Chapter 1842: Golden Lotus

This wasn't the first time Xu Yang had uttered these words to an opponent. To date, every enemy who heard him say them had met their demise.

Xu Yang was never one to lie; if the words came from his mouth, he would surely follow through.

"Hahaha, you're quite confident in your abilities, young man. But you can only blame your own ignorance; you're like a frog in a well, unaware of how vast this world truly is. I've seen countless powerful martial artists come to these Lost Mountains. What good are even Martial God-level experts? As long as they dare to enter this true labyrinth, no one ever gets out alive. Today, I'll see what makes you bold enough to utter such arrogant words to me."

It had to be admitted that the creature extending its massive tentacles was indeed a formidable opponent. As a top plant-type expert guarding the entrance to the Lost Mountains, blocking these targets was no difficult task for it.

More and more tentacles spread out, seemingly from everywhere, emerging from the depths of the surrounding mountains and forests. Each tentacle moved with a distinct pattern and trajectory, making it even more challenging for Xu Yang and his two companions to break through.

No matter which direction the three moved, they would instantly be entangled by a tentacle corresponding to that trajectory.

As the overwhelming cover completely enveloped Xu Yang and his two companions, it seemed increasingly difficult for them to break free.

Long Kun was the first to lose heart, as he seemed to have a touch of trypophobia.

Long Kun feared individual, aggressive cultivators the least, but whenever he encountered enemies that relied on overwhelming numbers and entanglement as their primary combat method, he would become utterly flustered.

On the other side, Po Xiao, a top assassin whose greatest strength lay in her agility and speed, found herself unable to find a temporary foothold amidst the multitude of tentacles, no matter how fast she moved.

This was why she was unable to move herself to a safe area within such a short time.

Both instinctively moved closer to Xu Yang, knowing they lacked the ability to protect themselves when true danger descended and that their only option was to rely on him.

As the strongest and true leader among the three, it was clear that Xu Yang's task was to forge a path to safety with his unparalleled strength.

"Boss, do you think you can put this old guy in his place? Because the two of us certainly can't." Long Kun swallowed hard, looking around in dismay. As time rapidly ticked by, the surrounding tentacles grew denser and more numerous, until the trio's entire field of vision was enclosed within a sealed space of dense tentacles.

Their outward vision was completely blocked. Without any sight, they couldn't find a safe spot to evade the tentacle attacks, meaning that, theoretically, they were completely trapped in that location.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yang maintained a calm expression, as if such a scene posed no real threat to him—and indeed, it didn't.

Xu Yang wasn't even in a hurry to immediately dismantle the tentacle blockade. Instead, he used his mental energy to guide the minds of Po Xiao and Long Kun.

"Actually, this current situation, if my judgment is correct, is merely child's play compared to the more treacherous obstacles throughout the Lost Mountains. With your individual strengths, breaking out of this encirclement should be an easy feat. The reason you haven't been able to do so is because, when faced with such a vast encirclement, you passively altered your combative mindset. Simply put, if you were currently surrounded by dozens or even hundreds of martial artists, no matter how much fear you felt, you would still instinctively pick up your weapons and gather enough martial power to resist. So why, when faced with plant-based encircling forces, is your instinctive thought to evade their movements? You don't realize that in a confrontation of equal strength, if you switch from an offensive mindset to a passive one from the very beginning, you will have no chance of breaking free when facing this type of plant-based encirclement. The more you face such a situation, the more decisive you must be. Because every second you waste is equivalent to allowing your enemies to accumulate more strength."

As soon as Xu Yang finished speaking, he immediately demonstrated his point. With a gentle wave of his palm, the familiar dark golden light once again coalesced. Po Xiao, for her part, said nothing, as she always chose to trust Xu Yang unconditionally.

It was Long Kun beside him, however, who couldn't help but voice his doubts when he saw Xu Yang still intended to use the Ling Xu divine artifact against the current situation.

"Boss, are you sure you still want to use this thing to deal with so many tentacles? If my judgment is correct, these tentacles seem to be endless in number. Even if you could perfectly cut through them all, a new, larger batch would instantly replenish them. It will absolutely not let us create a gap and escape."

However, Xu Yang said nothing more, maintaining a smile on his face. The dark golden light in his palm began to rapidly change its structure under the infusion of his mental energy.

This time, the Ling Xu divine artifact did not maintain its previous form of a sharp, pointed sword. Instead, in an extremely short time, it transformed into an incredibly brilliant golden lotus. Every intricate pattern on each petal was composed of countless dark golden needles, one after another.

"This is... a hidden weapon!" Po Xiao finally couldn't help but speak, utterly stunned once more by Xu Yang's maneuver. As a former top assassin of the Heavenly Sect, she knew all too well what hidden weapons meant to a master killer.

Xu Yang did not follow the path of an assassin, yet he could still achieve such a form transformation with the unpredictable Ling Xu divine artifact, granting him the instant assassination capability of a top-tier killer in a short time.

"Exactly, I knew you'd be quite interested in this," Xu Yang said with a smile, glancing at Po Xiao, while the actions in his palm continued without pause.

Soon, the lotus revealed its complete form.

Although it possessed the beautiful outline of a plant, anyone could tell that the lotus in Xu Yang's palm was, without a doubt, the most terrifying nightmare for any martial arts expert.