Chapter 117: The First Battle Rune of the Stunning Blade (Part I)

Huang Di wore a faint smile as he strolled through the air, arriving before Xiao Mo. Had any girl from the capital seen this, she surely would have shrieked; it was simply too dashing. His azure biological armor paired with that charming smile possessed not the rugged masculinity typical of most men, but rather a hint of feminine delicacy.

Xiao Mo and Yang Hao, however, paid no mind. Yang Hao stood alone not far from the black-scaled chariot, observing the battle below. Xiao Mo’s expression was cold and handsome; she watched the tree-body vines below, the elemental energy within her churning as she prepared for her next strike.

"Wood-Source Fire Art."

Huang Di did not care what Xiao Mo or Yang Hao thought of him. Every person had their own combat habits. He was unlike Xiao Mo, who opened with a "finishing move" to crush the enemy’s morale, nor was he like Yang Hao, whose strikes were wide and sweeping, using raw power to break all techniques. He preferred an elegant beginning and an elegant end, much like the Black Rose—gorgeous and lethal.

Green wood-elemental energy extended down his arm, weaving itself into a floral wreath. As the energy made contact with the regenerating tree-body vines, fire-elemental energy instantly sprouted from within the wood energy.

"Heh, wood gives birth to fire."

Huang Di’s face held a trace of mockery, as if sneering at the tree-type mutant beast for only knowing how to devour blindly, lacking any wisdom. He was a Star Core warrior who had awakened both wood and fire attributes. Unlike others, the elemental energy within him could be described as either one or two.

When he first awakened his attributes, there was no fire. But upon breaking through to the Foundation level, using wood as his source, the fire element emerged.

His fire attribute relied on the wood attribute for survival. Under the guidance of his elder, he had created the Wood-Source Fire Art: using wood as a conduit to instantly manifest fire. Dealing with mutant beasts that relied primarily on wood-elemental energy was, for him, often twice as effective with half the effort.

The Wood-Source Fire Art ignited the moment it touched the vines. It resembled a fire dragon descending from the heavens, driving straight into the heart of the beast and setting the surrounding vines ablaze.

In Yang Hao’s eyes, patches of green crystal cores shifted to other vines as the fire consumed them. At that moment, he finally understood why the tree-body vines had invaded this place for no reason.

'So, it was indeed contaminated?' The crystals, which should have been emerald green, had turned a murky, ink-like green. It was a trap after all. Using a Growth-level mutant beast as bait—what a grand gesture.

The smart-brain’s scan indicated a contamination rate of forty-six percent. Had it exceeded sixty, it wouldn't just be the Purple Sable District guard station in danger; even the city of Yangcheng would be at risk.

"What are you two doing? Tickling the beast?" Yang Hao stood at the highest point, speaking in a deep voice. "Surely you can see the tree body has been infected. You cannot be unaware of the dangers posed by infected vegetation. Do I need to remind you?"

Every mutant beast that evolved to the Growth level possessed intelligence; it was no exaggeration to call them the elite of their kind. Yet, at some point, the elemental energy within both mutant beasts and humans began to be inexplicably contaminated. Those infected became extremely bloodthirsty, and their intelligence would gradually wither.

"Understood, Senior Brother."

Huang Di responded. Xiao Mo had been fighting the tree body seriously from the start; she had only just broken through to the mid-Foundation stage. Every strike she made to injure the vines required her full strength, while every attack from the tree body was at the Growth level.

If not for her biological armor, she wouldn't even have been able to approach the battlefield, let alone resolve the crisis. The outside world was not like the main city; talent and background were not enough to ensure survival. Here, only raw strength was the final word.

She gripped her nameless longsword, which had been with her since childhood, tight in her hand. Bundles of green wood-elemental energy swathed the blade.

Huang Di also began to grow serious. With one hand for fire and one for wood, the dual-elemental energy converged between his palms, compressing and compressing until two "solid" spheres took shape.

Deep beneath the center of the guard station, countless vines twisted and congealed into a humanoid silhouette—the true core of the tree body—which opened its maw to roar.

Its long, green hair stretched out from the guard station, transforming into vines that occupied half the sky.

Suddenly, the earth trembled. Three small, dark vines split from the main body and crawled out toward the ground of the guard station. The vines that had been attacking Xiao Mo and Huang Di in the sky ceased their assault, retreating to form three green treemen.

The moment they formed, the ruins of the guard station, previously blasted by plasma cannons, were pulled into the treemen to reinforce their bodies.

Meanwhile, not far from the guard station, the battle was not as cataclysmic as the one Xiao Mo faced—it did not involve the destruction of buildings or the massive scale of a Growth-level confrontation. However, the visceral clash of blade against flesh was more than enough to stir the blood.

"Clang."

The Jinghong Blade struck the tree-body puppet again, emitting the sound of clashing metal. Having absorbed a large amount of the guard station's Type-A construction metal and reinforced by vines, the puppet’s toughness was so profound that even the Jinghong Blade could not easily break its defense.

The puppet moved like a reckless machine, stopping at nothing. Ye Bai and his two companions had attempted to flee the area, but the puppet seemed locked onto them, pursuing relentlessly.

"What do we do?" Ye Bai asked Cao Xiaoseng and Yao Ling, though he was also asking himself.

The tree-body puppet relied solely on physical attacks and possessed no elemental energy, yet its defense was shockingly high. From the beginning until now, almost none of their attacks had caused any real damage.

Yao Ling had suggested using fire-elemental energy, as fire countered wood, but it had little effect. Whether it was compressed fire energy or flame-lotus strikes, nothing could pierce the puppet.

Instead, the flames had burned away the outer layer of vines, leaving the puppet looking entirely black and even more hideous.

Yao Ling knew how to defeat the puppet, but without the ability to land even a scratch, knowledge was useless.

Shortly after the puppet appeared, Yao Ling had told Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng that this was likely a top-tier puppet, similar to the pharaoh-guardians found in ancient ruins. It should contain a "pseudo-tree core" in its chest, fused from dozens of liquid cores.

Whenever an attack landed, its chest would glow green, stimulating the fused metals and vines to harden and deflect the blow.

"Our attack power is a grade lower than its defense. We can't break through. If this continues, we'll run out of stamina."

The smart-brain on Yao Ling’s wrist had scanned the puppet countless times. Every time Cao Xiaoseng or Ye Bai landed a hit, it caused damage, but the pseudo-tree core repaired it almost instantly.

It was always like this. Why were the mutant beasts they encountered either vastly stronger than them or encased in a turtle shell that couldn't be cracked?

In the radiation zone, he could temporarily break through, but here? Breakthrough to the high-level initiate stage? That was impossible. He had to find a way using the Jinghong Blade.

The Jinghong Blade? Right, the War Mark. But other than knowing the name, he had no idea how to access it. Countless thoughts flashed through Ye Bai’s mind.

The puppet’s arm was formed from twisted vines, with a massive iron hammer at the tip. Utilizing its seven-meter-tall frame, every strike from that hammer caused devastating destruction.

"Ye Bai!" After launching an attack and leaving claw marks on the puppet, Cao Xiaoseng retreated, bending a tree beneath his feet to gain leverage. He had suddenly thought of a plan.

Cao Xiaoseng mimicked the gesture of drawing a bowstring and continued, "Since we can't hurt the puppet, let’s make it crush itself."

Ye Bai parried the puppet’s hammer with his Jinghong Blade. With a resonant hum, he used the force to disengage, catching his breath while weighing the feasibility of Cao Xiaoseng’s plan.

The old proverb about a fish taking the bait willingly was unlikely in the Dark Era, especially if the mutant beast wasn't an idiot.

Cao Xiaoseng’s plan was to use the surrounding trees as a catapult to launch the puppet into the air, forcing it to be crushed by its own gravity. But without bait, how could they make it take the hook?

"What are the odds?" Ye Bai didn't want Cao Xiaoseng to be the bait, but he wanted to hear his opinion.

"Seventy percent." Cao Xiaoseng spoke as if merely informing Ye Bai, expecting him to cooperate with the plan rather than asking for his approval.

"Fine. Yao Ling, assist Xiaoseng. I’ll hold the puppet off."

With that, Ye Bai raised his Jinghong Blade and charged back toward the puppet.

Every time he wielded the Jinghong Blade, he felt as if he couldn't unleash its full power. He always felt the blade was sealed. If awakening had broken the first seal, could the War Mark be another?

Usually, a blade grew alongside its master. But now, it felt like he was holding a legendary weapon he couldn't fully use, thereby shaming it.

"Hum—"

The Jinghong Blade whistled through the air, vibrating from friction. Ye Bai didn't use fire-elemental energy, but the heat generated by the high-speed movement draped the blade in a red glow.

The puppet never dodged their attacks. The Jinghong Blade left only inch-deep gouges in its chest, failing to reach the pseudo-tree core.

Ye Bai had landed such strikes over ten times. He was exhausted and helpless; the metal reinforced by the tree core was simply beyond his current ability to destroy.

He drew the battlefield further away from where Cao Xiaoseng was setting the trap, doing his best to stall the puppet.