Chapter 288: Starfall: Revival of the Withered and Flourishing

Chapter 288: Starfall: Revival of the Withered and Flourishing

"Where is it?"

Ren Mian's expression changed as she followed Ji Xinghuo's gaze to the ground, but she saw nothing amiss and shook her head. "The probability of a Radiant-level monster possessing a Starfall ability is very low."

Ordinary super-limit abilities didn't interest her much.

There were already nearly twenty Eternal Day Guardians who had arrived at the nuclear blast site, and she didn't want any unnecessary complications.

Ji Xinghuo agreed.

They accelerated their flight, but after a few seconds, he sensed something amiss again. "This monster is unusual. It's likely to have a Starfall ability!"

"How can you be sure?" Ren Mian was surprised.

"It was badly wounded and near death a moment ago, but now it's recovering. Something's not right." Ji Xinghuo's electromagnetic sensing ability detected that the monster was hiding underground, more than ten meters deep. It remained motionless, but its magnetic field strength and energy fluctuations were rapidly increasing.

Such a recovery speed was definitely not due to an ordinary super-limit ability.

Moreover, its hiding place was only a few hundred meters away from the center of the nuclear explosion. Its survival at such a distance might be attributed to this ability.

"Regeneration ability!" Ren Mian immediately realized.

"Very likely."

Ji Xinghuo nodded.

Ren Mian immediately changed her mind and whispered, "If it truly has a regeneration ability, we must act now. The longer we wait, the more disadvantageous it'll be for us."

"I'll make the first move, and you can finish it off, Ren Jie."

Ji Xinghuo prepared to deliver a thunderous strike, and Ren Mian, to avoid interfering with his actions, flipped over and straddled his back, wrapping an arm around his neck and her legs around his waist, pressing her body tightly against his.

The sensation of her soft body against his back caused Ji Xinghuo's heart to flutter, but now was not the time to be distracted.

He continued flying forward, pretending not to have noticed the monster, and descended to a lower altitude. On his wrist, the Spirit Sword smart ring transformed into four gleaming blades as spiritual energy was channeled into them, turning them into four dazzling sword lights that exuded a dangerous aura.

At the same time, a ball of lightning formed in Ji Xinghuo's palm and rapidly expanded as stellar energy was infused into it.

When he flew to a height of only a hundred meters above the ground, he unleashed the four swords.

The sword lights blazed with intensity.

The Ice Sword condensed eight additional frost swords, the Fire Sword spewed lasers from both ends, the Electric Sword erupted with lightning, and the Light Sword turned transparent, becoming the fastest among them.

The twelve beams of light converged into a brilliant rainbow that pierced the ground.

The ground, still retaining the high temperatures from the nuclear blast, had its soil melted into a glass-like state. After the sword lights penetrated, a second later, the ground within a hundred-meter radius was upheaved.

"Hiss…"

A bizarre hissing sound emerged as a terrifying monster revealed itself.

It resembled several giant snakes intertwined, fused, and knotted together, but in reality, it was a single creature with three to seven heads. The exact number was unclear because many of its snake heads had been blown off and were in the process of regenerating. If one were to measure just one of the serpentine bodies, it would be over forty meters long.

At that moment, the center of the tangled mass of snakes had been impaled.

It was the wound inflicted by the twelve sword lights, but instead of being fatal, it only enraged the creature, causing it to roll out from underground.

"Dormant Flower Snake."

Ren Mian whispered, "A mutated variety of the multi-headed snake."

Ji Xinghuo didn't respond as he had already activated his hyper-frequency thinking, focusing entirely on manipulating the sword lights to attack the monster.

The twelve sword lights were as agile as swimming fish, slicing, penetrating, and strangling the giant serpent, leaving deep gashes from which green blood flowed.

However, the wounds they inflicted healed almost instantly.

The heads that had been blown off by the nuclear blast were regrowing at a visible rate.

"Hiss!"

The Dormant Flower Snake spotted the two figures in the sky. One of its heads reared up, its snakehead larger than a train engine. The enormous head lacked eyes or other organs, resembling a gigantic red flower bud that opened towards them, splitting into four petals to reveal sharp fangs and a bottomless throat.

Boom!

With a burst of noise, the snakehead blossomed like a flower, spraying dozens of wooden stakes.

These stakes were nearly two meters long, as thick as an arm, and resembled black iron spears. They shot forward at incredible speed, reaching Ji Xinghuo in the blink of an eye.

He maintained one hand in the position of condensing the spherical lightning while the other hand supported Ren Mian's bottom. The turbulent undercurrents beneath his feet instantly generated thrust, as if he were stepping on the ground, activating his Instant Step and moving about ten meters to easily dodge the barrage of wooden stakes.

Ren Mian's fingertips also shot out a thick beam of light.

Swoosh!

Her timing was impeccable. As Ji Xinghuo's Instant Step ended, her beam erupted, piercing the open snakehead and penetrating deep into its throat.

The massive snakehead exploded from within.

The sword lights continued their relentless assault, but they couldn't deliver a fatal blow.

The Dormant Flower Snake's scales were like old tree bark, incredibly tough, and the sword lights suffered backlash with each strike, chipping away until only four remained.

In the blink of an eye, the giant serpent seemed to ignore the chaotic slashes, and the gaps between its hard scales widened as it spewed out large clouds of green poison, quickly enveloping its entire body. The violent turmoil spread, and in an instant, it covered an area of over 300 meters, forming a layer of pale green toxic gas.

This poison didn't obscure their vision much, but it was extremely dangerous.

"Miasma!" Ren Mian warned.

Ji Xinghuo recognized it too. "Miasma" was a super-limit ability, not the ancient kind that made people ill in hot and humid climates.

Any living creature that came into contact with the miasma would be corroded, poisoned, and paralyzed, and those with weak physiques might even die instantly.

The four sword lights slowed as if they were moving through water.

However, Ji Xinghuo didn't retreat.

At level four, his spiritual energy only had an effective radius of about 150 meters, and if he flew out of the miasma, he wouldn't be able to control the Spirit Sword smart ring's attacks.

He had activated his "internal circulation belt" when he entered the abyssal planet, so he didn't need to breathe.

Ren Mian was very much in sync with him, and she took out a lotus leaf-shaped leaf, activated it, and then opened it to form a bubble that blocked the invasion of the miasma.

In the distance, the Eternal Day Guardians were rushing over.

"Get ready!" Ji Xinghuo said in a low voice.

After receiving Ren Mian's confirmation, he fully unleashed his spiritual energy, and the light on the four blades intensified as they slashed towards the body of the Dormant Flower Snake. The frost tide, flame blast, electric arc, and flash simultaneously exploded, cutting through its "thorn armor" and penetrating deep inside.

The giant serpent roared in pain, spewing out ink-green blood. All the miasma suddenly contracted and then exploded outward.

The toxic shockwave blasted away the sword lights.

It had already been badly injured by the nuclear blast and was in the process of recovering when this "Toxic Nova" ability exploded, severely damaging its vitality and leaving it weakened.

Ji Xinghuo allowed the toxic shockwave to hit him, using the turbulent backflow to keep himself steady in the air.

At the same time, he pointed at the Dormant Flower Snake below.

Boom!

A lightning bolt struck down.

This lightning bolt didn't seem particularly powerful, only as thick as an arm, and compared to the giant serpent's massive body, it seemed almost negligible.

However, the front end of the lightning bolt was spherical.

It struck with pinpoint accuracy, hitting the hole created by the four sword lights and penetrating the giant serpent's body. The Dormant Flower Snake froze as if it had been fixed in place.

In an instant, the huge monster exploded from the inside out! Its body, scales, and heads swelled up like a balloon, instantly surpassing its limits. All its bodily tissues collapsed, exploding into a rain of dark green blood that splattered for hundreds of meters, coating the vitreous ground with a layer of green sludge.

Flesh and blood rained down, but on the ground below, there were still several thick snake bodies and a few heads.

"Is it dead?" Ren Mian looked down, dumbfounded.

She wanted to deliver the final blow, but it seemed that Ji Xinghuo had already killed it, rendering her strike unnecessary.

In the distance, the Eternal Day Guardians who had been rushing over saw the Dormant Flower Snake explode with a single strike, and some of them immediately stopped in their tracks, looking at Ji Xinghuo and Ren Mian with apprehension and hesitation.

"No, it's not dead yet!" Ji Xinghuo shook his head; he hadn't absorbed any spiritual source energy.

This spherical lightning strike had taken nearly half a minute to charge and directly consumed 2,000 star points, draining half of his star gland, which felt very uncomfortable.

But now was not the time to relax.

The severed snake bodies were still wriggling, and new flesh was growing at a visible rate, inching closer together as if trying to reassemble and come back to life.

"It's still not dead?" Ren Mian was first startled and then elated.

"Withered and Flourishing!" she exclaimed. "No wonder it survived the nuclear blast. It has the starfall ability 'Withered and Flourishing'!"

"Is there a way to kill it for good?" Ji Xinghuo glanced at the distant Eternal Day Guardians. If they discovered the starfall ability here, they would surely try to seize it.

"Withered and Flourishing is one level lower than an immortal body," Ren Mian replied. "If we can find its heterogeneity and cut it off, we can prevent it from resurrecting. But its body is so huge that finding a small heterogeneity will be very difficult and may take some time. We'll also need to keep attacking to slow down its regeneration rate."

"Alright."

Ji Xinghuo immediately descended with Ren Mian on his back.

The ground was covered in a thick layer of dark green blood, emitting a putrid stench. He hovered half a meter above the ground to avoid stepping in it and stretched out his hand to rest on the largest piece of the Dormant Flower Snake's remains.

Monster information popped up before his eyes.

Monster: Multi-Headed Dormant Flower Snake

Level: Catastrophe-Radiant

Heterogeneities: Miasma, Needle Spray

"It's not here." Ji Xinghuo glanced at it and let go.

Although the monsters on the Abyssal Planet had fewer heterogeneities than those in the Star Realm, as a Radiant-level monster, it definitely had more than three, and it seemed this particular piece didn't have it.

He immediately flew to another piece of the corpse and touched it.

Heterogeneities: Thorn Armor, Heavy Strike

It wasn't there either.

Ji Xinghuo consecutively inspected several sections of the snake's body, discovering multiple heterogeneities, but 'Withered and Flourishing' was not among them.

Ren Mian jumped off his back and landed in the toxic blood, joining the search.

"Not here..."

"Still can't find it..."

While Ji Xinghuo kept an eye on the surrounding Eternal Day Guardians, he inspected the corpse pieces one by one, from large to small, but still couldn't find the heterogeneity. Meanwhile, the remains were growing rapidly, and the blood on the ground seemed to flow like a living thing, gradually gathering together.

"They're coming." Ren Mian warned.

Over a dozen Eternal Day Guardians approached from all directions, entering the range of electromagnetic sensing.

Ji Xinghuo's expression turned cold.

Clang, clang! The four sword lights by his side glowed, and eight Ice Swords emerged, swimming through the air like fish and forming a sword formation.

This was a warning.

Some of the Eternal Day Guardians stopped, but a few others continued to approach.

Ji Xinghuo scanned them with his eyes, counting five people in total.

Two of them were solitary figures, while the other three were together. They were all Legendary powerhouses! The most threatening were the two solitary figures. One was an incredibly muscular highlander, standing at over two and a half meters tall. His skin was the color of rocks, but he lacked the blood-red tattoos, indicating he wasn't a follower of the Red Emperor. He wore a simple cloth robe, with a waist pouch that had several rows of squares, used by plant witches to carry seeds, stems, and leaves.

In his hand, he held a rough wooden stick, and his movements were agile. Each step he took seemed to shorten the distance, moving almost as fast as flight.

"Nature Lord!"

Ji Xinghuo's heart sank.

This highlander was not only a powerful Nature Lord but also a Legendary Tier 2, making him extremely formidable.

The second solitary figure was no less impressive.

Anyone who laid eyes on this "person" would feel their scalp tingle. His body was composed of countless wriggling, colorful worms, forming a vague human shape that stood over three meters tall. He was carried by a large cloud of insects.

The worms constantly fell from his body, sometimes scattering and blending into the surrounding insect cloud.

"Insect Emperor!"

On Earth, there was knowledge about the Insect Emperor profession, but very few people chose to walk down this path.

Although Insect Emperors were extremely powerful and hard to kill, most people couldn't accept the idea.

Ren Mian glanced at the "Insect Emperor" but didn't seem intimidated. She said calmly, "That's not his real body."

Ji Xinghuo nodded.

Insect Emperors' true powers lay in the insects they controlled. Usually, their real bodies were hidden elsewhere, and they only sent out their insects to fight, ensuring both strength and safety.

The other three Legendaries were Dan practitioners. They rode on a wide-winged falcon, moving swiftly. They had been the farthest away, but soon surpassed the others and became the closest, now within a kilometer, close enough to clearly see the three people on its back.

Wind-Riding Dragon Falcon, one of the fastest flying raptors in the Star Realm.

Ji Xinghuo's gaze locked onto the middle Dan practitioner. The opponent held a bow and arrow, wore light armor, and had a gentle breeze swirling around their body. Their eyes were sharp.

"Wind Walker."

An advanced profession of Ranger and Dark Wind Master.

Ji Xinghuo couldn't identify the professions of the other two Dan practitioners, and the Wind-Riding Dragon Falcon continued to close in at breakneck speed.

The three Legendary Dan practitioners were clearly preparing for battle.

"If we don't show them some strength, they'll really think we're easy targets," Ji Xinghuo muttered to himself. He took out the Black Eternal Crystal Battle Bow, nocked a tungsten-core heavy arrow, and drew the bowstring. Without bothering to aim, he immediately released the arrow.

The arrow disappeared from sight, followed by a loud sonic boom.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end