Otherworldly Desert Dust

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"Roar! Roar!!"

The Mechanical Dog began to bark furiously, its eyes seemingly scanning something, continuously signaling to Wang Rui.

Wang Rui had just performed a system upgrade on the Vine Beauties, turning their vine bodies into a silver hue.

After barely dealing with the hill-sized Cannibal Worm, Wang Rui lifted his head toward the direction where the Mechanical Dog was growling, only to find an entire forest moving toward them.

The forest drew closer and closer. As the mists around them dissipated, Wang Rui finally saw the strange appearance of these trees.

Their lower halves were giant humanoid torsos, with thick, powerful legs reaching up to their waists. However, their upper halves were thousand-year-old Iron Birches, with bark growing in reverse as metallic scales, resembling noble Dragon Scales. From their upper regions extended forelimbs resembling dragon arms, ending in ironwood claws bared wide.

"What are these things?" Gao Yu Yan asked in puzzlement.

"A fusion between the Giant Clan and Dragon Scale Iron Birches, perhaps. Or maybe the seeds of some bizarre Divine General Dragon Scale Iron Trees were planted in the giants' stomachs. The Iron Birches took root and sprouted inside, replacing the upper halves of the giants. These Dragon Scale Iron Birches are quite clever. Ordinarily, they wouldn't be as tall as some ancient pines or cypresses, leaving them unable to absorb sunlight or higher-altitude nutrients. But by standing on the giants' shoulders, they tower grandly, becoming the rightful crown of the forest," Wang Rui explained.

"They don't seem easy to deal with. I'm injured, and Wu Hen is still absorbing Yuan You. Can you hold them off?" Gao Yu Yan asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll need to see if my evolved Vine Supermodels can…" Wang Rui had barely finished speaking before his Vine Beauties collectively started retreating.

As if subjected to some form of genetic suppression, the Vine Beauties quivered uncontrollably at the sight of the Giant Iron Birches.

"These Giant Iron Birches might feed on your Vine Beauties," Gao Yu Yan remarked.

"No way! I painstakingly upgraded them with a system update, but now they're directly suppressed by their place in the food chain?! Two of my three Ganu-Nu units broke down completely in the last fight. Repairing them requires specific materials," Wang Rui said, half-crying, half-laughing.

The Giant Iron Birches drew closer and closer. They had initially pinned their hopes on Wu Hen, but Wu Hen remained seated against the now-seedling-sized Soul Nesting Wood, meditating as if the timing wasn't quite there yet.

As the two grew increasingly anxious, Wu Hen suddenly opened his eyes. Those eyes gleamed like twin radiant suns, and in that instant, the surrounding air seemed to ignite. Ashes floated, the atmosphere seethed, and an extreme heatwave suffused the area.

"What are these things?" Wu Hen stood up, his tone calm yet brimming with confidence, as though no matter what came his way, he could easily shatter it.

"We're not entirely sure. They're half ancient Giants, half thousand-year-old Dragon Scale Iron Birches," Wang Rui replied.

Wu Hen's gaze fell on the grotesque Giant Iron Birches, sensing a tinge of eerie malevolence radiating from their forms. At the same time, he could also feel the disdain and cruelty directed toward humanity emanating from them!

"Their overgrown, elder wood bodies are armored entirely in metallic Dragon Scales. Your fire might not burn through them… If it gets too risky, I could use my trump card," Wang Rui whispered as he leaned closer to Wu Hen.

Wu Hen shook his head.

Wang Rui's trump card had a greater purpose and shouldn't be used prematurely.

"I am the Fire God Mahayana. Forget metal, even aerospace-grade materials are no match for my Fiery Flames."

With that, Wu Hen strode forward to meet the approaching Giant Iron Birches.

The Skyfire Flame erupted around Wu Hen, engulfing him and transforming his entire body into a fiery, blazing figure.

He traced a radiant streak of fire in the air, kicking out a Flame Flood Dragon with a single motion.

The Flame Flood Dragon descended with overwhelming force, annihilating one Giant Iron Birch and incinerating its body into two charred halves.

In no time, all the Giant Iron Birches' cold eyes began to glow. They felt no pity for their fallen kin—only an icy fury directed at the human who defied them.

Towering yet agile, the Giant Iron Birches moved with unnerving flexibility. Their erratic movements exuded ferocity and madness, reminding Wu Hen of bloodthirsty lunatics from an asylum brandishing oversized shears—anything within their reach, even passing rats, would be shredded into pieces!

Suspended in the air among the grotesque Giant Iron Birches, Wu Hen raised one hand high.

Countless Fire Particles began to align with precision, forming thousands of blazing Flame Spears in the sky above him.

With a sweep of Wu Hen's arm, the Flame Spears, each dozens of meters long, hurtled toward the Giant Iron Birches.

The Giant Iron Birches moved on all fours, scrambling across the ground like ghouls at times, or leaping into the air to twist their bodies in exaggerated motions. Most of the Flame Spears missed their targets, avoided with unnatural dexterity. Some of the more arrogant Giant Iron Birches even planted their feet onto the spears embedded in the ground, flaunting their scorn for Wu Hen's ability.

Seeing the haughty and defiant demeanor of these Iron Birches, Wu Hen let out a cold chuckle.

Though his raised hand fell, his five fingers remained splayed wide open.

The moment all the Flame Spears lodged into the ground, Wu Hen abruptly clenched his fist. In that instant, the spears reacted with the earth, triggering a massive Earth Fire Eruption with the cumulative energy of thousands of spears.

The ground ruptured in an explosion of earth and flame, resembling a field of blood-red sunflowers in full bloom. Under the Blood-raging Sunflower's scorched embrace, the Giant Iron Birches toppled in swathes. One particularly brazen Giant Iron Birch, which had stood arrogantly upon a Flame Spear earlier, was torn asunder, its metallic scales raining down onto the scorched earth.

The Blood-raging Sunflower left the ground unrecognizable. The unquenchable high-temperature flames forced even the surviving Giant Iron Birches to flee the area in desperation. They tried to roll into the rocky soil, attempting to extinguish the flames devouring their bodies, but the soil beneath them was saturated with molten fire, courtesy of Wu Hen's Flame Spears. Their flailing only worsened the ferocity of their incineration.

"Perfect. The Soul Nesting Wood could use the ash from your charred remains as fertilizer," Wu Hen said, lifting his other hand.

His raised hand clenched into a fist, and within seconds, massive Fire Meteors in the shape of fists rained down vertically from the sky, pounding the area over a ten-mile radius in a relentless bombardment.

The Giant Iron Birches attempted a panicked escape, but what appeared as fist-sized flames from above became mountains upon impact with the ground.

These mountainous fiery fists continued raining in an unending assault. The earth was riddled with craters, the flames scorching the landscape for dozens of kilometers, engulfing the area in a ferocious sea of fire.

The Giant Iron Birches, even if they evaded the Fire Meteors, couldn't avoid the relentless baking of Skyfire. Eventually, even their metallic scales were reduced to blackened fragments, their Iron Birch bodies charred into ash.

At the center of the mayhem, the Soul Nesting Wood swayed its tender, soft tree body. The processed ash from these elder woods, evenly spread on the soil nourishing its roots, served as the perfect fertilizer. With a rapid burst of growth, it stood firm and unyielding, a young tree invulnerable to any storm.