Chapter 239 - 237

Chapter 239: Chapter 237

Shen Yue’s heart seized with horror. She whipped her head toward Huang Ziyue and cried out:

"Run!"

Huang Ziyue’s expression tightened, and he was just about to speak.

But the flower bud had already bloomed.

Its bizarre, smiling face instantly appeared before their eyes.

The flower’s fragrance crept into Huang Ziyue’s nose before he could stop it.

Instantly, Huang Ziyue’s expression grew slightly vacant...

Shen Yue’s heart leaped. She grabbed Huang Ziyue and started running for the exit.

"Run!"

’I’ll be fine, but Huang Ziyue won’t be able to escape it.’

But just as she was pulling Huang Ziyue toward the stone door, the entire chamber began to shake.

RUMBLE—!

With a tremendous crash, rocks began to rain down from the chamber’s ceiling.

Amidst the swirling dust, the entire chamber trembled violently. It was obviously about to collapse!

Shen Yue’s heart sank.

She watched as their only exit was about to be completely blocked.

In the nick of time, she violently shoved Huang Ziyue out...

"Wait for me outside!"

Flung forcefully outside, what little consciousness Huang Ziyue had left snapped into focus as he saw a massive boulder falling toward Shen Yue.

"Shen Yue."

The next second.

BANG!

A massive boulder slammed down, sealing the stone entrance.

And just like that, Huang Ziyue was completely cut off, safe in a space free from the Devouring God Flower.

Inside the stone chamber, the world was spinning as rubble rained down relentlessly.

She shattered the boulder heading for her with a single palm strike, but the massive impact only made the chamber shake even more violently.

She could only keep dodging the frantically falling rocks, not daring to strike out recklessly again.

Before long, the chamber completely collapsed, and the stone platform where the children had been lying was buried under the rubble.

The chamber was now pitch-black and choked with debris, leaving only a cramped, narrow gap.

Shen Yue switched on her flashlight, its beam landing on the fully bloomed Devouring God Flower...

’How miraculous. The entire chamber collapsed, yet only she and this Devouring God Flower were completely fine.’

Its thick fragrance wafted through the air, unrestrained.

The bizarre, smiling face seemed to be mocking Shen Yue, laughing at her recent predicament.

Shen Yue narrowed her eyes and walked up to the Devouring God Flower.

Now, so close to it, she saw that it was exactly the same as in her dreams.

For years, this flower had appeared in her dreams countless times, becoming a shadow she could never shake.

She would recognize it even if it were turned to ash.

But looking at it face-to-face now, she found it didn’t seem so terrifying after all.

Since there was no way out for now, she simply sat down in front of the Devouring God Flower. She began to study the legendary, human-faced flower, a thing of terror spoken of for a thousand years.

She carefully studied its stem, its petals, and its bizarre, blooming, smiling face.

’She wanted to know how a plant could be so destructive, how it could devour a person’s spiritual power.’

’This ability was actually similar to the Vitality Power within her own body.’

At this thought, she boldly reached out and tentatively touched its stem.

She hadn’t expected that with just a light touch, the flower’s stem would actually glow for a moment.

Thinking she must have seen it wrong, Shen Yue immediately tried again.

This time she saw it clearly—it really did light up!

Moreover, when she pressed her finger against the stem, she felt an unexpected connection form, as if her mind was linked to the flower’s.

She could seemingly perceive what it perceived.

Everything around them, as small as a speck of dust, as light as a gentle breeze...

It was as if, in that instant, she had become it—had become the Devouring God Flower, had become a plant.

Her senses became unusually sharp. Sight, smell, hearing...

...all were infinitely magnified!

Astonished, she was about to investigate what exactly was happening.

But then, thread-like strands of green fluorescence suddenly emerged from the veins of the Devouring God Flower’s stem, flowing through them like tiny stars...

Shen Yue’s eyes widened in amazement.

The next second, those wisps of fluorescent light traveled up Shen Yue’s finger and burrowed into her body...

In that moment, a surge of power coursed through her Eight Extraordinary Meridians and merged with her Vitality Power.

Meanwhile, the Devouring God Flower in front of her, as if its nutrients had been completely drained by Shen Yue, instantly withered, decayed, and turned to ash...

All that remained was a deathly still, jet-black seed lying in the dust...

Shen Yue stared at her hand in shock. Those fluorescent threads were none other than spiritual power.

Dust motes floated silently down in the cramped space. Shen Yue sat frozen in place, the faint, cool touch of the Devouring God Flower’s stem still lingering on her fingertip.

But her heart was pounding like a drum.

The flower that struck fear into the hearts of all who heard its name was now nothing but a pile of grayish-brown ash at her feet. It seemed a single puff of wind would scatter it, as if it had never existed at all.

Only the jet-black seed remained, returned to its original form.

And the feeling of the mental connection from moments ago had not yet completely faded!

Closing her eyes, Shen Yue could almost see the damp vapor in the stone chamber, could see the moss hidden in the crevices of the rocks breathing slowly...

She could even hear the faint sound of water seeping through the rock layers deep below.

It was the perception of the Devouring God Flower, honed over a thousand years of existence—no joy or sorrow, no desire, only the most primal instinct to live for spiritual power.

And it was as if it had been waiting for this very moment of connection with her!

「Outside.」

Amidst the sound of falling sand and stone, Huang Ziyue’s consciousness cleared with remarkable speed, the roar of the chamber’s collapse still ringing in his ears...

Huang Ziyue whipped his head around, his gaze fixed on the darkness sealed by rubble. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

He gathered a sharp spike of spiritual power at his fingertips, only to forcibly stop himself.

’If he tried to force his way through, the teetering rock formation would only collapse completely. And then, Shen Yue, buried beneath it...’

A suppressed growl rumbled in Huang Ziyue’s throat. His eyes swirled with a frantic crimson as he paced back and forth before the pile of rubble, each step landing with enough force to crack the ground.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a slightly protruding stone slab on the wall of the underground passage beside him, completely out of place with the rough rock wall surrounding it.

’A secret door!’

His heart jumped. He strode forward, hooked his fingertips into the crack of the slab, and gave a gentle pull.

With a soft CLICK, the secret door swung open, and a foul stench—a mix of blood and decaying plants—assaulted him.

Huang Ziyue’s gaze darkened, and he slipped inside.

The sight before him made his pupils contract.

Strategists from the Mystic Mechanism Building and elites from the Dragon Guard lay scattered on the ground, their faces deathly pale and their breathing shallow. It was clear that most of their spiritual power had been drained.

And in a corner beside them lay a freshly withered flower—its petals were shriveled and black, its stem was as dry as a twig, and the bizarre, once-terrifying smiling face was now dull and lifeless.

’It was a Devouring God Flower!’

Huang Ziyue froze. His eyes swept over the unconscious people, then returned to the dead Devouring God Flower as a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

’This Devouring God Flower absolutely did not wither naturally.’

’And in the chamber... there was another Devouring God Flower.’

’Shen Yue... she...’

He didn’t dare to think further. He turned to explore deeper into the secret passage, but his steps came to an abrupt halt—at the far end of the passage, a faint green glow was faintly visible.