Since force and energy could not break through, Lin Xiao had no choice but to swing the Yaoguang Broken Sword in his hand, slashing at the vines.
The vines were abruptly sliced into pieces one after another.
Long Tutian’s dual fist gauntlets smashed into the vines, only managing to knock back the ones he hit, without severing them in the slightest.
The battle skeleton’s bony palms chopped and clawed at the vines, likewise failing to break them. Instead, it was quickly entangled.
Even Huo Ruyan’s blood sword could not cut through the vines. No matter how powerful her strength, she could only twist them.
Yet the vines were naturally winding and curved, so twisting them had no real effect.
On the contrary, large numbers of vines swiftly bound her blood sword, preventing her from pulling it free.
Ordinary weapons simply could not sever these vines. In the direction where Qing Yan stood, although the front had been cleared by the Devouring Heaven Demon Disc, vines extending from other directions still stabbed towards him.
Qing Yan hurriedly controlled the Devouring Heaven Demon Disc to fly back to him, but the severed vines continued to elongate, snaking forward relentlessly.
Seeing the danger, Lin Xiao quickly slashed at the vines around Huo Ruyan, cutting through a large swathe.
“Sst!”
“Sst!”
At that moment, the vines’ growth speed surged. Even though Lin Xiao swung as fast as he could, some vine tips had already pierced into Huo Ruyan’s body.
Long Tutian and Qing Yan were almost simultaneously stabbed by vine tips.
Once the tips entered their bodies, they did not pierce straight through.
Instead, they penetrated into their dantian spaces and began devouring their cultivation.
“Devouring cultivation? This is bad!”
Long Tutian cried out in alarm. He activated his divine dragon bloodline, grabbed the vine that had stabbed into his dantian, and yanked it out fiercely. Blood gushed from the wound.
However, several more vines took the opportunity to stab into his body, aiming for his dantian.
Roar! Long Tutian roared repeatedly. Terrifying power erupted in shockwaves, but the vines remained completely unaffected. Instead, they frantically devoured the cultivation within his dantian space.
Long Tutian’s dantian space began to collapse, and his cultivation started to fall.
Huo Ruyan and Qing Yan suffered the same fate. Demonic qi rolled from both of them as they pushed their power to the limit, yet large numbers of tendrils still stabbed into their dantian spaces.
Lin Xiao did his utmost to slash at the countless tendrils sprouting from the vines, cutting many for Huo Ruyan, Qing Yan, and Long Tutian.
Yet the vine tendrils were simply too fast. In the end, even Lin Xiao could not defend himself, and the sharp vine tips pierced into his body.
“Pfft!”
Blood sprayed out. Once the thin vine roots entered Lin Xiao’s body, countless tendrils immediately sprouted from them, extending towards his dantian.
But in that very instant, the vine tendrils seemed to encounter something utterly terrifying. Suddenly, a hoarse, eerie, and trembling voice rang out in the air. “Child of the Forest…” The voice carried boundless fear.
Then, the thin roots inside Lin Xiao’s body, along with the tendrils inside Long Tutian and the other two, all violently withdrew.
The tendrils wrapping the battle skeleton also contracted at the same time, retreating in all directions.
At that moment, countless fine cracks appeared on the outer surfaces of the vines. From every vine, blood-like red fluid flowed out, turning the surrounding area into a sea of blood-coloured vines.
Their retreating speed was like desperate flight, several times faster than before. In a short time, they vanished from the sight of Lin Xiao and the others.
The four were momentarily stunned, then secretly breathed sighs of relief. Fortunately, the vines had suddenly fled.
Otherwise, their cultivation would have been devoured until their realms dropped, or even drained completely.
This was the first time they had encountered something that directly devoured cultivation.
Moreover, it could withstand attacks of force and energy, so powerful that the four of them plus one skeleton could not defeat it.
“What is going on? Why did it suddenly retreat?”
Sweat beaded on Qing Yan’s face as he asked in confusion.
The Devouring Heaven Demon Disc had by then flown back into his hand.
“Child of the Forest? Lin Xiao, are you the Child of the Forest?
What is a Child of the Forest?”
Huo Ruyan also asked in puzzlement.
A trace of panic had shown on her face, but it quickly faded.
“I have no idea!”
Lin Xiao was equally bewildered. He could not help wiping the sweat from his brow.
If it had been his Heavenly Eye inside him that frightened the opponent away, he could understand that.
Yet what the opponent said was clearly not about the Heavenly Eye. His Heavenly Eye had shown no reaction.
Instead, it was something about Child of the Forest.
Child of the Forest? He had never heard of it! Besides, he was not born in a forest. How could he be some Child of the Forest?
The three of them could not help turning to Long Tutian.
“I have never heard of it either.”
Long Tutian spread his hands. Though he was twenty years older than the group and far more experienced, he had never heard of any Child of the Forest.
“Even among our spirit beast clan, there is no mention of a Child of the Forest. Could it be related to your constitution, or perhaps your bloodline?”
Qing Yan asked.
Lin Xiao shook his head in confusion, uncertain.
“It should be connected to his blood. That thing seemed gravely injured and terrified of Lin Xiao’s blood.”
Huo Ruyan speculated.
As the Blood Demon Body, she was sensitive to matters of blood. The instant the vine stabbed into Lin Xiao’s body, it was instantly wounded and frightened away. Fear from contact with the blood seemed the greater likelihood.
It resembled the terror of encountering a natural predator, like how many spirit beasts could not withstand true dragon majesty: an innate instinct, unrelated to strength, but pure natural restraint.
Of course, it could also be a constitution or similar.
But Lin Xiao possessed no special constitution.
“Regardless, since it fears my blood, it will not dare attack lightly again. Even if it does, we can counter it.”
Composing himself, Lin Xiao’s eyes brightened. “Recover from your injuries. We will go investigate thoroughly.”
The three nodded. With this reliance, they no longer worried. They each took medicinal pills and began healing.
The injuries were not severe, but the impact on their dantians was considerable.
All three felt the power in their dantians had weakened somewhat.
Lin Xiao suffered almost no real harm. He simply circulated his strength to seal the wounds and regulated his primal force. There was no major issue.
As for the battle skeleton, perhaps because it lacked flesh and a dantian, it sustained virtually no damage. The vines had only entangled it.
Not long after, the four fully recovered. Lin Xiao once again ordered the battle skeleton to scout ahead while they followed.
They were determined to get to the bottom of this place!
