Chapter 8
Four days after the meeting ended, the Light Domain seemed to have returned to calm.
The root wall still stands, sunlight shines through the canopy of leaves onto the soil, and the soil exudes a moist fragrance.
However, beneath the surface, a silent plan is quietly unfolding.
The awakening of the mother tree does not simply mean stronger defense.
237 discovered that when her consciousness was fully immersed in the roots, she could read the root network respiration of other species in the slightest ripples in the soil—even gently touching their tips without them noticing.
This is part of the mother tree's instinct, ancient and dangerous.
Instead of rushing into the core territory of various forces, 237 chose to enter from the uncontested wasteland.
Between Jianke Ridge and Guangyu, there is an abandoned sand vein belt with dry, cracked, and barren soil, where roots rarely penetrate deep.
She guided the fine roots of the light field through the sand veins, secretly connecting them with the newly formed rain veins in the north.
Once successful, this seemingly useless sand vein will become an invisible moisture channel in the light domain.
Sprout 12 patrols the ground, pretending to collect wind-scattered seeds, but actually using a specially made leaf vein recorder to listen for any earth sounds coming from Hardshell Ridge.
“They thought this sand vein was dead,” Sprout chuckled softly. “But after a few more tides, the first wet leaf will sprout here.”
237 adopted a more covert approach in response to the Shionuma Renmei.
She transformed some of the root tips into spore chain nodes, which drifted slowly with the water flow to the edge of the tidal marshland.
These nodes look no different from ordinary floating roots, but once they are established in suitable humidity, they generate weak signals that are transmitted back to the central root nucleus of the mother tree.
This means that she will be able to sense the water level, humidity, and spore distribution of the swamp in real time without crossing the boundaries.
Sprout12 has prepared a "story" for this—
Once someone discovers these roots, he will claim they are wild floating roots that drifted in during the storm season and have nothing to do with the Light Domain.
The vines of the Shadow Vine Alliance are the most difficult to deal with.
They are adept at hiding in the damp layer of soil and have keen senses; once they discover unfamiliar roots, they will immediately retreat.
237 did the opposite; she left some "holes" on the inside of the root wall, deliberately letting the shadow vines crawl in.
As they penetrate deeper, the mother tree instantly initiates root retraction, wrapping the vines in specialized fine roots, and without damaging their structure, quietly implanting an extremely fine sensory tendril inside the vines.
Ying Teng thought he had successfully infiltrated, but he didn't realize that he had become a passive sensory extension of the light domain.
Three months later, the dark web of the light domain was completed.
On the surface, there is no indication that the mother tree's root system has extended to half the plain;
But in 237's consciousness, the water flow, soil temperature, and root vitality of the entire continent unfolded slowly like a living map.
Sprout 12 sat on the high leaf platform against the root wall, gazing at the distant territory of a powerful force, and opened its pod:
"They are still wary of each other, unaware that you have already laid out an invisible battlefield beneath their feet."
237 responded quietly:
"Only when the first triggered root breaks will they understand that the Mother Tree's war does not need an army."
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