Chapter 453: Life’s Race (Fourth Update!)
“Monsters are approaching us!! Everyone be alert!”
Sensing the white figures emerging from the mist, the white old adventurer gripped a curved blade in reverse. A faint silver glow emanated from the blade, and his somewhat cloudy eyes darted around, trying to discern the figures within the frostmist.
“Whoosh!”
The frostmist was violently parted by a figure. In the next second, a bird shadow, nearly two meters wide, burst from the mist. Its mouth, full of serrations, like a wide-open blade, lunged towards Su Jiu and the other two in the distance.
“Careful!”
“Mr. Luton, don’t hold back!”
The female college student Qiu Hui’s pupils constricted. It was too late to stop it, so she could only turn her head and shout at the white adventurer beside her.
“Little girl! Come towards us!”
“Quick!”
Before the monster could get close to Su Jiu, the white old adventurer nodded, let out a cry, and unleashed the aura of an Initial Stage Battle King. His curved blade vibrated as he rapidly swung it, spitting out white blade energy from its tip.
“Squawk—Slice!”
In an instant, the white blade quickly sliced open the charging strange bird, splattering blood. The warm snow instantly solidified into bullet-like ice pellets that pelted their respective energy shields with a “da da da!!!” sound.
“We can’t use mental power to scout the situation now, so we can only move closer to them and then look for an opportunity to scout.”
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Su Jiu, holding Bai Zhi, also tugged on Qian Cheng’s rope. She exhaled a breath of mist and moved towards the others. As she got closer, she thanked them.
“Thank you.”
The fact that these students could be saved by adventurers proved they weren’t bad people. Although such a monster hitting her energy shield would probably be instantly blown apart by the Dark Erosion attribute.
But people helping her was one thing. If they genuinely needed help later, she wouldn’t mind lending a hand.
“We’re all college students, just helping each other out.”
Facing Su Jiu’s thanks, the yellow-haired girl named Qiu Hui swayed her Flower Butterfly Fan, glanced at Bai Zhi in Su Jiu’s arms, frowned, and then said softly, “The little girl seems to be sick. Go to the center of our team. Those monsters are generally only Battle General level, so dealing with them isn’t a problem for us.”
After speaking, she pulled the reins, making Qian Cheng move aside to make way. The path wasn’t wide, barely enough for one person to enter. Then, she cleaved a fiery arc with her fan towards the frostmist, and a white shadow was apparently slain.
Soon, these students formed a rapidly moving oval formation, using it as a blade to break through the surrounding frostmist. The other students were not bookworms either; their weapons stirred up waves of light as they retaliated against some of the attacking flying monsters.
“Okay.”
Not one to be sentimental, Su Jiu nodded and took Bai Zhi to the center of the area surrounded by the group. Observing the coordination of these senior students, she realized that these people were likely among the top tier at Huainan School.
Ignoring the battle outside, Su Jiu, half-carrying Bai Zhi, made a sword shape with her right hand, emitting faint mental power fluctuations. With half-closed eyes, she gently and carefully slid her hand over Bai Zhi’s back.
As she probed, her Blood Eye grew more severe. After a moment, she dispersed the mental power from her hand, exhaled white breath, and her face was filled with confusion as she whispered, “You’ve been restless in your stomach, and even your body has been burned by the overflowing fire attribute. Now all your organs are damaged. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Grasping Su Jiu tighter, Bai Zhi rested her head on Su Jiu’s shoulder, exhaling warm breath, and replied as if in a dream, “Flirt… I… I’m so cold.”
“You silly girl… why didn’t you use the Yin-Yang Child Protection Water?”
Looking at her, Su Jiu felt a strange pang of heartache. She had no intention of blaming her. Her fingertips glowed with a faint jade green, maintaining the condition of her internal organs.
Bai Zhi’s current condition was due to a lack of ice-attribute magic crystals, very similar to Su Jiu’s inner core situation back then. The fetus needed two attribute energies. The fire attribute energy was already up to standard, but the ice attribute was still short by about one-fifth.
The body had begun to become unbalanced, and now it encountered a great cold current, causing Bai Zhi’s bodily functions to mistakenly register the absorption of ice-attribute magic crystal energy, preparing for the dual-attribute fusion of the fetus.
But in reality, it hadn’t. The ice-attribute energy had always been scarce. For a moment, the fire attribute overpowered the ice attribute, and the fetus was being burned by the overflowing fire-attribute energy.
To prevent the fetus from developing deformities, Bai Zhi gave up using the Child Protection Water. Instead, she transformed her remaining Floating Life Blossom into an energy shield to cover the fetus, while she herself was continuously impacted by the excess energy, affecting her internal organs.
Hearing the faint snoring, Su Jiu looked down at Bai Zhi, who had fallen asleep. She could only use the Spring Bloom Technique to keep her in a constantly healing state.
Su Jiu now faced two paths—
Path one: Surgical removal of the fetus. However, this special fetus would die if produced too early.
Path two: Obtain over a dozen mid-grade ice-attribute magic crystals in a very short time to restore the balance of ice and fire in her body with ice-attribute energy.
“She’s gone… you want to leave too…”
Su Jiu helped Bai Zhi tidy her green silk, her eyes somewhat dim, lost in thought. Hearing the slightly nasal mumbling, she sighed, gently kissed the girl’s forehead, and then said softly,
“I won’t.”
As she said this, she took out something resembling a cloth strap from her ring, wrapped it around Bai Zhi, tied her to the back of Qian Cheng, and then covered her with Youyou’s fire-light energy shield.
“Although these monsters are few, with Bai Zhi’s current condition, ice-attribute magic crystals can temporarily slow down her injuries.”
She then looked at the monsters gathered in groups, hiding in the frostmist and lurking, took a deep breath, and suddenly, with a flash of white light, E Huo transformed into a long sword and stood beside her.
“We can’t delay any longer.”
Her actions were naturally noticed by Qiu Hui beside her. She was stunned for a moment, then immediately said sternly, “You just take care of that girl. As long as we keep these monsters at bay, they won’t dare to attack us easily.”
“I know you want to send that girl to the hospital, but this mist can’t be cleared. Not only are there High-Rank Battle Generals in it, but there might even be Half-King level great monsters testing us.”
At this moment, the adventurer Luton also turned his head. His aged face was filled with a strong warning. He slowly spoke.
“Half-King level… take good care of her for me.”
Hearing the old adventurer Luton’s voice, Su Jiu let out a long sigh, her eyes narrowed, and her body slowly rose. To everyone’s confusion, she transformed into a gray-gold stream of light and charged straight in, so fast that even the old adventurer didn’t react.
Little fool, wait for me…
Watching Su Jiu plunge into the frost sea like a pebble without a ripple, as if facing a natural force, one couldn’t escape easily without being a Battle King…
“She really charged in. She’s likely in grave danger now.”
“Judging by her appearance, she’s probably a junior schoolmate from a nearby university. So young, with Battle General level strength… but she lacks social experience.”
The senior students showed a look of helplessness. Qiu Hui turned to the old adventurer Luton. Before she could speak, he took a sip of wine, shook his head, and stared ahead at the dense fog, saying softly, “I am only responsible for your safety. In this great cold current, even as an Initial Stage Battle King, I am useless.”
Hearing this, Qiu Hui fell silent and nodded. After a while, she suddenly asked, “Then, do you think she can still come out?”
“A Battle General trapped in there would generally be in mortal danger, but she…” Old adventurer Luton’s cloudy eyes looked into the dense fog. After a slight pause, he shook his head and said softly, “I don’t know. She’s very special. I can’t sense her aura at all. It should be an Alchemical Artifact used to hide her aura. Perhaps she’s a member of a prominent family undergoing training.”
“These people have Alchemical Treasures that grant them a certain degree of self-protection. They cannot be judged by the same standards as people of the same level.”
Luton actually had another guess in his heart, but the probability was very small, so he didn’t tell the senior students. When he looked at Su Jiu earlier, the mature aura, like aged wine, was nothing like a student’s…
But rather, that of a seasoned adventurer!
In the cold current, Su Jiu’s eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty red light. She looked up at the monster figures that dared to hide in the cold current and observe.
“If I don’t look for you, you dare to lurk around here and spy on me?”
Her brow furrowed, Su Jiu sneered. Her figure transformed into a streak of light, and dozens of sword energies flickered from different corners. Accompanying the sword light were blood droplets and the extremely fast technique of extracting magic crystals.
As soon as Su Jiu made a move, the monsters stirred subtly and then organized themselves to surround her. The intensity of the cold current increased further.
Even in the wind where ice pellets were constantly falling, a pair of giant eyes as sharp as an eagle’s stared intently at Su Jiu, as if testing her true strength. If she was slightly weaker, they would devour her directly.
“Finally can’t hold back, huh?”
Su Jiu naturally noticed that gaze. She seemed to sigh in relief as if talking to herself, and her fingertips glowed faintly as she slowly smeared them onto the long sword…
On the other side of the great cold current, the group continuing forward felt the frostmist, which was almost comparable to Extraordinary Attributes, causing their teeth to chatter. Even old adventurer Luton felt a chill in his body.
“That great monster has activated its skill! Everyone, don’t let the frost and snow touch you, or your blood will freeze!” Luton’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears.
Exhaling a breath of hot air, Qiu Hui seemed to recall Su Jiu’s instructions. She hurriedly looked at Bai Zhi, wanting to add another protective shield for her. As she approached the black and red energy shield, she found it to be unusually warm…
“The mist… the mist seems to have dispersed?”
As she couldn’t understand why the energy shield was so warm under this special cold current, Luton’s voice sounded with a hint of surprise.
