# Chapter 18: The Kingdom of Strange Plants
Su Xiao drew the longsword from his waist, his movements very light. Baha and the others began to slowly back away from Su Xiao.
Su Xiao took a deep breath and suddenly slashed through the air.
*Clang.*
A blade aura flew out, heading straight to cut through Yabaye's tentacles. With a tearing sound, large swaths of pink tentacles were severed. The sharp blade aura forcibly carved a path five meters wide and a hundred meters long through the cluster of tentacles.
*Rustle, rustle, rustle...*
All of Yabaye's tentacles went into a "frenzy." They coiled toward the source of the slashing sound, heading straight for Su Xiao.
Su Xiao silently leaped backward. Large swaths of tentacles surged to his front and then stopped.
The severed tentacles on the ground let out a hissing sound and rapidly decomposed. At the same time, the roots of the cut tentacles began to regenerate new ones.
About two seconds later, all the tentacles Su Xiao had severed completed their regeneration. No wonder Baha had been blocked here. If "Yabaye" only had the two traits of paralysis + toughness, it definitely wouldn't have stopped Baha. This thing also had ultra-high-speed regeneration.
This was very troublesome. Even if Su Xiao could cut through large swaths of tentacles and find the path leading deeper into Kukuru Mountain, he would only have about two seconds to pass through this cluster of tentacles.
Just then, Baha leaped several times to distance himself from Killua and the others, making a gesture to Su Xiao.
Su Xiao nodded. Baha stomped his foot on the ground.
*Boom.*
A loud noise echoed throughout the entire cave. Yabaye's tentacles went into a frenzy again.
*Clang, clang, clang...*
Hundreds of crisscrossing blade auras flew out. Nearly two-thirds of the tentacles in the cave were severed by the blade auras. Seeing this, a hint of excitement appeared in Baha's eyes.
The pink tentacles fell to the ground. Su Xiao's gaze swept forward. With no tentacles blocking the view, the situation inside the cave was fully visible.
The inner part of the cave was a high slope. On the slope were many openings of various sizes. Although it was unknown where these openings led, this was the only path deeper into Kukuru Mountain.
Baha's goal was the very center of Kukuru Mountain. According to him, there was a very special plant there that grew using magma as nourishment. As for what Baha specifically wanted to do, he didn't explain in detail.
Once they reached that central point, Su Xiao's cooperation with Baha would end. What to do next would depend on the information given by the hidden mission.
The pink tentacles regenerated quickly, soon returning to their original state. The path forward had been found. Su Xiao signaled Baha and Amu to prepare.
Amu grabbed Baha's back with one large hand and Baha's feet with the other. Baha was holding Alluka in his arms.
When Amu was ready, Su Xiao slashed through the air.
*Clang.*
A blade aura flew out. One by one, the pink tentacles were severed. These tentacles had very poor resistance to slashing—an important piece of intelligence Baha had spent a long time researching.
As soon as the tentacles were severed, Amu threw Baha from his hands.
*Whoosh~*
Baha flew forward at high speed. Above him were the gradually regenerating tentacles; below him was a large area of potent paralytic toxin.
Baha soon reached the end of the cave and landed steadily. Su Xiao signaled Amu to continue.
A blade aura shot out. This time, Bubu Wang and Killua were thrown. Bubu Wang experienced the feeling of flying again. With previous experience, this guy's flying skills had noticeably improved—his tail wagged even more cheerfully.
Bubu Wang and Killua successfully arrived. After dodging the entangling pink tentacles, Su Xiao slashed out another blade aura.
As soon as he slashed out the blade aura, Su Xiao immediately grabbed Amu's arm and threw him toward the other side.
The tentacles regenerated. Amu soon disappeared from Su Xiao's sight. This time, only Su Xiao remained.
At this distance, jumping over wasn't difficult, but the forward speed while midair was too slow. He might be touched by the regenerating tentacles.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Xiao took out a large piece of fresh meat from his storage space—emergency food he had stockpiled. He threw the fresh meat toward the tentacle cluster.
The pink tentacles immediately wrapped around the large piece of fresh meat. As if they had never tasted such delicious food, all the pink tentacles began to curl and writhe.
A few pink tentacles extended to Su Xiao's front. These tentacles had already determined Su Xiao's position, but they didn't attack him—they just kept curling.
Su Xiao threw out another large piece of fresh meat. These tentacles, like small beasts waiting to be fed, immediately moved toward that piece of meat.
Su Xiao began throwing out pieces of fresh meat one by one. The pink tentacles seemed to have some intelligence. Not only did they not attack Su Xiao, but they stopped their tentacles in front of him, waiting to be fed.
After feeding them nearly half a ton of meat, Yabaye's tentacles began to go limp, looking like they were full and ready to sleep.
"Move aside."
Su Xiao spoke. The pink tentacles sensed the sound and regained some vitality. They extended to Su Xiao's front, seemingly unable to understand human language, but they still didn't attack Su Xiao.
Su Xiao hadn't noticed this before. After Baha passed through, Yabaye's outward hostility had greatly decreased. As for Su Xiao attacking it, it simply didn't care—because these tentacles were both hunting tools and bait to lure prey. They were meant to be eaten by prey. That sweet taste was an attractant.
When prey ate these tentacles, they would be paralyzed. Yabaye would then coil around the paralyzed prey and gradually digest it.
Su Xiao touched the paralytic toxin on the ground with his fingertip. A numbing sensation came from his fingertip. Strangely, this toxin had no corrosive properties.
When Su Xiao had tested it with an iron rod earlier, this pink liquid had shown extremely strong corrosiveness. Or rather, it was only corrosive to metal.
Growing in such a harsh environment, relying solely on catching creatures for food wasn't enough. Therefore, Yabaye had evolved the ability to decompose metal. Its venom was just intimidating—aside from its super-strong paralytic properties, there wasn't anything too dangerous about it.
After Baha left, the aura Yabaye emitted was very similar to a super-large Venus flytrap. Although its hunting methods were brutal, its nature wasn't ferocious.
In fact, Yabaye was even somewhat afraid of Su Xiao, who was covered in blood aura. As long as Su Xiao didn't actively attack it, it would never provoke Su Xiao.
This thing... was only aggressive toward Baha. That was very interesting.
Su Xiao took out several test tubes and collected some potent paralytic toxin from the ground. While collecting, he made some noise, but Yabaye was a very "zen" plant. After eating its fill, it just lazily drooped its tentacles, completely ignoring Su Xiao.
Su Xiao stepped into the shallow layer of toxin. As he had guessed, this toxin didn't erode his shoes.
As soon as Su Xiao walked into the tentacle cluster, the drooping pink tentacles moved away from him. The meaning was obvious: "I'll let you pass. Don't cut me anymore."
"Interesting plant. It seems to have quite a grudge against Baha. Baha definitely passed through here. What is he hiding? Or rather, what did he do here that absolutely no one can know?"
Su Xiao walked through the tentacle cluster. One by one, the tentacles moved aside on their own. When the last patch of tentacles in front of Su Xiao parted, he saw Baha and the others.
Killua was stunned by the sight of Su Xiao walking through the tentacle cluster.
"How... did you do that?"
No one was more incredulous than Baha. He had nearly died here many times.
"Very simple. Feed them until they're full. Baha, when you went deep into Kukuru Mountain before, it definitely wasn't these tentacles that stopped you."
Su Xiao directly called it out. If they started suspecting and guarding against each other now, there was no point in continuing forward. It would be more reliable to turn back.
"That's right. Before reaching here, there was some information I wouldn't reveal. I've gone deeper into Kukuru Mountain before. What really stopped me was another type of plant. Since we can get this deep, I'll tell you all the known intelligence about Kukuru Mountain.
Here, what's truly terrifying isn't the harsh environment, but the plants with biological traits. The interior of Kukuru Mountain is a kingdom of strange plants. And I... am looking for their 'king.' The so-called king is the most critical link in their ecological balance. As for this pink plant, it's called Yabaye—the gentlest and easiest to deal with among all the strange plants.
If we can find that plant, the ecological balance of the strange plants here will be completely broken. Then we only need to forcefully open a path through the rock to leave Kukuru Mountain. I did conceal the situation here, but if we can find that plant, we can leave Kukuru Mountain within three days. I guarantee this with my personal life. A dying man like me has no need to use you. If I were really using you, once you left Kukuru Mountain alive, my descendants would bear the consequences for me. That is the result I least want to see."
ps: (Guests came to the house, very noisy. Only two chapters today.)