The predicament of the Transpatial Vine doesn’t only stem from the threats underground or the possible means of Feng Jun; it also has to face Yi Jue directly.

Like Elder Tiegu, Yi Jue’s confinement lasted only for a moment.

However, as soon as the confinement was lifted, she instantly dodged Tiegu’s attack while continuing to unleash Thought of Dao, "Life Force!"

The consumption from unleashing Thought of Dao is quite astonishing, primarily because her cultivation level is low, and her understanding of Thought of Dao hasn’t reached an introductory level—in short, her work is somewhat crude.

Truly, one’s level determines one’s perception; had her cultivation level been slightly higher, the consumption wouldn’t be as significant. Those capable of skillfully wielding "Word Commands Law" worry only about karma, not so much about consumption.

Yi Jue’s ability to unleash the Thought of Dao "Life Force" can be done only twice, but the consumption of spiritual energy isn’t significant; it mostly expends her vital essence and divine sense, especially divine sense—Thought of Dao is also a form of intent, but it exists on different planes, and using it across levels certainly incurs huge consumption.

Strictly speaking, Thought of Dao also involves karma—once unleashed, no one can withstand it; how could it not bear karma?

Regardless of calculation, Yi Jue’s use of the Thought of Dao "Life Force" amounts to at most two full strikes, yet she sends them out consecutively.

Her approach is similar to Tiegu’s—when it comes to judging opportunities in battles between top-tier experts, there isn’t much of a difference. Once a chance is seized, they are surely willing to invest, striving to create an advantageous situation. If they can take down the opponent with one swift move, all the better.

Her decision to act wasn’t blind; just as she chose to use Life Force to tackle the threat of the Transpatial Vine, there’s logic in her choice.

Yi Jue isn’t very clear on the origins of the Transpatial Vine, and she’s heard about the disappearance of Jian Mu, but since Elder Yu Teng knows about the Lingmu Sect due to personal connections, she can’t sell out a friend—such relationships of both ally and adversary are truly challenging to navigate.

So Yi Jue only knows that this thing should be quite formidable. Though it carries the aura of a Nascent Soul High Stage, Tiegu wouldn’t present it because of its cultivation level—it certainly has some outstanding qualities.

In her hurried state, Yi Jue couldn’t sense its unique attributes, but against an unknown opponent, a fight is inevitable. You can’t adjust a system panel beforehand to check its various parameters.

Fortunately, she isn’t a combat cultivator but rather a research-oriented cultivator, so she quickly realized one issue: This creature is so enormous... yet managed to hide in such a small space, even eluding her senses?

Yi Jue is confident in her perception abilities, and by her side there’s an even more extraordinary Feng Jun. With her intelligence, she quickly realized: that this Spirit Plant... while hiding, surely compressed its spiritual energy.

Actually, it’s common knowledge; cultivators with extensive battle experience are well aware—who wouldn’t know how to compress spiritual energy?

However, as a recluse attribute tech researcher, Immortal Yi Jue possesses keen understanding of the various properties of spirit plants. For spirit plants with intense compression and sudden explosive growth, there’s a possibility of sustaining hidden scars during the burst.

It’s like the term "suddenly injuring others", which appears thrilling, but it’s extremely difficult for ordinary people to achieve such a level of explosiveness. The term "sudden" speaks volumes, as those who can live up to it are at least extremists.

Yi Jue is proficient in the way of spirit plants, and she’s quite knowledgeable about the habits of various spiritual plants, so she naturally deduces regardless of the opponent’s origins, if it dares to ambush in this way, it certainly takes some toll on itself.

Therefore, upon seeing the Transpatial Vine burst in growth, she directly added a "Life Force" Thought of Dao—Oh, you want to expand? Let me give you a hand.

Is this being reckless? Not really, she’s merely taking a gamble: You compressed your spiritual energy so fiercely just now, now you want to release it. Does this extraordinary spirit plant truly act as it pleases, disregarding cultivation methods?

She believes this spirit plant is bound to have hidden scars. Though her Life Force can indeed aid in its healing, the damage it suffers will be greatly intensified in a short period.

She truly hadn’t guessed wrong; the Transpatial Vine had initially anticipated some minor short-term damage.

Yet the damage is certainly very light; let alone harming the foundations, it can’t even be considered as minor injuries. After the battle, a mere three to five days of rest can restore it, and even if the battle drags on for seven or eight days, it can probably self-heal during this period, so it didn’t concern itself much with the damage.

However, when Yi Jue’s first strike of Life Force descended, its injuries drastically worsened. It was like a sealed vessel filled with water, already strained under rising temperatures, yet Yi Jue added fuel to the fire.

Despite this, the damage still isn’t severe; its life force expanded, but it can barely control itself. The main harm resulted from rapid growth, causing some cracks in its vines, much like Earth realm plants whose fruits crack from too rapid growth.

If given a period, this life force could instead aid in its self-repair.

However, when Yi Jue’s second strike of Thought of Dao Life Force descended, the damage significantly increased, akin to the old saying of being too weak to withstand supplements, it felt so full of life force that even operating became challenging, feeling as if its body was about to explode.

If Yi Jue could unleash a third strike of Life Force, it might indeed ignite into an explosive burst!

Right at the moment its spiritual energy spiraled out of control, the Jade Spore Skyworm blinked over, spitting out a stream of white mist!

This time, the white mist wasn’t very thick, but the particles were noticeably larger. As an excellent assassin, the Sky Worm already noticed that the opponent’s spiritual energy was temporarily out of control. Of course, it would choose the right moment to launch a fatal attack.

The Transpatial Vine had no time to react and was hit by the spores.

Its surface was thick and tough, making it impossible for the spores to invade successfully in the short term. However, due to the explosive vitality, the swelling branches had some cracks, where there were relatively tender new tissues.

Seven or eight spores hit the cracks and directly took root, causing the Transpatial Vine to cry out in pain.

Indeed, even the tree cried out in pain. It was unimaginable how much agony it was in.

However, that wasn’t the end of it. Seizing the opportunity, the Jade Spore Skyworm used its mycelium to entangle its roots.

This time, it could no longer endure, desperately trying to teleport, but in its current swollen state, it was not mentally prepared for this—actually, even if it was prepared, it wouldn’t matter, as it now had hardly any ability to control its spiritual energy effectively.

Elder Tiegu immediately reacted, realizing why Yi Jue released a second Thought of Dao—she was trying to burst the Transpatial Vine!

The Transpatial Vine was not something that could be easily burst! He was quite certain of this, but being besieged like this, the situation would be unfavorable for him in the short term. Thus, he mentally instructed the Dragon Scale Tree, "Attack that ugly worm!"

The Dragon Scale Tree, seeing the pitiful state of the Transpatial Vine, couldn’t help but be shocked... Wasn’t this too cruel? It scared the tree to death!

It knew that Elder Tiegu’s command was correct, that it should bravely charge forward at this moment. However, "knowing" is one thing; courage is another. Its roots felt a bit weak, unable to initiate a blink.

The intelligence of trees is generally not very high, mostly reacting on instinct. It was at the Nascent Soul High Stage, with no issues in cognition, even stronger than most ordinary people. Yet, facing such a "cruel" situation, it was really difficult to fully suppress its instincts.

So its blink hesitated for just a moment.

The Jade Spore Skyworm, being an excellent hunter adept at seizing every battle opportunity, noticed the hesitation of the Dragon Scale Tree and immediately divided a doppelgänger, blinking towards the Dragon Scale Tree.

Seeing this, everyone couldn’t help but whisper, "It actually has a doppelgänger, how many can it divide?"

No one knew if the Jade Spore Skyworm Yi Jue brought was the true body—as Nascent Soul stage tree demons having doppelgängers are quite normal, although generally, the true body is somewhat superior to the doppelgänger.

Seeing this, the Dragon Scale Tree finally completed its blink, evading the opponent’s attack.

Now, it no longer considered supporting the Transpatial Vine. As long as it could successfully hold off the opponent’s doppelgänger, it would be of significant contribution—who knows if this is the true body, as who could guarantee that?

Elder Tiegu, seeing this, angrily cursed mentally, "Bastard, that’s just an illusion!"

He wasn’t so easily deceived. At the moment the Jade Spore Skyworm appeared, he sensibly perceived whether it was the true body or a doppelgänger.

Honestly speaking, he didn’t think Yi Jue had the ability to borrow the true body of the Jade Spore Skyworm. This kind of strategic resource specifically targeting the Lingmu Sect is not something to be casually loaned out.

Of course, Yi Jue being a promising seedling of the Spirit Plant Path might genuinely possess such influence, and Tiegu dared not to be too obstinate, which is why he carefully observed and even calculated, but the heavenly secrets of the Jade Spore Skyworm were obscured, and he couldn’t predict it.

However, the moment its doppelgänger appeared, he realized: it was just an illusion!

He couldn’t directly see through the illusion with his vision, but he could deduce a logic: if the Jade Spore Skyworm came as the true body and had a doppelgänger, it would have used it already. The true body and doppelgänger could quickly finish the battle against the Dragon Scale Tree.

Since it wasn’t used earlier, this must be the doppelgänger of the Sky Worm, and there can’t be another doppelgänger, thus the newly appeared shadow should be an illusion without combat strength.

What he thought was entirely correct; the Jade Spore Skyworm sent out that illusion to intimidate the Dragon Scale Tree, making it hesitant to act rashly in the short term, allowing it time to hunt the Transpatial Vine—the finest hunter in the spirit plant realm, it excelled in such strategies.

However, the Dragon Scale Tree didn’t fully trust Tiegu. Even if there was a contract between them, it had to argue a bit, "I think managing to restrain it can be considered a success; with Transpatial Vine’s great reputation, it should hold out a bit longer. I want to observe further."

Combat has never been solely about fighting; it clearly believed that Transpatial Vine is a resource of the Lingmu Sect, while it and Elder Tiegu were united, sacrificing public resources to hold off the opponent while coordinating the final attack, which was perfectly reasonable. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

As for camaraderie among tree demons...what was that?