The rough form of a Superbrain—this was the second time Shen Cong had entered one. The first time, he'd barely gotten inside before he'd stirred a reaction from the thunderbolt giant fir's consciousness, and it had torn up its roots and fled through the night.

This time Shen Cong came prepared. First he took hold of the burning growth rings surrounding the rough Superbrain—all of their spirit-fire.

Once he had the burning growth rings, the consciousness couldn't pass a signal, and however violently the rough Superbrain reacted, it couldn't stop Shen Cong from brute-forcing his way in bit by bit.

Sure enough.

The moment Shen Cong's Activity waves entered the rough Superbrain, the thunderbolt giant fir's consciousness threw up a tremendous reaction. It fought off the invading Activity waves and at the same time sent the uproot signal to the burning growth rings. This time it didn't work—Shen Cong was jamming the burning growth rings, and they couldn't produce any effective motion at all.

The whole thunderbolt giant fir could only shudder erratically, unable to start walking.

With the fir unable to leave, what remained was a straight contest between Shen Cong's Activity waves and the fir's consciousness. Shen Cong's plan was to snuff out that consciousness outright and take the thunderbolt giant fir's place, feeling the rough Superbrain's gradation for himself and gathering experience for his own brain gradation.

A war of consciousness inside a Superbrain—Shen Cong's first.

He had no idea how it would turn out, but he'd never understand without trying. The feeble consciousness of the thunderbolt giant fir held the home-ground advantage; the entire rough Superbrain moved with it, throwing off an enormous repulsion against Shen Cong's Activity waves. Even so, it couldn't drive them out.

Deadlocked like this, neither side could take another step.

The thunderbolt giant fir grew more and more frantic. He could see its consciousness stirring up the whole rough Superbrain until the thing seemed to catch fire; the once-calm rough Superbrain, riding that agitation, began little by little to show signs of melting.

"So this is intelligence coming into being?" Shen…