The Dragonblood Vine, this kind of spirit creature, possesses terrifying destructive power against the world—it takes an incredibly long time for any soil it once rooted in to recover.
Not only that, it’s also notoriously hard to handle.
Back in the day, the Dragon Race willingly took it upon themselves to clear out these things, and the Human Clan was more than happy to see it happen.
Now, this particular Dragonblood Vine here has already absorbed the energy of an adult dragon at the Linghuang Jing level, raising its own rank to the same level.
For the Wanling Sect’s Ling Emperor to deal with it alone, it was honestly a bit much.
“We’ve more or less figured out how deep this Dragonblood Vine’s roots go underground. We haven’t touched it for the past few days precisely because its roots run so deep—if we don’t handle it properly, there’s a real risk of hidden dangers…”
The Ling Emperor of Wanling Sect looked out at the mountains covered in vines as thick as giant crawling beasts, explaining helplessly.
The Venerable didn’t really care about the Ling Emperor’s explanation. What seemed difficult to a Ling Emperor was nothing more than a trivial matter to her.
Especially since she and the Dragonblood Vine were of the same kind—solving it was right up her alley.
She stretched out her hand, palm facing the earth ahead. With a simple lift, clusters of tiny white flowers sprouted from the ground wherever she pointed.
Sensing the threat, the Dragonblood Vine began to wildly attack the little flowers growing nearby.
But soon, its not-so-bright consciousness drew a conclusion: there was no way it could defeat these flowers.
The fragments of White Flowers it chewed up and swallowed were now releasing toxins, making its body hard to control.
Its root system underground was being assaulted on every front—shredded, devoured.
It was hardly the only spirit creature here that could eat. In the sea of flowers that was the Venerable’s true body, there were more than a few buried corpses.
The earth began to tremble lightly. In every battlefield where the Dragonblood Vine clashed with the White Flowers, it was forced to retreat, step by step.
Soon, the outer sections—already battered once by Hua Jian—were completely wiped out by the White Flowers.
Its core didn’t last much longer, either. The Venerable stepped toward the valley where the Dragon Race corpses were piled, white flowers spreading beneath her feet like a tide.
No matter how the Dragonblood Vine struggled, it couldn’t stop the advance of the flower sea.
By the time she reached the dragon’s skeletal remains, the Dragonblood Vine that had once filled the valley was now wholly parasitized by the White Flowers.
These tiny blooms took root atop its body, using its form to attack the roots deep underground.
The Dragonblood Vine tried to fight back, but to the Venerable, its resistance was child’s play.
She gave a casual wave of her hand, and the vines that dared to retaliate were crushed by countless White Flowers, torn into shreds.
This plant-on-plant slaughter lasted nearly an hour.
In truth, after half an hour, the surface Dragonblood Vines had already stopped moving; the remaining time was spent by the Venerable hunting down and eradicating the deeply-buried roots.
Even the Venerable had to spend a whole hour to finish off this Dragonblood Vine. That alone showed just how troublesome the thing was.
“It’s done. Its life has completely ended. You don’t have to worry about anyone else taking advantage of it now.”
Only after eradicating the very last root did the Venerable drop her hand and speak calmly, as if nothing of import had happened.
Hua Jian looked at the Venerable’s back, suddenly realizing her earlier worries about the Venerable lacking dignity were groundless.
With that kind of strength, even just standing with her hands behind her back exuded an overwhelming air of authority.
Handling a Dragonblood Vine that no one else knew what to do with, all without batting an eye—was that not the definition of impressive?
And the Venerable’s next action made Hua Jian think she was truly a wonderful person. Or rather—a wonderful flower!
After eradicating the Dragonblood Vine, a pinkish-white flower several times larger than the others grew at the Venerable’s feet.
In just a few breaths, it completed the process of blooming and bearing fruit.
The Venerable plucked the red fruit hanging from the branch and walked over to Hua Jian.
“Eat it.” She handed the fruit to Hua Jian.
Hua Jian took it and, without hesitation, bit down.
As soon as her teeth pierced the fruit’s skin, an intensely spicy flavor exploded in her mouth, making her expression impossible to describe.
It tasted awful! What kind of fruit was this?
The flavor was truly horrendous, but Hua Jian kept eating, bite after bite. Her intuition told her it would do her great good.
After she finished, she found her sense of taste seemed to have gone numb—her mouth tingled, and she couldn’t taste anything.
The fruit’s power slowly spread through her body, then vanished in an instant. Hua Jian sensed she had gained some new abilities, though she couldn’t figure out exactly what.
She looked up at the Venerable, who had already walked far ahead, and hurried to catch up.
“Venerable, what kind of fruit did you just give me?”
“Energy Crystal of the Dragonblood Vine,” the Venerable said without looking back. “Just as you can absorb other spirit creatures’ power and gain their abilities, you can do the same with the Dragonblood Vine.”
She had only learned of Hua Jian’s ability not long ago; otherwise, she wouldn’t have gifted her own Flower Fragrance Ability by feeding her White Flowers.
Now that the Dragonblood Vine was dead, its power was of no use to the Venerable. Better to let Hua Jian gain a new strength.
“It’s not uncommon for Spiritual Flowers and Lingcao to devour each other and gain new abilities. Don’t let it weigh too heavily on you.” The Venerable even offered some comfort.
Hua Jian didn’t feel much pressure, but Linglong—who had followed along—was considerably more anxious.
Why had the Venerable given Hua Jian something so strange to eat?
That was the Dragonblood Vine! Would Hua Jian end up with its ability to suck dragon blood?
“Hua Jian, what power did you get from the Dragonblood Vine? Do you… feel hungry when you look at me now?” Linglong poked Hua Jian’s shoulder and asked in a low voice.
Hua Jian glanced at Linglong and shook her head decisively.
How could she possibly feel hungry? She wasn’t some man-eating monster.
“You look delicious, sure, but just looking at you fills me up—there’s no way I’d want to eat you.”
Though Linglong had been complimented, she didn’t feel much joy—she was more concerned with what ability Hua Jian had gained.
She half-dragged, half-coaxed Hua Jian into her own room, looking serious as she asked what ability she’d gotten.
Now that it was just the two of them, Hua Jian didn’t have to worry about her secret being discovered.
“I’m not entirely sure, but it seems like the vines I summon have more abilities now.”
Hua Jian was also curious about what the Dragonblood Vine had strengthened, and this private moment was just the right time to test it.
She summoned a vine and activated the unfamiliar power in her body. With her movements, a small slit appeared at the tip of the normally seamless vine.
Then, the vine opened its mouth.
Yes, the vine opened a mouth—just like when the Dragonblood Vine had attacked Hua Jian.
“So this is the power I got?” Hua Jian poked around inside the vine’s mouth. “The teeth are pretty sharp, at least.”
It was at least another way to attack—Hua Jian tried to reassure herself.
Linglong leaned in and poked her finger inside the little vine mouth, rubbing around.
Hua Jian’s summoned vine was actually very thin. Even with its mouth wide open, Linglong could fill it up with a single finger.
This tiny mouth and teeth probably couldn’t do much damage—wielding them as whips would probably be more effective.
Truly a bit lackluster.
“Don’t poke it like that—it feels weird!” Hua Jian quickly withdrew the vine.
These weren’t like vines grown by catalyzing seeds with spiritual energy; she could actually feel everything transmitted by these vines.
When Linglong’s finger blocked the mouth just now, Hua Jian could feel all sorts of strange sensations from that end.
If not for her strong self-control, Linglong might have gotten bitten just now.
“You should trust the Venerable more—she wouldn’t harm me.” Hua Jian’s words made Linglong sigh.
Of course she trusted the Venerable, but sometimes, “harm” wasn’t something even the Venerable could foresee.
What she was worried about was Hua Jian being led astray—heading off to join the Spirit Beast ranks and running wild.
“So, what’s your plan? Are you heading to Ascension City or staying here?” Linglong looked at Hua Jian, her gaze dark and pensive.
Hua Jian tilted her head. “Why would I stay here? Are you feverish or something?”
She couldn’t understand how Linglong could ever think she’d want to stay here in the Northern Mountains, watching Spirit Beasts bare their fangs at her all day.
Were the beautiful sisters of the Human Clan not enough? Did Linglong doubt her own charm?
Hua Jian thought there was no way Linglong would think she’d choose to stay here like some wildling.
“Isn’t Venerable Huabai your kind? I thought you’d want to stay by her side.”
Hearing this, Hua Jian couldn’t help but flick Linglong’s forehead hard, making the little dragon girl clutch her head with a quiet hiss.
“Before Illusory Dream Flower clung to me, I was human, you know! At most, I’ve been a flower for two months—I’ve been a person for over ten years. What do you think I am now?”
If she’d always been a flower, maybe she’d feel some sense of belonging, but that wasn’t the case.
She’d only merged with the Illusory Dream Flower a few dozen days ago, suddenly acquiring the identity of a Spiritual Flower. She certainly wouldn’t want to lean into it.
To her, “Spiritual Flower” was just a title she could pull out when needed. The rest of the time, she’d never go around declaring she wasn’t human.
Being a person was better than being a flower—she’d be crazy to give it up.
“If I don’t say so, who would know I’m not human? Bah, I think I’m human! Why would fusing with Illusory Dream Flower make me a flower?” Hua Jian grumbled.
She really didn’t know why everyone refused to see her as a person.
Even Linglong, this half-human, half-dragon girl, was acknowledged as a human. Why couldn’t she be?
Was there really a difference between half-human, half-dragon, and half-human, half-flower?
Animal people were fine, but plant people weren’t? Did they want to be accused of discrimination?
“If you keep thinking like that, I’ll cut ties with you!” Hua Jian threatened Linglong fiercely. “You, a half-dragon, get to be human, but I can’t?”
Other people could say it, but what right did Linglong—who always disguised her appearance—have?
Hua Jian figured her own body was more human than Linglong’s, anyway.
Linglong was momentarily ashamed by Hua Jian’s outburst—she really had been unfair.
Thinking it through, Hua Jian was right—why had she assumed Hua Jian would prefer being a flower and staying here?
The Human Clan was the strongest race in the world. Being human was far better than being anything else.
“You’re right. Sorry, I was overthinking.” Linglong sincerely admitted her mistake.
Hua Jian hugged her chest, which rose and fell slightly, and snorted, accepting the apology.
“Not just me—Shiqi will come with us to Ascension City too. We’re not foolish enough to sit at the bottom of a well.”
“Huh? Shiqi too?” Linglong was even more surprised. She thought Shiqi was the one most likely to stay.
After all, the Venerable treated Shiqi so well.
Shiqi had never stopped missing her mother, who’d abandoned her father; now she’d finally found her, resolved all misunderstandings.
Surely she’d want to spend more time together?
But no—after barely spending any time together, Shiqi was leaving too?