Chapter 006
Chapter 6: Moon Plant
Soon, everyone set up camp in place to rest. Over a dozen armored vehicles formed a circle, enclosing the largest one in the center. The rest of the group set up around that vehicle.
Night fell.
In peaceful times, this would be a time for rest, but in the apocalypse, there was an unsettling sense that everything around them was stirring to life.
Too many mutated plants would appear at night.
Gray Claw approached, “Guess what I found?” He motioned for Wang Jie to look at the largest armored vehicle. Sometime during the evening, the metal windows on both sides were pulled open, revealing white curtains. There were several faint figures moving inside.
Wang Jie turned his gaze away. “Go to sleep.”
Gray Claw, envious, muttered, “This vehicle’s quality is great. No matter how much it shakes, it doesn’t rock.” After speaking, he shook his head and strolled back to his resting spot.
The others had already grown accustomed to this.
Wang Jie laid down a layer of stones and placed a wooden board on top. Then, he set up a small tent.
Guards were stationed around, and drones still flew low in the sky. The distant roars of beasts did not affect them here.
Moonlight filtered through the cracks of his tent, casting light across Wang Jie’s face. He opened the tent and looked up at the sky. As the clouds covered the moon, he leapt into the air, his body gliding through the shadowy sky without alerting anyone, easily disappearing into the night.
There was a master here, likely at the Sixth Seal level. Wang Jie could sense it, but the Sixth Seal only represented cultivation power, and everyone had their own direction in cultivation. Not all of them were capable of everything—except for Wang Jie.
His speed came from the Sky Projection combat technique, which, once unleashed, left few able to detect it. And no one was watching him anyway.
He soared up the mountain road toward the resort.
Along the way, mutated plants attacked, but these creatures had sharper senses than humans, though they couldn’t keep up with Wang Jie’s speed. Before long, he arrived at his destination and found a group of bodies, torn apart by bites. Several had only half of their bodies remaining, clearly not digested fully, with stomach acid around them giving off a horrible stench.
Wang Jie found Liu Ying’s big brother, took a photo, and prepared to leave.
Just as he was about to leave, a thick branch swept toward him. Wang Jie twisted his body and quickly dodged. The house behind him was struck and collapsed with a loud crash.
Plants began emerging from the ground, swaying in the darkness—an eerie sight.
Wang Jie frowned and looked back. Branches rained down from the trees, blocking all sides. Such a large mutated plant. He stepped with his left foot onto his right, leaped higher, and saw the plant’s main body behind the house.
Branches from the ground also lashed out.
Wang Jie raised his hand and pointed behind the house. A shadow of his finger passed through the air, spiraling and piercing the mutated plant’s main body, tearing apart the branches along the way.
A piercing, mournful scream erupted.
In the next moment, Wang Jie scanned the area. One, two, three… eight of them.
Taking a deep breath, he extended eight fingers, accurately shattering the eight mutated plants that had emerged around him. He landed on the ground and clenched his fist. A single punch struck the earth below, sending shockwaves through the ground. A tremendous roar echoed as the land caved in, burying a nearby house.
The area fell silent.
Wang Jie exhaled, his gaze scanning the surroundings until it fell on a small, half-meter-long green branch. His eyes lit up—it was a cataclysm material. He immediately took it and descended the mountain path.
Halfway down, he saw a fireball rising into the sky in the distance. It wasn’t good—the camp was under attack.
He hurried toward the site.
A deafening cry swept across the area, almost overturning the armored vehicles.
It was a giant peacock, standing five meters tall, its long, narrow eyes filled with cruelty and bloodlust. It constantly opened its mouth, releasing sonic waves with each roar.
Drones swayed and crashed into the mountain walls.
Behind the armored vehicles, several cultivators launched various weapons—arrows, darts, stones, and over a dozen cultivators performed the same battle technique, launching a combined assault.
Wang Jie focused on the giant peacock. It was one of the stronger mutated beasts from Golden Hill Base’s outskirts, a Sixth Seal powerhouse, which had always stayed deep in the mountains. Why was it here now? And it had grown larger.
He recalled the giant plant that appeared at night, which had also grown bigger.
These mutated plants and beasts were evolving.
Watching the fierce battle from a distance, Wang Jie had no intention of participating. He wasn’t present earlier, and it was better to stay far away now to avoid being seen leaving.
Gray Claw had already retreated farther.
The door to the largest armored vehicle opened, and Wang Jie glanced over. He saw Young Master Zhao, a handsome young man, watching the mutated peacock with no fear in his eyes. It seemed more like he was watching a circus performance than a battle.
The mutated peacock suddenly screeched, and its tail feathers flew into the air, swirling around as if preparing to release an attack. No one knew how powerful it was. Just then, a figure strode across the armored vehicle, charging toward the peacock. Raising his arm, his finger turned red-hot, almost as if it would melt, he punched toward the peacock.
The peacock locked its gaze on the incoming figure, and more than ten feathers were released simultaneously.
Boom, boom, boom…
The man swung his fists, moving at incredible speed, breaking every feather in his path. At that moment, a drone flew into his face. He stepped on it with ease, performing a graceful maneuver, soaring through the air, and shouted, “Beast, die!”
He gathered his hands into a fist and raised them high. Six streams of grayish energy erupted from his body, turning crimson like a cloak, exuding an overwhelming aura of dominance.
One punch landed.
The punch struck the mutated peacock, sending its massive body flying, crashing into the already-destroyed highway. The earth caved in several meters.
Wang Jie stared at the man. He was indeed a Sixth Seal powerhouse.
Young Master Zhao had sent his people; of course, such a figure would follow.
“Good,” the young master clapped.
The others marveled at the middle-aged man who had just landed. He was so powerful—this was the strength of the hunting team. Without this man, the peacock would have likely killed them all.
Six streams of energy—he was definitely a Sixth Seal.
The middle-aged man walked toward the fallen mutated peacock.
The peacock lay in a deep pit, its huge body too large for the hole, and its eyes locked on the approaching man, unmoving.
The man cautiously approached. He knew not to underestimate any mutated beast.
These beasts grew smarter with cultivation.
“Uncle Ling, can we capture it? We could use it instead of the snow steed,” Young Master Zhao asked.
The middle-aged man, called Uncle Ling, furrowed his brow. “No. The snow steed is a canine. Before it mutated, it was a pet. It can be trained once subdued. But this peacock is wild, difficult to tame, and its strength is Sixth Seal—too dangerous.”
Young Master Zhao sighed. “Fine, let’s just kill it and see if we can harvest some cataclysm materials.”
Sixth Seal beast materials were valuable, even to the Zhao family.
At this moment, Wang Jie was also focused on the mutated peacock—but he wasn’t looking at its body. He was observing its claws. The mutated peacock’s claws were deeply embedded in the earth. It wasn’t good.
He immediately shouted, “Run, it’s attracting a disaster!”
Everyone looked at Wang Jie, confused.
Just then, the mutated peacock suddenly took flight, heading toward the mountain near the resort.
Uncle Ling was about to act.
The earth trembled, and the armored vehicles shook violently. Cracks appeared in the ground, as if something was about to emerge.
Wang Jie’s face changed. “It’s the Moon Plant! Run!”
Everyone heard him and their faces changed. Fear filled their eyes as they scrambled to escape.
Uncle Ling quickly grabbed Young Master Zhao and ran off. Several women were left behind in the vehicle, crying out for help, but no one spared them a glance.
Wang Jie was also running.
The Moon Plant—this was the largest plant that appeared under the moonlight, randomly showing up in the wild, its appearance impossible to predict.
Humans didn’t understand it, but mutated beasts might.
Especially since it was nighttime, the moonlight was bright, and the Moon Plant had yet to appear. The mutated peacock’s claws were tightly gripping the earth, clearly releasing something underground. It was trying to bring the Moon Plant here.
These beasts were too smart.
The Moon Plant was enormous, standing over a hundred meters tall. It could swallow birds and beasts whole, its strength terrifying. Even the Five Extremes couldn’t defeat it—Golden Hill Base had tried to surround it before but failed, suffering heavy losses.
The ground cracked, and everyone fled.
But the ground quickly collapsed over a thousand meters. Many people couldn’t escape and fell into the pit. They tried to climb but were met with a blast of hot air from below, white gas rising to melt many of them.
Many people died without even screaming.
Wang Jie looked back. The armored vehicles were melting, the earth twisting as dark red-veined green leaves sprouted, and hot air surged, followed by a massive sucking force that threatened to pull everyone back.
It was as if a giant mouth was opening to swallow them all.
Wang Jie felt helpless. He couldn’t save these people. The Moon Plant was the ultimate power in the apocalypse. The Three Gods and Five Extremes couldn’t do anything about it, and humans had no way to deal with it.
Unexpectedly, Uncle Ling was quick.
Wang Jie tried to avoid their direction and used his combat technique to escape. But Uncle Ling had locked onto him and was pursuing.
He was the first to realize the mutated peacock’s intentions, and instinctively, Uncle Ling thought he could escape.
But with that, Wang Jie couldn’t use his technique under their watch.
Green leaves with dark red veins blossomed from the ground. Each leaf had sharp teeth. In an instant, they shot into the air, biting toward the moon, as if trying to devour it.
A shadow loomed over Wang Jie and the others.
They fled in all directions. Wang Jie and Uncle Ling were exactly where the Moon Plant blocked out the moonlight, plunging them into complete darkness.
The next moment, green leaves scattered, devouring one person at a time. The sky echoed with their screams. The cultivators were as helpless against the Moon Plant as children.
One leaf shot toward Wang Jie and Uncle Ling.
It seemed intent on devouring everyone.
Uncle Ling’s eyes flashed, and he suddenly lunged at Wang Jie, grabbing the terrified Young Master Zhao with one hand and reaching for Wang Jie with the other.
Wang Jie looked at him.
This guy was trying to use him as bait.
He turned around, grabbing Uncle Ling at the same time.
Uncle Ling’s eyes turned cold. “Grab onto me, I’ll take you away.”
Wang Jie grabbed onto Uncle Ling.
Uncle Ling tried to throw him behind, but… huh? He couldn’t? Not only that, he was shocked to find himself being pulled backward. What the hell? This kid was so strong? Damn.
Wang Jie quickly flipped Uncle Ling backward, but Uncle Ling’s five fingers locked onto Wang Jie’s wrist, piercing five blood holes. Blood dripped from his fingertips.
“Kid, are you going to lose your arm?”