Chapter 472 - 471-

As soon as their feet touched the blood-red Heavenly Vine, a sudden change occurred.

The massive body of the Heavenly Vine began to twitch violently. Its thick, crimson surface rippled as though something was struggling intensely beneath its tough outer layer. The movement was strange and unnatural, almost as if countless creatures were trapped beneath its skin and were desperately trying to claw their way out.

Barely a second later, the outer skin of the Heavenly Vine suddenly burst open.

Several enormous mouths emerged from beneath the crimson surface.

Each maw was lined with long, jagged teeth, and they stretched into grotesque, ferocious smiles. Their appearance was so sudden that even the surrounding air seemed to become more sinister.

The instant the mouths emerged, they opened wide and lunged toward Grey and Violet’s legs, attempting to bite into their flesh.

However, both of them had remained cautious from the very beginning. Neither had allowed their guard to drop even for a moment, and as a result, neither fell prey to the countless jaws that suddenly erupted from the Heavenly Vine.

Grey reacted first.

His body moved nimbly through the air as he stepped lightly against empty space, using the force beneath his feet to propel himself upward. Several long, disgusting tongues shot toward him, writhing like living serpents as they attempted to wrap around his legs.

Grey twisted his body in midair, narrowly avoiding them.

One of the pinkish tongues swept past his leg, missing him by only a few inches before slamming against the crimson surface of the Heavenly Vine.

Violet, however, did not react in the same manner.

The instant the mouths attempted to bite her and ensnare her with their long, disgusting tongues, she rapidly formed a series of hand seals. Her expression remained calm as she extended a finger toward the approaching mouths.

Suddenly, black mist began to seep out from her pores.

The mist rapidly gathered above her head, forming a dense black cloud that churned ominously in the air. The cloud seemed to possess a life of its own as waves of corrosive power emanated from it.

A moment later, several black javelins emerged from within the cloud.

The javelins were completely condensed from the strange black substance, their sharp tips carrying a terrifyingly piercing intent. The moment they appeared, they locked onto the countless mouths surrounding Violet.

Then, they shot downward.

Whoosh!

The black javelins tore through the air at incredible speed.

They pierced directly into the disgusting pinkish tongues that were reaching toward Violet, penetrating them with loud, wet squelching sounds.

However, that was not the end.

After piercing through the tongues, the javelins suddenly broke apart and transformed back into the same black substance that had formed the clouds above Violet’s head.

The black substance seeped directly into the open mouths.

Almost immediately, the areas surrounding the mouths began to darken.

A gloomy, deathly color spread across the crimson flesh as the huge maws began to corrode at an astonishing speed. Their flesh withered and rotted, while the sharp teeth inside them cracked and fell apart.

Barely a second later, the several dozen mouths surrounding Violet had completely decayed, collapsing into puddles of rotten blood and flesh.

The black smoke that had formed the javelins slowly rose from the holes left behind by the decayed mouths. It returned to the black clouds hovering above Violet’s head, merging with them as though it had never left.

Everything had happened in less than three breaths.

Despite the terrifying number of mouths that had appeared, Violet had dealt with them almost effortlessly.

Yet Grey’s expression did not relax.

Instead, he looked toward Violet with a slightly solemn gaze.

When she noticed his gaze, Violet spoke slowly.

"We have to be extremely careful from now on."

Her voice was serious.

"The Heavenly Vine wants to devour us and completely awaken. Once it does, our chances of surviving will be less than ten percent."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"In fact, the entire Corroded Zone might undergo a drastic change because of its sudden transformation. It could even attract God’s Blinding Radiance."

There was an unusual weight in Violet’s voice as she spoke.

Grey could hear the urgency and anxiety hidden beneath her calm exterior.

Divinity was something that could never be underestimated.

Even the slightest mistake could cause a situation that was already dangerous to spiral completely out of control. The power of divinity was simply too unpredictable. Once it became involved, things that seemed impossible could suddenly become reality.

The two of them were currently walking along an extremely narrow thread suspended above a bottomless abyss.

One wrong step could cause that thread to snap.

And the abyss beneath them was death.

Hence, Grey could understand Violet’s decisive actions and the way she handled every situation. She wasn’t being overly cautious. She was simply aware of how dangerous their current circumstances were.

However, after Violet destroyed the numerous mouths, even more mouths began appearing to replace them.

One after another, they emerged from the crimson surface of the Heavenly Vine, their grotesque jaws opening and closing as if they were starving beasts.

At the same time, the areas that had been decayed by Violet’s black mist slowly began to recover.

The crimson outer layer gradually regenerated, covering the damaged sections and restoring them to their previous state.

It was obvious that given enough time, the outer skin of the Heavenly Vine would completely heal.

Once that happened, the terrifying mouths would once again become a threat.

Violet clearly understood this as well.

Without wasting any time, she swiftly took to the skies, avoiding direct contact with the outer layer of the Heavenly Vine. The black clouds continued to hover above her head, following her movements like a dark shadow.

"The Heavenly Vine has fourteen sections once it has fully matured," Violet explained.

"These fourteen sections represent different stages of its life cycle. To eradicate it completely, we need to destroy every section and then strike the core that contains its divinity."

Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Violet continued.

"If this were ancient times, accomplishing such a thing would be almost impossible. Only cultivators in the Soul Ascendency Realm and above could attempt it without immediately dying."

Her expression became somewhat complicated.

"However, after God descended, many things changed. Countless lifeforms mutated, and the rules governing many things were altered."

"Because of that, we no longer need to destroy all fourteen sections."

"We only need to destroy ten sections and then strike the divinity core before we can completely eradicate the threat posed by the Heavenly Vine."

Grey listened silently.

Violet continued explaining.

"Fortunately, this Heavenly Vine is still growing and has yet to reach a hundred years of age. The number of life stages it has passed through should be less than seven."

Her eyes became slightly sharper.

"That means we only need to destroy seven sections before the Heavenly Vine is no longer a threat."

She paused.

"If I were attempting this by myself, my chances of succeeding would be extremely low."

"Close to one percent."

There was a trace of uncertainty in her voice, but Grey could tell that she wasn’t exaggerating.

One percent.

That was an almost negligible chance of success.

Grey remained silent for a few moments before finally asking,

"Why?"

Violet glanced at him.

"To thoroughly destroy a section, you need a Dao Sword or a Dao Sword Art with the ability to sever or suppress."

Her gaze briefly fell on the purple sword in Grey’s possession.

"You have mastered a sword art capable of both cutting down and suppressing other lifeforms. For this mission, you are a necessity."

Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly.

From her words, he could somewhat understand Violet’s intentions.

He now also understood why the Captain had said that he was indispensable to the completion of this mission.

Without the effect of the purple sword, completely destroying each section of the Heavenly Vine would prove extremely difficult.

Even if Violet managed to damage a section severely, completely eradicating it would be another matter entirely.

And after destroying one section, the Heavenly Vine would undoubtedly retaliate with even greater ferocity.

The pressure placed upon Violet would increase with every section she destroyed, causing her chances of successfully completing the mission to plummet even further.

Yet, despite all of this, Grey still didn’t believe that Violet had entered this place without preparing a contingency plan.

She was far too cautious for that.

"In case things backfired," Violet suddenly said, "I prepared a body here several months ago."

She glanced toward the vast crimson body beneath them.

"I also prepared several things that could help me when the time came."

A faint trace of annoyance appeared in her voice.

"If we didn’t need to preserve some of them for what’s to come, I would have already eradicated all these annoying mouths that keep popping up like flies."

As she spoke, one of the black javelins condensed within the black clouds above her.

The javelin immediately shot downward.

With a sharp, shrill cry that caused the surrounding air to tremble, the weapon pierced directly through one of the tongues.

The force behind the attack was astonishing.

The javelin continued forward after penetrating the tongue, pinning it firmly against the outer layer of the Heavenly Vine.

The grotesque mouth struggled violently, its long tongue twisting and writhing as corrosive black energy spread through its flesh.

Before long, the tongue and the mouth began to perish.

However, something unexpected happened.

Despite the terrifying corrosive power of Violet’s black clouds, the crimson outer layer of the Heavenly Vine remained completely unscathed.

Not even the slightest mark could be seen on its surface.

It was as though the corrosive power surrounding Violet had almost no effect on the outer layer of the Heavenly Vine at all.

Grey’s gaze became increasingly solemn.

The Heavenly Vine was far more troublesome than he had initially imagined.

And judging from the way its outer layer remained completely unaffected, destroying its sections would likely be far more difficult than Violet had made it sound.