Chapter 87: Collapsing at the First Blow? (Fourth Update)

A fierce crystal light blazed forth.

Most of the onrushing mosquito-like creatures veered away to either side, while the few that collided with the stag’s head were without exception reduced to pulp.

Under the sonic boom, the force of impact was unparalleled.

Yet the thorny spike, formed from brambles, drove straight for the fawn’s brow.

The nearly ten-meter-long crystalline antlers twisted midair, their forked prongs just barely managing to catch the side of the thorny spike at the last possible instant.

The collision in midair became a contest of strength.

The fawn held the high ground and struck with initiative, while the brambles below were naturally overpowered by the stag’s impact.

Thick as pillars, the brambles were forced back, quickly tipping toward the banshee’s side.

But just as the brambles were pressed back, the entwined mass suddenly unraveled, transforming into myriad cords.

Like the gaping maw of a bottomless abyss, these brambles swooped and wound themselves tightly around the fawn’s body.

The entire process took less than five seconds.

Yet in those five seconds, both the fawn and the Bramble Banshee exerted their full strength.

Though the brambles ensnared the fawn, they could not fully restrain its plunging force.

A thunderous crash resounded.

The banshee let out a piercing, shrill cry, narrowly avoiding the explosive crater where the fawn crashed down.

She dodged in time, but the flower-like platform of brambles beneath her was blasted to pieces.

Countless vines scattered in the explosion, sap raining down like a storm.

Yet this seemingly tragic scene meant little to the Bramble Banshee—such losses were of no consequence.

She hovered in the air, her eyes fixed eagerly on the massive, shattered pit below.

The brambles tightly constricting the fawn were clearly more resilient than those beneath her.

These brambles had suffered little damage; they constricted even tighter, binding the fawn firmly.

The thorns pressed incessantly against the fawn, seeking to pierce its body.

To the Bramble Banshee, victory was already assured.

The fawn, bound and fallen, had no chance of rising again, much less mounting a counterattack.

She licked her crimson lips, excitement flashing in her blood-red eyes.

However—

Just as the banshee soared downward in excitement, her body abruptly jerked to a halt.

Suspended in midair, her expression shifted to one of shock and doubt as she looked to the ground.

It was then she saw it—the brambles she’d so prided herself on, which bound the fawn, withering at a rate visible to the naked eye.

As if desperately parched, their once-dark surfaces began to sink and shrivel rapidly.

Simultaneously, as they withered, countless streams of purple-black energy evaporated, rising like smoke into the air.

The miraculous effect of Life Grafting began to reveal itself.

With Life Grafting fully unleashed, a terrifying, whale-like siphoning drew the purple-black energy from the bramble vines, leaving them spent.

Unlike life essence, this energy was not absorbed by Ji Yu, but instead dispersed into the world.

Billows of black smoke instantly engulfed the fawn’s enormous form.

In panic, the banshee hastily withdrew her brambles from the fawn’s body, but it was clearly too late.

By the time she’d retracted them all, seven-tenths of the vines had completely withered and lost their vitality.

Then, as she finished withdrawing her brambles, a surge of life energy swept out from the fawn, dispersing the lingering haze of purple-black smoke.

Now, the fawn’s entire body shimmered with a violet-blue glow, its antlers radiating crystalline light.

Under Ji Yu’s control, the fawn stood upright once more.

A look of relief and sudden understanding appeared on Ji Yu’s face.

“These brambles look terrifying, but under the decomposing power of Life Grafting, they’re as feeble as children.”

For the first time, Ji Yu truly realized the miraculous effect Life Grafting had against Ziyue lifeforms.

He also understood that Life Grafting could decompose and even purify Ziyue beings.

This discovery filled Ji Yu with both astonishment and new-found confidence.

A stag with a full 99.99 constitution at the second rank of life was by no means an ordinary second-rank being.

Especially with the blessing of Life Grafting, its life force probably rivaled some third-rank beings, perhaps even those of the fourth.

Without the test of battle, Ji Yu might never have clearly recognized the fawn’s strength, but now he finally had a sense of it.

The fawn was powerful—absurdly so.

Standing firm, Ji Yu guided the fawn out of the shattered crater.

It lifted its head, even snorting at the Bramble Banshee.

By now, the number of massive brambles swirling at the banshee’s side had dwindled considerably.

She was flustered, her delicate features twisted with savage fury.

A scream—half human wail, half dolphin’s pitch—suddenly burst from her throat.

The terrifying shriek turned into a shockwave, gusting through the forest corridor.

The wind howled, yet the fawn stood unshaken.

As the shockwave passed, Ji Yu felt nothing at all.

When the sound crashed over him, he’d skillfully shielded his head with energy.

If even those monstrous, mountain-like creatures could do the fawn no harm, this banshee stood even less of a chance.

Seeing the fawn’s ease, the banshee ceased her screams.

Her eyes fixed on the fawn, her rage flaring ever more violently.

As if losing all reason, she waved her hand.

Immediately, nearly two hundred giant mosquitoes spiraled down toward the fawn like a volley of spears.

Yet the fawn evaded them with ease.

With a few nimble leaps, it soared high, and the mosquitoes, unable to control their momentum, drove themselves into the ground.

Relying on the fawn’s speed, Ji Yu bounced back, witnessing the aftermath.

Each time the fawn landed, the ground erupted with a deafening blast, as if struck by bombs.

So, in just over ten seconds, after a dozen leaps, the forest corridor’s domain was left ravaged.

Crater after crater marred the earth, and together with the earlier pit some three hundred meters wide, the entire corridor resembled a battlefield scoured by artillery.

Yet strangely, amidst this pitted landscape, the phantom silhouettes of countless trees still stood tall.

One had to admit, the domain’s rendering of the forest as a phantom backdrop proved convenient for Ji Yu’s rampaging action.

He needn’t worry about destroying the secret realm he’d worked so hard to create.

Surveying the scene, the banshee grew quiet.

Once a bloodthirsty, chaotic creature devoid of reason, she now betrayed a trace of human-like contemplation.