A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Rogue Cultivator

Speaking of fertilizer, Wang Li, below the lava cave, subconsciously glanced at the vines blocking the entrance and saw a thick, long whip extending straight up to the top of the cave. At the same time, the puppet above also surveyed the space and quickly found more than a dozen huge plants covering the entire wall of the space above.

Numerous vines with lush leaves, an unusually thick main root system, and various tentacle vines that are not only unusually long but also covered with sharp thorns, with some vines also bearing delicate and beautiful flowers.

At first, Wang Li didn't notice anything unusual about the vines.

But when he truly expanded his divine sense to observe carefully, he was astonished to discover:

Beneath the bark of these vines, instead of the usual root and stem veins of a plant, lies a network of blood vessels resembling the capillary tissue of an animal. And flowing within them is not plant sap, but bright red blood.

What appears to be a group of plants composed of more than ten vines is actually just one vine, a branch of a single vine.

Furthermore, wisps of pale yellow smoke had appeared in the air above, and if Wang Li hadn't been outside the cave, he would definitely have been caught in the trap.

Therefore, this plant is alive!

It possesses consciousness and a soul!

Rather than viewing it as a plant, it's better to think of it as a tree spirit, and a very shady one at that.

"hiss……"

A wave of fear washed over him, and Wang Li tried to retreat several dozen feet away to create a relatively safe distance. Unexpectedly, the vines that had blocked the cave entrance suddenly came to life and lashed out at the spot where he was standing with incredible speed, producing a series of crackling sounds that could be clearly heard.

"He really is a cunning old fox."

Enraged, he recklessly unleashed the Vermilion Bird Ring.

Fire overcomes wood; it's an instinctive action.

"Ding."

When the Vermilion Bird Ring, wreathed in raging flames, struck the vine, the flames failed to burn it in the slightest, and the hard ring itself made no difference. Instead, the two collided, producing a crisp, metallic clang. This startled Wang Li, causing his eyes to twitch.

Such high fire resistance!

The universal trick of "fire overcomes wood" actually fails when applied to this type of plant monster.

Moreover, how come this vine has a hardness comparable to a top-tier magic weapon?

"Humph!"

He, Wang, didn't believe in that superstition.

He immediately swung out the Soul-Shattering Scissors, and with a series of sharp, slicing sounds, he chopped at the target.

Unexpectedly, the vines retracted to avoid danger, never directly confronting the large shears; instead, they curled into a large ball, and the moment the shears missed their target, they suddenly shot out like a yo-yo. Or like an explosive punch from a compressed spring after it had fully charged.

The Soul-Shattering Scissors were sent flying a great distance.

Immediately following, a dozen or so bright purple flowers bloomed toward Wang Li, and from the buds emerged large mouths full of sharp teeth, which then sprayed splashes of dark green saliva at him.

Looking at Wang Li again: before the vine demon could even make a move, his keen senses, habitual behavior, and the slight feeling that something was amiss had already caused him to flash several dozen feet away. The mid-air he was originally in was merely a deliberately left afterimage created by his talismanic magic.

Even so, the relentless onslaught of the vines caused a twitch at the corner of his mouth:

"It's really become sentient?!"

Hmph, so what if you've become a spirit? As long as you haven't reached the Core Formation stage, I'll wear you down to death.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of puppets formed an array and began a concentrated attack on the long vine. Various beams of light and energy projectiles bombarded upwards, creating a dazzling display of colors.

After one round, the vine was immediately battered, its leaves flying everywhere and red sap spurting out, before it quickly retracted back above the vertical hole.

Meanwhile, the higher-level puppet above was also attacked by the vines. The spikes on its long, whip-like tentacles easily pierced through its seemingly reliable, hard steel body.

However, when the vine demon inserted its peculiar mouthparts into the puppet's head, it sucked and sucked... for a long time, only to find a large clump of air. It then realized the puppet wasn't a living being. Immediately losing interest, it flicked its vine whip and casually tossed the puppet into a corner.

"Huh?"

opportunity!

One thing to be aware of is that forcibly widening the opening connecting the upper and lower parts is extremely unwise. While it might seem like increasing one's attack range, it actually unleashes the vine demon's fighting power. After all, the vine demon has more than a dozen of these vines, and it was with this deception that it misled Wang Li before.

The vertical hole was only large enough to accommodate one or two thick vines reaching down to attack him. Expanding it would undoubtedly remove a certain limiter for the vine demon.

Dealing with just one vine requires the combined fire of dozens of puppets; dealing with a dozen or so at once would be even more troublesome. The difficulty level would increase exponentially.

Therefore, you must never help the vine demon enlarge the cave entrance.

Lure these vine tentacles down one by one and then cut them off—this would undoubtedly be a good strategy. And he happened to have plenty of bait: the lava fire lizards he had just captured.

Of course, it would be best if the high-level puppet above, which is not yet completely damaged, could achieve a decisive victory in one strike.

Next.

"Boom boom boom..."

The fighting below was deafening and extremely intense, while the fighting above progressed steadily, centimeter by centimeter.

Both sides were incredibly patient.

Below, the puppet was simultaneously trimming the vine spirit's "wings" to distract it and provide maximum cover for the puppet above. Once the puppet locked onto the vine spirit's main root, it slowly and steadily crawled towards it, never greedily taking even "just a tiny bit more," moving with surprising steadiness.

Its movements are so small that they are comparable to those of a small earthworm.

That's because they were afraid of making too much friction or any noise.

Admittedly, there were some setbacks along the way, such as being whipped two or three meters away by a few vine whips that happened to "pass by" by chance, but Wang Lijin persevered without being affected at all.

Two hours later, still patient, he finally grinned, revealing the success of his wicked scheme—no, it was a successful plot, or rather, a successful scheme, or rather… well, whatever, he got what he wanted!

"boom!"

The entire space shook.

The vine that had been entangled with him suddenly weakened in its resistance.

The perspective jumps to the space above.

The main root of the vine demon was now charred. But that was nothing, just a minor injury. What truly caused the serious damage was the explosion that sent out specially made magical nails, fragments of magical artifacts, and other components that had been used to create the puppet itself.

Before dealing with the Ink Dragon, Wang Li had this idea, but he had never tested it on a puppet.

But after his battle with the old dragon, his mind began to stir.

The principle behind modern hand grenades is actually quite simple: the explosive detonation acts as the propellant, propelling the internal explosive material to inflict secondary damage on surrounding objects. So, what could be more suitable as shrapnel than fragments of various magical artifacts stripped of their spirit, possessing only sharpness and hardness? And what could be more suitable as "explosive" than a mid-grade spirit stone manipulated by inscription techniques?

At least for Wang Li at present, the various fragments of magical artifacts plus mid-grade spirit stones are extremely useful; especially for dealing with demonic beasts, they are deadly easy targets. It's even more effective than sending dozens or hundreds of puppets into a group fight.

The so-called puppet contains a universe within.

The concept of puppet bombs has potential for further exploration.

This is not:

Several bloody holes were clearly visible on the main root of the vine demon. In another place, it had been mostly severed by a sharp weapon, and blood was gushing out. But what caused the vine demon the most pain and made it convulse was that the hilt of the broken sword, now only a thumb-length long, was pinned to its carotid artery; and strangely enough, this broken sword hilt, which had been devoid of any spirituality and power, was greedily "sucking" its life essence.

Not a single drop of water oozed from the wound.

The blood flowing from the other wounds also strangely converged towards the hilt of the broken sword.

By the time Wang Li, somewhat bewildered, confirmed that the vines had cooled down and then crawled up, the handle had already detached from the bloodless vine demon and fallen into a small pit the size of a washbasin below, mixed among the many puppet parts.

"Really dead? The puppet bomb was that powerful?"

Surely not?

Chapter 75 The Central District Gradually Becoming Lively

The vine spirit is a good thing.

Looting the corpse, packing it up—all done with practiced ease.

The soil that nurtured the vine spirit is also a rare and precious soil.

Dig up the soil, empty it completely, leaving not a single bit.

Next are the stone pavilion and the box.

The restriction was broken, the box was removed, all in one smooth motion.

Inside the box:

The first thing that caught my eye were two books made of special materials, one gold and one silver. After a quick glance at each, I determined that they were ancient texts on formation techniques and ancient weapon crafting techniques, but unfortunately, both were incomplete.

The next thing that caught Wang Li's attention was a set of array-setting equipment. It looked pretty good, but unfortunately, Wang Li couldn't figure it out yet and didn't know its specific purpose.

Next is a fragment of a map. Its materials and function are currently unknown.

Finally, there was a jade slip that recorded the true layout of this place: a magical artifact furnace + a fire-elemental spirit stone vein + a special flame. It was because the fire spirit stone provided a continuous source of spiritual power for that flame that the furnace fire never went out, thus keeping the magma inside the furnace flowing continuously for thousands of years without ever cooling down.

Wang Li wanted to take the flame with him, and even more so, the magical furnace.

Unfortunately, they were limited by their own strength.

Both treasures require at least the Core Formation stage to refine.

It's a classic case of being able to look but not take. Like guarding a mountain of treasure but being unable to use it.

Next stop.

They left reluctantly.

……

An hour later, he leveled two more stone palaces and a dangerous area.

This dangerous place is the same mountain stream where several elite disciples of Yellow Maple Valley stumbled during the last Blood Forbidden Trial. A male and a female salamander beast lurk within it.

The male had no fighting ability; it was just a weakling who had just entered the top level of the first tier. Its two short legs couldn't even thrash around for a few moments before Wang Li pinned it to the ground with his thousand-section whip-like spear.

The female was quite powerful, a unique creature with four short legs, a very strong tail, and the potential to break through to level two at any moment. Her figure and appearance suggested she was a charming and sexy woman among the salamanders, and she fought Wang Li for seven or eight rounds to avenge her man. Ultimately, she was defeated, her head pierced by the Soul-Snatching Hook, and she died peacefully.

Such loyalty and compassion made Wang Li realize that his soul-summoning technique had failed.

"May you be reborn into a better family in your next life, and not be a demon."

They hadn't taken more than a few steps when they bumped into a group of uninvited guests.

"Hey, fellow Daoist from Yellow Maple Valley, why are you all alone?"

"Hmph, fellow Daoist, the forbidden area is very dangerous, and traveling alone is not safe, and you won't collect many spiritual herbs in the end. Fellow Daoist, how about joining our team? We'll work together, and the good stuff will be distributed according to our contributions—fair and just!"

The opposing team consisted of five people, all disciples of the Spirit Beast Mountain, including three elites at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

"Wait, Senior Brother Xu, this kid seems to have come from that mountain stream up ahead!"