He Hu, He Renlongâs brother, kept running. He didnât dare stop.
He didnât know why, but he didnât trust his brother. At the moment when Jiang Chen drew out his sword, his confidence was shattered into pieces.
Too anxious to pay attention to the course, he suddenly stumbled on an exposed tree root and fell on his face.
Feeling pain from his face, he sat against the tree to take a rest.
He wonât come after me, will he?
He looked in the direction he had come from. He wished his brother would appear at that moment.
Although he would be reproached, he would be safe.
âTired of running?â
But nothing went as planned. A cold voice came from the air. He Hu looked up and saw Jiang Chen landing on the ground, only a few steps away from him.
He Hu paled. He knew his brother must be dead since Jiang Chen was there.
Instead of anger or hatred, what he felt was fear.
âTell me.â
He Hu was dumbstruck, then realized Jiang Chen was talking about Li Xueâer. He mustered up the courage to ask, âYou wonât kill me if I tell you, will you?â
âYouâre not good enough for me to kill you,â Jiang Chen said.
He despised this guy deep in his heart. It would be a shame for the Redcloud Sword if he killed this guy with it.
He Hu sensed Jiang Chenâs disdain, but he wasnât angry. Instead, he felt lucky, so he told the latter what had happened.
It turned out that the big groups had placed the seeds in dangerous places all over the Realm of Beasts. They had even put some of the seeds in formidable monstersâ bodies.
Li Xueâerâs team had been hunting a ghost-level monster, which they had intended to kill together.
There were several seeds in the ghost-level monsterâs body, and they had flown out after it died.
When the team was going to grasp the seeds, numerous vines pierced through the soil and appeared on the ground where they were standing.
They hadnât paid attention to those vines. He Renlong and He Hu ran away, chasing a seed. They hadnât realized how dangerous the situation was until they looked back.
There were countless vines crisscrossed, leaving no ways out. They had even formed a giant net above those peopleâs heads.
The two brothers had felt lucky that they had run fast enough. They hadnât gone back to rescue the other team members, but kept chasing the seed until they met Jiang Chen.
âYou two are hopeless. Scram!â Jiang Chen shouted.
âThank you. Thank you.â
He Hu cried and knelt down to bow to Jiang Chen when he saw the latter wasnât going to kill him, as he had promised.
When he raised his head, Jiang Chen had flown to the area he had just mentioned.
âBloody magical vines?â Jiang Chen murmured to himself. Before he went there, he had studied documentation regarding this area and the geographical conditions and climate, since the Intelligence Pavilion had told him the spiritual herb he wanted was there. With the information he had, he deduced it could be either dragon blood wood or star grass.
Each kind of spiritual herb was guarded by a powerful living creature.
They could be any kind of creature, but due to the herbsâ properties, the creatures guarding the same kind of herbs had something in common.
For example, the creatures guarding star grass were all nocturnal beasts.
Around the dragon blood wood were plants, and the bloody magical vine was one of them.
It was a formidable plant. It had a strong vitality, extremely difficult to kill. Neither water nor fire could get rid of it. It was as soft as a snake, but harder than steel.
Anyone intertwined in it would be devoured, but the bloody magical vine wasnât an intelligent plant. Although it was spiritual, it couldnât reason.
Before he went there, he had prepared ways to deal with each possible situation, including when he ran into the bloody magical vine.
It was worth mentioning that the bloody magical vine was the easiest among the problems he had considered, which was why Jiang Chen was attempting the rescue.
When he arrived at the place He Hu had mentioned, he found the situation was even worse than he had thought. The bloody magical vines had occupied all vacant space. The place looked like a green castle made of greenery.
From the air, Jiang Chen could see people intertwined with the vines through the spaces between them.
Soon, he noticed Li Xueâer, fighting against the magical vines, but totally overpowered. The vines were getting closer and closer to her.
âApprentice sister, donât try to fight back! Itâs impossible to kill these vines. Your attack will only make them stronger. When they turn scarlet there will be no way for you to survive!â Jiang Chen shouted loud.
Li Xueâer was struck dumb. Hesitating, she looked over to the sky and saw Jiang Chen.
âStop fighting. Leave it to me,â Jiang Chen said.
âDonât land! Itâs dangerous!â Li Xueâer said.
âItâs alright.â
Jiang Chen took out a transparent crystal and injected his holy yuan into it. It started to emit a brilliant golden light.
When the vines were exposed to the golden light, they shriveled automatically so that Jiang Chen had a passage to walk through.
The crystal was called sunlit stone, the nemesis of the bloody magical vine.
By then, Li Xueâer was intertwined with several magical vines. They were crawling along her waist and legs, binding her tight.
Li Xueâer tried to rip them off, but they just wrapped around her wrists as well. The vines lifted her hands.
Jiang Chen became anxious. He extended the sunlit stone over at once, but the vines that had trapped Li Xueâer werenât affected. Only those nearby were pushed back by the light.
âThe vines intertwining you will use your energy to resist the sunlit stone,â Jiang Chen recalled what was written in the book he had read. He grasped the vines on Li Xueâer and tried to rip them off, but as he already knew, they were too tenacious for him to rip off.
âItâs not gonna work. Even my Thick Ice Sword doesnât work.â
Li Xueâer could feel Jiang Chenâs fingers on her. She felt unsafe, since her hands were bound, and she could do nothing.
âApprentice sister, take this sunlit stone and inject your holy yuan into it so that the vines wonât hurt you.â
âWhat about you?â Li Xueâer asked him, but didnât take it.
âIâll be fine. I have a bunch of them. Theyâre cheap.â
Jiang Chen handed the sunlit stone in his hand to Li Xueâer.
âItâs not gonna work. The vines have absorbed all of my holy yuan.â
Li Xueâer was holding the sunlit stone, but it didnât emit any light.
âPanaceas.â
Jiang Chen took out many panaceas to feed Li Xueâer.
Li Xueâer hesitated, but finally opened her mouth to take them.
âThe panaceas donât work as efficiently as the magical vines,â Li Xueâer shook her head.
âTheyâre bloody magical vines. They arenât sh*t.â
Jiang Chen sighed and spoke again. âItâs okay, apprentice sister. Hold my hand and take in the spirit of universe.â
âThatâs not gonna work either. Weâre in the Realm of Beasts,â Li Xueâer said.
âWhy does nothing work? Just do what I told you. We donât have much time left!â
Jiang Chen was anxious. Li Xueâerâs negativity irritated him, but it wasnât her fault. That was her character. She was facing life and death calmly.
Reproached by Jiang Chen, she was dumbfounded. She held Jiang Chenâs hands before she even realized what she was doing.
When she found she could indeed take in the spirit of universe through Jiang Chen, she hurried and tried not to waste any time.
Soon, she ignited the sunlit stone successfully.
The vines on her withered up immediately and she was freed.
âLetâs go.â
Li Xueâer was able to fly, which was convenient for Jiang Chen.
âHelp! Help!â
The others were almost exhausted by the magical vines. They were surprised to see Jiang Chenâs great ability, so they hurried to ask for help.
âHeh, Iâm only a shameless and nasty disciple of the Natural Law School. Iâm afraid Iâm unable to save you.â
Jiang Chen still remembered how they had insulted him, especially that Yi Ning, who was also among them.
âWe were wrong. It was just a misunderstanding.â
âDisciple of the Natural Law School, help us, please.â
âIâll pay you a handsome reward if you save me!â