Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
Zhang Che had, on more than one occasion, seen the kind of demonic flower that could possess humans. He was very clear on its strength. As long as you were able to withstand their mind control, those things were nothing to be afraid of. Their attacking ability wasn't very high.
However, the oncoming vines obviously didn't belong to that type. They were very aggressive!
Zhang Che had only just entered the valley and the vines already came attacking. One could only imagine how huge the vines' main body was. It went without saying it would be extremely strong, too!
Although Zhang Che was confident in his strength, he was a little reserved about going all out without knowing his enemy's strength.
He even thought of the possibility of this being the demons' way to strike again after their failed invasion on Mercury, although Zhang Che knew that it wouldn't be easy for the demons to invade the beast world, either.
However, since those mind-controlling demonic flowers could enter the beast world, why wouldn't any stronger demonic plants be able to do the same?
"Master, let this servant take care of them!"
Countless thoughts flew through Zhang Che's mind in an instant, but the elemental queen behind him didn't care so much. As a fire elemental spirit, the elemental queen was very fond of fighting.
Seeing those vines rus.h.i.+ng at them madly so fast, the elemental queen couldn't wait for Zhang Che's reply. Waving both her hands, countless golden scarlet flaming snakes appeared out of nowhere and swept towards those vines.
Fire restrained wood. No matter how peculiar those vines' attacking method was, the elemental queen was confident the vines wouldn't be able to reach her, or hurt her master.
The truth justified her beliefs.
When the elemental queen's fire snakes swept out, it was like the vines had seen the snake spirits of heaven and earth. Every one of them twisted about, evading the golden scarlet flames in extreme fear.
"Good, not bad!" Zhang Che praised out loud when he saw this, disregarding what he thought before.
Although his scarlet sword was fully capable of cutting down those vines as well, and was also fast as lightning, it wouldn't be as easy as how the elemental queen had done it. After all, there were too many of those vines. They were spread all over, extending out from the depths of the valley with seemingly no end to them. Anyone who saw them would feel their scalps turn numb.
"Master, watch me burn them to as.h.!.+" The elemental queen was excited after receiving Zhang Che's praise. She waved her hands again, summoning more golden scarlet flames out of thin air. They spread out into a sea of flames and swept forth.
A wave of crackling noises rang out. The vines were unable to evade in time, and most of them were caught up by the flame snakes and were burned to ash instantly. The remaining vines instantly retreated deeper into the valley.
Those vines weren't the only things burned. The nearby vegetation were devastated, too. A large spread of it was burned to nothing by the terrifyingly hot golden scarlet flame snakes, turning a verdant piece of land to white ground. Even the earth underneath had crusted from the heat.
Zhang Che was a little lost for words at the sight.
If there were any environmental organizations present, wouldn't they reprimand him harshly for damaging the land?
Luckily, the vegetation in the beast world would only wither away when burned, or directly turn to ash. There was no need to worry about causing a fire.
"Master, do we give chase?" the elemental queen asked in antic.i.p.ation when she saw the vines shrinking back into the depths of the valley.
Zhang Che nodded, "Chase! Of course we're chasing! There's a high-grade spiritual herb in there waiting for me to harvest!"
If it were any other time, Zhang Che would really consider the risks involved first. However, there was a spiritual herb potent enough for the frisky monkey to break through inside. Naturally he didn't want to give it up so easily!
Moreover, he had a powerful combat force at his side who happened to counter those plant-type things. He didn't have to be scared of any tricks deeper in the valley.
Even if those vines were plants from the demon world, so what? A fire would get rid of them all!
Well, if a fire wasn't enough, then two would do the job!
The Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon flew unhurriedly further into the valley, ferrying Zhang Che and the elemental queen. On the way, Zhang Che saw more exotic beast skeletons.
Those exotic beast skeletons all had a similarity: the skeletons were basically preserved perfectly. It was rare to see any defects on them. Obviously there wasn't much resistance put up before they were killed, and their flesh and blood consumed by the vines.
As the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon flew deeper, rustling noises could be heard from ahead from time to time. However, the antic.i.p.ated ambush never came. The vines' main body must have realized the elemental queen's flames were tough to deal with and it chose not to risk itself.
However, Zhang Che didn't mind that. Since the vines' main body was unwilling to come out, he'd just push his way in!
In any case, his objective was the spiritual herb. Whether the vines' main body decided to fight or escape in the end didn't actually matter much.
As the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon flew deeper and deeper into the valley, the vines didn't come out to stop them. This made Zhang Che feel a little suspicious inside.
-Could it be that its intelligence is really so high, knowing that it can't win against me and decided to hide itself like a tortoise, not showing its face?-
Just as he thought of that, loud rustling noises suddenly rang in all directions at the same time. Countless vines rushed out, densely packed, yet the end of them couldn't be seen, like countless long green snakes shooting out.
"d.a.m.n, you think you can succeed by relying on an ambush?" Zhang Che curled his lips in disdain. Without needing any instructions from him, the elemental queen behind him raised her hands and tongues of golden scarlet flames appeared out of nowhere, and a huge fireball exploded, streaking in all directions.
For a time, intense crackling noises rang out everywhere. Countless vines were burned to ash during their rush.
This time, however, the remaining vines didn't retreat, and continued rus.h.i.+ng forward endlessly.
Suddenly, the elemental queen exclaimed in shock, "Master, the surrounding fire elements are isolated away. I can't get replenished and won't be able to hold on for long!"
Zhang Che's heart jumped. -That demon plant is actually this powerful!-
"Let me!" he yelled. The scarlet sword light came flying out from his brow, sweeping around him, cutting down a large spread of vines.
Not only that, a thick aura of murder was being emitted by the scarlet sword light. The leftover parts of the cut vines were unable to continue acting as they wished, and had no choice but to retreat.
"Go, charge in there and s.n.a.t.c.h the spiritual herb!" Zhang Che instructed the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon. He didn't dare to stay here for too long. The group quickly shot in the direction the spiritual reaction was coming from.
Zhang Che no longer cared whether they could kill the plant demon. All that mattered was s.n.a.t.c.hing the spiritual herb!
With the elemental queen's flames and the scarlet sword light's attacks, Zhang Che progressed through the valley very quickly. Not even a minute later, he could already sense the intense spiritual reaction.
The spiritual herb was right in front of them!
With a shout, the golden vortex in Zhang Che's spiritual sea suddenly erupted. The scarlet sword light suddenly shone brightly, its power increased by more than thirty percent. Instantly, not a single vine remained intact within a hundred-meter radius of Zhang Che.
In the next moment, Zhang Che finally saw the spiritual herb. However, what he saw had surprised him so much his eyes nearly popped out.
"Th-thi-this… what the heck is this!?"
That wasn't a freaking spiritual herb at all! It was clearly the huge main body of the demonic vines, rising up a few dozen meters away from Zhang Che. The strong spiritual fluctuations were coming from its body!
Not only that, the vines weren't the demonic plants he had thought they were earlier, either!
That thing was actually an exotic beast… well, perhaps it wasn't very accurate to say that it was an exotic beast. It should be considered an evolved plant in the beast world, because Zhang Che's data eyes were actually able to see the large vines' attributes!
Its name was the Blood-Sucking Demon Vine!