Chapter 64 Fungal Remains Frenzy 25 Zhang Zhi's Abilities.

The moment these two returned, they brought a sense of relaxation. Although Wei Chongru was tense, he had Mo Gui, the loudmouth, to rely on.

It seems that they couldn't find Ji Chengying and Zhang Zhi, and the spreading mycelium blocked their way again, forcing them to turn back.

"What's there to be afraid of?" Mo Gui said cheerfully, "We have Brother Jue here."

He wasn't trying to lighten the mood; he genuinely felt that with Nanmen Jue present, nothing seemed so scary anymore. So his tone became even more matter-of-fact, and he even showed a slightly mischievous expression towards Nanmen Jue's "romantic luck," making Wei Chongru feel helpless again and again, nervously turning his head to look at that little tyrant.

It was clear from before that Wei Chongru was genuinely afraid of Yu Wanyan; he would turn around and run away as soon as he saw her from afar.

Yu Wanyan naturally saw this group of people as well. She looked surprised and opened her mouth to say something, but then everything went blurry.

In that extremely short time, Nanmen Jue stepped over the protruding corpses on the branches and nimbly climbed up the tree branch where Yu Wanyan was. When Yu Wanyan realized it, all she saw was a flash of cold light. The slender scalpel cut close to her neck, leaving a deep line of blood.

Nanmen Jue moved too fast. Even though she reacted quickly, it was difficult for her to completely dodge at such close range. She screamed, clutched her neck, and fell backward toward the ground.

Nanmen Jue followed closely behind, but she couldn't land. The modified vines lashed out at her fiercely and wrapped around her waist.

With no obstacles in place, the mother tree erupted into a full-blown uprising.

"Fine, fine, fine! This is the Nanmen Jue I should be!" Yu Wanyan let out a pleasant laugh, but her roar was sharp. "If you try to reason with me like some idiots do, then I'm going to throw up!"

The white bone knife and the modified vines collided, producing a metallic clang. Nanmen Jue used even more force, and the afterglow of her swing was almost visible in the darkness. Then, the vines, coated with a layer of metal, were severed, and sap gushed out.

Although the vines were modified by Yu Wanyan, they still grow on the mother tree, indicating that their inner structure has not been altered and they are still part of the mother tree. If they were made of pure metal like Yu Wanyan's, they would probably be much harder to deal with.

Having dealt with this many times, Nanmen Jue had mastered the techniques. Instead of taking the opportunity to chase after Yu Wanyan, she jumped on the mother tree, trying to resolve the crisis from the root.

"Deng Erhuai!"

Lu Yunxiao's hoarse roar came, and Nanmen Jue looked up to see that even Deng Erhuai was caught in it. Wei Chongru attacked from another direction, but he was a step too slow. The vines had already wrapped around Deng Erhuai and were heading towards the mother tree.

Nanmenjue leaped downwards, landing precisely on the vine that was wrapped around Deng Erhuai. The vine, which looked small, was actually a surgical knife that had been modified into a divine weapon. Deng Erhuai rolled out, mixed with mycelium and slime, his body covered in blood from corrosion. As soon as he landed, he frantically cleaned the mycelium off his body.

"You stay here and protect them both."

After leaving those words behind, Nanmen Jue grabbed a long vine and returned to the tree.

"South Gate!" Deng Erhuai shouted, his voice filled with sorrow, "I'm afraid it's too late!"

Is it too late?

Looking into the distance, Nanmenjue saw blood-red mycelium spreading throughout the base, just like on the mountain near the church. It was slowly swallowing up the life here, and the wails of the people were proof of it. It was declaring to the world that it was the new master.

Yu Wanyan stood under the tree, hiding under a vine she controlled, and looked up at Nanmen Jue with a charming smile.

"Brother Jue, the mother tree is about to lose control. Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

Nanmen Jue didn't answer, but fiercely cut off the vines. Yu Wanyan said again, "Don't worry about them. If you want to leave, you will definitely be able to."

The slender and agile figure was ultimately outnumbered. More than a dozen vines attacked Nanmen Jue at the same time, and Nanmen Jue was unable to dodge and was wrapped up in them.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone let out a tense and sorrowful cry.

"South Gate!"

"Brother Nanmen!"

"Brother Jue!"

At this point, even the modified vines could no longer protect Yu Wanyan. She wiped away the blood that was flowing from her neck again, took a deep look at the large cocoon formed by the entanglement of more than a dozen vines, and patted her chest.

A liquid-like luster enveloped her petite body, forming a thin metal armor. She turned and leaped into the underground fissure that had grown from the mother tree, disappearing without a trace.

The others ignored her and rushed towards her with all their might.

"Brother Jue!" Mo Gui tried to climb the tree, but was suddenly pulled away and fell to the ground, spitting out blood.

His strength was far from enough to deal with these vines, so he and the injured Guan Junren stayed obediently in the outer area to prevent the two of them from being parasitized by the mycelium. However, when they saw Nanmen Jue in trouble, the two of them couldn't help but rush in.

A strange thing happened.

After capturing Nanmenjue, the mother tree seemed to gain some kind of satisfaction. All the raging vines retracted and stopped attacking others. Instead, they wrapped themselves layer by layer around the cocoon that was encasing Nanmenjue, forming a huge package.

"What is this all about?" Wei Chongru stared in disbelief.

“The south gate is completely engulfed,” Lu Yunxiao said gravely. “We can’t handle so many vines.”

Deng Erhuai looked around anxiously, as if searching for something. The surroundings were chaotic, and she couldn't see anything clearly. So she simply shouted, "Lord Crow! Are you there, Lord Crow!"

Lu Yunxiao immediately understood, "You mean Nanmen Jue's crow? Isn't that her prop?"

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Deng Erhuai said. “Remember when it came to tell us to leave? It could not only talk, but it also answered fluently and had its own temper. It must be a high-level prop, maybe even a backup plan left by Nanmen Jue!”

"If this is Brother Nanmen's backup plan, he should be showing himself by now!" Wei Chongru said anxiously, and then shouted back, "Crow! Stop hiding, your master is going to die!"

They shouted at the same time, but the crows didn't appear. Instead, they woke up Ji Chengying and Zhang Zhi, who were in a coma.

"What... happened?" Ji Chengying opened her eyes groggily and was startled by what she saw. She instinctively hugged Zhang Zhi tightly beside her.

She then noticed that Zhang Zhi was trembling even more violently than she was.

Even though she was terrified herself, she instinctively reassured Zhang Zhi, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Brother Nanmen will be alright..."

Zhang Zhi suddenly shuddered, and a childish, tearful roar rang out.

"Let him go—"

The voice was pulled so sharp it pierced everyone's eardrums. Ordinary people didn't even notice, but Deng Erhuai, Wei Chongru, and others looked at Zhang Zhi in surprise.

They actually felt a mental shock from that shout.

What happened next completely shocked everyone on the spot.

As if receiving a command, the wriggling, encasing giant cocoon slowly, one strand at a time, began to emerge.

The undigested mummies on the tree trunks began to wail simultaneously, like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts.

Even experienced reincarnators felt their scalps tingle at this scene, and the group couldn't help but back away. Zhang Zhi roared again.

"open--"

This time, the vines retreated much faster, quickly revealing a blood-stained section of a suit jacket inside, and then Nanmen Jue fell out of it.

"South Gate!"

Deng Erhuai was the first to rush forward and catch Nanmen Jue as she fell. She was shocked to see that Nanmen Jue was still conscious, although her exposed skin was slightly corroded. She helped Deng Erhuai steady herself, reached out and grabbed the few fungal strands that were burrowing into her ear, and pulled them out.

Seeing that she was still alive, everyone else was overjoyed. Nanmen Jue let go of her hand and looked at Zhang Zhi, who was sitting on the ground trembling, with mixed feelings.

The others also realized what the little girl, whom everyone had just treated as a mission target, had done, and their gazes toward her were filled with mixed emotions and fear.

Did she just take control of the mother tree?

Nanmen Jue pushed aside the crowd, knelt down in front of Zhang Zhi, and asked softly, "Can you make it leave?"

Zhang Zhi shook her head in fear, "It, it has already taken root. If it leaves, it will die. It doesn't want to."

It was unwilling; could it be that the mother tree possessed a subjective consciousness?

Nanmen Jue then said, "Then let it stop here, so it doesn't spread any further and doesn't hurt anyone anymore, okay?"

Tears welled in Zhang Zhi's eyes as she looked at Nanmen Jue, whose eyes, as before, showed no fear or rejection. She gradually calmed down.

She closed her eyes, and the still somewhat restless mother tree gradually calmed down, even the howling mummies quieted down, and then it drooped its vines and remained still.

If it weren't for its strange shape, it would look like a real old tree.

Upon seeing this, everyone gasped, and Nanmen Jue's eyes widened slightly. Then, her sleeve was carefully pulled by someone.

"I don't know what happened, Brother Nanmen. It was when that sister and I were captured that I discovered I could communicate with it. I really didn't mean to, and I didn't make it do this..." The girl was terrified, sobbing so hard she could barely speak. "Don't leave me, I really don't know..."

Nanmen Jue silently pulled the girl into her arms, and the girl immediately hugged her tightly, as if afraid that she would disappear if she let go.

A battle that could have easily resulted in total annihilation was ended by an eight-year-old girl, which seemed unbelievable to everyone.

A faint light appeared on the horizon, casting an indigo hue over the ravaged battlefield, making the mycelium and blood flowing on the ground even more striking.

Realizing that everything was really alright, everyone collapsed to the ground.

Mo Gui and Guan Junren walked over, supporting each other, and sat down next to the group.

Everyone glanced at Nanmen Jue, and also at the girl curled up in her arms.

In the silence, Deng Erhuai asked in a hoarse voice, "Nanmen, what are you planning to do next?"

She was completely engulfed by the vines, and without Nanmen Jue's incredibly powerful clothes, much of her body was burned, and her vocal cords were also affected.

Everyone else was more or less covered in injuries, but the one in the best condition was Ji Chengying, who was swallowed by the mother tree at the beginning. Because she was with Zhang Zhi, she was basically unharmed.

Deng Erhuai asked this question very tactfully. Anyone could guess that once Zhang Zhi revealed this ability, it wouldn't just be the reincarnators coming to them.

The significance of being able to command the Mother Tree to this world is self-evident.

Before Nanmen Jue could speak, Zhang Zhi in his arms trembled violently, as if trying to merge with him, and he hugged her even tighter.

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Author's note: I haven't been feeling too well these past couple of days, need to take a break ww