Chapter 1016: First Face-To-Face Meeting (part 1)
Chapter 1016: First Face-To-Face Meeting (part 1)
Shangguan Xinyue staggered in the sky and could barely continue keeping the gusts of wind around her in check to avoid her and her daughter from falling. This was a clear consequence of spending half of her Mana abruptly.
The Fourth Order tyrannosaurus rex did not give up after a failed attack but with complete indifference opened its jaws wide again. Soon, a new attack of similar nature to the previous one began to be charged into the center of its mouth as it glared red-eyed at its enemies.
Shangguan Bing Xue drew her sword and pointed it skyward. Her blue eyes were cold as she looked at the beast that was nearly half a kilometer tall and whose body was as sturdy as a skyscraper.
After directly consuming 1500 Mana points, she slashed downward and coldly called out, "Blizzard!"
SWOOOOOSH!!!
A powerful blast of white frost shot out from the blade of the sword and following the slashing motion grew as it fell towards the tyrannosaurus rex.
The defense and overall attack power of the tyrannosaurus rex were its strong points, in contrast, its Agility was not particularly high. Therefore, under the beast's wide eyes, its body was soon enveloped by white frost and disappeared.
"What a pity." Fire Sorrow muttered indifferently.
As if responding to the words of the Higher Existence in the sky, a fierce shockwave expelled all the frost and soon the body of the tyrannosaurus rex was revealed again.
"What?" Shangguan Bing Xue's pupils contracted as she saw how her attack did not succeed in the slightest.
However, she did not give up and after directly consuming her last remaining 2000 Mana points she activated and boosted the power of her strongest treasure.
"Pride of the Elf Queen!"
The giant silhouette of a beautiful woman appeared behind Shangguan Bing Xue, and just like her, the silhouette pointed at the beast.
The blast of frost that shot out from Shangguan Bing Xue's fingertip this time was at least three times more powerful than previously, and soon the tyrannosaurus rex's body turned into a statue of ice.
Shangguan Bing Xue gasped with a pale face, but seeing that the creature had been sealed she felt better.
On the other hand, Fire Sorrow shook her head, "That girl could be as good as me, even better in the future. But, your level is too low, little snow princess. The difference between the Second Order and the Fourth Order is more than mere levels."
Only two seconds had passed since the Fourth Order tyrannosaurus rex was sealed under a thick layer of ice when the unmistakable sound of cracks echoed everywhere.
Shangguan Bing Xue's pupils shrank to the smallest possible size as she called out in refusal, "Impossible!"
She had consumed all of her Mana and her magical power was absolutely high!
Shangguan Bing Xue, who was an absolute genius that was only born once every million years in the universe, had never faced a backlash as powerful as this. Regardless of how difficult the battle was, she could always land at least a few blows.
Therefore, accepting that in the face of this enemy she was as good as nothing was a great shock to her proud self.
Shangguan Xinyue gritted her teeth as she saw things going south. Although she didn't say anything she understood that her daughter's level had been stalled for many months, and although Shangguan Bing Xue was undoubtedly a heavenly genius it was of no use if her power didn't grow.
"Dark-!"
Just as Shangguan Xinyue was about to expend the other half of Mana she had left, a small golden flash shone higher up and she swallowed the next word she was about to say.
Fire Sorrow didn't even have time to raise her head as soon something that took her breath away happened.
[You are now inside the Emperor Wolf Domain. All your natural stats drop by 20%]
"Emperor... Wolf... Domain..."
Fire Sorrow could feel countless waves surge in her heart as she murmured these three words through her barely opened purple lips.
There were all kinds of Domains in the universe, the most normal and common were the elemental Domains where the magical power of the user with respect to a certain element grew exponentially.
However, there were also other more special Domains that were very difficult to learn. For example, the Domain 'King of Darkness' used by Lucifer not only weakened the enemy and strengthened the user according to how capable they were in the control of darkness but also allowed the user to teleport short distances every few seconds.
But beyond these special Domains, there were other Domains that were so, so special that there could hardly be two existences capable of controlling it in the history of the cosmos.
The Domain that controlled Fire Sorrow which was strengthened based on her negative emotions was one of them.
The Anti-Magic Domain of the legendary Barbarian King was one of those Domains as well.
And lastly, the Emperor Wolf Domain was also one of them.
Fire Sorrow daydreamed countless times of seeing again that mighty Domain which was as proud as its name suggested. Capable of greatly weakening the enemy regardless of their level, species or race, Order, talent, etc; as long as the user unleashed a greater killing intent than the opponent in combat, they would definitely emerge victorious.
However, she never thought she would ever in her life be able to see it again.
This was because the only soul evolver capable of being so proud, cruel, arrogant, and bloodthirsty to learn such a Domain was no longer in this universe.
Feeling her power plummeting, Fire Sorrow did not bother to release her own murderous intent to cancel the effect. Quite the contrary, she embraced that weakness with all her heart as if instead of harming her it was comforting her.
Precisely at that moment, Fire Sorrow saw a golden flash fall from the sky at such a high speed that it formed what looked like a perfect golden line linking the sky and the earth even though the object had already reached its intended target.
Roar!!!!
The tyrannosaurus rex's eyes widened and the attack it was preparing got off automatically as its body fell head-first to the ground with a mighty boom.
[Critical Hit!]
The armor protecting the beast's head along with half of the skull was completely smashed apart, revealing the mutant monster's gray brain to Bai Zemin who at this point was bathed in blood.
He spat out some blood that had gotten into his mouth and raised his golden spear high.
"Endless Blue Lotus Flame!"
"Crimson Flame!"
Deep blue and crimson red danced in unison on the body of Annihilation of the Falling Sky, giving birth to a bright purple flame.
The Fourth Order tyrannosaurus rex could feel death looming over it, but it had no time to fight back before the diminutive human standing on its head stabbed ferociously, incinerating most of its head along with its brain in its entirety.
[Critical Hit!]
[You have received the Soul Power of Fourth Order Incredibly Heavy Blast Rex level 201. You cannot absorb any more Soul Power.....]
Bai Zemin looked at the Incredibly Heavy Blast Rex's head practically all crushed and scorched.
He slowly pulled out his golden spear and as violet flames burned around him to keep him away from any dirt he couldn't help but whisper in disbelief and astonishment, "This... It's over?"
This was a Fourth Order beast whose defense was definitely incredibly high!
Fourth Order, for crying out loud! Fourth Order!
Beings of such scale would require Bai Zemin to risk his life and pull out every last one of his trump cards in order to fight them to some extent and perhaps be able to kill them.
Until not too long ago, Bai Zemin was only 70% confident that he could kill a normal Fourth Order powerhouse of level 230 at most at the cost of losing half a life in the process.
However, what had just happened just now?
Two attacks! <sub> </sub>
He had just killed a colossal monster with only two attacks!
He hadn't even used 50% of his total battle power!
Even if the Incredibly Heavy Blast Rex was a Fourth Order beast that grew weaker by every passing second and didn't even have intelligence as a result of its unnatural, interrupted, and spontaneous birth; Bai Zemin was only a Second Order level 100 existence!
He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, finally understanding the reason why that unknown entity which he suspected was Sirius had warned him not to be carried away by the power he had acquired after evolving.
Bai Zemin tightened his grip on his golden spear to the point where his knuckles cracked, "This feeling of omnipotence... it's really dangerous."
Shangguan Xinyue floated next to Shangguan Bing Xue making use of the gusts of wind to her advantage. She looked at the lifeless Fourth Order beast's body and then looked at Bai Zemin with a worried expression on her face, "Little King... are you okay?"
Despite her playful and even childish attitude, despite her petite body, one should not forget that Shangguan Xinyue was a woman who was over 40 years old and had gone through many hardships as she raised a daughter on her own.
She knew what power could do to people, and although Bai Zemin was surprisingly mature for his age he was still too young. Now that he was able to do something so great with apparent ease, Shangguan Xinyue feared that he was getting too carried away.
Bai Zemin slowly opened his eyes and his expression was indifferent as he nodded, "I'm fine, no need to worry."
It was very, very hard for Bai Zemin to keep his feet firmly on the ground after what he had just achieved with just two attacks. Any other young man his age would definitely not have been able to stay being the same person.
But, Bai Zemin had learned that excessive arrogance would lead to excessive confidence, and excessive confidence would eventually end in irretrievable death.
"That's good." Shangguan Xinyue smiled with some joy amidst some bitterness. She looked at her daughter and said in a low voice, "Can you help me a little over here?"
Bai Zemin had already noticed that Shangguan Bing Xue was in a kind of shock. The aura of depression around her was surprisingly strong to the point where Bai Zemin was startled.
This was the first time in his life that he had seen the ever-proud and arrogant Shangguan Bing Xue with her head down.
"Bing Xue, are you all right?"
Despite his call, he received no reply.
Under Shangguan Xinyue's confused eyes, Bai Zemin jumped out of the monster's shattered head and as he slowly fell beside them the purple flames stopped glowing until they soon disappeared without a trace.
Bai Zemin put his right hand on Shangguan Bing Xue's shoulder and just shook her relentlessly from side to side.
The method was crude and rough, but certainly effective as she blinked and quickly asked, "W-What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Bai Zemin stopped shaking her but did not take his hand off her shoulder. He looked at her with a frown and said in a deep voice," That question should be asked by me."
"I..." Shangguan Bing Xue hesitated for a moment before faintly saying, "I couldn't help at all... That Fourth Order monster broke my magic easily even though I used 99% of my Mana... and even my Epic grade crown couldn't hold it back for more than a few seconds."
Bai Zemin frowned and said in a deep voice, "Bing Xue, that dinosaur was a Fourth Order monster beyond level 200. You are a soul evolver of Second Orde level 100, it's only natural that-"
"Don't say it!"
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Xinyue were both shocked when they heard Shangguan Bing Xue shout.
This was the first time Shangguan Xinyue had seen her daughter openly showing weakness so one could only try to imagine the shock she felt in her heart.
"Don't say it." Shangguan Bing Xue repeated, this time in a low voice.
She reached out her hand with the intention of caressing Bai Zemin's left cheek, but as if an invisible wall suddenly appeared in between she could no longer continue.
While looking at him with gentle eyes, she softly said, "We are friends, aren't we?"
Subconsciously, Bai Zemin nodded, "Of course... You are my best friend and one of the few people I can trust."
"We are friends. That night we both promised to give our all to reach the pinnacle of the universe in order to build true peace and to be able to live in freedom." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and said wistfully, "Back then, you and I were not so far away from each other. The difference was minuscule, and so we promised to help each other. But... My current self can no longer keep up with you."
It cost Shangguan Bing Xue a lot to say these words. Not only because of her pride but also because admitting it out loud meant that she was accepting that she was no longer capable of being the partner she wanted to be for him on the battlefield.
Bai Zemin opened his mouth to say something but seeing Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes he swallowed his words of comfort. Trying to comfort a woman as strong and proud as her would surely do more harm than good.
"You and I are on the same level, 100. But the difference is simply outrageous." Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the corpse of the giant Fourth Order and sighed. Then, she looked Bai Zemin in the eyes and said with a bitter smile, "My final requirement to evolve is very simple... in terms of difficulty, it is the simplest of all the requirements a living being could receive. I am sure of it."
"But, this requirement is difficult for me to accept for a variety of reasons." She shook her head and sighed, "Don't worry, I will clear my mind in a short time... and depending on the answer I reach I will either evolve to Third Order or stay stuck at level 100 forever."
Hearing Shangguan Bing Xue's words and thinking about the kind of person she was, Bai Zemin hesitated before asking in a low voice, "Could it be... Could it be that you need to have sex..? Your class has something to do with succubi after all..."
Even though Lilith had told him long ago that succubi were not all libertine beings like the legend known by the humans, one could never be sure.
A beautiful smile appeared on Shangguan Bing Xue's face when she heard his question and as if by magic all depression suddenly faded away.
"No, it's nothing as complicated as that." She said and without giving him time to ask any more questions pointed out, "But maybe you'll soon figure out what it's all about."
Bai Zemin cleared his throat upon hearing this and did not know what to say.
On the other hand, Shangguan Xinyue's eyes darted back and forth between her daughter and Bai Zemin: "Can you two stop flirting openly in front of me? Or let me join in so I won't feel lonely."
"No." Shangguan Bing Xue snorted.
"Bing Xue, sweetie, I think we can have a chat about this."
"No."
"Little King, how do you feel about having both mother and daughter in bed?"
"...Shangguan Xinyue, I'll tell Wu Yijun to use her Song of Nature to ease your mental afflictions."
"I knew it, you have no balls."
"..." Bai Zemin gritted his teeth and glared at her angrily, barely holding back the urge to respond as every man would. Instead, he said disdainfully, "Or maybe you're just not attractive enough?"
"Hmph. I refuse to believe that you are not drawn to my body, you are a widely known lolicon after all." Shangguan Xinyue snorted and looked away seemingly offended.
Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and said in a deep voice trying to ignore Shangguan Xinyue's comments, "Bing Xue, please stay here and make sure everything is in order. Have Evangeline go south and support the other bases, I will go north and send Nangong Yi and Nangong Lingxin to support her immediately."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." She nodded.
Bai Zemin jumped on Little Snow's back and without delay pointed in a northerly direction. With his title King of China needing 2 days to cool down, he could only move this way to get there as fast as possible.
Boom!
The ground beneath Little Snow's feet cracked and soon turned into a white shadow that in less than two seconds disappeared over the horizon.
Little did Bai Zemin know that close was someone who would soon become someone very important following him at his side.
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