Inside the B-level Illusion Barrier Land, a place perpetually shrouded in mist, a team of fully armed soldiers marching in neat formation was stealthily approaching a blood-red plant that emanated a dangerous aura.
Lin Mo, the leader of this squad, was at the very front. He was over 1.9 meters tall, clad in a black combat uniform and a helmet. A black mask covered his face, revealing only a pair of deep-set eyes that occasionally glinted with a faint red light, looking cold and dangerous.
Just as they were about to approach the plant, innumerable branches suddenly sprouted sharp, hard thorns, lashing out at the soldiers like newly awakened snakes. The roots beneath the ground also erupted from the soil, crisscrossing with the branches to weave a dense net, intending to trap the soldiers in a cage.
"Squad One, attack! Squad Two, defend!" Lin Mo calmly commanded his subordinates to counterattack. This was an unknown S-Class Exotic Plant, the very one that had annihilated over a dozen B-level Mercenary Corps in this area. Lin Mo and his team had been lying in wait in the Mysterious Barrier Land for three days and had finally found it.
During its attack, the S-Class Exotic Plant released a red, poisonous mist. Although the soldiers wore masks designed to protect against it, they were still affected. Several soldiers began to hallucinate and attack one another. Seeing this, Lin Mo retreated a step. With a beastly roar, a white tiger burst forth from his body. It shattered innumerable branches with a single swipe of its paw and then opened its mouth to spew a ball of blue flame, scorching the encroaching branches. Even the surrounding red mist thinned somewhat. Lin Mo's spiritual power was 2S-Class, and his physical abilities were correspondingly strong. The tiger quickly burned the Exotic Plant to a crisp and smashed it to pieces.
"General Lin, come quickly! We've found a woman here!" a soldier shouted, his voice a mixture of panic and excitement.
Lin Mo looked at the girl in white lying among the Black-red Vines. She was very young, perhaps not even an adult. A thick mane of black hair was spread out behind her. Her skin was as white as snow, pristine and translucent, and her lips were as rosy as rose petals, alluringly delicate. She had her eyes closed, seemingly lost in a deep sleep.
"She's so beautiful!" a soldier couldn't help but exclaim.
"Black hair and black eyes are a symbol of pure Human Clan bloodline. People with these features fall into two extremes: they are either ordinary people with no spiritual power, or they are extremely High-Level Spirit Controllers!" said Lin Mo's second-in-command, Hu Xia.
"The Mysterious Barrier Land is crawling with Exotic Beasts. For her to appear here, she can't be an ordinary person. General…" The soldier next to Hu Xia looked at Lin Mo. Women were protected by Federation law, and female Spirit Controllers held an especially high status. Without a direct order from a superior, they weren't even qualified to touch her.
As a High-level Spirit Controller, Lin Mo had already sensed that the woman only emitted a faint fluctuation of spiritual power. Even if she were a Spirit Controller, she was a low-Level one.
"Hu Yang, go check her vital signs!" Lin Mo said to the man beside Hu Xia, who was the team's medic.
Hu Yang acknowledged the order and stepped forward. But just as he was about to touch the woman, the Black-red Vines she was lying on shot upright, shielding her within them.
"These vines are an Exotic Plant. Could she… could she have been parasitized?" When an Exotic Plant parasitizes a human, it reproduces inside the host's body. If she were brought into a city, it would cause catastrophic damage.
The words had barely left Hu Xia's mouth when the woman's eyelashes trembled, and she opened her eyes—a pair of black eyes as brilliant as gemstones.
When Ning Xuan opened her eyes, she saw a group of strangely dressed people surrounding her. She narrowed her eyes at them, her mind racing to access her memories. She had been exploring a Secret Realm, locked in a fierce battle with a Seventh Level demon beast. Just as she was about to claim victory, the beast launched a final counterattack. Its body turned ethereal, and an eye suddenly opened on its forehead. The eye was like a black hole, emitting a powerful suction force. Ning Xuan realized the pull was too strong to resist and quickly enveloped herself with an Exotic Plant, simultaneously clawing viciously at the beast's forehead. The demon beast shrieked in pain, but the black hole's pull only intensified. With a final effort, Ning Xuan forcibly gouged the eye out of the beast's forehead, but it still wasn't enough to stop the suction. The world spun, and she was pulled into the black hole, quickly losing consciousness.
Ning Xuan pushed herself up with her hands and slowly got to her feet. At her movement, Hu Xia and the others all took a reflexive step back.
Ning Xuan looked up at her surroundings and discreetly tried to circulate her Spiritual Energy, only to find there was none in her body. She raised her hands; they were fair and slender, without a single callus. She looked down at the plain white clothes she was wearing, at this obviously thin and frail body. 'This isn't my body.' She reached out to the Ghost-faced Red Vine with her consciousness. Thankfully, although her spiritual power was now incredibly weak, the Spirit Plant Ghost-faced Red Vine she had raised since childhood responded. Ning Xuan tried to control the Ghost-faced Red Vine and retract it into her body, but with a POP, the energy-depleted vine exploded, transforming into a single black seed that burrowed into the palm of her hand. Immediately after, Ning Xuan felt her legs go weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
As the Ghost-faced Red Vine burrowed into her palm, it transmitted a flood of images to her. When her original body was sucked into the turbulent spacetime of the black hole, it had suffered irreversible damage. Even though the Ghost-faced Red Vine had done its best to protect her, it had failed. In the end, it had only managed to envelop her soul body and escape through a crack in an unstable dimensional wall, attaching to this new body. The original owner's Divine Soul had already dissipated. After her soul body entered, this new body had begun showing signs of collapse. The Ghost-faced Red Vine had then enveloped the body, using its own energy to reconstruct it. And it was at that moment that this group of people had discovered her.
Ning Xuan closed her eyes. She had been a Seventh Level Cultivator from Earth, the daughter of the two City Lords of Tianhe City. She was skilled in Alchemy and talisman making, possessed countless Magic Treasures, and her power was considered top-tier among human Cultivators. Now, her body was destroyed, her Magic Treasures were lost, and she had transmigrated to this unknown Otherworld. The body she now inhabited was incredibly frail, and with the original owner's soul having dissipated completely, she was left with no memories. A profound sense of insecurity washed over her.
"Ma'am, it is not wise to linger in the Mysterious Barrier Land. May I ask if you require assistance?" Lin Mo asked, giving a slight, courteous bow.
"I do!" Ning Xuan felt a sense of relief after Lin Mo spoke. 'Even though this is an Otherworld, at least he's speaking a language I can understand.'
Lin Mo silently took a step forward and crouched down. Carefully avoiding any inappropriate contact, he placed a hand on her waist and lifted her into his arms. "Ma'am, are you feeling any discomfort?" Lin Mo asked. He had just seen the vine explode and something appear to enter her body.
"None at all!" Ning Xuan looked into the man's deep-set eyes, smiled faintly, and answered with conviction.