The skill Lonely Wolf Aura was a skill that although it depended on Bai Zemin's Magic stat, in contrast to all his other skills it did not depend on magic power at all; it depended entirely on the killing intent he had. The stronger the killing intent of Bai Zemin was, the greater the effects the skill Lonely Wolf Aura would show, and in retrospect, those within the range of the skill would suffer stronger consequences.
Previously Bai Zemin was literally a beast in human skin as even when he smiled kindly the people around him could sense mortal danger not as a result of looking at him but by being near him. This was because the number of lives Bai Zemin had taken with his own hands in such a short time was simply too huge!
Bai Zemin had slaughtered evolved beasts, goblins, humans, asuras, zombies, mutant plants, sea creatures…. He had definitely slaughtered over 1 billion living beings; and all of this had happened in less than three months!
Just like when a baby starts walking for the first time and tripping was inevitable, Bai Zemin was not able to control his own aura as this aura of killing intent had been acquired too fast. Therefore, without him realizing it, a hint of his killing intent would always seep out of his body which resulted in him looking like a "bloodthirsty unsheathed sword".
But with the skill Lonely Wolf Aura acting as a sheath, all of the killing intent of Bai Zemin was perfectly sealed and waiting for the opportune moment when he decided to release it.
With all that ferocity and savagery perfectly hidden, all Shangguan Bing Xue and the others saw was a young man whose charisma managed to win the hearts of tens of thousands and for whom many of his subordinates would not hesitate to lay down their lives; an existence whose aura was that of a worthy king whom everyone was willing to follow.
The change was so great that even Luo Ning, who was only a little girl of 9 years old, noticed it. However, those who had not been fortunate enough to meet Bai Zemin during his first steps and watch him grow as he stumbled and stood on scraped knees ignoring the pain would never be able to appreciate such a change or understand how amazing this transformation was.
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Approximately 3 hours later, about 33,000 survivors boarded the vehicles that had been prepared in advance. However, there were approximately 700 survivors who were unlucky because the space inside the trucks, buses, cars, and vans was not enough for them to get in.
Fortunately, Shangguan Bing Xue had thought of a perfect countermeasure for this. The night before, she had created several sizable ice wagons and after connecting those wagons with chains and attaching them to the war tanks whose draught power was the strongest as well as the IFVs, all the survivors finally boarded properly.
"You really did a wonderful job, Bing Xue."
Walking with his greatsword sheathed behind his back and leading at the front of the huge caravan that was moving in a southerly direction at just over 40 kilometers per hour, Bai Zemin praised the woman walking beside him on his right side.
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded indifferently and said slowly, "If those people had not been able to get into a vehicle they would have had to walk hundreds of kilometers, which would delay us horribly. Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else wants to waste so much time. That's why I spent all my Mana last night to create those wagons."
"I see… That way you could recharge all your Mana overnight while you sleep." Bai Zemin chuckled and praised her again, "Really cool."
The group continued to advance in defensive formation, occasionally meeting the obstruction of some mutant beast that had casually left the forest. However, the power of the current Transcendent faction had literally transcended compared to its power half a month ago.
With around 1500 soul evolvers capable of keeping up with the motorized fleet over long distances, the weaker areas of the perimeter were sealed off by them while the gun-mounted vehicles and IFVs did the rest.
No creature managed to cause any trouble or raise too much chaos, far less sneak through the ranks and kill any survivors.
Along the way, the biggest inconvenience the Transcendent faction experienced was a blockade from a huge lizard that was over 5 meters tall and at least 15 meters long. However, even though the creature was a respectable First Order existence, Chen He tore it into thousands of pieces when its body exploded after a powerful explosive arrow empowered by magic fire.
With the roads created by Bai Zemin beforehand and no obstacles that could be called really troublesome blocking the way, the large caravan composed of more than two thousand vehicles took about 5 hours to reach the bridge.
During that time, neither Bai Zemin nor any core member had to step forward except for Chen He who volunteered to end the life of the giant mutant lizard.
But when they arrived at the bridge, an incredible scene awaited them.
"My God!"
"What the… What is that?!"
"Beasts!"
…
The survivors inside the vehicles were frightened and their faces turned tremendously pale as they saw that inside the waters were around 5000 sea beasts among which were some whose sizes could simply be considered colossal.
Fortunately, Wu Yijun had already thought that something like this could happen so she had prepared soldiers with machine guns or low level soul evolvers to fix any problems before they woke up.
"Silence!"
"Quiet!"
"Everyone stay in your seats orderly!"
…
The soldiers and low-level soul evolvers inside the vehicles roared at the top of their lungs, silencing the panicked survivors before the other survivors caught on and became too big a problem to be handled with a soft hand.
At that moment, Shangguan Bing Xue's voice rang out from the soldiers' military radios or vehicle radios:
"Everyone. Keep calm and maintain order. The creatures in front of us are allies and therefore there is no need to fear. I repeat, keep order, the creatures in front of us are allies. Any troublemakers will be taken down from the vehicles by force."
The words of Shangguan Bing Xue were like a cascade of icy water falling on the heads of the survivors in the middle of winter and that little flame of chaos that threatened to awaken died even faster than the speed at which it was born.
However, the survivors were stunned and confused to hear that the beasts in front of them were not only not enemies but actually allies! Was the owner of that voice joking? No, but judging by the respectful expression of all the soldiers and soul evolvers, it seemed unlikely that the owner of that voice was a lunatic and instead appeared to be someone of incredibly high status within the government.
But… Sea beasts allied with humans? The survivors looked at each other and amidst the fear they could all see in the eyes of those around them, there was also a spark of puzzlement and confusion.
In fact, even the soldiers and soul evolvers were confused and perplexed about the situation. Had it not been for the fact that they had been warned beforehand, the war tanks and assault machinery would have begun firing long ago.
Since the more powerful ones were clearing the way, there were no military vehicles at the front of the formation and instead, they were moved to the sides and rear; this meant that those traveling in the front buses and sitting in the front seats had a bit of a view on what was going on.
"Look!"
"Those people are walking towards the sea!"
"Are they really our allies?"
…
The survivors at the front began to whisper under their breath as they pointed their fingers towards Bai Zemin's party that out of nowhere had started moving in the direction of the bridge.
Bai Zemin stopped 50 meters away from the bridge and looked behind him over his shoulder, "You all wait here."
Everyone nodded without asking questions. However, Shangguan Bing Xue stepped forward and asked to go with him.
After thinking about it for a moment, Bai Zemin decided that it was okay to let her go with him since she and the Seventh Princess of the East Sea already knew each other anyway. Besides, Shangguan Bing Xue was smart and could help negotiate some terms he would like to bring up next.
Under the watchful and anxious eyes of everyone, Bai Zemin approached the bridge next to Shangguan Bing Xue. When they reached the shore, he stopped and patted Xiao Xiao's little head while saying softly, "Xiao Xiao, is the mermaid princess here?"
"Pupu!" Xiao Xiao nodded as she looked up to meet his eyes.
Bai Zemin chuckled and that little rock weighing on his heart finally subsided completely. After all, even he couldn't be sure that all those sea beasts in sight were allies since as the Seventh Princess had told him, things in the sea were complicated as much if not more than on the surface because there were so many separate sides.
"Could you ask her to come?" he requested softly.
"Pupu!" Xiao Xiao nodded again before her eyes released a strange pink glow.
The pink glow released a spiritual wave invisible to the naked eye but which was felt by all. The spiritual wave passed through the sea with ease and as if there were no obstruction it continued to move further and deeper into the sea waters.
Seconds passed and turned into minutes. Before Bai Zemin realized it, 5 minutes had passed but there was still no trace of the mermaid princess.
He and Shangguan Bing Xue exchanged glances but neither said anything. Instead, they continued to wait patiently.
Standing among the soul evolvers who were standing next to Bai Zemin previously, Nangong Yi was a bit bored after 10 minutes passed so he took out a box of cigarettes from his pants pocket and lit one.
"Man, that giant jellyfish really looks dangerous." He pointed out as he exhaled the smoke from his lungs. His eyes held a hint of fear as he said aloud, "Those lightning flashes that occasionally appear and disappear look especially painful."
The giant jellyfish he was talking about was one of the largest beasts within the sea, a terrifying beast over 30 meters tall and with hundreds of tentacles that occasionally swayed in the distance and raised waves several hundred meters high. On its almost completely transparent, body lightning flashes could be seen which generated low booms every time they appeared or disappeared.
"Eh?" Suddenly, Nangong Yi noticed that the sea was moving strangely so he quickly looked towards that spot.
A wave of about 200 meters rose without warning and as if it was a magic wave charged towards the bridge at full speed. However, what caught everyone's attention was something else.
"My God!" Nangong Yi shouted loudly and didn't even care about the precious cigarette that flew out of his mouth along with a liter of saliva. He pointed to the top of the wave and roared, "It really is a mermaid! Holy shit! A real mermaid I tell you!"
Despite all that had happened and was happening in the world, mermaids were legendary creatures even before the arrival of the Soul Record on Earth. Therefore, it was not only Nangong Yi who was surprised but everyone else also watched dumbfounded as the beautiful mermaid princess approached the bridge with an elegant smile on her face.
The appearance of a mermaid was equally, if not more surprising than when the goblins appeared for the first time.
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