Chapter 8: Collection (Part 1)

With Li Ran’s sharp command, dozens of silver lights flashed and rushed into the vines like arrows. With a series of sharp cuts, countless vines were severed in an instant.
Those silver lights were extremely sharp, seemingly unstoppable—anything they touched was cut through in an instant. However, the Soul Vine Tree frantically produced numerous vine branches, waving wildly. Though they couldn’t stop the silver lights from cutting, they created significant obstacles for Li Ran in locating the main root system.
Li Ran aimed at the main root system several times, but was blocked by the chaotic vine branches. The ground, eroded by the Soul Spring, turned into mud in large areas, allowing the main root system to move faster, no longer waiting passively for Li Ran to attack.
The main root system dodged repeatedly, prompting Li Ran to sigh, “What a tough opponent. Hehe, Guo Shier, you guys hurry up and collect the vines I’ve cut. The vines separated from the Soul Vine Tree will wither quickly—it would be a shame to waste them.”
Guo Shier and the other two replied cheerfully. At this point, the mutated Soul Vine Tree also realized that Li Ran was the greatest threat and that the others didn’t deserve attention. Thus, all the vines that were originally attacking them focused on Li Ran, giving Guo Shier and the others a great opportunity.
Due to the massive size of the Soul Vine Tree, its vines covered a large area—kilometers of ground were filled with swirling vines. Li Ran didn’t go deep inside but gradually advanced from the edges, cutting down numerous vines, which were then collected by Guo Shier and the others.
After several failed attacks from afar, Li Ran remained calm. His plan was simple: wear down the Soul Vine Tree. With his strength, he could have killed it in one strike, but that would require a huge amount of spiritual energy. He didn’t want to weaken himself here.
Guo Shier and the old man were overjoyed as large quantities of high-quality Soul Vine Tree material were gathered for the altar.
……
The group of professionals surrounded by the Soul Vine Tree had already had more than a dozen trapped by the vines. Only about a dozen remained, fighting desperately. But they were trapped with no way out—surrounded by swirling vines. What terrified them even more was that the sacrificial weapon couldn’t cut through those extremely tough vines; at best, it could only push them back.
In the end, only the professional from the sixth-tier altar was still resisting. The others were tightly entangled by the vines and dragged to the ground. Although the Soul Vine Tree hadn’t broken through their altar defenses, they still couldn’t escape. Everyone’s face was pale. Everyone knew what would happen if this continued.

The mutated Soul Vine Wood didn’t have particularly fierce attack methods. Its tactic was to tightly entangle its opponent with vines, and once it found an opening, it would pierce with the vines to gradually absorb the opponent’s flesh, energy, and any substance beneficial to its growth. However, such an opportunity might arise once every ten years or even once every hundred years.

None of these professionals died, not even those seriously injured. They could still speak and move around on the altar, though they couldn’t move freely, screaming in terror. Although they had encountered many mutated magical beasts and fought in numerous battles, this was the first time they had been trapped by a plant.

When all the other professionals were trapped, the one on the sixth-tier altar finally couldn’t hold on either. Surrounded by an increasing number of vines that gradually squeezed his space, he was soon tightly bound, along with the altar, pressed to the ground. At that moment, no one dared to retrieve the altar—its protection kept the vines from attacking them. They all knew that with their bodies, they could never withstand the vines’ attacks.

With everyone fixed to the ground, the leader among them sighed, “We shouldn’t have come in. Who knew what this thing was?”

Someone said, “I’m searching through the ancestral memories…”

The leader replied, “Which altar is of the Wood element? Search quickly! I might die, but I want to know exactly what killed me!” He was extremely frustrated. He had heard of being eaten by mutated magical beasts or killed by aberrant ones, but he had never heard of anyone dying slowly from being trapped by a plant.

Frustrated beyond measure, he would rather be eaten by an aberrant magical beast than die in such a humiliating way. But after several attempts to break free from the vines’ restraint, repeated failures drove him to scream wildly. Someone nearby shouted, “Elder, Elder! Someone went deeper just now. Maybe we still have a chance!”

After repeated calls, the professional on the sixth-tier altar finally calmed down. He said, “We can’t break out, but we can try to get closer together to conserve some strength.”

There were over twenty professionals spread over several hundred meters. They all exerted their strength at the same time, desperately trying to cut through the vines between them. Even if they couldn’t cut through them, they struggled to pull apart and get closer to one another.

The Mutated Soul Vine Wood didn’t exert much effort to stop them; its main root system was under attack by Li Ran, so all its attention was focused on him and his group. All that was needed here was to trap people. Thus, through the combined efforts of over twenty people, they finally managed to gather together.

When the twenty-plus altars came together, those in the center had time to catch their breath and could switch places with the professionals on the periphery at any time, allowing them to sustain the effort for a longer period.

The leading professional pricked up his ears and faintly heard some noise. After listening carefully, a hint of joy appeared on his face as he said, “I wonder who those people are—how can they hold their own against such plants for so long? I hope they’re not trapped; otherwise, we’re completely doomed.”

One of the professionals said, “They’re not very far from us—maybe a few hundred kilometers at most…” Finally, a professional from a wood-type altar exclaimed, “This is… this is top-grade Soul Vine Wood! Damn it… it’s actually top-grade Soul Vine Wood! But… I had no idea it could attack! This is astonishing—unbelievable!”

Once they realized what kind of plant this was, the twenty-some professionals became excited. Yet they couldn’t even cut a single branch of the Soul Vine Wood and could only watch helplessly.

A professional from the sixth-tier altar said, “Damn it, it’s insane—how resilient it is! My sacrificial treasure only left a white mark when it struck it. This is a sixth-tier sacrificial treasure… Sigh!”

With fire, freezing, forceful hand gestures, and various sacrificial treasures being used in vain, the group tried every method possible but only managed to get a few vine leaves, not even a single thin strand. All of them looked disheartened.

The most tragic thing in the world is when, starving to death, you see a delicious feast right in front of you but are unable to eat it…

…

Guo Shier had already collected a large amount of Soul Vine Wood. The ones found here were different from those obtained earlier—these were truly top-grade.

This harvest was enormous. The three of them leisurely watched Li Ran fighting alone, occasionally using their virtual symbol hands to pull out the severed vines from the plants.

They were overjoyed at their good fortune. Guo Shier noticed that the Soul Vine Wood extending from the main root system was of extremely high quality—far superior to what they had found before, truly among the finest. A cluster of this Soul Vine Wood, if straightened out, was over a thousand meters long. The thickest strands were as big as large water tanks, with a diameter of two or three meters, while even the thinnest vines were as thick as an adult’s arm. This harvest was truly abundant.

Li Ran’s attacking speed grew faster and faster. It was unknown what kind of sacred artifact that silver light was, but its sharpness was astonishing. In just a moment, a large gap appeared where the main root system was located.
The mutated Soul Vine Tree tried its best to grow and seal that gap, but its growth rate couldn’t keep up with Li Ran’s cutting speed. Large sections of vines broke away from the roots and were quickly collected by Guo Shier and the other two. The four of them gradually approached the main root system.
Guo Shier said, “We’re almost there, Brother Li Ran! I can see the main root system!”
Li Ran chuckled and said, “I can see it too. I won’t attack directly. First, I’ll strip off its outer layer to see how many vines it can grow!”
Guo Shier couldn’t help but shiver inwardly, admiring Li Ran’s ruthlessness. Once all the branch roots were cut off, the main root system would be exposed, leaving no chance to escape—just like being stripped bare. He said, “Good. The more Soul Vine Trees, the better. Hehe.”
Li Ran stopped advancing and instead circled around, focusing on cutting off the branch roots. Besides collecting the severed vines, Guo Shier and the others also used virtual talismans to separate the tangled vines, making it easier for Li Ran to find the roots.
Working together, the four of them quickly reduced the mutated Soul Vine Tree significantly in size.
In no time, they had stripped away all the vines surrounding the tree, leaving only a bare main root system and a few dark green vine branches, weakly swaying in the air. No matter how powerful the Soul Vine Tree was, it couldn’t withstand such relentless cutting.
Li Ran’s soul suddenly fluctuated violently. Everyone felt this fluctuation—it was him speaking: “Will you surrender, or shall I kill you?”
A weak fluctuation came from the Soul Vine Tree: “Don’t kill me… Please don’t kill me…”
Guo Shier exclaimed in shock, “Damn, it really has consciousness! It can even communicate through the soul!”
Li Ran’s soul fluctuated again, “I can spare your life, but… you need to move to another place—into my sealed secret realm. If you agree, I’ll pull out your main root and take it to the realm.”
Guo Shier and the handsome old man watched enviously. The handsome old man said, “Impressive… No wonder he didn’t care about the severed vines. He planned to take the entire Soul Vine Tree.”
Guo Shier asked, “What will Brother Li Ran do if it refuses to surrender?”
The handsome old man replied, “He won’t kill the Soul Vine Tree easily. This mutated tree is too precious. If it can be transplanted into the sealed realm, the benefits are obvious.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Hmm, an inexhaustible base of Soul Vine Wood, hehe.”
Li Ran said, “Don’t even think about escaping. You can’t get away. As long as I cut off the main root system, even if you grow back, you’ll lose your consciousness. And… many people like me will come soon. Where can you hide?”
Upon hearing this, Guo Shier and the others knew right away that Li Ran was trying to scare them—no, to scare the Soul Vine Wood.