Cave Refuge

In his field of view, the other party enthusiastically extended their right hand, ready for a handshake.

From the perspective of his Divine Sense, the other party's mouth had already fully opened, aiming at Dong Tianyu's forehead, prepared for an attack.

When both of these scenes appeared in his mind simultaneously, Dong Tianyu didn't need to care which one was an illusion and which one was reality. Regardless of which was true or false, the only thing Dong Tianyu needed to do at this moment was to protect himself and destroy the thing trying to attack him.

Watching the other party's sluggish moves, as if they wanted to gradually get close to Dong Tianyu before launching an attack, Dong Tianyu had already realized that the opponent must be experienced. If the opponent had used that segment protruding from their mouth to swiftly strike Dong Tianyu's forehead, Dong Tianyu's sixth sense should have been alerted.

This kind of crisis warning wasn't a unique ability that came after Dong Tianyu developed his Divine Sense. Any martial artist who had raised their cultivation level to a certain height would generally experience this kind of premonitory palpitation in the face of a fatal crisis.

The more powerful the martial artist, the stronger this crisis response ability was. Conversely, the slow approach of the opponent wouldn't trigger the martial artists' sixth-sense warning.

However, this behavior from the opponent actually provided Dong Tianyu with a great deal of space for a counterattack. When the opponent saw that Dong Tianyu likewise extended his right hand, seemingly wanting to shake hands, the smile in their eyes became even more intense.

But just as the opponent's limb tip spike was about to touch Dong Tianyu's forehead, a flash of cold light suddenly appeared. The limb that had been raised above Dong Tianyu's head was instantly severed in the flash of the cold light.

After the front end of the limb broke off, dark green fluid gushed out from the center and was about to spray onto Dong Tianyu's face when a shield composed of Spirit Power directly blocked the green fluid.

Seeing the Spirit Power Shield formed in front of Dong Tianyu, the opponent immediately understood that Dong Tianyu had successfully escaped from the illusion they had cast. The smile that had occupied their eyes was instantly ignited by rage.

Rewinding thirty seconds earlier, although the opponent had extended that strange limb from their mouth, intending to pierce Dong Tianyu's forehead with the sharp tip, the opponent, just like in the illusionary view, had also extended their right hand, seemingly wanting to shake hands with Dong Tianyu. In reality, they wanted to control Dong Tianyu's hand to prevent him from struggling to escape once the forehead was pierced.

The opponent hadn't expected that while it seemed Dong Tianyu was also extending his hand to shake theirs, before the opponent's arm was fully extended, a longsword suddenly appeared in the palm, and before they could react, drastically swung upward, cutting the limb raised in mid-air with the sharp edge.

This limb, hidden deep within the mouth, appeared to be a very important special organ to him. As the longsword severed that limb, Dong Tianyu, who had his eyes tightly closed, immediately opened them and instantaneously escaped from the opponent's illusion.

When the scenes seen by the Divine Sense and his eyesight fully superimposed, and Dong Tianyu observed through his Divine Sense that he had indeed opened his eyes, he could then confirm that he had truly escaped from the illusion.

Having confirmed that he had successfully escaped from the illusion, Dong Tianyu turned his gaze to the humanoid creature rolling on the ground in pain, unsure of what to call it. To say it was human—its mouth, capable of rivaling a snake's, and the protrusion that extended from it defied definition.

To say it wasn't human—Dong Tianyu had conducted a very detailed scan with his Divine Sense, and apart from the throat area differing from ordinary humans, the rest of the body was completely identical to humans. He also wondered how that limb-like stinger that was protruding from the mouth could be concealed within the throat area.

Looking at the humanoid creature, which had now retracted the limb back into its throat and was rolling on the ground covering its mouth, Dong Tianyu had initially wanted to finish it off. But after a brief thought, he didn't kill it immediately. Instead, he approached, grabbed it, and directly tossed it into the Cave.

Just now, when Dong Tianyu had approached the other party, he had already prepared himself, thinking that they would seize the opportunity to attack him, but unexpectedly, the other showed no concern for whether Dong Tianyu was approaching. Instead, they continued to hold their throat in severe pain, rolling on the ground in agony.

Watching the humanoid creature he had easily cast into the Cave, Dong Tianyu did not hesitate to use his newly acquired special devouring and transforming ability, acquired from Decomposing Tree Heart. The creature's body vanished instantly within the Cave, and then a stream of energy, full of vitality, emerged within the Cave.

However, unlike the previous time following the Decomposing Tree Heart, when that special vitality spread throughout the entire Cave, this time as soon as the vitality appeared, it gathered above a wellspring that had popped up at some unknown time within the Cave. Subsequently, that special vitality condensed into a few drops of pale green liquid, which fell directly into the well.

It was then that Dong Tianyu noticed that the thick special Life Energy that pervaded the air hadn't completely disappeared but had become very sparse. Yet in the newly formed deep well, there was a pale green liquid that was no more than a meter deep.

Although the air around the well's mouth was no different from that in other areas of the Cave, the well itself seemed to be some sort of seal. Apart from the pale green liquid brimming with boundless vitality within the well, the drifting air in the well was also filled with unlimited vitality.

Although he didn't know when this well had appeared in the Cave, Dong Tianyu now had a rough understanding of its specific function.

To be honest, after initially Decomposing Tree Heart, the special energy released into the Cave caused all of its inhabitants—plants and animals alike, livestock and humans—to undergo metamorphic changes.

But this uncontrollability was too strong. Aside from Dong Tianyu and the few Canaries settled in the Cave, who remained unchanged due to their Cultivation Methods, other lifeforms infused with Life Energy, although their Life Rank had leaped, had undergone drastic changes in size.

To be honest, Dong Tianyu wasn't too fond of this change since he might invite other humans or creatures to settle in the Cave in the future.

If the air in the Cave continued to be filled with such rich Life Energy, Dong Tianyu wouldn't be able to stabilize the size of every creature that entered.

So, when Dong Tianyu discovered that the special energy in the air had thinned, he didn't feel discouraged. On the contrary, he was quite pleased.

At this moment, while the Cave's air still contained that special Life Energy, its thinness meant that even if one stayed in this special environment for a long time, it would at most make the body stronger and would not cause their Life Rank to leap as it had initially.

After understanding the changes in the Cave, Dong Tianyu shifted his attention away from the Cave and immediately unfolded his Divine Sense to locate his parents.

Since his home had already been attacked, it was very possible that his parents faced similar dangers outside.

As his Divine Sense's search range expanded, Dong Tianyu found his parents' figures in a nearby park; Mr. Thompson was gathered with others, playing cards, and Mrs. Thompson was at the other end of the park, singing with a group of people.

In actuality, there weren't many people in the park. Those who could afford to entertain themselves at this time likely had at least satisfactory family circumstances, certainly beyond the threshold of basic needs.

After all, whether playing cards or singing, to put it bluntly, if one was still struggling just for basic necessities, they wouldn't participate in such activities that consumed and wasted energy and effort.