Chapter 116 Formless Water Flow

Chapter 116: Chapter 115: Formless Water Flow

With a slight shift of his will, the water flow vines silently submerged into the accumulated water. Without splashing a single drop, they completely blended into the water body and vanished from sight. However, in Han Ning’s perception, they still existed.

"Let’s try moving," Han Ning thought, shifting his focus.

SPLASH.

The surface of the water beneath his feet rippled slightly. A gentle thrust came from the currents below, pushing his body forward.

"They merge with the surrounding water flow to provide propulsion?" Han Ning’s expression flickered with realization. He lay flat in the water, using his mind to guide the water flow vines to gather and circulate around him. Suddenly, as if equipped with a thruster, Han Ning’s body shot forward several meters with a WHOOSH.

"It’s not just acceleration..." he thought.

He stopped moving and felt the invisible water flow vines. Then, concentrating his mind, he controlled more water flow vines to extend from his body, weaving them like an invisible gauze garment around himself. These vines spun at high speeds, forming a continuously circulating turbulent layer that covered his entire body.

Han Ning whipped out an ordinary green vine, casually scooped up a sunken stone, and hurled it at his own chest from a short distance away.

THUD!

The stone crashed into the high-speed water layer and its speed plummeted. As if sinking into thick glue, its kinetic energy was absorbed before it finally sank to the bottom.

"Interesting," he mused. This high-speed water membrane functioned similarly to the Water Shield of those Elite Black Snake Monsters, effectively cushioning attacks. "What about offense, then?"

Han Ning recalled the high-speed Water Blades fired by the Four-Armed Black Snake Monster. With a thought, several of the water flow vines circling his body separated. He attempted to continuously compress them until their edges gradually turned into high-speed erupting water droplets.

SMACK.

The water flow vines whipped against a concrete pillar.

HISS.

Several dents, inches deep, were carved into the surface of the concrete pillar, sending crushed stone powder mixed with muddy water flying in all directions.

"I’ll go outside and find a few monsters to test it on," he decided.

Gills grew on both sides of Han Ning’s cheeks. Relying on the Fish Gills Technique, he swam out of the commercial district and arrived at a southern area. Before long, he spotted several prowling Crocodile Lizards.

ROAR!

They quickly noticed Han Ning, who was posing as prey. Opening their gaping maws, they immediately lunged at him.

"Perfect timing!" Han Ning thought, feeling joy rather than fear.

He nimbly dodged in the water, the water flow vines propelling him from below, easily avoiding the charge of one Crocodile Lizard. At the same time, the circulating water defense layer around his body rippled slightly, bouncing off the other charging Crocodile Lizards.

"Bind!" Han Ning locked his intent onto one of the Crocodile Lizards.

SWISH!

Several water flow vines shot out, ignoring the water’s resistance, and coiled around the Crocodile Lizard’s thick body. The Crocodile Lizard thrashed wildly, attempting to break free.

The characteristics of the water flow vines were fully displayed in this moment. They were incredibly flexible, deforming along with the Crocodile Lizard’s struggles but always remaining tightly pressed against its scales. This left the creature with nowhere to vent its strength; the more it struggled, the tighter the vines bound it.

"Constrict," he commanded.

The water flow vines wrapped around the Crocodile Lizard forcefully tightened, erupting with terrifying pressure.

CRACK! CRACK!

The sound of shattering bones echoed. Before the Crocodile Lizard could even let out a shriek, it was forcefully wrung into several pieces.

"Water Blade!"

Having finished off one, Han Ning didn’t pause for a moment. The tips of the other water flow vines compressed, transforming into several high-speed, invisible Water Blades that blended into the water, accurately slashing toward the remaining pouncing Crocodile Lizards.

SLICE! SLICE!

Visually, it looked as if blood blossoms had abruptly burst from the bodies of these Crocodile Lizards before they died, an incredibly eerie sight. The battle concluded in a flash.

"The Vine Technique in its water flow form is simply in its element underwater," he thought, feeling every detail of the recent battle.

Accelerated movement, force-deflecting defense, flexible binding, and high-pressure cutting... the water-form vines perfectly made up for his shortcomings in an underwater environment: relatively sluggish movement, limited defensive methods, and attacks easily affected by the currents. There was a distinct difference between the water flow vines and ordinary water. Although they were hard to detect when mixed in, they were genuinely different, yet capable of fusing together. This was incredibly powerful. When attacking, they were unaffected by water resistance, allowing for increased speed. Furthermore, the water flow vines could stir the surrounding currents to enhance the shield’s Defense Power.

However, there were drawbacks. It was, after all, based on the Vine Technique. When casting it, he still had to convert his Spiritual Power into the Vine Technique Skill, and then have the Life Seed alter it into a water flow form. Every attack, defense, and morphological change of the water required a brief moment. Compared to Awakened who could directly manipulate water, he had a few extra transitional steps.

Additionally, being based on the Vine Technique, its attack range was somewhat limited—about fifty meters under normal circumstances. The further away the summoned vines were from him, the more Spiritual Power they consumed, with a maximum summoning distance of ten meters. This meant Han Ning could summon vines out of thin air up to ten meters away from himself.

Still, the flaws did not obscure the merits; these minor drawbacks were acceptable. The effects displayed by the water flow vines surprised him even more than the Frozen trait. Moreover, he vaguely sensed that this was not the full potential of the water flow form. This resonant characteristic with the aquatic environment could be extended to even more applications, such as... sensing water disturbances to expand his Perception Range. Or even guiding the currents to whip up waves.

The next morning.

Han Ning led Xu Ming and Professor Ye, blending into a group of Awakened heading toward Biyun Resort. There were still many things left behind over there. Plus, since Han Ning was no longer gaining much experience from hunting ordinary Black Snake Monsters, he planned to bring his two subordinates along for some training and cultivation, striving to make them stronger than the other Awakened.

The commercial district and the resort were about four to five kilometers apart. They quickly arrived at the outskirts of Biyun Resort. Although it had been less than two or three days since they left, Xu Ming couldn’t help but gasp upon returning and seeing the scene inside.

The once mostly intact walls had largely collapsed, exposing the devastated scene within. Several low-rise buildings had completely caved in, leaving only reinforced concrete wreckage floating on the water. The main building’s walls were covered in bite marks and craters caused by impacts.

"It seems the resort was indeed attacked by a Black Snake Swarm. I wonder if that set of experimental equipment is damaged," Professor Ye said with some concern. He gripped a piece of steel pipe with a sharpened end.

Beside him, Xu Ming carried a crowbar. He had hammered its head flat and sharp, a makeshift modification he did while repairing the boats. The Awakened had already gained some strength, but most still used crude, homemade weapons. There was no helping it; lacking an industrial environment, weapons could only be crafted by hand.

They parted ways with the other Awakened at an intersection leading to Biyun Resort. The latter group headed toward an area with a denser concentration of Black Snakes, aiming to absorb Energy and boost their strength.

The trio slowed their pace, cautiously approaching the resort area, and advanced while hugging the ruined walls. Just as they bypassed a collapsed section of the wall, the water surface suddenly rippled, and a two-meter-long Black Snake Monster darted out from beneath the water.