22: Arrival at Dark Canyon

"Captain, after passing through this Iron Thorn Jungle, we won't be far from Dark Mist Canyon. What do you say? Should we go straight through or take a detour?"

Ink Rain checked the map on the tactical bracelet and looked at Qin Yue, inquiring.

"A detour would take nearly an extra day," Qin Yue frowned, "and we'd have to pass through the 'Corrosive Swamp.'"

"Are there any D-grade mutated plants here?" Zhou Xing looked at Qin Yue.

"No, the most powerful thing here is an E-grade mutated plant—the Iron Thorn—with strength equivalent to the Peak of the Foundation Condensing Realm."

Qin Yue replied.

"Then what's there to hesitate about? Let's just go straight through."

Zhou Xing made the decision for Qin Yue, "Liu Ning and I will lead the way. Fire has an absolute suppressive effect on any plant."

"Besides, I've basically recovered. If we delay and that guy escapes, what then?"

"Fine, then we'll force our way through. Everyone, be extra careful once we're inside."

If it weren't for his own severe injuries, Qin Yue wouldn't have been so hesitant.

He was also worried that the side effects of Zhou Xing's forced outburst hadn't completely worn off.

But at the thought of that scum from the Divine Gene, he couldn't afford to care about much else.

Gritting his teeth, he led the group and charged in.

Not long after entering, Ink Rain's voice came through: "Careful, something's happening!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Dozens of Iron Thorn vines shot toward the group like javelins from not far away.

Zhou Xing instantly condensed a fire barrier to block them.

However, while these vines retracted quickly, they were not directly burned.

"Something's wrong!" Liu Ning smashed a fireball into a vine, but it had no effect.

"These Iron Thorn vines have very high fire resistance."

Just then, a dull vibration came from nearby, and the ground suddenly split open as a giant Iron Thorn with a diameter of over ten meters burst from the soil.

The back of the Iron Thorn was covered in barbs, and countless vines swayed freely like pythons.

"Holy crap, are you sure this is E-grade and not D-grade?"

Chen Yan was also somewhat shocked looking at the behemoth before him.

"Be careful, leave this big guy to me!" Zhou Xing looked at the Iron Thorn and stepped forward proactively.

Qin Yue frowned and looked at Zhou Xing with concern: "Your body..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine now." Zhou Xing gave Qin Yue a reassuring look. "You should save your strength to avoid worsening your injuries."

Before his voice could fade, Zhou Xing's figure had already charged toward the giant Iron Thorn like lightning.

In the next second, the blazing fire power erupted.

"Boom—!"

Fire overcomes Wood; it is nature, even if the Iron Thorn has fused with a divinity fragment of the god of steel.

Consequently, the Iron Thorn's massive body instinctively retreated.

However, dozens of vines still coiled toward Zhou Xing, and under the burning of Zhou Xing's fire power, these vines were completely unaffected.

As if testing him, once it discovered that the human's flames could not harm it,

spikes instantly emerged from the tips of these vines under its control,

and they stabbed toward Zhou Xing from all angles like lightning.

Zhou Xing dodged quickly, and the vines stabbed into the ground one by one.

"Freeze!"

This actually gave Zhou Xing an opportunity. Frost Power instantly acted upon these vines and rapidly spread toward the Iron Thorn's main body.

However, the opponent actually abandoned these vines directly. The moment Zhou Xing's Frost Power covered them, the Iron Thorn forced these vines to detach from its main body.

Even more vines continuously emerged from all directions, as if forming a cage of vines to trap Zhou Xing within.

It was attempting to crush Zhou Xing directly!

"System, activate Forced Plunder!"

[Mutated plant 'Iron Thorn' detected, analyzing divinity...]

['Iron Thorn' contains a 'god of steel' divinity fragment (20%), lower than the host]

[System Forced Plunder activated...]

[Divinity plunder successful, obtained 'god of steel' divinity fragment (20%), beginning automatic Fusion...]

[Fusion successful, 'god of steel' divinity increased to 35%]

[Strength increased to Late Stage foundation condensation]

[Extracting abilities:]

1. Metal Dominator (Elementary) — Can control metal within a hundred-meter range

2. Steel Skin upgraded to Metal Skin (Intermediate)

3. Metal Resistance Lv2 (Reduces metal damage by 35%)

Following the success of the System's Forced Plunder, the vines that were about to entwine Zhou Xing suddenly began to twitch continuously.

The original metallic surface instantly became dull and lusterless, withering bit by bit.

The Iron Thorn's main body was also withering away at this moment.

Seizing this opportunity, the Frost Power in Zhou Xing's left hand erupted, and the extreme cold energy directly froze the Iron Thorn's main body completely.

At the same time, with a wave of his right hand, fire power condensed, and a flaming meteor fell from the sky, slamming into the frozen main body of the Iron Thorn.

"Boom!"

The massive force caused the Iron Thorn's body to shatter completely, and the impact even formed a fiery crater several meters wide in the ground.

From the moment Zhou Xing took the initiative to the end of it all, only a dozen or so seconds had passed.

An E-grade Peak mutated plant, the Iron Thorn, had turned into a pile of debris on the ground.

"This..." Qin Yue opened his mouth, and finally, only three words came out: "Truly badass!"

The others nodded in agreement.

Everyone's attention had been drawn by the Iron Thorn, and with Zhou Xing surrounded by his own flames,

no one saw the metallic luster that had just flickered across his body.

Exploding with three abilities was already enough to leave everyone incredibly shocked; if even more abilities were revealed,

Zhou Xing couldn't guarantee that everyone would keep his secret.

After all, the time they had spent together was still very short.

There were still some Iron Thorns around, but since their leader was gone, they naturally didn't emerge.

The group passed through the Iron Thorn Jungle quite easily.

Dark Canyon was located about a dozen kilometers directly ahead of the Iron Thorn Jungle.

It was already night, and visibility was very low, with the occasional roar of Mutated Beasts echoing out.

The group was currently hidden behind several large boulders nearby, carefully observing the movements ahead.

"The intelligence was correct; there are indeed D-grade Mutated Beasts here." Qin Yue's expression was grave as he lowered his voice and pointed toward a spot in the canyon.

"Look over there, that should be the nest of the Iron-Spined Earth Dragon."

The group looked in the direction he pointed and could vaguely see many large claw marks on the canyon's rock walls.

The ground was scattered with the skulls of many other Mutated Beasts and some humans.

"The main issue is that it's not just this one D-grade Mutated Beast nearby; there are also many powerful beast packs."

Ink Rain's figure emerged from a shadow, looking at everyone with a solemn expression.

"Furthermore, the rock walls on both sides are nests for Shadow-wing Bats. Their leader has even reached the Early Stage of D-grade."

"There are over two hundred that have reached E-grade Peak. The sides are impassable."

Just now, he had only dared to carefully scout a short distance; any further and he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't be exposed.

"How did Divine Gene manage to successfully establish an experimental base in such an environment?"

White Night asked curiously, "Could it be that those two from Dragon City's Divine Gene branch were mobilized?"

"It's very likely, and they probably paid a significant price."

Liu Ning agreed with White Night's speculation, "Otherwise, how do you explain the human skulls scattered everywhere?"

The group nodded.

Indeed, every Awakened One in Dragon City was aware of the dangers of Dark Canyon.

No fool would easily come to this place to seek death just for divinity fragments.

The group huddled together to discuss in low voices and finally decided to pass through quickly via an abandoned mine.

It was just that the method... was a bit bizarre and hard to stomach.