Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

On the surface of the lake.

A broken Black Soul Fruit floated up into the air.

Although the black-scaled python swallowed part of the spiritual fruit, the remaining part still contained a great deal of spiritual energy.

That's enough for Qingfeng.

Chu Zhou said, "Swallow it and try to break through to the fourth rank."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire Black Dragon Mountain fell silent.

Even Little Jinbao, who was boasting about his glorious achievements, shut his mouth, because all the demon kings knew that Qingfeng was about to break through.

As one of the earliest followers of Chu Zhou, Qing Feng's accumulated experience was in no way inferior to, and perhaps even stronger than, that of Black Tiger King.

However, breakthroughs in plant-based systems are much slower than those in flesh-and-blood life forms, and now the opportunity has finally arrived.

The Black Soul Fruit fell and instantly merged into the main vine.

The next moment, the vines surrounding the entire Black Dragon Mountain trembled simultaneously, and countless emerald green rays of light spread wildly along the vine network.

One kilometer, three kilometers, ten kilometers, twenty kilometers.

Qingfeng's aura began to rise.

Third-tier peak, third-tier limit, half-step into fourth-tier.

Seeing this, Little Jinbao excitedly flew around in the air, shouting, "He's breaking through! Green Wood is about to break through!"

However, the next second, something unexpected happened.

A strange and chilling aura suddenly erupted from Qingfeng's body.

Black lines began to appear on the originally emerald green vines, and those lines spread rapidly as if they were alive.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of vines covered the area, and Qingfeng let out a painful growl: "Master, I feel so bad."

Chu Zhou's heart sank. He was all too familiar with this scene: the aura of pollution, just like the polluted aura of the strange rocks in the underground ancient city.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of Heilong Lake.

In the direction of the underground ancient city, the pitch-black strange rock suddenly began to shake violently.

A chilling laugh echoed through the sealed space: "Hahaha, Lotus Demon, your retribution has come. I knew you couldn't win forever; the stronger you become..."

"The more seals it comes into contact with, the deeper the contamination will become. This vine demon is just the beginning..."

The strange rock burst into maniacal laughter.

Chu Zhou's eyes turned completely cold. So that's how it is. The Black Soul Fruit Tree has been rooted in the stone tablet for many years and has been tainted with a trace of the sealing aura.

Ordinary beasts might not be able to detect it, but Qingfeng broke through to the fourth rank, and his spiritual level soared, which completely activated that pollution.

At this moment, the area surrounding Heilong Mountain has begun to spiral out of control.

Black vines shot into the sky, instantly binding dozens of low-level beasts, who let out terrified screams.

Little Jinbao was so scared that his feathers stood on end: "Holy crap, Green Wood has gone mad."

Shan Kui roared and took a step forward, trying to tear off the vines, but was stopped by Chu Zhou.

"Don't touch it!"

Shan Kui stopped abruptly, because Qing Feng's original consciousness was still within those vines. If he forcibly destroyed them, Qing Feng would likely perish completely.

Just then, Qingfeng's voice came again, much weaker than before.

"Master, I can't control myself anymore, kill me."

Qingfeng was being eroded by that power, and its first thought was to sacrifice itself so as not to implicate Black Dragon Mountain.

In the center of the lake.

Chu Zhou would never allow it to be harmed. He unfolded five lotus leaves, and a sky full of blue light illuminated the night sky. He said calmly, "With me here, you will not die."

The Azure Lotus Domain unfolded in full force, instantly transforming a hundred-kilometer restricted area into a blue world.

System notifications kept ringing out.

"Warning! High-level contamination detected!"

"Purification requires 100000 Evolution Points."

"Should we purify it?"

Chu Zhou didn't hesitate at all: "Purify."

The 100,000 evolution points vanished instantly, and the azure light transformed into a torrent that surged directly into Qingfeng's body, causing the black patterns to begin to dissolve frantically.

Seeing this, the strange stone was dumbfounded. It roared angrily, "Damn it, damn it, Qinglian! You can save me once, but I don't believe you can save me a second time!"

"The seal will eventually collapse, and then..."

Chu Zhou ignored him and turned his attention back to Qing Feng. The black patterns shattered completely, and Qing Feng's aura finally stabilized.

The next moment, countless vines simultaneously burst into a bluish light, and the entire plant network of Heilong Mountain suddenly expanded.

"Ding! Qingfeng has successfully broken through."

"A fourth-tier demon king has been born."

"Awakening Talent, Ten Thousand Vine Forest Prison".

As soon as the system notification sounded, the entire Black Dragon Mountain seemed to come alive.

Countless vines sprouted from the depths of the mountains and forests, their roots penetrating the ground, and their branches and leaves stretching wildly.

The plant network that originally covered only the outer perimeter of Heilong Mountain has become much larger and more sensitive at this moment.

A mountain breeze blows, and the vines sway.

Chu Zhou could clearly sense that Qing Feng's consciousness was spreading along these vines.

After reaching the fourth tier, Qingfeng is no longer just a simple demonic vine; it is more like the core of the Black Dragon Mountain plant network.

Within the Heilong Mountain area, it can immediately sense any vibration of any plant or tree.

This was undoubtedly a huge boost for Heilongshan, but Chu Zhou did not relax because of it.

Although the pollution from earlier has been purified by the system, the aftershocks of the breakthrough have still spread outwards.

Edge of Heilong Mountain.

Some ordinary plants that were already nourished by spiritual energy were stimulated by the surge of wood-type spiritual energy when Qingfeng broke through.

They began to grow wildly, and on the hillside, patches of weeds grew to half a person's height.

The tree roots broke through the soil and wriggled on the ground like pythons.

The vines climbed up the rock face and covered a large area of ​​forest in a short time.

What's more troublesome is that some of these plants had been contaminated by the residual pollution from the Black Soul Fruit.

Although extremely weak, it still briefly went out of control under the burst of spiritual energy.

Several low-level beasts that had just submitted to Black Dragon Mountain were entangled by the vines and struggled frantically in fear.

Little Jinbao, flying in mid-air, cried out anxiously, "Master, there's chaos outside too!"

Chu Zhou remained calm: "Qingfeng."

Qingfeng responded weakly, "Master, it was your subordinate who lost control."

Its voice was filled with remorse.

Chu Zhou said, "It's not your fault. It's normal that you can't control all your power after just breaking through to the fourth level."

"Now you've gathered up the plant network; the vines within the Black Dragon Mountain area are now under your control again."

"As for those out-of-control spiritual plants outside the border, they do not belong to Black Dragon Mountain, so let humans deal with them themselves."

Qingfeng immediately replied, "Yes."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qingfeng began to empty the area, and the countless vines inside Black Dragon Mountain began to shrink back.

The vines that had bound the low-level beasts were withdrawn, but outside the restricted area, large swaths of out-of-control spiritual plants continued to grow wildly.

Chu Zhou did not make a move because those places were no longer within the core area of ​​Black Dragon Mountain.

He will not proactively help humans clean up troubles, just as he will not allow the Black Dragon Mountain's retinue to cross the border and cause trouble.

That's his rule.

"Pass on the order."

Chu Zhou's voice echoed in Black Dragon Mountain.

"No beast belonging to Black Dragon Mountain may cross the border without authorization. Anyone who disobeys will be killed."

As soon as he finished speaking, countless strange beasts on Black Dragon Mountain simultaneously prostrated themselves on the ground.

"Yes, sir!"

at the same time.

Thirty kilometers outside Heilong Mountain.

Along a mountain road leading to Linjiang City, the once quiet forest suddenly became chaotic.

Large vines burst out from the roadside, cutting the road in half.

Several transport trucks were forced to stop.

The driver's face turned deathly pale as he stared at the writhing vines ahead, which looked like living creatures.

"What is this?"

Before he could react, a roar suddenly came from deep in the forest, and several mutated wild boars rushed out of the woods.

Their eyes were bloodshot, and their bodies were wrapped in broken black vines, as if they had been provoked by something.

"A strange beast!"

"Run!"

Several ordinary people were so frightened that they scrambled backward, and one of the armored wild boars crashed directly into the transport vehicle.

The front of the car instantly caved in, and the driver turned pale with fright, desperately trying to crawl under the car.

Just as the wild boar was about to charge again, a gunshot suddenly rang out in the distance.

The bullets hit the armored boar, only sending up a few sparks; ordinary firearms simply couldn't penetrate its defenses.

Soon, the Ninth Bureau's perimeter patrol team arrived.

However, their numbers were small, and they could only barely hold off the several frenzied beasts for the time being.

Similar chaos is not limited to this place.

Out-of-control spiritual plants and low-level exotic beasts have rioted on many mountain roads around Heilong Mountain.

The Lingnan Branch of the Ninth Bureau quickly received a request for assistance.

Linjiang City Branch.

Su Wan looked at the constantly popping alarms with a serious expression.

"Spiritual plants have rioted in several areas around Black Dragon Mountain, causing three roads to be blocked and some ordinary people to be trapped."

Lu Cang frowned and said, "The Azure Lotus Forbidden Zone has made a move?"

Su Wan shook her head: "It doesn't seem like it. If the Azure Lotus Forbidden Zone were to really unleash a beast tide, there wouldn't be only these first and second-tier beasts."

"Moreover, according to external observations, the power inside Black Dragon Mountain is actually converging, which is more like the spillover chaos caused by the aftershocks of the breakthrough."

Lu Cang's expression remained grim: "Whether it was intentional or not, trouble has already arrived."

Su Wan nodded: "Captain Lu, our Ninth Bureau branch in Linjiang City is currently short-staffed."

Upon hearing this, Lu Cang remained silent for a moment before saying, "Notify the Lingnan Awakened Academy."

"Send out the first batch of combat squads. This time, treat it as their first real combat experience in the field."