The sun rose, fell, rose, fell……
The sky was bright, then dark, bright again, then dark again.
Through day and night, Zhen Jin led the group across the forest, and during that, the menacing blue dog fox wolf was like a boulder pressing down on almost everyone’s mind.
Occasionally small crises would tense up everyone’s nerves.
The group’s food and water were being constantly used, and despite replenishing along the way, their reserves were still being depleted.
The giant was clearly becoming thin, he had a giant bloodline and didn’t eat his fill, yet he did the heaviest and straining work.
The group would eat and sleep outdoors, even the preferential treatment Zhen Jin and Zong Ge received was limited.
The wear and tear of everyone’s leather armor and weapons were aggravated, even Zong Ge’s steel armor lost its shine.
A half elf collapsed enroute.
Under the menacing blue dog fox wolf, Zong Ge, Hei Juan, and the others insisted on expanding their detection range and the number of scouts, while Zhen Jin did his utmost to clamp down on this proposal.
But he didn’t expect Zong Ge to secretly expand the scouting groups.
Zhen Jin could only move normally during the night, and the many scouts were a clear obstruction. During the day, he needed to stay with the group most of the time, assuming responsibility as their leader.
With regards to the half elf dying, Zhen Jin could only sigh.
From a certain point of view, he knew Zong Ge’s decision was correct, Zong Ge could not be gentle to his force, and prompt information was important to the group.
The team member’s death did not cause confrontation, discontent, or schisms.
For a long time now, the mysterious blue dog fox wolf’s magic beast corps was the greatest external pressure.
This incorporeal pressure was like a large hammer that refined the entire group. This included Zhen Jin, Zong Ge, Cang Xu, Zi Di, and everyone else. This pressure made them more intimate with each other, more understanding, and more harmonious.
As the group continued forward, every difficult situation made them more resolute. Every casualty made them more unified.
Eventually, the rainforest appeared in front of everyone.
Regarding thick vegetation, the rainforest had far more than the forest.
The air was most, and within the layers of vines, there lived numberless snakes, ants, and mosquitos.
Cang Xu held a map, sketching on it while he used the sunlight to orient his direction.
“Our direction is correct, continue ahead.” Cang Xu informed everyone of the good news
However, there was trouble.
The current group was far bigger than when it had left.
Many more supplies.
There were close to thirty trailer carts pulling wood and ore.
Going through the forest was difficult, and in the rainforest, this difficulty increased tenfold.
In the rainforest, the group could only travel half the distance they did in the forest.
The lush vines, shrubs, knee high grass, and traps covered layers of decayed leaves would all make moving the trailer carts hard.
To these things, Zhen Jin couldn’t do anything about them, he could only set an example as he struggled ahead with a spider blade in hand.
These spider blades were from the one or two spider groups Zhen Jin intentionally left behind. After Zong Ge and some others purged them, the group acquired these sharp weapons.
The spider blades were very sharp, cutting all of the vines and tree roots blocking their path.
Zhen Jin and some others first cleared up a path first, so the trailer carts could barely pass through after.
But sometimes, everyone had no choice but to first move the trailer cart supplies, then drag the trailer carts through complicated terrain.
The humid air was not amicable.
Even just standing still made people sweat profusely.
Just going a small distance caused everyone to be covered in sweat.
The murmur of river water became more distinct.
A river quickly greeted the eye.
“Be careful everyone!” Zhen Jin’s face was heavy, after probing with ultrasound, he knew there were python vines growing in the water.
They were indeed the gold level magic plants that easily eliminated a silver level blue dog fox wolf.
Everyone was very cautious.
All information pertaining to the python vines was already well known.
Not long after traveling along the river, everyone stopped by the riverbank.
This section of river had high banks on each side, making it the ideal crossing point.
Everyone unloaded wood from the trailer carts, and with the cooperation of the giant, Zong Ge, and some others, built a workable wooden framework to the opposite riverbank.
As the wood was put together, it formed an interim wooden bridge.
The nimble team members were the first to climb onto the bridge, they then used hemp rope to tie the wood together, stabilizing them into a workable state.
After finishing this, everyone pulled the trailer carts across the bridge.
On the opposite bank, they first undid the hemp rope, retrieved the wood, and reloaded it back into the trailer carts.
After resting and reorganizing for a while, the group continued their journey.
Hei Juan circled back to gaze at the river: “Perhaps, we can rely on this river to shake off the blue dog fox wolf.
Zong Ge shook his head: “At most it will get rid of a portion of the magic beast corps.”
These days, everyone had suspicions; why hadn’t the magic beast corps attacked or even ambushed them once?
Zhen Jin gazed ahead, he did not look back, however his heart kept thinking about the python vines in the river.
Since he had woken up on this island, that had been the first gold level magic plant he had seen.
“If I use the core to absorb those python vines, what could I transform into?” Zhen Jin’s heart was secretly moved.
That night, Zhen Jin used the bat monkey form to return to the riverbank.
As he flew through the air and climbed across the ground, a small group of scaled leopards was pursuing him closely.
Most of these scaled leopards were common beasts, only one individual had a bronze level aura. Under the effects of Zhen Jin’s perfume, they had no power to resist and completely served Zhen Jin.
Zhen Jin flew over the river, causing a disturbance in the scaled leopard group, however they still followed Zhen Jin.
They could not fly; thus they could only hop into swim through the river.
Of course, tigers and leopards can swim, and sometimes, they can hunt in the water. The scaled leopards’ swimming abilities were more outstanding, even surpassing Zhen Jin’s expectations a little.
“It seems you guys aren’t covered in a layer of fish scales for nothing. Why haven't the python vines attacked yet?” Zhen Jin landed on the opposite bank, his gaze sharp and his body tense.
Crash!
Suddenly, the river water fiercely sprayed up, a thick green python vine launched a terrifying offensive.
The scaled leopards still in the water were not the python vine’s opponent, thus they immediately took disastrous casualties.
The python vine was agile and savage as it dragged the majority of the scaled panthers underwater. The scaled panthers were like mosquitos in a spider web, after struggling slightly, all of them died on the spot.
“This python vine isn’t stupid, it intentionally waited until the vast majority of the scaled leopards were in the water before it launched its offensive.”
“An opportunity!” Zhen Jin’s eyes flickered.
There were many scaled leopards, and although the python vine was entirely beyond them and could effortlessly harvest them, there were still some that made it to the opposite bank.
Just like Zhen Jin, the python vine did not plan to let its food slip away. Vines emerged to quickly overtake those on the shore, wrapping themselves around the black panthers, then gently dragging them back.
Zhen Jin pounced during this time.
He transformed into a monkey tail brown bear, wrapped his body in a scorpion carapace, while simultaneously growing four long spider blades from his hands.
The blades ferociously cut into the contracting python vines.
But the blades only left four lines in the python vines!
The attacked python vine immediately launched its counterattack at Zhen Jin.
Zhen Jin’s heart shook, his warrior intuition frantically warned him: he could not get tangled, otherwise he would die!
Zhen Jin retreated at once, with the python vine pursuing close behind, unwilling to let him go.
However its length was finite, that attack on Zhen Jin had occurred at the very edge of its attack range.
Unable to reach Zhen Jin, the python vine contracted again.
Zhen Jin struck it again with his blades.
However the normally sharp spider blades could only cause insignificant damage, again leaving only four lines in the python vine.
“I must attack the same spot constantly, in order to cut off a section of its body!”
After Zhen Jin realized this, his heart filled with agony and frustration.
The python vine did not stand still, rather it crazily flailed about like a wild python. Its frightening offensive could easily break trees.
Zhen Jin had to pay attention on when to dodge, if he was even somewhat careless, he would be seriously injured and even defeated.
Under this kind of situation, constantly slicing at the same place was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Zhen Jin counterattacked, the python vine pursued, Zhen Jin ran away, the python vine contracted back, Zhen Jin counterattacked again……
And so, after a few rounds of this, Zhen Jin was profusely sweating as he jumped and scuttled on the edge of life and death.
Although the python vine was a gold level magic plant, its intelligence could not compare to Zhen Jin’s, thus Zhen Jin could always control it.
However Zhen Jin was in a terrible state, that short effort already made him feel exhausted.
This exhaustion not only came from his severe consumption of stamina, it also came from his tense heart. The fact that he was always dodging and couldn't be even a bit careless lest he suffer grave consequences, was hard for him to handle.
“I must take a risk!”
Zhen Jin suddenly removed the spider blades, transformed both hands, turned his ten fingers red hot, and ran them through the python vine.
The python vine was finally pierced by Zhen Jin; however it was too thick, Zhen Jin’s fingers could not penetrate it completely.
At that instance, Zhen Jin wildly activated the core.
Four bloodlines immediately came out, covered a small section of the python vine, but they never permeated it!
The python vine counterattacked, with the other sections of vines whipping at Zhen Jin.
Zhen Jin immediately canceled the monkey tail brown bear transformation, red light bubbled from his body, and transformed into a bat monkey while on the ground.
The bat monkey Zhen Jin ruthlessly kicked his legs, spurred his body, and jumped into the air.
Finally, his wings fiercely flapped, allowing him to fly higher into the air. At nearly the next moment, the vines ruthlessly whipped his previous position.
Ultimately, as Zhen Jin flew in the air, he had no choice but to watch the python vines return into the water.
“My core is ineffective against gold level lifeforms!”
At that moment, Zhen Jin clearly sensed the magic core’s limits.
Nervousness waned, allowing disappointment, frustration, and other emotions to spread through his heart.
“Alas……” Although the young knight was mentality prepared, he was still somewhat dismayed upon discovering the truth.
His attempt was finished; thus he flapped his wings and sorrowfully flew back to the temporary camp.
Notes
It sucks to know that breaking through is still as hard as ever and no amount of cheats can change that. But wait, isn’t the title of this book
Infinite Bloodcore
? How can something infinite possibly be limited to just the rank the MC is probably at? Welp, looks like we will have to see how this pans out.