"Oh? How do you mean?"

Wu Guinan was instantly intrigued.

"A classic skill of plant-type summoned beasts: Rooting."

"You ever heard of it?"

Qian Shanshan showed off a smug smile, like Senior Quan's summoned beast was actually hers.

"Heard of it, yeah."

"Not just heard of it, I've seen it." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Wu Guinan's answer left her stunned.

"Huh?"

This was not the answer Qian Shanshan expected, but before she could say anything, the battle on the stage had already begun.

[Mm... grass!]

The straw man raised both arms, and a mass of thick, jade-like vines immediately grew out from its back.

Swish swish swish!

They stabbed down hard, drilling straight into the arena floor.

As mentioned before, for the reward of those 10 Points, Li Pu not only had to win, he had to win with style.

"Wow! That's Rooting!"

"The skill that can greatly boost a plant-type summoned beast's abilities, Rooting!"

"Just a measly straw man, and it actually knows something this powerful!"

"This is kinda making me see it in a new light, honestly."

Such a scene drew exclamations from all the spectators below.

[Bro!]

The Guigui Tree on the opposite side had actually received the same command, just half a beat slower in its movements.

It struck a flexing pose, then lifted its foot and stomped down hard.

Swish swish swish!

Its legs then turned into root-like tendrils, plunging into the arena floor.

"Wow, Rooting again."

"Rooting is Rooting, whatever, the novelty's long gone."

This time, though, the audience's reaction was completely different.

"..."

Quan Shuren truly hadn't expected the other side to know Rooting too—and the key thing was, they even cast it faster than he did.

That situation made his previously relaxed mindset tense up again.

Yeah, it was just a 0-turn LV30 straw man.

But the problem was, a straw man that could use Rooting was absolutely not your average straw man.

Coupled with the lessons from the first two rounds, even if he still didn't quite believe that straw man was that strong, Quan Shuren had to treat it with caution now.

Round 3—no room for failure.

Don't force him into a Round 4.

"I admit, that cripple's straw man knowing Rooting is pretty impressive."

"But Senior Quan's Guigui Tree has an even stronger trick."

Noticing the change in Quan Shuren's expression, Qian Shanshan suddenly felt her confidence coming back.

"Oh? How are you putting it this time?"

Wu Guinan's current mood was actually very similar to Qian Shanshan's.

Li Pu was clearly the one being cool as hell, yet he himself felt like he was the one putting on the act.

Honestly, the two of them were both way too immersed in this. The match on stage had nothing to do with either of them, yet they each projected themselves into it.

"A summoned beast that can summon summoned beasts—ever heard of that?"

Qian Shanshan lifted her chin slightly, thinking: this time I've got him.

She had noticed it: Senior Quan was about to use that move.

The Buff Tree Man Summoning Art.

Back then she had once been lucky enough to follow Senior Quan into a dungeon run, and due to all kinds of coincidences, the party got plunged into a huge crisis.

It was precisely Senior Quan's Guigui Tree that used the forest-covered mountains around them to summon a large number of treants and saved them.

That scene, that move—she could still remember it vividly to this day.

"Heard of it, yeah."

"Not just heard of it, I've seen it."

This time, Wu Guinan seemed determined to rain on her parade, totally not playing along.

"You'd better not tell me that straw man can summon too!"

Qian Shanshan felt this guy was just being stubborn with his mouth.

A straw man knowing Rooting was already amazing—she admitted that.

But if it could also summon, that'd just be ridiculous!

[Caocao!]

The shout that followed, however, slapped Qian Shanshan right across the face.

Two straw men woven entirely from jade-like vines—or vine men, really—just swaggered into existence right there on the arena!

"Wh-what kind of move is that?!"

"Is that a summon from a summoned beast?!"

"Damn, this straw man is nowhere near as simple as it looks!"

"I heard straw men are all pretty brainless, so why is this one so different?"

"Looks like even in the grass-man species, you can still have geniuses..."

"A genius grass man? That actually sounds kind of hype."

The audience's eyes were all drawn to the two vividly lifelike vine grass men.

[Brocon Buff Guy!]

But the next second, the buff tree on the opposite side switched to another muscle-showing pose and also summoned two smaller treemen to appear at his sides.

These two treemen likewise had a full-muscle build, just a bit bloated and clumsy.

If they were in a mountain forest, it could still use the terrain advantage to summon more.

But on this bare, bald arena, two was the limit.

"Uh..."

"Lame, it keeps copying the other side's moves."

"And one buff dude was gross enough, now it just added two more at once."

"Yeah, that's even grosser."

The audience's reaction was about the same as before, they even started roasting the buff guys' looks.

All-Treeman: "..."

All-Treeman: "..."

All-Treeman: "..."

If you asked All-Treeman how he felt right now, he honestly kind of wanted to cry but had no tears.

He was clearly just following the normal flow, yet he got slapped with the label of copycat—what an injustice.

But seriously, what the hell kind of grass man is that?

Why does it have so many weird-ass moves?

He'd caught some details just now—unlike Buff-Buff Tree directly summoning, those two vine grass men were basically improvised on the spot.

The problem is, to improvise two vine grass men in the blink of an eye and have them move that vividly and freely—just what kind of hellish training do you go through to pull that off?

His own Whippy-Whip Tree was already specialized in entangling, and even it couldn't reach that level!

"But just putting on a show isn't enough. Let me help test the goods for real."

Forcing down his inner shock, All-Treeman commanded Buff-Buff Tree to command those two mini buff treemen to charge.

[Brocon Buff Guy!] x2

[Vine Grass!] x2

And so the puppets on both sides instantly clashed into a brawl.

With this straightforward head‑on fight, the difference in their levels became clear.

You could say this was the first time since Li Pu got on stage that All-Treeman felt he had the upper hand.

Those two vine grass men weren't really a match for the mini buff treemen!

The grass man's overall abilities were much stronger now than before, but simultaneously weaving and controlling two vine grass men was already the limit of its [Entangle].

It's not that the jade-like vines' material was inferior to the opponent's muscled bark; the real gap lay in autonomous flexibility.

Put simply, it was still the same old problem.

Its brain power was lacking; it just couldn't control that much.

So for a while, the vine grass men were beaten back again and again.

[Grass your damn grass!]

Seeing this, the grass man was not having it.

If the little brothers get beaten up, that's the same as it getting beaten up—super disgraceful for a grass.

So if the little brothers can't win, what should you do?

[Grass grass grass!]

Without any hint from Li Pu, the grass man suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

It sank its waist and planted its stance, striking its usual pose.

[Chi-ao-cao chi-ao-cao chi-ao-cao chi-ao-cao...]

Something unfamiliar to everyone, like a spell, started muttering out of its mouth.

Just as the crowd was confused, that murmuring grew faster and faster, faster and faster.

"Something's wrong, stop it now!"

All-Treeman sensed something off and hurriedly had Buff-Buff Tree command the mini buff treemen to rush in and interrupt.

[Vine-grass them vines!] x2

But the two vine grass men desperately blocked the way, not letting the enemy approach.

And with Buff-Buff Tree rooted in place, it couldn't pull free right away and could only watch helplessly as the grass man… chanted itself into throwing up.

[Chi-ao-cao chi-ao-cao... *URGH!*]

A huge blob of eerie blue stuff surged out of its mouth.

At first no one could tell what it was, but when the eerie blue clump twisted and struggled upright, they finally saw clearly.

It was a grass man made entirely of ghostly blue flames, with a round little bird head… a grass man! A bird‑headed grass man!

If two little brothers couldn't win, then just add another little brother.

The grass man's philosophy was extremely simple.

[Grass‑chick OP!]

They then saw the bird‑headed grass man rush forward, shove aside the two obstructing vine grass men, and with a flurry of punches and kicks beat the two mini buff treemen until blue flames were burning all over their bodies.

[B-bro, Brocon Buff Guy?!] x2

The two mini buff treemen panicked and rolled around on the ground, but no matter what they did, they couldn't put the flames out.

...

...