"Who are you?!" Han Zheng bellowed, but only silence answered him.
He tried again, his voice raw, yet still nothing.
"Could I be hallucinating? No, I swear I heard a voice."
Doubt gnawed at him. He tried to convince himself it was just the fruit's effect, but the uncertainty lingered, a bitter taste.
Now, everything was done, but how would he escape this damned place?
Another problem loomed.
Before him, two paths diverged.
One snaked into a creepy, unsettling forest.
The other stretched across plains, dotted with a few trees, yet it pulsed with a dangerous energy.
Confusion swirled in his mind.
One path felt safer but was undeniably eerie. The other, though perilous, offered a flicker of hope—a sense of leading somewhere.
Both, he knew, led into the unknown.
"Let's take the plains path," he decided, a fragile hope taking root.
With a small measure of optimism, he first carefully peeled off the snake skin—it felt precious, a strange keepsake.
His journey across the plains began.
He constantly scanned his surroundings with his sharp senses, a cautious predator in a new world.
He met no mishaps for a while, but then, a plant caught his attention.
It was unusually shaped.
"Could it be alive?" he wondered, deciding to observe it for a moment.
Everything appeared normal.
Still, his hand instinctively tightened on his dagger as he moved, seemingly without a care.
But as he passed the plant, his senses screamed.
**An attack from behind!**
He slashed his dagger, cutting through a vine.
A piercing, beastly roar ripped through the air.
"Ahh!"
Vines attacked again.
This time, he didn't waste a second.
He dashed forward, swinging his dagger, severing the plant at its base.
But something brushed his leg—**thorns**.
A pain, sharp and sudden, almost froze him.
He gritted his teeth.
The pain was like a bullet wound.
His leg began to turn blue—the telltale sign of poison.
Yet the tree moved again, even with its roots severed!
It spewed a gush of green liquid this time.
"Shit! How is this thing not dead?"
His hand gripped the dagger, ignoring the agony.
He dodged the liquid, but another shot—like a bullet—flew at him.
His senses maxed out.
He saw it—a green core, nestled within the plant's trunk.
"Could it be its life force?" Han Zheng mused.
He moved like a wolf, his pattern unpredictable.
As the distance closed, the plant attacked with its vines again.
This time, he moved with absolute care—cutting the vine and dashing forward.
The vines kept interrupting him.
He dodged, he cut.
Finally, with his dagger, he pierced the spherical green core.
The plant's skin withered, drying out as if its very energy had been drained.
"Hah... finally, it's dead now," he panted, relief washing over him.
"It seems my guess was right."
He sank to the ground, exhausted.
"I can rest a little."
He didn't have to worry about the poison; he was immune.
But the Sinful Tree's voice echoed in his mind.
Your Karma marked your achievement.
New fruit appeared:
Blood Fangs Fruit – You can use your blood like a weapon.
His lips curled into a grin.
"Finally, my hard work wasn't wasted."
"This ability seems powerful. Can be used from a distance too."
He shook his head.
"I was careless. Need to be more careful. If not, I'll be dead."
After a few moments of rest, the blue discoloration on his leg began to fade.
"Hah! Finally, the pain's gone."
"That was hellish, but my body feels better now… and like my strength has grown further."
"Could the poison have been working like an elixir?"
"Let's check this fruit."
His soul emerged, and there it was—a red fruit, hanging plain, with no special mark like before.
He plucked it, biting into it.
"Wow, this fruit is surprisingly delicious."
But as he regained control of his body, the pain—though not as immense as last time—began.
His veins felt like they would burst.
His blood under his skin felt like a thousand needles piercing him from the inside.
He gritted his teeth.
His nose even started bleeding.
After ten minutes, the pain began to subside.
"Finally, it's gone."
"Hah... although less painful, it still hurt."
"All fruits come with a price."
"But why didn't I get any memory?" he wondered aloud.
As if listening to his inner voice, the tree's voice spoke.
All power comes with a price.
Only people with special karma are given something special.
"Oh, so that means this tree was nothing special."
"Let's try this ability first."
He stood up, excited to test his new power.
He bit his finger, and blood welled up.
Through his mind, he controlled the blood—shaping it into a needle.
He shot it toward a tree at least twenty meters away.
The needle was incredibly fast and explosive.
Just one shot, and the trunk was shredded—leaving only its lower half.
"So powerful!" Han Zheng was amazed.
"Hehe, a new weapon."
He wanted to try more but held back, avoiding overuse.
"Let's continue my journey. I have to leave this damned place."
With a renewed sense of purpose, he continued—but with heightened caution.
He encountered more of the same plants, smaller in size—likely low-level.
This time, he used his Blood Fangs to directly hit their cores.
The method saved him from injury and was incredibly effective.
He walked for at least an hour, unsure of how much distance he'd covered.
He'd faced over a hundred plants, none posing a real threat.
"Ahh... I'm bored with these plants now."
"And how long do I have to travel?"
"Am I even heading the right way?" he doubted himself.
"No… it still feels alive. Different from that creepy forest."
He corrected his thoughts, reassuring himself.
He encountered yet another plant—identical to the ones before.
He directly hit its core. Nothing new.
But then, he suddenly heard voices.
"Ahhhhhh... Help me, please!"
"Hold on a second, we're holding him! Just wait a little, we'll finish him!"
He heard a female voice and two male voices.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
And then, a **beastly roar**.
This was the first time he'd heard human voices.
He moved toward the sound, hiding behind a big rock.
What he saw was truly horrifying.
There was a beast that resembled an ape—but it was much bigger and had four arms.
It seemed to be in good condition, only sporting some minor slashes.
The girl's situation was dire.
Her body was covered in blood, and three corpses—two male and one female, all around his age—lay nearby.
The two boys who were still alive were defending the girl.
Their condition was also bad—but still better than hers.
Both wielded swords, and their coordination was impressive.
"What the fuck? After all this time, I finally find some humans, but they're already dying."
He thought, "It doesn't matter to me."
Han Zheng made up his mind—he would **not** intervene.
But fate had other plans.
As he turned, the ape noticed him.
The ape let out a piercing sound.
A high-pitched: "Hwwwwwwwah!"
"Shit. I wanted to stay out of this!"
He ignored the roar and ran backward.
But when the ape saw someone escaping, it grabbed a large stone and hurled it at Han Zheng.
Sensing the stone, he tried to dodge but couldn't.
"You're all too weak. Now, it's my turn."
A cold, distant voice echoed from the void—
And at that moment, the Sinful Tree trembled.