Chapter 612: Rare Plant! Thorned Sword Grass!

"Are you okay?"

Xu Jingming walked over and took a bottle of mineral water from his space ring, handing it to Ailin.

After expanding his space ring, he had stocked it with a large supply of pure water for emergencies.

"Th-thank you."

Ailin, barely recovered, took the mineral water, drank just one sip, then poured the rest over herself.

But compared to the sticky slime coating her entire body, this bottle of water was like a drop in the ocean.

Besides cleaning the slime off her chest, every other part of her remained slick and slimy.

Yet the water poured over her only accentuated the full contours of her chest.

"Thank you for helping me—I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise."

Ailin took a deep breath, stood up from the ground, and bowed deeply in gratitude.

"It was nothing. You could've handled those vines yourself."

Xu Jingming smiled.

When he had attacked earlier, he'd noticed these vines weren't particularly aggressive.

They were roughly at the lower tier of seventh rank; as an S-class awakened with mid-tier sixth rank, Ailin should've easily dealt with them.

Her earlier panic must've been triggered by some deep-seated fear.

After all,

compared to ferocious beasts,

soft, wriggling creatures that secrete slime are what women fear most.

And indeed, to Ailin, these vines were hundreds of times more terrifying than bloodthirsty ferocious beasts!

After entering the cave, she'd been caught off guard and bound by the vines.

That's why she'd lost her composure and forgotten to release the plant seeds stored in her space ring for use with her abilities.

"S-class! These vines have psychic energy fluctuations—they're the plant life we're looking for!"

At that moment, Eva's excited voice echoed in his mind.

Xu Jingming immediately turned his gaze to the center of the cave.

The vines on the walls had been cleared away, but a mass remained on the ground.

These vines stood upright like serpents, coiled and facing Xu Jingming directly.

Xu Jingming indeed sensed faint psychic energy emanating from them.

Yet the psychic energy was extremely weak, like that of an ordinary cat or dog.

It was easy to sense: these vines were in a state of extreme fury!

Like a cat arching its back, fur standing on end.

"This thing is a plant life?" Xu Jingming glanced dismissively at the slime-dripping vines.

Aside from women, he didn't really care much about appearance.

But these vines were genuinely disgusting.

After all, plant life forms battle armor—just imagining his armor covered in slime made him feel nauseous.

"Don't look down on it just because it's S-class. This thing is called 'Black Purple Vine.'

It's one of the better types among the ordinary plant lives cultivated by the Flower Goddess.

Its slime has a slight paralyzing effect and can heal wounds!

Just collecting this slime alone qualifies as a B-class healing resource."

Eva chirped excitedly:

"Capturing plant life is simple.

Just like using a space ring—you only need to imprint your own psychic energy onto it."

Indeed, you can't judge a person by appearance, nor measure the sea with a dipper.

Xu Jingming hadn't expected the slime to have such effects.

Even knowing its function, he still found it repulsive...

"This is a plant life—I came here specifically for it."

Seeing Xu Jingming staring at the plant mass, Ailin volunteered:

"I didn't expect it to be the 'Black Purple Vine' variety."

Ailin sighed helplessly.

Even Xu Jingming, a man, found it repulsive—how much more so for Ailin, a woman?

In terms of cultivation potential and effects, the Black Purple Vine was indeed decent.

But that slime... it was simply unbearable.

Of course,

she could capture it first and see if she could trade it later.

"By the way, you know what plant life is, right?"

"Yes."

Xu Jingming nodded.

He couldn't exactly say he'd been tailing her this whole time just for this plant life.

"Plant life is extremely rare. I've been here over ten days and only found this one.

I never expected you'd be nearby too, Xu Jingming..."

Before she could finish, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air—the Black Purple Vine launched another attack!

"Still won't give up?"

Xu Jingming's heart stirred, Lei Ting flashed, and in an instant he severed the extending vines!

"Lei Prison!"

Rumble rumble rumble—

The resplendent golden Lei Ting locked the remaining clump of purple-black vines in place, leaving them unable to launch any more attacks.

Just as Xu Jingming and Eileen thought all was well, a sudden sharp sound of tearing through the air rang out!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!......

Black streaks of light, like venomous snakes, shot out from deep within the cavern at several times the speed of sound!

Flying toward Xu Jingming and Eileen respectively!

"Careful!" In an instant, Xu Jingming immediately wrapped himself in a perfect-grade Lei Ting Barrier!

But Eileen beside him seemed not to have reacted yet, standing dazedly in place.

Just as the black streak of light was about to pierce through Eileen's head, a sharp crack rang out and a resplendent golden Lei Ting Barrier flared to life!

Ding ding ding!!

The black streaks of light slammed into the two Lei Ting Barriers, actually producing a series of crisp Jin Ge-like clangs of metal striking metal!

Lei Guang flew in all directions, and in the end the black streaks of light still failed to break through the Lei Ting Barrier's defense.

They fell to the ground.

Only now did Xu Jingming realize that these black streaks of light were actually leaves shaped like longswords!

"This is......?!"

Resplendent golden Lei Ting Lei Kuangyong surged out, illuminating the entirety of the cavern's depths.

The next moment,

growing deep within the cavern, a plant some six or seven meters tall, resembling a shrub, appeared before Xu Jingming's eyes.

The plant was entirely emerald green, its stems covered in sharp thorns, and its leaves were shaped exactly like longswords.

"S-rank! This is a rare plant lifeform — Thorn Sword Grass!"

Eva's excited voice immediately rang out in his heart.

Sharing the same reaction was Eileen, who had just come back to her senses beside him:

"Thorn Sword Grass! I never imagined I would encounter this plant lifeform here!!"

She gazed at the plant with wild fervor, completely forgetting that she had nearly died from the leaves this very plant had flung at her.

"Is Thorn Sword Grass more powerful than the Black Purple Vine?" Xu Jingming asked Eva in his heart.

"More powerful? That's putting it mildly — it's incredibly powerful!"

Eva's voice seemed to carry immense excitement:

"The plant lifeforms cultivated by the Flower God are divided into three categories: ordinary, rare, and top-tier.

The Purple-Black Vine counts as a relatively uncommon one among ordinary plant lifeforms.

But this Thorn Sword Grass belongs to the rare plant lifeform category — its rarity is countless times greater than that of the Purple-Black Vine!

Even in our Second Civilization era, there weren't many powerful beings who possessed Thorn Sword Grass!"