Chapter 647: The Ancestor's Gift (36)

A flower fully unfurled its petals, spraying a cloud of mist right in front of them.

Du Zhengyi's heart sank. "If all these flowers spray mist..." He turned his head to look at the hundreds and thousands of flowers about to bloom, "... the visibility here will soon drop severely."

The vines wound out into countless branches, and at the tip of every branch bloomed a pale purple flower. The edges of the petals were serrated and wrinkled, with hundreds of layers of light petals layered around the stamen. At first, the stamen was invisible; the layered petals were closed together, making the whole flower look like a small steamed bun, but within seconds the petals would fully open, as if a rose had reached its full form. Just as a flower reached its peak, the dark gray stamen was revealed, and with a soft "pop," pollen was sprayed out, turning into a cloud of gray mist.

If Luo Qi were here, he would definitely shout "mushroom" at the flowers.

Du Zhengyi was certain he had mastered the subject of "Luo Qi," but now he was very glad Luo Qi was not here. He could be sure that Clownfish had also realized the problem, but it was all happening too fast; there was simply no time to stop what was about to happen. Countless flowers bloomed right in front of them, sprayed a cloud of thick smoke, and then withered, hurriedly completing their life cycle. Perhaps this plant propagated its offspring in this way, like some mushrooms or other spore-spraying plants that humans Du Zhengyi was unfamiliar with might be interested in. But to Du Zhengyi, this was not interesting at all; it was just thousands of smoke-generating points, filling the entire space with thick fog. Within a minute, even with their eyesight, they could not see what was a meter in front of them.

The only hope was that this stuff was not poisonous.

It should not be poisonous; Du Zhengyi vaguely had some certainty. The Ancestor Mages did not like uncontrollable weapons, and they would not want to indiscriminately poison their own descendants.

The thick fog filled the air, the shadows of the flowers were nowhere to be seen, and only the rustling sound of the vines remained.

Rustle, rustle.

Du Zhengyi's mind stirred. There was no wind here, so that must be the sound of the plants growing, but the plants had actually stopped growing when they bloomed just now. He stood motionless, instinctively not making any sound.

Suddenly, a cluster of orange-yellow light rose not far ahead. This light pierced through several layers of fog, illuminating Clownfish's slightly tilted figure; he never hid his physical disability. Mages rarely had physical disabilities, or to put it the other way around, rarely could a physically disabled Mage be tolerated in their world. Clownfish could hide his disability—he was, after all, a Mind Archmage, and that would make everyone more comfortable—but he had never done so. Just then, Du Zhengyi heard the rustling sound become more distinct, as if Clownfish had blown a gust of wind.

A curled vine reached toward Clownfish. Against the light, in the blink of an eye, countless curled vines reached toward Clownfish like snakes. Clownfish's body paused, and Du Zhengyi sensed the release of fire Magic. The "vines" close to Clownfish twitched hideously and fell off; Clownfish was enveloped in a layer of cautiously burning Flame Armor. The smell of burning fat and protein mixed into the fog, and Du Zhengyi frowned uncomfortably, catching a glimpse of an iron-gray writhing shadow in his peripheral vision.

He suppressed the instinct to retreat and dodge; behind him was not a safe place either.

"It's snakes," Clownfish said. As soon as the words fell, a mass of writhing iron-gray exploded above his head. Countless snakes swam down from above his head. It was a hellish, disgusting, and terrifying sight, with fire and venomous snakes entwining Clownfish's entire body.

The snakes moved with lightning speed. The Flame Shield constructed by Clownfish could burn living things to death, but it could not completely block these snakes that were instinctively launching vicious charges. Even when these low-level animals were burned in half, they stubbornly charged, eager to sink their sharp teeth into human flesh and skin.

For a moment, Du Zhengyi truly thought of hell. If Clownfish were swallowed by ten thousand snakes just like this and died in the fire he had set himself, it would be like a deserved retribution. A world without Clownfish would be a more relaxed world.

His thoughts turned, but there was no hesitation when he struck. Du Zhengyi released a precisely angled Spiral Airflow, and a small whirlwind formed instantly. The swirling gale blew past Clownfish; his hair was blown upright by the strong wind, and the fire and snakes around his body were rolled up by the wind and sprayed out.

Clownfish caught his breath and followed suit. No longer using fire, he also sent out a great wind. This great wind was not as delicate as Du Zhengyi's wind; it was purely a gale, rolling up countless gray-black snakes and throwing them into the depths of the corridor. The branches and leaves on the flower vines slapped against each other, sounding somewhat like waves on the sea.

Yet, even such a great wind failed to break a few of the flower vines. The flower vines were firmly attached to the wall, and despite the wind and rain, they suffered little damage. In the thick fog, they could not see clearly, but their ears could hear the rustling sound approaching again. The sound of ten thousand snakes slithering made their scalps tingle instinctively.

Clownfish stepped to Du Zhengyi's side and blocked the Magic Du Zhengyi was about to release. "There's no need to use Magic; these low-level creatures are too difficult to deal with. If I use a big fire to burn them, is that feasible?"

Du Zhengyi hesitated for a moment before answering Clownfish, "Not feasible. The Seal Land is now fully awakened; it will automatically sense the fire and also automatically extinguish it."

"In that case, can the Seal Land itself not sense that the creatures are out of control? They certainly wouldn't have let the plants grow into the corridor at the beginning, nor would they... there must be a biological overflow now. I don't know why they keep snakes; this kind of thing has no thoughts, no self-awareness, only basic survival instincts," Clownfish said.

Du Zhengyi did not answer. Clownfish looked at him and guessed, "Perhaps their weapons are not just Psychic Beasts?"

Du Zhengyi finally said, "Perhaps the snakes are just feed."

Clownfish's body paused and he looked into the thick fog, "You mean, there is something else in the thick fog?"

It was quiet in the thick fog. At some point, the rustling sound had stopped, and countless swimming snakes were traveling around them along the three-dimensional highway built by the plant vines. Clownfish looked around vigilantly and said in a low voice, "Du Zhengyi, I suggest you don't use your own Magic. If you exhaust yourself to death here, not only will it be a waste of the surname Du, but you will also implicate me in being hunted by Luo Qi for the rest of my life."

In the thick fog, a black snake head rose from the vines, its pitch-black snake eyes staring at Du Zhengyi, and it flicked a bright red snake tongue.

"Ah, damn," Clownfish said helplessly, and opened another great wind, "Do you want me to be an exhaust fan forever?"