27: Chapter 27 Attack on Divine Sense, Spatial Protection, Counterattack Against the Ghost Vine

The moment the ground collapsed beneath his feet, alarm bells rang loudly in Ye Qing's heart!

The invisible spiritual shockwave, formed from that sickly sweet, fishy stench, felt like countless tiny needles piercing fiercely into his Sea of Consciousness. It intended to disrupt his Divine Soul, causing him to lose control of his body and plummet into the unfathomable trap below.

In a flash, without any prompting from him, the fifteen-zhang space within Ye Qing's body spontaneously emitted a cool, resilient, and massive intent that seemed capable of isolating all external evil!

This intent was not an attack, but the purest form of protection, instantly forming an invisible barrier around the perimeter of his Sea of Consciousness.

"Sss, sss, sss"—the sickly sweet, fishy spiritual shockwave collided with the barrier formed by the spatial will, emitting a faint sound like cold water dripping into boiling oil. It was completely blocked and dissolved, failing to shake Ye Qing's Divine Soul in the slightest!

"The space can passively defend against Divine Sense attacks!"

This discovery greatly reassured Ye Qing, but his movements did not stop for a second.

The collapse beneath his feet was irreversible. Instead of struggling to jump up, he used the momentum to sink his entire body weight, while simultaneously unleashing the thick and pure spiritual power of his Level 5 Qi Refining state, pouring it all into his legs!

"Thousand-Jin Drop!"

He let out a low shout, his body accelerating downward like a meteorite, moving even faster than the closing "giant mouth" of the collapsing moss!

Boom!

His entire body, like an iron awl, slammed fiercely into the bottom of the collapsed pit.

The bottomless abyss he expected did not appear. Instead, beneath his feet came a hard, slightly elastic sensation, as if he had stepped onto some kind of thick, resilient vine net.

At the same time, a more intense, nauseating, sickly sweet, and rotting stench, mixed with a thick smell of blood, rushed toward him.

Ye Qing's gaze was like lightning, instantly scanning his surroundings.

This was not a natural pit, but a hollowed-out underground space, approximately two or three zhang in circumference.

The surrounding walls and the ground beneath his feet were all covered by an interwoven layer of eerie vines, dark red in color, as thick as a child's arm, and covered in a viscous liquid.

The vines were like living creatures, slowly writhing. At the ends of some vines were several corpses that had long since rotted, leaving only skeletons and tattered clothes; judging by the attire, they were the missing Loose Cultivators.

The "ground" that had collapsed just now was actually a camouflage layer woven from these eerie vines, covering the top of the pit.

Right in front of him, in the center of the densest patch of dark red vines, a small tree, only a foot tall, silvery-white throughout, and as if carved from the finest jade, was growing quietly.

The small tree had no leaves, only three silvery-white branches, each bearing a silver fruit the size of a longan, crystal clear, with what looked like moonlight flowing inside!

The surface of the fruit was emitting the pure and ancient silver glow of moonlight that Ye Qing had caught a glimpse of earlier!

"moon essence fruit?! And it was produced by a moonlight jade tree at least three hundred years old!"

Ye Qing's heart shook violently; he instantly recognized the object.

The moon essence fruit is a top-tier Grade 2 Spirit Medicine! It is a rare treasure of heaven and earth that absorbs the essence of moonlight and grows at the confluence of extreme yin and extreme filth. It is a main ingredient for refining various Medicinal Pills for the Foundation Establishment Stage, and it has miraculous effects, especially for nourishing and strengthening the Divine Soul! The tree is called a moonlight jade tree; its growth conditions are extremely harsh, and it does not bear fruit easily.

The one before him was actually growing in the nest of this filthy and bloody Demon Vine, using rotting bones and flesh as nutrients while absorbing the essence of moonlight—truly fulfilling the principle that "things turn into their opposites when they reach an extreme."

No wonder this place was so sinister; it turned out to be occupied by this moonlight jade tree and the eerie Demon Vine guarding it!

At this moment, the dark red Demon Vines covering the surroundings seemed completely enraged by Ye Qing's intrusion.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Countless vines sprang up like venomous snakes, strangling and piercing toward Ye Qing from all directions! The tips of the vines secreted a foul-smelling black venom, moving at incredible speed with astonishing force, accompanied by ear-piercing sounds as they broke through the air.

Furthermore, an invisible spiritual shockwave several times stronger than before slammed into Ye Qing's Sea of Consciousness again, mixed with tyrannical, bloodthirsty, and chaotic intent, attempting to interfere with his judgment and actions.

Ye Qing's eyes were cold, his heart without a ripple.

The protective barrier formed by the spatial will was as steady as a rock, blocking all the spiritual shockwaves.

Facing the strangling vines, he did not move, but suddenly waved his left arm—

"Hum!"

A pale golden diamond-shaped light shield, more solid than ever and several times larger, instantly formed and rotated around him, blocking most of the vines' whipping and piercing attacks!

"Clang, clang, clang! Pfft, pfft!"

The vines collided with the light shield, emitting the sounds of metal clashing and dull piercing sounds. The light shield fluctuated violently, and cracks spread across it, but it did not shatter. The few vines that penetrated the defense were narrowly avoided by Ye Qing using ghostly, elusive footwork.

"These Demon Vines have an individual attack power roughly equivalent to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, but their numbers are too high, they fear no death, and they are combined with spiritual attacks and potent venom. It's no wonder so many Loose Cultivators never returned."

Ye Qing quickly assessed the situation, his hands moving without the slightest delay.

The moment he blocked the first wave of attacks, he opened the five fingers of his right hand, and crimson light madly gathered and compressed at his fingertips!

This time, he did not use the unstable "Pseudo-Fireball Technique." Instead, he used the purest spiritual power within his body, which had been repeatedly tempered by the space, and in the most brutal and direct way, extremely compressed it into his palm, simulating the core essence of the "Li Fire Pattern" and "Explosion."

A fist-sized, dazzlingly white light sphere, emitting terrifying high temperatures and an aura of destruction, instantly formed in his palm!

"Go!"

He let out a low roar and hurled this highly compressed, searing white light sphere fiercely at the vine net beneath his feet, the area that was writhing most violently and seemed to be the core root system of the Demon Vine!

The Demon Vine seemed to sense a fatal threat, emitting a sharp, screeching sound like the wailing of countless people, as countless vines frantically retracted, attempting to protect the root system.

But, it was too late!

"Boom—!!!"

A deafening explosion rang out within this narrow underground space!

The searing white light instantly swallowed everything, and the terrifying high temperature and shockwave spread wildly in a ring from the point of impact!

"Sss, sss, sss"—the resilient dark red Demon Vines, under this extreme heat and explosion, were like grease thrown into a roaring flame, instantly burning, carbonizing, and shattering!

The viscous venom was evaporated, and the sickly sweet, rotting stench was replaced by the smell of char.

At the center of the explosion, a pit several feet deep was blasted open, revealing the tangled, charred, and broken thick main roots at the bottom.

The surrounding Demon Vines were as if their sinews and bones had been ripped out; the momentum of their frantic writhing suddenly stalled, then they drooped limply, losing their vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming withered and gray.

Only the moonlight jade tree remained unscathed in such a violent explosion. The silvery-white tree body flowed with a soft moonlight glow, isolating the aftermath of the explosion and the high temperature, appearing all the more miraculous and extraordinary.

Ye Qing was also knocked back several steps by the explosion's shockwave, stabilizing his figure only by leaning against the stone wall. His blood was churning within him, and his consumption of spiritual power was immense.

But his eyes were bright, fixed tightly on the moonlight jade tree.

It was done.

The guarding Demon Vine had been severely injured at its core by his strike, and its life force was rapidly fading.

He did not immediately step forward to pick the moon essence fruit. Instead, he forced himself to muster his spiritual power, and at his fingertips, he condensed several crimson light bullets, reduced in power but faster in speed, precisely firing them at the surrounding thick vine nodes that were still twitching slightly, ensuring they completely lost all threat.

After doing all this, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and walked to the moonlight jade tree.

Viewing it from up close, he could feel the extraordinary nature of this jade tree even more. The silvery-white tree body was warm and translucent, the three moon essence fruits were crystal clear like jade, with moonlight flowing inside, emitting a pure aura that made the Divine Soul feel clear and bright.

He did not touch it with his hands but moved his mind, attempting to communicate with the space within his body.

The space transmitted an unprecedentedly strong desire and joy!

A gentle suction force emanated from his palm, enveloping the entire moonlight jade tree.

The jade tree swayed slightly, a flash of silver light, and together with a small patch of soil beneath it that had been soaked in moonlight, it instantly disappeared from the spot. The next moment, it had already appeared within the fifteen-zhang space inside Ye Qing's body, firmly taking root in a reserved open space near the center where the Spiritual Qi was most dense.

The black soil of the space seemed like a long drought meeting sweet rain, greedily absorbing the pure moonlight and Origin life force emitted by the moonlight jade tree. The entire space emitted a comfortable hum, the Spiritual Qi mist churning, becoming more vibrant.

Ye Qing could clearly feel that the "texture" of the space was improving; the feedback energy was purer, and the effect of nourishing the Divine Soul was significantly enhanced.

"I hit the jackpot!"

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and quickly scanned the Demon Vine nest, which had now become ruins.

The main body of the Demon Vine was dead. The remaining vines and main roots, although greatly depleted of energy, were still "food" for the space.

He did not waste them, collecting all the relatively intact vines and roots that contained residual demonic power and wood-attribute essence into the space, piling them in the gray fog zone at the edge to be absorbed slowly later.

Finally, his gaze fell on the Storage Pouch beside the skeletons of the Loose Cultivators in the corner.

When people die, their debts are cleared; he could take these ownerless items without guilt.

The quality of the few Storage Pouches was average, mostly containing Low-Grade Spirit Stones, ordinary Medicinal Pills, low-level Materials, and miscellaneous personal items. The harvest was far less than the moonlight jade tree, but it still counted as a windfall.

Among them, a beast-skin book recording some crude wood-attribute Cultivation Technique piqued his interest, so he put it away for now.

After cleaning up the battlefield and confirming there were no omissions, Ye Qing looked up at the hole above that he had smashed through and which had been enlarged by the explosion.

Sunlight spilled down from the hole, illuminating this filthy place that had just experienced a life-and-death struggle.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his churning blood, and cast the Light Body Technique. His figure rose from the ground like a harrier, passing through the hole and landing steadily on the dark red mossy ground outside.

Looking back, the eerie Rotten Bone Forest seemed as dead and silent as ever, but the threat within had already been eradicated by him.

Without lingering, Ye Qing turned around and sped off in the direction opposite to Blackwater Market.

This place was not suitable for a long stay; the explosion just now had made quite a commotion and might attract unnecessary attention.

He needed to find a safe place to digest his gains, especially the moonlight jade tree, the three moon essence fruits, and... the growth that the space might experience as a result.

Inside the body, the fifteen-zhang space was flowing with silver light, full of vitality.

On the path of steady development, another heavy resource had been added.