Just as Bai Zemin was preparing to lunge at the approaching soul evolver, Shangguan Bing Xue reached out her right hand and gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword.
Both, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, were slowly recovering all the Mana they had lost so unless they wanted to suffer from tremendous sickness and dizziness again it was best for both of them to temporarily stop using magic. However, even without magic, the two were existences that could not be underestimated at all as both of their melee prowess and stats allowed them to fight to the point of overwhelming those at their same levels.
"Wait!"
A voice filled with surprise sounded just then, halting everyone's movements.
The soul evolvers were slightly tense as their muscles had barely relaxed a little after resting for a few minutes. When they sensed the approach of a possible powerful enemy they all prepared for combat just as they were trained without panicking.
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at each other before looking at Fu Xuefeng, who was looking at the person who was now approaching more slowly until she finally stopped when she reached 50 meters in distance.
'A woman?' Bai Zemin was not too surprised by the fact that there was such a powerful female soul evolver in Baiquan Camp. After all, in his own faction, there were many terrifying women capable of making any man who dared to underestimate them suffer.
What surprised him a little about this woman was that despite looking clearly overwhelmed by the numbers there was actually no panic in her eyes.
Facial expressions could lie and words were deceptive but the eyes always told the truth as they were the windows through which the soul looked at the external world and thus the only place through which one could faintly see into another person's soul.
Was she so confident in herself? If this was the case then Bai Zemin could only say that this woman was stupid. However, he soon dismissed this possibility as it was practically impossible for a soul evolver to climb so high in two months if one did not have at least some mental intelligence.
The case of the now dead Mo Zan was different. Mo Zan was smart and had many good ideas. Unfortunately, the arrogance went too much to his head and completely clouded his judgment. It was precisely this that Lilith feared would happen to Bai Zemin because of how fast he was growing up and how overwhelming he was becoming. Lilith had seen many great talents fall into oblivion because of overconfidence and as a consequence of the blindness caused by arrogance that did not allow one to see beyond oneself. Her main purpose was to prevent such a thing from happening to Bai Zemin.
In any case, all the doubts of Bai Zemin and the rest were cleared up in the next instant.
"It's you!" Fu Xuefeng unconsciously raised his voice in surprise.
* * *
Shen Mei had kept her eyes fixed on Bai Zemin and the only exception to this had been when her gaze strayed for a few seconds to Shangguan Bing Xue and then to Chen He.
She had seen through the monitors in the command center how powerful Chen He was, someone like him deserved a second look from her point of view. As for Shangguan Bing Xue, Shen Mei had not seen her fight in person but she had seen how her ice barrier stretched several kilometers across the length and breadth of this land.
Moreover, judging by how beautiful the silver-haired woman was and considering that prideful look and proud air surrounding her, Shen Mei naturally recalled Commander Jin Shun's words 20 minutes ago.
'What a beautiful woman!' Shen Mei was truly amazed. She was beautiful in her own right and she knew it, but the beauty of the young woman before her eyes was truly dazzling: 'So
"Uh?" Shen Mei looked at the young man staring at her with wide eyes and frowned as she wondered where she knew him from…. It was just that she had never seen that person's face in her entire life!
However, something caught Shen Mei's attention right away: 'This person…. He is as thin as a matchstick despite being a First Order existence'.
Generally, the body of human evolvers gained some muscle mass after reaching a certain evolutionary rank. At least, this seemed to be the norm until now. However, this young man who was probably not yet in his early 20s surprisingly didn't look anything amazing even though his appearance was a bit above average.
'Em? Thin as a matchstick?' A thought suddenly flashed in the mind of Shen Mei as a memory from two or three nights ago appeared in her mind.
She looked at Fu Xuefeng and unconsciously blurted out, "Oh! You're the messenger from the other night!"
The messenger from the other night…. Fu Xuefeng's face turned black when he heard this and he almost fell to the ground on his butt after retreating a couple of steps as if he had received critical damage.
Messenger?
Everyone blinked dumbfounded and looked at Fu Xuefeng blankly. Had he worked as a letter carrier or something similar in the past? But according to their understanding, he was a student at Beijing University before the apocalypse broke out!
Bai Zemin's eyes shone with a flash of understanding and finally all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It was no longer a mystery who this woman was.
An idea flashed in his mind and he immediately acted on it.
"So, you are the soul evolver who attacked my subordinate?" Bai Zemin said as he took a step forward and looked at Shen Mei with indifferent eyes.
Even though it was just a glance, Shen Mei immediately felt a horrendous pressure weighing on her shoulders. While she knew that this pressure was a mental thing of hers, she was actually surprised by the imposing manner of the young man in front of her.
Bai Zemin was powerful without a doubt, but Shen Mei never expected that apart from powerful his attitude and the aura of nobility that surrounded his entire body would not lose at all to people like Bai Yong and Jin Shun who had all their lives been in high positions.
'Was he part of a big family before?' Such a thought flashed in her heart and she immediately took it for granted.
Of course, Shen Mei had no way of knowing that Bai Zemin was only born into an average family with nothing special. It was just that after everything he had experienced and after realizing to some extent his own talent, as well as the constant encouragement of a Higher Existence as proud as Lilith, Bai Zemin had automatically begun to gain self-confidence in many aspects of life.
"Attack him?" Shen Mei blinked and then smiled sweetly as she said, "I don't think what I did can be counted as attacking …. I'm serious, I held back as much as possible."
Although she was already 29 years old, Shen Mei seemed to be Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun's age; privileges of evolution and possessing a pure enough Soul Power. Therefore, her smile did not look at all out of place on her despite her actual age.
Of course, Bai Zemin already knew this without the need for Shen Mei to say anything. He simply wanted to prove something.
"Evangeline. You do it."
Shen Mei didn't understand at first, but when she saw a woman come out from the crowd of people, she didn't have too much time to think as her body immediately tensed up.
Evangeline was only 23 years old this year. Normally, someone her age would either be studying at a university or working without a college degree; however, Evangeline had not lived a normal life at all. Due to certain circumstances, her life had been very hard from a young age so she had had no choice but to adapt in order to survive.
That's right, unlike most of humanity living their lives, she was trying to survive… Same world, same race, different living conditions.
Every step she took was light and silent, her gaze lethal as two sharp daggers capable of cutting through steel itself. The lethality in her eyes was such that rarely did anyone dare to stare at her for long.
When Shen Mei's dark eyes met Evangeline's emerald green eyes, she felt a shiver run through every part of her body as if warning her of impending danger.
Swoosh!
Before Shen Mei could even say a single word, Evangeline suddenly vanished from her previous position. Her body seemed to turn into the air!
'She's fast!' When such a thought appeared in Shen Mei's heart, she immediately jumped backward and with a swift movement of her right hand threw five sharp needles towards her left.
Evangeline remained unmoved. Her body turned at an impossible angle as if made of rubber and continued to advance. All five needles passed beyond her, barely missing her by inches.
Shen Mei's pupils constricted to the minimum possible. The surprise in her heart grew to tremendous levels as she did not feel any fluctuation of mana at all…. This meant that the blonde-haired girl before her could actually control her body like that naturally!
Shen Mei's gaze finally turned serious and she activated her eye skill called Demon Eyes. This skill allowed her to not only detect invisible enemies but also increased her battle sense by a small margin.
Evangeline soon arrived in front of Shen Mei and slashed downward with her dagger as if she really intended to kill her.
Shen Mei gritted her teeth and with a quick swing swung her left foot upwards.
Clang!
A dagger? Evangeline was surprised.
In fact, as they watched a hidden dagger protrude from Shen Mei's left boot, they were all surprised. Not only was that a deadly hidden weapon but Shen Mei's skill and reaction time had been top-notch!
Shen Mei not only managed to block the attack but in the next instant, she used the strength behind Evangeline's swing to turn her body in a wide circle and kicked fiercely with her right foot straight into the solar plexus of the enemy before her.
Considering the Strength of a soul evolver, unless one possessed a defensive skill or surprisingly high Stamina and Vitality stats, Evangeline would definitely end up kneeling on the ground due to the loss of oxygen.
Evangeline scoffed in her heart. Her expression did not change at all nor did she back down. She threw her dagger into the sky and quickly grasped the hilt again before fiercely stabbing downward.
If Shen Mei decided to continue with her move the consequence would be even more severe as her knee would be pierced from side to side by Evangeline's dagger!
'Terrifying reaction and reckless judgment!' Shen Mei was getting more and more shocked with each passing second.
She had belonged to a family of martial artists so from a very young age her parents had trained her in self-defense. In her generation, she had always been invincible and even a group of 10 burly men were no match for her; not to mention after evolving. However, this woman in front of her had barely passed 20 and already possessed such combat skill!
Shen Mei had no choice but to admit that the young woman in front of her was more skilled in close combat. Probably the most talented person she had met so far.
Realizing that she had no room to retreat as the tip of Evangeline's dagger was already mere inches from her leg, Shen Mei was forced to activate a second skill.
Swoosh!
Evangeline's dagger effectively pierced Shen Mei's leg. However, her eyes flashed with surprise as instead of feeling that familiar feeling of flesh being pierced what she felt was as if she was cutting through a cloud of smoke.
* * * * * * *
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