That bloody joke shattered Lu Shiyan's illusion.
The confusion and tenderness in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by a crimson, raging inferno capable of incinerating the entire world. It wasn't directed at Su Wan, but at the monster that dared to harm her and fool him.
He didn't look at Su Wan, nor did he help her up.
The air around him vibrated. The lightning in his left hand was no longer spherical; it transformed into a spear of pure lightning, its tip radiating destruction. The flames in his right hand became a majestic lion, and the ancestral hall was ablaze.
"A Shi..." Su Wan looked at his back, her heart stirring. The cramping in her abdomen and the metallic taste in her throat seemed to lessen.
"Step back!" Lu Shiyan commanded in a low voice.
Xiao Han and A Mo didn't hesitate, immediately supporting the weakened Su Wan and retreating with all their might towards the entrance of the ancestral hall.
The giant plant heart also seemed to sense an unprecedented, fatal threat. Its pulsation frequency reached an extreme, and the tormented human faces beneath its surface shrieked and contorted, as if trying to burst forth.
All the surviving vines in the ancestral hall surged towards Lu Shiyan, forming waves of green.
Lu Shiyan ignored them. The fiery lion from his right hand pounced, burning the vines to charcoal, and the flames spread along the vines towards the mother body.
Taking a second step, he raised his left hand, and electric arcs flickered on the lightning spear. He looked at the tumor-like heart and hurled the spear with force.
There was no loud bang, only a moment of silence.
The lightning spear impaled the center of the plant heart.
Lightning erupted inside the heart, the electric light tearing through its tissues. Then, the flames detonated it.
"Boom!" A huge explosion erupted.
The heart burst open, and the energy shockwave, carrying flames and lightning, spread outwards.
The beams and walls of the ancestral hall shattered under the impact. Burning vine debris was thrown into the air, then fell.
The entire Evergreen Village trembled. The vines in the village rapidly withered and rotted after their mother body was destroyed.
At the entrance of the ancestral hall, Xiao Han and A Mo protected Su Wan, preventing her from being thrown back by the shockwave.
Xiao Han and A Mo released their hold and stepped aside. Xiao Han swallowed, muttering softly, "This...is it over?..."
"Cough..."
Her vision swam. She gripped the cold wall tightly to keep from collapsing.
The familiar, tearing pain in her abdomen, though slightly alleviated by the lingering effects of the energy stone, made every breath pull at her internal organs, almost preventing her from thinking, and her whole body felt so weak, as if her bones had been removed.
This light cough was like a switch.
The immense expenditure of power made it difficult for Lu Shiyan to breathe. He slowly raised his face.
Su Wan watched him approach, instinctively wanting to shrink back, but her back hit the cold wall, leaving her nowhere to retreat.
"I..."
She wanted to say something, like "I'm really fine," or "See, the problem is solved."
But Lu Shiyan had already stopped in front of her, his tall figure completely engulfing her.
He said nothing, only reached out and gently wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.
He reached out, his fingertips trembling imperceptibly, and very gently wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with his thumb, his hoarse voice filled with suppressed emotion: "Su Wan, you..."
Just as he was about to say something, the silent A Mo suddenly spoke, his voice grave: "Brother Lu, we need to leave quickly. The commotion here is too great; it might attract other things."
Lu Shiyan's eyes sharpened, but seeing Su Wan's weak state, he could only temporarily suppress his surging emotions.
Lu Shiyan released Su Wan, picked her up in his arms, and said to Xiao Han and A Mo: "Go see if there's a crystal nucleus in that pile of ash, quickly!"
"Okay!" Xiao Han responded, immediately running over and digging through the thick ashes with his foot.
"None...there's nothing, just ash!" Xiao Han searched for a long time but couldn't even find a speck.
Lu Shiyan frowned deeply. Such a powerful mutated plant couldn't possibly be without a crystal nucleus. The only explanation was that his 'Nirvana Purple Flame' move earlier was too powerful, annihilating the crystal nucleus along with it.
"Forget it, let's go!" He no longer hesitated, carrying Su Wan and striding out.
Red Bean, who had been quiet in Su Wan's space, suddenly began to stir violently again, frantically scratching the inner wall of the space with its small paws, emitting sharp, urgent squeaks.
Its target seemed to be the shrine in the ancestral hall that the plant mother body had used as its foundation. The shrine itself had already been shattered into pieces by the aftermath of the battle, scattered everywhere.
"Wait!" Su Wan pulled Lu Shiyan's arm, "Red Bean...it seems to have found something."
"Squeak! Squeak!"
In the space, Red Bean's cries grew more urgent, as if guiding Xiao Han outside.
"A little to the left! Yes, under that largest piece of rotten wood!" Su Wan directed, based on Red Bean's reaction.
Xiao Han complied, laboriously lifting a heavy, half-burnt offering table.
The moment the offering table was moved, a soft yet pure green light permeated from the dust beneath.
"Holy crap! There really is one!" Xiao Han cried out in surprise, not caring about the dirt, and dug away the loose soil with his hands. A fist-sized, emerald green crystal nucleus, as if carved from the finest jade, appeared before everyone.
This crystal nucleus was unlike any they had seen before; liquid seemed to flow slowly within it, emitting an astonishingly rich life energy. Just looking at it made one feel refreshed, and the fatigue in their body lessened by several points.
A wood-type crystal nucleus! And such a pure, powerful wood-type crystal nucleus!
"We're rich, we're rich!" Xiao Han excitedly held up the crystal nucleus, about to hand it to Lu Shiyan.
"Rumble—!"
Just then, the entire ancestral hall, no, the entire village, suddenly shook violently!
Without the support of the plant mother body, the underground root network of the village began to wither and collapse on a large scale, causing ground subsidence!
"Not good! This place is going to collapse!" Lu Shiyan's expression changed. He hugged Su Wan tightly and roared, "Everyone, retreat immediately! Back to the car!"
The four no longer dared to linger, immediately turning and rushing out of the crumbling ancestral hall.
The scene outside was even more astonishing. Huge cracks appeared on the once-flat village road, countless houses were tilting and collapsing, stirring up dust everywhere. The withered vines, like giant dry bones, were scattered all over the place.
Their path of arrival had been cut off by a rift valley several meters wide.
"This way!" Lu Shiyan quickly determined a relatively intact path and led everyone to sprint towards the village entrance.
Li Kui and Li Xinhu had been anxiously guarding the car. They heard the huge commotion coming from deep within the village but dared not venture in, only waiting with burning anxiety.
When they saw Lu Shiyan and the other three rush out of the dust, the brothers were overjoyed.
"Brother Lu! Sister Su Wan!" Li Kui quickly got out of the car to meet them, "You finally came out!"
"Get in the car quickly!" Lu Shiyan didn't waste words, carefully placing Su Wan in the back seat.
Xiao Han and A Mo also quickly got into the car.
However, just as Li Kui was about to get in the car, another anomaly occurred!
The ground beneath their feet suddenly arched upwards without warning! A main root vine, thicker than a bucket and deeply buried underground—originally thought to have completely withered with the mother body—now fractured and coiled in the violent ground collapse, forced out from below by immense underground pressure, like a demonic claw reaching out from hell, suddenly breaking through the earth!