Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Devil Vine
Wang Wu guessed correctly. Ten minutes later, when the sun’s afterglow completely disappeared, the last three giant vine spheres finally flew to the sky above this valley. One of them slowly descended at the widest spot, less than five hundred meters in a straight line from the crevice where Wang Wu was hiding and less than thirty meters from the bend in the creek where he had previously hidden.
At the same time, Wang Wu also clearly saw what this so-called hot air balloon giant object was.
It was clearly a giant sphere composed of countless branches and vines.
Covered densely with branches and leaves, the interior could not be seen, but at the bottom, there were tens of thousands of thick roots, over a hundred meters long, that looked like a lush beard from a distance.
As for why this thing could fly and hover, Wang Wu really did not know the principle.
The only thing he could see was that during the slow descent of the vine giant sphere, the tens of thousands of roots below automatically began to move very flexibly, like the tentacles of a super giant octopus.
At the moment it touched the ground, these root-like tentacles easily pierced into the soil.
At this moment, Wang Wu saw the ground within dozens of meters around crazily wriggling, as if a swarm of scarab beetles had drilled into the human skin, a scene that made Wang Wu’s heart tighten with fear.
This crazy wriggling continued to a distance of two to three hundred meters before it gradually stopped.
Only then did the vine giant sphere come to a steady stop on the ground. However, judging from the feeling of its landing, this thing did not seem very heavy.
"So this is just some strange plant? A kind of demon spirit monster?"
Wang Wu sighed with relief. If it was a plant, its aggressiveness shouldn’t be strong, right?
But just as this thought flashed through his mind, a multitude of winged red ants flew out from within the vine giant sphere.
They were slightly larger than ordinary ants, approximately three centimeters long, with fairly large wings, and at first glance, they looked like bees.
No one knew how many of these flying red ants there were. In an instant, almost half of the valley was filled with them, densely packed everywhere, followed by the sound of little demons frantically fleeing.
Dammit, these migrating colonies are all the same, nothing but plundering!
Wang Wu felt numbness in his heart, wondering if any Great Demon was with them.
As a result, his hiding place evidently became a focal point for those flying red ants to search.
The uneaten iron-teeth flying locusts were discovered immediately, then all carried away by these flying red ants, leaving not a bit of residue.
This could have been the end of it, but Wang Wu was more shocked to find grasses in the valley which had been thriving started to wither within a short time, and it seemed as if their vitality had been swallowed.
Dammit!
Wang Wu cursed inwardly but was helpless.
Thankfully, those red ants did not notice him, as he was currently in Level 8 Concealment status.
Maybe he could avert disaster by a financial loss, but this valley was indeed disaster-ridden, or rather, this entire line was disaster-ridden.
Wang Wu had discovered a pattern.
From the Iron-teeth Flying Locust Legion to the crows, the flocks of birds, to the united fleet of the vine giant ball and red ants, their migration route basically stayed on this line.
Obviously, to the south of the valley, about three kilometers away, lies a more nutrient-rich forest, but the Iron-teeth Flying Locust Legion did not go to ravage it last time.
Even northwards, at the root of North Mountain two kilometers away, was undisturbed, remaining green and lush to this date.
"According to the Cyan Wolf, this area is the boundary line of the two Great Demons’ territories. Have those Great Demons already marked their territory in some way unknown to me, only allowing specified routes?"
As soon as this thought came to mind, Wang Wu suddenly understood. After all, they were Great Demons; they couldn’t be cowards.
However, realizing it wouldn’t help. He could only watch the ecosystem in the valley, which had just recovered, being ruthlessly destroyed again, even worse than before, utterly devastating.
The Iron-teeth Flying Locusts, at least, only ate the surface parts, not the roots.
This vine...
"Damn, this is not good!"
Wang Wu suddenly felt an ominous sense of crisis. The ground near his location began to show minor tremors, as if the greedy root-like tentacles were excavating and absorbing the base of this cliff.
Could it be he was discovered?
But at this moment, he didn’t dare to move wildly and could only maintain Level 8 Concealment status as best he could.
But within mere seconds, the nearby ground suddenly collapsed, burying him in the rocks and soil. At this point, there was nothing he could do except try to crawl out frantically. However, under his feet appeared a thick root-like tentacle, similar to a hemp rope. It didn’t seem to discover him, only frantically digging forward, exploring, penetrating furiously...
This still could have been endured, but the key point was that this thing seemed to be stimulated by something. While charging forward and penetrating, it was also crazily growing and expanding, and it was even sprouting countless small tender shoots.
The tender shoots seemed to grow every second.
Wang Wu was already buried in the soil and rocks, finding it hard to break free; now, he was even more unable to escape, soon entangled by these root-like tender shoots.
Wasn’t this intolerable?
Wang Wu also grew anxious, frantically pinching off these root-like tender shoots with his claws and even biting them with his teeth. If this continued, the mere lack of air making it impossible to breathe would be unbearable.
Consequently, as soon as he bit through a few root-like tender shoots, he felt his mouth go numb.
Then the sensation spread throughout his body, and the numbness attacked crazily.
Shit, it’s poisonous!
A few lines of information emerged like ghosts at this moment.
"You have ingested the root of the Devil Vine and are poisoned, forcibly paralyzed by the poisoning. Meanwhile, it inflicted 100 points of erosion damage on you. Because you have 3 points of Paralysis Poison Resistance and 7 points of Plant Poison Resistance, the paralysis will weaken after 60 seconds. You ultimately suffered 70 points of toxin erosion damage."
"Your Level 6 Healing Talent has been activated..."
This is a true devil!
Wang Wu thought despairingly, unable to do anything but allow the Devil Vine to wrap around him more tightly, dragging him into the underground soil.
All around him was soil, and Wang Wu felt as if he were being buried alive. He could not breathe, and there was nothing he could do.
The only consolation was that his current Satiety was still at 500 points, and his Level 6 Healing Talent was madly activated.
Strangely, in this completely dark state of being buried alive, he did not find it extremely uncomfortable. Instead, he could clearly feel the strong beating of his heart and the blood coursing through his body like a torrent.
That was a surge of rich vitality!
It was the blossoming flower of life!
However, at the same time, it was like lighting a campfire, warmly blazing, but destined to be extinguished.
Yes, destined to be.
Wang Wu was stunned at this moment, even momentarily forgetting his own predicament.
"So this is the limit of life, the meaning of cultivation?"
He suddenly understood; this was not a novel concept. Yet, no one could see so clearly their own life endpoint, much like waking up refreshed, healthy, in good spirits in the morning without imagining oneself decades later withering on a hospital bed at the end of life.
Thus, Wang Wu was deeply shocked.
The next moment, his numbed, barely sensible and perceptible body suddenly began to revive, like a thawed snow mountain.
Then, in an instant, he awoke from a deep slumber, and that clear, mysterious, miraculous feeling withdrew like a tide.
Everything returned to reality.
Sixty seconds passed, and the effects of the paralyzing poison began to fade, while three lines of information appeared before him.
"Due to your Level 6 Healing Talent, your body has gained some resistance to the paralyzing poison, earning you 1 point of Paralysis Poison Resistance, currently (4/25)."
"Due to your Level 6 Healing Talent, your body has gained some resistance to the plant poison, earning you 1 point of Plant Poison Resistance, currently (8/10)."
"Warning: You are in a state of suffocation. Given your current bodily endurance limit, you will die within 600 seconds!"