As long as he spread out his spiritual power, Lin Zichen's figure would quickly be detected, and he could capture him and bring him back to the cult.

However, when his spiritual power had completely covered the area within a kilometer radius, he failed to find any trace of Lin Zichen.

What was going on?!

How could he not sense his presence?!

The hunched figure in the mask was baffled, unable to comprehend how Lin Zichen had vanished completely.

After the initial confusion came urgency.

Lin Zichen was his cash cow, and he couldn't accept that the duck within his grasp had flown away.

"A person can't just suddenly disappear!"

"He must still be around!"

"He must be hiding somewhere!"

Thinking thus, the masked figure once again concentrated and spread out his spiritual power.

This time, he wasn't just dispersing spiritual power to cover the surrounding area.

Instead, he used his spiritual power to control the towering trees around him, shaking them wildly in an attempt to find Lin Zichen.

Regrettably, no matter how much he shook the trees, Lin Zichen's figure remained elusive.

It seemed as if Lin Zichen had already left the area.

And not as he had suspected, hiding behind or atop one of the towering trees.

"He managed to escape?"

"Why should he be able to escape?!"

"If I weren't set on capturing him alive, he would have had no chance to flee from my hands!"

The more the masked figure thought about it, the angrier he became, and he began to violently whip the huge trees around him with his controlled vines as an outlet for his frustration.

In just a moment, he had uprooted dozens of the giant trees, which crashed into the water with loud bangs, splashing water high into the air.

He couldn't accept the fact that Lin Zichen had escaped.

As a Rare-level Fighter, being outsmarted by an Ordinary-level Creature was an intolerable humiliation!

After venting his anger,

the masked figure calmed down slightly.

He surged out of the water and landed on one of the towering trees that had not been knocked down by the vines.

While surveying his surroundings for Lin Zichen,

he fell into contemplation, pondering why Lin Zichen, if he could swim underwater faster and evade the senses, hadn't used those two abilities from the start?

After a brief reflection, he realized a possibility.

Lin Zichen had refrained from using those two skills to escape initially, aiming to lure him and buy time for the others to get away.

Now that he had bought enough time, he no longer concealed his true strength and instantly broke free and escaped.

Upon understanding this,

the masked figure didn't waste time and swiftly leaped towards the location where Shen Qinghan and the others had been.

He thought that after escaping, Lin Zichen would likely return to regroup with Shen Qinghan and the others.

If he went back to pursue Shen Qinghan now, there was a good chance he would encounter Lin Zichen.

"Wait!"

"That's not right!"

"I might have made a mistake!"

The masked figure had barely sprinted a few hundred meters when he suddenly stopped at the top of a towering tree.

Another possibility crossed his mind.

He suspected that Lin Zichen hadn't gone back to meet up with Shen Qinghan and the others.

Instead, he might have gone to rescue Yuan Dongzhi and free the Rare-level Fighter.

This suspicion was not baseless.

Firstly, Lin Zichen could control vines with his spiritual power.

Secondly, the direction Lin Zichen had fled was along the surge of the waves, and that direction happened to be where Yuan Dongzhi was trapped.

Would Lin Zichen return to meet up with his teammates?

Or would he go rescue Yuan Dongzhi?

After a moment of thought, the masked figure concluded that it was more likely Lin Zichen would attempt to rescue Yuan Dongzhi.

So without further thought, he immediately turned and sprinted towards Yuan Dongzhi's location.

...

On the other side.

Lin Zichen swiftly swam towards the direction of the approaching waves.

At this moment, he did not know whether he had successfully shaken off the pursuit of the hunchbacked-masked man.

He only knew that he could no longer sense the existence of the hunchbacked-masked man.

He guessed that he should be safe for now.

But it was only a temporary safety.

After all, the hunchbacked-masked man was a powerful Rare-level Fighter and might have some special means of tracking people; he could catch up again later.

He must take advantage of this gap to find the trapped Yuan Dongzhi and rescue her.

Only if Yuan Dongzhi was saved could he and the others be saved.

Otherwise, before rescue from the military district could arrive, they would probably all be found by the hunchbacked-masked man one by one, and then either be killed or taken away.

About half a minute later.

Lin Zichen, who was rapidly swimming underwater, vaguely sensed Yuan Dongzhi's presence.

He surfaced and looked in the direction from where the presence came.

Immediately, what came into view was a gigantic tree cage hundreds of meters tall.

"Found it!"

A thought flickered in Lin Zichen's mind.

He then immediately dove back underwater and swam as fast as he could towards the tree cage.

About ten seconds later.

Lin Zichen swam a distance of over a thousand meters and finally entered inside the tree cage.

He quickly surfaced and saw Yuan Dongzhi, who usually held a commanding presence, now entangled in strange blood-red vines and suspended mid-air, completely unable to move and looking extremely wretched.

Seeing this scene, his first thought was to issue a command to the blood-red vines wrapped around Yuan Dongzhi: Unleash!

Under the effect of [Forest Lord].

The blood-red vines around Yuan Dongzhi, upon hearing the command "Unleash" from Lin Zichen, obediently loosened a bit.

Due to Lin Zichen's low spiritual power, the vines only loosened slightly and were not as constricting as before.

However, for Yuan Dongzhi, this was enough.

In the moment when the blood-red vines slightly loosened, Yuan Dongzhi's Qi-Blood erupted instantly, and with a fierce effort, she broke free from all the blood-red vines.

She did not connect the sudden loosening of the vines to Lin Zichen, thinking it was due to her own struggling, and that she had finally broken free from the restraints of the blood-red vines.

"Principal Yuan!"

Seeing Yuan Dongzhi successfully escape, Lin Zichen shouted out to her.

Yuan Dongzhi, following the voice, looked at him, her expression a bit surprised, "How did you get here, when did you arrive?"

Like the hunchbacked-masked man, she could not sense Lin Zichen, who was using [Natural Camouflage].

Lin Zichen explained, "I was just being chased by the Ninth Elder of the Divine Plant Cult, relying on my excellent swimming ability I escaped all the way here, and just happened to find you."

He did not tell Yuan Dongzhi that it was he who had saved her and helped loosen the entanglement of the blood-red vines.

Biological Level could be revealed, spiritual power could also be revealed, but the ability to control vines must absolutely not be exposed.

With disbelief on her face, Yuan Dongzhi said, "You actually managed to evade the pursuit of the Ninth Elder of the Divine Plant Cult?"

No sooner had she spoken than a series of loud whooshing sounds suddenly came from outside the tree cage.

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

Yuan Dongzhi, upon hearing the noise, immediately spread her spiritual power to sense what was happening.

When she sensed that the hunchbacked-masked man was rapidly approaching the tree cage, her face changed slightly.

"The Ninth Elder of the Divine Plant Cult is coming, let's go!"

After speaking, Yuan Dongzhi leapt into the water, grabbed Lin Zichen in her arms, and with her powerful swimming ability, fled with him underwater.

She knew she was no match for the hunchbacked-masked man and was very clear that escaping with Lin Zichen was the right choice.

...

PS: Holding out my bowl, begging for monthly votes and recommendation tickets!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read