Reincarnated as A Bamboo

After a whole day of hard work, Lin Ming finally put down all his taproots and branches.

The sun was about to rise, and he had managed to finish with most of the area around him.

The Spirit Lake had transformed from its previous unbearable state to a nice oval shape, and he also revamped the lakeshore to make it more beautiful.

The soil on the ground had been reconditioned, and Lin Ming had put in a lot of effort turning this barren shore into a lush field.

After all, if he was the only bamboo shoot in this area, he could not really be described as "the tallest tree in the forest" due to the lack of competition.

During the reconditioning process, Lin Ming also noticed many small creatures coming over in a daze after being awakened by his movements. He killed all of them with Razor Leaves, Bamboo Whip, and even his roots.

Because of that, he had managed to gain a lot of Evolution Points.

[You killed a mutated bat and gained 7 Evolution Points!]

After receiving these seven points, Lin Ming realized that he had just passed the 1000 mark for his Evolution Points.

Which ability should he strengthen? The Razor Leaves and Bamboo Whip? Or the two newly learned, play-safe abilities?

At this moment the System's voice rang out.

[Ding, you can learn a new ability: Aura Detection. 1000 Evolution Points required. Would you like to proceed?]

As if on purpose, the System suddenly appeared and prompted Lin Ming to make a choice.

Aura Detection.

Lin Ming could tell that this was another 'play-safe' ability just by looking at its name.

This ability would probably allow him to detect the enemy's presence in advance before they arrived.

If he used it in sync with Aura Concealment, he could probably easily evade any problems by playing things very safe.

If a strong enemy were to jump out from nowhere, Lin Ming would not have to fall into a passive state like that time he encountered the four humans.

Next time, he could first use Aura Detection to determine the enemy's strength, then use Aura Concealment to make himself look weak, and finally land a sudden attack!

Thinking about this, Lin Ming didn't hesitate to learn Aura Detection!

A tingling sensation suddenly spread from his root system to his branches, culm, and leaves, then disappeared shortly after.

The name of the ability appeared in his List of Abilities on his personalized dashboard.

Lin Ming decided to test this ability out to see how effective it was.

After all, he knew very little about the mutated animals and plants in this valley aside from himself.

Since this small lake and the underground Spirit River was so rich in spiritual aura, and the spiritual aura density in the air was also considerably high, there might be many more powerful mutated animals and plants he did not know of.

The insect wave and the beast wave all proved that a significant number of mutated creatures existed in this valley.

Then… time to see if there were any other powerhouses in this valley!

With a stir of his consciousness, Lin Ming instantly activated Aura Detection!

At this moment, he felt waves of energy surging through his 300-meter-long root systems extending outward from his culm. Soon, the area within ten kilometers outside his root systems became his Perceptive Range.

Not long after, detailed information about the strength of countless creatures came flooding into his mind!

However, Lin Ming also detected twenty-one strange auras among them.

'Wait, these are… humans?!'

Lin Ming perceived them carefully.

Unlike other mutated animals, insects, and birds, these were twenty-one strands of unknown spiritual aura, and he managed to discern their human-like shapes using his Aura Detection ability.

They were moving through the dense forest.

They were not moving aimlessly, but keeping track of their surroundings as they progressed cautiously.

"They're finally here…" Lin Ming murmured thoughtfully.

These humans were here to look for the four people he killed, right?

He had figured that someone would eventually come and search for them, but he did not expect them to arrive so soon.

These twenty-one people were divided into two groups, each advancing separately from two ends of the valley, which was certainly strange.

Could they be two different groups?

Lin Ming also sensed that these two groups were different from each other.

One group had more people — sixteen in total — and they all had strong waves of spiritual aura.

The other group had only five people. Only two had stronger surges of spiritual aura, while the other three were much weaker and he could barely even detect their aura.

There was one person in the sixteen-member group that had stronger spiritual aura waves than the rest. Strangely, Lin Ming could sense that the aura waves he radiated seemed to be 'crimson'. This abnormal phenomenon puzzled him.

However, he knew that these humans emanating strong spiritual aura waves had already progressed to the "Unranked" level, like the other mutated creatures in this valley.

The one with the crimson spiritual aura possessed Unranked Grade-6 strength. As for the others, the highest was at Unranked Grade-4, and there were only two of them who did this. Most of them were Unranked Grade-2.

As for the five-member group, one among the two powerful ones was an Unranked Grade-5, while the other was an Unranked Grade-4.

The Aura Detection ability was certainly different from other abilities. It did not have levels and it could cover almost the entire valley range from its first use.

All creatures in this valley were within Lin Ming's Perceptive Range, no matter their species or breed.

This ability even allowed him to sketch a general image of the creature he was focusing on.

This was not a weak ability in the slightest.

It was fair to say that this ability came at just the right time. In fact, Lin Ming felt that its appearance may have been somewhat deliberate, as if the System had done it on purpose. 

However, it was Lin Ming himself who decided to actually learn it.

He had spent his 1000 Evolution Points very effectively, it seemed.

Nevertheless, even without this ability, he would have still eventually discovered the humans approaching him. It was just a matter of time.

Lin Ming admitted that he may not have fully matured yet.

He was frankly not afraid of facing these humans.

After all, there was a vast difference between them and himself in terms of strength.

They were not even a close match to the Wolves of Septenary, who surely would make quick work of them.

If these humans had really come to give him trouble, Lin Ming was not going to let them get away with it.

If they were to discover the secret he carried, he could not allow them to leave this valley.

Lin Ming was now a mutated bamboo with consciousness and strong powers. If the secret got out, he would undoubtedly be greeted with heavy artillery fire and relentless attacks.

That was a given.

Lin Ming was once a human too, and he knew how humans thought. They would never allow an intelligent plant that could threaten their survival to exist on this planet.

With that thought in mind, murderous intent filled Lin Ming's heart.

Regardless of the twenty-one humans' intentions, as long as they got close enough to him, getting rid of them was the only choice.