Pei Du quickly lowered his head to check on Xu Shuangyao in his arms. Her breathing remained weak but steady, and the impact didn't seem to have caused her any new damage. However, her face, illuminated by the surrounding green light, took on a heartbreaking grayness. He carefully placed her in a relatively dry depression formed by the protrusion of a massive tree root, using his own tattered clothing as much as possible to cushion her body. Only after this was complete did he truly turn his attention to his surroundings.

Danger. Intuition pierced his nerves like a cold steel needle. This seemingly silent green hell surely lurked unpredictable threats. He subconsciously raised his left palm, covered in dark gold lines, and clenched it into a fist, mobilizing the remaining strength within him. His molten gold pupils vigilantly scanned every dark corner, every giant mushroom cap that looked particularly eerie in the green light, and every vine that drooped like a giant blood vessel.

At this moment, something strange happened!

The vine closest to him, drooping low and about the thickness of his wrist, coiled at its end like a dormant snake's head. The moment Pei Du's vigilant gaze swept over it, the vine trembled violently! The thick moss covering its surface fell away, revealing a dark brown surface covered with fine spiral patterns, like some kind of dull metal.

Then, something even stranger happened.

The tip of the vine actually rose up incredibly slowly, at a speed visible to the naked eye! It wasn't simply bending branches, but the entire tip seemed to possess a life force, rising slightly upwards. With a chilling sense of focus, it pointed straight at Pei Du—precisely at the spot on his left palm covered in dark gold lines, where the core rune had once appeared!

Buzz...

Without warning, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible vibration emanated from beneath the skin of Pei Du's left palm. Those dark golden lines, like natural veins, seemed like a dormant being awakened, instantly becoming scorching hot! A cold yet deep throbbing, emanating from the blood of the star core, like a stone dropped into a deep pool, sent silent ripples through the core of his consciousness.

He clenched his left fist, his molten-gold eyes fixed on the vine pointing toward him. A threat? Or some kind of... detection?

The tip of the vine swayed slightly left and right, as if confirming something. Then, under Pei Du's cold gaze, it made an even more bizarre move—extremely slowly, with an almost humble, tentative gesture, it bent ever so slightly toward Pei Du! Like a gesture of submission, or perhaps an ancient, awe-filled greeting!

Pei Du's muscles instantly tensed, and the dark gold lines covering his body dimly lit, emitting a cold, warning glow. The dormant star-core blood within him seemed to be fully awakened by the vine's movement. Deep within that drop of icy blood, a faint, incomprehensible vibration was clearly transmitted to Pei Du's consciousness—not hostility, not even vigilance, but an...ancient, admiring...call? A response?

This feeling was absurd! The cold blood of the star core and a living vine in this strange space actually resonated with each other?

However, this is just the beginning.

It was as if the movement of the first vine was a silent signal. In an instant, the entire huge and hopeless green space "came alive"!

Rustle...rustle...

A subtle friction sound, like a sudden tide, surged in from all directions! No longer a slow wriggling, but countless branches and vines trembling and rubbing excitedly! Pei Du raised his head suddenly, and his molten gold pupils suddenly shrank into dangerous needle-like shapes!

Above, a vast dome-like green sky, woven from countless giant vines, cascaded down. Thousands of vines of varying shapes and thicknesses draped down like a suddenly awakened deep-sea serpent! Some were as slender as hair, their ends gleaming with a faint phosphorescent glow; others were as thick as pythons, covered in hideous wooden knots; others, entwined with giant fungi emitting a faint blue or pale glow, resembled eerie lanterns.

All the vines, without exception, pointed their tips precisely at Pei Du below! To his left palm! To the drop of cold, powerful, yet now unusually active Star Core Blood within him!

Even more frightening was the fact that they weren't still. The tips of countless vines, pointing toward Pei Du, began to gently and rhythmically move up and down, like countless devout believers paying homage to the Supreme Being! Their movements were perfectly synchronized, carrying an ancient and frenzied rhythm!

Buzz——!

The burning sensation in Pei Du's left palm instantly soared! The dark golden lines seemed to burst into flames, and the vibrations beneath his skin became distinct! The call from deep within the core blood suddenly intensified, no longer a faint ripple, but like being plunged into a red-hot iron, stirring up an urge to respond so intensely that it was almost out of control! A cold and immense will seemed to be converging and pressing towards him through these frantically "worshiping" vines, from every corner of this space, from the depths of those twisted giant trees, from beneath the creeping moss beneath his feet...

This was no longer a gesture of goodwill. This was the collective worship of billions of plant wills! This very space itself was madly recognizing the drop of blood in his body!

"Ugh..." Pei Du groaned, his left hand, covered in dark gold lines, trembling uncontrollably. He tried to suppress the resonant force within him, a rare flicker of surprise in his molten-gold eyes. This feeling was too strange! How could the blood of the star core, the cradle's most central, coldest, and most ruthless power of creation, resonate so strongly with this plant hell, filled with the sweet, rotting smell of decay?

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