Chapter 199: Thousand Forms Flame Wood Spirit Vine

Lian Mu swiftly raised her sword to block, but the sheer number of feathered water arrows forced her wrist into a blur of motion.

As the water arrows shot toward her, the Sand Puppet blocked all her escape routes. With a sweep of its long arm, it conjured a shield of flowing sand. The power of wind swirled within it, whipping up a sandstorm so fierce it was nearly impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

Lian Mu had to shut her eyes, relying on her sense of spiritual energy fluctuations to track the incoming arrows.

But these water arrows were trickier than she’d expected. When her sword intercepted them, they didn’t bounce off—instead, they melted onto the blade, suppressing the fire spiritual energy within it.

“Tch.”

As expected, using a damaged weapon in battle was a bad idea.

Without hesitation, Lian Mu activated the spiritual energy in her dantian. This time, she didn’t use fire spiritual energy, but metal.

Back when she had struggled with the conflicting nature of her three Heavenly Spiritual Roots, Feng Tianche had helped her seal off her Metal and Wood Spiritual Roots. But now, with no other choice, she forcibly broke one of the seals, unleashing the power of her Metal Spiritual Root.

Golden light replaced the fire, and in the blink of an eye, spiritual energy surged along the sword’s blade, flowing into the damaged sections and forming a layer of golden spirit armor.

“You’re force-repairing a damaged weapon with spiritual energy?” The golden-eyed woman looked surprised. “That spiritual energy… your Spiritual Root really is something else.”

“But with the damage your dantian has taken, how long can you keep pouring energy into it?” she added. “All this effort, and in the end, you’re just handing yourself over to me. Why not give up now and save yourself the trouble?”

Using spiritual energy to patch up a damaged Spirit Artifact was a last-ditch tactic, something cultivators only did when their lives were on the line. The repair was temporary—once the energy was withdrawn, the artifact would still be broken. It was a desperate move, nothing more.

Lian Mu said nothing. She slashed three times, sending golden light streaking toward the water-formed bird. The powerful force of refined metal, fused with flame, shattered it into mist.

A gap opened above. Lian Mu seized the chance to leap out of the encirclement, using her aerial advantage to lock onto the golden-eyed woman. She dove down, raising her hand as dozens of golden beams rained down, each aimed at a vital point.

The golden-eyed woman twisted to dodge. With the force of wind swirling beneath her feet, her speed was astonishing. But even so, the final golden beam grazed her sleeve, slicing it open.

She brushed her sleeve nonchalantly. “That was quite the move, little one. You even messed up my clothes.”

“Well then, since you’ve used up so much spiritual energy and fought so hard, I’ll take pity on you. No more games.” The golden-eyed woman formed a seal with both hands, black spiritual energy swirling at her fingertips.

“Earth Binding—Sand Prison.”

The Sand Puppet’s body disintegrated into a massive wave of sand, surging at Lian Mu from behind like a battering ram.

Lian Mu couldn’t dodge in time. The sand struck her, knocking her from the sky. She managed to steady herself before hitting the ground, avoiding a complete crash.

With her eyes still closed, she knelt on one knee, using her sword to prop herself up, brows furrowed in pain.

The golden-eyed woman descended from the sky, landing in front of her.

“Child, you’re still too green. I told you not to be stubborn. If you’d just come with me earlier, you wouldn’t have had to suffer like this. You alone can’t beat me.”

The Sand Puppet circled around Lian Mu, forming a cage of hardened sand.

Lian Mu’s lashes fluttered. Inside the cage, she slowly opened her eyes—a wisp of black energy rising from them.

“Is that so?”

She stood up within the prison.

The golden-eyed woman frowned, startled by the look in her eyes. She instinctively took a step back—only to find her feet suddenly bound.

A second girl’s voice came from behind her. “One person isn’t enough. But what about two?”

The golden-eyed woman spun around and saw the girl in purple she had previously trapped in the Water Mirror. Somehow, she had escaped.

She pulled out the Four-sided Crystal Box to check—one of the previously intact sides now bore a crack, and faint black energy seeped from it.

Realization dawned. “You were just distracting me.”

The sword strikes hadn’t been aimed at her—they’d been targeting the crystal box hidden in her sleeve.

No wonder all those golden beams had barely missed her. She’d thought the girl’s swordsmanship was just sloppy.

The golden-eyed woman finally dropped her smile. “You—”

Just as she was about to summon the wind vortex to trap them both, a green vine burst from the ground, wrapping tightly around her legs.

Spiritual energy surged in Ji Mingyue’s hands. More green vines erupted like a nest of snakes, weaving into a net that ensnared the golden-eyed woman.

“I told you—cast illusions on me, and you’d better pray I don’t catch you.”

A massive vine shattered the sand prison. Healing energy radiated from it. Lian Mu grasped the vine, feeling a wave of relief wash over her.

When a Wood Spiritual Root cultivator reaches a certain level of mastery, they can draw on the latent energy within the world’s flora, manifesting it as a Wood Spirit Vine—a powerful life-saving technique.

The Wood Spirit Vine requires a constant flow of spiritual energy to maintain and consumes a great deal of it. Most Wood Spiritual Root cultivators wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary.

“You two kids think a couple of flashy tricks are enough to beat me?” The golden-eyed woman shattered the vines binding her legs.

Lian Mu dusted herself off and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ji Mingyue, blocking the woman’s path. She smiled. “Of course not. But when dealing with a senior as seasoned as yourself, we can’t afford to be careless.”

Ji Mingyue added, “Careful, Senior. Move too fast, and the poison will spread even faster.”

The golden-eyed woman’s expression shifted. She looked down and finally noticed—these weren’t ordinary Wood Spirit Vines. Within the shattered segments, she saw wisps of purple poison.

They had poisoned the vines!

“You went this far?” the golden-eyed woman said coldly. “The Wood Spirit Vine is connected to your spiritual meridians. That poison will travel right into your own body.”

Ji Mingyue said calmly, “No need to worry, Senior. If there’s one thing I’ve never been afraid of in my life, it’s being poisoned. You’d better worry about yourself instead.”

The golden-eyed woman finally realized she’d been played by these two brats. A flicker of anger crossed her face as a burst of water energy surged from the icy blue jade ring on her finger.

“Neither of you is getting away.”

Lian Mu smiled. “Senior really picked a great place for this. This is the Beast Fighting Arena. Since we’re here, let’s put on a show that suits the venue.”

As she spoke, a swirl of black mist coiled around her wrist and then surged into the center of her brow.

“The final battle of the mighty and unbeatable General Bean—Senior, please enlighten us.”

The golden-eyed woman suddenly sensed an unfamiliar presence. She turned to look and saw a mass of black mist suspended in midair, slowly taking the shape of a scorpion.

Her hand flew to her waist in alarm. Impossible!

She stared in disbelief.

Her high-grade Demon-Locking Bag—something even a first-rank demonic beast couldn’t escape from—how had it gotten out!?

She probed the bag and discovered a hole torn in the fabric, as if something had bitten through it.

“By the way, Senior,” Lian Mu said, glancing at the Demon-Locking Bag, “this Spirit Artifact of yours seems designed to hold demonic beasts. But the one from my family? It’s not a demonic beast. Thanks for the lunch, though.”

A creature that couldn’t be trapped by a Demon-Locking Bag… and that devoured Spirit Artifacts? Those were clearly traits of a Spirit Beast.

The golden-eyed woman realized she’d been careless. She hadn’t bothered to find out anything about General Bean beforehand. If she’d known it was a Spirit Beast, things might have turned out very differently.

She wasn’t afraid of the two kids—but this Spirit Beast was another matter entirely. It posed a real threat.

In an instant, the tide had turned.

Without hesitation, the golden-eyed woman launched a Water Spirit Technique, then conjured water mirrors all around. The spell reflected off the mirrors, multiplying in number and ricocheting like marbles in all directions.

Lian Mu synchronized with Green Bean, dodging the attacks while simultaneously guiding its movements.

“Time to test out that new move you learned,” she murmured to Green Bean. “Didn’t get a chance to try it on Gong Yu—this Senior will make a fine practice dummy.”

The golden-eyed woman was furious. “You—!”

Lian Mu just smiled and whispered, “Transform—Thousand Forms Flame.”

As soon as the words left her lips, Green Bean spat out a burst of blazing fire, which split into three smaller flames. Each one morphed into a different form.

“Senior, the real beast battle starts now.”