And this "human-shaped leaf" state is even quite similar to the states of the "Prison watch" or the "mechanical eyeballs".

It's equivalent to a living person being transformed into an item.

When Sun People players switch to the "mechanical eyeball" state, it's as if they possess the Light and Shadow Escape effect.

The movement speed of mechanical eyeballs can reach the extreme;

simultaneously, mechanical eyeballs possess a super vision comparable to a microscope, far beyond that of a normal eyeball.

The Prison watch, meanwhile, grants the ability for one to survive within the mist.

And the "human-shaped leaf" state provided by the [Faceless Mask] also shares some similarities with the "mechanical eyeball" and the "Prison watch".

First, in the "human-shaped leaf" state, the countdown timer on a Moon People player's Prison watch will appear static.

That is to say, originally, a player consumes one day of watch time for every day they live.

But as long as you maintain the leaf state of the [Faceless Mask] for that entire day, then your Prison watch will not consume that day's time.

For certain "frugal and thrifty" Moon People players, this counts as a little time-saving trick.

Of course, any senior with a bit of strength would look down upon that tiny bit of time saved through such "frugality and thrift".

Secondly, in the "human-shaped leaf" state provided by the [Faceless Mask], a player's five senses—sight, hearing, smell, etc.—will be completely different from when in the normal flesh and blood state.

For example...

He had seen a kind of "Colorful Black" before; in the vision of normal flesh and blood, he could only see black.

But the so-called "sixth sense" gave him an illusion of it being "colorful".

So he would think that kind of black was colorful.

And this so-called "sixth sense" actually varies from person to person.

Many people have dull sixth senses; what they see is pure black, nothing special.

But if one switches to the "human-shaped leaf" state...

Then looking at that kind of "Colorful Black" again, one would no longer see black, but rather a colorful sense of light.

Of course, this kind of sensory change can only be put to clever use in some specific situations.

In ordinary times, for players already accustomed to the flesh and blood state, it's actually rather inconvenient instead.

Apart from the different senses being useful in specific situations, the "human-shaped leaf" state...

also offers some other benefits.

That is, some of the player's own talents, skills, Glyph Pattern Abilities, etc., might undergo changes in that "human-shaped leaf" state.

Of course, those changes, like random mutations, are not necessarily for the better.

Nor will all talents, skills, etc., change.

To some extent, a player using the [Faceless Mask] to become a "human-shaped leaf" is like undergoing a temporary mutation within themselves.

Under the [Faceless Mask] state, the player is "mutated";

cancel this skill state, and the player returns to normal.

Under this mutation effect, the player's own abilities possess great randomness.

But the mutation effects of the other two skills provided by the 「Formless Leaf」 are uniform, the same for every player.

First, the skill 【Falling Leaf Returns to Roots】—

In a player's normal form, it returns to beside the 「Formless Tree」 in Exile City.

But in a player's [Faceless Mask] form, it would return to the ruins of the "World Tree" in Qiankun Land.

Second, the skill 【Self-Immolation Moment】—

In the normal form, the player loses consciousness, and their body is controlled by Jiang Ye's clone.

In the [Faceless Mask] form, the "human-shaped leaf" presented by the player will instead "self-immolate".

Not only that, the player can select one of their own talents, skills, or Glyph Pattern Abilities to undergo "burning".

These abilities will undergo random mutations during the "burning" process.

And this mutation caused by the player actively choosing to burn will transform from the temporary mutation under the [Faceless Mask] into a permanent mutation.

That is, once you choose to "burn" a certain ability...

the mutation of this ability will be permanently retained; even if the player cancels the [Faceless Mask] effect and returns to the flesh and blood body form, that ability will remain in its mutated state.

Because the mutation of abilities has too much randomness.

It might become stronger, it might become weaker, or it might even become completely useless...

So this 【Self-Immolation Moment】 under the [Faceless Mask] is equivalent to a high-stakes gamble.

Of course, for some skills that are already pretty useless to begin with, using them for a mutation gamble is just the right fit.

In short, the three skills a player obtains after binding the 「Formless Leaf」, while not many in number, are absolutely quite practical.

【Falling Leaf Returns to Roots】 is equivalent to a life-saving divine skill;

【Self-Immolation Moment】 provides supreme combat power;

and the [Faceless Mask] endows the player with endless possibilities...

Although these possibilities are rather random.

Jiang Ye speculates—

In He Yuliang's "previous life", there is a very high possibility that he used the [Faceless Mask] obtained after binding the 「Formless Leaf」 to mutate all of his abilities once.

After all, when others mutate their abilities, they have to gamble on luck.

But He Yuliang possesses the SSS-grade 【Luck】, and luck is what he lacks the least.

However...

The He Yuliang of the previous life was in an abnormal situation.

He possessed the pure black version body.

If Jiang Ye were the Exile City Boss, he might not dare to let He Yuliang bind the 「Formless Leaf」.

Because there is a certain possibility that kind of "pure black version body" is also a type of body with an elevated physical level.

Perhaps in that body state, He Yuliang might also be able to hear the second announcement about "binding the Formless Leaf".

Wouldn't the secret of the 「Formless Leaf」 be exposed to He Yuliang then?

Moreover, that pure black version body of He Yuliang's probably can't drip blood, right?

So, the probability is very high that the He Yuliang of the previous life did not bind the 「Formless Leaf」.

This point can actually be asked of He Yuliang later.

And at this moment...

Jiang Ye binding the 「Formless Leaf」 and simply checking the skills only took an instant.

And in that instant, Qi Lin was still kneeling on the ground, his forehead still facing the direction deep within the Forest of Oddities.

Jiang Ye was thinking, should he do something to protect that hair tree connected to the Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh, which was burning wildly?

Or, should he immediately switch to the [Faceless Mask] state to check what his temporarily mutated version of the 【Salvation】 talent, and those few skills, would mutate into?

However, before he could take any further action...

he suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure, from the distant high sky above, abruptly pressing down like thunder...

At the same time, within this mist, an eerie "sizzling and crackling" sound faintly rang out.

This sound gave the feeling as if...

the mist filling this environment was... burning?

Is it burning? But Jiang Ye's feeling was that the surrounding environment seemed to have suddenly turned cold.

This coldness was quite similar to the "icy feeling" brought by the moon infant entering his body.

The icy feeling brought by the moon infant penetrated to the bone marrow.

The icy feeling in the environment at this moment, however, only lingered on the surface of the skin.

Jiang Ye frowned deeply, suddenly sensing an intense fury directed towards this place...

He almost instinctively used the S-grade skill [Faceless Mask] brought by the 「Formless Leaf」.

In an instant, he transformed from the human form of a flesh and blood body into a "human-shaped leaf".

And his "human-shaped leaf" seemed to be somewhat different from the "human-shaped leaves" other players transformed into using the [Faceless Mask].

The surface of his "leaf" was actually coated with a layer of ice crystals.

Somewhat similar to the solid-state mist... Ice Ore?

Or the layer that wrapped the moon infant just after its birth?

For a moment, he wasn't sure whether this layer of ice crystals attached to his "human-shaped leaf" was caused by the icy-feeling mist in the current environment, or by the moon infant parasitizing within his body...

In fact, he didn't have more time to react.

Almost the second after he transformed into a "human-shaped leaf"...

that familiar bluish-grey long tongue descended as if from the heavens!

With a "smack", the long tongue swept forth with a murderous, fierce momentum.

Jiang Ye, from the "human-shaped leaf" perspective, was directly dumbfounded!

Because he saw...

That bluish-grey long tongue, which he thought was aimed at the Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh hair tree, actually wasn't wrapping around that tree...

but instead fiercely lashed out, striking Qi Lin who was kneeling on the ground!

What's more...

In the auditory perception brought by the "human-shaped leaf" state, Jiang Ye seemed to hear, from an eerie roar...

the sound of an angry curse: "You idiot!"??

He was absolutely certain that if he were in the flesh and blood human form at this moment, he probably wouldn't be able to hear this sound.

So this eerie sound that only the "human-shaped leaf" state can hear...

comes from... the moon-eating toad?

And the target of this sound seemed to be precisely Qi Lin, who had just been viciously lashed by the Giant Toad's long tongue...

Qi Lin was indeed sent flying by that tongue whip.

His whole body smashed into another hair tree, bounced off, and then landed on the ground.

His face was full of terror, seemingly completely unprepared for why the toad would lash him...

He was directly stunned on the ground, then he saw—

That bluish-grey long tongue hanging down from the horizon was now swirling around the fiercely burning fire tree like a tornado.

And this swirling instantly stirred up the mist surrounding this area, gradually joining this grand and imposing "tornado", forming circles of gradually enlarging mist vortices.

And at the center of the vortex was precisely that hair tree entwined by the "fire snake".

The originally fierce and imposing "fire snake" coiled around the hair tree...

now seemed to be compressed by the force of that rapidly spinning vortex.

The flames jumping on it, originally menacing and full of vitality,

now appeared precarious, as if about to be extinguished at any moment...

Jiang Ye, in the "human-shaped leaf" state, saw this scene somewhat differently from what Qi Lin saw with his normal naked eye.

The flames Qi Lin saw were the color of normal flames.

At most, slightly redder than normal flames.

The flames Jiang Ye saw in the "human-shaped leaf" state presented a black-red color, like magma.

And even, how to put it...

He even faintly felt that those flames looked more like some kind of magma chains.

Even...

He suddenly remembered the iron chains he saw on the Apartment Rooftop, spreading out from the Blood Pool, extending all the way to the Moon Phase Clock, and imprisoning the Moon Phase Clock!

He had a vague premonition—

If those flames continued to burn...

perhaps they would become that kind of eerie, pure black with red flowing through it... iron chains?

And the reason the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad lashed Qi Lin, the reason it angrily cursed "You idiot!", the reason it stirred up the winds and clouds...

Its purpose seemed to be... to extinguish that strange flame?

The fact was indeed that as the vortex spun faster and faster,

the fire snake's flames on that hair tree looked weaker and weaker...

as if about to be completely extinguished at any moment.

And just when both Jiang Ye and Qi Lin thought...

that the eerie fire snake would inevitably be destroyed by the vortex force in the end,

the hair tree itself, entwined by the fire snake, for some unknown reason, inexplicably began to sway!

That long hair tree swayed its own body in a direction opposite to the vortex's rotation.

This action looked exceptionally difficult.

But it seemed to indeed slow down the extinguishing of the fire snake...

Only, this slowing effect seemed far less effective than the vortex force.

At this moment, Jiang Ye realized—

Around this burning hair tree, there seemed to be two forces locked in confrontation!

The force belonging to the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad wanted to extinguish the fire snake coiled around the hair tree;

while another force from within the hair tree itself seemed to want the fire snake to continue burning...

As an onlooker, Jiang Ye was somewhat bewildered.

Because he didn't know what the fire snake signified.

Even if he faintly discerned the embryonic form of iron chains from within the fire snake...

But what do those iron chains signify?

What impact would they have on him?

He simply felt—

That Moon-Devouring Giant Toad seemed to be in a hostile relationship with the moon infant parasitizing within his body.

If he chose to stand on the side of the moon infant...

Then perhaps at this moment, he should stand on the opposite side of the Giant Toad and assist the burning of the fire snake?

But how could he assist?

While pondering, hesitating, and also watching helplessly as that hair tree struggled to sway against the wind...

and the fire snake coiled on it still showed signs of dying out...

In Jiang Ye's mind, or rather, under the unique five senses of the "human-shaped leaf", he seemed to hear another eerie sound.

The kind of sound he was absolutely certain he wouldn't hear in the normal flesh and blood human state.

That voice seemed to be saying—

"Help me... burn..."

"The fire seed... is yours..."

Huh?

What thing's voice is this??

The only thing that can be determined is that this isn't the voice of the Giant Toad that just angrily cursed "You idiot!".

Then... is it the voice of some existence inside that hair tree?

Or the voice of the hair tree itself?

But the key is...

How the hell do I help you burn?

I don't have any fire abilities...

Just as he thought this, Jiang Ye suddenly realized something.

And sure enough, another eerie voice sounded:

"Self-immolation, Self-Immolation Moment..."