Immortal Martial Emperor

The sea of flowers fluttered, vibrant and beautiful, a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors.

At first glance, such a floral ocean would surely bring to mind the legendary Peach Blossom Spring, a Heavenly Realm on earth, a Holy Land where the Hundred Flowers Fairy herself might come to bathe.

But now...

Whether it was the Guiyuan Sect disciples who had just been sneering at Hong Yu’s so-called ’Ghost-faced Demon Vines’ a moment ago, or the experts from the Iron Soldier Pavilion, every single person now wore a look of horror and fear.

Amidst the swaying sea of flowers, that same Guiyuan Sect disciple had been looking at Hong Yu with blatant smugness only moments before.

Now, in the instant he looked down, his smug expression had completely vanished.

The only expression left on his face was—fear!

The alluringly beautiful flowers swayed gently, flocking around him, enveloping him.

A refreshing fragrance wafted to his nose, giving one a relaxed and pleasant feeling.

Flower buds were caressing his legs. And these flowers seemed to be growing, gradually spreading from his knees up toward his thighs.

The Guiyuan Sect disciple only felt a strange numbness in his legs. When he looked down, he discovered that his legs from the knees down were completely empty. Aside from bone, there wasn’t a single shred of flesh and blood left.

Stark white bones supported him on the ground, and clusters of flower buds were wrapped around his legs.

Such a grotesque sight made him lose his wits. He cried out and tried to jump, but as his knees bent slightly, a sharp CRACK suddenly rang out.

The man’s body pitched forward and fell to the ground.

"Wh-what is this? No, don’t come any closer! Don’t!"

The face of this elite disciple, a powerful cultivator at the Half-step Heavenly Soul Realm, twisted into a mask of terror as he roared hysterically.

He found himself being swarmed by countless flowers. He could see with his own eyes that within the blossoms were what looked like tiny, sinister faces, all grinning strangely at him.

Wherever the flowers passed, his flesh would tingle with numbness, then corrode at a visible rate.

In the blink of an eye, he discovered the organs in his chest were exposed to the air. He could even see his own heart beating and his intestines squirming.

"No, no..."

Amidst his screams, more flowers surged forward.

The wretched cries came intermittently from within the flowers, and after a moment, there was no sound at all.

WHOOSH!

A light breeze blew past, stirring a wave of flowers.

The flowers seemed to be smiling, their small, demonic faces slowly turning to face Hong Yu and the others.

As for the Guiyuan Sect disciple, he had already been reduced to a pile of dry bones.

GULP!

None of the experts had ever seen such a bizarre scene. They all swallowed hard.

Even Elder Xue’s eye twitched uncontrollably.

Who among them didn’t have a life or two on their hands?

But this was definitely the first time any of them had witnessed a scene like this. The thought of watching yourself be devoured by a swarm of beautiful flowers...

Who wouldn’t feel a chill in their heart? Who wouldn’t tremble in fear?

"Younger Brother Hong, th-these are the Ghost-faced Demon Vines you mentioned?" Tie Tongtian felt his throat go dry, as if all the moisture had been baked out by a flame.

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Hong Yu.

Hong Yu nodded, his expression grim.

’Although I learned of the Ghost-faced Demon Vine from the *Divine Medicine Scripture*, the scripture never mentioned that they devoured people like this!’

"This entire area is filled with Ghost-faced Demon Vines, stretching for about six or seven hundred meters. How are we supposed to get through?" a Guiyuan Sect disciple muttered.

Xue De frowned and looked at Hong Yu. "Hong Yu, you promised you would help us get through the entire Mist Canyon. These Ghost-faced Demon Vines are your problem to solve."

Hong Yu chuckled. "Don’t worry. If for no other reason than my bet with your Guiyuan Sect, I’ll have to give it my all!"

"Hmph, there’s still a long way to go in the Mist Canyon. Don’t celebrate too early. If you die from some accident along the way, the bet will be void," Xue De said sarcastically.

Hong Yu laughed heartily. "Don’t worry. I’ll still be alive even after you’ve died and turned to ash!"

Xue De snorted coldly and said no more.

Chen Mu, however, asked, "Brother Hong, can we use fire to burn these Ghost-faced Demon Vines?"

"It’s useless. Ghost-faced Demon Vines are immune to fire and ice."

Hong Yu shook his head.

Chen Mu asked, puzzled, "Then how do we deal with them?"

Tie Tongtian blinked. "Don’t tell me the core of the Ghost-faced Demon Vine is also underground, and we have to dig three feet deep to find it?"

"Brother Tie, these aren’t Blast Earth Poison Mushrooms!"

Hong Yu shot a helpless glance at Tie Tongtian, then said calmly, "Everything in this world has a natural counter. For example, Blast Earth Poison Mushrooms can be lethal, making people tremble at their very name. But in truth, as long as you’re fast enough and have a sharp eye, you can find and destroy their core root immediately, neutralizing the threat."

Hong Yu took a deep breath and continued, "Take these Ghost-faced Demon Vines, for instance. They’re immune to fire and water. Even if a Primordial Core Realm expert tried to fly over, the moment they reached the center, the vines would burst from the ground to ambush their prey. Don’t be fooled by their short height; a single adult Ghost-faced Demon Vine is at least five hundred meters long."

Everyone gasped.

At least five hundred meters long... Looking at the field of Ghost-faced Demon Vines stretching for hundreds of meters before them, a chill ran down their spines.

Although a Primordial Core Realm expert could fly, their altitude and flight distance were very limited.

A Peak of Primordial Core Realm powerhouse, for example, could at most maintain an altitude of one hundred meters and fly for three to five thousand meters.

Just imagine...

A Primordial Core Realm expert flies to the center of the sea of flowers, and suddenly, tens of thousands of Ghost-faced Demon Vines, each hundreds of meters long, rush up to strangle him.

How terrifying would that be?

"Then how exactly do we deal with them?" Xue De asked grimly.

"Destroy them root and stem!"

Hong Yu slowly spoke these four words.

He continued, "In a moment, we will all use our strongest attacks on these Ghost-faced Demon Vines to force them to reveal their true forms. Once they do, we can seize the opportunity to uproot them. But everyone must pay attention: the moment a Ghost-faced Demon Vine is pulled from the soil, you must immediately use your Elemental Power to burn or destroy its rootstalk."

"Otherwise, if the Ghost-faced Demon Vine touches the soil again, it will quickly regenerate!"

Hearing Hong Yu’s explanation, everyone nodded in understanding.

Then, under Hong Yu’s lead, the thirty-some people formed a line. Hong Yu took a deep breath. "Begin!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Colorful fluctuations of Elemental Power erupted from the thirty-plus experts at once, like over thirty Ancient Fierce Beasts unleashing their overwhelming might.

The energy surging from Xue De and Tie Heng, in particular, was as vast and turbulent as a boundless ocean.

Amidst the ripples of immense energy, the thirty-plus experts simultaneously launched a furious assault on the alluring sea of flowers.

"Chasing Star Finger!"

Xue De roared.

The Primordial Gang’s Power condensed into a massive finger, its surface smooth and its aura immense.

Like an apocalyptic force, the terrifying energy surged forward, sweeping through a large swath of the Ghost-faced Demon Vines.

"Iron Tower Skyfall!"

Tie Heng was not to be outdone.

He clenched his fists and raised them high above his head. As his fists slammed together, waves of energy that shook both body and soul exploded in the air with a resounding crash.

As the Fist Force gathered, a massive, one-hundred-meter Primordial Gang Tower formed above Tie Heng’s head.

"Suppress!"

Tie Heng roared.

As he swung his hands down, the Primordial Gang Tower crashed into the sea of flowers with a BOOM.

The tower was incredibly heavy. The moment it landed, the entire canyon seemed to tremble violently. When the tower lifted, it left behind a huge crater half a meter deep and roughly fifty to sixty square meters in area.

Within the crater, countless flowers from the Ghost-faced Demon Vines had been crushed to pulp.

With more than thirty experts, the weakest of whom had a cultivation at the Late-stage Earth Soul Realm, all attacking at once, a wide path finally appeared before them.

"Hong Yu, how long do we have to keep attacking?" Xue De asked with a frown.

A glint flashed in Hong Yu’s eyes, and he suddenly shouted, "Everyone, stop attacking and fall back! Retreat, now!"

"Hmm?"

The people from the Iron Soldier Pavilion glanced at Tie Heng, who waved his hand without hesitation.

The experts of the Iron Soldier Pavilion all retreated.

The experts from the Guiyuan Sect first looked to Qi Tianbao, who in turn looked at Xue De. "Elder Xue, what should we do?"

Xue De’s gaze flickered with uncertainty. He was just about to speak when the sea of flowers before them suddenly began to tremble.

WHIIIINE! WHIIIINE! WHIIIINE!

A series of piercing sounds that tore through the air suddenly echoed through the canyon.

The entire sea of flowers before them suddenly erupted into a frenzy.

The flowers, which had originally been only knee-high, began to swell and grow, shooting up twenty to thirty meters in the blink of an eye.

They all grew madly from beneath the ground. The Ghost-faced Demon Vines that reached a hundred meters in length alone covered a depth of three hundred meters. The even stronger ones spread over an even wider area, almost completely blocking every path forward.

"Remember, you must destroy them root and stem! The instant you uproot them, destroy their rootstalks!"

Hong Yu emphasized once more.

"Kill!"

The experts all sprang into action at once.

Given their strength, now that they understood the Ghost-faced Demon Vine’s weakness and fatal flaw, the difficulty of the attack was significantly reduced.

"Get out here!"

Qi Tianbao condensed a massive hand of Elemental Power, grabbing three or five huge Ghost-faced Demon Vines and ripping them out by the roots. With his other hand, he swept out a ripple of energy.

In a powerful blast, he completely obliterated the Ghost-faced Demon Vines’ roots.

"You bastard, you dare bite me?"

Tie Tongtian ripped off two Ghost-faced Demon Vines that were biting at his armor. Seeing the large hole corroded into his armor, he was first shocked, then furious. He swung his Big Saber, completely achieving their Annihilation.

With this group of extremely powerful experts working together, a swift path-clearing operation was in full swing.

Wherever they passed, all the Ghost-faced Demon Vines were destroyed.

Of course...

Even the wisest make mistakes.

Although the group was quite powerful, they couldn’t withstand the sheer number of Ghost-faced Demon Vines. In the process of clearing the path, eight experts perished under the vines’ siege.

Among them, a member of the Iron Soldier Pavilion and a disciple from the Guiyuan Sect suffered the most gruesome fates.

Their bodies were hoisted high into the air by the Ghost-faced Demon Vines, which immediately attracted hundreds more to attack. The vines pierced their bodies through and through, making them look like hedgehogs, until they were crushed to pieces and died.

Despite the casualties, the journey had been relatively smooth.

When the group worked together to destroy the last three hundred Ghost-faced Demon Vines, the battle between man and Ghost Vine finally came to an end.

Just as the last Ghost-faced Demon Vine was destroyed and everyone’s Heart Spirit began to relax...

Qi Tianbao, who had charged ahead, suddenly let out a shocked cry, instantly making everyone’s newly relaxed hearts leap back into their throats.

"Wh-what is this thing doing here?"