At this moment, the vine monster showed no panic in the face of the fire attribute Immortal Technique used by Taichu Zhenren.
Instead, it remained in place, with each vine swaying.
Seeing this, Taichu Zhenren frowned. Although the fire attribute Immortal Technique he was using had not yet been unleashed and was still in the preparation stage, the vine monster's lack of reaction struck him as peculiar.
After all, Taichu Zhenren believed that this fire attribute Immortal Technique, being counter to the vine monster's nature, should have evoked a response. Yet, there was no indication of movement, nor any reaction to the Power of Rules contained within the fire attribute Immortal Technique.
This left Taichu Zhenren deeply puzzled. Could it be that the vine monster truly was undisturbed by the fire attribute Immortal Technique?
According to nature's law, wood fears fire. No wood escapes burning, not even the legendary ironwood, which would eventually ignite under fiercer flames. So, a plant that cannot be set aflame doesn't exist.
But looking at the vine monster before him, Taichu Zhenren considered the possibility of an exception, though he hadn't yet surrendered to this idea. He thought the vine monster might be pretending, as it should inherently dislike fire attribute Immortal Techniques, given their incompatible natures.
Convinced that he had seen through the monster's ruse, Taichu Zhenren focused intently on preparing the fire attribute Technique.
During preparation, Taichu Zhenren noticed runes with different patterns on each of the vine monster's vines.
These secretive runes reminded Taichu Zhenren of similar runes he had seen before on other outer wall creatures.
Yet, those creatures only bore one rune each, unlike the vine monster, whose every vine was covered with a variety of runes.
Having observed the runes, Taichu Zhenren's eyes widened with a hint of terror as he stared at the vine-covered creature.
An astonishing idea struck him: each rune on the vine monster might represent an outer wall creature it had devoured.
This vine monster's power wasn't limited to showcasing the abilities of any single host creature. If it only possessed a basic ice ability, it wouldn't be so strong.
The vine monster's ability was likely to absorb and acquire the special powers of its hosts.
Each outer wall creature it parasitized granted the vine monster an additional ability.
The multitude of runes on its body indicated it had absorbed countless outer wall creatures.
This revelation implied the vine monster was merely toying with Taichu Zhenren during their battle.
Given the plethora of runes, each representing a unique power, the creature had used none of these during the fight, only unleashing a seemingly special flame attack.
While the flame appeared special to the cultivators within the wall due to its demonic and evil qi, for the outer wall beings, it was ordinary.
Thus, the vine monster had fought Taichu Zhenren without utilizing any particular ability, essentially barehanded, yet still managing to challenge him significantly.
Because of this, Taichu Zhenren was genuinely frightened.
Every ability can be nullified by discovering its weakness, but doing so requires time. With the vine monster possessing a maze of abilities, it could initiate and switch between them rapidly, giving no time to analyze and adjust strategies.
If weaknesses could be found, subsequent abilities could unexpectedly overwhelm anyone, rendering earlier analysis moot and laughable.
Even if one managed to neutralize one ability after great effort, the vine monster might casually deploy it only once. Wouldn't such futility be infuriating?
Thus, not only would Taichu Zhenren expend great energy and time, but he'd also end up achieving nothing.
Even after painstakingly developing countermeasures for one ability, with countless others, how could he continue finding solutions?
If these abilities complemented each other, they could merge into new forms or patch previously identified weaknesses, demanding yet another fresh approach to counter them.
It was futile, like discovering a countermeasure only for the vine monster to easily adapt, demoralizing any fighter repeatedly, leading them to despair, especially when thoroughly comprehending the creature was impossible.
Seeing the vine monster adorned with unending runes made Taichu Zhenren's scalp tingle with anxiety.
Ye Tianfan and his companions, unaware of the runes' significance, remained uncertain about the unfolding events.
They were only puzzled as to why Taichu Zhenren seemed so astounded.