Bone-chilling rain fell in the squirming forest.
There was thick smoke everywhere, and only the occasional lightning tearing through the clouds illuminated the vague figures of the monsters.
The group walked with great trouble in Graveyard Forest.
It was a typical primary forest. The towering trees had their roots deep in the ground, and their branches intersected with each other. Hidden under the thick humus were countless caves and quagmires. Forget about the main fighting tanks and crawler-type infantry carrier vehicles, even the spider fighting vehicles could not get through this place.
The only vehicle that hunters and mine explorers could rely on were four-legged military machines known as mules.
The weight of the machine mules was no more than three hundred kilograms, but they could carry a load weighing more than half a ton. Then, with a speed of twenty kilometers per hour, they could travel more than one hundred kilometers. They had solar panels to charge their energy and could get energy from crystals. In emergency situations, superhumans could even inject spirit energy directly into their mobility core.
Humans did not have satellites in the Other World. Hence, it was only natural that they did not have a global positioning system, but biochemistry scientists and machine engineers worked together to insert a large amount of monster nerves into the mules, so they possessed a low-level intelligence. They could understand commands and follow their masters.
Lu Siya’s mine exploration team brought with them a total of fifty machine mules, which carried most of their resources, so the mine exploration team members were able to enter the forest while carrying little weight.
But this did not mean that their journey was a lot easier, because Lu Siya chose a road with few people. Or rather, there was no road at all in the path they traveled. Everyone, including the crystal experts and mine explorers had to swing their weapons to cut down vines, weeds, and other strange things between the trees as they moved forward with great difficulty.
Quite a number of mine explorers grumbled. How long were they supposed to stay in this god-forsaken place, and where they were going?
Whenever they moved several kilometers, Lu Siya would stop and ask Professor Ye, the Blood Flower expert, to gather samples from the ground in search of a Blood Flower settlement.
Meanwhile, she would also focus. Trails of bewitching spirit tattoos would appear beside her temples and swirl behind her eyes before gathering at the center of her forehead. Then, as if she had opened a third eye formed purely from spirit energy, she would search the depths of the forest. Then, she would point them in a new direction.
“Professor Ye has found traces of a Blood Flower settlement growing here in the past. I can also sense spirit energy gushing out from underground at a spot not far ahead of us. It’s as strong as a volcano eruption. There’s definitely a mine with a lot of crystals there!”
With Lu Siya’s guidance, the group gradually left the area with a lot of human activity and entered an unexplored world.
Even though Heaven Realm deities had already cleared the area repeatedly, it was inevitable that they missed a few Hell Beasts, and there were also pests that they could not kill no matter how many of them they slaughtered. They lurked in the dark and stared at the moving pieces of meat with greed.
But compared to the pests and surviving Hell Beasts, the most commonly seen dangerous creature in Graveyard Forest was…
“Snake Vine!”
Scimitar, who walked ahead of the group, suddenly shouted. The leader of Sharp Blade drew his scimitar as quickly as lightning and delivered a layer of bone-chilling slashes above their heads. In an instant, he cut apart the eight vines that fell down from the branches.
When the “vines” coughed up liquid that was as red as blood and started squirming and twisting about like venomous snakes on the ground, the group noticed that they were not normal plants. They were instead highly active carnivorous etherealized plants.
Snake Vines ate monsters. They were giant trees like curtain figs and could turn into a forest on their own. One single Snake Vine could split into thousands of vines that could move on their own. Venomous spikes grew on their surface, and once the vines touched their prey, they would bind them like pythons and tear them into shreds. They were one of the reasons why the forest turned into a graveyard.
Snake Vines also never appeared alone. In an instant, a rustling sound that made everyone’s skin crawl rose. Countless vines shot out from the darkness and went to bind the mine explorers.
The fighting-class superhumans from Sharp Blade were positioned around the squad. Layers of cold light instantly shot out around them and formed a wall that was so densely packed that not even a drop of water could escape. They cut down hundreds of Snake Vines.
But there were just too many of them. The Sharp Blade members and their leader had to protect the safety of the ten or so crystal experts and mine explorers, so they could not attend to everything, and they were a little flustered.
At that moment, a creature that was even thicker than a python shot out from the humus under their feet. Its head split into four and turned into a gaping mouth that pounced on a mine explorer!
Slit-mouthed Anaconda was a Grade Two superbeast. It often wandered around Snake Vines and helped them deal with prey that was too big and could not be strangled to death. They shared a typical symbiotic relationship.
Even though Slit-mouthed Anaconda could compare to a python in size and was even called an anaconda, it was not a snake-type monster. Instead, it was a mutated vermin similar to a huge earthworm. It was great at digging holes and hiding. It loved lurking deep in the humus in forests, and even Hell Beasts or Heaven Realm elites whose fighting strength was much higher had a hard time sensing their presence.
Once it succeeded in an ambush, it would immediately crawl into a hole under the humus while protected by the Snake Vines. Then, it would instantly disappear without a trace. It was an incredibly dirty and difficult monster to handle.
The shocked mine explorer was about to have his waist snapped by the Slit-mouthed Anaconda.
Even if he did not die, he would lose dozens of kilograms of flesh.
Scimitar wanted to save him, but dozens of Snake Vines targeted his vitals at the same time, which slowed him for half a second.
Then, a chain surrounded by lightning, and another surrounded by fire shot out of nowhere, perfectly binding the Slit-mouthed Anaconda’s mouth. Then, as if the user was reigning in a horse, he bound it tightly.
The runic symbols on the chains shone, and through the vibrations on the atomic electron shell, electricity that was more than ten thousand volts and heat that was thousands of degrees Celsius high surged out. Like red hot iron wires, the chains cut through the Slit-mouthed Anaconda like they were cutting beancurd.
No matter how slow the Slit-mouthed Anaconda was in terms of reaction, it could still sense the searing pain, and it hissed.
The chains shuddered and loosened their hold, allowing the creature to have a moment to breathe.
But that was just the prelude before the fatal attack.
At the end of the chains, two arc-shaped sabers shone with a strange and dim light that looked like a blood moon. They intersected with each other and cut into the gaping mouth, which looked like a chrysanthemum, and sliced the top half of its body, which was several meters long, into four.
The mine explorer was still stunned from fear when Meng Chao calmly pulled his chain sabers back.
Scimitar’s eyes shone with shock and admiration.
Meng Chao went forward and knelt down on one knee. He did not care about the struggling Slit-mouthed Anaconda. Sparks flew between his fingers as he inserted lancet knives and exploratory needles inside it.
“Slit-mouthed Anacondas have a unique acid in their digestive gland. It’s a very valuable material. Could you buy me some time to harvest it?” he asked Scimitar.
“… Alright.” Scimitar agreed to it instinctively. Then, he thought about it and added. “How long do you need? The Snake Vines are still moving around. We can’t keep waiting for you.”
“I’m done.”
While saying that, Meng Chao brought out the Slit-mouthed Anaconda’s digestive gland. Then, he tossed the shuddering and thin organ into a mithril-based stabilizing solution.
Scimitar’s moustache curled up. He did not turn his head around as he grumbled while he cut down another eight Snake Vines.
“It’s useless to continue cutting them like this. To Snake Vine Trees, Snake Vines are like the aerial roots to curtain figs. No matter how many you cut off, it won’t be a heavy blow to the main body. It can create more at any moment.”
Meng Chao used his searchlight to point into the depths of the forest. “If my guess is correct, the ninth tree from here, the one that looks like a crooked pine, is a Snake Vine Tree that has disguised itself perfectly. I’m pointing at it right now with my searchlight.
“It’s the core of all these Snake Vines. If we destroy it, these Snake Vines will instantly die.”
Scimitar frowned. “How do you know?”
“With my nose and eyes,” Meng Chao explained. “After a Snake Vine binds a prey, it will deliver it near the Snake Vine Tree to digest and absorb it. That’s why there’s a bloody stench that you can’t get rid of around Snake Vine Trees. It doesn’t have the refreshing scent nor the scent of mud that normal plants have.
“And when some of the larger monsters are bound by Snake Vines, they aren’t killed by poison right away. While being dragged over, they struggle madly and leave marks on the brambles, trees, and stones.
“I first relied on my smell to pinpoint the suspicious areas. Then, I started observing which tree has the most friction marks. That will naturally be the main body of the Snake Vines.”
Scimitar cast Meng Chao a deep glance.
A few of the veteran Sharp Blade hunters pounced on the etherealized plant Meng Chao had pointed out.
Countless vines shrieked, and the etherealized plant started burning.
It let out a screech that sounded like that of a monster. Lots of liquid poured out that looked like blood, and it looked terrifying.
Once Scimitar cut the tree in half, the dancing Snake Vines around them stopped moving. They started shriveling and rapidly rotting away.
“You do have some skills. No wonder you’re regarded highly by Ms. Lu.”
Once they broke free from the Snake Vines’ harassment, the members of Sharp Blade became friendly to Meng Chao.
“Lin Chuan’s junior will definitely not be an ordinary person,” Lu Siya said with a grin.
They traveled through the night and ran into ambushes from etherealized plants and low-grade superbeasts three times.
But with three Heaven Realm elites and the Sharp Blade members working together, they managed to get through them with no danger.
As for the Grade Four to Grade Six Hell Beasts, they possessed a certain degree of intelligence, and they saw this group that was clearly not to be easily provoked and did not dare to attack.
When dawn arrived, they hunted down a Blood Flower infested creature and found that it had fresh Blood Flower bacterial flora in it.
This meant that they were heading in the right direction.
Professor Ye used the Blood Flower infested creature to conduct an experiment with her suppressant on the spot.
Just as she expected, once the monster was injected with the suppressant and killed, it did not turn into an undead creature. Instead, along with the Blood Flower bacterial flora in it, it died.
With Lin Chuan’s guidance, they soon found the nest of the Blood Flower infested creature.
They also discovered a primary Blood Flower settlement that had not found any hosts in the area.
It grew in the darkness of the shrubs like red moss and were so thick that it looked like blood was about to start dripping from them. The settlement extended all the way to a large, sparkling lake.