It was not easy to locate the body of the Second Order mutated spider.
The land was practically unrecognizable with a large crater whose depth was difficult to describe in simple words but whose darkness seemed to have the capacity to attract the soul of anyone who tried to look inside was right where the blood trident containing the skill Crimson Blood Judgment hit.
Craters of varying sizes but with depths of at least ten meters could be seen everywhere around a kilometer from the impact. If the distant surroundings were like this, one could imagine how terrifying the depth at the center of the crater would be.
Bai Zemin could only hope that the explosion had sent the body or what was left of the body of the Second Order mutated spider flying or otherwise he would have to jump into that hole that looked more like an abyss than a crater.
They both searched for more than ten minutes until after a great effort they finally found a burnt area with a slightly nauseating smell and some green marks. Although there was nothing left of the spider's body, at least they managed to find a Second Order Soul Stone.
Both, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, were ecstatic when they found the soul stone that had formed inside the mutated spider's body.
This was a Second Order Soul Stone!
Until now, Bai Zemin only had 1 of those! The only one in his entire faction!
"Now only 998 more to go before we can fulfill one of the power generator's requirements." He joked.
Shangguan Bing Xue actually felt like laughing at how bad his joke was, but fortunately, she managed to restrain herself and just looked at him with a completely speechless expression.
"I wonder where the treasures fell." He finally sighed as he looked around the surroundings.
No matter where he looked, all he could see was destruction.
Giant trees crushed beyond all recognition, thick branches shattered, large rocks flattened, small pools of lava that still burned under the constant harassment of the storm, scorched earth, and so on.
Regardless of where he looked, he couldn't see any treasure orbs, skill scrolls, or old sheepskin scrolls.
"I'm sure there will definitely be a treasure…" Shangguan Bing Xue also looked at the surroundings before saying with a bitter smile, "But with that explosion, only god knows where the orbs and scrolls flew off to."
"Hahaha…" Bai Zemin couldn't help but laugh as he saw the expression on Shangguan Bing Xue's face. Seeing how she looked at him puzzled, he noted, "I must say, you really do look much more human now."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" She said as she folded her arms and looked at him seemingly offended.
Bai Zemin quickly added, "No, well… What I mean is that you look more…. Accessible? Something like that."
Although he thought her smiles were incredibly beautiful to appreciate, he didn't say it out loud. He didn't think there was any need for such a thing and probably a beautiful woman like Shangguan Bing Xue had already received countless compliments like that in the past; besides, Bai Zemin didn't want her to think he was flirting or anything similar as that might put the good friendly relationship they had formed after more than a month of countless battles, hardships, and trust built after countless trials into a complicated situation.
"I was only joking. I understood what you meant." Shangguan Bing Xue relaxed and smiled bitterly, "As you can understand now that you know about my past, it's not easy for a young woman like me to casually relax in front of others."
Bai Zemin sighed in his heart and looked at her with a little pity.
Her father threw her on the side of the road like a trash bag, many people with political power somehow tried to use her, men started to look at her with desire from a young age, one of her best friends suddenly fell in love with her and didn't understand when she told him that she was only looking for his friendship, etc.
Having only her mother in her life, Shangguan Bing Xue's past had forced her to become who she was today.
Not wishing to dwell on past issues that could only bring pain, Bai Zemin quickly thought of something and calmly said, "By the way… I don't know about you but I don't plan to leave behind valuable treasures."
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him gratefully as she naturally understood what he wanted to do. She pointed out, "Well, I don't have any intention of leaving anything here as well."
"Since that's so, how about you search on the right rise and I'll go on the left." Bai Zemin proposed after deep contemplation.
Hearing this, Shangguan Bing Xue stared at him with deep eyes and said nothing for a long time.
"What's wrong?" he asked dumbfounded.
Had he said something wrong? Why was she looking at him like that? Bai Zemin was really at a loss about this.
She finally sighed and said in a soft voice, "How about you look left and I'll go right?"
After saying that, she stared at him to see his reaction and, just as she expected, Bai Zemin's expression changed slightly.
In the end, Shangguan Bing Xue did not give him time to say anything and silently walked to the left.
Bai Zemin stared at her slender back until she disappeared further into the darkness. For a moment he thought he saw a faint smile on her face, but then shook his head as he rushed to the left. Countless raindrops fell on his face and on his body covered by his Rank 2 armor drenching him completely wet.
"I bet I look like a wet rat right now." He muttered to himself as he imagined what he would look like with his hair stuck to his head and completely flattened.
* * *
After a couple of seconds, Bai Zemin arrived in the vicinity of the ground on which the three Second Order beasts were fighting just before he launched Crimson Blood Judgment five hundred meters away and destroyed everything in its path.
Because the area of effect of the shockwave and the fire sphere had destroyed everything, this area was also completely unrecognizable. If not for the unstable mana and the slight traces of active skills remaining in the atmosphere, Bai Zemin might not have recognized the area even if he wanted to.
However, when he arrived there, encountered a scene he never expected to see even in his wildest dreams
"Damn it…" He couldn't help but curse under his breath as he walked towards the place more on the edge of the destruction.
The area where whatever it was that the white tiger and the giant ape were fighting over was located and what probably also attracted the attention of the Second Order mutated spider.
Of course, whatever it was that was there had already been completely destroyed and not even a trace of its existence remained. However, that didn't mean that there wasn't anything in it.
What the hell is this thing? Bai Zemin was dumbfounded as he looked at the material in front of him.
Because in the past this area was covered by earth, this object was not visible from the outside. However, now that the area had been swept from left to right by the aftermath of Bai Zemin's attack, the earth had been destroyed and a large crater big enough to reveal what was previously hidden had been formed.
Swoosh!
An unnatural breeze hit Bai Zemin's face but just as his expression turned serious and he was about to launch his attack, that unmistakable scent of sweet, fresh roses flooded his senses all at once and his body automatically relaxed as if by reflex.
"Hey, Lilith. Do you know what this is?" He asked curiously as he looked at the strange material in front of him.
Even though he already had a rough idea, Bai Zemin didn't dare to casually touch something he wasn't sure about. Who knows if a powerful monster would actually come out of there, or worse yet, maybe he would end up activating something like a natural bomb strong enough to blow his little body into a million pieces? Better safe than sorry.
Fortunately for him, next to him was an extremely powerful being who despite being young had a lot of knowledge about the universe and the Earth in general. If it were someone else perhaps that person could only take the risk.
However, even after several seconds of waiting, the seductive and sweet voice of the one and only existence he trusted with all his heart and was willing to put his hands in the fire for, did not come.
"Lilith?" Bai Zemin turned his face to look at the woman standing next to him and looked at her with a hint of doubt as he saw the look in her eyes.
Lilith was standing two meters away. Her ruby-colored eyes were fixed on him, but the look in them was extremely complicated. There was surprise, doubt, uncertainty, and many other emotions that alone had the capacity to make one's heart tremble not to mention now that they were joined. However, the most notable emotion would be the worry that practically seemed to overflow from her eyes. Her always sharp eyebrows had curved slightly and the normally playful shape of her eyes was slightly decayed, just like a crescent moon but completely opposite from that crescent moon that automatically formed when a person was very happy.
"You…" Lilith looked at him and seemed to want to say something but hesitated. After a moment, she finally could only utter a few words, "You are growing up too fast…"
Bai Zemin looked at her for a few seconds and blinked as a bitter smile formed on his face, "Don't even tell me… Look, even the Soul Record and Earth had to devise countermeasures for me."
After those words, he stretched one of his hands forward and with his gaze urged Lilith to take it.
Lilith looked at his hand for a second before extending her delicate arm forward and letting Bai Zemin take her small hand gently. Immediately after, she could see the records engraved in his soul that he allowed.
What Bai Zemin showed her was his newly acquired title.
"Irregular…" She mumbled softly and her gentle voice was like a tender whisper amidst the crackling of lightning and the dripping sound of rain falling from the clouds. Lilith looked at him with extremely complicated eyes to the point where Bai Zemin couldn't understand and said with mixed feelings, "Really… You are an irregularity."
Bai Zemin did not understand why she was acting like this. Although his title was indeed shocking, wasn't it a good thing to some extent? After all, the more irregular he was then the more the odds of him being able to help Lilith in whatever it was she needed from him.
"Lilith… Is something wrong?" He asked this time genuinely disturbed.
Even though there were no existences on the current Earth capable of threatening the safety of the woman in front of him, the complicated look in that beautiful pair of ruby eyes exposed just how heavy her heart felt.
With her being the only one who was there for him at all times and her being someone he owed so much to, how could Bai Zemin not care? Even if his heart were made of stone such a thing would not be possible unless he was truly emotionless.
Lilith smiled bitterly and while looking him in the eyes, replied in a low voice: "You are growing so, so fast, that slowly all my knowledge will start to become useless to you… Everything is getting out of hand faster than it originally should…"
* * * * * * *
Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3
