Chapter 316: Behind the Scenes

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Boom!”

The vines that shot out from the ground seemed to have a mind of their own as they continued to extend into the distance. Wherever they passed, they cleared out all obstacles in their way. Rubble flew and trees fell.

Zhu Song felt a strong sense of danger from the vines. “Not good,” he thought to himself. He jumped up and retreated.

With this jump, his position was immediately exposed to Yuan Chengwei. A huge number of vines automatically adjusted their direction and surrounded him from all directions.

“I’ve got you!”

As soon as Zhu Song landed, he threw out a row of poisonous darts to try and stop the vines that were surrounding him. An excited voice sounded in his ears.

He instantly felt a chill run down his spine, so he jumped up again and continued to retreat.

“Boom!”

The darts and the vines collided violently.

The sound of explosions continuously rang out in the air.

The green poisonous fog and the green life force mixed together, emitting sizzling sounds. At the same time, a large amount of smoke spread out, affecting Yuan Chengwei’s line of sight to a certain extent.

“What exactly is the foreign object in Yuan Chengwei’s body?”

The sound of vines piercing through the air filled his ears. Zhu Song kept flying back to dodge the attacks, unable to calm down.

After a short exchange, he could tell that there was something amiss with his opponent.

However, his poison internal force was definitely inferior to the opponent’s powerful vitality, let alone the vines that filled the sky. Zhu Song was completely on the losing end.

Furthermore, after failing to launch a spiritual attack the first time, it would be very difficult to deal any substantial damage to the other party.

Now, he was the one who needed to take cover and escape.

Just as Yuan Chengwei and Zhu Song were chasing after each other, a voice transmission sounded in Zhu Song’s ear.

“Take the small sword in your hand and stab it straight at Yuan Chengwei.”

The voice transmission came too suddenly, and Zhu Song was so frightened that he almost lost his rhythm. After recognizing Chen Yiming’s voice, he looked down and saw a small silver sword moving by his side.

The small silver sword was formed by the spiritual figure, and its surface emitted a terrifying sharp aura.

Zhu Song’s confidence increased greatly, and he took the small silver sword into his hand without hesitation. After he landed again, he suddenly exerted strength in his legs and changed directions, charging towards Yuan Chengwei.

“You’re courting death!”

Seeing that his attacker could not escape and was trying to fight back, Yuan Chengwei cursed angrily and continued, “Are you trying to kill me because I’m a young genius? You didn’t expect that you wouldn’t be a match for me, did you?

Resistance is futile. Isn’t it better to kneel and beg for mercy? I can consider giving you a quick death.”

Zhu Song remained silent and stared intently at Yuan Chengwei. Then, with a flick of his left wrist, another row of darts shot out.

“Boom!”

The darts collided with the vines and exploded, and the smoke spread out again.

Zhu Song seized the opportunity to quickly approach Yuan Chengwei. When he was less than five meters away, he no longer considered the vines that were coming at him. He raised his hand and stabbed the small silver sword at his opponent.

Yuan Chengwei’s expression changed drastically.

His intuition warned him that the small silver sword was extremely dangerous, but it was too late to dodge.

He could only communicate with the mysterious seed in his body. A dragon-shaped creature formed by his life force emerged from his body and opened its mouth to swallow the small silver sword.

At this moment, the dragon-shaped creature’s mouth emitted a powerful suction force. This suction force was not only targeting physical objects, but also internal force. Zhu Song felt that his control over his internal force had suddenly decreased.

If not for the fact that it was Chen Yiming who had sent the voice transmission, even if it was the martial master of Sam Nation, Rover, it would have been suppressed. Facing the suction force from the dragon-shaped creature’s mouth, Zhu Song dodged quickly.

When the two sides collided, the small silver sword stabbed straight into the dragon-shaped creature’s mouth.

“Swish! Swish! Swish!”

“Impossible!”

Yuan Chengwei’s eyes widened.

He watched helplessly as the dragon-shaped creature turned into pieces. Then, he seemed unable to react, and continued to watch in a daze. The protective armor given to him by the mysterious seed had shattered at the slightest touch, and the small silver sword had pierced through his chest.

“Boom!”

Countless wisps of Sword Aura erupted from Yuan Chengwei’s body. Most of the cells in his chest were injured by the Sword Aura.

This was Chen Yiming’s plan. He controlled the power of the Sword Aura and let Yuan Chengwei live, but he would suffer injuries that would be difficult to recover from.

Zhu Song pulled out the small silver sword, and Yuan Chengwei could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood. He felt that he had lost all his strength and was about to fall to the ground.

“Run!”

A thought came from the mysterious seed. The green light of life force in Yuan Chengwei’s body shone brightly, and his strength returned.

At this moment, while the surrounding vines continued to attack Zhu Song, Yuan Chengwei held the bloody hole in his chest and escaped without any hesitation.

Zhu Song raised the small silver sword and swung it at the vines that filled the sky. All the vines were instantly cut apart, and the life force on them quickly dissipated.

He wanted to chase after him, but a voice transmission made him stop in his tracks.

…

Yuan Chengwei vomited blood as he fled. Behind him he left numerous footprints and patches of blood that fell from time to time.

With an endless supply of life force, even if the cells in his body had turned into balloons with holes in them, his physical condition seemed to be no different from usual, and his movements were not affected at all.

“What’s going on? Didn’t you say that no one can cause any threat to my life?” Yuan Chengwei communicated with the mysterious seed in his body through his mind. The wound in his chest stretched as he moved, and it hurt so much that he gritted his teeth.

Mysterious Seed: It’s because of the small silver sword.

Yuan Chengwei’s face darkened when he heard this.

After picking up the mysterious seed, things had progressed smoothly for him. He had stood out from his classmates, defeated the teachers of the martial arts academy, and even the martial arts experts from the military.

He had never been in such a sorry state as he was tonight. It could be said that once the silver sword was used, even the mysterious seed in his body would be unable to help him.

Yuan Chengwei: What should we do now?

Mysterious Seed: The attacker has yet to catch up. It’s very likely that using the small silver sword consumed a lot of energy.

When Yuan Chengwei heard this, he heaved a sigh of relief. He subconsciously slowed down his pace to reduce the pain from his wound.

Mysterious Seed: The strange energy left behind in your wound is very troublesome. You have to quickly replenish my energy. Otherwise, you might bleed to death.

Yuan Chengwei had just heaved a sigh of relief when he felt suffocated again.

In reality, he had felt that something was amiss all this while. The strong life force provided by the mysterious seed filled his cells with vitality.

Logically speaking, even if he was seriously injured, he could speed up his recovery by increasing the speed at which his cells divided.

However, the wound on his chest had not healed yet, and he still had to hold it close with his hand.

Mysterious Seed: Not only is there a wound on your chest, but all the cells in your chest have a problem. Once you lose the endless life force provided by me, your cells will soon die in large numbers.

When Yuan Chengwei heard this, he could not help but spit out a large mouthful of blood.

In his heart, he hated the person who had ambushed him with the small silver sword. He wanted to tear his flesh and blood apart and use the cruelest torture tools to take revenge.

He could not help but suspect that the attacker had not planned to kill him, but to cripple him.

Mysterious Seed: This kind of injury is just a little troublesome, but it’s not impossible to resolve. As long as you give me more energy, I can use the seed cells to replace your damaged cells.

Yuan Chengwei’s expression finally improved. Even if a portion of his body was occupied by the mysterious seed, it was better than dying suddenly.

At the same time, he decided to go back and find out who wanted him dead.

…

In the conference room of the Jiangnan city government, Chen Yiming sat calmly. His consciousness was connected to the spiritual figure, and he was monitoring Yuan Chengwei from afar.

Zhu Song explained the abnormalities he had discovered that night. Of course, he glossed over the part involving the silver sword.

Wang Ronghui, who was overlooking all the matters in Jiangnan province, had a bitter expression on his face as he listened. He smoked one cigarette after another.

“This can only prove that Yuan Chengwei’s martial arts talent is not as shocking as it appears to be. He relied on external factors to take advantage of the situation.”

Wang Ronghui was silent for a moment before saying this.

Zhu Song couldn’t help but remind him, “When I launched a spiritual attack on Yuan Chengwei, he was clearly affected. However, the vines on his body continued to attack me.

In the subsequent battles, the vines also displayed their autonomy. They did not need anyone to control them.”

On the way back to Jiangnan City, Zhu Song understood why Chen Yiming had arranged for him to test Yuan Chengwei.

The wood-based internal force, the foreign object, vines that had a mind of their own. When these clues were connected, they pointed to the treants who had not made any movements at all.

As for why no one had suspected anything previously, it should be because they had been blinded by his reputation as the super rookie, the next hope, the young hero. Subconsciously, they would not have suspected Yuan Chengwei.

Wang Ronghui thought about it again. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was amiss. All the clues combined undoubtedly pointed to evidence that the treants had used another secret tactic.

At the thought of this, cold sweat broke out on his forehead and a chill ran down his spine.

Once Yuan Chengwei really entered the decision-making level, all the arrangements of the humans would be exposed. The treants would also be able to grasp their weakness, and how they were using nuclear explosions to hide their lack of strength.

This way, the treants could even leave the radiation zone of the strange mountain village without any worries. They would immediately launch an all-out attack on the encirclement.

As Chen Yiming communicated with the figure in his mind, he glanced at the flustered Wang Ronghui.

There was another more important reason why he had arranged for Zhu Song to test Yuan Chengwei. That was to verify if the treants could directly contact the chess pieces left on the blue planet from the otherworld.

It was similar to his relationship with the spiritual figure.

This was very important. It involved his next series of actions.

Wang Ronghui wiped the sweat off his forehead and said with a complicated expression, “We’re in big trouble. I wonder if there’s anyone else related to the treants other than Yuan Chengwei.”

Zhu Song had a serious expression on his face as he nodded and said, “There’s definitely a need to target Yuan Chengwei and find out if there’s any more such cases.”

Wang Ronghui understood his intention and imagined that the reason Chen Yiming didn’t personally kill Yuan Chengwei was to get Zhu Song to test the waters.

Chen Yiming was the strongest trump card in Jiangnan province. Although Yuan Chengwei was a super rookie, it was difficult for him to come into contact with high-level secrets in a short period of time.

Therefore, as long as the treants didn’t know any details about Chen Yiming, the humans would have a higher chance of winning at the critical moment.

Before he left, Chen Yiming wrote down Yuan Chengwei’s current location and handed it to Wang Ronghui.

Wang Ronghui put it away solemnly and immediately headed to the military command center to prepare for the plan to ambush Yuan Chengwei.

…

In the Chen family house,

Chen Yiming had just entered the house when he saw Father Chen reading the newspaper excitedly.

From his sister’s bedroom, the laughter of the mother and daughter rang out. Mother Chen was helping Chen Yingying apply the miracle blood to ensure that a few spots that she could not reach were also perfectly covered.

Father Chen happily invited his son to sit on the sofa. He flattened the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table. He pointed at a large photo on the cover.

“Yingying’s performance is really beyond my expectations. Look at her. Compared to the students of the Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy, she actually has the upper hand. She fought against three of them in a row, and in the end, she was defeated because her stamina ran out.”

Chen Yiming glanced at the name of the newspaper, East Lake Daily. No wonder they were lying through their teeth.

He knew Chen Yingying’s true level. She might be able to win one round, but if her physical condition deteriorated in the second round, she would have almost no chance.

The two martial arts academies had a tacit understanding to create a fake competition. They could only trick the students and the people who did not know the truth.

Hearing the door open, Mother Chen and Chen Yingying quickly came out of the bedroom.

Chen Yingying jogged over and said excitedly, “Brother, did you see the news or newspapers? How was my performance today?”

Chen Yiming took in his sister’s expression and realized that Chen Yingying really hadn’t realized that her three opponents were secretly going easy on her. He couldn’t help but feel worried about his sister’s intelligence.

If that was the case, he could not be blamed for spouting nonsense and trying to claim some of the credit.

He coughed and said, “Do you know how good the miracle blood I got for you is now? If the competition was brought forward by a day, you might only have won at most one match.”

“Yes, yes!”

Chen Yingying nodded vigorously and took the initiative to pour Chen Yiming a glass of water.

Chen Yiming took it and finished it in one gulp. He thought to himself that he had improved his image in front of his sister.

Father Chen, who was at the side, instructed, “Yingying, you can’t be proud just because you managed to defeat three people in one go this time. Your brother has prepared the miracle blood for you. This is something that can change your martial arts talent, so you should work harder and aim higher.”

“Then I’ll go back to my room and continue drawing the concept diagram.” Chen Yingying nodded.

With that, she stood up and walked towards her bedroom.

…

At 12 am,

the spiritual figure floated between the mountains like a ghost.

A few kilometers away, Yuan Chengwei walked ashore from the sea with a tired expression.

The sea was not peaceful tonight. A massacre had lasted for more than an hour, and peace had yet to return.

Yuan Chengwei looked around. After confirming that no one was following him, he sat cross-legged on the beach.

Not long after, the life force in his body gradually became stronger, especially in his chest. Towards the end, his entire body was bathed in a liquid-like life force.

周遭数百米的黑暗,被绿光照得通亮,一些潜伏在黑暗中的异兽,受到惊吓拔腿就跑.

At this moment, sprouts grew out of the wound in Yuan Chengwei’s chest one after another, gradually covering his entire upper body. Then, clusters of cells that had been completely damaged were expelled from the wound and fell to the ground.

Immediately after, a green light shone brightly from his chest, and something seemed to be growing inside.

Yuan Chengwei’s expression began to turn ferocious as he let out a wail. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his flesh as he endured the immense pain.

After more than 10 minutes, the cell replacement ended. The discomfort from before suddenly disappeared completely.

Yuan Chengwei stood up and touched the spot where the hole was. The skin on it was very tight, and there were no injuries at all.

He revealed a ferocious smile. “Although I don’t know your identity yet, just you wait! I, Yuan Chengwei, will return it tenfold or even a hundredfold.”

After making the oath, Yuan Chengwei began to sense the changes in his body. Through the seed cells in his body, the abilities he had obtained previously could now be used freely, and he no longer felt like he was being cut apart.

He had officially changed from controlling a machine to making it his own ability.