Passing by two entangled fierce beasts, Lu Ye had not even steadied himself when the reddish snake tail lashed out at him like a whip, the force of the wind hitting his face.
www..co
M
At this moment, Lu Ye could not turn around and could only hurriedly activate his spiritual energy to protect himself.
With a crack, he was sent flying, his shoulder blade aching as he rolled several times on the scorching ground.
Standing up, he looked up, somewhat surprised.
The sharp blade he had imbued had not severed the large snake in one strike but had only cut through most of its body, blood flowing out as the snake demon writhed in pain on the ground.
Da Hu took the opportunity to break free from its restraint, bravely pouncing on the wound and tearing off a large piece of flesh.
The snake's head rose high, its mouth opening, a red light brewing inside. It aimed at Da Hu's position, and the temperature in the entire cave suddenly increased.
Da Hu's animal instinct did not sense the danger, and it roared low, agilely darting to the side.
In the next moment, a burst of flames spewed from the snake's mouth, distorting the air in front of it from the heat.
Seeing this, Lu Ye's eyes twitched, realizing that this snake demon was far more powerful than Da Hu. Fortunately, Da Hu had drawn its attention; otherwise, that burst of flames would have required him to use the Golden Body Talisman to defend himself.
Da Hu dodged in time, and the burst of flames did not injure him. Lu Ye took the opportunity to strike the snake demon from behind, aiming for below its head.
This strike also only cut through most of the snake's body, the blade being blocked by the snake's bones. After suffering two major blows from Lu Ye, the large snake immediately turned its head, aiming at Lu Ye, with red light brewing in its mouth again.
Lu Ye did not retreat but instead thrust his blade into the snake's mouth, simultaneously falling backward.
As the flames burst out, the long blade pierced through the snake's head, emerging from the back of its skull.
A white figure pounced from the side, colliding with the snake's body, causing it to tilt to the side. The flames spewed from the snake's mouth lost their target, burning in the air.
Lu Ye, who had fallen to the ground, quickly got up, took a spirit talisman from his storage bag, and held it in his hand, looking around with heightened alertness.
However, he soon put away the talisman and stood still, waiting.
His final strike had directly pierced the snake's head, a fatal wound. Although the large snake was still writhing on the ground, it was clearly dying. The long blade was stuck in its mouth, causing more damage with each twist, and the ground was covered with splattered snake blood, which was evaporating due to the high temperature, making a sizzling sound.
Da Hu also got up, shaking his body. His white fur was in disarray, with large patches burned, looking quite miserable.
From the time Da Hu launched his attack to now, it had only taken a few dozen breaths, yet the outcome had already been decided, and the life and death of the combatants had been determined. In this extremely short period, their confrontation had been extremely dangerous.
What surprised Lu Ye was that his first cooperation with Da Hu was nearly perfect.
Especially at the end, when Lu Ye thrust the fatal blow and fell backward to avoid the burst of flames, Da Hu's collision further ensured his safety.
If he had come alone, Lu Ye mused, he would have had a tough battle, and he might have had to use several spirit talismans.
But with Da Hu's cooperation, it only took a short moment to subdue the snake demon.
He suddenly felt that agreeing to Yi Yi's request was not a bad thing at all.
"Good job." Lu Ye nodded at Da Hu, not sparing his praise.
Da Hu let out a howl in response. Although this creature could not speak, its strength was not particularly high, but after several interactions, Lu Ye found that it had a high level of intelligence and could understand human speech, which was quite remarkable.
The large snake finally stopped moving, and Lu Ye kicked it to confirm it was dead.
Looking at the long blade stuck in the snake's mouth, Lu Ye was at a loss. The blade had been scorched red by the snake's flames, and picking it up at this moment would likely burn his skin off.
He could only wait.
Taking the opportunity, Lu Ye walked to the Barrier-Breaking Fruit tree and carefully picked the two fruits, storing them in his storage bag.
As for the tree, Lu Ye did not plan to take it, as it would not survive if moved.
Just as Lu Ye was about to retrieve the blade, he suddenly felt a bit dazed, something stirring within him.
This feeling reminded him of an encounter a few months ago…
He quickly said, "Amber, you go out first. I'll come find you later."
Da Hu let out a howl and patted the dead snake with its paw.
Lu Ye immediately understood: "I know, this is a good thing, how could I leave it behind?"
Da Hu was satisfied and left, picking up a piece of flesh it had torn from the snake before it went.
Once Da Hu's figure disappeared, Lu Ye looked at the Barrier-Breaking Fruit tree again.
The stirring feeling came again.
He quickly focused his mind. To his surprise, the shadow of the Talent Tree did not appear in his vision this time, but there was some abnormality in his Source Spirit Acupoint.
He quickly closed his eyes and carefully perceived.
Faintly, he seemed to see a large tree's shadow appearing in his Source Spirit Acupoint, which was the Talent Tree.
The roots of the Talent Tree sprouted many rootlets, just like the scene in the Evil Moon Valley mine a few months ago.
The rootlets penetrated an unknown area, and in the next moment, a fiery red force was drawn out through the rootlets.
As the fiery red force surged in, he clearly saw a leaf on the Talent Tree begin to glow with fire and then burn fiercely.
Next was the second leaf…
By the time the third leaf was reached, it only glowed but did not burn.
The rootlets slowly disappeared, and Lu Ye opened his eyes, finding that his hand had somehow covered the Barrier-Breaking Fruit tree.
The fruit tree had completely withered, and the scorching cave had completely changed, no longer emitting any heat.
Lu Ye fell into deep thought.
He recalled the first time the Talent Tree changed, when he was examining the steward Yang's remains and found an unknown mineral. The Talent Tree had then sprouted rootlets, which penetrated the mineral, causing it to crack and reveal a ball of orange flame inside.
After the Talent Tree absorbed the power of the flame, a leaf carrying a sharp spiritual pattern burned fiercely.
This time, it was even more remarkable. The Talent Tree had absorbed some unknown power, causing two leaves to burn and the third leaf to show a significant change.
It seemed that his guess from a long time ago was correct: the Talent Tree needed to absorb some fiery or scorching power to change. The experience just now undoubtedly confirmed this.
The underground of this cave undoubtedly contained the energy needed by the Talent Tree, which, after being absorbed, made the place no longer hot.
The living environment of the Barrier-Breaking Fruit tree was destroyed, and the tree naturally died. It could be said that the tree originally contained some scorching power, which was completely drained by the Talent Tree, leaving it unable to survive.