Once he had his direction, Chen Bugu charged forward, meeting the incoming branches.
Continuously keeping his eyes in the Breaking state consumed a massive amount of Chen Bugu's mental energy; he had no time to continue circling and had to kill Vine Dream in one go.
It was as if a "death hourglass" was hanging over his head, and his mental energy was the fine sand within it; no matter what he did, that fine sand would never stop flowing.
The staircase was narrow, with limited space for movement, and within two seconds, the trajectories of all branches appeared in Chen Bugu's eyes.
At this moment, his brain was exceptionally calm, rapidly calculating the only opening left by these branches within two seconds, based on the images transmitted by his eyes.
Subsequently, Chen Bugu's body moved into action; he fully controlled every joint in his body, coordinating with the images calculated by his brain, and executed corresponding evasive maneuvers.
Under the "Heaven and Earth Net" attack, only sharp leaves grazed Chen Bugu's face and arms.
But Chen Bugu's movements didn't pause for a moment; he continued running up the staircase without looking back.
Missing their target, all the branches quickly retracted, transforming into whip-like shadows that lashed towards Chen Bugu's back.
Chen Bugu pushed off with his legs, increasing his speed, swiftly dodging, and then rushed up to the second floor.
Unexpectedly, branches and leaves extending down from the third-floor staircase swiftly attacked him.
Chen Bugu was startled, then glanced at the second-floor hall, immediately realizing that Vine Dream's main body was not on the second floor either.
As long as there were still branches on the upper floors blocking him, it meant he had to keep going up.
Whip shadows constantly behind him, a Heaven and Earth Net in front of him.
Chen Bugu lifted two head-sized Fireballs in his hands, roared, and stepped onto the stairs to continue upwards.
The moment the Fireballs appeared, through Inference, he could clearly feel that the branches in front and behind him hesitated and retreated for a moment.
Their weakness was indeed fire!
Chen Bugu hurled the two Fireballs forward.
As the flames Ignited the branches in front, Bullet Time simultaneously activated.
Chen Bugu, enveloped by the power of time, grabbed the Ignited branches with both hands and pulled forcefully backward.
The originally impenetrable blockade instantly revealed an opening; seizing the opportunity, he bent his body and leaped through, taking three steps as two, and rushed onto the third floor.
Unfortunately, the third floor was still not where Vine Dream's main body was located.
While Vine Dream hadn't yet reacted to Chen Bugu's sudden disappearance, Chen Bugu rushed up to the fourth floor in one breath.
Two minutes later...
Chen Bugu stood on the rooftop, his entire body covered in wounds, with fine blood marks all over his skin.
His clothes were torn in various places, and his back was even pierced with many metallic leaves.
He gasped for breath, looking at the several huge green sarcomas on the rooftop, feeling utterly nauseated.
After successively using Bullet Time twice, Chen Bugu finally reached the top floor and at last saw Vine Dream's main body.
As far as he knew, the core of plant-type demon beasts should be a green, rhombus-shaped crystal, but Chen Bugu looked around, and apart from those strange green sarcomas, he couldn't see anything else on the entire rooftop.
Chen Bugu immediately realized that this damned Vine Dream must have hidden its core.
At present, his mental energy was only enough to cast Bullet Time for one second at most, but the several green sarcomas, each a meter in diameter, stumped him.
Countless branches in front and behind him made "hissing" sounds like long snakes, and in the next second, they would engulf him.
But Chen Bugu couldn't simultaneously shatter so many green sarcomas in an instant.
He only had one chance!
At this moment, it was as if his inner anxiety had been heard.
In his mind, that mechanical voice appeared again.
"Eye Gene Lock Breaking progress: 50%"
"Unlocked ability: Weakness Detection"
Chen Bugu's vision suddenly changed.
His eyes seemed to transform into a thermal infrared scanner, suddenly able to see the internal space of the sarcomas.
In his eyes, all the sarcomas suddenly turned gray, but only in the center of the second sarcoma on the right, a rhombus-shaped object turned red, exceptionally eye-catching.
Core!
That was absolutely the core!
The unlocking of the Weakness Detection ability was simply a godsend.
For the first time, Chen Bugu genuinely felt that the mechanical voice in his mind was so pleasant to hear.
Silver Time power instantly enveloped Chen Bugu's entire body; he activated Bullet Time.
He leaned forward, sprinted rapidly, and simultaneously conjured two small, fist-sized Fireballs in his hands.
The moment the Fireballs appeared, they rapidly turned blue, and Chen Bugu's face also became incredibly pale in an instant.
Chen Bugu only retained a little mental energy, injecting the rest into the Fireballs in his hands.
The moment Bullet Time was forcibly dispelled, Chen Bugu's hands also plunged into the green sarcoma in front of him.
Under extreme high temperature, the sarcoma's surface skin melted rapidly, like snow encountering boiling water.
Two small blue Fireballs submerged into the green sarcoma; they collided, unleashing a huge yellow flash.
"Bang!"
With a bang, the green sarcoma in front instantly exploded, splattering countless green bodily fluids all over Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu was affected by the heatwave and retreated several steps.
The green core was engulfed by the flames the moment of the explosion, instantly annihilated into dust.
All the dense branches behind him eerily froze in mid-air, then lost their strength and fell from the air.
It's over!
Chen Bugu slumped onto the ground, the purple light in his eyes gradually fading.
His mental energy was already nearing exhaustion, and with Vine Dream dead, the illusion would certainly disappear, so there was no need to continue maintaining Breaking.
Although at this moment, he had countless questions about the Gene Lock, about his eyes, and about the sigh he heard when he was caught in the illusion, these were clearly not the most crucial matters at hand.
Chen Bugu sat on the ground, enjoying a huge surge of energy entering his body.
That was the energy belonging to the Black Iron Grade mid-tier demon beast, Vine Dream.
Chen Bugu felt warm all over, and the fatigue from the battle seemed to be alleviated.
At this moment, he successfully broke through to Black Iron Four Star.
Chen Bugu:
"Virus Type Ability: Cracking"
"Element-type ability: Space-Time"
"Strength: 37"
"Blood Qi: 45"
"Speed: 40"
"Spirit: 4 / 300"
"Skills: Fireball, Bullet Time"
"Gene Lock: Eye Breaking 60%"
"Unlocked: Inference, Weakness Detection"
Although this battle was perilous, the rewards from challenging a higher-level opponent were immense; Chen Bugu officially crossed the threshold of Black Iron Three Stars, reaching Black Iron Four Star, and both his Three Regions and mental energy had breakthroughs.
Most importantly, Chen Bugu seemed to have discovered other uses for Breaking, and ones that could directly enhance his combat ability!
Breaking the Gene Lock!
Although he still needed to wait for his mental energy to recover before attempting to figure out the specific usage, Chen Bugu already had a general idea in mind for the eye-related Breaking.
For now, he should first collect other spoils of war.
Chen Bugu rested for a while, then stood up and slowly walked to the center of the exploded sarcoma, where, amidst a pile of murky black-green liquid, he immediately spotted his spoils of war.
Although the secret realm's treasure chest hadn't been found yet, the reward dropped from killing Vine Dream had already appeared before his eyes.
It was a seed so emerald green it seemed to drip water.
Vine Dream Seed!