"They're called Mashed Serpents," the ring spirit explained as she played with Cultivator's earlobe. After seeing how soft his earlobe was, it drooled a bit and bit on it, munching on it as it seemed distracted.

Cultivator removed his earlobe from her hold as he asked with a sense of urgency, "What's with the stupid name? Tell me more about them as quickly as you can. Also, why are they chasing after us? Why have the vines been stirred up?"

​​

"I made up that name." The ring spirit pouted, disinclined to talk anymore as it sulked. It then used his earlobe as a crutch to shed tears.

"Fine, fine." Cultivator relented as he spoke, "That's actually a pretty good name. Now that I take another look at them, your name makes a lot of sense."

"Right?" The ring spirit squealed as she talked nonstop, "The Mashed Serpents live off eating the sediments produced by the Predominated Vines. Also, they're the only demon beast race the vines don't attack. Normally, a Predominated Vine only attacks the living beings that make contact with it. Surprisingly, the Mashed Serpents act as beacons for them to actively target prey."

"With that..." She nibbled on his earlobe once again, spreading her saliva all over as she continued, "Thanks to the Mashed Serpents, the Predominated Vines are now able to sense your existence. Therefore, they are moving to eat you. If you don't want to become vine food, then keep running."

"Well, that's easier said than done." Cultivator frowned as he looked at Krune and asked, "Young man, do you have any solutions?"

"Let me try." Krune summoned a Pseudo-Wisp after making it resemble Whack, even making sure its Godly Energy felt like Whack's. This way, even if it was attacked, the vines wouldn't target Krune.

Mind Splitting Technique!

Krune soon activated it as he split a part of his focus to control the Pseudo-Wisp resembling Whack. After that, Whack immediately sprinted towards the Mashed Serpents, a demon beast race resembling soggy noodles.

They weren't even designed to slither on the ground smoothly. Their wriggly actions and their non-uniformity would make all other serpent demon beast races shy away in embarrassment. Such was the way they moved.

Whack soon pounced upon them as he unleashed a sea of flames, beginning to burn through all the Mashed Serpents.

For some reason, all the Mashed Serpents were in the Ninth Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. With that, they were unable to resist the sea of flames unleashed by Whack, whose energy quantity and quality resembled the Fifth Stage of the God Foundation Realm.

This caused the sea of fire emitted by Whack to turn into an area of danger for the Mashed Serpents. A significant portion of them instantly melted when a Predominated Vine hit Whack, popping his body like a balloon.

"Damn." Krune winced as he saw Whack crushed into oblivion with a single hit. "Just how strong is one vine?"

"At least the Nascent God Realm," the ring spirit said as she looked around, pointing in a certain direction. "Head this way. We should be able to escape their pursuit."

"That would take us straight into a sea of vines," Krune shouted in response, looking at the direction that was pointed as he could only see the Predominated Vines stretch as far as his Divine Sense could see. Moreover, they fully covered the place, preventing anyone from even entering. There wasn't even any gap wide enough to fit them through.

"Don't worry about that," Cultivator said as he wore another ring, summoning its ring spirit. It was a lady this time, the same person that fought with Krune the first time he met Cultivator.

The lady spirit leaped, displaying superior agility as she ran at least ten times their running pace, soon approaching a spot between two Predominated Vines. She then waited, slowly taking a position as she watched Krune and Cultivator get closer to her.

"Haah!" Followed by a loud yell, she placed her hands within the gap, facing the palms towards each Predominated Vine respectively. She then exerted strength in her hands as she pushed them away, bending their stalk to create a wide enough gap.

In the very next second, before the two Predominated Vines could react, her figure disappeared as Cultivator jumped through the gap, followed by Krune. Seeing how the energy signature that touched them had vanished, the two Predominated Vines stopped moving.

Rolling on the ground a couple of times to negate his momentum, Krune got up as he soon noticed they were inside a crater. What appeared to be the roots of the Predominated Vines filled the crater. With that, he found out the vines didn't have any senses on their roots as they didn't react when the two of them stepped on them.

The gap they had entered through closed immediately as the two Predominated Vines adjusted themselves, returning to their original positions.

The ring spirit spoke, "We can rest here for the time being. Without any gaps, the Mashed Serpents cannot enter. So, we're safe here. Besides…"

She pointed at a Predominated Vine that was present in the center and shouted, "Jackpot!"

Only now did Krune and Cultivator look at the center of the crater, trailing along with the figure of the lone Predominated Vine that stood at the center. They then looked at its top, exclaiming in shock.

"Are those…?" Krune stared in disbelief.

"What the hell? Can one vine even form that many?" Even Cultivator expressed a rare feeling of shock.

Their reactions were justified since the thing hanging at the top of the Predominated Vine was a Predominated Fruit. Not one, not two, but a total of six. It was truly a surprising amount.

It must be noted how a single Predominated Fruit was enough to condense a cultivator's Spiritual Incarnation, turning one from an average cultivator into an undying powerhouse. With that, every Predominated Fruit was a priceless treasure.

Irrespective of how valuable a piece of equipment or a mystical treasure was, its value was incomparable to a Predominated Fruit. After all, just the ability to revive upon death was priceless.

Krune put on a solemn tone as he sang, "Half for you, half for me. Divide it into two, and we are left with three."

"And it's even free," Cultivator finished his sentence, showing a thumbs up as the two started to laugh.

"What will you do with them?" Krune expressed his curiosity as he asked, "Do you have someone that can use them?"

"Not really." Cultivator shook his head as he gazed at Krune, asking, "What about you?"

"I can give them to my family," Krune smiled as he replied.

"Wait, you have a family?" Cultivator expressed his shock as he looked at Krune from head to toe. His expression made it clear that he had assumed Krune to be someone that would die single.

Krune was offended at the gaze directed at him as he retorted, "I have a beautiful wife and a bunch of kids…bunch."

"Show off." Cultivator rolled his eyes and was about to start talking trash when the ring spirit pulled on his earlobe.

She then leaned forward until she was right before his ears before shouting at the top of her voice, "The fruits will bloom within a couple of minutes. If you delay, you'll be stuck here forever."

"Ugh." Cultivator clamped his ears as a ringing sound resounded in his mind. He then shook his head until the ringing sound disappeared as he glared at the ring spirit, watching it begin to suck on his earlobe once again, acting innocent.

"So..." He let out a sigh as he asked, "How do you propose we steal them?"

"Just pluck them out directly." The ring spirit pointed at the Predominated Vine in the center of the crater. "In such a situation, its senses wouldn't work. So, even if you climb over it, it wouldn't be able to react. Of course, you have to store them in your spatial ring immediately after plucking them. Otherwise, all the surrounding Predominated Vines would come after us. Moreover, the moment you pluck them out, the Predominated Vine would be able to react and would target the one that plucked its fruits."

"That's easy." Krune summoned a Pseudo-Wisp after making it resemble a flying demon beast. He then asked for Cultivator's spatial ring. The moment Cultivator gave his spatial ring, the flying demon beast carried two spatial rings as it flew towards the Predominated Vine in the center.

Then, followed by a slash using its claws, it perfectly severed the thin strands of vine connecting the six Predominated Fruits to the Predominated Vine. In that instant, it stored three in each spatial ring respectively and threw them towards the respective owner.

But before it could return, the Predominated Vine in the center coiled around it and digested it in a matter of seconds.

'I lost two Pseudo-Wisps so quickly.' Krune winced at the loss but didn't do anything else. After all, Little Krune had already created two more Pseudo-Wisps in the Lawless Plains, activated the teleportation formation, and sent in two Pseudo-Wisps that managed to cultivate to their current cultivation stage of Seventh Stage God Foundation Realm.

So, Krune didn't suffer any significant losses. Moreover, he cashed in three Predominated Fruits. So, it was definitely a tremendous gain to him.

'I can give it to Feifei once I reunite with her,' Krune thought as he smiled involuntarily. Just the fact that all his family members could possess a Spiritual Incarnation brought a smile to his face. It meant that as long as even a fragment of them remained, they wouldn't die.

It would make him less worried about them.

After all, no father wished to see his family suffer. So, it did help him when they possessed a Spiritual Incarnation.

'I should reunite with them once I reach the Semi-God Realm. That way, I can travel long distances by flying and even be able to make a pathway to the lower Realms.' Krune grinned like an idiot before soon controlling himself.

He then coughed once to see Cultivator busy talking with his ring spirit. Soon, Cultivator sighed in relief as he said to Krune, "Thankfully, the Mashed Serpents have begun to move away from this place. So, we can move out pretty soon."

He then thought about something as he asked his ring spirit, "Can you search for other places with the Predominated Fruit?"

"Don't be greedy." She rolled her eyes as mockery was apparent in her tone. "Let's see if you can first find someone to give those three Predominated Fruits. Do it, and I'll point the way to a couple others."

"Look." He pointed at Krune and said, "If even he can snag a beautiful wife, I can too."

'This guy…' Veins popped on Krune's forehead as he heard that.