Chapter 351 – Spatial Defense

Zhizhi, enormous as a colossus, crouched beside a small Blue Essence Fruit plant, tentatively reaching out several times without knowing how to pick it without damaging the fruit.

“Let me do it!” Mo Lan said, using the Earth-Turning Spell to dig up the entire Blue Essence Fruit plant along with its root system, then floated the whole thing over with the Levitation Spell and tossed it onto the Book of Cards.

“Done! About a thousand meters to the front-right, there are two Intermediate Azure Gold-Antlered Deer. Zhizhi, go test your skills.

“Azure Gold-Antlered Deer are a rather rare dual-element magical beast. They can ride the wind over short distances, and their antlers are wreathed in metallic elemental force, making them exceptionally sharp.

“Be careful not to let them escape, and watch out for the antlers.”

“Zhi!” At the mention of a fight, Zhizhi immediately perked up with excitement and strode off in the direction Mo Lan had indicated.

It started out charging aggressively, but after a few steps, it lightened its footfall instead.

When it spotted the two Azure Gold-Antlered Deer far off in the grassland, it immediately used its spatial teleportation ability.

The teleportation distance wasn’t far enough, so it teleported twice in succession. The Azure Gold-Antlered Deer had just noticed Zhizhi and were preparing to flee when, in the next instant, Zhizhi was right in their faces, grabbing an antler in each hand.

Tucking them under its arms and twisting the antlers with a wrench, both Azure Gold-Antlered Deer had their necks snapped.

“Zhizhizhi!” Mistress! For you!

Zhizhi held up the two Azure Gold-Antlered Deer — heads dangling, eyes frozen wide in death — and excitedly presented them to Mo Lan for praise.

Mo Lan, who had been sitting securely in the hollow of Zhizhi’s neck with Void Blade at the ready, prepared to step in if Zhizhi found itself outmatched, silently switched her magic to the Levitation Spell and floated the two deer up.

One would serve as card-crafting material, and the other went into the spatial ring as cooking ingredients.

“Zhizhi, you’re amazing! Even I might not be able to kill two Intermediate Azure Gold-Antlered Deer so cleanly!”

“~(`)~”

Zhizhi was bashful for a second at the praise, then asked her eagerly: “Zhizhi, zhizhizhi…”

Mistress, where else are there magical beasts?

Mo Lan also wanted to get a sense of its actual combat capabilities, so she used Wind Sensing to probe the area:

“In the Ironthorne Woods to the northwest, there’s the scent of a Woodgrain Python. I’m not sure of its exact rank, but adult Woodgrain Pythons are Advanced magical beasts. Their main magical abilities are all invested in camouflage — only their physical bodies are particularly formidable, and they’re not venomous.

“Zhizhi, any concerns?”

“Zhi!” None!

Zhizhi bounded off toward the northwest.

When they reached the edge of the Ironthorne Woods, Mo Lan called Zhizhi to a halt: “Wait a moment, let me dig up an Ironthorne Tree first!”

Ironthorne Trees were also an Intermediate magical plant!

Upgrading a wand with Alchemy Magic could make use of Ironthorne Tree wood.

Before she could dig one up herself, Zhizhi had already yanked out a thigh-thick Ironthorne Tree for her: “Zhi~” Here!

Mo Lan’s card-crafting material inventory gained yet another magical material.

Under the influence of Path Clearing, the Ironthorne Trees all retracted their barbs, and Zhizhi swaggered right in.

After wandering around for a while: “Zhi?” Where’s the snake?

Mo Lan glanced at the leafless vine on the large tree beside them that had quietly cracked open an eye. Clearly, reconnaissance was Zhizhi’s weak point.

“In the tree!” The moment Mo Lan’s warning left her lips, the Woodgrain Python disguised as a vine on the tree suddenly erupted into action, lunging with jaws wide open.

The snake wasn’t venomous, so to test Zhizhi’s skills, Mo Lan didn’t intervene immediately.

Zhizhi’s reflexes were quick too — it raised an arm to block while leaping aside.

The Woodgrain Python had been lying in wait for the perfect moment, and its strike was timed flawlessly. It clamped down right on Zhizhi’s arm. With the Woodgrain Python’s bite force, a single chomp like that could pierce through even an arm thicker than a tree trunk.

But a flash of silver light rippled across Zhizhi’s arm, and the Woodgrain Python’s bite met nothing but air.

Mo Lan watched — the python had clearly bitten down on the arm, yet it was as if it had chomped on empty air. Zhizhi’s arm simply slipped free with no resistance whatsoever.

The first exchange happened in the blink of an eye, and Mo Lan hadn’t gotten a clear look.

The second time — when Zhizhi charged in on the offensive and allowed the Woodgrain Python to coil around it — she could see everything clearly.

The Woodgrain Python appeared to have wrapped itself around Zhizhi’s body, but in reality, the spatial power emanating from Zhizhi had spatially separated the python from its own body.

So not only did the Woodgrain Python’s constriction fail to harm Zhizhi in the slightest, it had absolutely no binding force on it either.

Instead, it gave Zhizhi the opportunity to seize the snake. Zhizhi simply wound up its fists and unleashed a barrage of savage punches against the serpent’s body.

The Woodgrain Python was, after all, an Advanced magical beast with formidable physical defenses of its own. Wood-element energy coated its body, blocking a significant portion of the attacks.

However, its intelligence ultimately wasn’t high enough. It kept tightening its coils single-mindedly, trying to crush Zhizhi into submission, never realizing that Zhizhi was standing there letting itself be constricted precisely for the convenience of pummeling it.

One side was dealing effective damage; the other was dealing none. Even though the effective attacks were largely absorbed, under Zhizhi’s relentless onslaught, the advantage gradually accumulated.

By the time the Woodgrain Python’s spinal bones had been hammered to pieces, it finally realized its constriction was doing nothing to this giant ape. Frightened of Zhizhi’s fists, it began trying to escape.

It could slither through the forest at tremendous speed, every plant parting before it without impediment.

An ordinary pursuer without Path Clearing and without exceptional movement speed would find it nearly impossible to catch a Woodgrain Python that was determined to flee.

But as luck would have it, Zhizhi had teleportation. One teleport and it appeared directly above the Woodgrain Python, landing astride its body and raining a storm of punches down on its head.

The thunderous smacking sounds were so brutal that even Mo Lan couldn’t bear to watch.

After a while, a Woodgrain Python with a thoroughly flattened head and body was held aloft by Zhizhi and presented to her.

Mo Lan had originally planned to keep the snake meat for eating, but she tossed the entire serpent to the Book of Cards instead. Thankfully, this kind of superficial physical damage didn’t matter to the Book of Cards. After analysis, it could still produce the corresponding card, and Mo Lan managed to obtain a fresh Woodgrain Python Meat Card.

But right now, no amount of python meat was as important as Zhizhi’s spatial defense ability.

Mo Lan herself knew Spatial Magic too, and Spatial Shield had an effect similar to Zhizhi’s spatial defense ability.

But this defensive ability had limitations.

Zhizhi was only an Intermediate magical beast. Even if its spatial power was impressive, it shouldn’t have been able to block an Advanced magical beast’s attacks so effortlessly.

She felt certain there was something about it she hadn’t yet figured out.

“Zhizhi, try using that defense you used against the Woodgrain Python — right here on your shoulder!”

Zhizhi didn’t understand why, but that didn’t stop it from complying. A layer of silvery spatial power immediately appeared on its shoulder.

Mo Lan reached out to touch it. Visually, her hand appeared to be touching its shoulder, but in reality, a layer of spatial power separated them.

Yet that layer of spatial power wasn’t completely blocking her — it felt more like a gateway into another space. She pressed slightly harder, only to feel her force being deflected away.