NOVEL WEB CHAPTER 357
CHAPTER 357: Searching for my ‘Friend’
At this moment, Jiu Han was like a diligent student seeking enlightenment from a teacher.
Zero, on the other hand, assumed the role of that teacher—though his knowledge was limited, and the answers he provided were ambiguous at best. Still, he managed to offer Jiu Han some insights.
Time passed swiftly during their Q&A session. When Jiu Han had finished asking his questions, he took a deep breath and nodded.
“In that case, I have no more questions.”
After speaking, and seeing Zero’s inquisitive gaze, Jiu Han continued, “I’ll help you complete the Array Formation, and in return, you’ll help me rescue my disciple.”
“That sounds fair.”
“When are you planning to attack?”
Zero laughed loudly at this. “I’ve already made arrangements. I was just waiting for you to say this!”
✦✧☠︎✧✦
At the border on the other side of the Guitan Province, a small tree with a human head slowly opened its eyes when the communicator in its hand rang.
The tree, about a meter tall, had four limbs formed by roots and branches. It lacked a crown of leaves, and in its place was a female human head with strikingly beautiful features.
This was one of the clones of the Blood Flesh Mother Tree.
Looking down at the communicator, the Mother Tree grinned.
“Lu Ming?” it murmured. “You want me to save Lu Ming in the Black Mist Zone? Tsk, tsk, tsk...”
Mentioning Lu Ming triggered memories of its demise. The Mother Tree’s thoughts returned to the dark history of Nanxiang City, and the smile on its lips twisted.
“Well, all right. Since I have nothing else to do, this is a good opportunity to see how much progress Brother Lu has made.”
“Don’t be too weak now...”
As it muttered, the ground behind it began to tremble.
Soon, thousands of humanoid monsters crawled up from the earth, surrounding the Mother Tree.
Standing at the forefront, like a general leading an army, the small figure radiated an imposing aura. It lightly licked its lips.
The Mother Tree muttered in a low voice, “Brother Lu, Brother Lu, don’t be too weak. If you’re too weak, I’ll string you up and beat you senseless.”
The grievances between Lu Ming and the Mother Tree were neither great nor trivial.
Over time, the Mother Tree had gradually forgotten its grudge against Lu Ming. But now, with Zero suddenly bringing up his name, and him becoming the target of its rescue mission, old thoughts naturally resurfaced.
Killing him outright wouldn’t be ideal.
But humiliating him a little to vent some of its old anger? That wouldn’t be a problem.
“Let’s go!”
With a wave of its hand, the Mother Tree led the army into action.
In its mind, it had already begun conjuring thousands of ways to humiliate Lu Ming.
“Cosplay! Oh, we have to include that!”
“He’ll serve as my maid for three days to make up for my grievances!”
As for the possibility that Lu Ming might now be stronger than it? The Mother Tree scoffed. That thought never even crossed its mind.
“Even if Lu Ming had somehow achieved the status of an Ascendant, how could a mere Ascendant possibly compare to me, the Blood Flesh Mother Tree?”
Three years had passed.
Lu Ming wasn’t the only one who had grown.
As possibly the most robust and fastest-evolving exotic species in history, the power of the Mother Tree had long surpassed the limits of anyone’s imagination. It even dared to challenge lesser gods like Moonfiend.
The main body of the Blood Flesh Mother Tree was undoubtedly an exotic species, but what was more surprising was that the humanoid monsters it created seemed to fall under the same category. At the very least, they wouldn’t be hunted by the true denizens of the Black Mist.
However, while the anomalies didn’t actively hunt exotic species, openly flaunting oneself before them wasn’t a wise choice. After all, anomalies possessed hearing, sight, and basic hunting instincts. Even if something was an exotic species, attracting too much attention could still cause the anomalies to regard it as prey.
As a result, after the Mother Tree led its army into the Black Mist Zone, progress was slow.
A full day passed, and the Mother Tree had only completed a tenth of the journey. It was still far from reaching Xuanhui City.
Fortunately, by proceeding with caution, there were few casualties among its forces, and the Mother Tree’s avatar had yet to face any life-threatening situations.
“Anyway, if you die before I get there, blame it on your bad luck,” the Mother Tree muttered. “Good, that’s settled.”
There was, indeed, a certain passivity to the Mother Tree’s approach.
But it had its own reasoning: “When I carry out a mission, the first thing I consider is my own safety. Is there a problem with that?”
Of course, there was no problem with that.
And as for those who might claim that this avatar could easily be recreated by the Mother Tree and that its life or death didn’t really matter... the Mother Tree would retort: “If you think you can do it, by all means, go ahead.”
In short, as a special entity highly regarded by the Corpse God, the Mother Tree enjoyed a great deal of autonomy in most situations.
However, what the Mother Tree didn’t know was that Lu Ming had never intended to rely on anyone else.
He valued his life, and whenever he encountered difficulties, his first instinct was always to solve them on his own.
This had always been Lu Ming’s motto.
Depending on others to save his life had never crossed his mind.
Instead, he trusted in his own abilities far more than anyone else’s intervention.
Lu Ming had recently moved to a new safe house. The reason for the change was that he had entered the Boshi Tower and taken certain items. In doing so, he had used Origin Power to enter and exit, which caused fluctuations that attracted the anomalies. Thus, he had no choice but to relocate.
His new residence was located in a palace-like scenic spot in the heart of Xuanshui City.
Legend had it that this place was once the mansion of a prince. After the prince fell from favor, the massive palace remained, eventually being opened to the public as a tourist attraction.
Though most of the palace had been damaged by the Blood Demon Gate calamity and the Harvest Period catastrophe, one garden building remained well-preserved.
This was the safe zone Lu Ming had chosen.
A safe zone was essential. This was knowledge Lu Ming had carried with him from his experiences in Nanxiang City on Earth.
“Let’s begin,” Lu Ming murmured to himself, standing in the garden and ensuring there were no anomalies nearby.
He turned his gaze toward several small, mountain-like piles of stones behind him.
“Whether this works depends on this first attempt.”
The piles of stones were the treasures Lu Ming had brought back from the Boshi Tower. It was because of these items that he had relocated, and despite the hassle, he knew it was worth it.
The Flamestone, Stone of Eternity, Ice Stone, Great Forging Stone, Sky Blue Stone, and more—each of these stones had one thing in common: the energy they contained was different from Origin Power.
The Flamestone held fire energy, the Stone of Eternity contained void power...
It was well known that anomalies devoured Origin Power and hunted superhumans who operated within the Origin Power system. Anything or anyone emitting Origin Power fluctuations was inevitably pursued.
But this raised an important question: How sensitive were the anomalies to other forms of energy?
The answer, as Lu Ming had discovered, was average.
Because anomalies lacked intelligence and functioned mostly on instinct, their sensitivity to other types of energy was relatively poor.
For instance, while an Origin Power superhuman could easily sense the fiery energy within a Flamestone, anomalies saw it as nothing more than an ordinary, discarded stone—not worth their attention.
This gave Lu Ming the space to act.
“Array Formations! It’s always the Dao of Array Formations that saves my life!” he muttered.
The Dao of Array Formations, which Lu Ming had mastered to level 7893, had become almost divine. It granted him the ability to turn even the most mundane situations into something extraordinary.
End of Chapter 357