Chapter 620: Lethal Life Essence

"Nice work." Su Ming praised Shadow.

Seizing the precious moment of respite that Shadow had bought him, Su Ming's right hand had already pulled free from his storage pouch. The black porcelain bottle filled with "Corpse Dissolving Powder" was crushed directly in his grip.

"Transform!"

Suppressing the tearing, searing pain ripping through his meridians, Su Ming mustered the less than twenty percent of his Ruo Shui spiritual energy that remained in his Dantian. The deep blue spiritual energy split into hundreds of ultra-fine threads, precisely coiling around those scattered, pungent particles of powder.

He flung both hands outward in a sudden motion.

Hundreds of spiritual energy threads burst apart like a goddess scattering flowers, evenly dispersing the powder across a three-foot radius around him.

The pungent stench of decay shot up instantly, even overpowering that cloying, sweet fragrance.

Just as he'd expected.

The glowing grass blades that had been stirred awake and were frantically creeping toward him like tentacles all hesitated the moment they came into contact with that overwhelming reek. As if trying to determine whether this was actually something alive and edible, their tendril-like luminous leaves curled back slightly.

Su Ming didn't spare them another glance. He turned and left.

He didn't choose to retreat along the path he'd come from, because that was a completely exposed open stretch. Without hesitation, he charged deeper into the mushroom forest.

"That rock on the left, don't step on it!" Lin Yu's voice rang out urgently in his Consciousness Sea.

Su Ming moved like the wind beneath his feet, his gaze as cold as ice. Every single step landed precisely on the lusterless gray-black rocks, avoiding every glowing plant.

"Boom!"

A dull collapsing sound came from behind him.

Su Ming glanced back with the corner of his eye, his heart clenching tight.

The purple-spotted mushroom whose countless fine mouths had been severed by Shadow had actually torn itself free from the earth! Its countless thick root strands at the base had twisted and interwoven together, forming enormous centipede-like segmented legs.

Though its movements were somewhat clumsy, its massive frame and frantically flailing legs carried a suffocating ferocity as it rumbled in pursuit of Su Ming's fleeing direction.

"What kind of godforsaken world is this!" Su Ming cursed inwardly.

"Three zhang to the left, there's a rock crevice!" Lin Yu's Soul Body spun around anxiously within the ring, immediately pointing out the escape route.

Su Ming didn't hesitate for a moment. Pushing off a protruding rock with the tip of his foot, he forcibly twisted his body mid-air and hurled himself to the left.

That was a massive naturally formed gray-black stone slab, and behind it yawned a deep, narrow fissure barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

"Boom!"

Just as Su Ming changed direction, a mushroom root as thick as a bucket slammed viciously into the spot where he'd been standing moments before, shattering the hard rock into fragments. Chunks of stone flew past Su Ming's cheek, leaving a shallow trail of blood behind.

Holding his breath, Su Ming turned his body sideways and forced himself into that narrow crevice.

The rock walls inside the fissure were exceptionally rough, their hard, sharp edges scraping across his back like files. His robe was already ruined, and his flesh was carved with several bloody gashes deep enough to show bone.

Su Ming didn't even furrow his brow. Enduring the piercing agony, he pressed his body completely into the darkness of the crevice's depths.

"Form the array!"

He pressed his back against the cold rock wall, his hands forming seals at lightning speed.

He didn't dare expend too much spiritual energy. With only the remaining twenty percent, he laid down the most basic breath-concealing array at the entrance of the fissure.

A few deep blue runes flickered in the void and vanished.

The very next instant after the formation lines lit up.

"Boom——!"

The crazed mushroom giant outside slammed heavily into the stone slab.

The dull, rumbling impact echoed through the narrow crevice, rattling Su Ming's eardrums. Chunks of rubble rained down from above, striking his shoulders, but he stood as still as a statue.

The mushroom giant's thick roots swept wildly outside the crevice, producing heart-stopping whistling sounds. It seemed unable to comprehend how the prey radiating that tantalizing scent of flesh and blood could have suddenly vanished without a trace.

Su Ming held his breath, his eyes fixed intently on the flashes of purple luminescence passing by the opening of the fissure.

One breath. Two breaths. Ten breaths...

It lingered outside for dozens of breaths before the mushroom giant finally seemed to exhaust its patience. It emitted a low-frequency vibration thick with unwillingness, and then the heavy scraping sound of its segmented legs began to recede slowly into the distance.

Only when the sound had completely faded did Su Ming finally let out a long, pent-up breath.

He slumped to the ground, utterly drained, leaning against the cold, damp rock wall as he gasped for air.

"You're safe for now." Lin Yu said in his Consciousness Sea, the luster of his Soul Body dimming considerably.

Su Ming closed his eyes and began calmly assessing his injuries.

"Right arm: deep laceration down to the bone."

"Left shoulder: flesh corroded, faint traces of corrosive toxin remaining in the meridians."

"Back: multiple severe abrasions."

"Most critically, the forced compression of spiritual energy has caused vibration damage to the meridians around the Dao foundation."

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes.

"Master." Su Ming calculated the numbers in his head, "My Golden Core's spiritual energy is down to only fifteen percent."

Su Ming nodded faintly. He took a deep breath and attempted to circulate the Like Water Art once more.

The cultivation method cycled slowly through his body, yet no energy from the outside seeped into his Dantian.

This heaven and earth was saturated with that rich, primordial "life essence." But the underlying structure of this life essence was fundamentally different from the spiritual energy of the human cultivation world.

It was like wild, untamed horses, filled with rejection toward the Ruo Shui spiritual energy within Su Ming's body. The Like Water Art's original trait of "embracing all things" had completely failed here. His cultivation method was utterly incapable of converting this life essence into his own spiritual energy.

"Cannot absorb. Cannot convert." Su Ming's voice was utterly flat. "In a world where even a blade of grass can eat people, having no way to replenish spiritual energy is like having a rope slowly tightened around my neck."

Lin Yu's Soul Body flickered faintly within the Xuantian ring. After a moment of silence, his voice came out hoarse but remarkably composed.

"Disciple, don't rush to figure out how to absorb the energy here." Lin Yu said slowly.

Su Ming tilted his head slightly.

"You still have elixirs on you." Lin Yu instructed. "First, use the Qi Restoring Elixirs you brought to stabilize the Golden Core's spiritual energy. Then, without using any offensive runes, use only the purest Ruo Shui spiritual energy to slowly repair the vibration damage in your meridians and the toxin in your left shoulder."

"Remember." Lin Yu's voice carried an unyielding seriousness. "Until you find a way to replenish spiritual energy from external sources, every single drop of spiritual energy in your body must not be wasted on anything unnecessary."

Su Ming nodded silently.

His left hand brushed lightly over his storage pouch, and a white jade bottle appeared in his palm. He flicked the stopper open with his thumb, poured out two fragrant Qi Restoring Elixirs, and tossed them straight into his mouth.

The warm medicinal power flowed down his throat, slowly spreading through his Dantian, transforming into wisps of pure spiritual energy that nourished his parched Golden Core.

Su Ming closed his eyes, immersing all his focus into repairing the injuries within his body.

Outside the fissure.

Beneath the pale purple sky, ribbon-like bands of light drifted silently like auroras. Those enormous glowing plants swayed gently in the breeze, radiating a dreamlike, eerie splendor.

Everything appeared so serene and beautiful. Yet it concealed countless horrifying killing mechanisms capable of tearing a person apart in an instant.