Published: February 9, 2025
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Even though his body had made the best possible response, he still felt a bit awkward from this sudden free fall.
Ye Zhongming didn’t dare to brace himself against the ground with his hands; he feared a fracture. Dragging an arm in an unknown environment wasn't a wise decision.
He curled his body and used the defense gear along with his own flexibility to offset the impact.
A sweetness surged in his throat, and he almost spat out blood, but Ye Zhongming suppressed it, rolling a few times upon landing before finally coming to a stop.
This was to avoid being attacked.
Fortunately, the anticipated danger did not materialize.
The ground beneath him was covered in some slime that sprayed down but quickly vanished. When Ye Zhongming looked up, he saw a grid-patterned membrane at least fifty meters above him rapidly healing, soon returning to its original state.
Above his head, tranquility returned, a dark green expanse.
This scene was quite magical, and Ye Zhongming couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
The branches swayed above the grid membrane, and Ye Zhongming couldn’t see where they were reaching from, their roots connected in the surrounding darkness. He hadn’t felt anything while in it, but looking back now sent a shiver down his spine.
Perhaps because they had lost their target, these branches lingered in the slime for a while before starting to retract.
Lowering his head, Ye Zhongming began to assess his surroundings.
Root systems!
His first impression of these was that there were countless thick branches coiling around him, similar in color to those in the slime but even sturdier and harder.
Not knowing whether these branches would lash out, Ye Zhongming was careful not to touch them. After a while, seeing there was no movement, he felt slightly relieved and stood up to observe his surroundings.
This was a massive hall formed by grotesquely shaped branches. All around were countless twisted ‘branch mountains’ of varying heights, with that sticky liquid above, colorless and transparent.
His feet felt sticky; he wasn’t sure if it was caused by the dried-up liquid.
There was almost no solid ground to stand on, so Ye Zhongming simply stepped directly onto the branches to move forward. After all, the Yama Tree had already realized he was here, and hiding was pointless. If he encountered any obstacles, he would simply cut them down, exuding arrogance.
Yet, surprisingly, this behavior did not provoke any retaliation.
After walking for a while, Ye Zhongming noticed something: no matter the shape or height of these ‘branch mountains’, they all roughly formed cylindrical shapes. Even if irregular, this was the reality.
Ye Zhongming furrowed his brow in thought, then climbed onto one of the branch mountains, standing at a height to look down.
The scene before his eyes made his heart tremble.
He recalled the images of the alien eggs densely packed together in the classic sci-fi film "Alien"!
If these dark brown branch mountains were seen as individual ‘eggs’, they resembled those alien eggs!
Could this be the breeding ground for the Yama Tree’s offspring?
It… was reproducing?
Ye Zhongming's heart jolted; he couldn’t imagine what the Earth would look like with countless powerful and bizarre Yama Trees.
But was it really reproducing?
Something moved in his peripheral vision, and Ye Zhongming suddenly turned his head, catching sight of a branch on a nearby branch mountain slowly merging with another branch. He didn’t hesitate and rushed over, swinging his weapon at the branch mountain.
The thick and sturdy branches were tricky. Even with the edge of the moon's sharpness, he struggled for a long time before finally cutting through one. When Ye Zhongming pulled the severed branch from the entangled branches, a surge of dark green slime immediately gushed out.