The air was thick with the scent of wild beasts mingled with a faint metallic tang of blood, warm, humid, and sultry, making everyone’s nerves snap taut.
"About six hundred meters ahead, there's a group of... marshmallows?" Tali said, her eyes swirling with black mist as she reported what her spirit ghosts had scouted.
"Marshmallows?" Feng Chenxiu asked in confusion.
"White, soft, and round."
"Is it this?" Huo Yin handed his handheld device to her. The screen displayed a picture of an elemental beast that closely matched her description.
"This is a 'Cotton Jelly.' The name sounds cute, but its habits are anything but."
Cotton Jellies were soft-bodied creatures that could secrete venom on their skin. When under attack, they could liquefy and meld into the ground, fusing together to evolve a single mother entity and then breed offspring, spawning hundreds at a time.
They also possessed powerful mental control and could create illusions. One or two weren't frightening, but when dozens or hundreds gathered, even Level 9 powerhouses would have to avoid their main force.
The only way to kill them completely was to trap them in an enclosed space and burn them with fire. As long as there was even a tiny crack, they could escape.
At that moment, in a cave not far from them, two Evolvers were hiding inside, afraid to poke their heads out. The outside of the cave was swarming with Cotton Jellies, blocking their escape route dead tight.
Although Cotton Jellies were tough to deal with, they were essentially mobile Mental Source Cores, and Huo Yin didn't want to let them off easily.
"What do we do now?" Excitement flashed in Feng Chenxiu’s eyes.
"Why don't we have Tali send out her spirit ghosts to lure them over?"
Huo Yin glanced at him without a word. Cotton Jellies shared a collective mind, luring one was equivalent to luring the whole swarm. It was completely useless.
"Step back a bit, all of you. I'll try out my new skill." Huo Yin had just absorbed a special Fire Element Source Core capable of unleashing blood-burning flames. The Cotton Jellies' liquid form would have nowhere to hide under such fire, which might produce miraculous results.
While everyone was discussing a plan, Yuan Chu felt a subtle stir in her mind. She slightly tilted her head, catching a glimpse of a hidden figure in the shadows out of the corner of her eye.
After a moment's thought, she quietly shifted two meters to the side.
At that exact moment, a sudden whistling sound cut through the air. A crossbow bolt shot right over the heads of Huo Yin and the others, plunging straight into the swarm of Cotton Jellies. Worst of all, the bolt left a glittering flight trail along its path, acting like a beacon that exposed their location.
The Cotton Jellies stopped their fusing process and turned en masse to face them.
Huo Yin & Tali & Su Mo & Feng Chenxiu: !
Yuan Chu: ...
It was too late to run. In the very next instant, everyone simultaneously plunged into a brutal illusion.
Yuan Chu watched as the expressions of those around her gradually turned bizarre, she was the only one unaffected.
The invisible Sabu, gloating over his successful hit, suddenly saw the girl from before look over in his direction again, her eyes flickering gloomily.
Sabu: It's impossible for her to have spotted me!
Yuan Chu averted her gaze, turning back toward the group trapped in the illusion.
The mental attack of the berserk Cotton Jellies exceeded Level 9. If it came into contact with her Absolute Defense, it might trigger the fundamental rules of this world, which was why she had intentionally stepped back two meters out of her defense range earlier.
Strange Stone Canyon was originally a trial Huo Yin was bound to go through, but she had cleverly bypassed it earlier. Now that they had circled back, she couldn't intervene directly, it was best to guide things naturally along their course, or she might easily draw the Heavenly Dao's attention.
Among the group, Tali and Su Mo were both Mental-type Evolvers. The former was a newcomer unable to fight back, but the latter possessed the strength to put up a fight.
Huo Yin was the strongest and possessed a firm mindset, so he was relatively less affected. However, he wasn't the super-powerhouse of the future just yet, making it difficult to break free from a Level 9 illusion on his own.
Feng Chenxiu was originally the weakest, but due to his simple mind, he was actually out of harm's way for the time being.
The Cotton Jellies' Level 9 illusion felt frighteningly real, making it impossible to distinguish reality from fantasy.
Yuan Chu watched as Huo Yin and the others spoke to the thin air with solemn expressions, before starting a fight over the slightest disagreement.
Huo Yin held back his attacks, seeming to sense that something was off, but Tali went completely wild, striking with all her might. Dark winds howled and ghost aura surged, frightening the unprepared Sabu so badly that his hair stood on end, almost knocking him out of his stealth state.
Feng Chenxiu wandered around aimlessly like a lost soul, not even noticing when he got hurt.
Su Mo was the calmest. He retreated to the side, observing his surroundings vigilantly while cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
[Su Mo.] A voice suddenly resounded in his mind.
"Who's there?" Su Mo held his weapon, looking left and right.
[Su Mo.] The voice sounded again.
Su Mo gathered his thoughts and calmed his breath, carefully searching for the source of that voice.
In the next second, the scenery before his eyes suddenly shifted. Everything around him vanished, replaced by a realm that resembled the vast cosmos.
"This is..." Su Mo heard countless voices and saw countless images, almost as if... as if he had entered someone else's mental domain.
[Su Mo.] The voice appeared once more.
Su Mo immediately looked toward the sound and saw a familiar figure standing quietly not far away.
Yuan Chu!
She slowly raised her hand and pointed forward.
Su Mo turned his head, and in an instant, a bright light flashed before his eyes. His vision fractured and collapsed, while his mental domain abruptly expanded like a network, linking everyone around them together. He could hear what they thought and see what they saw.
And then, he could guide them out of the illusion.
Su Mo finally understood their situation and realized his mission.
Before he could act, Yuan Chu suddenly turned her head, her gaze burning intently as she looked at Huo Yin.
Blue fire condensed in Huo Yin's palm as he prepared to blast an attack toward Su Mo's position. But the moment Yuan Chu looked over, he shifted his trajectory, hurling the fireball straight into the swarm of Cotton Jellies. With a loud boom, clusters of blue flames erupted across their bodies.
Su Mo felt that Yuan Chu had just used his telepathic link to guide Huo Yin into hitting the real target.
For the first time, he experienced the true power of his ability. So this was how badass it became after advancing!
Shared senses, unified combat, instant transmission of commands, and one hundred percent synchronization.
He attempted to connect with Tali, sharing the real visual feed directly with her.
Tali was stunned for a moment before commanding her spirit ghosts to turn around and pounce on the Cotton Jellies engulfed in blue fire.
With telepathic guidance, Huo Yin and the others broke free from the illusion one by one, joining forces to launch a full-scale assault on the Cotton Jellies.
In the shadows, Sabu had been watching them tear each other apart with great relish. Little did he expect that within a few minutes, he would be abruptly pulled into a strange mental domain. In that realm, he watched helplessly as they broke out of the illusion, formed a united front, and began slaughtering in all directions.
What terrified him even more was the blue fire unleashed by the wheelchair man, it could actually bypass the Cotton Jellies' liquid form, clinging to them and burning them relentlessly.
What kind of cheat-code team was this?!
Ever since he started down his sneaky path of setting traps for people, he had almost never failed. This was the first time he had ever run into a situation like this.
He knew very well how dangerous Cotton Jellies were, even Level 9 powerhouses wouldn't dare claim they could escape unscathed. Only Mental-type Evolvers had some resistance, but they couldn't sway the overall battle, as their combat power was generally low.
Half an hour later, the battle came to an end. Everyone sat on the ground panting, their spirits thoroughly exhausted. Yet looking at the ground covered in Mental Source Cores, they were filled with joy.
"Momo, I didn't expect your ability to be this amazing!" Feng Chenxiu looked at Su Mo with a face full of wonder.
Su Mo glanced at Yuan Chu, shrugged, and said nothing. It wasn't that he was amazing, it was that their team was hiding a true boss.
Huo Yin guessed something of the truth. Pulling Yuan Chu up, he said to the group, "Go gather the source cores."
The hundreds of Cotton Jellies left behind only several dozen Mental Source Cores, but it was still a massive haul.
"Awoo!" Feng Chenxiu leaped up and was the first to charge out.
Tali and Su Mo followed close behind.
Huo Yin didn't move. Instead, he asked out of nowhere, "Where is he?"
Su Mo, who had walked a dozen meters away, paused in his tracks and turned to look toward a certain spot. During the mental link earlier, besides their group, there had been an uninvited stranger who barged into the domain. Without a doubt, he was the enemy hiding in the shadows who had ambushed them.
With a wave of Huo Yin's arm, a streak of blue fire followed Su Mo's gaze, carving an arc along the right rock wall. In the flickering firelight, a human shadow was faintly outlined.
The Earth element activated immediately, encasing the shadow in a clay sculpture within a single instant.
Sabu, who didn't even have time to send out a distress signal: !!!
Su Mo walked over, unhooked a coil of rope from his waist, and bound the man tightly.
"All the source cores have been collected." Feng Chenxiu walked back, looked at the mud figure on the ground, and poked it with the tip of his shoe.
"Was this the guy watching us earlier?"
During the mental connection, everyone had noticed this uninvited guest, only he himself remained oblivious. In reality, he was an invisible lurker, but in the mental domain, he was a glaring red target.
"How do we handle him?" Su Mo asked.
"In a bit, we'll ask which team he belongs to. They've killed quite a few Evolvers, I'm sure plenty of people would love to have a chat with them." Huo Yin said coldly.
Sabu's body trembled, shedding a shower of dust. He yelled muffledly, "I didn't kill anyone! I was only responsible for looting the corpses!"
"Oh? So that arrow luring the monsters earlier wasn't shot by you?" Huo Yin's gaze was sharp as a blade. If not for Yuan Chu and Su Mo, those trapped in the illusion would have found it difficult to break free.
Fortunately, the Cotton Jellies' mental attack was merely an illusion, if it had been a Level 9 mental shockwave, the group would have lost their combat capability on the spot.
Sabu: ...
"Someone's coming." Tali suddenly spoke up.
Everyone turned to look. Two Evolvers were cautiously approaching, stopping about forty or fifty meters away from them.
"Hello! We're from the Knights of the Full Moon. May we ask who you are?"
Huo Yin replied, "We received distress signals nearby, so we came over to check it out."
"Ah, thank you so much!" Hearing this response, the two breathed a sigh of relief and walked over quickly.
Both sides exchanged names and shared intelligence. Upon learning that they might have been set up, the two from the Knights of the Full Moon were furious.
"We still need to go rescue some other people later. What are your plans?" Huo Yin asked.
The two hesitated for a moment before requesting, "Please let us come with you."
To be able to kill a horde of berserk Cotton Jellies, the strength of this group was beyond imagination. Hanging out with big shots not only guaranteed their survival, but they might even pick up a few source cores along the way.
-----
Heavenly Dao: This time for sure, I'll kill off the Son of Luck!
Yuan Chu: [Bug Protection Aura]
Huo Yin: Leveled up again, picked up treasure again, team expanded again @^_^@
Heavenly Dao: ...
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