Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 589 - 21 Ju Mang

When Si Wenji stepped into the conference room, the spacious hall was already filled with over a hundred people, chatting and laughing with one another. Many were also bowed over their phones, silent and engrossed.

It had been only five minutes since Zhao Jianzhong had created the neutral ground.

Everyone’s seating was concentrated within the first three rows. Clearly, even within the Yan Zhao Club, this group belonged to the echelon of the elite.

It was only to be expected.

After all, this was about attending the Yan Zhao Club, not a fight to the death.

For those skirting the edges of the Yan Zhao Club, it might be a life-threatening challenge, but for the strong ones who could securely attend the club, it was just an ordinary stretch of road.

As for those who were overly idle and insisted on deliberately delaying time, showing off their powers in front of weaker people from Yan Fu or even hindering or killing them, it was not just shameful but also a grave taboo.

Take Jiao Chong for example.

Even though he wanted nothing more than to kill Chou Ci on the spot, he had only arranged for two people who had never been to the Yan Zhao Club to pursue him. That was one of the reasons.

Still, this kind of measure was very vague. Bullying those weaker was often unavoidable, and usually, it didn’t lead to loss of life.

Si Wenji scanned the room and saw that none of her trusted followers from Third Eye Global, such as Peacock and others, had arrived at the conference room yet.

She frowned slightly, walked over to Zhan Yuejin, bent down as if to say something, only for Zhan Yuejin to interrupt her.

"Go back to your seat. Don’t worry about others."

Si Wenji scratched her head irritably and huffed as she sat back down in her second-row seat.

She looked across the seats in her row; the second row was almost full, including several reserves like Jingang Zhi, Nine Phoenixes, Zhao Xuantan, and Weiyue Yan, all seated. Only Yang Zheng and Taishuai were nowhere to be seen.

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One after another, dozens of blazing black shadows plunged into the steel city, and Li Yan was among them,

As his feet neared the ground, a ring of light, floating waves rippled out, and he landed without a sound. Around him, loud impacts resounded one after another.

"Knife, knife."

Li Yan tried to initiate a conversation but failed.

He looked around, seeing only a forest of concrete and glass curtain walls interspersed with the occasional dead poplar tree. A heavy layer of greasy dust covered everything, and there was no sign of life in sight.

"Taking a detour through a lifeless small fruit, where does that road end?"

Li Yan was puzzled as he walked ahead aimlessly. Suddenly, half the sky was enveloped in emerald flames, and as Li Yan looked toward the source of the green fire, a dazzling blue beam sliced down from above. A hundred meters tall, waves of red and green fire engulfed several high-rises around him, with the intense, shifting light too blinding to look at directly.

"Good grief..."

Standing on the rooftop of an unfinished building, Li Yan narrowed his eyes until the intensity of the light dimmed, and he could reopen them. The city district in the distance had become an inferno, and the intense heat had cleared all the clouds away. Directly using "Driving the Nine States" to get there seemed impossible; by his estimate, the distance was less than a hundred kilometers.

Li Yan fell silent for a moment, just about to walk toward the explosion, when he suddenly leapt high, hovering in the air and looking straight down at the unfinished building below him. The building burst into a "blossom" of twisted branches and lush leaves, with several sharp branches shooting towards Li Yan with a whoosh, narrowly evaded by his upward float.

Third-tier genetic ability: Sky Dancer

Li Yan stepped on the air as the unfinished building below him was shredded by the proliferating branches, revealing its true form—a massive tree, over a dozen stories tall.

From within the foliage emerged a long and dense branch with a refined-featured woman standing atop it.

Ju Mang

After becoming a Proxy Traveler, unless driven by certain whims, there was no longer a need to inherit projections to exhibit powers. A myriad of inconceivable abilities were as easy to command as one’s own limbs. Even though some inheritances couldn’t unleash the earth-shattering strength known from myths, they were no longer stuck rigidly in the rut of so-called "skills."

She was the reincarnation of Ju Mang.

Li Yan raised his hands high: "Let’s find our way to the conference room before we fight, shall we?"

Ju Mang nodded and said, "I recognize you, you are Li Yan, inheritor of the Gu Huo Bird and Wu Zhiqi. The fruit that caused such a stir recently, taken by the natives, was through your doing. The supply of the Dragon Tiger Qi I was nurturing myself with also got cut off."

"Is there a need to talk about something that happened so long ago? I’m a victim too. Do you think beating me up will bring back your lost Dragon Tiger Qi?"

"It’s good to let off some steam, isn’t it?"

Ju Mang smiled mischievously.

Ju Mang raised his hand, and the surrounding buildings were smashed by the entanglement of giant trees, their tens of thousands of branches and leaves reaching maniacally towards Li Yan in mid-air like a dense and imposing prison.

"Ah!"

Li Yan opened his mouth, and a piercing screech swept in all directions.

Fourth-tier genetic ability: Withering Wave! (Not recorded by the three giants of the harsh winter)

Withering Wave: Eliminates all living cellular matter, with a greater lethality on plants over animals.

Bang!

The branches engulfed Li Yan, completely ignoring the power of "Withering Wave."

The sharply barbed branches churned like a meat grinder, and Li Yan, wrapped within, looked to be in a dire predicament.

Ju Mang tilted his head, "Using a Genetic Potion from Su Ling to strengthen abilities unrelated to your inheritance? What a waste."

Suddenly, the branches halted, then exploded into a large hole five or six meters in diameter. Li Yan, holding the Tiger Head Great Spear, emerged from the branches, unharmed.

"Interesting,"

Ju Mang said flatly.

Li Yan, having narrowly escaped, cracked a slight smile and, without another word, turned and ran.

"Hmph!"

Ju Mang clearly had no intention of letting Li Yan go that easily, as the terrifying plants grew wildly once again, pursuing and attempting to entrap him from all directions.

Just as Li Yan seemed unable to escape, he paused; the moment before the vines and branches could ensnare him, his features and body turned into transparent water.

Third-tier genetic ability: Colorless Jingang

The ability user can completely liquefy and gain a certain level of manipulation over water vapor.

But that was not all; Ju Mang’s branches and vines were completely frozen by the cold air gushing from all around Li Yan.

Fourth-tier genetic ability: Rapid Freeze Vanguard!

While Ju Mang’s dense branches were frozen into solid ice, she remained indifferent. In less than a minute, branches as tall as a building were sealed in ice, finally ceasing their expansion.

Li Yan frowned deeply, looking out over at least half a city block entangled by Ju Mang’s branches, but he had reached his limit in freezing plant life as tall as a building.

"Keep going."

Ju Mang giggled incessantly, her fair and pretty face showing a touch of flirtatiousness.

Ju Mang, Yan Zhao Club representative, peak of the Seven Palaces.

Clearly, she belonged to the kind with a rather nasty disposition.

"Didn’t you just want to go save your precious Mountain Spirit? With this little ability, you’ll only hold her back," she teased.

Although Ju Mang said this out loud, doubts grew within her.

"Li Yan shouldn’t be one of Su Ling’s people, so why is he using so many high-tier genetic abilities?"

Li Yan remained unmoved by Ju Mang’s ridicule: "You only know once you try."

Suddenly, Ju Mang’s expression changed as a series of black water splashes blasted her seemingly impenetrable, powerful branches into a mess of holes, and the frozen sap and rotten leaves splattered everywhere. Moreover, the size of the hole was visibly expanding due to corrosion.

Tentacle-Shaped Calamity Water.

Li Yan, seizing an opportune moment, escaped from Ju Mang’s city of giant trees, took out the long-unused Dodge Tomahawk, and raced away as a streak of silver-blue light.

Ju Mang frowned as she stared at her branches that were taking a long time to regenerate. She withdrew her hand, and the terrifying branches that filled the street shriveled until they disappeared completely.

"Boring, I’ll find someone else to play with."

She muttered as she left.