Chapter 1079: Adaptation and Evolution
Zhou Ying didn't dare to touch the flaming threads. Jade-green leaves emerged from her body. She stepped on them, twisting her body in mid-air and avoiding the golden fluid.
The golden fluid landed on the ground, which sizzled as golden flames erupted from the fluid and burned it through.
The ground of the world of blazing sun was highly heat-resistant, having been tempered by veins of lava underground. Even lava was unable to melt the ground—but that ground melted in an instant after being subjected to the spit of the golden bird.
Just how hot was that spit?
The golden bird flapped its wings and attacked once more. Zhou Ying's body erupted with natural and life energy as she kneaded the air and tossed it toward the golden bird. Leaves danced in the air and fluttered as Zhou Ying stepped over them to dodge the golden bird's attacks.
Unfortunately, the leaves that Zhou Ying created all around her weren't particularly resistant to heat, and they began to burn almost immediately.
Perhaps the leaves might have been able to resist the heat elsewhere in the world of blazing sun, but where Zhou Ying fought with the golden bird, the heat was at least a dozen times more intense.
The golden bird swooped down toward Zhou Ying.
With a wave of her hand, Zhou Ying sent large numbers of roots spearing out of the ground, intending to restrict the golden bird's movements.
However, with a flap of its wings, it smashed the wood dragons to pieces and lit them aflame.
Zhou Ying continued to jump through the air. In a matter of moments, she had leapt up to the golden bird's head. She sliced down with her dagger, beheading the bird.
The head fell to the dark red ground. Even so, the golden bird was an existence similar to Zhou Ying, with immense vitality. It didn't die despite losing its head. Within moments, a new head grew out of its neck.
Zhou Ying sighed. "I should have called Li Feng and Fang Yi over..."
Now, however, she had no choice but to keep fighting. As the golden bird swooped toward her again, Zhou Ying summoned another group of wood dragons. "[Avatar of the Fae: Worldbound Enclosure]!"
Giant wood dragons shot out from the earth, forming a sea of roots that drowned the golden bird.
The golden bird dove into the roots even as Zhou Ying imbued them with her vitality and life energy, green motes like fireflies hovering over the sea of roots.
With Zhou Ying's infusion of energy, the roots began to grow furiously. If the golden bird could speak, it would surely mock Zhou Ying's ridiculous actions and her wasteful expenditure of energy.
Against the golden bird's heat, no quantity of roots would make a difference.
However, Zhou Ying hadn't gone crazy, and she wasn't a fool.
The golden bird failed to dash out of the thicket within moments. As more and more roots grew out of the ground, the golden bird's flight became surprisingly beleaguered.
The golden bird could hardly believe that it had been trapped by this sea of roots.
Zhou Ying smiled. "You're very strong, I have to admit. Ordinary plant life can barely survive in this cursed environment."
The only plant life in existence in the world of blazing sun was the golden mulberry tree, a miracle of life. The stubborn growth of the golden mulberry tree in this absurdly inhospitable environment had endowed it with great boons and the strength of a superior king.
Zhou Ying walked unsteadily toward the golden bird, somewhat dazed because of how much energy she had just expended.
"Your strength counters plant life, so my manipulation won't ever be a problem for you—that's what you think, at least."
What Zhou Ying had done had drained so much of her energy that even her face had turned pale.
The golden bird found to its shock that even its solar flames were having a hard time burning away the roots that enclosed it, that the roots almost seemed to be drawing on the same strength it did.
"You underestimate the strength of plants," Zhou Ying finished. She struck with her dagger, giving the golden bird a deep cut despite its futile struggles. "Plants will evolve in even the most adversarial environments, becoming stronger and more resilient in order to adapt to their surroundings, just like you! And since plant life like you managed to survive and even thrive in the world of blazing sun, there's no reason other plant life can't follow in your footsteps."
The reason Zhou Ying had been madly supplying those roots with her innate vitality was to accelerate their evolution and growth.
Ordinary roots would have withered and died, but with this infusion of energy from Zhou Ying, they were given a chance to evolve. In the end, they evolved into roots that could withstand the ridiculous heat of the world of blazing sun.
More importantly, Zhou Ying had managed to absorb some energy from the golden bird when she managed to behead it. That attack hadn't been futile; Zhou Ying had obtained some of its energy by doing so, and that energy proved to be a catalyst for the roots' evolution.
In the end, she forcefully created roots and vines that were able to survive in the world of blazing sun, highly heat-resistant just like the golden bird itself.
In some sense, the golden bird was the architect of its own downfall.
Zhou Ying slashed rapidly with her dagger, bisecting the golden bird apart.
Even so, the golden bird's monstrous vitality allowed both halves of its body to keep struggling. Zhou Ying wouldn't be able to kill the bird in this manner, and she hadn't been intending to do so. She merely wanted to restrict its motion.
Zhou Ying's palm came in contact with the golden bird's body. Golden energy flooded into her, scorching and scalding, as though she were being brought toward the sun's core. The agony was nearly unbearable.
Zhou Ying's hair flared green in the golden light, shifting in a breeze that didn't exist. Her clothes were completely burned off her body.
The golden leaves all around her shone blindingly like miniature suns. Something seemed about to sprout from her body; the roots she created all gathered close...
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