Chapter 932: Rank 9 Iron-Thread Lotus! A Million Void Stones!

The cold wind pierced the bones, snowflakes drifted through the air.

Xu Jingming and Su Qingli stood on an ice plain formed of solid ice.

Dozens of meters ahead of them stood a colossal entity!

It was a flower bud, its color and shape similar to a lotus, yet standing over seventy meters tall!

It stood there, exuding a crushing sense of oppression.

Especially as its aura continued to strengthen, as if launching an assault on a bottleneck.

“Once the Iron-Thread Lotus breaks through, we’ll have our second Rank 9 S-Class combatant.”

Looking at the bud before them, Xu Jingming smiled.

“Plant life that reaches Rank 9 accumulates more indestructible matter than an ordinary Rank 9 Martial Saint.”

“After this Iron-Thread Lotus breaks through, its combat power should surpass mine.”

Su Qingli nodded.

Just its endless, regenerating vines alone would be enough to cause headaches.

Not to mention plant life can transform into armor with extreme defensive power.

BOOM!!

Time slowly passed; after several attempts, the Iron-Thread Lotus finally shattered its bottleneck.

Like a whale devouring water, it greedily absorbed ambient yuan energy; its aura, already at its peak, surged rapidly to a brand-new level!

At the same time, its lotus bud bloomed fully, releasing a faint, fragrant scent.

Countless vines and roots, as thick as water barrels, sprouted from the lotus and danced joyfully.

The ice plain suffered greatly, pockmarked by massive craters from the crashing roots and vines.

“Master.”

After a while, as its aura stabilized, the Iron-Thread Lotus sent a mental pulse.

Compared to the Thorned Sword Grass, its mental energy was far more powerful and robust.

Yet the vines that extended outward curled around Xu Jingming like puppies, showing great affection.

“What changes have you gained since reaching Rank 9?” Xu Jingming stroked the vines and asked with a smile.

Plant life has its own personality.

The Thorned Sword Grass had survived in the secret realm for countless years; its personality had long stabilized.

The Iron-Thread Lotus was different—since sprouting from a seed to its current Rank 9 state, barely two months had passed.

Its power had risen, but its personality remained childlike.

“I’ve gained a new ability to create illusions; my vines can now extend up to fifty kilometers.”

“Also, my vitality has increased a hundredfold—I’m nearly impossible to kill now.”

The Iron-Thread Lotus replied.

“Create illusions?” Xu Jingming’s eyes lit up. “Try it on me at full strength.”

Plant life abilities vary.

The Thorned Sword Grass had its life-blade leaves; the Iron-Thread Lotus’s original ability leaned toward psychic powers.

He hadn’t expected it to gain an illusion ability outright.

“Alright.”

Each vine of the Iron-Thread Lotus bore beautiful lotus flowers.

Now, tens of thousands of lotuses bloomed simultaneously, releasing a hypnotic, fragrant scent.

Xu Jingming felt his eyelids suddenly grow heavy; his consciousness began to blur, as if being pulled into an illusion.

At that moment, the “Moon” in his mental sea stirred violently, his mental energy surging like thunder!

His nearly fading awareness snapped back to clarity.

Xu Jingming gasped several times to recover, his expression filled with astonishment:

“That’s terrifying mental power—I nearly got dragged into the illusion.”

“Only you’re too strong, Master. Little Lotus’s illusions don’t work on you.”

The Iron-Thread Lotus’s mental pulse carried deep respect.

“It only fails on me—your illusions would overwhelm any ordinary Rank 9 psychic.”

Xu Jingming laughed heartily.

If used in battle against an enemy, such an illusion could decisively turn the tide.

But right now, this ability wasn’t needed—the Iron-Thread Lotus’s vines could now stretch fifty kilometers.

That would greatly aid their search for void stones.

Thinking of this, Xu Jingming pulled a void stone from his space ring and handed it to the Iron-Thread Lotus, eager:

“Little Lotus, help me find more of these crystals nearby.”

Most plant life excels in vitality.

But as a top-tier plant life, the Iron-Thread Lotus wasn’t just strong in vitality—its mental energy was equally terrifying.

With vines extending over fifty kilometers, combined with its powerful mental sense,

it located numerous void stones hidden beneath the earth or in caves.

In just six hours, Xu Jingming and Su Qingli each amassed over 150,000 void stones!

Even Eva’s count rose to 50,000, placing her in the top hundred.

Xu Jingming and Su Qingli both entered the top ten.

Along the way, they encountered other Ice Giants, but these were too low-level—only Rank 7 and Rank 8.

The ice essence they obtained from slaying them was impure; even after replenishment, the success rate for psychic evolution remained below 2%.

“S-Class! I just received a message from my auxiliary AI.”

High above the ice, Xu Jingming and Su Qingli flew swiftly.

Below, countless Iron-Thread Lotus vines raced forward like giant serpents.

At that moment, Eva’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

“Oh? Found a beast pack?” Xu Jingming asked quickly.

Although the Golden Guard units scattered after entering the seventh layer were all Eva’s sub-entities,

their signal range was only about two hundred kilometers—beyond that, no signal could be received.

This was the first signal they’d sent, meaning at least one Golden Guard was within two hundred kilometers of them.

“Yes.”

Eva nodded. “Southeast direction, about four hundred kilometers away.”

“Southeast? That explains it...”

They’d been flying south the whole time; they’d never even looked toward the southeast.

“Jingming, should we go there now?” Su Qingli asked softly.

“Let’s go,” Xu Jingming nodded. “After we kill the beasts, we’ll be close enough to regroup.”

Before scattering the Golden Guards, Eva had already set their orders:

Return to the starting point after twenty-four hours to consolidate the collected map data.

Just as Xu Jingming was about to change direction, the Iron-Thread Lotus on the ground sent a sudden mental pulse:

“Master! I’ve found a huge number of void stones! Probably over a million!”

As soon as she spoke, the Iron-Thread Lotus shared her mental perception.

Indeed, forty kilometers northwest, beneath the ground, lay a massive deposit of void stones!

“A million void stones! There are that many there?” Xu Jingming’s eyes blazed with light.

“No, no, Master—there’s another powerful presence there!”

The Iron-Thread Lotus’s voice trembled with alarm, and another mental perception was shared.

This time, at forty-five kilometers northwest, radiated a terrifying aura!

That aura was like a towering mountain—even Xu Jingming felt a crushing weight of pressure.

“A Rank 9 peak expert!”

Su Qingli, who had also received the Iron-Thread Lotus’s mental perception, frowned heavily, sighing helplessly: “Looks like these void stones are beyond our reach.”