I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The change happened without any warning.

Marcus Aurelius was squatting beside the carriage, inspecting the wheel hubs. Last night he had heard a slight rattling sound from the wheels as they bounced on the gravel road, and he wanted to tighten them before setting off.

The moment his hand touched the hub, the surroundings suddenly went dark.

Looking up, he saw those huge, emerald-green vines suddenly descending from the sky, their speed so great that he instinctively let go and stepped back.

If this is true for humans, what about horses?

The Northern ponies pulling the cart let out long neighs the instant the vines touched the shafts, their front hooves lifting off the ground, their iron hooves scraping the gravel with a piercing sound.

The reins were taut, and if Marcus Aurelius hadn't tied the horses to the thick stakes beforehand, they would have broken free long ago.

After confirming that the vines were harmless for the time being, Aurelius breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear his daughter's exclamation:

"Father! The flowers are growing too!"

Yes, those flowers are also growing, sprouting taller and taller like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Looking ahead at the vine curtain that suddenly rose and covered the entire sky, Ji Tian had already made a judgment.

"Ophelia, are you able to use your spiritual power or teleportation now?"

The incident happened suddenly, and Ophelia and the others rushed to Ji Tian's side immediately. Upon hearing this, they replied:

"I can draw upon the spiritual energy within my body, but I cannot replenish it from the outside world, nor can I teleport through space; these abilities are all limited."

Lilith nodded repeatedly beside her: "I tried it! The illusion still works, but it feels like there's something blocking it, it's not smooth at all."

"What about divination?"

Ophelia shook her head: "The results of divination and prophecy are completely unpredictable and cannot be interpreted."

Upon hearing this, Ji Tian relaxed.

The current situation is more like an indiscriminate lockdown, which is likely an isolation layer set up to prevent something from spilling out.

In other words, directly destroying the vines with the sacred mountain might actually lead to the spillover of unknown dangers.

"Let's go, into the mountains."

Oleus paused for a moment, then realized what he meant: "Hero, you mean...?"

Ji Tian had already started walking towards the depths of the Flower Sea Mountain Range. "The growth rate of those flowers won't slow down. The vines can block out the entire mountain range. It has already covered the area we are in now. Staying here is no different from being in a more dangerous place."

Elena and Ophelia followed closely behind. Lilith originally wanted to take out her weapon from her spatial ring, but unexpectedly found that the space was sealed and she couldn't open it at all, so she had to give up.

Marcus Aurelius glanced back at his wife and daughter, and finally gestured for them to follow in the middle, while he walked at the back as a guard.

The group walked inward along the mountain path that was being overwhelmed by flowers.

The morning sunlight was completely blocked by the vines, making the light dim and rendering the portable magic lamps unusable. They had no choice but to light torches for illumination.

At first, the flowers only reached up to my ankles, their petals glistening wetly in the fire.

The further they went, the taller the flower stalks became, first knee-high, then waist-high, and by the time they climbed over the first gentle slope, the flowers were already taller than their shoulders.

They stood quietly, unmoving, and continued to grow taller.

Lilith reached out and pushed aside a flower blocking her view. The large, sunflower-like flower head swayed slightly before returning to stillness.

She stared at the flowers for two seconds, then murmured to Elena beside her, "Elena, don't you feel like they're watching us?"

"They're just growing."

"I know, but this 'just' makes me feel uncomfortable."

Ji Tian walked at the front. The blade of the Holy Sword was not drawn, but the golden patterns on the hilt were lighting up at a visible speed, pushing the flower stems within a few steps outward slightly, just enough for one person to pass through.

After walking for another half an hour, the flowers had grown to the height of two people, with stems as thick as an arm and the edges of the petals beginning to glow.

Just then, a low, oppressive wind came down from above, bending the stems of several flower plants that were taller than two people over.

Lilith instinctively looked up and saw a huge golden figure emerge from between the vines, its wings spreading and creating a gust of wind that caused the flowers to bend over in all directions.

The golden dragon traced an arc in the low sky before beginning its descent, its golden scales still gleaming with a warm luster in the dim light.

Its movements were more rapid than any of its previous landings, and its claws plowed several shallow furrows in the mud as it landed.

Ole instinctively shielded his wife and daughter behind him, while Lila clutched her mother's sleeve, her eyes fixed on the giant dragon that had suddenly appeared before them.

The golden dragon ignored them and, after landing, slightly turned its body, revealing the view above its back.

Mia sat at the junction of the dragon's neck and back, her silver-white full-body armor covered in dust and several scratches of varying depths.

Behind her sat another woman, whose robe had a tear in the cuff, dripping with blood. She looked unwell, but her eyes were still relatively clear.

Both sides opened almost simultaneously:

"What are you doing here? Did you do this?"

"Mr. Ji Tian, ​​what are you doing here?"

Mia opened her mouth, seemingly trying to figure out how to explain the situation as quickly as possible.

Jinlong spoke for her: "There is a living door in the center of the mountain range. After it was awakened, it swallowed everyone except us. Come up first. The door will appear, but it seems unable to leave the ground."

Upon hearing this, Ji Tian nodded and persuaded the Aurelius family to overcome their fear and climb onto the dragon's back. Then, he led Elena and the others up to inquire about the specific situation.

……

Ji Tian was speechless after hearing this. He hadn't expected these adventurers to be so resourceful, managing to break the seal on the Goddess of Life.

However... the fact that the seal could be broken itself indicates something.

Ji Tian withdrew his gaze and swept it over Mia and Amy, confirming that they were still in a good condition to continue their actions, before asking:

"How did you open that door? Did you use any special methods?"

"We used the technology of the elves and dwarves, combined with the power of the Alchemist, to feed the array with magic power to continuously infuse energy with a stable wave frequency. After it was opened, it first released these vines, and then began to devour people within its contact range."

Releasing the vines? Ji Tian didn't think so.

Ji Tian looked up at the vine-covered dome above him, then gazed at the flower stems still slowly stretching upwards in front of him, and finally confirmed:

"This vine is part of the seal, designed to prevent anything behind the door from spilling out. You forcibly poured magic into it, breaking the seal. It's already quite good that it didn't attack you."

Amy, a top student who graduated from the Royal Capital Magic Academy, quickly understood the cause and effect.

"Hiss... So that's how it is? I was originally going to use a forbidden spell to destroy the vines, thankfully I didn't."

"A forbidden spell? Didn't you consider having the golden dragon try to break it?"

Mia shook her head helplessly: "Little Flower doesn't want to touch the vines."