"It also produces parasitic soul skills, but its traits suit me better. Poison? I don't need poison at all!"
"Toughness and hardness are the foundation."
As Yang Yunhai thought to himself, he hid behind a bush.
In the distance, the area around a large rock had very little Blue Silver Grass, and the rock was too high for him to observe its surface clearly through the shared vision of the grass.
In this situation, he could only rely on his eyes.
Thirty meters. That was enough to see clearly.
And it didn't take much time.
In just a few moments, Yang Yunhai's eyes widened slightly with joy. "No ant holes, and it's not withered!"
"In other words, it's alive!"
"It really is a Pot Vine!"
"My luck!" Words couldn't describe his current feelings. If one word had to be used,
It would be: Awesome.
The Pot Vine, also known among soul masters as the Land Barnacle Vine, is where the name comes from. It's a plant-type soul beast renowned for its defensive abilities, and it also has a certain devouring capability.
Though it's known for its defense, its toughness is also impressive. It has a habit of storing energy, making it a natural food source for certain natural predators.
It even comes with a built-in wall of protection.
Its entire surface is pale in color, hard in texture, and it has barnacle-like keratinous structures. Inside, it nurtures shell-like seeds. Once mature, these seeds secrete a fragrant liquid from the openings in the keratin shells.
This scent attracts birds and beasts to lick it, with a mild hypnotic and hallucinogenic effect. The toxicity is not very strong.
While the soul beast licks the liquid, the mature seeds are easily broken by pecking or touch, releasing a large number of parasitic spores. The host soul beast then begins to have its energy slowly consumed by the spores.
If the beast remains in place due to the liquid's effects, its energy gets drained, making it weaker and weaker, like a frog in boiling water.
Eventually, it collapses and dies on the spot, the parasitic spores bloating its body and causing blood and fluids to leak, which are absorbed by the Pot Vine through the keratin openings.
After a while, the vine stops secreting liquid and absorbs energy from its parasitic bodies to sustain its own growth. Any soul beast that escapes becomes a carrier of its seeds.
And also serves as nourishment for future seed growth.
The Pot Vine grows in two main stages.
Stage One: Parasite Settlement. It attaches to a soul beast and is carried away. If it falls on a rock, it wraps around the rock; on a tree, it wraps around the tree. Coiling like a snake, its toughness and strength allow it to break trees and crack stones.
Stage Two: Permanent Settlement.
Once settled and disguised as a white rock, its surface gradually hardens as its cultivation level increases. It repeatedly secretes liquid to attract beasts and grow through consumption.
The absorbed energy is stored in its roots, and as its inner tissues turn redder, its nutritional value increases. For some predators, it becomes a natural tonic. However, due to its mixed medicinal properties, it has low value for humans.
Its natural enemies are ants and other small insect-type soul beasts. Because of their size, large numbers, and sharp teeth, they burrow into the vine when it's still young or its seeds are immature, hollowing it out for a nest.
The root system is well-developed but mainly stores energy and nutrients. It doesn't have offensive capabilities. Its vines stay coiled and are poor at long-range attacks, making it rather helpless.
Such is the balance of nature.
All in all, it's a fortress with almost no offensive power. It normally absorbs nutrients from the soil to grow and waits for its seeds to mature before reaping prey.
Because of the abundance of ant-type soul beasts in the forest, Pot Vines that reach high ages are extremely rare.
A thousand years is already considered quite a feat.
"A hard surface provides high defense. Though known for defense, it also has outstanding toughness. Add in strong parasitic abilities and good energy storage…"
"If it can store energy, how could its vitality be low?!"
"The devouring ability might not be strong, but once inherited and stacked with the devouring ability from the second soul ring, it's bound to be a huge upgrade."
"As for the hallucinogenic poison,who cares!"
"Ghost Vines have strong poison and toughness comparable to the Pot Vine, but their hardness is nowhere near."
"Besides, Pot Vines have other excellent traits!"
"Suitable. Extremely suitable!" The more Yang Yunhai thought about it, the more satisfied he became. Judging by its characteristics, the Pot Vine is easy to raise and grow. Even the low-level Soul Hunting Forest near Notting City had recorded sightings.
Unfortunately, its natural enemies were overwhelming,it couldn't survive.
He had read Long Bow Ao's soul beast record. The Pot Vines in that forest were basically all crossed out.
There's just no defending against ants.
Using insect repellent powder to form a barrier nullifies the vine's scent, so it can only grow naturally after that. The remaining survivors were all under a hundred years old.
Tragic was the only word for it.
Yang Yunhai gave a moment of silence for the Pot Vine species, and another for the one before him. Then, without hesitation, he summoned his martial spirit and flung a few vines out.
Thwip thwip,direct hits. The vines quickly wrapped around the Pot Vine. At the same time, his second soul skill activated. Buzz! Violent golden lightning burst from his body and surged across the Pot Vine.
_Crack crack crack!_ Reacting to the attack, the Pot Vine twisted wildly, crushing the stones it had coiled around.
"It looked so still just now,now that it's moving, what power! That toughness is no joke. And it's over 3,000 years old! Damn, I can't hold it!" Yang Yunhai groaned.
"But whatever! As long as I can touch it! It's not longer than my vines anyway,I'll absorb! I'll zap!" He unwrapped his vines to relieve the incoming force, while simultaneously absorbing and electrocuting it.
Sizzle sizzle! As it was drained, the Pot Vine reflexively used its energy reserves to repair itself. It uncoiled and lashed out like a whip.
"I'm out!" Yang Yunhai used his soul bone technique to fly and extended his vine for continued contact.
Boom! The Pot Vine's attack missed and slammed into the ground.
_Pfft pfft_,it immediately pushed itself into maturity. Soon, its keratin openings sprayed out a misty white cloud, which its vines fanned toward Yang Yunhai.
"Damn! Who the hell wrote that record in the Martial Spirit Hall's guide?! This 3,000-year one can launch big moves!" Yang Yunhai cursed as he flew back at once.
"You wait,I'll be back!"
Being touched by the parasitic spores would be disastrous. He needed to play it safe and wait for a better chance.
Quickly circling above, he landed in a safer area a hundred meters away and observed. Visibly, after spraying the spores, the Pot Vine looked much weaker, its movement slowed.
After retracting its vines, it didn't coil back up, just lay sprawled on the ground.
"Looks like releasing spores drains it a lot. Makes sense, releasing that many at once. And my lightning seems effective…" Yang Yunhai muttered, and after a short rest, summoned his martial spirit again.
Whoosh! He soared into the sky.
Landing steadily on a branch of a 40-meter tree near the Pot Vine, he launched another vine.
Faster than the Pot Vine, he made contact and resumed draining and electrocuting.
The Pot Vine lit up again.
Limited by its sub-ten-thousand-year cultivation, with undeveloped intelligence, it instinctively repeated its move,spraying spores.
Yang Yunhai withdrew immediately, flying in the opposite direction of the mist while observing.
Sure enough, the Pot Vine weakened even further.
"Looks promising!" His eyes lit up as he repeated the tactic from another safe position.
It was still February, and the forest was cool. The spores quickly settled on the ground.
So as long as he stayed airborne, he would never be touched by the spores.
Buzz! The sound of electricity returned.
The Pot Vine released spores again.
And became even weaker.
"Not reaching ten thousand years of cultivation really limits its intelligence. If it had just used its sweet scent to lure me in from the start, I would've had to run." Yang Yunhai sighed.
He watched the spores settle while flying to another safe spot.
Sitting on a tree branch, he closed his eyes to recover.
The Pot Vine's stored energy came from devouring various soul beasts and likely contained many impurities. Yang Yunhai didn't want to absorb it directly, just used it to maintain his vine form. But the lightning consumed a lot of soul power, which he could only recover through meditation.
To deal real damage, he was unleashing maximum output every time.
And draining his soul power quickly.
After resting for about 30 minutes, Yang Yunhai opened his eyes and resumed his assault.
The Pot Vine sprayed spores once more.
And became even weaker.
After nearly an hour, the tug-of-war came to an end. The Pot Vine lay limp and exhausted on the ground, like a dead vine.
Since no soul ring appeared, Yang Yunhai stayed cautious.
"Phew…" After a short recovery, he floated above the Pot Vine and sent out a vine once more.
Buzz! A soul ring emerged with a shimmer.
"Squeezed itself dry for death,so tragic. Can I at least get an external soul bone?" Yang Yunhai mused as he landed on the giant rock.
Without delay, he started digging.
The stone wasn't buried deeply and had been slightly displaced earlier. Absorbing a soul ring alone was dangerous, so he decided to dig out the stone, make a pit underneath, cover it, and surround the area with insect repellent powder for extra safety.
After all, the soul ring could last for an hour,maybe two! He had enough time.
After 45 minutes, with the help of hooked vines, he removed the stone, dug the pit, prepped it with leaves and branches, and spread insect repellent all around.
Everything ready, Yang Yunhai jumped into the leaf-lined pit, dragged the stone over, pulled in branches, and buried himself, leaving just a small gap. He sat cross-legged and summoned his martial spirit.
He quickly circulated his soul power and began pulling the soul ring.
As an energy body, the soul ring wasn't blocked by the stone, especially since the gap was right next to him.
As expected, pulled by his martial spirit, the purple soul ring slipped in instantly.
Energy surged into his body. Intense pain followed, like he was being torn apart. But compared to the agony he endured from absorbing the Blue Silver Emperor and being repeatedly struck by lightning, this was mild.
Yang Yunhai only frowned slightly before gritting his teeth and bearing through it.
Time slowly passed.
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