Five minutes later, a large expanse of shattered weeping flowers lay scattered inside the cave, and Maha leaned against the wall, blood gushing from his ear canals.

Killua, held in A Mu’s arms, slowly woke up, confusedly looking around. Soon, he saw Maha standing amidst the bodies of the weeping flowers.

Killua broke free from A Mu’s embrace and quickly ran to Maha, grabbing his sleeve.

"Great-grandfather, how are you? Can you... still hear me?"

Seeing Maha’s current state, Killua, although with tears in his eyes, didn’t cry out like an ordinary kid.

"I’m okay."

Maha smiled and patted Killua’s head.

"Really... okay?"

Killua was very perceptive and sensed something was wrong. Indeed, Maha hadn’t heard a word of what Killua said before, and during his previous visits to Kukuru Mountain, he hadn’t encountered such a large number of weeping flowers.

Maha’s left ear was now completely deaf, and his right ear’s hearing was at least 30% impaired, but after some time, the hearing in his right ear should recover somewhat.

"Let’s continue."

Maha nodded to Su Xiao and made a discreet gesture to indicate: ’I’ve temporarily lost my hearing.’

Su Xiao didn’t speak, just nodded and tapped the stone wall with his fingers to convey a certain meaning.

"Will there be other weeping flowers appearing?"

Su Xiao asked.

"Based on past experiences, they won’t appear in large groups again."

Although Maha was completely deaf now, he conversed with Su Xiao as if nothing was amiss, and seeing this, Killua breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don’t stray more than two meters from A Mu."

Su Xiao’s gaze turned to Killua, and for some reason, Killua shivered instinctively. He silently moved beside A Mu, who picked up Killua and placed him on his shoulder, still holding Yaluga in his arms.

Su Xiao and Maha walked ahead, and Maha was right; large groups of weeping flowers did not appear again.

The weeping flowers were a troublesome plant, even Maha lost his hearing dealing with them, though that was visible damage. His internal injuries were far more severe than losing his hearing.

Droplets of blood seeped from the corner of Maha’s mouth, dripping onto the ground. Behind him, Killua saw the bloodstains but remained silent, feeling somewhat downcast; the feeling of being a burden was definitely unpleasant.

Maha brought Yaluga and Killua for an important reason, no doubt; or perhaps, they were a form of insurance. Maha knew that his chance to enter the depths of Kukuru Mountain might only occur once, so he had to consider every possible scenario.

The group continued marching forward, encountering a few small clusters of weeping flowers along the way, which Maha dealt with, stating that Su Xiao needed to conserve his strength for the upcoming challenging passage.

After about ten minutes, the group reached the cave’s end, and ahead lay a dead end.

Blocking their way wasn’t a stone wall but a dark green vine tightly coiled together.

This vine burrowed into the stone wall, each as thick as an arm, and from the exposed part, one could tell this was no small thing; it seemed to be wrapping around something.

"This is the Bayira Vine; it completely encases the central region of Kukuru Mountain, leaving no blind spots. According to my observation, the vine ball formed by this thing has at least a ten-kilometer diameter. You could think of it as the ’king’s guard’; it has no offensive capability."

Maha pressed his hand against the ’Bayira Vine,’ a look of determination on his face as he exerted force.

A crackling sound emitted, causing dense cracks to appear on the vine, which began to heal just seconds later.

"It’s this that has truly stopped me. I once tried to carve a path through the vine, but failed."

Maha clearly wanted Su Xiao to help him carve a path to the center.

This was undoubtedly labor-intensive and a time-consuming ’project.’ If the speed of destruction wasn’t fast enough, it would be impossible to punch a passage through the Bayira Vine.

Pure destructive power is something Maha could manage, but after carving a path, continuous destruction would be needed to avoid getting trapped by the regenerating Bayira Vine and ultimately crushed to death.

"I’ve got oxygen and food ready, let’s begin."

Maha’s hearing in his right ear noticeably improved.

"You all step back."

Su Xiao warmed up his shoulders, drew the Dragon Slash, and removed his upper garments.

Clang, clang, clang...

Su Xiao slashed at the ’Bayira Vine’ several times, causing a shower of vines to fly, carving a three-meter wide, one-meter deep, uneven passage ahead.

After these slashes, Su Xiao felt firsthand how tough the ’Bayira Vine’ was. He needed to exert at least seventy percent of his strength to cut through the vine, and this was still a long-running project.

Su Xiao continued to slash ahead, while Maha cleared away the shredded vines, as the group gradually penetrated into the vine ball’s interior.

Though Su Xiao could carve through the vine, the Bayira Vine would gradually regenerate, meaning that as long as Su Xiao stopped opening the path, they would be trapped inside.

The interior of the Bayira Vine Ball was a nightmare for those with claustrophobia. After carving the vine passage ahead, the vines behind would gradually regenerate, forming an enclosed space.

An hour later, Su Xiao held a sword in his right hand and a compass in his left.

Continuously swinging the sword for an hour wasn’t physically exhausting for Su Xiao. If in battle, such swinging would deplete much of his stamina, but now was different; now just mechanical slashing was needed, without having to consider angles or enemy positions.

Even so, Su Xiao couldn’t last much longer, as each slash required seventy percent strength. With his 82 points in Physical attributes, he could only last about 40 hours.

Heaven alone knows how thick this vine ball was; large vine-like plants often had thickness of several kilometers — it wasn’t impossible; this was no ordinary plant, but an exotic creature from an unknown region.

While slashing, Su Xiao checked the progress of the hidden task, completing the first link upon reaching the Bayira Vine’s interior.

[Hidden Task: The Curse of the Zoldyck Family (Second Link)]

Difficulty Level: Lv.26

Task Description: Reach the center of Kukuru Mountain with Maha Zoldyck.

Task Information: Upon reaching the center of Kukuru Mountain, the final link of the hidden task will be triggered.

Task Deadline: 3 natural days.

Task Reward: 1 true attribute point, 30,000 Paradise coins.

Task Penalty: None.

... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He’d obtained a light gold suitcase, which was highly valuable, guaranteed to contain a piece of light gold suit. If it was the sought-after light gold suit, its value might even exceed Golden Quality equipment.

The second link’s reward was equally enticing; just advancing rewarded 1 true attribute point + 30,000 Paradise coins.

Su Xiao slashed at the vines ahead, continuing on.

Twenty hours later.

Drip, drip...

Sweat dripped down Su Xiao’s cheeks as Maha steadied himself against the vine wall, noticeably shaky. Opening the path wasn’t solely Su Xiao’s task; Maha occasionally alternated with him.