Chapter 380 — The Undying Ginseng

"Mm, both the beast and the beast-tamer," the Gem Cat analyzed. "And that Overlord was probably granted 'special power' by a controller of the Divine Tree Nation—otherwise, with just that contractor's ability, how could it ever have broken through to Overlord-class?"

"An ordinary Abyssal Demon Tree doesn't have blood-sucking habits, but this one clearly loves it—and loves draining human blood at that. I'd wager that's how it broke through to Overlord."

The Gem Cat went on: "Also, it squeezed its own contractor pretty ruthlessly. That beast-tamer's life fluctuation was like a candle about to gutter out..."

Purely through heretical means, using the beast-tamer as a resource for its breakthrough, it surpassed its species limit. The vast majority of high-tier beasts in the Totem Nation mastered such tricks.

Shi Jin fell silent, then said, "Say, if I contracted an Overlord-class beast ahead of time, would I end up as drained as that woman?"

The Gem Cat grinned. "Not that bad. Even without an early contract, you already look pretty drained."

"Tsk." Shi Jin shrugged.

His constitution was surely beyond anyone else's... probably.

Shi Jin went over to Ginseng Baby and handed it a tier-seven energy crystal to speed its recovery.

At that moment, the Gem Cat spoke again: "By the way, what was that move just now... even if that overlord was weak, under normal circumstances it shouldn't have been blown to smithereens outright..."

"It was the Sunflame Flower. Ginseng Baby added the Sunflame Flower's power," Shi Li said.

"Eee!!" Holding the energy crystal, Ginseng Baby nodded!

Atop Ginseng Baby's head were ten ginseng leaves and a ginseng flower.

There was deep learning in all this—they stored the mutation power it had gathered through Mutant skills.

The ten ginseng leaves, for instance, each stored spatial power, an important source of strength for unleashing the Anti-Bug Energy Fruit in battle.

And within the ginseng flower, Ginseng Baby currently stored the legendary solar power drawn from the Sunflame Flower.

"Sunflame Flower???" The Gem Cat was taken aback. "Isn't that Crimson Eye's resource?"

"Meow!!" The sword-spirit charm hanging from Shi Jin's neck swayed. There were two blossoms—giving one to Ginseng Baby was no problem.

So long as Ginseng Baby had more resurrection chances in the future, it could just let Ginseng Baby peck it once.

Ginseng Baby: ...

Shi Li: "My new idea—have Ginseng Baby evolve once more through the Sunflame Flower."

Moonburst was a method of making plants explode by drawing on lunar radiation, and moonlight came from sunlight. If Ginseng Baby could mutate once more through solar resources, perhaps the self-detonation power would be even stronger.

When it exploded, sun and moon would shine together!

A solar explosion had to be stronger than a lunar one, surely?

If only Ginseng Baby could master the sun's nuclear fusion power...

But after all, the Sunflame Flower was a legendary fire-type resource, and Ginseng Baby was wood-type. Such a reverse-attribute mutation was bound to be extremely dangerous, so for now Shi Jin only had Ginseng Baby experience and adapt to it this way.

By now it had more or less adapted. Before, it hadn't been ready, but now Ginseng Baby's resurrection skill had cooled down. Given the chance, perhaps they could let Ginseng Baby try treating the Sunflame Flower as a mutation resource.

If it succeeded, it would be an Undying Sun Ginseng.

Even if it failed, it could still resurrect.

The Time Imprint could be used not only for self-detonation, but also to gamble on mutation!

"Is that reliable?" The Gem Cat's eyelid twitched. Last time you had Ginseng Baby absorb death power, that was unreliable enough, and now you want Ginseng Baby to absorb legendary solar power to evolve???

Aren't you afraid Ginseng Baby will die?

Oh, it can still resurrect, so never mind.

"Eeya." Ginseng Baby wiped its tears. If not to be number one on the team, what wood-type plant would willingly absorb fire power?

Next, Shi Jin and the others searched and searched, and at last the Gem Cat discovered traces of the Azure-Scale Serpent.

The place where they had just fought was in fact the edge of the Azure-Scale Serpent's territory. As Shi Jin and the others infiltrated, they found quite a few Azure-Scale Snakes and realized they had already entered the other side's domain.

The Azure-Scale Snake was a dominator-species creature, while the Azure-Scale Serpent was a low-tier overlord-species creature. They were the tyrants of this forbidden zone of the Lost Realm, sitting at the top of the food chain in clan form and commanding the other weaker species.

"Eee!!!" After returning home, Ginseng Baby was wildly excited. Yes, it was this clan!!!

Yet although Ginseng Baby was excited, the Gem Cat's expression was somewhat troubled. "Are you sure you want to provoke this clan?"

It stood with Shi Jin on one hilltop, gazing toward another, and said, "Though I only sensed it from afar, I can roughly confirm that this clan is on a completely different level from that Underground Demon Tree and that Heavenly Cloud Tiger. There's a very high chance it's a top-tier overlord."

In the Gem Cat's view, a top-tier overlord—even if Shi Jin and the others joined forces to fight it, they would struggle enormously, and in the end it would most likely still have to help.

"A top-tier overlord?" Shi Shuo was stunned. "Are you sure?"

"The aura is strong, at any rate," the Gem Cat said. "The places where overlords live year-round retain their intimidation, reflecting their strength and serving as a warning to enemies."

Shi Yan laughed. "A top-tier overlord is good. Fighting ordinary overlords is boring anyway—better to use a top-tier overlord to test the strength of Eleven and the others. And besides, we still have you."

The Gem Cat: "!@#%#￥@￥"

"I wasn't finished!!!" the Gem Cat said. "And from what I can sense over there, there's probably not just one overlord, but three!!"

The Gem Cat said, "I sensed the auras of three overlords from over there. The other two shouldn't be as strong as the Azure-Scale Serpent, but they're definitely not weak either—no weaker than that Heavenly Cloud Tiger!!"

"Three? These overlords should count themselves lucky not to be fighting over territory—why would they gather together? Playing cards?"

Azure-Scale Mountain.

In the Azure-Scale Serpent's territory, at this moment, apart from the Azure-Scale Serpent, there were indeed two other overlords. One was an Ice-Eyed White Tiger,

the other a Mountain-Bearing Turtle.

The immense Azure-Scale Serpent coiled upon the mountain rocks, gazing down at the two overlords below. "Have the two of you made your decision?"

"It's decided."

"My lifespan's running out anyway. Better to stake everything on one last throw."

The Mountain-Bearing Turtle and the Ice-Eyed White Tiger let out long howls. Duan Heng, these overlords of the Forbidden Zone of the Lost Realm, were constantly courted by the totem nations, whose offers of alliance grew richer by the day; beyond Eighth Grade resources, they even promised humans as blood offerings, as sustenance for growth.

Unaffiliated wild overlords were, by nature, the weaker party compared to the totem nations and the human nations. That they bowed to no power was simply because they had grown used to freedom. But this time was different, out of the ordinary.

This time, the World Tree had permitted the totem nations to enter the World Tournament; the vast majority of them had received invitations. Join the totem nations, and they would gain access to high-grade resources, human blood offerings, and a chance to enter the World War and defy fate itself—for certain wild overlords, no small temptation.