Ye Zhongming’s hair turned half-white almost instantly!
Liu Zhenghong was greatly alarmed. She and several researchers beside her reached out to try to push Ye Zhongming to help him break free from this state, but were stopped by Ye Zhongming’s gaze.
The current King of Cloud Peak could no longer speak, and his body was immobilized.
After he raised Lan You and activated the Gardener skill, instead of the expected dramatic plant transformation, an extremely strong suction force was generated.
Ye Zhongming had encountered similar situations before, but what was absorbed was usually the energy of the evolved themselves, or in more terrifying cases, their mental power.
However, when Lan You emitted this suction force, Ye Zhongming realized it was absorbing his life force.
Ye Zhongming couldn’t see the changes in his hair, but he could see his exposed hands.
The skin there quickly lost its luster and began to develop fine wrinkles and faint spots.
At the same time, his body sent out signals—a wave of weakness began to surge, with an increasingly intense trend.
Yet, he wasn’t overly panicked. He believed the absorption rate would take some time before it became a real problem, and he could handle it.
However, the drastic change in his hair had greatly alarmed Liu Zhenghong and the others.
Apart from his own sensations, there was another reason Ye Zhongming stopped Liu Zhenghong and the others—Lan You was undergoing changes.
With underdeveloped roots, Lan You’s sprout was also small and fragile, looking delicate.
Previously, it had grown only three centimeters in a year.
But now, in less than ten seconds, it had shot up over ten centimeters!
In other words, ten seconds had surpassed more than three years of growth!
At the same time, Lan You’s sprout itself had changed, developing spiral patterns in a somewhat bloody red color.
The fact that changes were occurring proved Ye Zhongming’s skill was taking effect.
However, he wasn’t sure whether this absorption was temporary or permanent.
Ye Zhongming’s mind raced as he decided his next move.
If he stopped now, the absorbed life force would definitely not return, and his strength would significantly decline—perhaps even a drop in his evolution level.
If he didn’t stop, at this rate, it might not be long before his life force was drained entirely, leading to death.
Ye Zhongming believed that, given his possession of a second life, the second option better served his interests.
Of course, it was uncertain whether the second life could restore the vitality lost from this situation. Ye Zhongming would have to gamble.
He chose to gamble.
He would rather lose the bet and live on as a feeble old man than play it safe and become a middle-aged or elderly man stuck at a seven-star or even lower evolution level, unable to recover.
Moreover, he had a feeling things wouldn’t be so simple.
Ye Zhongming continued to age, and Lan You continued to grow. From the moment Ye Zhongming began channeling energy until now, nearly half a minute had passed. Ye Zhongming had gone from looking like a man in his twenties to one in his fifties or sixties. Liu Zhenghong and the others watched in panic. Normally calm and decisive, she was now at a loss.
Meanwhile, Lan You had grown over a meter tall, no longer a tender sprout but with a thicker trunk and branches.
At this moment, no one else in the mountain stronghold knew the King of Cloud Peak was in extreme danger. They continued their work as usual.