Chapter 119: Flames Blaze to the Heavens

To Cao Xiaoseng, the distance of less than ten meters felt as vast as the ends of the earth. When Yao Ling was by his side, he rarely noticed anything; he only felt how considerate she was, anticipating his every need, even the most trivial. Now, seeing her face danger right before his eyes, he was powerless to save her.

Cao Xiaoseng did not know if Ye Bai could arrive in time, but he had no choice but to pin all his hopes on him.

Ye Bai had just been jolted awake by Cao Xiaoseng’s cry. After severing the puppet vines that had lunged at his face, he saw Yao Ling surrounded by several of the same vines. Cao Xiaoseng was beset by even more, a dense thicket of them; had it not been for the monk’s ghostly agility, he would likely be in the same predicament as Yao Ling.

"Hurry, save Ling'er!"

Cao Xiaoseng had never known someone could occupy such an important place in his heart in such a short time. Since his mother passed away, few things had ever provoked such a powerful reaction in him.

Deep in a hazy, dazed state, Yao Ling faintly heard Cao Xiaoseng’s roar of worry. Her foggy mind seemed to clear slightly. As her vision returned, she felt a cool breeze pass over her head. Immediately after, she saw a white blade of light arc over her, severing the puppet vines that were lunging at her.

"Ling'er, are you alright?"

Ye Bai’s Jinghong Blade seemed to have exhausted its stored white energy after two strikes, returning to its ordinary state. He helped the fallen Yao Ling up and pulled a pill from his pocket—one Yao Ling had prepared for them in advance—and fed it to her.

"Is this... a natural attribute?" Yao Ling shook her head, shaking off the last vestiges of dizziness. Instead of speaking of her own condition, she looked directly at the Jinghong Blade in Ye Bai’s hand.

"Natural attribute?" Ye Bai asked in return, not pressing for details. He turned to fight his way toward Cao Xiaoseng. Without the augmentation of the white blade light, Ye Bai realized for the first time that the toughness of the puppet vines far exceeded his imagination.

He had to strike each vine twice with the Jinghong Blade, powered by his fire attribute, to sever it. As the severed vines hit the ground, they seemed to liquefy, seeping into the earth and leaving behind only metallic residue.

"Are you alright?"

With a heavy blow, he cut through the final obstacles between him and Cao Xiaoseng, rescuing him from the encirclement.

Cao Xiaoseng looked at Ye Bai and gave a strained smile. "I'm fine."

But before he could finish, he spat out blood, his face turning deathly pale. In his desperation to have Ye Bai save Yao Ling, he had turned his back to the enemy, and in that moment, he had been struck multiple times by the puppet vines.

Ye Bai backhanded a nearby vine away and carried Cao Xiaoseng away from the area, reuniting with Yao Ling.

The tree-form puppet, which had created the deep crater, seemed to have taken root at the bottom; it no longer emerged, but its puppet vines continued to stretch out, blanketing the area.

"Ling'er, see if Xiaoseng is seriously hurt."

Ye Bai handed Cao Xiaoseng to Yao Ling and turned to face the incoming vines. Yao Ling channeled her wood attribute energy through Cao Xiaoseng’s body. It was merely internal organ damage from the heavy impact; like her own injury, it would heal quickly after the pill.

***

"Ling'er, what exactly is this 'natural attribute' you mentioned?"

After waking from his moment of enlightenment, his Jinghong Blade felt lighter and sharper. Facing the vines was no longer as taxing as it had been at the start. He began to ask about the term she had used.

"People before the Dark Era divided the world into the five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. But after the Dark Era began—with the rise of mutant beasts, supernatural creatures, and the Earth's mutation—those theoretical elements became reality. A 'natural attribute' is a fusion of these five, appearing in either white or black."

"The fusion of the five elements? But there is no metal attribute now, so where would the five elements come from? Not to mention, we don't even know if the attribute energy we use today is the same as the five elements of the pre-Dark Era," Ye Bai said, confused.

"The Jinghong Blade. Ye Bai, look at your blade. Is it not different from before?"

"If Instructor Zhang Jian was right, your blade is over a thousand years old. Even if no one in the world has awakened the metal attribute, a blade is inherently made of metal. After a thousand years, do you think it is still just an ordinary weapon?"

"You mean the Jinghong Blade compensates for the missing metal attribute?" Ye Bai hesitated. Indeed, a faint mark had appeared on the blade, looking like a cluster of flames.

"Yes. Rather than saying a weapon can awaken battle patterns, it’s more accurate to say the metal attribute within the weapon compensates for the lack of it in the world. But the user must perceive the world to activate the energy stored within. If I'm not mistaken, the first battle pattern of the Jinghong Blade has already awakened."

"Roar... roar..."

As soon as Yao Ling finished speaking, the puppet vines suddenly stopped their attack and began to retract toward the collapsed crater. Ye Bai didn't ask what was happening; he simply retreated to stand in front of his two companions.

The tree-form puppet would not retreat simply because it couldn't inflict enough damage, nor was it merciful. A larger, more powerful attack was likely brewing.

In the crater, the puppet was covered in cracks, its limbs severed. The pseudo-tree core in its chest pulsed with green light, attempting to repair the damage. Cao Xiaoseng’s plan had indeed wounded it severely. The core, usually heavily protected, was now visible. After several failed attempts to repair the body, the core seemed to abandon the puppet shell.

Suddenly, the two mutant trees that had been attacked by the puppet began to tremble. The surrounding forest shook, the ground cracked, and a massive number of puppet vines erupted from beneath the surface.

They climbed the nearby trees. Dozens of meters tall, the mutant trees shed their leaves before being crushed by the immense pressure of the vines, emitting constant snapping sounds.

Ye Bai, Cao Xiaoseng, and Yao Ling began to retreat the moment the upheaval started, but they hadn't gone far before a roar erupted from deep underground.

"Boom!" The entire ground seemed to explode. Countless vines surged forth, covering the land in a sea of green, with only occasional patches of yellow soil visible through the gaps.

As the vines intertwined, a green treeman slowly rose into the air. It had no limbs; its arms and legs were made of tangled vines. Beneath it, a massive bundle of vines acted as feet, undulating as it moved forward. The pseudo-tree core was embedded in its chest like a green agate.

"Careful!"

Ye Bai pushed Yao Ling aside, his arm wreathed in fire attribute energy, and struck back at the incoming vines.

But there were too many. As he dodged one, ten more flew through the air, coalescing into a giant fist that slammed into his chest.

Ye Bai felt a surge of sweetness in his throat, and he was sent flying, crashing into a tree nearby. Only then did he see the full picture: the forest in that area had vanished, replaced by vines of varying thickness. In the center stood the humanoid construct, the pseudo-tree core embedded in its chest.

Suddenly, a beam of white light flashed across Ye Bai’s vision, aimed straight at the core. But before it could reach its target, a wall of vines intercepted it.

"Ah!"

Yao Ling’s pulse pistol flew from her hand, her wrist pierced through. She had clearly seen the core and tried to shatter it, only to be blocked and wounded in the process.

"Xiaoseng, take care of Ling'er. I will hold off the puppet."

The battle had escalated beyond the level of a beginner. If the vines could pierce Yao Ling’s wrist, they could pierce Cao Xiaoseng’s skull. With Cao Xiaoseng already injured, his reflexes were dulled. Ye Bai refused to let him risk his life; he could not bear to lose Yao Ling.

Yao Ling had said the first battle pattern of the Jinghong Blade was awakened, but he felt nothing—only that the blade was sharper. He had no idea how to activate the flame-shaped carving.

"Fire Bodhi." Facing the sea of vines, only the Fire Bodhi technique had the necessary area-of-effect power. But as he poured his fire energy into the blade, his consciousness seemed to fall into a vast void, losing all sensation of his body.

The injected energy turned into wisps of red mist, seeping into this space where a single blade hung suspended at the center.

Slowly, the white blade began to turn red. It was the Jinghong Blade. Outside, the flame-shaped carving began to elongate, gradually enveloping the entire weapon. The power of the Fire Bodhi began to condense around it—not into red lotus flowers, but into countless tiny Jinghong Blades.

With a loud boom, Ye Bai’s consciousness returned. He was still holding the blade, and the tree-form puppet had been annihilated.

All the vines were reduced to a roaring inferno. The creature with the pseudo-tree core was gone, lost in the sea of flames, with only the vines that still held residual wood energy writhing in the fire.

"What happened?" He had only meant to use the Fire Bodhi to stall the puppet; he hadn't expected it to be destroyed so inexplicably.

"You don't know?" Cao Xiaoseng asked, staring at him in utter disbelief.

"No. Is the Fire Bodhi really that powerful?" Ye Bai felt the fire energy within him had diminished, but it had become more refined.

"That was 'Fire Blazing the Heavens'," Cao Xiaoseng murmured, beginning to recount what he had just witnessed.