Fu Chengmao and the others, scattered by the flung Man-Eating Flowers, witnessed the scene and broke into relieved grins. Finally, it was over!
But Chu Yi wasn’t so optimistic. He kept his eyes on the Copper Coin Sword, worried for President Yu. When the vital spot suddenly swelled, glowing bright green and belching thick black smoke, his face drained of color. It’s done for—it’s going to self-destruct!
If the Man-Eating Flower King detonated successfully, not only him, but everyone—even the Program Group a kilometer away—would perish in the blast and deluge of digestive fluids.
“Run!” Chu Yi bellowed. But it was too late; the self-destruction was inevitable. They were all dead!
Panic flashed across everyone’s faces, but before fear could take hold, the Man-Eating Flower King’s detonation fizzled out. The swollen vital spot deflated like a punctured balloon, the roiling black smoke sucked back in. The whole thing seemed like a bad joke.
??? What happened? Why did it suddenly stop?
Not only did the Man-Eating Flower King abort its self-destruction—with its death, the nearby ordinary Man-Eating Flowers that had been thrashing in their death throes also went still. They were connected; with the king gone, so were they…
Zhang Jue wiped cold sweat from his brow and collapsed in exhaustion. Only then did he feel the pain everywhere—his hands and back burned by digestive fluids, his thighs gashed by flower thorns… If he weren’t a cultivator, he’d have keeled over long ago!
Chu Yi clambered down the tangled branches to the flower disc below and drew out the Copper Coin Sword. He saw that most of the coins had corroded away; the top three had even snapped off inside the leaf flesh, leaving only tattered remnants of the red rope dangling. Naturally, Yu Qingxian was gone.
“President Yu?” Chu Yi called out, unwilling to give up. He even peered cautiously into the orifice, but aside from viscous crimson plant sap, there was no response.
Chu Yi’s heart sank. He’d seen clearly—the black smoke seemed absorbed by the Copper Coin Sword.
He’d made the sword himself and knew it couldn’t absorb smoke or halt a self-destruction… So had President Yu stopped it?
Yu Qingxian’s condition had always been odd: prone to Soul Separation without warning, and even the Jade Thumb Ring he’d made especially for him proved useless.
If, due to some unique Fate Pattern, he’d sacrificed his soul at the critical moment to take the Man-Eating Flower King down with him… Chu Yi didn’t dare think further. He even wished he knew Shifting Form Shadow Change, to teleport back like a true immortal.
Right—the Mobile Phone!
Chu Yi fumbled out his Mobile Phone in a panic and dialed the familiar number. The automated female voice replied, “The number you have dialed is not in service…” Only then did he remember: since entering the swamp, they’d had no signal from the outside.
Chu Yi forced a bitter smile. He was truly beside himself with worry…
“Chu Yi, you okay?” While Chu Yi searched for President Yu, Fu Chengmao had reorganized the team and reached the edge of the flower cluster, shouting up.
Chu Yi snapped back and waved to the distance. “I’m fine.”
He took a deep breath to steady himself, methodically extracting the damaged Flower Pearl from the Man-Eating Flower King, then climbing beneath the stem to dig up four or five stalks of antidote.
Only upon exiting the flower cluster did he see how badly Fu Chengmao’s team had fared. Several members bore severe wounds, mostly from flower thorns—one with a punctured abdomen was the worst.
Chu Yi stepped forward and took the pulse of the abdominal casualty. Though grave, he’d luckily missed the vital organs.
“Don’t worry—you’ll live,” Chu Yi said confidently, both to reassure the wounded man and calm his anxious teammates.
The man was named Wang Xun. Hearing this, he believed it instantly, his eyes shining as if Chu Yi were a deity incarnate.
Nor was Wang Xun alone—the other team members sighed in relief too. Chu Yi had become a god in their eyes. If he said Wang Xun wouldn’t die, they’d believe it; hell, if he claimed he could raise the dead, they might buy that too!
Chu Yi didn’t disappoint. He used the Acupoint Sealing Method to staunch Wang Xun’s bleeding, then distributed a Qi-Supplementing Pill to each seriously injured teammate. Qi and Blood Pills would’ve been ideal, but he didn’t have any— these would at least restore their vigor.
Sure enough, after taking his medicine, the wounded men’s complexions improved markedly. Some even joked with their comrades.
“Thank you,” Fu Chengmao said solemnly. He didn’t know how to repay Chu Yi.
What Chu Yi brought wasn’t just pills, but immense confidence. The team’s mood had lightened considerably.
Chu Yi: “If you really want to thank me, get me out of here fast.”
“This…” Fu Chengmao’s smile faltered, his expression turning troubled. With so many wounded, how could they hurry?
“Never mind. I know it’s asking too much.” Chu Yi sighed and patted Fu Chengmao’s shoulder.
As things stood, reaching the evacuation point on schedule would be a miracle. No matter how anxious he was, he couldn’t abandon these people and leave alone.
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