Chapter 267: Lady Venerable
The red glow on the giant blue whale’s body intensified.
“Looking at the situation, the blue whale has likely teleported a large army here.” Freya frowned as she gazed at the sky, having encountered the blue whale a few times and roughly understanding its teleportation mechanism. This level of light indicated at least three thousand life forms were being teleported, with a spirit pressure level no lower than second stage, and likely many at the fifth stage.
Upon hearing Freya’s explanation, everyone’s expressions changed. The veteran soldiers, rich in experience, naturally understood what the arrival of such an army meant; their leader must be a True Martial Realm powerhouse.
“It seems that scumbag Ye Li Beizhou is still trying to mess with us even after death,” Xia Feng’s brows furrowed. Dealing with Ye Li Beizhou’s small fry would have been easy for Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong. However, if the enemy was a True Martial Realm expert, the difficulty would increase tenfold. After all, True Martial Realm powerhouses possessed immense Spirit Particle amounts and could use A-class Spirit Robes for a longer duration than them. Furthermore, they were bringing an entire army. It would be very difficult to deal with.
As Xia Feng’s thoughts raced, he quickly devised a plan. He looked at the veteran soldiers, “Everyone, you should leave this city first. Staying here is too conspicuous. Enter the dense forest and try to conceal your tracks.”
“What about you?” Li Zaishi asked, confused.
“We will stay and defend this city.”
“Absolutely not!” Li Zaishi’s expression tightened. “Based on my observation, this army has at least the strength of a brigade…” As he spoke, he suddenly recalled the scene of the two black-robed figures slaughtering everyone earlier, and his voice gradually trailed off. While a well-trained human army would be much stronger than a mindless Half-Calamity army of the same size, they would likely falter against these two black-robed figures. The real difficulty lay with the True Martial Realm expert. However, this was not the time for indecision and overthinking. Li Zaishi quickly understood, “Alright, we will leave this city!”
“Lord Li!” The veteran soldiers rushed forward, unwilling to flee in the face of battle.
“There’s no need to say more,” Li Zaishi shook his head and said in a deep voice. “If our strength is inferior, we can only cause trouble by staying here. There’s no need for pointless sacrifices.” “Travel light and depart immediately!” Li Zaishi acted swiftly, making arrangements and then leading the soldiers and civilians out of the city. The Calamity Force concentration outside the city was extremely high. Their armor could only resist for about two hours, but they had no other choice now. The human army was not like the foolish Half-Calamity army. White Emperor City would soon be breached, and they, the remnants of the old guard, might not even last half an hour before perishing. The two black-robed figures’ Spirit Particle reserves were greatly depleted, and they couldn’t protect them.
With the departure of the veteran soldiers, only Xia Feng, Mu Qingtong, and Freya remained in the empty city.
“What do we do now?” Freya looked at the two masked figures with confusion. “Do you have any plans?” As soon as she spoke, she noticed Xia Feng and Miss Q staring at her, startling her into taking a step back. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Xia Feng smiled slightly. “Teacher Freya, it seems we’ll need you to make a small sacrifice.”
“…Are you going to hold me hostage again?”
“Precisely.”
“…” Freya was somewhat helpless. She rolled her beautiful eyes and, with her arms crossed, clicked her tongue. “Little Xia Feng, let me tell you, even though my status is… quite noble, the people of the Li Dong Legion won’t care if I get hurt.” “Even if I become a vegetable, crippled, or mentally impaired, as long as I don’t die! They have many ways to rescue me…”
From Teacher Freya’s words, Xia Feng could clearly sense that her relationship with the Ye Li Royal Family was very distant, even filled with animosity. Mu Qingtong, standing beside him, asked faintly, confused, “But aren’t you Ye Li Dongjun’s wife?”
“Wife? Heh heh~ I ran away on our wedding day.” Freya’s beautiful eyes narrowed as she shook her head, explaining her situation to the two of them.
Before long, Xia Feng had a general understanding: it was a story of an arranged marriage and a runaway bride. Freya and Ye Li Dongjun were both members of the Ye Li Clan. Strictly speaking, they were like siblings. For some unknown reason, ten years ago, they were arranged to be married. However, Teacher Freya had already made plans. She escaped through a special method as soon as she got out of the bridal carriage, before even entering the wedding hall. She had been on the run for ten years. Strangely, the Ye Li Clan hadn’t come to District 51 to retrieve her.
“Boom!!!”
Just then, thunder rumbled again in the distance. The three looked up and saw the giant blue whale passing through the spacetime turbulence and re-entering the island’s interior. It let out a loud moo, and its massive body began to dive towards the ground, streams of fiery red light swirling around its body, forming a trail like a meteor falling from the sky, hummm—
As it suddenly decelerated, it hovered in mid-air. Streams of humanoid light emerged from its gaping mouth, arraying themselves in the sky. They were clad in tough, ink-black armor, their metallic faceplates stern and majestic. Encased entirely in crimson Spirit Robes, they stood in the air with their swords drawn, three thousand in total, divided into ten formations suspended in mid-air.
“These are likely the group armies of the Li Dong Legion stationed on Xize Island,” Freya explained in a low voice, looking up at the spectacle in the sky. “Every legion in the empire is divided into group armies and envoy armies. Group armies are composed of soldiers who specialize in physical strength and combat techniques, serving as melee Spirit Masters. Their spirit pressure levels are not high, but their physical fitness is half a level, or even a full level, higher than normal Spirit Masters. It’s said that the three great Holy Sees can even make their knights’ physical strength two levels higher than their spirit pressure! They call them ‘Berserker Knight Projects’…” “Envoy armies are composed of envoys. Their numbers are far fewer than group armies, but those who can become envoys have a certain talent for learning Spirit Robes. Group armies are responsible for melee combat, while envoy armies handle ranged magic, support, and buffs. Each envoy squad typically undergoes extremely rigorous and difficult training. After achieving close coordination, they can use at least one B-grade Spirit Robe.” “Furthermore, depending on the strength of the Spirit Robes they construct, squads are divided into levels 1 to 6.”
Xia Feng understood. The twelve envoys they had eliminated earlier were likely an envoy squad, and a Level 5 squad capable of coordinated construction of an A-class Spirit Robe. The reason it was Level 5 was that the Shiva Avatar they constructed was only half-complete, not whole. If they could construct the complete Shiva Avatar, that squad would be promoted to Level 6, and its members would become highly sought-after, with their treatment skyrocketing by several orders of magnitude.
While listening to Teacher Freya’s explanation, Xia Feng nodded and embraced her from behind, his hands gripping her soft neck as he walked towards the city’s edge.
Freya’s voice abruptly stopped. “Wait, are you still going to hold me hostage?”
“Teacher Freya, please bear with it. This is the only way to attract their attention and give my troops an opportunity.”
“Your troops?” Freya was startled, then quickly realized. She meant the Half-Dragon army?! This brat can actually control Half-Dragons? Her heart surged with a mixture of shock and a strange sense of… anticipation. Thoughts of peculiar scenarios flashed through her mind.
“That’s right. Compared to a forced frontal engagement, actively infiltrating the enemy ranks for a surprise attack is clearly more cost-effective.” Xia Feng whispered in Freya’s ear. At the same time, with a thought, the Half-Dragon army that had been hidden deep in the dense forest immediately received the command. They emerged from the forest, their indifferent vertical pupils all looking towards the group army in the sky, awaiting their redeployment by the human army.
As expected, someone in the sky noticed the scene below and took out a Dragon Soul Stone, dropping it towards the Half-Dragons. The redeployment of the Half-Dragon army began. Seeing this, Xia Feng nodded with satisfaction but suddenly froze. As if sensing something, he looked towards the sky. Just moments ago, he had felt a disturbance from the Nascent Ten Sacred Bow. Previously, when using the first ability of Holy Solution, Fusion Device, at the Black Moon Holy See, he had fused the Elven Sacred Bow, the Light Spirit, and two other Spirit Artifacts, creating the powerful B-grade Spirit Artifact, the Nascent Ten Sacred Bow. However, due to the lack of one crucial Spirit Artifact, the Nascent Ten Sacred Bow could not break through its limits and advance to A-class. Unlike optimization, which improves quality, the Fusion Device ability can directly promote the rank of Spirit Artifacts. If it were upgraded to A-class, the Nascent Ten Sacred Bow would likely evolve even more powerful abilities.
For the past few months, he had been sensing the location of the final Spirit Artifact, but due to the great distance, his sense had been intermittent. However, just now, he had clearly felt the presence of the Spirit Artifact, located within that blue whale in the sky? Or rather, on the other side of the spatial channel connected by the blue whale, there was a crucial Spirit Artifact that the Nascent Ten Sacred Bow could devour and fuse with. Confirming it wasn’t his imagination, Xia Feng’s black eyes gleamed. It seemed another major battle was about to unfold. While he already possessed an A-class Spirit Artifact, the Spirit Artifact Space, its godly power lay in its ‘Awakening Spirit Artifact’ ability and was almost useless in combat, rarely used by him. Its only useful aspect was a “soul extraction” type control ability—it could forcibly extract an enemy’s soul from their body for about half a second, but only if their gazes met. Against enemies with slightly higher spirit pressure, it was even harder to achieve any effect. However, combined with the Shadow of the Blood Fiend and various melee techniques, it could be quite effective, serving as a supportive ability for ambushing enemies. Therefore, if he could fuse an offensive A-class Spirit Artifact, it would undoubtedly greatly enhance his combat power.
While contemplating, Xia Feng, holding Freya hostage, arrived outside the city. The three thousand soldiers outside had already sealed off the area. Judging by the military ranks on their epaulets, there were as many as 10 Level 5 soldiers among the three thousand. They all visibly started when they noticed the trio emerging.
“Lady Venerable?”
“Why is Madam here?” Amidst the murmurs, a tall, thin man stepped out from the ranks. This man had a sharp mouth and slanted eyes, resembling a rat. His epaulet indicated he was a Level 5 soldier. He narrowed his eyes, glancing at the hostage Lady Venerable, and after confirming it was indeed Freya, he looked at the two black-robed figures. “Could they be the ones who killed Ye Li Beizhou?” The rat-faced man was vigilant. He knew that Ye Li Beizhou was accompanied by destructive servants and wouldn’t die easily. Anyone capable of annihilating Ye Li Beizhou’s entire squad was likely a True Martial expert!
“Scan complete. There are no other signs of life in the city. Those remnants must have fled.” The respectful transmissions from his subordinates echoed in his mind. “Sir, scan complete. Both of these black-robed figures are at the third stage of spirit pressure.”
Third stage? This made the rat-faced man pause. Only two third-stage individuals? In that case, they weren’t the ones who killed Ye Li Beizhou. Thinking of this, the rat-faced man couldn’t help but find it amusing. He wondered where these two got the audacity to hold the Lady Venerable hostage.
“Two gentlemen, tell me, what are your demands?” However, the rat-faced man didn’t attack immediately. Instead, he asked with a light smile. “The location connected by this blue whale should be Xize Island, right?” Xia Feng looked up at the sky. “Our demand is simple: prepare a cone-shaped ship on Xize Island. Once we leave Xize Island and reach a safe distance, we will naturally release Freya.”
“Is that all your condition?” The rat-faced man narrowed his eyes.
“Naturally.” Xia Feng wasn’t actually planning to escape. He just wanted to enter Xize Island. According to Teacher Freya, Xize Island was only a B-grade military fortress and wouldn’t have a Venerable stationed there. Xia Feng roughly estimated the military strength of such a fortress and felt it was worth a try. After all, the Xize army would eventually march out in full force. Rather than passively defending and giving the enemy time to prepare, it would be better for him to directly enter the tiger’s den and capture the leader. His current advantage was that the enemy didn’t know the combat power and Spirit Robes/Artifacts of him and Mu Qingtong. He had to leverage this information gap to catch Pang Xize off guard. And then, he could look for the Spirit Artifact that could be fused.
Seeing the K-Masked Man so calm, the rat-faced man chuckled and said no more. He nodded, “Alright. I hope you can keep your promise.” With that, he waved his hand, and the three thousand soldiers behind him soared into the air, retreating and heading back towards the blue whale. “Two, follow me.”
Soon, the three followed the rat-faced man to the vicinity of the blue whale. Xia Feng, holding Freya hostage, slowly floated inside. The interior of the blue whale was filled with red light, and strange, intricate runes permeated the space, resembling formation patterns intricately connected to each other. The three thousand soldiers were arrayed in formations at higher elevations on all four sides. After being redeployed into the three thousand-strong army, the Half-Dragon army was arranged in a dense, orderly formation, with three soldiers surrounding each Half-Dragon, looking down from above. Xia Feng, with his hand around Freya’s neck, surveyed the surroundings and said with a smile, “Truly magnificent.”
“Indeed, magnificent.” The rat-faced man chuckled and snapped his fingers. Xia Feng felt a fluctuation in spirit pressure and turned his head to look. The Freya in his hand instantly vanished, replaced by an ordinary soldier. He blinked and looked up. Freya had quietly appeared in the center of the airborne army, taking the place the soldier had occupied.
“Truly unimaginably foolish.” The rat-faced man stood suspended high above, hands behind his back, looking down at the K-Masked Man below with a mocking sneer. “Kid, how dare you?” “Without reinforcements, how do you intend to contend with my army of three thousand?” “Oh, no, it should be four thousand.” After redeploying the powerful Half-Dragon army, it was enough to double the army’s combat strength. Laughing, he looked down, his tone suddenly turning icy, “You two are now trapped like fish in a barrel!”
