As soon as he entered the magical forest, a refreshing breeze greeted him. Besides the natural scents of flowers and young leaves, there was also a richer, ethereal aura.
Bai Ye was slightly surprised. This distinctive aura was only found in places where magic was concentrated. And the concentration of magic here was much higher than in his ranch.
His Wòjiāo Ranch had taken at least several years to accumulate so many ancient trees and mutated small animals. How long had this forest been growing out of the desolate snowfield?
He slowly crouched down and picked up a handful of soil. After releasing all his senses and analyzing for a while, a hint of a smile appeared in Bai Ye's eyes, and he continued to venture deeper.
Perhaps this trip would yield unexpected rewards.
"Mmmwu~wu~~"
"Jee~jee!!"
Golden sunset rays filtered through the leaves, casting dappled light on the lush green grass. Crisp birdsong echoed through the forest, melodious and distant.
The raw, natural atmosphere brought a gleam to the eyes of the nearly billion viewers in the livestream, filling them with a sense of clarity and peace.
"It's so beautiful! Weren't we told this was a man-eating, hellish forest? Why does it feel like a secluded paradise, a fairy land?"
"It feels a bit familiar~ like Brother Ye's ranch? Just... it seems to lack so many small animals?"
"No, no~ it feels less dangerous here than Brother Ye's ranch. Do you guys remember how silent and dead it was at Brother Ye's ranch when it got dark?"
Fans from the Three Kingdoms Alliance, especially the older fans from Great Xia, began to reminisce about the ranch. Seeing their discussion, those in the Western regions, seemingly fooled by the magical forest's appearance, immediately rushed to remind them.
"Don't let your guard down. The danger in this forest isn't from the animals, but from those bizarre plants!"
"That's right, that's right! I have a friend who's a mercenary. Their team of over 20 people went in to search for treasure, and only one person made it back. He brought back video footage: someone was swallowed whole by a giant flower, someone was sucked dry by tree roots and turned into a mummy, and someone was directly overgrown with strange weeds... It was too terrifying. Now, whenever I close my eyes, I see those scenes..."
"Brother Ye, be careful of capsizing in the gutter! We're all counting on you to liberate us in Europe!"
"Baka yarou! You jinxes, shut your mouths for me!"
"Our Bai Ye Oppa is invincible. Do these flowers and plants think they can defeat our Oppa? Impossible— Ah!!!"
While everyone was busy arguing, Bai Ye happened to pass by a patch of overgrown weeds. The reason it was called a patch was that these weeds were taller than a person, about three meters high, with sparse and wide leaves, somewhat resembling Veratrum.
Bai Ye hadn't taken many steps before the leaves of the nearby weed patch suddenly unfurled, revealing flower buds with fangs at their tips.
"Oh my god!!"
"Man-eating flowers! My friends were eaten by them, many of them!" The Western regions exclaimed in unison. Everyone was startled. These man-eating flowers, despite having no faces, all turned towards Bai Ye, looking incredibly eerie.
"Hiss~~"
The man-eating flowers hissed like snakes, and then one by one, they opened their gaping mouths and bit towards Bai Ye.
"Brother Ye, be careful!!!"
In the blink of an eye, everyone's hearts were in their mouths, reminding him through the screen. However, they weren't too panicked, after all, Bai Ye was no ordinary person...
Yet, the next moment, everyone was stunned. Bai Ye seemed to have not reacted, and in one gulp, he swallowed a man-eating flower, disappearing from everyone's sight.
The livestream fell into dead silence. Then, billions of question marks scrolled across five bullet comment sections.
"What the hell? What's going on? Brother Ye, Brother Ye was just eaten by a man-eating flower?"
"No! Bai Ye-chan— why didn't you fight back?"
"Ugh! Shit, how could this happen? Weren't you called the Eastern God of War, the protector of humanity? This???"
"It's over, our last hope is gone!!"
...
The livestream was in an uproar, and besides the Three Kingdoms Alliance, the other four regions, in addition to shock, showed much doubt and mockery. However, as soon as these comments appeared, they were immediately cursed to hell and back by billions of netizens, their ancestors' graves practically smoking...
"You're the one who's in trouble! Your descendants for eighteen generations will die before Brother Ye has any trouble!"
"Nishishini! You hypocritical foreigners, I'll disembowel you!"
"Axi ba! Don't let me see you, or I'll mess with your whole family!"
The governments of various countries were also closely watching Bai Ye's livestream. Although they were also puzzled and shocked, as soon as they saw trolls appearing from their own countries, they immediately mobilized their highest-level reconnaissance methods to search for these individuals and arrested them for endangering national security...
Just as the nearly 1 billion people in the livestream were still in a commotion, the man-eating flower forest suddenly became agitated.
They all unfurled their large leaves again, turning towards the man-eating flower that had 'luckily' captured prey, sensing a terrifying crisis emanating from it!
The man-eating flower also became restless, writhing madly as if it wanted to spit Bai Ye out.
But suddenly, the area lit up, and with a whoosh, the entire man-eating flower burst into flames, and Bai Ye's figure slowly walked out from the firelight, completely unharmed.
The man-eating flowers next to it unfurled their leaves, trying to extinguish the flames on their companion, but as soon as they touched it, they caught fire, and the blaze immediately expanded a bit.
"Ah! Brother Ye, Brother Ye is back. I knew Brother Ye would be fine!"
"Hmph hmph hmph! Shocked, you foreigners? Our Bai Ye Oppa wouldn't leave behind millions of widows!"
"How come I feel like Brother Ye is pulling a fast one??"
Seeing Bai Ye's figure, the livestream suddenly erupted in exclamations.
"Hiss hiss hiss!!!"
The other man-eating flowers dared not come to the rescue. Then, something happened that made nearly a billion viewers stare in disbelief.
The man-eating flowers, one by one, yanked their roots from the soil and, like walking octopuses, bolted towards the depths of the forest!
In the blink of an eye, a large clearing appeared around them.
"Holy crap!! Are these plants still plants? They're running faster than me!!!"
"They look bizarre and terrifying, but why does it feel a bit funny??"
"As expected of a world of magic, it's shocking my worldview!!!"
"This, this this, is this scientific? Brother Ye?"
...
Bai Ye ignored the livestream netizens for the moment, instead looking down at the ground. He casually reached out and grabbed at the void, then flipped his palm over.
A few tiny, sparkling crystals appeared on his palm. The camera zoomed in, and the netizens looked confused.
"Are these... diamonds? Brother Ye looks so serious, does Brother Ye like diamonds??"
"Really? Brother Ye, I have many diamonds at home, even hundreds of carats!!"
"Hmph hmph, you little flirts! Brother Ye, come to my place. My family sells diamonds. Come on, let's have a long talk all night, and I'll send them to you by the kilogram."
"Ahem! Brother Ye, my little brother is a major shareholder in a certain mining company. Are you interested..."
...
Suddenly, all sorts of wealthy individuals and ladies appeared in the livestream, "competing for favor" in the bullet comments.
Meanwhile, the high-level officials of various countries, especially the Three Kingdoms Alliance and the Western powers, looked collectively surprised upon seeing the small crystals in Bai Ye's hand.
They recognized this item. It was currently a strategic resource more important to humanity than even martial arts—magic crystals!
To have such resources at this stage, did this magical forest contain a large quantity of magic crystals? For a moment, countless national leaders' eyes lit up with desire.
"I originally thought she achieved this by squandering magic crystals to quickly grow a seated forest, but it seems I was wrong."
"It's quite magical though..."
Bai Ye clenched the magic crystal particles and looked at the forest, his gaze becoming more intrigued. Unintentionally, he seemed to have stumbled upon a great secret of the magical plants, or rather, the spirits.