Instead, these house giants exploded entirely from the reaction force.
Amidst the densely scattered wood chips, the blue-haired girl seemed to sense the boy’s gaze.
She suddenly turned her head to look over.
She flashed a sweet smile and gave a thumbs up.
Then.
Countless vines intertwined from all directions, cocooning her as she floated in the air into an airtight green sphere, completely blocking Lin Zhen’s view.
Right at that moment.
An emerald droplet suddenly fell to the ground, staining the earth with a dark brown water mark.
*Drip!*
Immediately after, more and more emerald droplets began to fall from the sky, instantly forming a torrential rain that almost obscured one’s vision.
These emerald droplets seemed to possess a mysterious power. The fire tornado that had been raging everywhere and burning almost anything it touched was extinguished at an incredible speed once it was covered by this green rain.
The moment the fire tornado died out.
The female Tree God Guard, who had been burned into a wretched state, violently tore through her charred shield and stepped out.
“Damned lackeys!”
She looked in the direction where Lin Zhen and the others were retreating, her face full of fury. She stepped onto the vines arching out of the ground, intending to hunt them down.
But in the next second.
A powerful telekinetic force instantly locked her in place. A trace of panic appeared on her face as she found herself barely able to move even her eyes.
*Boom!*
The green sphere nearby shattered instantly, revealing the blue-haired girl.
She extended her right hand toward the female Tree God Guard. Green veins bulged across her temples, and her cold eyes held a hint of madness.
“Don’t you dare ruin things!”
Yun Ruoxi’s lips curled into a grin, and she clenched her right hand with force.
A crisp, sharp *crack* rang out.
The female Tree God Guard’s head flew up like a grape plucked from a vine and landed straight on the ground.
“Guan Weiluo!” the first Tree God Guard to appear roared at the sight of his companion’s death.
The expressions of the guard who had been suppressing Yun Ruoxi from a distance with a spear and the other guard who had descended from the sky also turned grim.
“Kill her! Avenge Weiluo!”
As the words fell.
The three of them launched an attack on Yun Ruoxi almost simultaneously.
But the blue-haired girl didn’t even spare them a glance. Instead, she kept her head tilted toward the sky, her ruby-red pupils reflecting a gargantuan, peach-pink flower.
This flower was hauntingly beautiful yet shaped like a showerhead, nearly covering this entire sector of the battlefield. Its root system was connected to the base of the upper city.
The green rain that had just extinguished the fire tornado had been sprayed from its stamens.
At this moment, an elderly green elf clad in exquisite wooden armor stood upon a petal, staring into the distance where Lin Zhen and his group were escaping.
*Whoosh!*
Vines, wooden spears, spikes… Just as the attacks from three directions were about to hit Yun Ruoxi.
She suddenly soared into the sky, dodging all the attacks and flying rapidly toward the flower in the heavens.
In nearly an instant.
She reached a point not far from the elderly green elf.
Those eyes, a mix of green and yellow, shifted toward her, looking at her with the stillness of an ancient well.
The moment their eyes met.
Yun Ruoxi released a powerful surge of telekinesis.
But a giant vine, 5 or 6 meters thick, sprouted from the flower and whipped toward her with terrifying force.
*Boom!*
A deafening sonic boom echoed as Yun Ruoxi was struck directly. She turned into a streak of white light and plummeted toward the ground, smashing a terrifying, spiderweb-like crater dozens of meters wide.
Amidst the rising dust and smoke.
Yun Ruoxi coughed twice and floated up from the ruins of the houses.
Her figure looked disheveled, and the pinky finger of her right hand trembled slightly.
A trail of blood flowed down from her forehead and the tip of her pinky, dripping onto the ground.
That single strike had shattered the multiple layers of protection she had set up, including her final polymorphic psychokinetic shield, causing her no small amount of injury.
Even so, she covered her face and began to laugh slowly, her laughter growing louder and louder.
“Don’t even think about going after… my Brother Zhen!”
The moment she finished speaking.
The tentacles that had spread from the flower in the sky to chase the fleeing Lin Zhen and his group suddenly snapped one by one.
Finally.
That gargantuan flower also exploded with a thunderous bang.
The elderly Tree God Guard looked at Yun Ruoxi, a trace of solemnity finally appearing on his calm face.
“How… did you do it?” he asked.
Yun Ruoxi’s body floated up once more. She raised a hand and punched away a Tree God Guard who had tried to ambush her, then caught a flying wooden spear and threw it back before smiling slowly. “Why don’t you guess?”
「Handsome. Old Xi is so handsome.」
「So cool, protecting her man.」
「I’m convinced, Little Xi is such a sneaky one. As long as Old Zhen is around, she doesn’t even use her lethal moves.」
「After all, our Xi is a gentle loli. Her dark side can’t be exposed in front of Old Zhen.」
***
While Tree God City was forced into lockdown and fell into chaos due to the explosions, drawing most eyes toward the conflict.
In a corner of the inner King City, four people were sprinting.
Three men and one woman.
The leader was a red-haired boy with an anxious expression and a temper that seemed ready to explode at any moment.
It was Flame star, the one who had orchestrated the explosion catastrophe.
The people beside him were the helpers he had gathered before the survival test.
“Quick, quick, quick!”
“We only have one chance! We must seize the Star Core while the Tree God Guards are distracted by the explosions in the outer city!”
He urged them repeatedly, calculating the time in his head.
For this operation, he had once held a rehearsal in the Giant Stone City.
Only that time, his helpers were yellow elves, but this time, it was the other trainees hiding in Tree God City who hadn’t made their move yet!
He had planted bombs in all the possible hiding places of the trainees within the city to force them out, making them clash with the Tree God Guards rushing to the battlefield to delay the guards’ return to the palace.
This was a ruthless, toxic scheme of “driving the tiger to swallow the wolf.”
It could only be used once. After the lessons learned in Giant Stone City and Tree God City, he wouldn’t have another chance to plant explosives in advance.
But once was enough. According to the plan, he was confident he could directly seize the Star Core.
After all, he had found a very powerful helper!
Flame star and his group arrived at a side gate behind the traveling palace and knocked.
*Creak!*
The wooden door let out a soft groan.
A green elf wearing official robes pulled the door open from the inside, his face slightly distorted.
“You really are a madman.”
“Relax, I’ve settled your child in a good place. He won’t suffer any harm!” Flame star sneered.
“Lead us to the Pool of Grace. If everything goes smoothly, you’ll be reunited with your family tonight!”
Ten days ago.
While Flame star was gathering information in the city, he had happened upon this green elf who was a kingdom official working inside the palace. He had immediately decided to use him as an inside agent.
But the man had refused no matter what, so Flame star had no choice but to kidnap his family to force his compliance.
Of course, Flame star’s companions had their reservations about such underhanded methods.
But he didn’t care.
All he cared about was the mission and his score for the survival test.