Chapter 6: Moon Plant
Night settled swiftly over the mountain path. A circle of more than a dozen armored vehicles stood as an impromptu stronghold, with the largest unit stationed at its center. Within this makeshift bastion, everyone prepared to rest beneath the moonlit sky.
In eras long past, night was a time of quiet reprieve. Now, in this apocalyptic realm, darkness teemed with hidden dangers—chief among them the threat of mutated vegetation. These voracious plants always emerged under the moon’s watch, far deadlier than any ordinary vine or flower.
Gray Claw slunk up to Wang Jie, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips. “You’ll never guess what I found.” He pointed at the largest armored vehicle, where an iron-shuttered window had been drawn open to reveal white curtains. Behind those curtains, vague silhouettes shifted beneath the lamplight.
Wang Jie, uninterested, threw him a glance. “Get some sleep.”
[No sense meddling in someone else’s entertainment. Tonight, I need rest.]
Gray Claw sighed, shaking his head. “That one’s solidly built. No matter how much it rocks, it won’t budge.” He yawned dramatically, then lay down to slumber.
The rest of the party paid no heed; they were far too accustomed to such scenes. Wang Jie set about making his own camp, stacking a small pile of stones to keep out the water, placing wooden planks atop them, and finally pitching a modest tent. All the while, guards quietly patrolled, and drones hummed low above. Distant roars of beasts only blended into the constant hum of a hostile world.
Before long, pale moonbeams streamed through a gap in the tent. Wang Jie unzipped the flap, gazing at the cloud-veiled moon.
[Now’s my chance. The other Six-Seal cultivator in the camp might be powerful, but he’s no omniscient god. If I’m careful, no one will even know I’ve gone.]
With that thought, he slipped out into the night, vanishing soundlessly between shadows. His stealth technique, derived from the loftiest of arts, rendered him all but invisible—an echo among the shifting darkness.
In no time, he had raced up the winding mountain road toward the abandoned Holiday Resort. En route, twisted weeds and carnivorous flowers lunged at him from every side, each an abomination awakened by the night. Yet Wang Jie’s agility made him untouchable, and he soon reached his destination.
A gruesome sight awaited him: countless corpses, many torn in half, some half-digested and then spat out, the ground about them slick with stomach acid.
[This is even worse than I imagined. Liu Ying’s brother…did he manage to escape?]
He found Liu Ying’s brother among the remains. Stifling a twinge of regret, Wang Jie snapped a few photos to document the fate of the expedition.
[This should be enough proof for her. There’s nothing else to do here.]
As he turned to leave, a massive branch whistled toward him. Wang Jie twisted midair, narrowly dodging the blow. The branch crashed into a nearby wall with a thunderous boom, shattering concrete to rubble.
From the ruins, mutated plants rose like colossal serpents, thick vines undulating hungrily. In a lightning-quick move, Wang Jie used his right foot to propel off his left, catapulting himself above the lashing vines. He pinpointed the monstrous trunk hidden behind a crumbling building. Several branches slithered upward to entangle him, but Wang Jie’s outstretched fingers swirled with lethal power.
[Luo Xuan Finger—pierce!]
A sharp vortex of energy tore through the encircling vines and drilled into the plant’s core, eliciting a shrill, unearthly scream. Yet more threats stirred nearby. Wang Jie counted them in a single sweep.
[Eight more. Let’s not waste time.]
He inhaled calmly, then flicked his finger eight times in swift succession. Each strike flew true, obliterating every mutated stalk in an instant. Alighting on the cracked pavement, he drove a fist into the ground, releasing a shockwave that collapsed a wide swath of rubble and earth.
At last, the area fell silent.
Wang Jie exhaled and scanned his surroundings. Amid the remains of vines and twisted roots lay a half-meter branch, jade-green and veined with pulsing energy.
[A Cataclysm Material. Perfect.]
He snatched the branch, then darted back down the mountain road.
Halfway to camp, he caught sight of an ominous glow in the distance. Flames flickered against the night, and a keen, bone-chilling cry echoed over the hills. That sound alone was enough to rattle the armored vehicles, almost flipping one onto its side. As Wang Jie came closer, he beheld a five-meter-tall Mutated Peacock at the center of the chaos. Its blood-hued eyes shone with a cruel intelligence.
A chorus of drones attempted to circle the creature, but its thunderous shriek sent them spiraling out of control. Behind a barricade of armored vehicles, cultivators unleashed a barrage of knives, stones, and arrows. Over a dozen warriors poured their energy into a single, unified strike—a searing beam that raced toward the beast.
Wang Jie paused at the outskirts, heart pounding.
[That thing has Six-Seal power. One of the deadliest monstrosities around Golden Hill Base. Why has it emerged here…and why does it seem even larger? Are they…still evolving?]
He glimpsed Gray Claw skulking farther back, evidently determined to stay well out of harm’s way. Then a door on the biggest vehicle slammed open, and a handsome youth—Zhao Clan’s Eldest Young Master—stepped out. He looked on with unsettling calm, as if this life-or-death conflict were merely a spectacle.
Just then, the peacock spread its feathers, each quivering in midair. They began to rotate ominously, threatening a devastating attack. Yet before it could strike, a shadow launched forth from the armored vehicle. The figure blurred across the battlefield, knuckle dusters flaring a molten red. With a single swing, he shattered the first wave of deadly quills.
In a miraculous display of footwork, the man sprang onto a passing drone, his body a whirling storm of fists. “Die, beast!” he roared, smashing feather after feather before propelling himself forward like a swift phantom. Crimson energy erupted around him as six streams of power ignited into a mantle of blazing might. He brought both fists down in a calamitous blow.
Boom!
The Mutated Peacock reeled, flung aside as if weightless. It crashed into the fractured highway, gouging a crater several meters deep.
[So there was another Six-Seal expert here all along, just as I suspected,] Wang Jie thought, eyes narrowed. [Of course the Zhao Clan’s favored son would travel with someone of this caliber.]
The Eldest Young Master clapped in satisfaction as the rest of the camp looked on in awe. Their savior advanced cautiously on the downed beast. The peacock, pinned in the crater, glared with fierce cunning—Six-Seal-level abominations never succumbed easily.
“Uncle Ling,” the Zhao heir called, “can we capture it alive? It might serve in place of my Snow Steed.”
Uncle Ling shook his head. “Impossible. The Snow Steed was a domesticated hound before its mutation, so force and discipline could tame it. This peacock was born in the wild and already commands Six-Seal strength. Taming it is pure folly.”
The young master shrugged. “Very well. Slay it, then. See if it has any Cataclysm Materials worth taking.”
Yet Wang Jie’s attention drifted to the peacock’s talons, which were digging deeper into the soil.
[That’s not a random struggle. It’s doing…something beneath the earth?]
He raised his voice. “Everyone, get back! It’s summoning something!”
Bewilderment crossed their faces as the creature suddenly vaulted skyward, beating its wings toward the mountain by the Holiday Resort. Uncle Ling started forward in pursuit.
But the ground shuddered violently. Fissures ripped across the terrain, causing the vehicles to pitch and wobble. Wang Jie’s tone grew dire.
“It’s the Moon Plant! Run!”
That name spread panic through the survivors. They scattered in all directions, unheeding of anything but their own escape. Uncle Ling scooped the Zhao heir into his arms and fled without a backward glance, ignoring the terrified screams from within the armored vehicles.
[Only natural they’d prioritize saving the Eldest Young Master. Still…there’s nothing any of us can do. The Moon Plant is far beyond any single person’s power.]
The earth caved in. A crater nearly a thousand meters wide yawned open, swallowing vehicles, debris, and people. From within rose a hellish heat—white-hot fumes seared the unlucky ones instantly, leaving them no time even to scream. In that same instant, a colossal red-veined leaf erupted skyward, lined with teeth that snapped hungrily at the night.
Wang Jie’s heart pounded.
[Those vehicles are gone…no saving them now. Even the Three Gods and Five Extremes couldn’t fell the Moon Plant. I need to get out before—]
He glimpsed Uncle Ling behind him—shockingly fast, closing the distance.
[He thinks I have some hidden route of escape, so he’s chasing me. Damn.]
Enormous leaves, each bristling with serrated edges, formed a gruesome canopy. One of them lashed forward like the maw of a giant predator, threatening to devour both men.
Uncle Ling lunged, still clutching the Zhao heir in one arm, and reached out toward Wang Jie with the other—clearly intending to hurl him into the leaf’s path.
[He means to use me as bait!]
Wang Jie reacted first, locking onto Uncle Ling’s arm. For a heartbeat, Uncle Ling faltered, astonishment flickering across his face at Wang Jie’s strength. Wang Jie tried to fling him aside, but the older man clung on with a crushing grip, his nails drawing blood from Wang Jie’s wrist.
Uncle Ling snarled, “You brat—do you want to lose that arm?”
[He’s no ordinary Six-Seal cultivator. If I don’t do something, I’ll be the one getting thrown to the Moon Plant.]
High above them, crimson-veined leaves snapped shut. It was only a matter of seconds before both men ended up as its next meal.
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