Chapter 138: Attack of the Mutated Divine Binding Vine!
At the Lunar Rainbow Inn within Fog City...
Shen Tian was meditating on his bed. He had just attained the Foundation Establishment stage, and his cultivation was not stable yet.
Nowadays, every time he ran through the whole course of the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique, he would feel greatly enlightened and gain more from the cultivation process.
He also had better mastery over the Divine Lightning of the respective four elements—metal, wood, fire, earth—that was contained within the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique.
This was all the more so for the Black Tortoise IX Divine Lightning, which belonged to the water element. Using this lightning skill was like using his own arm. For example, as Shen Tian raised up his right arm right now, drops of a black-colored liquid condensed and dripped down from his fingers, and these drops shimmered with lightning.
This was the exemplification of how when the IX Divine Lightning merged thoroughly with the First Essence Heavy Water—its master could wield it as he liked.
Shen Tian took out the Purple Golden Hammer and dropped the IX Divine Lightning on it.
The hammer turned pitch black in color and emitted oppressive vibes.
Shen Tian was confident that if he used this hammer in combat, every strike from it would allow him to bring down a single cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.
This weapon could bring down even Golden Core Perfected Ones if Shen Tian crept up to them in surprise.
Given my current cultivation and providence, I bet I can hold it if there’s really danger at the Fog Plain!
...Okay, maybe I am overestimating my capabilities. I should still aim for arming up myself as best as I can!
At that thought, Shen Tian took out a huge stack of Lightning Explosion Talismans from the Archeon Sea Ring and placed them in his bosom. Following which, he also took out the Lotus Shooting Gun and tied it behind his back, all ready to fire shots if danger approached.
In fact, Shen Tian was even contemplating if he should put on the Black Tortoise Armor.
But he eventually discarded that idea. After all, there wasn’t any imminent danger, so there was no need to get so edgy all at once.
Besides, the armor was made from a tortoise’s shell. Even though it did not look that bad after refinement, Shen Tian was still skeptical about how wearing a tortoiseshell could match his disposition.
Just when Shen Tian considered getting up to have some snacks, he heard a loud, tragic cry from outside his window.
“Ahhh! Nooo! Hel— Uhhh!”
Shen Tian perked up at that and hurriedly opened his window to check what happened.
Spirit fog had covered most of the area at Fog City’s eastern gate, and several black boulders were hurled out from the spirit fog, landing on the ground with loud crashes.
These boulders contained huge power. As they crashed through the infrastructure and landed on the ground, the earth shook and was cracked. Immediately, gigantic vines sprung up from those cracks—each of those vines was at least hundreds of meters in length, and the longest among them were even thousands of meters.
To be honest, they looked more like serpents than plants!
One might have guessed what these vines were—that’s right, they were the most precious specialty products at the Fog Plain, the Divine Binding Vines!
Even more shocking was the fact that these vines were not like the normal ones that one saw at the Fog Plain. They were not rooted in the ground, but instead, their roots were like tentacles, which held up their bodies’ weight, allowing them to move freely wherever they wanted to go. And their movement speeds were absolutely fast. In fact, they were about on par with the cultivators who were in combat with them right now!
That cry which Shen Tian heard just now had come from one of the Golden Core cultivators, who had been fighting with the Divine Binding Vine.
Originally, he thought he was in luck for having spied such a supreme-grade Divine Binding Vine in this Fog City. But he did not see the disastrous outcome—not only was he unable to subdue the mutated vine, the vine even stuck its tentacles into his body!
Shen Tian saw clearly that when the vine stuck its tentacles into the Golden Core Perfected One’s body, that person’s body shriveled up swiftly. In a few breaths, that person’s essence energy got sucked out. His body dried up and soon dissolved into fine powder!
These terrible Divine Binding Vines had much more vicious attacking capabilities than the ones most cultivators would come across on the Fog Plain.
Or should one say—such was the real prowess of the Divine Binding Vines. What cultivators had been seeing all along were just the ‘defects’ among the Divine Binding Vine species!
There’s indeed danger here! Even Fog City is no longer safe!
Shen Tian’s heart skipped several beats as he slid the Lotus Shooting Gun into his right hand, while his left hand took a bunch of Lightning Explosion Talismans from his bosom.
At the same time, he walked hastily toward the rooms where Eunuch Gui and the rest of his company were resting.
“There’s danger, let’s leave!”
Actually, Eunuch Gui and the rest had also discovered the imminent danger, and they were all rushing toward Shen Tian’s room.
Zhang Yunxi looked grim as she spoke. “There’s something wrong about the spirit fog!
“I have checked, and other than the western gate, all the other city gates have been surrounded by the fog.
“There’s even trouble using one’s divine consciousness to check out the situation in the city right now. It’s also no longer safe to leave the city with the Sword Kinesis Flight skill.”
After all, the Sword Kinesis Flight skill could only be activated with a stable divine consciousness and strong Dharmic powers. Only by then could one ride and maneuver safely on their swords.
If one only had Dharmic powers and did not have a strong divine consciousness to support the skill, then it would be akin to driving a car without its steering wheel—they could get into ‘car-crashes’ any time!
Shen Tian’s brows creased up. “This spirit fog actually knew how to surround the main city and then attack the people from within. This must be an ambush planned by some powerful beings!
“Senior Sister, we have to avoid those Divine Binding Vines and get to the western gate right away!”
Shen Tian did not have plans to jump out and battle those vines. After all, he was only at the early-stage of the Foundation Establishment stage. Even if he was somewhat talented, he knew that most probably, his capabilities could only be on par with a Golden Core Perfected One.
Yet now...
Shen Tian turned his head and saw that even those Nascent Soul Supremacies were alerted.
And there were seven of them!
But much as though they were powerful, they were being trapped by all the gigantic vines.
This meant that even if Shen Tian joined the battlefield, he would probably be sucked clean of his essence energy and be defeated by those vines because they had skills that were comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator!
So the conclusion was—to just save his own neck!
Zhang Yunxi nodded in agreement with Shen Tian’s words. Although it was true that she was a proud person, she was never an obstinate fool to not know when to retreat.
The Hidden Fog Country had been around for so many years, and naturally, they would have experts guarding their main city.
During such dangerous times, it was best to just take care of oneself and their accompanying friends!
Zhang Yunxi took out the White Tiger sword from behind her back and retreated with the rest toward the city’s western gate.
One had to give it to Zhang Yunxi—as an expert at the Golden Core Eight Refinement Stage, she was indeed formidable. She cleared all Devine Binding Vines on the paths that the group took in their retreat, and it was so fast that one could only see greenish-black juice flying off the White Tiger sword’s blade.
All the streets were in a mess after Zhang Yunxi walked past them. Meanwhile, Shen Tian was quick to react too. He took on the responsibility of picking up all the broken vines that Zhang Yunxi left behind.
Well, these are Divine Binding Vines, after all. And the kind that can walk by themselves! They are definitely the supreme-grade plants among the mutated species. Next time, I can make them into Divine Binding Ropes. Isn’t that so worth it!?
Shen Tian heaved a sigh of relief upon looking at the powerful Zhang Yunxi.
It was a wise decision to bring Senior Sister Yunxi along for his experiential journey, indeed!
However, Zhang Yunxi’s strength quickly attracted the attention of the most powerful vines.
In a short while, three Divine Binding Vines that were around thousands of meters in length came charging at her!
These three vines were far greater than the ones Zhang Yunxi had cut through previously. No matter in terms of their durability, flexibility, or their reactions when facing attacks, these vines were far more superior than their previous counterparts.
Also, the combination of the three vines succeeded in trapping Zhang Yunxi’s advancement.
At the same time, several Divine Binding Vines that were hundreds of meters in length started to attack Shen Tian and the rest!
The situation took a turn for the worst.