Underwater, Lin Zichen’s veins swelled as his vitality roared.

With Blessing of Water Fusion, he swam faster than a sailfish.

Nearly a hundred meters per second.

Even so, the vines closed the gap.

One ordinary‑tier.

One Rare‑Tier.

The gulf in rank was too great.

One trait alone couldn’t bridge it.

Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh!

The vines caught up.

They didn’t bind at once.

Some shot ahead to block his path.

When his space was sealed from all six directions, they struck together, winding like pythons.

He tried to dodge but had nowhere to go.

There were too many, no room to work.

He was bound in an instant, unable to move.

He was yanked upward toward the masked man’s hand.

As he rose, Lin Zichen focused and used some spirit on Lord of the Forest, trying to command the vines.

He could sense them, but not move them.

His spiritual strength lagged too far behind the masked man’s to seize control.

Fortunately, he had Advanced Mind to amplify his spirit.

With Advanced Mind, he poured out power and finally wrested a sliver of control.

At the moment he would break the surface, the bindings loosened a little.

He slipped free layer by layer, dove again and sprinted away from the surface.

* * *

On the surface, the masked man was stunned.

He had him, then the vines loosened on their own?

‘What was that?’

He had no time to think.

He cast even more vines.

In a blink they bound Lin Zichen again.

Just as they hauled him up, the bindings mysteriously slackened and Lin Zichen shot away like an arrow, opening a hundred meters in an eye‑blink.

‘What? Again?’

He frowned, baffled by the scene.

Thinking back, he noticed a detail.

When the vines loosened, he’d felt a faint spiritual ripple from the water.

‘Could Lin Zichen be controlling the vines with spirit?’

The thought flashed.

He dismissed it.

Lin Zichen’s spirit was strong among his peers, but compared with a Rare‑Tier, it was ants versus an elephant.

Even Yuan Dongzhi, also Rare‑Tier, couldn’t wrest control of his vines without a Wood Spirit gene.

Mere telekinesis would never beat him for control.

He struck again.

As before, the vines bound Lin Zichen tight.

To prevent another mysterious slip, he wrapped him into a sealed chrysalis, the coils braided tight with no gaps.

Just as the chrysalis reached the surface, a powerful spiritual wave pulsed from within.

In the next second, it unraveled into loose strands.

Freed, Lin Zichen launched like a bolt and opened another hundred meters.

The masked man froze, eyes wide.

‘It wasn’t an illusion… Lin Zichen really could command the vines with spirit. But how?! How was he doing this?!’

He was beyond shocked, as if dreaming.

This wasn’t merely comparable to aberrants.

It was far beyond them.

Even the most gifted aberrants he’d seen would pale beside Lin Zichen, unworthy of comparison.

‘There’s a secret! This Lin Zichen must hide a great secret! Taking him to the Main Sect would shake the whole cult and earn me immense merit! Maybe with that, I’d earn core support and have hope of breaking into Epic‑Tier!’

Breathing hard, eyes fever‑bright, he dove in personally to seize Lin Zichen.

Seeing the masked man abandon the vines and jump in himself, Lin Zichen knew he couldn’t keep baiting him.

It was time to break free for real.

Otherwise, once caught, there’d be no turning the board.

‘It’s time. I hope Qinghan and the others are far enough…’

He triggered Natural Camouflage, hiding his presence completely.

He aimed his body toward a giant tree ahead and using its cover, vanished from the masked man’s sight.

The masked man chased and reached the trunk in under two seconds.

But behind the tree there was no trace of Lin Zichen.

Only thick, half‑submerged trunks remained.

‘Where did he go? In just two seconds, where could he have swum? How had he vanished?’

He flooded the area with spiritual perception, covering a kilometer around, seeking the vanished Lin Zichen.

He guessed the boy was hiding behind some giant tree.

With spirit spread wide, he’d find him and drag him back to the cult.

But when his perception covered the whole area, there was no trace of Lin Zichen.

‘What?!’

Why couldn’t he sense him?!

He was stunned, unable to understand how Lin Zichen had vanished.

Panic followed.

Lin Zichen was his jackpot; he couldn’t accept a prize flying away at the last second.

‘A person can’t just disappear! He has to be nearby! He must be hiding somewhere!’

He shifted tactics, using spirit to shake the surrounding giant trees violently, trying to dislodge him.

No matter how he shook them, he found nothing.

It seemed Lin Zichen had already left the area.

Not hiding behind or atop any tree as he’d thought.

‘He actually escaped! How could he! If I didn’t need him alive, he’d never have gotten away!’

Seething, he lashed the trees with masses of vines.

In an instant, dozens of giants were ripped up and crashed into the water with thunderous splashes.

He couldn’t accept it.

For a Rare‑Tier to be toyed with by an ordinary‑tier was an unforgivable humiliation.

After venting, he calmed a little.

He burst from the water and perched on an intact treetop.

Scanning all around for any sign of Lin Zichen, he thought it through.

If diving was faster and masked his presence, why hadn’t Lin Zichen used both from the start?

One possibility came to him.

He’d been bait, buying time for the others to escape.

Now that enough time had passed, he’d revealed his true skills and slipped free.

Realizing this, the masked man sprang off, racing back toward where Shen Qinghan and the others had been.

He figured Lin Zichen would regroup with them.

If he chased them now, he might catch Lin Zichen en route.

‘Wait! No! I might be wrong!’

He halted atop a treetop after a few hundred meters.

Another possibility.

Lin Zichen might be heading to rescue Yuan Dongzhi and free that Rare‑Tier power.

He had his reasons for this thought.

First, Lin Zichen had just controlled the vines with spirit.

Second, he’d fled along the path of the incoming wave, which led to where Yuan Dongzhi was bound.

‘Would Lin Zichen return to his team? Or go free Yuan Dongzhi?’

He thought for a moment and decided the latter was more likely.

He turned and raced toward Yuan Dongzhi’s location.

* * *

Elsewhere.

Lin Zichen swam fast along the path of the wave.

He didn’t know if he’d shaken the pursuit.

He only knew he could no longer sense the masked man.

He guessed he was safe.

For the moment, he was safe but he might have special tracking methods and could catch up later.

He had to use this window to find Yuan Dongzhi and free her.

Only if she survived could he and the others survive.

Otherwise, before any military rescue arrived, the masked man would find them one by one and kill or abduct them.

After a little over half a minute, he faintly sensed Yuan Dongzhi’s presence.

He surfaced and looked toward it.

A giant tree cage, over a hundred meters tall, filled his view.

‘Found her!’

He dove again and sprinted for it.

After a dozen seconds, he covered more than a kilometer and slipped inside.

He surfaced and saw the aloof Yuan Dongzhi wrapped in eerie blood‑red vines, hanging helplessly in midair, wretchedly bound.

He focused and gave the vines a single order: Release.

With Lord of the Forest, the blood‑red vines loosened at his command.

His spirit wasn’t strong, so the loosening was limited, merely easing the pressure.

But it was enough.

The instant they slackened, Yuan Dongzhi’s vitality erupted and she tore them off in a single burst.

She didn’t connect the sudden slack with Lin Zichen, assuming she’d finally broken free on her own.

“Principal Yuan!”

Seeing her free, Lin Zichen called out.

She looked over, surprised.

“How are you here, when did you arrive?”

Like the masked man, she couldn’t sense Lin Zichen under Natural Camouflage.

“I was being hunted by the Ninth Elder and escaped here. I happened to find you.”

He didn’t say he’d freed her.

He could reveal his biological level or spiritual strength, but never that he could command vines.

“You actually escaped the Ninth Elder?” Yuan Dongzhi was incredulous.

Before she finished, loud tearing sounds came from outside the cage.

Buzz!

Sensing the noise, she flared her spirit.

Feeling the masked man racing toward them, her face changed.

“The Ninth Elder is coming, we’re leaving!”

She dove, seized Lin Zichen and relying on her superb water affinity, fled with him through the flood.

She knew she couldn’t beat him and that running with Lin Zichen was the right choice.