The journey home went very smoothly.
The area surrounding the Lanyuan residential complex had already been completely covered by plants. Worried that these mutated plants would eventually invade the parking lot if they left them alone for too long, Xie’s father thought about it and decided to park the car outside the residential complex.
It was already past three in the afternoon. The three of them walked home through the passage they had cleared earlier.
The passage they had only opened at noon had already been overrun by plants, with more than half of the opening covered by vines within just a few hours. This time, however, the three of them didn’t call Hu Song over. Wang Yuerong stepped forward and directly summoned a flame to burn away the vines that had grown during those few hours.
Although the flame she summoned was tiny, its power was quite astonishing. Within a few minutes, the three of them saw the vines retract in pain.
“A fire spiritual root really is useful.” Wang Yuerong mused, “Not only can it provide light, but its offensive power is pretty strong too. If the power ever goes out at home, I can even use it to cook something for you two.”
The scenarios she imagined were all very practical, and her satisfaction with her spiritual root was obvious from her words.
Xie’s father now took on the role of a qualified compliment machine.
“My wife is absolutely right. My wife is amazing.”
Wang Yuerong happily accepted his praise.
But her gaze soon shifted toward Xie Zhiyu.
“Sweetie, didn’t you awaken one too? What kind of spiritual root did you awaken? I’ve never seen you use it.”
After she finished speaking, Xie’s father also looked over curiously.
“Mm, my spiritual root… might be a little special.”
Xie Zhiyu stretched out her right hand. A mass of gray suddenly appeared above her fair palm.
Unlike Wang Yuerong’s tiny flame, the gray mass was considerably larger. It looked like some kind of flowing gas, and vague traces of something moving could be seen inside it.
Compared with the fiery red of Wang Yuerong’s flame, this gray color really did look rather ordinary.
“What kind of spiritual root is that? It doesn’t look like the usual type of spiritual root.”
Xie’s father scratched his head.
Having not yet stepped onto the path of cultivation, he could only feel that this spiritual root was different from what he knew. But to Wang Yuerong, who was standing nearby, it was an entirely different matter.
Although it looked dull and gray, the moment she laid eyes on it, her eyelids began twitching violently.
A terrifying sense of danger shot straight from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. Perhaps it was an instinctive fear naturally produced between spiritual roots. Cold sweat instantly appeared on her forehead.
Wang Yuerong swallowed.
“What kind of spiritual root is this?”
Sensing her discomfort, Xie Zhiyu hurriedly withdrew her spiritual root.
She hesitated and was just about to answer when Wang Yuerong, who had suddenly become vigilant, stopped her.
“Forget it, Sweetie. Don’t tell me.”
Her instincts told her that her precious daughter’s spiritual root was extremely special. And this wasn’t the time to talk about it anyway, so she quickly stopped the conversation and turned back to continue burning the vines nearby.
Ever since Xie Zhiyu had awakened from her week-long sleep and stepped onto the path of cultivation, Wang Yuerong had felt that she was hiding a secret.
She could understand having a secret. As long as it didn’t hurt her daughter, she could accept it.
Of course, judging from Xie Zhiyu’s performance today, this secret should actually be beneficial to her.
That was enough.
As for everything else, she could simply be a mother who didn’t need to know everything.
Completely unaware of Wang Yuerong’s complicated thoughts, the three of them burned their way through the vines and returned home.
Xie Zhiyu didn’t even have time to rest before she was ordered to go downstairs and take out the trash.
Wang Yuerong’s reasoning was, “I saw it just now. The moment your spiritual root appeared, all those vines around you became so frightened that they fled in every direction. They must be afraid of your spiritual root. Right now, you’re the strongest fighter in the whole family. We can’t exactly have your dad, an ordinary person, go downstairs to take out the trash, can we?”
As she spoke, she handed Xie Zhiyu the garbage bags they had accumulated over the past week. Xie Zhiyu was practically forced to carry them downstairs.
This was indeed something Xie’s father had always done in the past, while she was responsible for lying around at home like a limp rag.
Now that Xie’s father really wasn’t suited to going downstairs, it didn’t matter. She was already silently planning what kind of spiritual root she could give him.
Whether he cultivated or not was another matter.
The main point was that she didn’t want to take out the trash.
Xie Zhiyu expressionlessly dumped the garbage away. Just as she was about to turn around and leave, her ears suddenly twitched.
“There’s a sound.”
She frowned.
After circulating spiritual energy into her body, her senses had become extremely sharp. When she had just thrown away the garbage, she had clearly heard a sound coming from a distance.
It sounded like—
A cry for help.
At the thought of this possibility, Xie Zhiyu tightened her grip on the kitchen knife Wang Yuerong had just stuffed into her right hand. She steadied her breathing and silently walked several steps toward the direction of the sound.
She released that mass of gray energy. The surrounding plants automatically moved aside, allowing her to safely walk along the path ahead.
Five minutes later, she suddenly stopped at an intersection.
Xie Zhiyu quickly glanced over her surroundings.
Although most of the area had already been overrun by plants, thanks to her memory from living in the residential complex for the past few years, she quickly recognized this place as the turning point leading toward the villa area.
If she remembered correctly, the villa area had always been famous for its beautiful environment. Since the building where her family lived happened to be close to the villa area, it was also one of the buildings in the vicinity that had suffered the most damage.
The beautiful environment that had once been an advantage had now become a death sentence.
Meanwhile, the sound reaching Xie Zhiyu’s ears was growing louder and louder.
Xie Zhiyu didn’t act rashly. She looked at the vines that had silently followed her all the way there. After thinking for a moment, she withdrew her gray energy and then reached out to pat one of the thick vines.
“Hey, are you conscious? Open a gap for me.”
Her words were rather abrupt.
Perhaps because she had circulated spiritual energy into her body, she always felt that these vines in front of her possessed a faint trace of life force.
Her action was sudden, but a few seconds later, without the threat of her spiritual root, the vines actually followed her request and opened a gap.
Light shone through the opening, revealing the scene ahead.
On a patch of open ground that had clearly been deliberately cleared, a group of people dressed in security uniforms were fighting while wielding weapons.
Standing in front of them was a red carnivorous flower only half their height.
Sharp fangs had grown inside its enormous calyx, while four huge petals were covered in barbs. At this moment, one of the petals curled slightly, and the barbs instantly shot toward the group of people.
These security guards were all ordinary people. They were immediately knocked off balance, and wounds of varying severity appeared across their bodies.
Hu Song, who was standing at the very front, was the most seriously injured.
He had blocked most of the attacks. His security uniform had been shredded into strips, and blood wound its way down his body, making him look like a blood-soaked man.
Everyone silently formed a circle. In the middle of the circle, a man was crying out for help.
“Waaah, help! Somebody come save us! We’re going to be beaten to death! Waaah!”
He cried as though the heavens themselves were collapsing, and Hu Song, who was closest to him, was suffering the most from it.
After dodging yet another attack from the carnivorous flower, Hu Song took advantage of the brief opening to turn his head around. He gritted his teeth, his face twisted ferociously.
“Shut up!”
His facial features were obscured by blood, but the viciousness in his eyes was impossible to hide. There was even a faint trace of murderous intent in his rough, intimidating aura.
The young man, who had been very well protected, immediately let out another terrified wail.
“Somebody help! Our security guards are going to become ghosts! Somebody come quickly!”
He shouted even louder.
This time, however, Hu Song had no chance to pay attention to him.
Another wave of attacks from the carnivorous flower came crashing down.
Hu Song tightly gripped the large blade that had been broken in half. His heart sank as he realized that he had absolutely no chance of winning.
He had discovered two days ago that a mutated carnivorous flower had appeared here. He had tested it several times before, but because the flower was far too powerful to kill, they had spent the past few days trying to figure out a solution.
They had originally intended to stall for time.
But unexpectedly, an hour ago, a resident of the residential complex had accidentally become trapped inside.
They had no choice but to come to the rescue.
They had thought that they would at least be able to inflict some damage on the carnivorous flower.
But they had underestimated its strength yet again.
They couldn’t damage it.
They couldn’t even scratch it.
This flower seemed to be extremely sensitive to wind and could even manipulate the wind to precisely direct its attacks at them.
It seemed to harbor quite a grudge against them.
At this point, they couldn’t escape even if they wanted to.
Thinking of this, Hu Song clenched both fists. He figured that he might very well die here today, but he didn’t retreat. Instead, he steadied himself and launched another attack.
The pain he had expected never came.
A large blade he didn’t recognize swept past his ear, precisely blocking the incoming barbs.
Hu Song froze.
A familiar voice suddenly came from beside him.
“Uncle Hu.”
Hu Song abruptly turned his head and, to his surprise, saw someone he knew.
“Xiaoyu, what are you doing here?!”
Instead of feeling relieved, he was even more anxious than when he had just been facing his own death.
Hu Song felt like he was about to die from worry.
Especially when he saw Xie Zhiyu approaching in casual pajamas and slippers, strolling leisurely as though she were taking a walk in her own backyard. He felt like he was about to spit up a mouthful of blood.
This little troublemaker! How did she end up here? Doesn’t she know how dangerous this place is?
Xie Zhiyu had absolutely no idea what was going through his mind.
She walked up in front of the carnivorous flower, raised her right hand into a tight fist, and wrapped it in a layer of gray energy. Before the flower could even react, she delivered a vicious punch.
She hadn’t used much force, yet the punch directly knocked the previously arrogant and ferocious carnivorous flower flat on the ground.
The carnivorous flower was completely bewildered.
Everyone present was equally bewildered.
The first to recover was the carnivorous flower lying on the ground.
At first, it really was stunned. Then, a vague sense of anger gradually rose within it.
Someone actually dared to hit it?!
It immediately perked itself back up. All four petals rustled violently as every barb on its body turned toward Xie Zhiyu.
Having only just developed consciousness, it ignored the inexplicable fear coming from deep within its body and simply attacked her relentlessly.
Unfortunately, its attacks were completely ineffective.
Before the densely packed barbs could even reach Xie Zhiyu, they were swallowed up in one go by the gray energy.
The gray current seemed to flow even faster, even mimicking the action of chewing.
—Chomp, chomp, chomp.
It let out a burp and somewhat disdainfully spat out some of the barbs.
—Swish, swish, swish.
The carnivorous flower suddenly felt pain throughout its body.
The barbs that had originally been part of its own body had now betrayed their master, leaving it covered in wounds.
How had things turned out like this?
The carnivorous flower couldn’t believe it and actually fainted right there.
The carnivorous flower that had dominated the residential complex for two whole days had actually been defeated just like that?
Hu Song, who had witnessed the entire scene, was completely dumbfounded.
But something even more surprising happened.
The young man who had been protected in the center of their circle suddenly broke through the group.
With a loud “Awooo!”, he rushed toward Xie Zhiyu and hugged her around the knees.
“I remember your voice! Are you the streamer from ‘The Job of This Hate-Sea and Passion-Heaven’? I’m your fan!”
“My beloved streamer! I never thought I’d actually meet you here! Waaah, thank you, beloved streamer, for saving my life!”