Chapter 277: As If a Sword Comes From the East (3.5k)
Another half an hour passed. Above a small border city, Su Jiu felt sweat on her soles. She lifted her leg to look, “Tsk, sticky… But is this really sweat?” After a moment of silence, she lowered her head to look at Bai Zhi, who was continuously forming hand seals. Bai Zhi exhaled small puffs of white air but looked incredibly serious, her face solemn. This made Su Jiu feel guilty for doubting her. With a sigh, she softly asked, “Are you done yet?” Her small leather shoe had been knocked off by Bai Zhi to the ground below. She didn’t know if it was intentional or accidental. Even from so far away, she could still touch it.
“It’s done, it’s done…” Bai Zhi responded instinctively with a soft hum, not expecting Su Jiu to sit down on the other end the moment she finished speaking. This made the corner of her mouth twitch. She then got up briskly. A moment later, her gaze shifted downwards, she pouted, and then giggled, saying, “There are many auras locking onto us below. I guess they want to capture this rare little white dragon. Aren’t you going to do anything?”
“Do what? I’m warning you, this is Dragon Country. You can’t do bad things casually.” Seeing Bai Zhi’s mischievous expression, Su Jiu felt a shiver. Bai Zhi was now emitting a Half-King level aura. If she wanted to do anything, the owners of those prying auras wouldn’t be able to resist at all.
“I’ll go scare those idiots.” Bai Zhi then left Su Jiu with those words and rushed out like a beam of light. Su Jiu helplessly let E Huo slow down a bit. She watched that white stream of light. After an unknown amount of time, a breaking sound echoed, and Bai Zhi landed in front of Su Jiu, giggling and humming a little tune, looking exceptionally happy.
“This damn girl really went to be a righteous outlaw.” Shining brightly in her pocket were Magic Crystals. Su Jiu glanced at them, her mouth twitching slightly. After a moment of silence, she extended her right hand, beckoned, and just looked at Bai Zhi quietly.
“What? These are all *my* food.” Bai Zhi lightly covered her pocket, blinking her eyes. Her eyes, adorned with little flowers, were full of innocent purity, as if asking Su Jiu, “What are you trying to do? I don’t understand?”
“Stop playing dumb! These extorted Magic Crystals should at least be split fifty-fifty. The pet’s snacks should be kept by the owner… It’ll be a huge expense at the auction again.” Seeing Bai Zhi deliberately feigning cuteness and ignorance, Su Jiu immediately put on a grinning expression and reached directly into Bai Zhi’s pocket. With a grab, she took out five or six Beginner Magic Crystals.
“I’ll bite you to death, you scoundrel!!” Bai Zhi’s eyes instantly went blank upon seeing the Magic Crystals being taken by Su Jiu. She seemed to have not expected Su Jiu, who had Battle King level strength, to snatch food from her. Then, with lightning speed, she lunged and bit Su Jiu’s white silken legs. Her movements were as smooth as could be, after all, practice makes perfect.
“Damn it! Are you a dog?! You’re actually biting me!” Su Jiu was startled when she felt her calf being tightly bitten by a small mouth. She then forcefully pushed Bai Zhi away. However, Bai Zhi, perhaps due to advancing to Half-King, was genuinely able to bite, and Su Jiu couldn’t push her away.
“You better not want that one either.” Looking at her white stocking soaked with a trace of red, Su Jiu’s expression turned into that of a dead fish. Her right hand reached over Bai Zhi’s face and into the purse, which now only had five Magic Crystals left. Under Bai Zhi’s incredulous gaze, she expressionlessly took the remaining five.
“Baka! Stealing from a child, how shameless!” This time, Bai Zhi bit even harder, with a hint of indignation in her eyes. She looked up at Su Jiu’s indifferent expression, and bit down even tighter.
“Speed it up, E Huo. We should be arriving soon.” Feeling the stinging sensation on her feet, Su Jiu expressionlessly patted E Huo’s back. She casually conjured a touch of green light on her hand, instantly healing the broken skin on her foot. Then, she took two Magic Crystals, tossed them forward forcefully, and chuckled, “E Huo, catch!”
“Love you, mama,” a crisp voice rang out. E Huo instantly floated up and pounced towards the Magic Crystals thrown above, looking quite adorable.
Bai Zhi realized that biting Su Jiu was completely useless. She obediently let go, glare fiercely at Su Jiu, and then picked up her phone to play with it, no longer causing trouble. Seeing Bai Zhi fiddling with her phone, Su Jiu also sat down cross-legged to cultivate. Although she didn’t quite understand how to engrave the Inscription into her Inner Core after breaking through to High-Rank Battle General, she needed to consolidate her suddenly surging strength. After all, she was just an ordinary person, unlike the original Male Protagonist who could continuously grow stronger without consolidation.
Time, in the monotonous flight, flowed like sand between fingers. After just a few rotations of her small blue Inner Core, they approached the eastern district of Flower City. As E Huo flipped over and leaped over a majestic mountain range again, in the distance, a vast city surrounded by camellia flowers gradually appeared. The city was enveloped by dark green tea trees, and on these trees were tender pink flower buds yet to bloom, truly living up to its name as Flower City. They had arrived at the eastern part of Flower City!
Su Jiu glanced at Bai Zhi, who was also curiously looking at the scene below. She gently patted E Huo’s head and chuckled, “Let’s go! We’ll land and greet the local guards first. We can’t just fly around casually in a second-tier metropolis like this.” E Huo nodded its large head and flew rapidly towards the distant Flower City. Although it seemed to be at least a thousand meters away, at E Huo’s speed and in a headlong dive, it took less than two minutes for Su Jiu and Bai Zhi to land below the city.
After landing, a white mist emerged from E Huo. Her body began to shrink continuously, finally transforming into a body thinner than a thumb, then turning into a stream of light and hanging on Su Jiu’s earlobe. Watching E Huo’s actions, Su Jiu couldn’t help but marvel, “As expected of a high-level species, its functions are becoming more comprehensive, even able to change size. I wonder if it can become a good daughter in the future.” Recalling that thought, Su Jiu slightly raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the colorful lights that looked as if they had been slashed by blades. The red-colored lights seemed to have some loose connections, occasionally emitting a “buzzing” sound of electric current, but the characters displayed could still be seen – [Flower City].
“Did a battle happen here? But it’s a border town, so battles are normal.” Moving her gaze away from the red light sign, Su Jiu noticed some traces of burnt skills on the city walls. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she muttered to herself, “Moreover, the guards are gone. What exactly happened! Such disregard for border town guards, if attacked by monsters, these border troops will be absolutely unforgivable.”
Just as Su Jiu was perplexed as to why there were no guards at the main gate, Bai Zhi was shaking her phone vigorously, exclaiming angrily, “What a crappy network, why is my drama buffering like this!” “Go to hell, crappy network… Wait, the malice here is really strong.” Bai Zhi then put away her phone and looked at Flower City. Her small face suddenly stiffened. She closed her eyes for a moment, then suddenly opened them, her gaze fixed in the direction of the city center. She said with considerable seriousness, “Within this human border outpost, not far away, there are several groups of extremely malicious intent. It seems a battle also occurred there.”
Hearing Bai Zhi’s words, Su Jiu was stunned, then slowly closed her eyes. A bloody light flashed in her eyes. Her immense Mental Power, centered on her eyes, looked towards the direction Bai Zhi was pointing. Bai Zhi, with her hands behind her back, looked at Su Jiu’s torn stockings and bare feet, and didn’t remind her that she wasn’t wearing shoes. She wanted to see the fun of this scoundrel.
After a long while, Su Jiu opened her eyes, narrowed them, and a look of solemnity appeared on her face. She softly said to Bai Zhi, “This place was actually attacked by the Ancient God Sect… We’ll go rescue people together later… These beasts actually killed so many people.” “Rescue people, I absolutely don’t…” Bai Zhi was about to retort stubbornly for a sentence or two, but when she felt her body turn slightly cold, she looked up to meet Su Jiu’s slightly chilling eyes. Her arrogant words were swallowed back. Pouting her small mouth, she said, “Fine, I’ll go… Why are you so fierce!”
In Flower City, on a street near the city guard barracks, the atmosphere was tense. The street was covered in bloodstains. Several private cars had been deformed by immense force, and even the bodies of ordinary civilians were contorted inside them… looking rather tragic. Not far from these tragic scenes, two groups of people were confronting each other. Beast martial arts radiated with different attributes, and the air was slightly turbulent, appearing somewhat grim. To be precise, one group was surrounded by another group and cornered against a wall.
“Scum of the Ancient God Sect, in less than twenty minutes, as soon as the Dragon Slayer Alliance gets the news, they’ll come and harvest you.” In the group cornered against the wall, a muscular man, like an imposing iron tower in a military uniform, glared at the Black-Robed Man in the sky like an angry Vajra and shouted.
“Dragon Hunter? You can try taking out your phone and sending a message… it’s useless.” After a low laugh, the Black-Robed Man extended a slightly dry finger and tapped his pocket.
“You set up a jamming formation?” Hearing the other party’s smug tone, the tall officer’s eyes narrowed slightly. He scanned the four figures in the sky and said in a deep voice, “What exactly does the Ancient God Sect want?! They actually dispatched four Shadows?”
The leader Among the Shadows chuckled and looked at the civilians behind the military personnel, saying indifferently, “As long as you obediently enter the formation we’ve set up, you won’t die.”
“Heh heh… With just the four of you High-Rank Battle Generals? These civilians are already protected by our military. If my deputy officer and I go all out, you might not be our match.” The tall officer laughed angrily, but there was a hint of worry between his brows. The Ancient God Sect’s actions have been too frequent lately, as if making some major move. Now that four Shadows have appeared, their Priest must not be far behind.
“Heh heh… It seems our Ancient God Sect has been dormant for too long, making everyone forget our prestige.” As expected, as soon as his words fell, a black shadow floated like paper not far in front of him. It was an old Shadow, his aged face as calm as still water. With his appearance, an oppressive aura enveloped the entire street – a Battle King Level expert!
“As expected of a Battle King Level expert. He should be the Priest of the Ancient God Sect. Perhaps the auction attracted such villains as well.” The tall officer looked at the appearing old man with a grim expression, and a wave of despair surged in his heart. He was only a Half-King. Although Battle King and Half-King were only separated by two words, the difference was like heaven and earth.
“Honestly, don’t resist and surrender, otherwise…” The Priest casually glanced at the grim-faced tall officer and slowly spoke. However, before he could finish, his pupils suddenly contracted. He hastily formed an icy energy shield in front of him. The icy energy shield continuously thickened, and amidst everyone’s confusion, he rapidly retreated backward, as if trying to dodge something.
“What’s wrong with him? He seemed so smug just now?” “Whoosh!” Everyone also looked on in confusion. Soon, a crimson stream of light shot from the eastern sky. The stream of light was accompanied by raging flames, and the flames exuded a terrifying aura. Within the flames, a long sword seemed to be rotating, and the sword’s target was that Priest. This sword came from the east, as if a sword immortal was bestowing favor upon the mortal world.
