Chapter 15
The empty pod left behind by the Apostle of the Binding Vine was temporarily sealed by Sprout 12 and placed in the observation ring at the edge of the light field.
At first, it was like a sleeping, empty shell, showing no signs of life.
On the third night, as the wind swept across the plain, a faint black ring appeared on the surface of the pod.
The black lines were not normal root vein patterns, but rather exhibited a ring-shaped undulation, echoing the rhythm of the underground water flow.
Sprout was the first to notice, and she rushed to Seed 237's side that very night:
"Master! It... is absorbing the streamlines of its own light field!"
The pod split open, and a root, like that of a shadow vine, slowly emerged and burrowed into the ground.
Its goal is not to absorb nutrients, but to find optical flow nodes in the optical domain.
As the fibrous roots connected, a small area of the light field suddenly lost its light, as if it had been "covered up," and local dark spots appeared.
This is not a simple energy extraction, but a real-time monitoring process:
The Dark Root forces are using Dark Agents to steal light flow information from the Light Domain!
Seed 237 immediately activated its light domain defense, shrinking the light membrane to cut off and isolate the area where the dark particle was located.
However, the dark rootlets began to split wildly, spreading like a spider web to the surrounding grass roots and moss in just a few breaths.
Sprout 12's expression tightened:
"This is bad. It's using your symbiotic network as a 'stepping stone.' If this continues, it will invade the entire light domain's flow lines!"
Ya Ling gritted her teeth and transformed into a beam of light, rushing towards An Zi.
However, the moment it was touched, her leaf veins were instantly wrapped in black veins, and her energy was almost drained.
At the critical moment, Seed 237 took a deep breath and mobilized the potential of the mother tree that it had not yet fully mastered.
The earth trembled slightly, and an invisible phantom of a root network emerged from his body.
Unlike the light domain, this phantom root network extends deep underground, actively locking onto the direction of the dark particles' roots.
He whispered:
"Since you want to use the roots to eavesdrop, then let me see... whether the roots of the mother tree can devour you!"
The illusory image of the root network suddenly tightened, like a trap, directly biting into the roots of the hidden seed.
In an instant, the feedback signal from the hidden agent was cut off by the reverse flow, and the black pattern backfired and retraced.
At the distant Dark Root Monitoring Station, several observers suddenly spat out dark sap, causing the vines to collapse.
Although the dark spots were suppressed, the leaf tips of seed 237 were already slightly charred.
The forced intervention of the mother tree's potential means that it has been contaminated by some of the hidden roots.
Sprout 12 walked to his side and solemnly spoke:
"You've won this round, but they've already determined that the power of the Mother Tree exists within the Light Domain."
The Dark Root will no longer just send Apostles; they will use… the 'Cutters'.”
When Ya Ling heard this name, her face turned pale:
"That's... the most ruthless armed group in the Dark Roots, specifically designed to deal with potential successors of the Mother Tree!"
Deep within the purified soil, a barely visible black thread still remains.
It lay lurking silently, like an open eye.
The winds of the plains rose again, but this time, they brought not tranquility, but an even greater shadow to come.
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