Bai Zemin raised his head and looked up at the sky…. Or at least he tried to.
After the 400,000+ enemies exploded and their bodies turned into bloody mist, the crimson cloud surrounding the environs had returned even stronger than before.
"So that's how it is…" He muttered under his breath as stony silence reigned in the area. "I finally understood the basics of performing large-scale attacks with my Blood Manipulation skill…. I finally found a way to use blood in a gaseous state to use it to my advantage."
Previously and despite the name of the skill, Bai Zemin did not have the ability to manipulate bloody mist to attack his enemies. This had always been a great pain in Bai Zemin's heart since if he could use gaseous state attacks, ending the lives of a large number of enemies would be a lot easier.
Like now, for example.
The reason why Bai Zemin's enemies burst into bloody mist was precisely because the air they had been breathing all this time was filled with blood. Even if they didn't want to, these otherworldly existences had been absorbing blood that had already been modified and silently controlled by Bai Zemin's mana. Therefore, when he began to use his magic power to attack from the inside out en masse, the result was simply frightening.
"But this kind of attack has rather exaggerated limitations." Bai Zemin lowered his head and sighed as he analyzed the large volume of information that was constantly flowing into his brain from the rune that represented the skill Blood Manipulation recently evolved to Second Order level 3.
Although the skill had not evolved to the next stage and although the two-level increase did not increase the magical power of blood attacks, the quantity of information Bai Zemin received was so great that it was no exaggeration to say that his power in terms of blood attacks had increased to a whole new scale.
Moreover, the constant flow of information finally served to help him regain some composure and he finally returned to his former self.
Perhaps both women noticed the change in his aura and recognized that calmness that characterized him so much as after glancing at each other they walked towards Bai Zemin.
Wu Yijun swallowed silently as she looked with surprise, fear, and admiration at the massacre Bai Zemin had just caused. How many enemies were there? Wu Yijun didn't know the exact number, but it was definitely more than a few hundred thousand; otherwise, there was no way that a cloud of blood over 2 kilometers in diameter would have formed over their heads and so many mangled corpses would plague the ground to the point of forming mountains several meters high.
"Hey,"
Bai Zemin looked at the two women with a somewhat awkward smile…. Somehow, it didn't feel right to let two beauties see him covered in foul-smelling blood and surrounded by corpses in a miserable state; even someone like Bai Zemin could understand so much.
"Hey…" Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and looked at him with extremely complicated eyes. After several seconds of silence in which no one said a word, she forced herself to smile and said in a low voice, "Congratulations. It looks like your goal is getting closer and closer."
His goal? Wu Yijun blinked and her cute ears twitched imperceptibly like those of a little puppy wanting to hear something.
"I wonder about that…" Bai Zemin sighed and did not comment on Shangguan Bing Xue's words.
In fact, even though everything he had done so far seemed to be easy because he was strong, the truth was that only Bai Zemin knew how difficult and how much he had lost in exchange for the power he possessed.
Every time his power increased, Bai Zemin felt that he somehow stopped being him. It was as if a part of his soul that he did not know was slowly awakening or maybe it was just his imagination but his personality was constantly altering. Even a few moments ago, while fighting against otherworldly enemies, he felt adrenaline flowing through his hot-blooded veins; the pride and disdain he felt towards his enemies were so great that even Bai Zemin felt repulsion towards himself.
Such disdain and carelessness for life was something that Bai Zemin would never have felt in the past. He had always been careful and had never let power go to his head. But just several minutes ago, things seemed to have changed a little too much.
He made a mental note to confirm his records and the Soul Record messages when this was all over as he might find the answer to his questions there.
"Bing Xue, Yijun. I need you both to help me keep everything in order here." Bai Zemin forced all unnecessary thoughts to the back of his head and looked at the two women in front of him in a serious manner.
"Keep everything in order here…?" Wu Yijun looked at him in surprise.
However, Shangguan Bing Xue's face changed when she heard Bai Zemin's request. She clearly knew him better than her childhood friend as far as his personality was concerned, and so, without hesitation, she stepped forward and said firmly:
"I will go with you."
Bai Zemin and Wu Yijun both looked at her in surprise but for different reasons.
Wu Yijun was surprised and confused about her friend's words.
Bai Zemin was surprised and confused as to how Shangguan Bing Xue seemed to be able to understand what he planned to do next. However, he shook his head slightly and said calmly:
"Bing Xue, you can't come. Among the enemies, there are thousands of First Order and from what I heard at the end, it seems that they have no shortage of Second Order existences in their army ranks. If you come with me too then who will stop them in case one of these beings manages to slip past the rift and reach Earth?"
"What? Rift?" Wu Yijun finally seemed to understand something and after giving a quick glance at the ominous rift that was even now releasing that slight bright red miasma she shook her head as she said loudly, "You can't! You can't go! If that thing closes then how will you get back! Besides, neither you nor anyone else knows what awaits on the other side, it could even be a trap!"
"I'm afraid we have no choice." Bai Zemin shook his head and sighed as he explained to Wu Yijun without noticing Shangguan Bing Xue's expression, "I noticed earlier that the rift is indeed closing, I assume that the world is fighting against something on the other side that keeps the space barrier defense weakened or destroyed to allow this foreign race to get here. Even though Earth is winning, it will still probably take months for the rift to close completely, and considering the miserable situation we are already in, adding another race as dangerous and powerful as this one won't do any good…. Therefore, we have to force the other side to close the rift willingly."
Earth was currently in constant evolution as were all the races that inhabited it. It didn't matter if it was the zombies, the mutant beasts, the goblins, and who knows what other new race; humans were on the verge of extinction and it was no exaggeration to say that they were in a sense the weakest race of all. If to this was added the appearance of the asura race that already possessed several Second Order and even Third Order or more powerful warriors, then humanity would truly be doomed to disappear forever.
In fact, were it not for the fact that an abnormal existence such as Bai Zemin was among the humans on Earth, no one would be able to stop the advance of the asura race and mankind would eventually be annihilated or enslaved…. Although to begin with, were it not for the fact that he had weakened the space defenses around the Baiquan Camp after causing such massive damage earlier, it was unlikely that the asura race would manage to take advantage of this to get here.
Naturally, with her intelligence it was impossible for Wu Yijun not to understand what Bai Zemin's words suggested. It was just that she simply could not accept it.
Sure, Bai Zemin was powerful. Sure, he could stand alone against an army of hundreds of thousands and even annihilate it… But you know, where the heart ruled the brain had no room to do its job. Love was like that, blind.
If it was in the past, Bai Zemin probably would not have understood well the reason why Wu Yijun's beautiful dark eyes were filled with tears. But now that the effect of the Stone Heart skill had been weakened as much as 10% by the title Brilliant Mind, he at least managed to grasp a thing or two.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He assured her… Since that was the only thing he could do at the moment: "My Stamina stat basically didn't drop at all during the previous battle and even though I only have about 60% of my total Mana now, I'll soon recover to full strength as long as I don't use magic. See, even the small wounds on my body already healed completely."
Wu Yijun had seen a terrifying Second Order existence burst into blood mist after coming face to face with Bai Zemin. She had seen with her own eyes as all the slight cuts that plagued his skin were healing at monstrously high speeds that could no longer be considered human. However, despite all this, she could not calm her anxious heart.
But even so, Wu Yijun understood that Bai Zemin would not back down now that he had made his decision and she did not want to become his mental burden either. So, all she did was close her eyes to keep her tears from falling and shake her head slightly without saying a word.
Just as Bai Zemin was planning to turn around and leave for whatever was waiting for him on the other side of that fissure, a cold voice brimming with arrogance and pride caused his plans to become stagnant.
"It wasn't a question."
Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and was a little surprised. This was the first time in quite some time that she had looked at him with those proud eyes; a look that he had grown accustomed to, that look that was so characteristic of her and had always been on her face since day 1 of the apocalypse and probably even before.
She looked him in the eye and declared, "If I said I'll go with you, then I'll go with you. I wasn't asking you, I was informing you what I will do."
Bai Zemin frowned and a flash of anger shone in his gaze, "You-"
"If you don't want me to follow you then you'll have to kill me." She cut him off and not caring about the gaze he was giving her she continued, "If you don't want me to come with you then you better kill me. Besides, if you plan on knocking me unconscious you'd better give up. What's the use of knocking me unconscious? Your plans will be thwarted anyway since I won't be able to help anyone, which will be worse than if I go with you."
Bai Zemin's frown deepened. He was forced to admit that Shangguan Bing Xue's words made sense, and even though she was clearly threatening him, he had no way of getting too angry with her as he understood that she was doing it because she was concerned for his safety.
In fact, Shangguan Bing Xue's next words confirmed this.
"Bai Zemin, don't you consider me your friend?" Shangguan Bing Xue's expression softened. She bit her lower lip hard, showing an extremely frustrated and very feminine expression for the first time in years. "Maybe, in your eyes, I'm just a weak woman. But I try with all my might to be able to help you because I know that your heart is kind regardless of how badly others may think of you. Your importance in my heart does not lose with the most important people in my life, and if something happens to you I, like many people, will suffer. Just let me help you, I will prove to you that I won't be a burden for you….. Let me prove to you and prove to myself that I can take some of the weight off your shoulders."
This was probably the first time in Shangguan Bing Xue's life that she uttered such embarrassing words. However, at this point she could not care less and would worry about it later. With her heart anxious, worried, and bursting with complicated emotions from seeing how powerful the man in front of her was, all she hoped was that she could help him in any way she could without being left behind.
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Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
