Bai Xue stood with her back to the wind and snow, calmly looking at the three figures. "Students from the Starry Sky, your combat skills are not bad."
"Who exactly are you? You can't be a native. Natives are absolutely incapable of crushing the three of us. We are all elites from major academies!" the person said in disbelief.
Bai Xue's eyes shone brightly, even more dazzling than diamonds. "Please mark the Northeast region as blue. I don't wish for this place to be disturbed."
That student painfully closed his eyes, as if resigned, and activated his personal communicator. Before long, online, this Northeast region had turned blue.
Lu Yin and Granny departed that night. They rested briefly a hundred kilometers north of Jinling, then continued their journey northward.
At this moment, they had arrived in Wei County, Shandong.
"Oh, the Northeast turned blue," Granny said in surprise.
Lu Yin was astonished. Had Bai Xue been defeated?
Without giving Lu Yin much time to think, an extraordinarily massive tree appeared in the landscape ahead. It looked like a willow, with branches stretching over a thousand meters, covering a portion of the sky, engulfing the entire Wei County. Even the surrounding roads and mountain villages were swallowed.
Lu Yin and Granny immediately stopped, unconsciously scanning its combat power.
"Four thousand two hundred ninety!" Both exclaimed. This was Fusion Realm combat power. The mutated great tree before them was a Fusion Realm creature.
"Let's go around it," Lu Yin decided quickly, wanting to avoid it.
Suddenly, several branches extended from the river below, lashing towards Lu Yin and Granny. Lu Yin pushed Granny aside, and he himself dodged. The branches whipped through the air, tearing it and making a loud sound.
Granny shuddered with fear. If Lu Yin hadn't pushed her away just now, she would have had to withstand a Fusion Realm creature's attack.
"Dodge, get out of the way!" Lu Yin yelled.
As he spoke, countless branches appeared from all directions, lashing out. Although the two were still a considerable distance from the mutated great tree, they were still within its attack range.
At this moment, it was very difficult to bypass the great tree. If they used the tree's attack range as a radius, it would take them at least ten seconds to circle it, and that was a conservative estimate. The great tree wouldn't allow them to pass easily, especially Granny; with her speed, it would be very difficult to get around.
Lu Yin moved through the air. Granny immediately couldn't keep up. He struck out with a palm, and Void Palm deflected a branch. His body rapidly rushed to Granny's side, embracing her neck, and directly dashed towards the mutated great tree.
"Are you crazy!" Granny was horrified, watching the great tree get closer and closer. Countless branches, like giant pythons, soared into the sky, and vaguely, piles of white bones could be seen on the ground, a terrifying sight.
Lu Yin said in a deep voice, "Look behind you."
Granny turned her head back, her face pale. Their retreat path was blocked. Endless green branches formed a dense wall, leaving them no way back.
"It's over, a Fusion Realm creature. We're surely dead," Granny said sorrowfully.
Lu Yin's eyes coldly swept the surroundings. Branch after branch lashed out. Lu Yin skillfully dodged, occasionally using the force of a branch to propel himself a long distance. At this moment, he was less than 3000 meters from the mutated great tree's main body. The closer he got, the more he felt the immense size and terror of this tree. Its energy distorted the void, covering the sky and obscuring the sun.
Lu Yin was fortunate that he wasn't facing an intelligent creature. Although this mutated great tree was powerful, its attacks were purely instinctual, which allowed him to survive safely with Granny. However, he definitely wouldn't last long.
Granny took out over a dozen Flame Crystals from her Void Ring and dropped them, igniting flames on the ground.
Lu Yin was speechless, "You want to burn it?"
Granny said bitterly, "Let's try. Maybe it's afraid of fire."
There was nothing wrong with that statement; plants fearing fire was natural. But looking at the sky-covering tree before them, igniting it would require at least a volcanic eruption to have any hope. The Flame Crystal resources outside Jinling City weren't enough.
Lu Yin didn't have time to banter with Granny; his eyes narrowed. What was that? A person?
Below the mutated great tree, a black dot moved left and right, then grew larger and larger. Like Lu Yin and his companions, it was a person.
That person was even closer to the great tree than they were. At this moment, he was constantly retreating, dodging the tree's branch attacks.
"So strong!" Granny exclaimed in surprise. She admitted she couldn't withstand the tree's branch attacks; if not for Lu Yin, she would have died. But that person in the distance was clearly skilled, looking very relaxed.
When Lu Yin clearly saw that person, his eyes turned cold. It was that silver-haired man.
Under the moonlight, his full-powered Heavenly Star Palm was neutralized by a beautiful butterfly knife in one hand. Lu Yin would never forget this scene in his life. He could severely injure Tres with Heavenly Star Palm in the Glimpse Realm, but after reaching Observation Realm and unleashing his full-powered Heavenly Star Palm, it was negated. Moreover, at that time, he wasn't the aggressor; it was the opponent's killing intent that made him actively strike with full force. At that moment, he was completely passive, unable to even grasp the opponent's true nature.
"Oh, fellow student, we meet again," the silver-haired man's eyes brightened as he saw Lu Yin, greeting him with a smile.
Granny was puzzled. Did the two know each other?
Lu Yin dodged a lashing branch and said calmly, "What a coincidence."
The silver-haired man nimbly dodged a branch. "Not a coincidence. I've been stuck here for a while. If you head north, there's a high chance you'd run into me. Fate..."
"You knew we were heading north?" Lu Yin raised an eyebrow, suspiciously.
The silver-haired man said naturally, "Of course. I also know your objective, it's definitely the capital, isn't it?"
Lu Yin narrowed his eyes, guessing who this person was, and if he was one of the strongest academy students Yego had mentioned.
"Watch out!" Granny exclaimed. Ahead, dozens of branches lashed out from all directions towards the silver-haired man. The silver-haired man smiled kindly at Granny, and mysteriously, a beautiful butterfly knife appeared in his right hand. He swung it with graceful flourishes, lunging towards the branch. With a soft "Whoosh!", the branch was pierced. The silver-haired man emerged unscathed, turned his head to smile at Granny again, then provocatively looked at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin hugged Granny tightly. Under Granny's terrified gaze, he raised his palm and struck at the attacking branch. With his palm, stars appeared. With one strike, the branch exploded, and Lu Yin also emerged unscathed.
"I didn't sleep well last night, used three-tenths of my strength," Lu Yin said calmly.
The silver-haired man's lips curled up, "I used two-tenths of my strength."
"You remembered wrong, I used one-tenth of my strength," Lu Yin was not to be outdone.
The silver-haired man snorted, "I used half a tenth of my strength."
Granny was speechless. Were these two competing? Right here, right now?
For some reason, facing the silver-haired man, Lu Yin always felt an unexplainable sense of danger, as if that butterfly knife was hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment. Unconsciously, he wanted this person to be wary, only by being unclear would the other not act rashly.
Countless branches appeared again from all directions, sealing off the space.
Lu Yin calmly said to the silver-haired man, "Let's team up. Attack the main body, otherwise, it won't end."
The silver-haired man nodded, "I was too tired from playing the past few days, otherwise I could have handled it alone."
Lu Yin calmly said, "If I wasn't in a hurry, I'd like to use it to test my palm strength."
The silver-haired man's lips curled up. He stomped on a lashing branch and charged towards the great tree's main body.
Lu Yin threw Granny towards the flames on the ground, "Take care of yourself," then likewise dashed towards the great tree's main body.
Both were not far from the great tree's main body and arrived in an instant.
The Fusion Realm surpasses the Observation Realm; it is a crucial step in cultivation. Reaching the Fusion Realm signifies a preliminary strengthening, touching the limits of the human body. Cultivators at this stage will remain for a long time until they break through the limits of the human body before entering the next realm.
Normal elite students are usually at the Observation Realm, with few reaching the Fusion Realm. And students who can contend with Fusion Realm creatures while in the Observation Realm are even rarer. Although the great tree was not an intelligent creature, it was too massive, and its energy was extremely vast. Defeating it was even harder than defeating a normal Fusion Realm creature.
The silver-haired man, with his butterfly knife in hand, flashed with white light, turning into a shooting star as he charged towards the great tree.
Lu Yin fully unleashed his Heavenly Star Palm. Vaguely, another proto-star initially appeared. This was the second star; once formed, its power would once again surge.
The two almost simultaneously attacked the great tree's main body. The butterfly knife combined with Heavenly Star Palm attacked the same position. The tree's sturdy surface gradually cracked, then with a thud, the two pierced through the great tree, flying hundreds of meters away, hovering in mid-air and looking back.
The enormous mutated great tree slowly fell, countless branches crashing down, crushing the earth, and even covering the river.
Lu Yin and the silver-haired man simultaneously turned to look at each other. In the brief moment of their attack, they both felt the other's power. This time, it was much clearer than before.
This person has become stronger, these words simultaneously appeared in both their minds.
On the other side, Granny was the most shocked. Mutated plants were hard to avoid but not easy to kill, because their defenses were too strong. Although she had not fought Willow, she could be certain that Willow absolutely did not have the ability to harm this great tree. These two clearly could, they could rival or even surpass the strongest in the academies.