigation Bureau, a command hall.
Seeing another ritual site being broken, those who knew the inside story couldn't help but punch the air.
"Now, only the last ritual site remains."
Director Tang stared at the satellite images, clenching his fist.
But all he could do at this moment was watch.
Their strength was still too weak.
In the future, they must cooperate more with Phoenix Fire to keep pace and deal with the ever-worsening disasters.
…
In the White Eagle Federation, Area 51.
The leader of Area 51 stood with his hands behind his back, also watching the satellite feed.
He frowned.
"Seven cities were enveloped by red light, with a red moon hanging overhead. What exactly happened here?"
Area 51 had no information whatsoever.
This greatly displeased the leader. He only knew that when the red moon appeared, all contact with the inside and outside of the city was lost. But why the red moon appeared, what its purpose was, they knew nothing.
Even a high-ranking team in the country of Wanta had lost contact.
He could not tolerate things being out of his control, and neither could many important figures.
Area 51 immediately used its authority to deploy several satellites to observe the situation in places like City of Waves and Mist City.
He saw devastation.
It appeared that the cities covered by the red light had suffered a great disaster. Fortunately, none of these cities were within the White Eagle Federation, Area 51 leader felt lucky.
But he needed to know more.
Under his command, agents in Europe were already heading to the last remaining city.
Suddenly,
In the satellite feed, the blinding red light disappeared.
"It's over?"
…
"Is it over?"
Countries like Donghuang, Baixiong, and others who still had the capability to observe with satellites, all asked the same question.
But before they could get a clear view of the cities after the red light dissipated, the clouds suddenly changed. Centered on the last city, the airflow in the surrounding tens of kilometers, hundreds of kilometers, and even further regions began to stir.
On the satellite images, a giant white vortex formed.
It was as if a giant hand was stirring up the clouds over a vast area. In the core region of the vortex, the clouds began to collapse downwards, as if something was about to break through the clouds.
"Ding!"
"Notification: Special Mission 'Cultist Sacrifice' has changed, and the current mission has been upgraded."
"Ding!"
Donghuang, Area 51, Bear Country, Sunset Kingdom, Wave Country, and other observers of this scene, as well as the top powerhouses on Blue Star, felt an oppressive feeling in their hearts at this moment.
It was as if a great disaster was about to descend.
It was intuition, an omen, indescribable, suddenly emerging from the depths of their hearts, their faces becoming solemn.
"What happened?!"
…
"What in the world happened? Didn't we succeed!"
Under the night sky,
A giant monstrous bird flew at full speed. An An Jianyou, slender and frail, stood on its back, seemingly unaffected by the strong winds, standing steadily. However, when she looked at the slowly sinking clouds in the far distance, her expression became extremely solemn.
The closer she got, the more An Jianyou could feel a terrifying presence about to descend.
It was like a mountain slowly pressing down.
Danger lay ahead, a great disaster, a great terror!
However,
She tightened her collar, looked down at the Phoenix Fire symbol engraved on her silver scale armor, and the words her mentor often spoke echoed in her mind. Her eyes were clear and resolute.
She steered the monstrous bird towards the oppressive center.