Swallowing the Stars: The Wind Sword Master.

Chapter 80 Kirishima

The next afternoon.

A river flows slowly across the Australian continent, its surface shimmering and appearing relatively calm.

Suddenly, a white figure sped past, disappearing upstream in a flash. Many fish and monsters in the river were cleaved in two by the sword energy before they could even react.

Ning Ze stood on his domain sword, hovering 10 centimeters above the river surface as he sped forward at a speed exceeding 1000 m/s. The water in the middle of the river surged to both sides, just like surfing.

"This is the last tributary. If we can't find it here, then we probably won't find it again."

Ning Ze was slightly annoyed. If he hadn't encountered that annoying purple-crowned golden eagle, he wouldn't have wasted so much time. This flying monster was even faster than him, like a piece of chewing gum. If he hadn't wanted to avoid trouble, he wouldn't have flown so low.

"Hopefully we'll find him up ahead. His communicator is switched off. He should be alright, right? The Bolenas family hasn't made any unusual moves..."

As he continued his journey, Ning Ze suddenly stopped. He gazed at the distant lake, which remained shrouded in a thick fog, growing denser the further he went in. However, the desolate land beyond the lake was completely free of fog.

"What is this? The mist?"

Ning Ze felt something was very strange. It would be normal for a valley or mountain stream to have mist in the forest, but this was a lake, so the mist was very strange because it was not water mist. In his perception, it was more like a kind of energy.

He cautiously made his way into the mist, very curious about what lay in the center.

However, he wasn't worried about encountering any danger. It was 2057, and they had been exploring Earth for decades. People had been to every corner of the surface. If there were any magical places, they would at most be king-level monsters. If they couldn't defeat them, they could run away. They weren't the kind of strange relics that meant either great fortune or death.

Sudden.

A thick bolt of blue lightning suddenly lit up.

"Sizzle!"

A dense array of blue lightning bolts instantly illuminated the sky above the lake. These bolts twisted and radiated outwards like electric snakes. Caught off guard, Ning Ze had just dodged the first bolt when he was struck by the overwhelming barrage of lightning!

The speed of the lightning was too fast for Ning Ze to dodge. However, he only frowned slightly. He was unharmed by being bathed in lightning. His Black God Suit could block lightning, at least the known lightning. These monsters were only high-level warriors, with only a few being war gods.

Ning Ze stared coldly at the lake surface. At the same time, long, monstrous creatures with blue scales suddenly leaped out of the water. These creatures had lightning crackling around their scales, and a very few had a single horn on their heads. One by one, these long, monstrous creatures leaped out of the water and opened their blood-red mouths to bite! Roars could be heard from afar.

He recognized them instantly: wire eels, unicorn eels... all monsters capable of generating electricity. The combination of these monsters could be terrifying. Ordinary people, even high-level war gods, would perish under extremely high voltage without the Black God Set.

But they still dared to attack him!

"Go to hell!"

Ning Ze spread his palm out downwards with one hand, and with a thought, a sword domain arose!

In that instant, countless transparent longswords condensed, and then countless longswords pierced into the water. The seawater boiled at that moment, as if a rain of swords was falling from the sky, attacking all the monsters in the lake!

He could wreak havoc in the ocean, so these monsters were simply courting death in a mere lake!

The lake surface boiled completely, and blood splattered everywhere after each bubble burst.

Seeing that there were no monsters, Ning Ze flew towards the mist ahead on his sword, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Something strange is here.

What's even more certain is that there's some kind of treasure here!

First, the energy is abundant. He is constantly cultivating, and he can sense the abundant energy in front of him. Cultivating here will be half as fast as in other places!

Secondly, the monsters are too strong. The monster density here is extremely abnormal. Having searched so many places on the Australian continent and even gone around the ocean, he has a certain understanding of the monster density.

There are too many lord-level monsters here; they must make up at least a third of the total!

This density cannot be explained simply by abundant energy.

Thirdly, the monsters are all aquatic animals capable of generating electricity. Of the more than one hundred types of aquatic monsters capable of generating electricity worldwide, at least one-third are found here.

Aside from monsters that generate electricity, there are no other types of water-sounding monsters.

This is a phenomenon of alienation among monsters. They possess high intelligence and, like humans, form gangs for mutual benefit. For example, the Mighty Demon Ape we encountered earlier had territory mostly inhabited by ape-like monsters, but also included monsters of other races.

The ape monsters occupy those continuous mountain ranges for food, and these water monsters that generate electricity occupy this place for better survival as well. However, there is no need to kill them so ruthlessly; those that cannot generate electricity should be discarded.

To survive here, you have to make certain contributions; useless monsters can't come here.

This behavior is clearly an attempt to protect or compete for something.

There are no King-level monsters, and they still need protection.

Ning Ze couldn't guess what was inside for a moment. He quickly crossed the lake and arrived at an island. He was still cautiously exploring his surroundings, and the fog was still thick.

It's so quiet here. Compared to the bustling lake earlier, there are no animals here, not even the weakest insects or monsters. There are only extremely dense plants, which are very 'strong'.

"If the environment is fine, then are there some terrible plants here?"

The moment this thought popped into Ning Ze's mind, his heart began to pound uncontrollably. Monster corpses could be used as materials to make various equipment, and plant-type monsters had another name: spirits of plants and trees!

While most plant spirits need sunlight, these plant spirits don't, yet they grow incredibly strong, which defies all logic. Stronger plant spirits might not reject other plants, as their own kind provides the best nourishment, but at the very least, they still need sunlight for weaker plants to grow.

Plants condense life energy, and killing them yields an energy core. Even the king of plants needs other plants to grow before it can plunder them. This is the origin of the spirit of plants. For humans, these plant monsters are excellent tonics!

But if plants don't need this energy... unless there's an inexhaustible supply of energy here! Ordinary plants don't need to absorb sunlight, and even plants at the level of the spirit of plants don't need to plunder it.

There are even more precious treasures here!

What could it be?

Ning Ze felt his heart pounding. He had never been this excited, not even when he first acquired two billion in wealth. Now, it was as if he had found some treasure!

"The essence of plants and trees alone would greatly enhance me. Just one thousand-year-old plant and tree spirit would allow me to reach the peak of the War God realm, or even break through to the Planetary level. If I could obtain the hidden treasure here, it might even further boost my talent!"

Ning Ze tried to calm his excitement. As long as his aptitude improved, his cultivation speed would increase exponentially, a benefit that no one could refuse.

"bite."

The notification sound echoed through the empty woods.

"Whoosh!"

A transparent longsword severed a tree branch that was trying to sneak up on him. Ning Ze clicked to answer the call, not for any other reason than it was a video sent by Hong.

"The curator."

"Ning Ze, where are you? Luo Feng discovered a misty island with spirits of plants and trees inside..." Hong paused here because he noticed the surrounding environment. Ning Ze was surrounded by a white mist, making it impossible to see what was around him. This seemed to be the misty island.

Ning Ze's expression was somewhat somber. This was the last location; he couldn't find where Luo Feng had gone. He hadn't followed the river. The Australian continent was so vast; finding someone alone was unrealistic. Having encountered a place like this, he simply stopped searching. As for Li Yao, he was probably insignificant compared to the treasure.

Unexpectedly, Luo Feng seems to be here?

"I'm also on Kirishima. Did he run into some trouble? Did he find the spirit of plants and trees?"

Hong couldn't help but chuckle. He had originally intended to give this genius under his command some wealth, since he was about to become an inspector. Giving him some benefits would help him maintain his integrity. Human currency was meaningless. He hadn't expected Ning Ze to happen to be here.

"Luo Feng discovered this place yesterday, and then Li Yao came over and called a few martial artists over. I thought you were there, so I thought I'd have you handle it. Since you happened to be here, this matter is simple."

"Okay, I'll be there. I tried messaging Luo Feng earlier but couldn't get through. He's very hardworking and has a lot of backbone." Ning Ze nodded in agreement, feeling somewhat amused and exasperated. He had sent Luo Feng a message, but it showed that the communicator was switched off and he was now being contacted by Hong. Clearly, Luo Feng had refused his help and wanted to deal with Li Yao himself.

"Okay, then go quickly. If you encounter any trouble, send me a message and I'll send someone over. Since you discovered the treasure, you can't let someone else take it from you."

"good!"

After the call ended, a location was sent to me.

Ning Ze glanced at the coordinates, and with a thought, his longsword sped off to the right. Since Luo Feng had been waiting here for two days and had been discovered, he no longer needed to be so careful.

He sped toward the location from which the message had come, and from afar, he could see the fog churning ahead.

Swish!

In just two seconds, Ning Ze appeared in the sky above the battlefield. Looking down at the battlefield below, he happened to witness an interesting scene.

Luo Feng used his mental power to snatch a plant spirit, then immediately began digging a hole with a throwing knife, plunging headfirst into the ground as if trying to escape. The four war gods in the distance remained in their fighting stances, looking somewhat dumbfounded.

Ning Ze smiled slightly and said loudly, "This place was discovered by my Limitless Martial Arts Academy. I now order your Bolenas family to immediately return the Spirit of Plants and Trees of my Limitless Martial Arts Academy!"

"Brother Ning? You got here so fast?" Luo Feng looked surprised; he had only sent the message a short while ago. He had assumed that the Limitless Martial Arts School would arrive faster than the Bolenas family, but he hadn't expected them to arrive in less than a minute.

Upon hearing Luo Feng's address, the three martial artists below exchanged bewildered glances, momentarily unable to recognize the person before them. Only Li Yao's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out in surprise, "Ning Ze!"

At this moment, Cattelan, Keita, and Ivan realized who Ningze was.

Catalan frowned, saying with displeasure, "Your Limitless Martial Arts Academy is being far too domineering. How did you know Luo Feng arrived first? Since we're all here, let's see who gets the most Herb Spirits!"

Ning Ze's reputation is indeed impressive, but he has only been in the elite training camp for a year. At most, he was attacked by a laser cannon once, but he was not injured, so it was obvious that he was not hit.

As a peak War God and a high-level Spiritualist, his strength was not far from that of an invincible War God. He also possessed the Black God Set and was not afraid of Ning Ze at all.

"Each relying on their own abilities?" Ning Ze scoffed. "Aren't you going to ask Li Yao how he got here? You're telling me it's all about individual merit?"

"Since this place was discovered by my Extreme Martial Arts Academy, how we mine it is up to us!"

"One more question: are you going to pay or not?"

At this point, Ning Ze's tone had become extremely cold. He was unwilling to go on a killing spree unless absolutely necessary. He understood that the spirits of plants and trees were expensive, and that treasures were tempting, so it was normal to want to fight over them.

However, among these four war gods, apart from Li Yao, he didn't think anyone else deserved to die. They were all war gods, and their contributions to protecting the base city were significant. Unless he did something irrational, he didn't want to point his sword at humans.

The four people below fell silent for a moment, with Li Yao, Keita, and Ivan all focusing their attention on Cattelan.

Catlan's expression was also very conflicted. His face turned red and then pale. Finally, he made a decision and said, "Let us leave. We can forget about what happens after that. The plant spirits we have picked are our harvest."

Ning Ze looked at the four people indifferently and calmly said, "These were also stolen by you. Will you hand them over or not?"

"Ning Ze, don't push your luck!" Katlan was furious. He was somewhat afraid of Ning Ze, but he was afraid of Ning Ze in the future.

As for now, even if Ning Ze is stronger than him, he doesn't think Ning Ze is much stronger. At least not strong enough for him to willingly give up the Spirit of Grass and Trees. He believes he can protect it, but he doesn't want to fight or make enemies.

Ning Ze didn't say much. The giant sword beneath his feet slowly dissipated, and he swooped down while raising his long sword high.

Cattelan was taken aback. He had thought the longsword was a special technological greatsword, but he didn't expect it to dissipate. However, now was not the time to think about it. It might be an item from an ancient ruin.

Ning Ze had already rushed over. He never dared to underestimate this renowned super genius. Katarin gripped the spear in his hand and thrust it fiercely into the sky, his mid-level War God-level mental power surging out to assist him.

Ning Ze looked down at the ground with icy eyes, swept his longsword forward, deflected the javelin, and then, without holding back, stabbed Katarand into the chest.

"puff!"

Catalan coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with terror. He flew backward for more than thirty meters before crashing heavily to the ground. He spat out another mouthful of blood before finally raising his head and saying with difficulty, "You've broken through!"

Ning Ze did not answer, but calmly said, "Hand it over, and I'll spare your life."

Cattelan looked bitter. Now that he thought about it, the transparent longsword from before was clearly elemental energy!

Had he known Ning Ze had broken through to the God of War level, how could he possibly have refused to befriend him? He was seriously injured by that blow; without the Water of Life, he wouldn't have been able to recover for a year.

"I'll hand it over!" He took out the spirit of plants from the Black God Suit on his back and sent it over with his spiritual power.

Ning Ze nodded slightly, using his mental power to control the spirits of plants and trees to float beside him, and turned to look at Keita and Ivan.

The two men waved their hands in a panic, saying hastily, "We don't have any on us, they're all with Cattelan. Li Yao has two, though."

"Li Yao, you three can leave now," Ning Ze said calmly.

(End of this chapter)