Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and in that brief moment, Zhou Yan accomplished all of it. Such strength was truly astonishing.
"Hahaha, this should be enough this time. I can break through now." Zhou Yan smiled slightly and then began to meditate.
In his recent contemplations, Zhou Yan had realized that to break through to the Divine Realm, he needed external forces, such as fire elementals.
And now, within him, these powerful fire attribute elements were present. However, due to his physical body's inability to withstand too much power, his dantian was filled with fire attribute elements, yet he couldn't circulate them.
As for these vines, although they appeared to be of wood attribute.
Zhou Yan could clearly sense that within these vines, there was an extremely rich earth attribute element.
Therefore, if he could integrate these vines into his body, his strength would surge. At that point, let alone mere vines, he could crush steel with his bare hands.
This was precisely why Zhou Yan had chosen to enter this dense forest.
"Crackling..."
At this moment, dark clouds churned in the sky, and a rainstorm suddenly descended. This rain was ice-cold snow, which swept down from the sky with whistling sounds, drenching the forest.
As the frigid rain fell, the entire forest became soaked.
A cold smile flickered across Zhou Yan's face. "These icy rains might kill humans, but for me, they have no effect. Instead, they have been quite helpful."
"Sizzling..."
As the icy rain hit the ground, it immediately emitted wisps of white smoke. These white fumes drifted into the air and slowly condensed into a thin mist. Within this mist, there seemed to be strands of flame, like flickering embers, burning.
Zhou Yan stood in the distance, watching this scene unfold, and couldn't help but smile.
"It seems these vines are afraid of this icy rain, which is why they can't harm me," Zhou Yan said indifferently.
"Roar!"
Just then, Zhou Yan heard a furious roar, and immediately, a monstrous ape, entirely black and ferocious in appearance, charged forward.
The ape's fur exuded a metallic sheen, indicating extremely high defense.
"Come on, let me see what skills you possess, you beast," Zhou Yan said coldly.
The giant ape roared and charged fiercely towards Zhou Yan. Its speed was incredible, and in the blink of an eye, it was upon Zhou Yan. Then, the ape's massive fist swung with all its might.
"Clang!"
At that moment, Zhou Yan calmly extended his arm and caught the ape's swinging fist.
The ape's fist collided with Zhou Yan's palm, emitting a dull thud.
Zhou Yan remained unmoved, while the ape took a step back.
"What a sturdy arm," the ape grunted, spitting out four words. It then let out another low growl, raising its other arm and aiming it at Zhou Yan's neck.
"Whoosh!"
The ape's speed was even more astonishing this time, appearing before Zhou Yan almost instantly.
"Hmph, a trivial trick," Zhou Yan said indifferently. A cold smile played on his lips as he sharply raised his other hand and slammed it down onto the ape.
"Boom!"
Zhou Yan's palm struck the ape's head, sending its massive body flying back and crashing violently onto the ground, stirring up clouds of dust.
"Roar!"
Just as Zhou Yan was about to step forward to continue his assault on the ape.
Suddenly, he felt waves of danger signals emanating from his surroundings. Following this, Zhou Yan saw over a dozen black vines, several meters long, suddenly shoot out from a tree branch as thick as a pillar.
As soon as they appeared, these vines frantically entwined Zhou Yan's body and began to pull him with great force, attempting to drag him to the ground.
"Hmph, trying to drag me? Dream on." Zhou Yan's mind stirred, and the true qi within his body exploded outwards. Terrifying energy instantly tore the vines apart.
Although these vines were peculiar, they were merely mortal-level existences. How could they possibly stop Zhou Yan?
"Bang!"
Zhou Yan stomped on the ape's chest. The ape let out an enraged cry.
"Roar!"
The ape struggled furiously, trying to break free from Zhou Yan's grip. However, while its strength was immense, it was still significantly inferior to Zhou Yan's.
"Crack!" Zhou Yan stared coldly at the ape and then violently swung his right leg. The ape's head was literally kicked off by Zhou Yan.
"Ding, congratulations to the host for defeating the Savage Giant Ape and obtaining 2000 Origin Stones."
"Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining 500 Crystal Cores."
As Zhou Yan was collecting his spoils, the system prompts sounded.
With this thought in mind, Zhou Yan immediately stood up and continued his search for the vines.
However, Zhou Yan did not act rashly this time. He waited, waiting for the vines to attack again.
Finally, after a few more seconds, a vine slowly emerged.
Zhou Yan's eyes widened. This vine was adorned with several emerald-green fruits. Upon seeing these fruits, Zhou Yan did not hesitate. He plucked them directly and tossed them into his storage ring. Then, looking at the remaining three vines, he moved his mind and summoned the bronze longsword once more.
"Swoosh!"
This time, the longsword transformed into a sword beam and pierced towards one of the vines. Simultaneously, he lunged towards the ancient tree that was shaking frantically, intending to uproot it.
However, this time, the ancient tree did not get uprooted by Zhou Yan as before. Instead, it suddenly extended its branches, forming a net-like structure, and enveloped Zhou Yan.
This large net seemed capable of sealing everything, leaving Zhou Yan with no escape route.
"Buzz!"
Just as this large net was about to cover Zhou Yan, a blood-red light suddenly flashed in Zhou Yan's eyes.
A bloodthirsty and violent aura surged from Zhou Yan's body. Following this, a dense miasma of blood energy appeared around Zhou Yan's body, churning and forming the phantom image of a lotus flower.