Chapter 128

The platinum-grade Hellblood Vine Flower is far too powerful; even several world-class talents would struggle to handle more than a few of them.

Moreover, inside Daxing City, apart from the Beast Tamer still fighting desperately, there may be hardly any survivors left!

Retreat.

It's about minimizing losses!

"Storm Eagle, come and get me!"

Upon hearing Su Yang's command, Storm Eagle immediately dove from high above.

As it swept over the ground, Su Yang leapt onto its back.

Almost simultaneously, other Beast Tamers who received the signal also began to withdraw.

As they ascended rapidly, Su Yang saw that half of Daxing City had turned blood-red!

The top experts from Daxing City and Qixing City were still fighting those Hellblood Vine Flowers.

But Su Yang noticed that there were still six platinum-grade Hellblood Vine Flowers—only one fewer than before.

Of course, it's also possible that after killing one, several new ones had sprouted…

Su Yang didn't know the exact battle situation.

He simply knew that the platinum-grade Hellblood Vine Flowers were too strong.

They each had three world-class talents, and their growth rate was astonishingly fast!

Those Hellblood Vine Flowers swung their vines, effortlessly toppling countless skyscrapers.

Many Beast Tamers sat on their mounts, watching the distant battle.

The Beast Tamers had withdrawn to mountains a hundred li away, along with thousands of soldiers and over three thousand surviving civilians.

There might be other survivors, perhaps scattered during the chaos.

Everyone began setting up camp, and only then did Su Yang notice that many familiar faces were gone.

After pitching the simple tent provided by Daxing City for them, Su Yang felt like he was about to collapse!

Others were suffering just as badly.

Wu Yuqing hadn't even pitched her tent; she simply lay down on the grass, too exhausted to move.

Of the original 170-plus Beast Tamers from Qixing City, fewer than a hundred returned safely.

The losses were extremely devastating!

The bonfire burned as the Beast Tamers gathered around it, all silent.

Tears still glistened in many of their eyes.

Many comrades had left forever.

Most importantly, Daxing City had not been held.

"Tian Chong didn't come back!"

Wu Yuqing whispered.

"Mm."

Su Yang nodded.

He heard crying.

He took a deep breath, stepped out of camp, and looked down at the civilian encampment on the mountainside.

The sobs came almost entirely from there.

Daxing City had at least a hundred thousand people; only a tiny fraction escaped.

Many children had lost their parents, many elders had lost their children, many wives had lost their husbands—and even more families had lost everyone!

If this had happened in Qixing City—if his mother or sister had been hurt—he didn't know what insane thing Su Yang might do.

Su Yang's mind was filled with information about the Hellblood Vine Flowers.

He returned to the bonfire, his thoughts in chaos.

Wu Yuqing whispered, "Don't be sad; you'll get used to it. Old Tian died in battle—he's at least a hero!"

"I know."

Su Yang hesitated, then decided to go see Su Su Liqun.

Some information about the Hellblood Vine Flowers was known only to him.

Some things had to be warned about.

If this information could be used to kill them off completely, that would be best of all.

Su Su Liqun's tent was the largest and most luxurious, located right at the center of the Qixing City Beast Tamer camp.

After the guard on duty reported him, Su Yang met Su Su Liqun.

Su Su Liqun looked utterly exhausted.

On the table before him sat two dishes—one meat, one vegetable—and a bowl of white rice, all long since cold.

"I'm glad to see you're unharmed!"

"Thank you, Uncle Su, for your concern!"

Su Su Liqun rubbed his disheveled hair and asked, "What did you come to see me about?"

"I suspect the plant-type monsters we encountered are actually all offshoots—they may share a single mother body!"

Su Yang finally spoke up about it.

If he didn't say anything, no one would ever know.

Because even the offshoots of the Hellblood Vine Flowers contained core crystals.

"What?" Su Su Liqun stared at Su Yang in surprise. "Why do you say that?"

"Just a feeling," Su Yang said seriously. "When I fought those blood-colored plants, I felt they had no soul, no joy or sorrow—they were more like mindless, chaotic killing machines…"

"Wait, let me think!"

Su Su Liqun stood up and strained to recall the several platinum-grade crimson vines he had fought during the day!

Those crimson vines indeed resembled machines more than living creatures.

They knew only relentless killing.

Their vines never dodged attacks.

They fearlessly charged into death, each assault seeming to carry a tendency toward mutual destruction.

Logically, even if plant-type ferocious beasts generally had low intelligence, platinum-grade ones should still possess some degree of wisdom!

Avoiding harm and seeking benefit is the instinct of all living beings.

Yet these ones had none of it!

Thinking of this, Su Su Liqun said: "Your hypothesis is bold, but not impossible. Indeed, there are extremely rare plant-type ferocious beasts capable of creating clones—but they do so through cuttings."

"If cuttings can work, why not seeds?" Su Yang suggested: "We could send a Beast Tamer with a spirit-type companion beast to investigate—they should be able to sense the ferocious beast's soul!"

Spirit-type companion beasts, though rare, are not unheard of in Xingcheng.

"You're right—we have exactly such an expert in Xingcheng!"

Su Su Liqun led Su Yang out of the tent and ordered the guards: "Bring me Huo Kun!"

Soon, Captain Huo arrived.

Su Yang then learned that this captain was also skilled in spirit-type abilities.

"My lord, what is your command?"

"Come with us on an expedition—to conduct an experiment!"

"Understood!"

The three Beast Tamers left the camp and found a gold-grade Hellcrimson Vine in a town outside Xingcheng.

After severing all of the Hellcrimson Vine's vines, Huo Kun placed his hand on its main stem.

"Spirit communication!"

His eyes instantly turned silver.

After a long while, his eyes returned to brown-black.

"It has a soul!"

"What?"

Now it was Su Yang's turn to be astonished.

How could a clone have a soul?

Could the mother Hellcrimson Vine have severed and scattered its own soul?

Huo Kun looked at Su Yang and said: "Its soul is strange—like a collection of many fractured human souls, brimming with resentment, driven only by killing and destruction, utterly chaotic… I believe it has no true soul; the souls within it are all stolen!"