138: Aquatic plants recognize their owner

"Ah! It hurts so much! Ah! What is happening?" Charlie looked at the area where he had been entangled by the sky-piercing ghost vine waterweed; it was already a bloody mess, and green blood quickly soaked through his clothes.

"Let's go back first; we should bandage your wounds before doing anything else!" The old man placed Charlie on the Golden Rainbow Flame Divine Beast and led the Golden Rainbow Flame Divine Beast towards the wooden house.

Upon returning to the wooden house, Charlie lifted his clothes, and his face instantly turned deathly pale. He saw that the demon scales on his body, which were usually very tough, had been easily ripped off by the sky-piercing ghost vine waterweed.

"This waterweed is actually so powerful. Now I can't even get near the surface of the lake. What should I do?" Charlie said, looking very worried while wrapping bandages around his wounds.

"Hmph, you had better worry about your wounds first. Your scales have been ripped off; I think you'll need to rest for a year or so!" The old man said, a look of disappointment appearing on his withered face.

"I can't wait a year or so, I can't even wait a single day! I'm going to go retrieve the Iron-Scaled Crocodile right now!" Charlie's face flushed red, and he said this excitedly as he started to walk outside.

"That's enough. You were just injured; you should rest for the night and think of a solution tomorrow!" Seeing Charlie's reaction, a trace of approval appeared in the old man's eyes.

Early the next morning, Charlie arrived at the edge of the Rotten Lake. Looking at the carcasses of the Iron-Scaled Crocodiles in the lake, he stood there blankly, not knowing what to do.

"Hmph! Hmph! Hmph! So there's no way?" The old man chuckled and extended his withered palm. Charlie felt a powerful force emanating from the old man's palm, and he saw the carcasses of the Iron-Scaled Crocodiles in the lake being sucked up into the sky by the old man's power.

With a casual flick of his hand, the old man sent dozens of Iron-Scaled Crocodile carcasses falling onto the lake shore.

"That's amazing! The old master's energy is truly powerful!" Charlie raised his eyebrows and happily went to move the Iron-Scaled Crocodile carcasses.

The scales of the Iron-Scaled Crocodile were very tough, and ordinary needle and thread could not penetrate them. Fortunately, the old man could condense his energy to be as thin as a needle, directly piercing through the scales of the Iron-Scaled Crocodile to craft a full suit of armor. After outfitting Charlie, he returned to the edge of the Rotten Lake.

"This time, I will definitely find the mad corpse divine scale, hahahaha!" Charlie laughed ecstatically. Looking at his equipment, his confidence increased a little more.

"Alright, put on the water repelling pearl too!" The old man took out the pellet-sized bead. With a slight exertion of force from his palm, a purple energy was injected into it, and the water repelling pearl instantly became larger than a human head.

The old man then tapped the bead, and the water repelling pearl fit over Charlie's head. Charlie leaped and jumped into the Rotten Lake.

"Wow, it really lives up to the name Rotten Lake; it really stinks here! In such a large lake, where on earth is the mad corpse divine scale?" Charlie moved clumsily in the lake water. Fortunately, he had the water repelling pearl, otherwise, he, a landlubber, would never have been able to get into the water.

The sky-piercing ghost vine waterweed quickly entangled him. Clad in the armor made of Iron-Scaled Crocodile scales, Charlie wove in and out of the waterweeds, struggling to search for traces of the mad corpse divine scale.

In the pitch-black lake water, fortunately, the light from the water repelling pearl could illuminate the surroundings. Just as Charlie climbed over a patch of waterweed and was about to swim to deeper waters, pairs of green lights moved towards him. Before he could figure out what was happening, a group of Iron-Scaled Crocodiles surrounded him. Those green lights he had just seen were the eyes of the Iron-Scaled Crocodiles.

"I'm an Iron-Scaled Crocodile too, hehe!" Charlie stroked the Iron-Scaled Crocodile scales on his body and said this to a huge Iron-Scaled Crocodile in front of him. The Iron-Scaled Crocodile snapped at him.

"Wow, this one must be the king of the Iron-Scaled Crocodiles. Its claws are thicker than my thighs! Why is it chasing me relentlessly?" Charlie clumsily dodged left and right, swimming towards the depths of the waterweeds.

"Such a big one, it could swallow me whole in one bite. I haven't found the mad corpse divine scale yet, and I'm about to be fish food!" Charlie clumsily mimicked the swimming style of the Iron-Scaled Crocodiles, wiggling his body as he struggled to swim along the lake bottom.

Suddenly, Charlie saw a green glow ahead. Instinctively, he swam around the glow, but in the next second, he was bitten by that huge Iron-Scaled Crocodile.

"Ah! You big loach, you're so despicable! You were actually waiting with your eyes closed for me to deliver myself into your mouth!" Charlie channeled all his magic energy, wanting to activate his Magic Shield, but the Iron-Scaled Crocodile thrashed its mouth and threw him away. The Iron-Scaled Crocodile scales on his body were also bitten through.

Charlie was thrown onto the waterweeds. Without the protection of the Iron-Scaled Crocodile scales, the waterweeds quickly entangled his entire body. Just as he was in despair, he saw the source of the glow beneath him; it was actually the mad corpse divine scale he had been searching for for so long.

Looking at the mad corpse divine scale within arm's reach, yet unable to move a muscle, he thought, "I must get the mad corpse divine scale, I must defeat that thief Wei He. For Jack, for Dad, ah!"

Charlie roared in anger, struggling desperately to break free from the waterweeds. The remaining demon scales on his body were stripped off by the waterweeds due to his exertion.

Inside the water repelling pearl, Charlie shed tears from the pain. Looking at his scales stuck on the waterweeds, he was finally able to swim again. His green blood dissipated into the water and drifted towards the mad corpse divine scale.

After coming into contact with Charlie's blood, the green glow of the mad corpse divine scale became even more intense than before. The light was so piercing that Charlie couldn't open his eyes. Even the old man and the Golden Rainbow Flame Divine Beast on the shore saw this intense green light.

"Ah! What's happening now?" Just as Charlie reached out to block the light, the mad corpse divine scale suddenly transformed into individual scales, and the green light vanished along with it.

The scales moved around Charlie's body and attached themselves one by one onto Charlie's wounds. Those were the wounds where Charlie's demon scales had been stripped off, and now the mad corpse divine scale had replenished them.

Once all the scales had attached themselves to Charlie's body, a massive surge of energy swept through his entire body.

"Ah! It hurts so much! Why is every bone and joint in my body hurting? It's so bloated, I feel like my body is about to explode, ah!" Just as Charlie clenched his fists, instinctively resisting this powerful energy, the huge Iron-Scaled Crocodile swam towards him again.

With a loud "Boom!", a huge hole appeared on the surface of the lake. The giant Iron-Scaled Crocodile flew out of the lake into the sky and landed on the ground by the lake shore. The old man could tell at a glance that the bones of this Iron-Scaled Crocodile had all been broken, and it had been beaten into this state with a single punch.

The old man turned his head to look and saw Charlie slowly rising from the water surface. Following him up was actually the sky-piercing ghost vine waterweed, and now the entire waterweed was gathered in his hand, unusually docile.

"Old master, what is going on? Why did this waterweed follow me up? And why does it insist on staying on me?" Charlie arrived at the lake shore, looking at the waterweed on his body in terror. Although the waterweed was not attacking him now, he still felt an instinctive fear.

"Hahahaha, this sky-piercing ghost vine waterweed was originally just an ordinary waterweed. It only became like this because it was nourished by the energy of the mad corpse divine scale. Now that you have taken away the mad corpse divine scale, it has no source of energy, so of course it wants to follow you!" The old man laughed, stroked the chin of the Golden Rainbow Flame Divine Beast, and said slowly.