Gou's Liver Experience in the World of Demons and Demons

The vine, in pain, quickly retracted.

Gu Sheng stared at his palm, his brows furrowed—his newly tempered body had only left a few white marks on the vines.

"Master, something bad has happened!"

The avatar of the spirit finally broke through the magma barrier and arrived, its voice filled with rare panic.

"Hundreds of these demonic plants are rising from the bottom of the lake!"

Gu Sheng probed downwards with his spiritual power and indeed sensed countless blood-red vines surging upwards, frantically devouring the life force in the magma wherever they passed.

"go!"

The spirit embryo, incarnate, grabbed Gu Sheng and tried to float upwards.

"We are limited in our movement within the magma; we are no match for them!"

Gu Sheng remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the vines that were attacking again.

In the viscous magma, his movement speed was indeed much slower than outside, while these demonic plants moved at an astonishing speed.

"etc."

Gu Sheng dodged while observing.

"I feel like I've seen these vines attacking somewhere before."

In the lava lake, crimson magma flows slowly, reflecting a scarlet hue across the entire lakebed.

Gu Sheng floated in the middle layer of this lake of death, surrounded by dense vines that twisted and swam in the water, emitting a chilling hissing sound.

"Whoosh-"

A dark shadow burst through the water, moving so fast it almost tore the current apart.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gu Sheng caught sight of the vine striking his chest with lightning speed, accompanied by a sonic boom.

"Well done!"

Gu Sheng neither dodged nor evaded. He raised his right hand, and his inner energy condensed in his palm, instantly transforming into a three-foot-long sword of energy.

The sword's edge gleamed coldly as it slashed at the vines.

"Qiang!"

The sound of clashing swords echoed from the bottom of the lake, and the swords clashed with the vines, sending sparks flying.

The seemingly soft vines were unharmed, but the shock made Gu Sheng's wrist go numb.

"So hard?"

Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow, his eyes showing surprise.

"careful!"

The innate spiritual embryo cried out in his sea of ​​consciousness.

You've angered them!

Sure enough, this attack seemed to stir up a hornet's nest.

The countless vines that had been slowly swimming around suddenly erupted and swept towards Gu Sheng from all directions.

They moved incredibly fast in the water, far exceeding the limits of a martial artist at the Earth Martial Realm, and in the blink of an eye, they formed an impenetrable encirclement.

Gu Sheng looked around and saw wriggling vines all around him, a dark mass that made his scalp tingle.

The vines were covered with fine barbs, which gleamed with a metallic sheen under the reflection of the lava.

"This is troublesome."

The voice of the innate spiritual fetus was solemn.

"These vines are as hard as black iron, and there are so many of them, so a direct confrontation is not the way to go."

Unexpectedly, Gu Sheng was not alarmed at all; instead, his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his lips.

"So that's it. It's the Heavenly Demon Vine!"

"Heavenly Demon Vine?"

The innate spiritual embryo asked in confusion.

"what is that?"

While cautiously observing the tightening net of vines surrounding them, Gu Sheng quickly explained in his mind.

“I have seen records of it in ancient books about cave heavens. The Heavenly Demon Vine is an ancient and exotic species. Its seeds are extremely difficult to germinate and can only grow in places where life energy is extremely concentrated.”

His gaze swept over the sparse life energy around him.

"This lava lake should have possessed the immense vitality that the divine phoenix possessed after its fall, but now it is so thin, precisely because it has been absorbed by this Heavenly Demon Vine."

"Now what?"

The innate spiritual embryo said anxiously.

"The vines have already wrapped around us!"

Gu Sheng remained calm.

"Now that we know what it is, it's easier to deal with."

Before he finished speaking, his eyes narrowed, and the spiritual power in his sea of ​​consciousness formed an invisible barrier around him, covering an area of ​​about one zhang.

Something amazing happened.

The vines that had been rushing forward so aggressively suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if they had been frozen in place.

They swayed gently in the current, but moved no further, as if they had suddenly lost their goal.

"This"

The innate spiritual embryo was taken aback.

Why aren't they moving?

Gu Sheng chuckled.

"The Heavenly Demon Vine has no intelligence and acts entirely on instinct."

They hunt for food by sensing life, and the stronger the life force of a target, the more attracted they are.

He pointed to his mental barrier.

“Now I’ve isolated myself from all auras, so in their perception I’m no different from a stone.”

The innate spiritual embryo suddenly realized the truth.

"I see! You know quite a lot, kid."

"Having traveled the world, I've simply gained a lot of experience and knowledge."

Gu Sheng's eyes were filled with reminiscence.

"Actually, I've been looking for a living Heavenly Demon Vine, and I never expected to find one here."

As he spoke, he began to slowly swim towards the depths of the lake. The mental barrier moved with him, like a transparent protective shield; wherever he passed, the vines retreated, as if he were a red-hot iron.

"What are you going to do?"

The innate spiritual embryo sensed his intention and its voice suddenly rose.

"Don't tell me you want to go find the true form of the Heavenly Demon Vine!"

Gu Sheng's lips curled up slightly.

"That's what it means."

"You are crazy!"

The innate spiritual embryo almost jumped up.

"This is the Heavenly Demon Vine! What do the ancient texts say about it?"

Ancient texts say that the Heavenly Demon Vine has strong vitality and extremely high growth potential.

Gu Sheng answered as he descended, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"If it can be subdued and nurtured, its effects will be no less than those of divine weapons."

The lava lake was hundreds of feet deep. The middle layer where Gu Sheng was located was already thinning out in terms of life energy. The deeper he went, the fainter the life force in the water became. Clearly, all the energy had been absorbed by the Heavenly Demon Vine at the bottom of the lake.

As the depth increases, the water pressure and temperature also increase.

In such an environment, an ordinary martial artist would probably have been crushed into a meat patty or roasted into cooked meat long ago. But Gu Sheng's body was surrounded by internal energy, isolating him from the harsh external environment.

"They've descended another hundred feet."

The innate spiritual embryo suddenly tensed up.

"Gu Sheng, my spiritual sense detects at least a thousand vines around us! That's a terrifying number!"

Gu Sheng's expression remained unchanged.

"It's alright, as long as we don't reveal our presence, they won't attack."

"What if?"

The innate spiritual embryo was relentless.

"If your mental barrier falters, or if the Demon Vine itself becomes intelligent, these vines could instantly grind you into mincemeat!"

Gu Sheng stopped what he was doing and said seriously.

"The path of cultivation is inherently a struggle against fate. How can one give up such an opportunity out of fear of risk?"

Gu Sheng held his breath, his body enveloped in a light blue mental energy barrier, keeping the scorching magma out.

His gaze pierced through the churning crimson lava, clearly revealing the writhing Heavenly Demon Vines.

"The power of each vine's attack is no less than the full-force strike of a peak Earth Martial Realm martial artist."

Gu Sheng silently recited in his heart.

"With thousands of vines strangling at the same time, even a powerful expert at the sect level would have to retreat."

The flow of lava carried a string of bubbles that brushed against his cheek.

Gu Sheng could sense the ferocious aura emanating from those vines. They seemed to be hostile to any life form and ready to tear intruders to shreds at any moment.

"But I know your weaknesses."

Gu Sheng smiled slightly and continued diving towards the bottom of the lake.

His mental barrier perfectly isolated his aura, preventing the keenly perceptive Heavenly Demon Vines from detecting his presence. Above the lake, on the edge of the lava lake.

Zhang Tianxing stood with his hands behind his back, his crimson robe fluttering in the heat.

He squinted at the gradually calming lava lake and turned to Xu Hansong beside him.

"That kid is either dead or escaped with serious injuries."

Xu Hansong sneered and lightly waved his folding fan.

"A mere junior at the Earth Martial Realm dares to play tricks on us. Send down the order to search the entire Spirit Flame Mountain Secret Realm!"

The dozens of Heavenly Martial Realm experts behind the two immediately dispersed, scanning every corner of the secret realm.

The Spirit Flame Mountain Secret Realm wasn't very large to begin with, and in just half a day, these powerful individuals had completed a thorough search.

"Reporting to you two, we have not found any trace of Gu Sheng!"

A martial artist at the Heavenly Martial Realm knelt on one knee to report.

Zhang Tianxing and Xu Hansong exchanged a glance, then turned their gazes to the still churning lava lake.

"Could it be."

Xu Hansong frowned.

"Is that kid still in the lake?"

Zhang Tianxing's eyes flashed with ruthlessness.

"Someone! Find a few body-cultivating experts and prepare to go down to the lake to investigate!"

Meanwhile, Gu Sheng had already reached the deepest part of the lava lake.

The temperature here is incredibly high; even the mental barrier has begun to tremble slightly.

To his surprise, there were no thousands of vines here, only a dozen or so huge, intertwined roots, each ten feet thick, quietly coiled like a sleeping dragon.

"Is this the root of the Heavenly Demon Vine?"

The voice of the innate spiritual fetus echoed in Gu Sheng's mind, filled with childlike curiosity.

Gu Sheng responded in his heart.

"No, this is only the part that absorbs life force, not the real core."

"So how do we subdue it?"

The spirit fetus continued to ask, its voice tinged with tension.

A glint of light flashed in Gu Sheng's eyes.

"I need your help. Manipulate your avatar, simulate the aura of the Divine Phoenix, and then get as far away from here as possible."

"The aura of a divine phoenix? That's the aura of an ancient divine beast!"

The spirit fetus exclaimed in surprise.

"However, I can certainly try to simulate it."

"very good."

Gu Sheng nodded.

"Remember, once you start, go upstream immediately and don't look back."

The spirit fetus was silent for a moment, then spoke solemnly.

"I understand."

A hundred feet away, a blurry figure suddenly appeared.

It was a spiritual embryo incarnation that bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Gu Sheng, and it began to exude an ancient and noble aura—the very pressure of the ancient divine phoenix!

In an instant, the entire lava lake boiled!

Countless vines rushed toward the spirit embryo incarnation at an astonishing speed.

The vines were covered in strange runes, and each strike was enough to tear mountains apart.

With astonishing speed, the spirit embryo nimbly darted through the gaps between the vines and quickly swam upwards.

The dozen or so huge roots at the bottom of the lake also began to wriggle and slowly unfold.

Gu Sheng seized the opportunity and continued to dive down.

His feet finally touched the hard lakebed.

"It's now!"

Gu Sheng thought to himself, "This is a low murmur."

As the massive rootstocks moved, their original central location gradually became visible.

There, a snow-white, lumpy object, radiating a lustrous sheen, gently undulated in the magma, as if breathing with life.

"This is the core of the Heavenly Demon Vine!"

A look of wild joy flashed in Gu Sheng's eyes.

"It is usually heavily protected and impossible to approach. Only when it attacks with all its might will its core be briefly exposed!"

The snow-white ball of dough emitted a faint life force, and its texture appeared exceptionally soft, slightly deforming as the magma flowed.

A transparent ripple appeared between Gu Sheng's brows.

His spiritual power began to split, one part continuing to maintain the protective barrier, isolating his own aura; the other part condensed between his brows, transforming into countless mysterious array patterns.

"Dual Consciousness Sea Secret Technique, activate!"

As Gu Sheng gave his low shout, the array patterns intertwined, gradually forming an ancient talisman full of vicissitudes.

The talisman was covered with obscure and difficult-to-understand patterns, exuding an aura that suppressed all things.

"go with!"

Guided by his spiritual power, the talisman between Gu Sheng's brows slowly surged towards the snow-white ball of flesh.

The moment the talisman condensed at Gu Sheng's fingertip disappeared into the snow-white ball of dough, the entire bottom of the lava lake seemed to be stirred by an invisible giant hand.

The roots of the ten-zhang-thick Heavenly Demon Vine twisted wildly, and spiderweb-like crimson blood patterns appeared on its surface, emitting a teeth-grinding "crunching" sound.

"Oh no, this thing is going to go berserk!"

The innate spiritual fetus screamed in Gu Sheng's sea of ​​consciousness, its little face turning deathly pale.

"Run! If we don't run, we're all going to die here!"

Gu Sheng remained motionless, his eyes gleaming with golden light, and a smile even playing on his lips.

"What's the panic? It's already done."

Before he could finish speaking, the wildly twisting roots suddenly stopped and avoided Gu Sheng's location.

The blood-red patterns on the surface of the rhizome gradually faded, replaced by a pale golden halo.

"This is this"

The innate spiritual fetus stared wide-eyed.

"Shhh."

Gu Sheng held up one finger.

The snow-white dumpling suddenly exploded, and a three-foot-long golden light, like a serpent emerging from its hole, shot straight at Gu Sheng's face.

Gu Sheng neither dodged nor avoided the attack, but instead let out a low shout.

"receive!"

Golden light wrapped around his left arm, transforming into a golden and red vine with a smooth, jade-like surface, showing no sign of ferocity.

The vines affectionately nuzzled Gu Sheng's cheek.

"The main body of the Heavenly Demon Vine?"

The innate spiritual embryo floated out and curiously poked at the vine.

"What about those sprawling, clawing branches?"

Gu Sheng gently stroked the vines and said softly.

"What's in the lava lake are just branches; this is the main body. Without it, those branches will soon wither."

"What a pity about those branches."

The innate spiritual fetus smacked its lips.

"If only I could take them all."

"greedy."

Gu Sheng chuckled.

"With this main body, as long as it has enough vitality, it can grow new branches at any time."

A look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"I never imagined that the remaining life force of the ancient divine phoenix would nourish such a spiritual creature."

The vines seemed to understand him, and swayed happily.

Gu Sheng didn't delay any longer and looked up at the dark red lava above.

"It's time to go up."

He pushed off with both legs and shot upwards like an arrow.

Golden-red vines automatically wrapped around his waist, forming a protective layer. Wherever they passed, the lava parted automatically, as if in fear of something.

The atmosphere by the lava lake was so heavy it seemed to drip water.

"Waste! It's all waste!"

Xu Hansong kicked the disciple in front of him to the ground, his face terribly gloomy.

"It's been three days, and we haven't found a single person!"

Zhang Tianxing stood with his hands behind his back, coldly sweeping his gaze over Xie Qingxuan and Xie He, who were being escorted over.

"Your last chance. Tell us where Gu Sheng is, and I'll spare your lives."

Xie Qingxuan had blood at the corner of her mouth, but she stubbornly held her head high. (End of Chapter)