Bai Zemin made sure that everyone backed up to the edge of the large stone square but did not allow anyone to leave the perimeter where the magic circle was located because while no one was sure how the circle worked it was clear that the only reason the mutant beasts and plants did not approach was due to some particular rune that probably released some kind of fragrance or wave that the non-rational beings did not like.
Currently, the human group was deep in one of the forests of the entire mountain range so there was definitely a lot of First Order and maybe even some Second Order existences roaming the area. If they left the safe area it would be a matter of time before they became food for the giant beasts.
Even so, the group had spread out among the buildings in the square so that those more evolved could clearly see what would happen during the battle that was to come.
Of course, it wasn’t as if they all listened to Bai Zemin and retreated.
“I will not go with them.”
Such were Shangguan Bing Xue’s words when Bai Zemin looked at her.
“… Actually, I already knew that.” Bai Zemin scratched his head and sighed, “Honestly, even I don’t know if I can fight tens of thousands of golden golems with the strength of a Second Order. So I do appreciate your help.”
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded as if she was very satisfied with Bai Zemin’s words and said no more.
“I will also remain here and help the two of you.”
A clear and melodious voice sounded from behind Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue just as the two were preparing to start the trial.
Turning around, Bai Zemin saw Xia Ya standing with bare hands and wearing the same leather armor as before.
“… If you want to… But, are you sure? Your mission should be just to take care of Sun Ling, shouldn’t it?” Bai Zemin looked at her intrigued.
“Just like you said before, if you die then we will all die anyway.” Xia Ya pointed out before continuing in a voice that was neither cold nor warm, “Besides, my mission is not specifically to take care of Miss Sun and in case of need Young Miss Wu, my mission is to make sure they both make it to the base alive. But for that to happen you need to live at least until these trials are over.”
Bai Zemi shook his head and said no more on the matter. Xia Ya was a mysterious person even until now; the woman had not even shown any signs of having a weapon so far and her way of fighting enemies was quite mediocre in Bai Zemin’s eyes considering that she was a Second Order existence.
“Bing Xue, you check the other bronze statue.”
“Okay.”
Xia Ya watched silently as Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue walked towards the two bronze lion statues opposite each other on both sides of the huge dark door of the fourth pagoda, and just like the previous cases, the two lay on the ground for a few seconds before standing up again.
“…”
“…”
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other and both saw the bitterness in the eyes of the other.
“… Ladies first.” Bai Zemin said with the intention of letting her vent first.
The bitter expression on Shangguan Bing Xue’s face grew as she said through her teeth: “… 10,000 First Order and 20 Second Order.”
Bai Zemin forced a smile that was actually so ugly that he looked like he was crying and shook his head when he heard her say that.
“… Same with the other statue.”
“10,000 First Order Soul Stones and 20 Second Order Soul Stones?!” Xia Ya exclaimed in shock, one of the few times she lost the neutral expression on her face. She looked at both of them with wide eyes and said in surprise, “Where are we supposed to get all those Soul Stones from? Even the entire Chinese Renaissance doesn’t have that many First Order Soul Stones and forget about the Second Order ones!”
First Order existences, despite being considerably more normal now compared to the past since they could be found with relative ease as long as one went a little deeper into the forests, were living beings with enough power to wipe out an armed team of 1000 men with no problem at all.
As for those of the Second Order…. Xia Ya herself was an existence of that caliber so she understood how terrifying they were, and the fact that in nearly 300,000 human survivors there were barely three Second Order beings was proof of how rare they were.
However, the two bronze statues in front of her were demanding a total of 20,000 First Order Soul Stones that could only be obtained by killing existences within that scale of power and 20 Second Order Soul Stones…. All this in itself was already insane but if one took into account that one would not always obtain Soul Stone by killing an enemy then that insanity became even greater insanity!
“Looks like we’ll have to give up on the remaining two pagodas for now.” Xia Ya sighed and shook her head. “Even though it’s a shame, we have no choice. At this rate it will take us at least several years to gather so many Second Order Soul Stones, but even then we can’t exclude that we need them to evolve our skills and they’ll probably be even more necessary after we learn the contents of the books we obtained during the third pagoda’s raid…. Oh well… At least we got some good resources this time and also found out the secret of the Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest.”
The mission Wu Keqian had given Bai Zemin was to discover the reason why the Five Silver Pagodas inside the Changping Mountain Range did not collapse like all the other buildings during the earthquake that shook the Earth during its expansion and in the process demonstrate his ability to lead evolved troops and normal human troops.
Considering the high level of success of the mission, it was a given that the power of the faction would soon be handed over by Wu Keqian to Bai Zemin. However, who was Bai Zemin? Since when had he ever backed down in the face of challenges?
“If the price to pay is high, then the rewards certainly will be too.” Bai Zemin said as he waved his hand and with a bleeding heart allowed several thousand First Order Soul Stones to fall on the ground.
Xia Ya was speechless but as she picked one up and saw that she had coincidentally picked up a First Order one she set it down and picked up another, only to realize that this was also a First Order Soul Stone… and then another, and another, and another….
“This… So many First Order Soul Stones…” Xia Ya muttered in amazement and subconsciously asked as she stared at him, “Where did you get so many of these from?”
“… This is my Christmas present.” Bai Zemin said through gritted teeth.
Seeing him so resolute, Shangguan Bing Xue sighed in her heart…. What Bai Zemin was doing now was a huge gamble, to say the least.
The Transcendent faction’s treasury had around 100,000 First Order Soul Stones while the number of Second Order Soul Stones was only 52; taking out around 1/4th of the total First Order Soul Stones and over 1/3rd of the total Second Order Soul Stones to open a door that would lead them to a treasure that might or might not be worth it was too big a risk that few would be willing to take.
After all, even if what was inside the fourth ancient ruin was useful but had no immediate use like the Soul Stones, then the strength of the faction would stagnate for a long time. Such a thing was too dangerous in a world like this where time was extremely precious even though ironically everyone had higher life expectancies.
Soon, under Xia Ya’s incredulous eyes, two small mountains of 10,000 Soul Stones each and two small piles that were composed of 20 Second Order Soul Stones each glittered on the ground.
“This… My god…” Xia Ya felt like she might faint from shock. She looked at Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looking indifferent as they threw Soul Stone after Soul Stone into the bronze lion’s mouth and she felt as if a part of her existence was being ripped away from her.
Jesus Christ! Those two were casually throwing the First and Second Order Soul Stones as if they were throwing rocks into the lake!
Xia Ya soon realized that the two people in front of her were too mysterious, even more mysterious than she herself knew she was. However, she was aware that for Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue to be able to obtain such a large amount of Soul Stones of such high quality, the strength of both of them definitely had to be monstrously high.
She lowered her head for several seconds and her eyes constantly flashed with hesitation as if she was trying to make some kind of decision. However, it didn’t take her very long to raise her head again with firmness and resolve in her once hesitant gaze.
As to what decision she had made, probably only Xia Ya herself knew.
It took but a few minutes for Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue to finish feeding the two bronze statues with the necessary Soul Stones so when the last of Second Order fell through the mouth of the bronze lion to the now glowing stomach, both statues immediately released the characteristic pale blue radiance just as it had happened to the other three pagodas before.
“Bing Xue, Xia Ya, get ready to fight!” Bai Zemin immediately pulled out his weapon and took an attack stance as he said those words.
“… I see you’re really taking it to heart this time.” Shangguan Bing Xue frowned slightly as she saw the weapon Bai Zemin was using.
Xia Ya’s pupils contracted to the size of a needle and for an instant, her entire body shuddered as she looked at the giant sword Bai Zemin held in front of him with both hands clutching the hilt.
Crimson red lightning flashed from within what seemed to be a small jewel embedded in the center of the guard and flickered along the huge blade of the weapon creating small thundering sounds in the process.
This was the first time since she began her evolution that Xia Ya felt fear in the face of a weapon!
“As I said, even I don’t dare to underestimate several thousand Second Order existences and probably some Third Order existences.” Bai Zemin reaffirmed his grip on the hilt of Crimson Thunder Dragon’s Last Words as he said those words.
A single swing of his greatsword in the past could break Earth’s spatial barrier, that’s how powerful the weapon in his hands was!
Bai Zemin was sure that one swing with his full Strength using this mighty weapon was more than enough to shatter anything that came his way!
Shangguan Bing Xue also decided to get serious seeing him so serious and soon activated many of her skills. She unsheathed her Rank 2 sword, created another sword using Ice Maker which was composed of over 300 Mana points, activated Luminous Ice Armor, Frost Rebuff, and others to boost her battle power to the maximum possible.
Xia Ya, seeing the two of them getting so serious, actually jumped back and put some distance between her and what would soon become the main battlefield. Her move naturally attracted the attention of Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin, but since she didn’t explain anything neither of them said much either as they didn’t count too much on her, to begin with.
Even if Xia Ya was strong, she was only Second Order at most.
Soon many golden golems with the power of Second Order existences would come out from the pagoda so in fact, Xie Ya’s strength was quite useless unless her Soul Power was extremely pure like Bai Zemin’s and Shangguan Bing Xue’s was.
However, neither Bai Zemin nor Shangguan Bing Xue knew that in reality, Xia Ya was really powerful and although her Soul Power was considerably pure, her greatest source of power was different…. her class!
Bai Zemin did not know but in reality, if Xia Ya was his enemy at heart and she joined hands with Wu Keqian and Sun Yun, then he would probably have to turn and run to keep his life.
In fact, Wu Yijun’s father really did not want to be Bai Zemin’s enemy for his own reasons. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy for Bai Zemin even with Shangguan Bing Xue’s help.
Xia Ya was not strong alone, but she was undoubtedly terrifying… and the more powerful her battle companions were, the more terrifying she would become!
