You have entered a high-risk area: Dragonfall Mountain.
The current area Rank has increased to LV11.
Please proceed with caution.
The area Rank increasing to LV11 was enough to prove its danger level.
Although Qin Jie had previously accepted a mission to kill the Fish King with a Rank of LV18, he had actually used a clever method: poisoning the Fish King, then piercing its heart with the devouring abyss's ability to sever vitality.
It could be said that among first-tier Contractors, this method of assassination was only achievable by Qin Jie; for him, this mission was perhaps only around LV12 difficulty.
If other Contractors faced this mission, it would be a genuinely difficult LV18 task.
As if to confirm the value of the Paradise, the moment he stepped onto the base of the mountain, a vine suddenly shot towards Qin Jie.
Qin Jie's expression remained unchanged; the Sword Shadow beside him flashed over directly, blocking the vine's attack, then grabbed the vine, and the devouring abyss cut it down, severing it completely.
Qin Jie noticed that the Sword Shadow's palm was somewhat blackened, indicating that the vine seemed to contain some kind of poison.
Just walking triggered an attack; it was a good thing he had a shield.
"Heavens, when I came here before, it was still a barren wasteland."
Xing Li exclaimed from the soul box.
At this moment, the entire Dragonfall Mountain was lush and green, growing a large number of Sakura trees, which were blooming with vividly colored Sakura blossoms.
These Sakura blossoms were naturally the Sakura blossoms Qin Jie knew, but their vibrancy had an almost surreal quality.
The trunks of these Sakura trees bore twisted, human-face-like expressions.
Qin Jie noticed that the soil beneath these Sakura trees was a grayish-white color, a color he was very familiar with; when Shura's Immortal Severance struck the ground, this color would appear.
This indicated that the vitality of this land had been stripped away by these Sakura trees.
These Sakura trees were naturally created by the Sakura Dragon, but why would the Sakura Dragon plant so many Sakura trees on this mountain?
After all, with the vitality of the mountain's soil depleted, the mountain was very likely to collapse and disintegrate, eventually falling into the water, and the Sakura Dragon on the mountain would similarly suffer a bad fate.
Or did the Sakura Dragon have a reason that it absolutely had to do this?
Judging from Sekiro's story, the Sakura Dragon couldn't be a fool.
As a deity expelled from the East, the Sakura Dragon not only drove out the native deities of Ashina but also spread its faith throughout Ashina, gathering countless believers.
With this ability, the Sakura Dragon should at least not be so foolish.
Qin Jie picked up a severed vine, hesitated for a moment, and instead of putting it directly into his mouth, he stored it in his storage space.
For something clearly poisonous, he would make some antidotes first, then taste and analyze them one by one.
This wasn't because Qin Jie had developed some strange habit, but rather, the clear feedback of becoming stronger by picking things up and eating them was a feeling Qin Jie found somewhat exhilarating.
At this moment, the Sakura trees on the mountain grew extremely haphazardly, making it very difficult to find a passable Dao; he could only send the Sword Shadow ahead to cut down trees and clear a Dao for him.
However, after cutting down only a few trees, the Sakura Dragon on the distant mountaintop let out another roar, and the surrounding Sakura trees suddenly trembled.
Sakura blossoms scattered, and the soil beneath the Sakura trees began to crack extensively; the surrounding Sakura trees actually stood up.
Insight
Name: Dragon's Heritage Treant
Health: 53%
Mana: 50 / 50
Strength: 11
Agility: 6
Stamina: 9
Intelligence: 5
Charm: 4
Luck: 2
Skill One, Divine Dragon's Power: This creature is a Divine Dragon derivative; Health +200, all attributes slightly increased.
Note: Due to ??? reasons, this skill has been completely sealed.
Skill Two, Life Drain: Drains the life force of surrounding creatures and the environment; the drained life force can be fed back to the main body.
Skill Three, Root Entanglement: Tendrils emerge from the ground to entangle enemies, restricting their movement while draining 38 Health per second.
--- This thing is too weak.
What Qin Jie hadn't expected was that the combat power of these Dragon's Heritage Treants was pitifully weak; they looked intimidating, but in reality, these treants' stats, apart from Stamina, were similar to those of ordinary people.
Not only that, most treants' Health was only slightly over half, and even their inherent passive skills were tragically sealed for unknown reasons.
Qin Jie guessed that the reason these treants' Health was not full was likely because it had been drawn away by their main body, the Sakura Dragon.
These treants were like 996 oxen and horses; not only did they have to hand over the life force they drained from the land, but their original life force was also being extracted by the Sakura Dragon.
It seemed the Sakura Dragon was indeed in great trouble, otherwise, she wouldn't need to frantically extract the life force of these treants.
And she also seemed to sense the threat from Qin Jie; at this moment, all the surrounding treants were awakened, surging towards Qin Jie like an overwhelming tide.
However, these treants were simply too weak.
Qin Jie shook his head; he didn't relax his guard because of this, after all, there must be a reason why this area's Rank could reach LV11.
He deliberately made his Sword Shadow appear a bit sluggish, so that the Sakura Dragon could distinguish who the main body was, and thus the Sakura Dragon would prioritize attacking him rather than the Sword Shadow.
In reality, Qin Jie currently had a high shield value, and these treants couldn't break his defense at all, but the Sword Shadow was summoned by Qin Jie by genuinely consuming 30% of his maximum Health, and the Sword Shadow had no shield, so prioritizing killing the Sword Shadow was the optimal choice.
Of course, the Sakura Dragon didn't know this; at this moment, the Sakura Dragon was ordering all treants to frantically attack Qin Jie's main body.
Unfortunately, these treants were simply too weak.
The Sword Shadow, wielding the devouring abyss, slashed through, and the surrounding treants were cut in half instantly.
If one looked closely, they would find that the center of these treants' trunks had turned black, with faint signs of decay.
It seemed the Sakura Dragon's extraction of life force was a bit excessive.
"Awoo~"
A Dragon's roar sounded again, and a large amount of mud, sand, and debris suddenly rolled down the mountain.
Dust storms swirled in the distance, and dense, massive dark figures suddenly approached Qin Jie rapidly.
Seeing that they couldn't harm Qin Jie, the treants on the mountain actually rolled down from above, attempting to act as rolling logs to resist Qin Jie.
These treants indeed weren't very good in combat, but their weight was undeniable; one treant weighed at least half a ton, and trying to block them head-on would likely lead to trouble.
Not only that, because a large number of treants began to move, Dragonfall Mountain, whose soil had already lost its vitality, began to experience widespread collapses.
If he didn't quicken his pace, climbing the mountain would become very difficult later.
Perfect, let me try how strong Overlord equipment is.
Qin Jie held a scale in his hand, which was the abyssal carp treasure scale.
If Qin Jie hadn't misread earlier, many of these treants had a Luck value of 2.
Most divine beings tend to have high Luck values, and as subordinates of the Sakura Dragon, many of these treants had reached 2 points of Luck.
Then, Extinguish Luck.
After use, 68 treants within a 500-meter radius instantly had 59 points of Luck stripped away by Qin Jie.