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Chapter 680: Chapter 686: Sudden Change
For the situation at hand, the Ginseng Devil and the others were already prepared, immediately using their Divine Powers to flee from this place.
"No good, don’t let them escape!" 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
A cultivator exclaimed loudly, hastily making a move to try and stop them.
But the Ginseng Devil and Ganoderma Devil sank into the ground like water, disappearing in an instant; the Mist Cloud Branch Devil turned into a wisp of white mist, merging into the vast Yun Hai.
The remaining three Great Devils scattered in all directions with the laurel and blooming peach blossoms dancing in the air, riding the winds; the Grass Devil vanished with a flash of green light, blending into grass numerous as stars.
As for how they would gather later? They each had a way, holding a Ginseng Devil’s Spirit Seed in their hands which would guide them all.
"Chase them quickly!"
Despite no longer seeing any trace of them, no one was willing to give up just like that, the cultivators with tracking Secret Techniques started to move, calling their friends to join the pursuit.
The rest thickened their skins and followed; with treasures at stake, it wasn’t a time to worry about appearances.
"Eh? Why are there so many cultivators flying in my direction?"
Sitting on the deck, Li Zhirui, who was steering the Spirit Boat, suddenly noticed the commotion in the distance, immediately standing up to look with a measure of caution in his heart.
"Fellow Daoist, have you seen any trace of a Fourth-order Great Devil?" A person from the group of cultivators stepped forward and asked.
Li Zhirui’s heart stirred upon hearing this, "What is fellow Daoists pursuing? Why not tell me about it, see if I can offer some help?"
"There’s no need, you must have important matters to attend to, you better hurry on your way," they clearly didn’t wish to share the prize with anyone else.
Li Zhirui didn’t insist, he immediately set off to leave.
"Something’s not right, my tracking disk clearly showed that Great Devil was nearby, why can’t I find it after getting here?" the cultivator at the forefront mumbled with a frown.
Someone speculated, "Could it be that this person got there first and took down that Great Devil?"
"Look! The tracking disk is moving! It’s pointing in the direction that person left!"
"Chase quickly! Don’t let him escape!"
On the Spirit Boat, Li Zhirui pondered the target of that group of cultivators when suddenly he sensed a crisis. Casting his Divine Sense backward, he saw the group approaching fiercely.
"Could they be thinking that I took down that Great Devil?"
Seeing their excited demeanor, he feared they wouldn’t listen to his explanations... With that in mind, Li Zhirui didn’t hesitate; he directly stowed the Spirit Boat and slipped into space.
That was more than a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators; no matter how confident he was in his own strength, he didn’t dare to say he could safely escape from their hands.
Better to avoid them directly rather than ending up in an ignoble situation later.
"Where did he go?! How did he just vanish into thin air?"
This scene left everyone astonished, unwilling to give up, they released their Divine Sense to probe their surroundings, attempting to find Li Zhirui’s trail.
"Could your tracking device possibly find the whereabouts of that cultivator?"
But they didn’t need to wait for that cultivator’s reply, as everyone saw the pointer spinning chaotically, unable to determine the direction.
At this scene, everyone was out of luck and out of options!
"What bad luck, to think a cultivator would cut in halfway! If we encounter him again, we’ll definitely make him cough up the goods!"
’It was a waste of an Original Spirit Seed, but at least I finally shook off those cultivators! Time to go and rendezvous with the elder brother and the others.’
While the cultivators were annoyed, a blade of grass just beneath where Li Zhirui originally stood suddenly flashed an indiscernible green light, and then withered away silently.
——
In a secluded cave, after endless hardships and various degrees of injury, six Great Devils appeared, their faces not showing the slightest bit of sadness, but filled with excitement and joy instead.
Because they had finally escaped from their cage, they had gained their freedom, and had even resumed the paths that had once been severed!
However, their happiness lasted only a brief moment before it turned into panic.
Because they suddenly realized they couldn’t control their bodies anymore!
"Why can’t I move?!"
"Me too, I can’t even control the mana inside my body."
Four voices rose in quick succession, and at this moment, the pale-faced Ginseng Devil stood up and laughed loudly, "Finally! Success!"
"Big brother, what are you doing?"
By then, they had sensed something was wrong, feeling the danger, and struggled to break free of their restraints using their mana.
"There’s no use struggling; I’ve long since filled your bodies with my roots, and soon, you will completely merge with me! Thus, the six of us brothers and sisters can always be together."
By the end, the Ginseng Devil’s expression had become very twisted and terrifying.
"Big brother! Why would you do this?" the youngest Devil, a Peach Blossom Devil, who had always been well protected by the others, asked through tear-filled eyes, in disbelief.
Except for the Ganoderma Devil, the remaining three Great Devils all wore expressions of shock and utter despair.
The Devils had desperately escaped the humans’ capture and pursuit, only to have their fates controlled by the Big Brother they had always respected most—and to be devoured by him!
"Why?"
The Ginseng Devil said as if it were obvious, "Of course it’s for longevity, for Tribulation Transcendence Ascension! If I devour the five of you, I will be able to break through to the mid or even late Fifth-order in a very short time, restoring my Original Spirit Seed and extending my lifespan."
Plant-type Devils have one huge advantage – they have no so-called bloodline restrictions; once they develop Spiritual Intelligence and become part of the Devil Race, their rank can improve as their cultivation breakthroughs occur.
And this, perhaps, compensates for the difficulty that plant creatures face in developing Spiritual Intelligence.
"Big brother, have you been scheming this for many years?" asked the Devil whose original form was a Laurel Spirit Plant, as if something had suddenly dawned on it.
"Isn’t this why I always said you were the smartest?"
The Ginseng Devil said with a sigh of appreciation, "Yes! I had been planning this long before you developed your Spiritual Intelligence."
"So, our ability to develop Spiritual Intelligence was actually intentional on your part?"
"Yes, when I broke through to the Third-order, the Secret Realm first opened up. I learned about the situation from a dying cultivator and realized very clearly that, even if I broke through to Fourth-order perfection, there was no way I could escape. So, I began to cultivate many Spirit Seeds, but in the end, only you developed Spiritual Intelligence."
Originally, the plan was to use them as cannon fodder, attracting firepower for it and securing a chance to escape, but later, it refined the plan to what it had become now.
"We have lived together for over a thousand years! Through such a long period, and even having shared life-and-death moments, did not one of those times make you feel any affection for us?"
The Laurel Devil asked with a forlorn tone, "You want to breakthrough to the Fifth-order; you want to undergo Tribulation Transcendence Ascension. Wouldn’t we have helped you? Why did you have to do this?"
How could there not have been feelings? But in the face of such tremendous benefits, what did these affections amount to?
Besides, it had harbored other intentions towards them from very early on, which consistently reminded it to not get too emotionally involved!
