Chapter 110: The Dragon Beneath the Earth

Beneath the valley, right below where they stood, lay a sunken basin filled with countless giant flowers of a vivid, dripping red.

Each bloom stood about two to three meters tall, with the tallest reaching nearly five meters. Every stalk was slender, topped with a massive, water-container-shaped flower.

They resembled pitcher plants, only hundreds of times larger and far more brilliantly colored.

“Ribbit!”

“Ribbit, ribbit!”

A large brown bird flew across the sky. Its call was strange, like a toad’s—shrill and grating.

The bird seemed drawn by the kaleidoscope of colors in the valley. After circling once in midair, it unexpectedly turned back, flying low this time.

“Swish, swish!”

“Swish, swish, swish!”

Sensing prey, these bizarre giant carnivorous flowers all opened their lids, revealing long and short stamens inside.

These stamens looked like small black spheres dotted with red spots, resembling ladybugs.

Sure enough…

The big bird was immediately tricked. With a shrill cry, it dove toward one of the flower’s stamens, pecking at it hungrily.

At that moment…

The lid of the giant carnivorous flower snapped shut like a natural bird trap. The moment the foolish bird touched the stamen, the lid closed instantly, trapping the bird inside the flower’s cavity and sealing it tight.

“Clap, clap, clap…”

“Ribbit—”

The trapped bird struggled frantically, flapping its wings against the water inside, splashing wildly, while emitting horrendous, pitiful cries.

Without even looking, Yeda knew the poor creature was surely being dissolved by the flower’s digestive fluids.

And that was just the power of a single flower.

Yet, below them…

There were hundreds, even thousands of these giant carnivorous flowers. What kind of nightmare was this going to be?

Of course…

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Killing them wasn’t impossible. For example, Yeda could just set them all ablaze.

But that would destroy the flower’s liquid, making it impossible to craft the antidote. So that plan was out of the question.

The other option was to use ranged weapons, like the psychic bow.

Yet a new problem arose…

After taking down the giant carnivorous flowers, how would they safely approach the flower field to retrieve the flower corpses?

“By the way, Chu Ping,” Yeda suddenly remembered and asked, “I never asked—what ability did you awaken?”

“Ah, my ability…” Chu Ping scratched his head, blushing a little. “It’s kind of embarrassing to say.”

“What kind of ability is embarrassing to talk about?”

Yeda suddenly recalled a voice on the communication channel who had mentioned awakening a bizarre ability but always stopped halfway, never revealing what it was.

Later…

Out of curiosity, Yeda messaged him privately.

He confessed that his ability was to fart—whenever he took off his pants during a fight, he could unleash a powerful air blast. It packed a punch, but smelled terrible.

Thinking of that, Yeda quickly added, “You took such heavy injuries before and came through fine—I thought your ability was something related to healing. Isn’t it?”

“Well, kind of…” Chu Ping’s eyes filled with confusion as he scratched his head again. “I don’t really know. My healing ability is better than most, and I can even regrow lost limbs.”

“Last time while mining, my pinky got chopped off by a sharp rock. I thought it was done for, but it actually grew back.”

“Though it’s a bit crooked, it still works fine.”

Chu Ping said this as he stretched out his pinky finger for Yeda to see.

Yeda noticed the finger was indeed deformed, especially in the middle joint, twisted like a crooked branch.

Yet Chu Ping moved it nimbly, with no sign of grafting.

That kind of regenerative power was enviable!

“Not to mention, just your regeneration alone makes your ability one of the strongest,” Yeda praised after seeing Chu Ping’s unique talent. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Lord…”

Chu Ping hesitated, unsure whether to reveal more, but finally bit his lip and said, “Actually, that’s just a side effect. My real ability is…”

“An earthworm.”

Though prepared, Yeda was still stunned by Chu Ping’s revelation.

“Ah?”

Yeda thought he misheard and rubbed his ear in surprise. “An earthworm? There’s such an ability?”

“Can you transform into an earthworm, or just use its powers?”

Yeda hoped it wasn’t the former, so he quickly added, “If you can turn into an earthworm, that’s actually pretty cool.”

Thankfully, Chu Ping replied, “How could a person turn into an earthworm?”

“I was just guessing.” Yeda turned his arms to stone and held them out before Chu Ping. “Since I can become a stone man, I figured maybe you can turn into an earthworm… uh, a worm-man.”

“Lord, your ability is way too cool!” Chu Ping’s eyes sparkled with envy seeing Yeda’s stone skin.

If only he had such a cool power…

Then why hide it?

“An earthworm’s power is pretty awesome too!” Yeda shifted to a tone of mutual praise. “Not only can it split itself, it can even burrow underground!”

“If I could burrow, I’d be able to dig up the roots of those flowers right now, without having to fight those giant carnivorous plants to the death, and still get their flower liquid.”

“That, I can definitely do.” Chu Ping brightened at Yeda’s compliment. “But before, the others under the boss kept laughing at me, calling my ability ‘just a bug from underground.’ It made me feel pretty down.”

“What underground bug? The earthworm is called the Earth Dragon!” Yeda said indignantly. “A dragon of the earth, not some lowly bug! You get that?”

“Got it.” Chu Ping’s drooping brows lifted in an instant.

Then he glanced at the giant carnivorous flowers below. “Lord, then let this Earth Dragon go down and pick two flowers for you!”

“Your injury—is it really okay?” Yeda asked, pulling out the last bottle of life potion he had scavenged from a corpse. “Here, drink this before you go.”

Chu Ping’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Lord!”

[Loyalty: 79% (No one has ever cared for me like this before; my gratitude toward the lord flows endlessly like a mighty river!)]

Chu Ping felt happy being cared for.

But Yeda, noticing the loyalty increase, thought, “Oh ho! Loyalty’s gone up again!”

Seventy-nine percent!

Almost eighty! This subject was about to shift from ordinary to loyal, which made Yeda all the more eager.

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