When the knife fell, the vision of Bai Zemin darkened for an instant. He didn’t know what was happening or what had happened, but when he opened his eyes, all Bai Zemin noticed was the cold floor and Shangguan Bing Xue staring at him with the word relief written all over her face.
This was the second time Bai Zemin had such a strange dream with the first time being the one when he had finally managed to relax while taking a hot bath. However, unlike the first dream, this second dream was a lot more mysterious and unclear in comparison.
Who was that baby? Who was the owner of those hands? Why was that person doing something so bad to a newborn who was clearly not even a year old? What was that little rainbow bone? Why was the baby’s blood multicolored? What was the little ball of gas that came out of the baby’s body and the person with the ring stored in a bottle?
Many questions filled Bai Zemin’s head for a second. However, he soon remembered the situation he was in and everything changed as those questions strangely mixed with the situation he was facing and a strange feeling began to grow in his heart.
His previous confrontation against Kang Guiying…. The greatest humiliation of his entire life.
Bai Zemin had not even been so badly beaten at the hands of Emperor Jack despite the fact that at that moment he was weaker in comparison to his current one. A single punch from Kang Guiying was enough to send him flying and bring him to the brink of death.
But… If he died, didn’t that mean everyone here would die too? What would happen to Meng Qi then? There was also Shangguan Bing Xue, Wu Yijun, Chen He, Cai Jingyi, Nangong Lingxin, Zhong De…. All of them believed and trusted him in their respective ways but trust in the end.
Bai Zemin clenched his teeth and without saying a single word fought to stand up.
His bones that had just been reformed and fused together did not feel as firm as they should, his internal organs were still damaged, his legs were trembling…. His whole body was still in the process of healing.
But he didn’t care, and even when the veins in his arms exploded and blood began to pour down the cracks of his armor that had practically turned into scrap metal, the only goal in the mind of Bai Zemin was to get back on his feet and return to the battlefield.
This was his battlefield, it belonged to him!
Shangguan Bing Xue wanted to stop him as even with Xia Ya’s help it was clear that Bai Zemin had not recovered 100%. However, she choked with her words just as she was about to say them after looking at Bai Zemin’s cold expression.
“It’s good that you were able to stand up. I only have 250 seconds left, and if you didn’t make it, I would have had to kill you and everyone in this place.”
The voice of Kang Guiying rang throughout the square like a clap of thunder.
“I hope you understand…. What I am doing now is already against my principles and will of the last breath.”
“… I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.” Bai Zemin replied in a calm manner and extended his right hand to the right side of the stone square.
Swoosh!
The wind suddenly swooshed loudly followed by small explosions.
Under the startled gaze of everyone, a giant sword flew through the sky spinning uncontrollably like a wheel and slashing toward Bai Zemin.
Bang!
A low explosion sounded as Crimson Thunder Dragon’s Last Words went inside the grip of Bai Zemin’s right hand followed by another more powerful explosion as he let the weight of the weapon pull his arm down and allowed the tip to rest on the stone floor.
Bai Zemin finally raised his head, and while he looked at Kang Guiying with ice cold eyes, he said with respect: “Elder, I showed you a shameful side of me. Please let me redeem myself with this second attack.”
“…Oho…?” The eyes of Kang Guiying shone peculiarly as from the distance his black eyes met a pair of eyes as red as blood itself. A smile slowly formed at the corner of his lips as he said in a low voice but one that strangely echoed throughout the square, “I thought this was a hopeless case due to a mistake on my part…. But seeing how your body’s aura keeps increasing, it seems like we’re just at the beginning?”
Bai Zemin did not reply and instead calmly said, “Bing Xue, go back with the rest and make an ice barrier strong enough to withstand the aftershock of a nuclear bomb.”
Shangguan Bing Xue’s pupils contracted when she heard those words from Bai Zemin and she couldn’t help but point out in a quickened voice, “You will use that attack? You can’t do it! Not only will you end up getting hurt yourself, but the Ear-“
“Bing Xue!”
Shangguan Bing Xue jumped on the site and when her blue eyes met those red eyes she couldn’t help but feel a touch of fear. She had seen the eyes of Bai Zemin turning red twice in the past, today was the third occasion. During the previous two times, Bai Zemin’s rationality and cool head that allowed him to think with clarity on the battlefield disappeared to a large extent.
Fortunately, however, this time was different.
“I know what to do and what not to do.” Bai Zemin smiled kindly and said in a slightly sweet voice, “Did I ever let you down? Go, go and have confidence in me.”
This time it was Shangguan Bing Xue’s heart what jumped for an instant when she heard Bai Zemin’s tone of voice. This was the first time he had spoken to her so softly and kindly, as if he was talking to someone really precious and important.
He hadn’t gone crazy this time?
“O- Okay.” She nodded and yet in a daze walked away with Xia Ya whose face was pale as a ghost being dragged away.
Bai Zemin waved his right hand and using his own blood built a crimson-colored, flat platform under his feet. Under the careful control of Blood Manipulation, Bai Zemin closed his eyes and allowed the blood platform to lift him into the sky.
This kind of action was really exhausting because it was not as simple as creating blood weapons and casually throwing them in an approximate direction, he needed to measure many more things to allow himself to use his blood creations to soar into the skies.
Fortunately, Kang Guiying was an enemy different from any other enemy Bai Zemin had faced, and probably different from any other he would face in the future.
Kang Guiying was his enemy…. But he was also an elder trying to help a junior.
In fact, when Kang Guiying saw Bai Zemin rising into the sky slowly and with his eyes closed, he did not move from his position nor did he plan to attack. Even though the time he had left in this world was less than 200 seconds, Kang Guiying did not go crazy trying to make the most of each of those seconds or venting his frustration as anyone would do…. He just stood there watching the sky now covered by stars.
On the other hand, as he slowly rose to over 600 meters above the ground, Bai Zemin allowed his soul to adjust to the temporal records that had been activated.
————————–
[The safety of your loved ones has been threatened in front of you.]
[The 1st level of your skill ‘Blood Berserker’s Wrath’ has been triggered.]
[Strength +400 and Agility +400.]
[The side effect of the 1st level, loss of rationality equal to 10%, is weakened by the effect of your title ‘Brilliant Mind’ by 10%.]
[The rationality loss is weakened by half thanks to the passive effect of your UNIQUE skill of Fourth Order ‘Immovable Heart’.]
[The path you walk has been challenged.]
[The 2nd level of your ‘Blood Berserker’s Wrath’ skill has been triggered.]
[Merging benefits of the two activated levels.]
[Strength +1000, Agility +1000, Magic +1000, Stamina +1000, Health +1000.]
[For the next 120 seconds, the cooldown times of all your skills will reset to 0 immediately.]
[The side effect of the 2nd level, loss of rationality equivalent to 15%, is weakened by the effect of your title ‘Brilliant Mind’ by 10%.]
[The rationality loss is weakened by half thanks to the passive effect of your UNIQUE skill of Fourth Order ‘Immovable Heart’.]
————————–
Bai Zemin slowly opened his eyes, looking especially striking under the cloak of the moonless night.
He currently felt really strange.
Bai Zemin felt anger, pain, frustration, desire for revenge, pity, shame, disbelief, doubt, and many more emotions related to the baby, the person, the knife, the beating he was given, and more. However, all those emotions that should have considerably clouded his rationality under the side effect of the skill Blood Berserker’s Wrath failed to cloud his mind too much, and in fact, he hardly felt any change at all.
Of course, Bai Zemin knew that this was all thanks to the title Brilliant Mind and his skill Immovable Heart.
Once again, he realized how frighteningly synchronized his skills were…. Everything seemed to be perfectly aligned.
He slowly stopped ascending after surpassing 1000 meters, and as he observed his body, he couldn’t help but grimace at how miserable his current appearance was.
“I really got beaten like a straight dog.” Bai Zemin shook his head and silently raised his right hand toward the sky.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!….
Under the activation of Blood Manipulation and Bai Zemin’s control over the liquid storage pearl, tens of liters of blood floated into the sky, and at astonishing speeds, thousands and thousands of crimson red spears began to take shape.
“What- What is he trying to do?” Sun Ling asked with a pale face as she looked up at the sky in persistent fear.
The night was moonless that day, but the stars were present. However, above everyone’s head, the most striking thing in that black cloak with white freckles were the bright red freckles that were rapidly growing in number and spreading everywhere like an inextinguishable plague.
Today would definitely be part of the history and could not be erased from the memories of Sun Ling and everyone else even in the years to come.
Shangguan Bing Xue did not say a single word, instead, she lightly clenched her pearly teeth and chanted under her breath, “Ice Stronghold.”
A glowing azure magic circle appeared beneath her feet and under her careful control grew 200 meters before she stopped providing Mana for its enlargement. Instead, Shangguan Bing Xue began to invest Mana to build thick walls five meters high and over 120 meters thick along with a roof of over 400 meters of pure ice.
Finally, she focused her Mana and Magic to strengthen the ice stronghold as much as possible and the walls began to release a faint light blue glow that illuminated the surroundings. At the same time, the resulting frost froze part of the ground only to thaw due to the magic circle in the square; repeating the process over and over again.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!….
Although the sound of explosions coming from the forest could be faintly heard from inside, no one was able to see what was happening outside the ice walls that Shangguan Bing Xue had erected to protect everyone.
“I wish Pei Pei and her skill Shared Protecting Eyes were here now.” Shangguan Bing Xue muttered under her breath through clenched teeth as she could do nothing but listen without knowing clearly what was happening in the outside world.
(A/N: Pei Pei and her skill appeared in chapter 429 if you want to check again).
…
Kang Guiying frowned slightly as he watched the young man’s strange movement in the sky.
“What does he want to do with those pointless attacks…?” King Kang muttered in confusion.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!….
Blood spears rained down from the sky like torpedoes, causing explosions after falling chaotically everywhere in the forest.
The rage-filled roars of the mutant beasts mingled with the howls of pain from others who were hit by the blood spears but did not die immediately.
It was not until after about 10 seconds and after the fall of more than 4000 spears that Kang Guiying returned his focus to Bai Zemin. However, when he once again set his eyes on the young man in the sky, Kang Guiying’s eyes widened.
“What the hell? Why did this kid’s aura grow so much?”
Kang Guiying was truly delighted. The stronger Bai Zemin proved to be, the happier he felt for the future of mankind and the calmer he was knowing that he wasn’t making a mistake in wanting to leave the legacy of the Kang Kingdom in the young man’s hands.
“Elder Kang, thank you for waiting.”
Bai Zemin’s voice echoed from the sky and stretched for miles across the length and width of the sky.
“Hahaha! Kid, this old man thought you’d have me standing here until death!” Kang Guiying laughed through his teeth and opened both arms as he said in a loud and cheerful voice that was uncharacteristic of someone about to fade away forever, “Come on, kid! Give me your best shot and don’t disappoint these old bones of mine!”
[God of War’s Will: 65% / 65%.]
Green letters flashed in Bai Zemin’s pupils as he shouted out loud, “Don’t worry, Elder Kang! This time, I will definitely give you an attack that won’t let you down!”
Under the joyful laughter of the once called King Kang, Bai Zemin shouted in a deep voice:
“Crimson Flame!”
Bang!
Red fire immediately burst out of Bai Zemin’s body and under his command surrounded the entire blade of his greatsword, dancing in tandem with the crimson lightning that melted amidst the sea of red flames.
But he did not stop there.
“Endless Blue Lotus Flame!”
Bang!
The deep blue flames merged without fighting against the crimson flame. A purple flame replaced the blue and crimson. As the purple flames burned without damaging the weapon, crimson lightning crackled furiously around as if to prove its presence.
Rumble…
The atmosphere around Bai Zemin began to rumble after he canceled the effect of Blood Manipulation on the platform beneath his feet. After losing the only support holding him up in the sky, his body began to fall slowly and gradually picked up speed, leaving a trace of purple flames and red lightning wherever he crossed.
However, Bai Zemin had only fallen a dozen meters when his voice echoed under the night sky:
“Agility for Strength!”
His body was surrounded by Overlap Regeneration’s characteristic divine golden light and he did not hesitate to change 1900 points of Agility for 1900 points of Strength.
[Bai Zemin -}
[Strength: 3805]
Kang Guiying narrowed his eyes and as he watched that brilliant flash of golden light with purple and red flashes dancing around it, he couldn’t help but be amazed in his heart as he felt the change in the aura of the young man that was falling straight at him.
“Very good! I, Kang Guiying, will show you the respect that a talented warrior like you deserves and will not hold back this time!”
“Power Boost!”
“Speed Boost!”
Kang Guiying shouted the name of two skills and his aura immediately shot up.
“Kid, don’t die!”
Boom!
Leaving those words in the wind, Kang Guiying stomped on the ground and shot into the sky to meet the golden flash over 800 meters high and descending.
Bai Zemin felt every muscle in his body explode due to the horrendous power pressure he had at this moment. He, who was not fully recovered from his previous wounds, was wielding a completely different power compared to his self before he was battered by Kang Guiying.
However, he gritted his teeth and a flash of resolution burned in his demonic red eyes.
“Gravity Manipulation…. x30!!”
Bai Zemin’s falling speed suddenly shot up and his body turned into a golden blur that left behind several golden light rings with purple mixtures and crackling lightning as a result of the break of the Earth’s sound barrier.
Kang Guiying was taken by surprise this time, not Bai Zemin. By the time the old man realized it, Bai Zemin was just over his head a mere 50 meters above him and slashing with his weapon at him.
“Double Strength!” Kang Guiying roared and without hesitation punched upward.
At the same time, Bai Zemin roared:
“Rumbling the Heavens, Shaking the Earth!”
