“Hey, little blind guy, what’s wrong with you? Why do you suddenly have that expression?”
Noticing Yun Mu’s abrupt and serious expression, No. 1 immediately redirected her words toward him.
“I’m talking to you, little blind guy. You can’t see, so why are you still looking around everywhere?”
But Yun Mu still ignored her, even beginning to walk toward her step by step.
This time, it was the little one who started to panic.
“No way! Wasn’t this little blind guy just acting all polite and too afraid to come close? Why is he suddenly coming closer to me now? Could it be… could it be he knows what our true abilities are? Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
As she thought, her round body unconsciously floated a few inches backward, but soon she noticed Number Two grinning mischievously at her.
Instantly, a bad feeling welled up inside her, so she stopped in her tracks.
“No, I’m the Big Sister of this generation’s Greenmei. If I chicken out now, wouldn’t that mean I’ve fallen right into Number Two’s trap? But, but this guy is really scary now!”
Looking at the boy drawing even closer, she started chattering her teeth:
“L-little blind guy, don’t come any closer, or else we won’t be polite anymore.”
She still chose to defend her dignity as the Big Sister.
However, Yun Mu didn’t care about any of that nonsense.
Upon hearing these words, his footsteps only quickened.
In fact, his charge grew even more accurate as he aimed straight at this No. 1 Greenmei, and the increase in volume of her voice helped him better pinpoint her location.
“If you come any closer, I really won’t be polite! Waaa—!”
She hadn’t even finished her cry when Yun Mu leaped up, scooped her into his arms, bent down, and landed with bent knees in one smooth motion.
After rolling twice, he slipped right into the thicket across from him.
As for his Wooden Stick, he had tossed it away in advance, and it now lay quietly in wait for him.
Messy branches scratched at his bare arms, leaving quite a few wounds, but he didn’t feel any pain.
The Medicine Bath prepared for him by Eleven after training, the Donglai Purple Qi he absorbed while cultivating, and the surging power Qin Luoyi had left within his body—all of these protected him, making such ordinary things without any Star Power utterly harmless.
He raised his hand to wipe off the leaves on his face.
Yun Mu instinctively reached to check on No. 1 in his arms, but accidentally poked her mouth.
The wet, sticky feeling on his fingertip made him instantly withdraw his hand.
“Uuuuuu, little blind guy, let me go, please? I’m really not tasty at all.”
Just moments ago, this little thing was talking big, but now, all her previous arrogance had completely vanished.
“Um, sorry about what happened just now. I didn’t mean to put my hand in your mouth,” Yun Mu gently wiped her saliva off on a leaf by his side and said softly, “But more importantly, you should quickly get your tribesfolk to run. Otherwise, it’ll be trouble.”
“Uu… uu… Trouble?”
“Yeah, look.”
Upon hearing this, No. 1 instinctively looked in the direction he pointed—and her face changed dramatically.
Tears still streamed down, her mouth grew wide, the salty taste danced on her tongue, but this little Greenmei had no heart to taste it now—fear was all that remained.
In the place where she had just been floating, there was now a long Vine bristling with countless sharp thorns.
The Vine stretched from deep in the forest, piercing through who knew how many tree trunks, and shot straight toward where she’d been.
“T-t-t-t-this, w-w-what!”
She was completely tongue-tied.
“Wait! Where are my little brothers and sisters?”
She looked all around but saw nothing.
“No way! Did they already get hurt by that thing? Uuuu…”
“Shh, don’t say anything. Your clansmen are fine—I can sense it.”
“R-really? Then… mmm…”
Seeing that No. 1 was about to make more noise, Yun Mu quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to be safe.
In his perception, the auras of those little Greenmei hadn’t disappeared, and not even weakened in the slightest.
Compared to before, their auras were just more concentrated now.
They were probably captured—his first guess.
But at the moment, he didn’t have the mind to worry about that, because he could distinctly feel an extremely powerful presence in this dense forest—the very owner of the Vine that had nearly skewered No. 1.
A rustling sound echoed.
The Vine, which had paused midair, twisted its body again, gliding through the forest, its sharp thorns slicing everything, cutting branches and grass wherever it went.
Left, right, front—the Vine searched everywhere except where Yun Mu hid.
Now, it was drawing closer to him.
Sensing the approaching danger, Yun Mu no longer sat still. He reached out his left hand and quickly grabbed his Wooden Stick, crouching to prop himself up.
His right hand held No. 1 tightly, afraid she’d get thrown out and land in a tiger’s den if he moved too suddenly.
“No. 1, little elder, hang in there. It might hurt a bit in a moment.”
“Mm?”
Before she could finish, the youth whom this little Greenmei had seen as harmless suddenly erupted with an overwhelming black force from within, his aura soaring higher and higher, pressing down so hard she could barely breathe.
What’s going on?
Wasn’t he just some human kid with a bit of minor magic?
How does he have such a terrifying aura?
She glanced up at the boy, then instantly averted her gaze and shut her eyes—this was a suppression that came from the level of their races.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”
Feeling the little Greenmei shivering, Yun Mu softly reassured her.
Just as he was about to use his Green Starforce to ease her pressure, his instincts took over and he instantly lifted his hand—the muscle memory from these days of training kicked in.
“Pa—!”
Above his head, the Vine snapped straight like a whip, striking down with a loud crack that made his arm go numb.
No time to rest—then came three more fierce whips in rapid succession:
“Pa! Pa! Pa!”
His arms shook uncontrollably, the Wooden Stick barely held up, and after just one more hit, the Vine would surely break the stick and strike Yun Mu himself.
At the critical moment, he rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding the last fatal blow.
Not daring to relax, he quickly got up and raised his Wooden Stick high.
With a fierce shout, the stick was suddenly enveloped in black energy, exuding murderous intent, and slashed down like a sharp blade right onto the Vine.
Afterward, he mimicked the Vine’s earlier relentless attacks, giving it no chance to react—”Swish! Swish! Swish!”—slashing repeatedly until the end of the Vine was crushed to dust and completely silent.
“T-this little blind guy, is he really human?!”
Still feeling miserable, No. 1’s green, furry face turned pale as she watched.
She couldn’t even imagine—judging from the strength Yun Mu just displayed, if he had chosen to attack her and her clansmen directly instead of talking, what kind of price would they have paid?
“Little blind guy—no, human, about that trial earlier, maybe we should just forget it?”
No response.
“Human?”
Still no answer—right now, Yun Mu didn’t care about any of that.
Because he knew that, although he had just killed the spiny Vine, that was only a superficial victory.
In his perception, a presence even stronger was slowly drawing closer.
The real fight had only just begun.
Thirty steps… twenty-nine steps…
Counting in his mind, Yun Mu gripped his cracked Wooden Stick and hid in the shadows, silently keeping track of the enemy’s distance.
Now!
A few seconds later, as “two steps” slipped silently through his heart, Yun Mu kicked off the ground and leaped out from the underbrush, pouring all his strength into his arms and the Wooden Stick, swinging it down fiercely at the incoming foe.
This strike, carrying the full might of the youth, was imbued with what was called Stick Momentum.
But—
His desperate struggle was in vain.
He only felt a tight grip around his waist as the Vine coiled around him, dragging him away.
Then, his face hit something soft, pain shot through his arm, and the Wooden Stick slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.
Yet, No. 1 was still held tightly in his arms.
It’s over.
What now?
It’s all over…
The little Greenmei instinctively closed her eyes.
She couldn’t bear to see Yun Mu being subdued, nor could she imagine what fate would befall them all after falling into such an enemy’s hands.
“Aiya, you little rascal, you’ve gotten much tougher in just a few days!”
“Hmm? That voice sounds so familiar.”
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