Wei Wen hovered cautiously above the mist-covered island, dressed in a dark gray and crimson combat suit. He was no stranger to Mist Island—at least, not in theory. He remembered every beat of the original story. But knowing the story and surviving inside it were two different things.
The island in the plot was crawling with creatures far stronger than him. What if the Beast Emperor was already lurking in the lake beneath him? What then?
Even if, as in the plot, the Beast Emperor hadn't been born yet and was only being cultivated by Babata after Hong retrieved the Cloud-Caressing Vine, that vine itself was no pushover. Hong's own bodyguard, Ice Mountain—an elite fighter—had been completely overwhelmed by it.
If Wei Wen had been a second slower during an encounter, that vine could have shredded him to pieces in a blink.
With his current strength—barely having broken through to the Planetary level—his only hope was not running into either of those monsters. If he drew their attention, he was dead.
"As a plant-type lifeform, the Cloud-Caressing Vine tends to stay dormant—it doesn't attack unless provoked," Wei Wen reasoned. "It was only because Ice Mountain used a special technique to forcibly draw out plant essence that it even reacted. That vine would've stayed hidden otherwise."
Before Ice Mountain showed up, Luo Feng, Li Yao, and the others had been fighting near the area, chopping down trees and stirring up chaos. The vine still hadn't made a move.
So if he only harvested a small number of plant essence treasures, he figured he'd stay under its radar.
Wei Wen's objective was clear: the Willow Heart Wood.
It was easy to locate, already confirmed to exist, and—most importantly—it was one of the few known plant-type treasures that could directly enhance physical constitution without any side effects. He also knew how to use it.
Even a one-thousand-year-old Willow Heart Wood could significantly boost a fighter's cell activity, accelerating physical development with results comparable to the famed Dragon's Blood.
And the ten-thousand-year variant? Rumor had it that it could push a peak-level apprentice warrior straight into the Planetary stage.
Wei Wen didn't know if that was true, but he was sure it'd be a powerful boost for Luo Feng—and the stronger Luo Feng became, the stronger the feedback he'd eventually receive.
Mist Island wasn't huge. He quickly found what he was looking for.
Suspended in midair, Wei Wen looked down at nine massive willow trees clustered together.
"One, two… nine. The number's right. And they're definitely willow-type energy trees. This is it."
With a thought, sixteen SS-grade flying blades shot from his wristband, slicing through the air like silver serpents.
The moment they attacked, hundreds of willow branches whipped up like a living net, trying to block the blades. These weren't ordinary trees. The Willow Tree King, aged ten thousand years, had monstrous vitality. Its golden-hued main branches couldn't be cut through even by four high-level Wargod-tier fighters working together for an hour.
But Wei Wen wasn't like them.
With a flick of thought, his blades danced—fast, precise, brutal. Against his Planetary-level psychic force, the branches shredded like paper. Severed twigs flew in all directions, a storm of golden splinters raining down.
Pfft!
The last branch was sliced clean through. One by one, the trees fell.
In just a few seconds, all nine willow-type energy trees were dead.
Wei Wen retrieved nine Willow Heart Wood cores from their centers. The tree itself wasn't the real treasure—it was this core of condensed life essence that counted. He could feel the raw vitality pulsing from each heart, and his body practically ached to absorb it.
He stored them carefully, then flew a cautious loop around the island's perimeter.
After a long pause, he decided not to push his luck and turned to leave.
Deep underground—beneath Mist Island itself—was a buried spaceship: the Meteorite Star. Hidden with layers of advanced camouflage tech, the only one who could locate it was the ship's guardian AI: Babata.
Unless Babata personally activated its systems to scan for candidates, no human on Earth could ever find it.
And Babata? It only did that for people who met two specific criteria: being a Psychic Master and possessing extraordinary brain region capacity.
Wei Wen met the first.
But not the second.
"So Babata didn't pick me," Wei Wen murmured. "That confirms it—my brain capacity isn't high enough."
He already knew where all these energy treasures really came from. They were byproducts of Babata's presence, distributed in the area around the crashed Meteorite Star. Babata's master—Hu Yanbo, a high-ranking Immortal (near the Marquis level)—had been slain by enemies 50,000 years ago, and his legacy sealed on Earth.
The Meteorite Star had been critically damaged, unable to take off again. But thanks to Hu Yanbo's space-based secret techniques, Earth's coordinates were hidden in the Dark Universe. No alien race had found them.
Babata's mission was simple: find a worthy successor.
That successor had to be:
A Psychic Master, like Wei Wen and Luo Feng.
Possessing an extraordinary brain region breadth, which Luo Feng had, but Wei Wen lacked.
Even Luo Feng, with his massive brain region breadth of 21%, hadn't been selected at first. It was only after Babata confirmed he had the highest brain potential of all Earthlings that he was reluctantly chosen.
Babata no longer had a physical machine body—it was now a purely digital consciousness. Without a special container or vessel, it couldn't even leave the ship. But that didn't stop it from monitoring the surface.
Inside the buried Meteorite Star, Babata stood in front of a high-function scanning module, arms crossed in frustration.
"I thought this Wei Wen kid would have a large brain region, considering he's already a Planetary-level Psychic Master. But this is pitiful!"
He stared at the scan results in disbelief. The data didn't match expectations. Back in the prime era of Yun Mo Planet, someone like Wei Wen wouldn't be impressive—but here, on backward little Earth? He should've been top-tier.
"Could this be a calibration error?"
After all, the scanning tech was ancient. The ship had been damaged and dormant for 50,000 years. Maybe something was off.
Then Babata noticed something else. From the real-time battle feed—Wei Wen's fight with the Willow Tree King—he saw the mental power output.
"Sixteen-fold amplification?!"
That didn't make sense. A person's mental power amplification rate was directly related to their brain region capacity. Someone like Iste, after decades of training, had only achieved a nine-fold amplification.
But Wei Wen, who'd barely cultivated for a year?
This guy was warping basic logic.
Babata started pulling data from Earth's networks—intelligence systems, global news, training logs.
All the evidence lined up: Wei Wen had indeed reached the Planetary level in just a few months, and his combat feats were publicly recorded.
The more he investigated, the more Babata began to doubt his instruments again.
"There's no way this kid's brain capacity is that low."
Meanwhile, Wei Wen had just turned to leave the island when something caught his attention.
He sniffed the air.
"…That smell."
A faint aroma—like rice cooked over firewood—floated through the mist.
Mu Ya Crystal.
The scent meant it had appeared nearby. And that usually meant one thing: Babata was reaching out.
Was Babata trying to guide him into the Meteorite Star?
He hesitated.
He didn't need Hu Yanbo's legacy. Better to leave it for Luo Feng—he'd be a better fit. And if Luo Feng succeeded, the psychic feedback from their bond would benefit Wei Wen anyway.
But still—Mu Ya Crystal wasn't something you just walked away from.
Wei Wen changed course.
There was no reason to ignore a good opportunity.