Chapter 64: Thorn Queen

However, for Shi Quan, these toxins and germs had no effect on him; the abilities of both the Divine Art and the Marrow Cleansing Scripture not only granted immunity to all poisons but also warded off all illnesses.

"Xiao Quan, stay close; the toxins in this poisonous mist are quite alarming."

In Dugu Bo's understanding, there was no such concept as germs; he simply regarded them all as toxins.

Shi Quan came to Dugu Bo's side, and only under the protection of Dugu Bo's soul power did he walk straight inside.

"No wonder such miasma would be birthed here."

The ground all around was covered in rotting branches and leaves, and the plants were mostly blood-colored; even the insects and ants he saw were the same—it looked bizarre no matter how one viewed it.

It seemed likely that when the Dragon Tribe kings of water and fire fell, they spilled their divine blood in this area, Shi Quan couldn't help but speculate as he looked at the scene before him.

With the Dragon Tribe Bloodline and this perilous land combined, it was almost certainly the case.

As they moved forward, even the Blue Silver Grass on the ground had been affected, with blood-red hues mixed into the blue.

If nothing else, the adaptability and survival ability of Blue Silver Grass were absolutely top-tier to be able to survive and adapt in such an environment.

As the Blue Silver Grass evolved into the Blue Silver King, Shi Quan's ability to sense the Blue Silver Grass became much clearer; even with these mutated Blue Silver Grass, Shi Quan could easily link with them and use the surrounding Blue Silver Grass to perceive everything in the vicinity.

If it were before, Shi Quan could only link with the Blue Silver Grass while cultivating, but now he could do it whenever he wished; this was the benefit brought by the evolution of his martial soul.

Through the perception of the Blue Silver Grass, Shi Quan soon noticed a giant blood-colored python appearing a hundred meters to the front right.

The aura it emitted was clearly no more than a thousand years old, but the size of this giant python was already close to a Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast.

"Grandpa Dugu, the Spirit Beasts here seem to be much larger than those outside."

"They are indeed much larger." Dugu Bo nodded and said, "The environment here is special. I have explored deep inside before; apart from some powerful Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts in the deepest parts, there is nothing else special, and I don't know what caused them to mutate into this current state."

"Moreover, the Spirit Beasts here have exceptionally strong perception abilities, and coupled with the cover of the poisonous mist, this increases the difficulty of hunting significantly, so very few people come here to hunt Spirit Beasts."

"No wonder it is called a perilous land." Shi Quan nodded slightly.

The two continued forward, and because their destination was to the left, they did not cross paths with the giant python Shi Quan had sensed.

Furthermore, they were still only in the outermost perimeter; their target was a nine-thousand-year plant-type Spirit Beast, which was already close to ten thousand years in age and at least in the middle circle of this area.

This place was filled with poisonous mist, which could be called a paradise for poison-attribute Spirit Beasts; it was no wonder Dugu Bo would come here to help Dugu Yan find a soul bone.

On the way, Shi Quan also saw many Spirit Beast bones; it was hard to say if these bones were the result of Dugu Bo's handiwork.

By the time it turned dark, the two had still not reached their destination.

"There is still some distance to go. To avoid encountering those powerful Spirit Beasts inside, let's rest tonight and set off again tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Shi Quan nodded.

The two rested simply on the spot for the night, and after a night of silence, they continued their journey early the next morning.

They walked for about another hour.

Dugu Bo pointed to a valley, "It is in that valley ahead."

The perception of the Blue Silver Grass only extended to the area outside the valley; there was not a single blade of Blue Silver Grass inside the valley, which showed just how overbearing the plant-type Spirit Beast within was.

The two walked into the valley, and the ground was covered with animal bones of various sizes; bizarrely, these white bones were all interspersed with a touch of blood-colored petals.

"Why do these petals look a bit strange?" Shi Quan searched his mind continuously for information on relevant plant-type Spirit Beasts, but he couldn't recall it for a moment.

"Xiao Quan, look, it's these thorns." Dugu Bo pointed to the blood-colored thorns hanging on the mountain wall, "Further ahead, we should reach the attack range of this Spirit Beast."

"Can you tell what kind of Spirit Beast these thorns are?"

"Grandpa Dugu, the Spirit Beasts here are all mutated; just by looking at some vine branches, I can't tell." Shi Quan shook his head and gave a wry smile, but looking at these thorny vines, combined with the blood-colored petals on the animal bones, he really did have a guess in his mind; whether it was correct or not would only be known after going deeper to take a look.

"Then stay close, let's go in and take a look."

The two continued deeper, and the blood-colored petals on the ground gradually increased, as did the thorns all around.

"Is this a mutated Thorn Queen?" Shi Quan looked at the plant with an alluring appearance, resembling a human, amidst the intertwined thorns in the distance, his expression filled with excitement.

"Thorn Queen?" Dugu Bo looked at Shi Quan in confusion.

"Grandpa Dugu, the Thorn Queen is an extremely rare existence among plant-type Spirit Beasts. It can be called a symbol of life itself; the places it spreads are all igniting new life, though this life refers to thorns..."

Seeming to think of something, Shi Quan hurriedly pulled his feet back from the petals beneath him and said repeatedly, "Grandpa Dugu, the Thorn Queen is a very special Spirit Beast. It likes to wait for enemies to slowly fall into its trap and then use deadly spikes to kill the enemy; these petals are its trap."

"Petals?" Dugu Bo looked at the petals under his feet with suspicion.

"These petals are actually its seeds. Once the Thorn Queen is activated, these seeds will grow rapidly; not only can they explode into spikes, but they can also directly entangle and strangle the enemy."

"That scary?"

Dugu Bo's movements paused slightly, but Shi Quan said repeatedly, "Grandpa Dugu, don't stop. If you stop and show signs of retreating, this Thorn Queen will immediately launch an attack."

"It is luring us to go deeper, and we can also take this opportunity to find a chance to kill it in one blow."

"Good fellow, is this Thorn Queen that smart?"

"It's not smart, it's just the nature of the Thorn Queen."

"So many seeds? Doesn't that mean it fits your requirements perfectly?"

"That's right, it's just a pity that the Thorn Queen doesn't have any other special abilities. However, the vine strength of the Thorn Queen is extremely high; it is not only tough but also possesses sharp spikes, which will also have a significant boost for my Blue Silver King. It would be even better if my Third Soul Skill could inherit its spikes."

Shi Quan said with an excited expression, "The most important thing is that this Thorn Queen is also mutated; its abilities must be stronger than a Thorn Queen of the same level."

"Haha, that's good then; we didn't make this trip for nothing." Dugu Bo smiled, "Since that's the case, what are we waiting for?"

As he spoke, Dugu Bo's powerful soul power fluctuations exploded outward; all the petals in the vicinity were scattered directly, and his originally emerald-green eyes instantly turned into a terrifying white, with a layer of white halo emerging within his emerald eyes.

The next second, two pale white beams of light shot out from Dugu Bo's eyes.

The Thorn Queen not far away didn't even have time to react.

One could only see those intertwined thorny vines already petrified one by one, frozen in place.

Shi Quan twitched the corner of his mouth; he thought Dugu Bo would show off some technique for him? But he ended up using his ultimate move right away.

If you say he didn't show off, he certainly did.

"Xiao Quan, these thorns shouldn't be its main body, right?" Dugu Bo leaped and arrived in front of the Thorn Queen, turning to look at Shi Quan and asking.

Shi Quan hurriedly followed closely and said, "Grandpa Dugu, the humanoid vine in the middle is its core; the others are not."

"Then that makes it simple."

Dugu Bo transformed his hands into blades and swept them rapidly; in the blink of an eye, all the blood-colored vines in the surroundings were severed.

With only a thousand-year level of cultivation, in front of a Title Douluo like Dugu Bo, it could only take a beating.

Controlled to death from start to finish, by the time the petrification effect faded, the Thorn Queen was left with only its central core, shrouded in poisonous mist, having completely lost the ability to move.

"That will do." Dugu Bo looked around to ensure the Thorn Queen had no ability to resist, then turned to nod slightly at Shi Quan, signaling him to come over.

"Thank you for the trouble, Grandpa Dugu Bo." Shi Quan stepped forward, his Blue Silver King Vine shooting out from his hand; he released the Hardening ability, and with a churn, he easily shattered the root core of the Thorn Queen.

A deep purple Soul Ring slowly floated out from the shattered vines of the Thorn Queen.

"Xiao Quan, Grandpa will wait for your success." Dugu Bo looked at the deep purple Soul Ring in mid-air, a trace of worry inevitably appearing in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Grandpa Dugu."

Shi Quan sat cross-legged on the spot, the Blue Silver King emitting a pale blue radiance as it began to draw in the Soul Ring; the Soul Ring slowly descended, encircling the Blue Silver King, and the massive energy within it immediately began to run wild.

As the energy impact began, Dugu Bo's gaze never once left Shi Quan.

"You must hold on." Dugu Bo watched the constantly convulsing Shi Quan, silently repeating this in his heart.

The sun rose, the sun set.

Time passed bit by bit.

The surging energy turned into white mist, mingling with the surrounding poisonous mist, and the crackling sounds of bones gradually subsided.

The pale blue light of the Blue Silver King quietly bloomed, a faint layer of red appearing beneath its crystalline surface before slowly vanishing; the Blue Silver King returned to its previous appearance, with no other changes besides growing a bit longer.

The Thorn Queen possessed a mutated attribute, though Shi Quan was not clear on what the specific mutation was; however, judging from the petals and thorn vines, one thing that could be confirmed was that it was not a poison attribute.

As the soul power impact ended and the soul power conversion began, Shi Quan sensed the specific mutation of the Thorn Queen from the Soul Ring: this mutated Thorn Queen Spirit Beast actually carried a certain Devouring ability, capable of absorbing and devouring an enemy's soul power.

For Shi Quan, this was an unexpected joy; although he did not know how this Thorn Queen had mutated to give birth to a Devouring Attribute, and while the Thorn Queen's Devouring ability was not strong, it was exceptionally compatible with Shi Quan's Blue Silver King, because the Blue Silver King itself was a coexistence of life and Devouring attributes!

The Thorn Queen is referenced from Zyra, the Rise of the Thorns in League of Legends.