Jiu Jiu snapped out of her excitement when she heard Xie Zhaolin's cold command. She stuck out her tongue playfully, but the gleam in her eyes never faded.
"Oh oh oh! Easy, easy!" Her words tumbled out at lightning speed, yet her gaze still darted greedily over the thrashing vines, as if she was recording some priceless data. "I don't know why they went berserk, but the core hasn't changed! Their weakness is still there!"
She suddenly pointed toward the upper left corner of the cave entrance, at a patch of dark-red moss clinging to the stone wall. Hidden beneath the wild shadows of the vines, it was almost impossible to spot.
"See that faintly glowing blood moss? That's their symbiotic core, the energy transfer node! Burn it! Normal spirit fire won't work, their resistance is too high! You've got to use… hmm, that black flame, the one reeking of destruction! That'll do it, burn the moss directly!"
She was still deeply impressed by the baleful qi that Xie Zhaolin had unleashed earlier.
Xie Zhaolin instantly locked onto the moss. Without hesitation, her baleful qi surged from her dantian, twining with her spiritual power.
Whoosh!
Black flames roared up from her palm, wrapping around the Liuyun Ribbon until the once-pristine silk turned an ominous ink-black.
"Burn!"
Her shout cut through the chaos. She stopped dodging and charged forward! The ribbon transformed into a roaring dragon of black fire that lunged at the countless vines slashing through the air.
Szzzt—!
The instant the fire touched the corpse vines, a shrill burning sound split the air. The vines, once impossibly tough, shriveled the moment they met the strange flames, as if struck by their nemesis. The black dragon carved a brutal gap through the sea of vines.
Xie Zhaolin seized the opening, flicking her wrist!
The dragon abruptly veered, whipping straight at the blood moss!
Crack!
The ribbon, wreathed in black fire, slammed into the moss!
Boom!!
It was like igniting a powder keg. A blinding blood-red glow burst out, accompanied by a piercing screech. Every corpse vine froze mid-strike, like puppets with their strings cut, then convulsed violently.
"Yes!" Jiu Jiu's eyes lit up.
But the pause lasted less than a breath.
Boom!
Instead of withering, the moss flared with an even darker red glow!
The corpse vines swelled grotesquely, the blood-colored veins on their surfaces burning brighter. Their attacks changed from whipping and stabbing to crushing, filling the cave entrance until not even a sliver of space remained.
The assault was even fiercer and more chaotic than before.
"What… what?!" Jiu Jiu's excitement froze into shock and disbelief. "No, this is wrong! They should've withered!"
This was completely outside her expectations.
Under the storm of vines, Xie Zhaolin darted and twisted. The Liuyun Ribbon wove a tight net of defense, but the pressure was overwhelming. Several times, the vines nearly caught her.
She snapped her head toward Jiu Jiu, her eyes sharp with both accusation and killing intent.
The look hit Jiu Jiu like a bucket of ice water. She jolted, every hair on her body standing on end.
"I don't know why this happened either!" she cried. "Use this! Hurry!"
She pulled out a perfectly round pearl radiating soft white light and hurled it toward the heart of the vine prison without hesitation.
"Close your eyes!" she shouted, snapping her own shut and covering them with her hands.
The pearl burst midair!
No explosion, only blinding white light flooding the cave mouth. It wasn't hot, but it carried a power that suppressed all evil. The corpse vines froze the instant the light touched them, suspended mid-motion like grotesque statues. Their blood-red veins dimmed, and the berserk aura was forcibly silenced.
The cave fell into eerie stillness.
"Go! It'll only hold them for a few breaths!" Jiu Jiu's eyes snapped open. She grabbed Xie Zhaolin's wrist and yanked her toward the depths of the cave.
Dragged forward, Xie Zhaolin staggered a step, then understood. The two shot through the narrow gaps like streaks of wind, plunging deeper into the cave's darkness. Not three breaths later—
The white light shattered.
Roar!!
The corpse vines came alive again, howling without sound, even more frenzied than before. They surged at the cave's interior, only to slam into an invisible barrier at the threshold. No matter how they flailed, they couldn't pass through.
The danger was over, for now.
The moment they were safe, Xie Zhaolin wrenched her wrist free from Jiu Jiu's grip as if she'd touched filth. She strode deeper inside, putting distance between them, then stopped and turned. Her eyes were like ice, fixed on Jiu Jiu.
Jiu Jiu, unfazed, patted her chest, breathing hard with both fear and excitement. "Scared me half to death! But wow, being with you is better than earning ten thousand top-grade spirit stones!"
Her voice trailed under the weight of that frigid stare. She gave a weak laugh, shrinking back.
Xie Zhaolin said nothing. No accusations, no scolding. But her silence was worse than words.
Jiu Jiu understood all too well. Her intel had nearly gotten Xie Zhaolin killed.
"Move."
The single word was flat, without emotion, but it carried absolute command. She turned and walked deeper, her presence colder and more distant than before.
Jiu Jiu pulled a face and stuck her tongue out again. She knew she was in the wrong this time and dared not talk back. She scurried ahead to lead the way, though her eyes flickered with thought.
Why had the plant gone berserk? And that mind-bending demon yam from before too…
It all started after meeting her benefactor. "Interesting."
Her lips curved faintly.
"You'll bring me something far more thrilling than a hundred thousand spirit stones, won't you?
Benefactor."