Cave Refuge

He did not know if it was because other plants did not grow in the Banyan Forest, or because the direction of the Flying Swords was a straight line, tragically, there were no other plants along this line; or perhaps it was because Dong Tianyu did not follow the rules, so the other plants that were originally scattered throughout the Banyan Forest were all hidden.

Regardless of the reason, Dong Tianyu did not particularly care. After all, judging by the plants that had appeared in the previous forest, even if there were other special plants growing in this region, their value would not be very high—perhaps it would be a considerable income for most survivors, but for Dong Tianyu, they were of little value.

When Dong Tianyu bypassed the banyan trunks and traversed the Banyan Forest, he indeed saw the boundary line at the edge of the Banyan Forest that looked very similar to the one he had seen when he arrived.

And standing at the edge of the boundary line, the feeling on the other side was still better than this side.

However, the last time he reached the boundary line, various plants similar to rewards had appeared around, but this time, Dong Tianyu reached the boundary line without encountering any other types of plants.

Seeing this, Dong Tianyu came up with two different speculations; either Dong Tianyu had not followed the "rules" in passing through, so although he successfully reached the entrance to the next level, as a punishment for not adhering to the rules, the rewards were naturally not given.

The other speculation was that since entering the Banyan Forest was like entering a maze, losing one's way, it was very likely that the Banyan Forest, like those maze games, had rewards scattered at various positions.

Sometimes, even though it seemed extremely unlucky to reach a dead-end, it was possible to find various treasure chests at those dead ends.

Dong Tianyu's unconventional approach of bulldozing straight through naturally meant that he missed those plants that grew in the Banyan Forest.

Even after realizing this reason, Dong Tianyu did not regret his earlier choice; primarily because he simply wasn't interested in the potentially emerging plants.

When Dong Tianyu entered the third section of the forest, as soon as he stepped into the area, it was as if he had entered into the deep night, although the sun and moon exchanged places.

Detecting this, Dong Tianyu immediately took a few steps back. When Dong Tianyu returned to the other side of the boundary line, the sun was still high in the sky.

Just a step forward and backward, and the banyan branches that Dong Tianyu had initially cut, along with the roots that touched the ground, incredibly restored themselves instantly; the Banyan Forest returned to the lush state that Dong Tianyu had first seen.

Facing this strange situation, Dong Tianyu was not particularly concerned. After all, during the flood season, even a boat could form a Mysterious Realm; these kinds of restorations no longer shocked Dong Tianyu.

After confirming the scene transformation, Dong Tianyu re-entered the third section of the forest. Although day and night were reversed here, the forest was not the kind of pitch-blackness where one couldn't see one's hand in front of their face.

Apart from the moonlight shining through gaps in the tree leaves onto the ground, some plants growing on the ground were also faintly emitting some light.

Seeing the plants emitting faint light, Dong Tianyu became curious and wanted to go over to research them.

However, as Dong Tianyu was about to approach the glowing plant, he stopped moving forward.

Perhaps sensing Dong Tianyu's hesitance, the plant, which was previously only emitting a faint light, suddenly began to flicker, everyone seeing this situation would generally be curious enough to go over and closely examine the cause; whereas survivors who are used to horror movies and know the clichés, would immediately distance themselves from this ill-fated spot.

Zachary seemed to have been terrified, neither advancing nor retreating, but standing in place, motionless and unresponsive.

Even as the frequency of flickering light emitted by the plant intensified, Zachary still remained motionless.

Perhaps because the glowing part of the plant, resembling fruit, flickered excessively, it soon fell from the original plant.

The small orb that fell from the plant seemed elastic; it bounced a couple of times after hitting the ground and eventually dimmed and extinguished.

Despite witnessing the entire process until the glowing fruit on the ground extinguished entirely, Zachary remained petrified, motionless on the ground.

And as time passed, the living aura emanating from Zachary's body gradually weakened until it disappeared completely.

If one didn't use their naked eye and relied solely on perception, Zachary would be indistinguishable from a stone on the ground.

Concealing Breath Skill, a spell Zachary had always practiced and never forgotten, was initially used to hide his Cultivation Level, not letting others know his real power.

After gaining a deeper understanding of Martial Artists, Zachary used Survival Points in the Cave to slightly modify his Cultivation Technique, which emulated the aura of a Low Rank Martial Artist when operated.

But this wasn't the fundamental use of the Concealing Breath Skill. At Perfection Realm, the skill perfectly concealed all emitted auras, making the user seem like a lifeless thing like a stone to others' perceptions.

As Zachary's living aura faded, the extinguished glowing fruit on the ground gradually returned to its original position, and even its dim light relit.

As the plant slowly returned to its original form, the plants surrounding Zachary's feet also gradually receded.

Zachary had stopped moving because, unknowingly, some mushroom-like things had suddenly grown around him.

These things were like landmines hidden underground, with mushroom caps suddenly appearing on the surface, almost identical in color to the soil.

Zachary stopped because, apart from where he was standing, mushrooms covered all the other surrounding areas. Had it not been for his constant vigilance and use of Divine Sense to monitor every inch around him, he could have easily overlooked these newly emerged entities.

Although he did not know the consequences of stepping on these things underfoot, since they were laid by an enemy directly in his path, stepping on them certainly wouldn't yield anything good. So, even though Zachary wasn't afraid, he didn't want to take that risk lightly.

With his experience from previous challenges, Zachary decided to verify whether the plants in this area had developed Spiritual Wisdom. If they had, his used Concealing Breath Skill would be ineffective, but if they still acted purely on instinct, the outcome would be as currently observed.

Now that he confirmed these plants hadn't developed Spiritual Wisdom, it was time to test their actual means of attack.

Just as Zachary prepared to test, he suddenly noticed mushrooms growing on his Spiritual Power Shield. Although small, they were indeed attached to the shield, absorbing the Spiritual Power contained within as nutrients, and were slowly increasing in size.

Realizing this, Zachary was startled. Mushrooms growing on a Spiritual Power Shield was no trivial matter, and he was still unclear of their source.