Chapter 716: You Again?!

Xu Wan faced attacks coming from all directions, only offering a light smile.

Her gaze turned toward Sun Xixi, her lips moving slightly, as if she were saying something.

But unfortunately, Sun Xixi didn't understand lip reading, so she had no idea what Xu Wan was saying.

All she could see was that the expression on this woman's face showed no sign of panic whatsoever.

Facing so many attacks, with quite a few Sequence 4 participants among the attackers, even those Anomalies encountered back at the Oasis probably wouldn't dare to be so overconfident.

But Xu Wan was exactly that... unhurried, unbothered, unflustered!

The first attack to arrive was Number One's blood-and-flesh arrow.

The blood-and-flesh arrow moved faster than a line drawn through the sound of crashing waves; the time between leaving the Scarlet Hunt's bowstring and reaching Xu Wan's brow was but a single instant.

Xu Wan, unhurried, curled a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, extending her index finger to meet the arrow's tip.

Just as the arrow was about to pierce through Xu Wan's fingertip—

Xu Wan's fingertip suddenly split open a layer of skin.

That's right, just like a flower blooming, layer after layer of skin—no, layer after layer of petals unfolding.

A massive, vivid, unknown flower instantly burst into bloom, petal by petal!

Breathtakingly beautiful!

The Scarlet Hunt's blood-and-flesh arrow still maintained its furious speed, the thin black line it traced through the waves still lingering in the air.

Then, in the next instant.

The petals of that vivid unknown flower snapped shut in an instant, and the blood-and-flesh arrow was wrapped within them.

That arrow simply vanished before everyone's eyes.

As if it had never existed at all.

But just then, a wisp of Green Smoke appeared behind Xu Wan—no one knew when, no one knew from where.

That wisp of smoke transformed into a sharp spike, stabbing straight at Xu Wan's back.

What a perfectly timed sneak attack!

Xu Wan's brow furrowed slightly.

That wisp of smoke was indeed too faint; mixed in among everyone's attacks, it simply couldn't draw her attention.

She hadn't expected that right after she neutralized Number One's attack, this wisp of smoke would emerge.

As if it had been waiting for this exact moment all along.

A flower bloomed from Xu Wan's back, directly swallowing the Green Smoke.

Chen Ye, hidden within the Smoke Breath Mist in the distance, watched this scene unfold, his face showing no surprise whatsoever.

If she could be killed that easily, then Xu Wan wouldn't deserve her title as the Third Anomaly of Xi City.

"Hey! Demon!"

A sharp shout rang out.

Wu Zehui's Golden Cudgel whipped through the air at furious speed, literally igniting the air around it. If that strike connected, even a giant boulder would probably be smashed to pieces.

Xu Wan, unhurried, extended that slender little arm—even thinner than the Golden Cudgel itself—and pointed at Wu Zehui's weapon.

Once again, the five fingers on that delicate jade-like hand went berserk with growth, transforming into five thin plant rootstalks.

These rootstalks branched out further, countless plant roots growing like mad.

When the first tiny rootstalk met the air-igniting Golden Cudgel—

The Cudgel's domineering force instantly shattered the small rootstalk into powder, the flames burning it to ash.

But before Wu Zehui could breathe a sigh of relief—

Countless plant rootstalks continued to wrap around the Golden Cudgel.

A single rootstalk might not be able to do anything to Wu Zehui's Golden Cudgel, but countless rootstalks could definitely stop it.

The Cudgel's speed rapidly decreased, and when it was still thirty centimeters from Xu Wan's body, it ground to a halt.

The Golden Cudgel was bound tight as a drum.

Xu Wan lifted her eyes and gave Wu Zehui a gentle smile.

"Your Sequence is quite interesting. I think I have some information about it in my memories!"

"Great Sage Equal to Heaven... that seems to be the name!"

"But you are not him, after all!"

Wu Zehui's heart jolted with alarm, a powerful sense of unease flooding through him.

The Golden Cudgel in his hand instantly shrank several sizes, and he scrambled backward.

The very moment Wu Zehui retreated—

At the spot where he had just been standing, countless plant rootstalks burst through the sand's surface.

If he had been even one second slower, those plant roots would have pierced straight through his entire body.

Xu Wan let out a sigh: "So close, so close..."

In such a tense battle, everyone was gasping for breath under the crushing pressure of combat, yet Xu Wan could still find room to casually toss out commentary.

As if this battle were nothing more than a game to her.

Wu Zehui's face was dark as water. Although that attack had been mostly a probing strike—

Being blocked so effortlessly still planted a seed of dread in his heart.

Right at that moment, Xu Wan's brow furrowed slightly once more.

Another wisp of Green Smoke appeared at the spot where Wu Zehui had just been.

This wisp of smoke transformed directly into the shape of a Human-Faced Scorpion, a crab-tail stinger made of smoke stabbing straight at Xu Wan's brow.

Exactly at that instant Wu Zehui retreated.

Another sneak attack.

There was no denying it—Chen Ye's timing was impeccable.

Unfortunately, the enemy on the other side was simply too powerful.

Earlier, Chen Ye had hidden a portion of his Green Smoke behind Wu Zehui, using the man's rapid movement to carry that wisp of smoke right up to Xu Wan.

Xu Wan let out a cold snort.

A flower bloomed from her brow, directly wrapping around the Human-Faced Scorpion's tail stinger.

This flower seemed intent on devouring the wisp of Green Smoke.

But what happened next made Xu Wan's face darken slightly.

Seeing his attack fail, Chen Ye simply dissolved the Human-Faced Scorpion back into dispersing smoke.

Chen Ye again!

Xu Wan cast a cold glance at that mass of Smoke Breath Mist in the distance.

Although Chen Ye's tricks couldn't kill her, they were still causing her some trouble.

The next to arrive on the battlefield was Xu Linhao.

This Superhuman of the Athlete Sequence—each of his abilities was a different sport.

At this moment, Xu Linhao no longer looked like a sprinter; he looked like a boxer.

His hands formed fists, and a pair of red boxing gloves materialized over his knuckles—whether it was his Supernatural Power manifesting into form or a Wonder, no one could tell.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Linhao took over the fighting position Wu Zehui had vacated.

He led with a jab.

The jab carried a gust of biting wind. Even before the fist got close, the punch's force was already blowing Xu Wan's long hair backward.

"Now this is interesting!"

Xu Wan smiled sweetly, her smile as charming as could be.

She raised her hand to block Xu Linhao's jab.

That very hand that had just blocked Wu Zehui's staff strike had now returned to being a slender, fair, delicate little hand of an ordinary woman.

The punch slammed directly into Xu Wan's palm.

Her hand didn't even tremble, as if the punch carried no power at all, utterly incapable of threatening her.

Xu Linhao didn't panic in the slightest. His jab finished, he immediately followed up with a straight rear-hand punch.

At this moment, Xu Linhao was like a boxing champion standing in the ring.

His arms were his artillery platforms, his fists the shells.

His punches came so fast they left afterimages, impossible to track with the naked eye.

And Xu Linhao's footwork was lightning quick too—every plant rootstalk that burst from the sand was dodged cleanly by his weaving movement.

With Wu Zehui's earlier lesson fresh in mind, Xu Linhao was already on guard against those plant roots.

Xu Wan used just that one hand to block every single one of Xu Linhao's punches.

Like an unbreakable city wall, no matter how the artillery bombarded, it couldn't cause Xu Wan even a scratch.

"That's..."

In the distance, Sun Xixi's brow furrowed. She could clearly see that on the back of the slender hand Xu Wan was using to block Xu Linhao's punches, a small white flower had grown.

Every punch that landed made that small flower tremble continuously, as if it were absorbing and dispersing the force of the impacts.

"ROOOAR~~~"

Iron Lion had arrived by now.

He had already transformed into a giant standing six or seven meters tall.

The Giant looked like a Deity stepping out of a primordial wilderness, two heads gazing down upon Xu Wan, a mere mortal—one head filled with pity, the other twisted with ferocity.

Like the legendary god of both mercy and slaughter.

Four arms clenched into fists, descending like four small meteors falling from the sky.

Xu Wan lifted her gaze slightly, looking up at Giant Iron Lion, a flicker of surprise passing through her eyes.

"You big fool..."

That was all she said. A tiny sprout grew at her feet, growing at breakneck speed—within the brief moment it took for Iron Lion's fists to descend—

The sprout had already grown into a vivid yellow flower.

Several massive leaves extended from its stem.

Xu Wan reached out and plucked one of the leaves.

The moment the leaf was plucked, the yellow flower withered at terrifying speed.

And the plucked leaf swelled rapidly, growing in the span of a heartbeat into a massive leaf-umbrella that shielded Xu Wan completely.

Iron Lion's giant fists collided with the leaf, producing a series of dull "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!" impacts.

The leaf trembled continuously, yet still held firm against Iron Lion's colossal fists.

Just then, Xiong Baochun arrived as well.

This horizontally-built burly man charged like a truck barreling down a highway, slamming straight toward Xu Wan.

The guy was even clutching a massive sledgehammer.

Nobody knew where he'd gotten it from, but just before charging at Xu Wan, he'd been digging around in his pants pocket for a while, and then everyone watched him pull out a Rubik's cube.

That cube transformed in the blink of an eye into this massive, cyberpunk-styled hammer.

This guy used to be famous base-wide for being a human punching bag; nobody had ever really seen him use a weapon before.

This thing was probably issued to him by the Silent Council after he became an official staff member.

Blue flames erupted from the back end of the hammer, further accelerating its momentum.

The hammer descended with a force no weaker than Wu Zehui's earlier strike, slamming straight at Xu Wan.

Xu Wan looked up at Xiong Baochun, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Before the hammer even got close, the wind pressure alone had plastered her clothes tightly against her body.

At this moment, Xu Wan was tied up dealing with Xu Linhao and Iron Lion—she had no free hand to deal with Xiong Baochun's hammer.

A plant rootstalk shot up at breakneck speed, and before anyone could even react, it had already wrapped around Xiong Baochun's hammer.

Xiong Baochun's force was directed forward, while these plant roots' force was directed downward.

Xiong Baochun only felt the hammer's trajectory get seriously thrown off, dragging his entire body off-course along with it.

This powerful man face-planted straight into the sand, plowing a massive crater into the beach.

Right at that moment.

A flash of white light streaked past—the reflection off a blade.

In Xu Wan's eyes, it was a machete—ordinary in design, ordinary in presence, a machete with no intimidating aura whatsoever.

A verdant willow branch trailed from the machete's pommel end.

A sneak attack... again...

Still that One-eyed Guy!

What a treacherous One-eyed Guy!

This blade had been hiding behind Xiong Baochun the entire time.

Waiting for the perfect opportunity.

With unparalleled sharpness, it sliced directly toward Xu Wan's head.

A flash of blade light, and Xu Wan's neck was instantly severed more than halfway through by Hatred.

Sun Xixi, Jiang Rou, and Hou Junji all narrowed their eyes.

They stared fixedly at Xu Wan's condition.

Would this strike finally kill the woman?

Having landed his hit, Chen Ye didn't get overly excited. Instead, he very cautiously dissolved into Green Smoke, ducking behind Xiong Baochun.

Sure enough, even though her neck had been cut more than halfway through, Xu Wan showed no panic.

Green sprouts grew from the wound.

Not a single drop of blood flowed from the injury—neither red blood nor green blood was visible.

"You ugly thing!"

Xu Wan had been wounded for the first time—the first injury since the battle began.

An enraged woman was always exceptionally terrifying.

Countless plant rootstalks surged forth from beneath the sand like a swarm.

These roots grew at speeds comparable to bullets.

Even though Chen Ye was hidden within the Smoke Breath Mist, concealing all traces of his presence—

These plant roots didn't seem to need eyes to see or noses to smell; they could pinpoint Chen Ye's location all on their own.

At this moment, Chen Ye, Xu Wan, and Xiong Baochun were aligned in a straight line.

The plant roots shot toward Chen Ye in a frenzy, seemingly intent on piercing him into a pincushion.

Chen Ye's heart jolted slightly.

This woman's ability...

The simulated Crawlers he had conjured earlier arrived at the battlefield right then.

A flower rapidly grew in front of the Crawlers.

Just as the leading Crawler tried to charge past the flower—

The flower had already grown to the size of a house.

It spread its petals open like a giant mouth, swallowing countless Crawlers along with a mouthful of beach sand in one gulp.

A massive crater instantly appeared in the sand.

More Crawlers charged forward.

More flowers grew.

As for those plant rootstalks—they had locked onto Chen Ye and paid no attention to the simulated Crawlers at all.

Fortunately, Xiong Baochun was in the way.

If those plant roots wanted to kill Chen Ye, they had to get through Xiong Baochun first.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Attacks rained down on Xiong Baochun like a storm.

Luckily, his head and chest were protected by the armor formed from liquid armor, so he wasn't in serious danger.

But the rest of his body wasn't so fortunate.

Thankfully, a Guardian's skin also possessed defensive capabilities that other Superhumans didn't have.

Although these plant roots couldn't pierce through Xiong Baochun—

He was still sent flying by the sheer force of the impacts.

If this guy's defenses weren't so absurdly impressive, those plant roots would have skewered him long ago.

Xiong Baochun spat out a huge mouthful of blood mid-air, looking completely deflated.

But at the same time, he felt a massive wave of relief.

That woman was absolutely terrifying.

The farther away from her, the better.

He was a Guardian Sequence; guarding was what he was good at. Fighting was best left to the others.

As for whether he'd just been used as a human shield by Chen Ye—he couldn't afford to worry about that right now.

Just as Xiong Baochun was thinking this—

He suddenly felt someone grab the collar of his shirt.

Xiong Baochun jolted with alarm and turned his head to see a One-eyed Guy grinning at him.

"Brother, sorry about this!"

That grin from the One-eyed Guy sent chills down Xiong Baochun's spine.

Xiong Baochun roared in fury: "You mother—"

Before he could even finish his curse—

Countless plant rootstalks came surging in fast...

No matter how Chen Ye shifted his position within the Smoke Breath Mist, those plant roots could still find him.

So, in that instant just now, Chen Ye had made a decision.

That Guardian Sequence guy seemed to have insane defensive power!

Chen Ye hid behind Xiong Baochun, gripping this broad-bodied man like a human shield.

Chen Ye was perfectly safe behind Xiong Baochun.

"Thud thud thud..."

"ARGH ARGH ARGH..."

No matter how Xiong Baochun dodged, no matter how he fled—

Chen Ye stayed glued behind him, like a stubborn leech that wouldn't let go.

At this point, Xiong Baochun was Chen Ye's mobile meat shield.

Despite having just coughed up blood from the earlier beating, the guy seemed barely affected at all.

Suddenly, Chen Ye felt the sunlight above being completely blocked out.

A massive shadow fell across the ground.

Even the sand on the beach seemed to be blown into a crater by a powerful gust.

A meteor!

That ability Chen Hao had used before!

Meteor!~~~

This guy was different from everyone else—she went straight to her ultimate move from the very start.

Before Chen Ye and the others could even react—

At this very moment.

The entire beach, as far as the eye could see!

In an instant, flowers bloomed everywhere.

All kinds of flowers.

Red, green, blue, purple, yellow...

Filling the entire beach to the brim.

Not only that—on the sea surface, within the waves, flowers of every variety were growing too.

Those flowers rose and fell with the waves, growing as they went.

It seemed that in a single moment, this place had become a kingdom of flowers.

"BOOM!~~~"

A thunderous roar echoed out!

With tremendous force, it blasted Xu Wan deep into the earth.

Iron Lion and Xu Linhao had already retreated.

The entire beach shook as one.

Even the sea seemed to be churned into a tsunami by the meteor's impact.

Countless flowers were rattled by the colossal meteor.

Countless flowers were shattered.

Countless petals were sent flying.

Those petals enveloped everyone present.

Like a romance so grand it could kill.

"Is... is she dead?"

No one knew who said those words.

Sun Xixi's eyes were locked unblinkingly on Xu Wan's location.

There... a massive black-grey boulder now sat.

Petals filled the entire space.

Sun Xixi's bright eyes were like divine swords: "Perhaps... Phase Two is beginning!"

"Everyone! Get ready to make your moves!"