On the other side of the coastal forest.

The battle between Yuan Dongzhi and the hunchbacked masked man had reached a fever pitch.

The aftershocks of their clash shattered the earth and sky, collapsing the ground, snapping trees and scattering birds.

Buzz... buzz... buzz!

Yuan Dongzhi controlled tens of thousands of water blades, firing them at the hunchbacked masked man in a sky-darkening barrage.

The masked man moved his thoughts, controlling thick vines to form a massive shield that blocked all the incoming water blades.

Then, he immediately sent those vines shooting toward Yuan Dongzhi, launching a fierce counterattack.

Yuan Dongzhi wasn’t afraid. She raised the forty-meter water blade in her hand and slashed out several strikes, cutting all the incoming vines apart.

At the same time, from the skyward water column beneath her feet, more water blades separated out, shooting toward the treetop where the masked man stood like a machine gun, aimed directly at his head.

Unfortunately, they were all blocked by vines, failing to injure him at all.

The masked man counterattacked again.

His eyes narrowed and in the next moment, towering trees throughout the forest surged toward Yuan Dongzhi, forming a massive tree cage to trap her inside.

Yuan Dongzhi frowned and lifted all the water from the stream under her feet into the air, forming a giant water membrane to resist the unending vine attacks.

At the same time, she generated countless water blades on the water membrane, sharp enough to cut through iron, slashing apart the vines as they shot in.

However, there were simply too many vines.

Cut one down and another took its place.

The onslaught showed no signs of weakening.

Instead, Yuan Dongzhi’s defense was steadily deteriorating.

The vines controlled by the masked man were filled with small openings.

Each strike against the water membrane absorbed large amounts of water.

Over time, the water Yuan Dongzhi could use had dwindled to less than half of what she started with.

“You rely too much on water sources. As soon as your water decreases, your power is severely reduced. Your weakness is too obvious and far too easy to target.”

While fiercely attacking the water membrane with vines, the masked man lectured Yuan Dongzhi in a tone of superiority.

Yuan Dongzhi stayed silent, her brows tightly furrowed as she focused on resisting the vines.

She knew she was at a disadvantage and was drawing groundwater from beneath the earth to replenish her strength.

The masked man continued smugly, “Principal Yuan, you know it well. The Divine Plant Cult is a decisive power in the Source Site. In the Southern Domain, it possesses endless spiritual plant resources, rare flowers and fruits beyond counting. With your talent, if you join the Divine Plant Cult, you will gain inexhaustible resources. With enough resources, evolving into an Epic Being will no longer be just a dream.”

The masked man extended his olive branch with sincerity, “So? Do you want me to introduce you to the Divine Plant Cult?”

Yuan Dongzhi’s tone was cold, “I am human, not a traitor to humanity like you. I will never join a cult that persecutes mankind.”

“Traitor to humanity?”

The masked man laughed dismissively, “On the contrary, the so-called traitors have not lost their humanity, but have magnified it. The essence of humanity is extreme selfishness—if one does not live for oneself, then heaven and earth will destroy them. Modern human society places too many restraints upon people. This you cannot do, that you cannot do, what can anyone do—this is the true annihilation of humanity.

By joining the Divine Plant Cult, I may wear a mask, but in truth, I have shed my disguise. Behind the mask, I am free to unleash my true human nature, to do whatever I wish. And you? Your face may be unmasked, but you wear an invisible mask every day. You suppress your instincts as a human being. It is laughable.”

The masked man ceaselessly preached his philosophy, attempting to indoctrinate Yuan Dongzhi.

He was an elder in charge of recruitment within the Divine Plant Cult, a master at drawing people in.

With his sharp tongue, he had pulled countless human elites into the cult.

Now, he sought to win over Yuan Dongzhi.

But Yuan Dongzhi only sneered, “Hah, deluded nonsense.”

Her dragon horns glowed, summoning a surge of underground water that toppled the towering trees around her.

Seeing her refusal, the masked man’s smile vanished.

He immediately sent a new wave of vines surging at her, draining her replenished waters the same way.

Yuan Dongzhi did not sit still. She condensed countless water arrows and fired them at him.

The battle raged for more than ten minutes.

Just as it was escalating further, both Rare-Tier fighters suddenly stopped fighting.

One stood atop a skyward water column.

The other upon a hundred-meter tree.

At that moment, both turned their gaze in the same direction.

Toward Lin Zichen.

From the moment they had entered the coastal forest, both had been keeping partial attention on him, monitoring his every move.

Just now, both had sensed that Lin Zichen had actually defeated the fox-eared girl.

They were both stunned, utterly shocked.

“To slay across levels without injury—a mere Biological Level 9 body defeating a Fox Spirit of Advanced Tier Six, whose spiritual power was Advanced-tier… What kind of monster is this? Is he really human? Not an aberrant human?”

The masked man muttered in disbelief.

Yuan Dongzhi said nothing.

Though she looked calm, her heart was turbulent.

The shock she felt was no less than his.

She knew Lin Zichen’s body was powerful, but she had not expected his spirit to be equally so—enough to defeat a fox spirit skilled in illusions and with such overwhelming spiritual strength.

Such exaggerated talent would be peerless even in the Source Site, a genius worth fighting wars over.

“Principal Yuan, it’s time to end this.”

The masked man summoned more vines to overwhelm her defenses.

Yuan Dongzhi reinforced her water membrane, but the vines drained it instantly until it shattered.

She was bound completely.

In crisis, she activated her aberrant beast genes further.

Dragon scales burst from her body, slicing the vines apart.

But more vines came, binding her again.

This was the masked man’s domain. In the forest, without water, Yuan Dongzhi was pressed hard.

Buzz... buzz... buzz!

Countless thorned vines shot toward her, covering the sky.

“Principal Yuan, enjoy playing with vines.”

Leaving these words, the masked man vanished, leaping swiftly between the trees toward Lin Zichen.

Yuan Dongzhi panicked.

Lin Zichen could not fall into the Divine Plant Cult’s hands.

Neither Shanhai University nor humanity could withstand such a loss.

Desperate, Yuan Dongzhi sacrificed some of her blood to feed her aberrant beast genes.

Her veins bulged, eyes bloodshot, dragon horns doubling in size as her spiritual strength surged terrifyingly.

She summoned seawater from nearly a kilometer away, dragging in a monstrous tidal wave.

She would drown the forest and turn the battlefield into her ocean domain!

Boom—a terrifying wave swept the forest.

Everything but the tallest trees was devoured.

The forest became part of the ocean.

In the sea, Yuan Dongzhi’s power soared.

She summoned a massive water dragon that charged toward the masked man, striking him into the depths.

He barely resurfaced, bloodied, furious and cursing at her blood sacrifice.

But he retaliated, sacrificing a little of his own blood, summoning blood-red vines.

He trapped Yuan Dongzhi again, binding her too tightly to break free.

With her delayed, he fled toward Lin Zichen.

Yuan Dongzhi struggled desperately, but the vines cracked too slowly.

She could only watch him vanish.

* * *

Elsewhere, Lin Zichen held a fox tail.

Without hesitation, he thought; Devour!

Two messages appeared in the void.

[You have devoured a trace of the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit’s life origin]

[Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit Compendium: 10%]

He was stunned. That fox-eared girl had been a Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit?

But she had only one tail, her power ordinary, relying on illusions.

Not like the divine beings of legend.

Perhaps in this world, the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit was a species, tails irrelevant.

He didn’t dwell on it and went to check on Shen Qinghan, who still looked dazed.

“Hanh...”

Holding her hand, he called softly.

Her eyes refocused, tired but clear, “Xiao Chen...”

She whispered, “What... happened to me?”

“You were caught in an illusion.”

She recalled it fuzzily, describing bizarre sights—flying fish, swimming birds and flowers running wild.

Then she spotted fox fur and panicked, “Where’s the fox-eared girl? Did you drive her off?”

“Yes, I drove her off.”

In truth, he didn’t know if she was dead or escaped.

He steadied himself and went to wake the others. Soon, Lu Tianrong rushed over, shocked she had been defeated.

Lin Zichen explained she had exhausted her spirit, making her easy prey.

Lu Tianrong analyzed further, convinced she had been Advanced Tier One in spirit but drained.

In truth, Lin Zichen’s Advanced Mind had exhausted her illusions until he finished her.

Suddenly, tremors and fleeing beasts revealed a monstrous wave.

“Everyone up the trees!” he shouted, carrying Shen Qinghan to safety.

They survived the tsunami by clinging to giant trees.

The system declared:

[You survived a tsunami]

[Achievement: Survive 100 extreme environments or disasters]

[Reward: Biological Attribute—Adaptation Instinct]

[Total survival count: 2/100]

Lin Zichen was stunned. The achievement appeared again after a year.

The others feared the wave, but Lu Tianrong guessed it was Principal Yuan’s doing.

Li Moyu explained she wielded dragon genes, capable of such feats.

Meanwhile, Lin Zichen’s Danger Perception suddenly flared violently.

He saw the masked man racing toward him, his clover-marked mask clear.