“Boss, look, what’s that?” Bebe called out in surprise.
Linley’s pupils contracted.
At the crown of that dwarf tree, on a particularly large branch, within the leaves, there was a fruit that was slightly larger than the size of a fist. This fruit was almost completely spherical, with a violet skin that was crystalline and translucent, swirling with brilliant light, dazzling to behold. At the same time, it continued to faintly emanate that hazy fog.
“What a refreshing feeling.” Linley took a deep breath, and his mind felt all the clearer, and his soul felt very comfortable as well. “This…? Is this the Abyssal Fruit?”
Linley couldn’t help but glance at the nearby Bailey and his brother. Bailey’s eyes were shining as he stared at the Abyssal Fruit, but he didn’t charge forward. Instead, he said in a clear voice, “Linley, that’s the Abyssal Fruit! However, I must warn you, Abyssal Fruit isn’t so easily harvested. The Spirit Snake that guards the Abyssal Fruit has yet to appear.”
Having already undergone the Abyssal Fruit harvesting process countless years ago, Bailey clearly knew how dangerous it was.
Linley knew as well…
That although it looked as though the Abyssal Fruit was simply placed there, if he were to rashly charge forward, he would undoubtedly suffer for it.
“Boss, I’ll go.” Bebe very confidently prepared to charge forward.
“Bebe, don’t be rash,” Linley barked.
“Eh?” Bebe looked towards him.
“Just watch for now.” Linley stared appraisingly at his surroundings. Suddenly…
“Rustle…” The green leaves on the branches of the tree with the Abyssal Fruit, as though stirred by the wind, began to tremble. That sound instantly disrupted the surrounding, quiet calm. At the same time, the leaves that were spread out over that space of hundreds of meters all began to glow with a green energy. And slowly…
One green snake after another, each the size of a palm, began to form atop the green leaves.
“So many!” Bebe sucked in a breath of cold air.
Although he didn’t fear the green snakes, upon seeing so many of them, he still felt his scalp crawl. Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes; with but a single sweep, he saw thousands on thousands of green snakes. The countless green snakes were visible on virtually every single part of the tree.
“And that’s just the opening course,” Bailey said coldly.
“Spirit Snake, you might as well come out,” Bailey’s voice rang out. “What, do you want me to come over for you to ambush?”
Linley and Bebe were stunned.
Spirit Snake? Could it be that these green snakes weren’t the Spirit Snake?
“Haha, I didn’t expect that you would be aware of my existence!” a clear, evil sound rang out from amidst the branches. “This is absolutely too intriguing. I wanted to play with you a bit more first. For me to reveal myself now… spoils the surprise.” As the voice continued to ring out, it slowly began to reveal its true form atop the Abyssal Fruit tree!
Linley, Bebe, and Bloan couldn’t help but feel startled.
A large green snake that was nearly ten meters long and as thick as an arm suddenly, slowly emerged from a branch of the tree. This large snake coiled around the tree trunk, its head raised and its cold, insidious eyes flashing with a violet, serpentine light as it stared at the distant Linley, Bailey, and the other two.
The serpent’s violet gaze seemed to stab at them!
Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but narrow their eyes, not willing to stare directly into the green snake’s gaze.
“Linley, what we need to do is… while being attacked by countless green snakes, and also being blocked by the Spirit Snake, acquire the Abyssal Fruit,” Bailey said calmly. “Let me warn you of one thing; the Spirit Snake is capable of controlling the Abyssal Fruit Tree to attack and constrict you! Alright…whoever gets the Abyssal Fruit is whoever it will belong to.”
After speaking, Bailey’s entire body slowly began to emanate an earthen yellow aura.
“Divine earth power?” Linley frowned.
Bebe excitedly licked his lips. “Boss, watch me get that Abyssal Fruit! I have no fear of those little green snakes. The Abyssal Fruit… will definitely be mine!” That godspark dagger appeared in Bebe’s hands, and he gave Bailey a careful look as well.
Bailey was clearly building up his power…
“Haaaargh!”
With a sudden, explosive shout, the earthen yellow aura on Bailey’s body suddenly coalesced around his right leg. Bailey lifted up his right leg, and then smashed down in a vicious, straight line towards the ground. “BOOM!” The entire earth roared with a terrifying explosive sound as an earthen yellow light emanated outwards from his feet through the earth.
The strange thing was…
The ground beneath Bailey’s feet wasn’t damaged at all.
“An explosive burst of the Throbbing Pulse of the World?” Linley could guess at what profound mysteries were contained within this attack, but for now, Linley himself wasn’t capable of it. Linley immediately looked towards the tree.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”
In the ground beneath the giant tree, one explosive rumbling sound after another rang out, and a large hole appeared in the rocky mountain terrain as shattered rocks flew everywhere. The smaller branches of the Abyssal Fruit Tree were also smashed and flattened and sent flying, as many green serpents hurriedly dodged as well.
Even the main trunk of the Abyssal Tree trembled, but the main trunk and the larger branches weren’t damaged much. Clearly, they were very sturdy; only the smaller branches and leaves were damaged.
Chaos!
The shattered small branches and many leaves were flying everywhere, causing the Abyssal Fruit Tree to turn into a picture of chaos.
“Let’s go!” Linley’s eyes lit up, and he shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
“This is the moment!” Bebe simultaneously charged out as well.
But Bailey had reacted slightly faster than even Bebe and Linley. He charged forward at high speed, his body once more beginning to emanate with that earthen yellow aura which was constantly emanating ripples. Bailey’s gaze was firm, and in his hands, a pitch-black warblade appeared.
“Haha…” An evil laugh rang out from the tree.
Instantly…
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
Countless green snakes rained down from the green leaves of the tree like raindrops in a storm. The countless green snakes simultaneously attacked Linley, Bebe, and Bailey. As for the violet-haired youth, Bloan, he stood far away and didn’t charge forward.
Linley, seeing so many green snakes fill the skies and charge towards him, was forced to go all out as well.
An earthen yellow light suddenly emanated from Linley’s body as well, instantly encapsulating both himself and Bebe and forming into a hemisphere that was fifteen meters across in diameter. When those green snakes, moving like arrows, fell into the Blackstone Space, their speed suddenly dropped and they became much slower.
Under the command of the Spirit Snake, these green snakes were aware of the repulsive power of the Blackstone Space.
But if they didn’t enter the Blackstone Space, they wouldn’t be able to harm Linley at all. Thus, they had no choice but to charge in.
“Haha, come bite me, all of you come bite me,” Bebe bellowed loudly as he charged in front of Linley, where a large number of green snakes were gathered and charging. At the same time, Bebe’s body transformed into dozens of figures, and with banging sounds, his dagger began stabbing into the bodies of the snakes, while his palm began to crush their bodies… these sounds rang out unabated!
With Bebe up in front, the pressure on Linley was greatly reduced.
The dispersed green snakes began to cluster around them from all sides. Linley calmly began to brandish about Mirage, filling it with wind-type elemental essence and causing it to transform into c
ountless sword blurs, filling the surrounding space. The drifting, agile movements of the sword blurs were so fast as to seem devilish, and even space itself seemed to constrict and tighten around those green snakes.
“Hiss…”
The green snakes, their speed greatly lessened within the Blackstone Space, when faced with Mirage… a dense cluster of sounds could be heard as one snake after another was instantly ground apart by those countless sword blurs and transformed into pulp. Last time, Linley didn’t have experience, but this time, Linley was prepared in advance, and so his execution of this technique became all the more relaxed.
The vast majority of the thousand plus tightly clustered snakes that flew towards Linley were all struck.
However, there were still three that were only slightly wounded and thus fearlessly charged towards Linley, wanting to bite him.
“Hmph.” Linley just instantly changed the direction of the gravity.
Blackstone Space… the gravity suddenly changed to go downwards!
The sudden change in the direction of the gravity caused the three green snakes to be caught off-guard and sink downwards, not able to bite Linley at all.
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” Those three fast sword blows cleaved down upon the green snakes that had sank down to the ground, instantly killing them.
Sometimes, suddenly changing the direction of gravity was an extremely effective tactic.
“That Bailey…” Linley glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, and couldn’t help but feel startled. The layer of earthen yellow light on Bailey’s body was constantly trembling. When the many green snakes attacked, Bailey just let them strike at him, but as soon as they entered the range of that earthen yellow light, their bodies would begin to tremble and then, moments later, with a “bang” completely crumble into pulp.
“The Throbbing Pulse of the World, the never-stopping ‘Vitality’, as well as the Essence of the Earth.” With a single glance, Linley realized which three Profound Mysteries were being used by Bailey.
Different fusions of profound mysteries had different results.
What Linley didn’t know was that this was the best technique Bailey had come up with, after countless years of painstaking pondering, for dealing with these green snakes. He had spent nearly a hundred million years coming up with this technique. But in terms of flying speed… Bebe, who didn’t have to pay the green snakes any mind at all, was a bit faster than even Bailey. Bebe moved like lightning, scurrying to the side of the tree trunk.
“Haha, the Abyssal Fruit is mine!” Bebe called out jubilantly as he snatched towards the Abyssal Fruit.
“Hiss…” A strange sound entered Bebe’s mind, and Bebe couldn’t help but feel his head grow dizzy.
Suddenly, the giant head of the large green snake suddenly emerged from next to Bebe. It opened its mouth wide and bit downwards towards Bebe. The emergence of this snake head happened as fast as lightning, and Bebe, his head dizzy, wasn’t able to react in time. The giant green snake landed a vicious bite against his head, and the giant green snake bit down with full force…
“CRUNCH!”
“Bebe!” Linley was shocked.
“Fuck off!” Bebe bellowed, furiously shaking it off and escaping from that giant maw.
But that giant green snake stared towards Bebe in shock. A black, illusory object fell out from within the mouth of the giant green snake. Linley glanced at it… and saw that, amazingly enough, it was a shattered poisonous fang!
“When the green snake bit Bebe, it broke its tooth?” Linley couldn’t help but feel speechless.
While the giant green snake was dealing with Bebe, Bailey scurried towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree. But just as Bailey was about to seize the Abyssal Fruit…
“Swoosh!”
The Abyssal Fruit Tree violently twisted, flashing past and dodging Bailey’s snatch while many branches suddenly swept towards Bailey, clutching at him like countless arms.
Bailey’s face couldn’t help but change.
“Big Brother!” The violet-haired Bloan, watching this from afar, couldn’t help but feel shocked. Bailey instantly roared angrily, using full force with the pitch-black warblade in his hands. Instantly, a booming sound rang out, and spatial ripples and cracks were given birth to as the warblade chopped towards the surrounding, coiling tree branches.
Right at this moment…
“Swoosh!” Linley also charged towards the Abyssal Fruit.
“Bastard.” Bebe, bellowing, charged forward once more as well.
“Raaaaaaawr!” The giant green snake angrily opened its maw, emitting a thick black fog towards Linley and Bebe, and the poisonous black fog instantly trapped Linley and Bebe once more within it.
26
CHOICE
The black fog instantly invaded Linley’s sea of consciousness, and even began to invade and corrode the repaired part of the ‘flaw’. The level of the current repair work was something that Linley had accomplished after spending nearly two hundred years after becoming a Highgod. If it was broken, then the efforts of two centuries would have all been for naught!
“Hmph.” Linley’s spiritual energy instantly surged out in waves against the black mist.
His spiritual energy, glowing with that azure light, moved as fast as lightning, constantly clashing against the poisonous black fog and extinguishing it.
“Boss, this big snake is rather tough to deal with,” Bebe sent mentally.
“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaawr!” The large green snake’s tail swung about angrily, transforming into multiple blurs which struck towards Linley and Bebe.
Linley’s gaze turned cold.
“Swish!” Linley’s draconic tail swung out viciously as well, intersecting with the snake’s tail. With a “whap!” sound, Linley couldn’t help but be knocked back by a few dozen meters, while the giant green snake once more coiled itself around a branch of the Abyssal Fruit Tree.
“This large snake’s skin really is tough.” Linley was secretly surprised. “And quite slippery!”
“Hmph.” After Linley was sent flying backwards, Bebe charged straight towards the Abyssal Fruit. The giant green snake naturally struck out with its tail again, which twirled about like a tornado, causing the nearby space to twist and distort as it lashed out towards Bebe. Bebe just gave a sinister grin, and the godspark dagger suddenly appeared in his hands. He gave the oncoming serpentine tail a vicious swipe!
“Slash!”
The dagger, when meeting the serpentine skin, couldn’t help but slip aside. It only left behind a fairly deep white impression, and only managed to crack three of the thin scales.
“Hey?” Bebe was surprised, and at the same time he also sent mentally, “Boss, this big snake’s body is much stronger than those of the little green snakes, and it is also quite slippery. Not even my godspark weapon was able to break through it at one blow! Right, Boss…you hurry up and get the Abyssal Fruit, and let me tie down this big snake! He’s not able to do anything to me!”
“Punk, I’m going to make you die!”
The giant green snake, seeing that three of its serpentine scales had been cracked, was instantly enraged. Bellowing, it once more coiled towards Bebe. Its venomous fangs were sharp, but they weren’t that tough; in terms of toughness, its skin was the toughest. Over the course of countless years… nobody had ever been able to leave behind any wounds on its body.
“Swoosh.” Linley was very confident in Bebe, and so he charged straight for the Abyssal Fruit.
“Rumble…”
Bebe was surprised. As soon as the giant green snake touched Bebe, it instantly began to wrap around and constrict Bebe, as though wanting to crush him to death. “Hey, you are pretty strong. But if you want to crush me to death with this bit of strength… keep dreaming.” Bebe raised his head proudly, staring directly at the giant green snake’s head, not afraid at all.
The giant green snake was exerting pressure with every part of its body as it sought to crush Bebe to death.
Constriction was one of its innate talents. It was very easy for it to rely on its body to constrict Highgods to death. Even Highgod artifacts, when gripped and ground down upon by its body, would begin to twist and distort. But today, it discovered… that the youth it was currently constricting was like an incomparably tough and resilient chunk of metal.
“Hey, use more strength.” Bebe chortled. Bebe was happy to be keeping the giant green snake occupied, and he also paid attention to Linley’s situation…
“Eh?” Bebe was suddenly startled.
When Linley drew near the Abyssal Fruit, many soft, willow-like branches suddenly coiled towards Linley. Irritated, Linley lashed out with Mirage, filling it with divine earth power and raising its attack power to the limit. With a gentle sound, tears in space began to appear.
“Slash!” Mirage chopped down upon one of the branches.
This branch was as thick as a person’s thighs, but when Linley’s Mirage godspark sword chopped down, it was only able to cut to the center of the branch and no further. “Eh?” Linley suddenly had the feeling… that when the branch of the Abyssal Fruit Tree and Mirage collided, a surge of powerful, rippling force was transmitted through.
It was attacking his mind!
“Rumble…” Linley’s mind couldn’t help but go momentarily dizzy, but he was still able to endure the attack. At this moment, many other branches swung towards him as well.
“Retreat!” Linley hurriedly pulled his sword out, retreating at high speed!
At the same time, an earthen yellow aura emerged from his body, immediately forming into his Blackstone Space. The powerful repulsive force immediately activated against those branches. Although the branches now moved much more slowly, they still came wrapping around towards him from every direction. Linley could only choose to run even farther away.
Linley was in a tough situation, but it wasn’t easy for Bailey either. He, too, was unable to do anything against the Abyssal Fruit Tree.
The Planar Wars: Book 7 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 21