Chapter 710: Official Evolution & Bad News
After a few minutes, Wu Keqian and Sun Yun"s shocked hearts calmed down enough for the two men to think with greater clarity about what was happening before them.
But while the two were still trying to process things, Bai Zemin looked at his father for a few seconds. Bai Delan also looked at Bai Zemin and the two of them simply nodded to each other without saying a single word even though they had not seen each other for almost half a month and even though Bai Zemin had been on an extremely risky mission that could have easily taken his life were it not for the fact that he was powerful and clever enough to bring him safely to survival.
Bai Delan was a man that was built the old-fas.h.i.+oned way. Unlike most modern parents who pampered their children and gave them everything in their hands, from the time Bai Zemin was still small he instructed him to earn things through hard work no matter how much it cost him; for example, the time when Bai Zemin needed money to buy a volume of a light novel but to earn that money he had to mow the lawn in the garden.
Now, the situation was different. Bai Zemin wanted to become the highest existence, the supreme lord of the new China; in order to do that, he would have to work hard and Bai Delan would silently support him from behind instead of saying words that would shake his resolve.
His son had returned alive and that was what mattered.
However, Bai Zemin couldn"t help but chuckle when Bai Delan acted like an old man scared to death and hugged Meng Qi tightly before circling around her body several times as if to make sure she didn"t even have a scratch on her.
"Dad, I told you I"m fine!" Meng Qi stomped her feet loudly and puffed out her cheeks.
"No no, how can we be sure?" Bai Delan was not convinced. "My princess has already become a level 38 soul evolver in such a short time, you definitely must have gone through a lot of hards.h.i.+ps. Tell me something, were you bullied by that brat? I"ll kick his b.u.t.t until it"s red if you ask me to!"
"Dad!" Meng Qi really wanted to bury herself underground right now!
Moreover, Meng Qi really wanted to point at her father and tell him that it was impossible for him to kick Bai Zemin"s b.u.t.t red but she managed to restrain herself despite the urge she felt to flee the scene.
She was no longer a little girl to be treated like this! She was a woman after all!
"Hahahaha!" Feng Hong laughed out loud as he watched the father and daughter exchange. He couldn"t help but step forward and join the conversation, "Brother Delan, your two children are truly amazing. This girl was the key to why we were able to get so many good stuff this time and your son is the main reason why we are still alive despite the hards.h.i.+ps experienced!"
Subconsciously, Feng Hong began to treat Bai Delan with greater respect not only for Bai Zemin but also for Meng Qi. While the actual level and strength of Meng Qi were nothing in the eyes of a powerhouse like Feng Hong, the true value of Meng Qi was immeasurable, and when she managed to gain greater knowledge by studying runes and magic circles her power would be one to be feared and taken into account.
Bai Delan looked at Feng Hong with surprise. In the past, although Feng Hong always nodded politely toward him, this was the first time he had taken the initiative to talk to him. Bai Delan could feel that the power of the current Feng Hong somehow did not seem to be below Wu Keqian at all!
"It seems that this son of mine managed to break through the barriers that had been erected with the appearance of the four guilds." Bai Delan looked at Bai Zemin out of the corner of his eye and couldn"t help but feel even prouder.
"Brother Hong, would you mind telling me the story of what happened this time?"
Feng Hong sighed and nodded, "Brother, you"d better prepare your heart for what you"re about to hear."
The two men began to chat casually as if they had been friends for several years. Feng Tian Wu and Meng Qi watched the scene with complicated eyes. Somehow, neither of them expected something like this.
Meanwhile, Bai Zemin approached Evangeline and said with a faint smile on his face, "Evangeline, thank you for everything."
"... Not at all." Evangeline replied absentmindedly as she looked at the surroundings with strange flashes of light occasionally s.h.i.+ning in her beautiful emerald eyes.
"..." Bai Zemin looked at her silently for a moment. But it wasn"t hard for him to figure out what the beautiful mixed-blood woman in front of him was thinking.
"Do you feel uncomfortable with the fact that so many people have managed to break through first before you?"
Evangeline looked at him with a trace of surprise on her face, to which Bai Zemin replied with a chuckle.
"It is not difficult to understand your thoughts, contrary to what everyone thinks. It"s just that to understand you it"s necessary to simply observe you a little more with the eyes and the heart without expecting too many words or reactions from you."
The surprise in Evangeline"s eyes grew noticeably but she quickly regained her composure. She looked Bai Zemin in the eyes for several seconds, making him a little awkward.
Finally, she said in a tone of voice that suggested uncertainty: "Bai Zemin, something happened...? For some reason, I feel that something in you changed."
"Oh? Like for example?" Bai Zemin raised an eyebrow and looked at her with interest.
"Your personality and your aura." Evangeline stared at him and said quietly, "Now it makes me want to cut you into pieces."
"Cough! Cough! Cough!..." Bai Zemin began to cough furiously, so much so that Liang Jing looked at him with narrowed eyes as if he had met his long-awaited rival.
"E- Evangeline?" Bai Zemin looked at her in shock after regaining his composure.
"... Forget what I just said." Evangeline looked in a different direction as she muttered those words.
Bai Zemin wasn"t quite sure if it was an optical illusion due to the sunlight but for a brief second, it seemed to him that the ever lethal and cold Evangeline had blushed. But when he blinked and looked again, he realized there was no blush there so he simply ignored it.
Bai Zemin coughed once to clear his throat before saying in a firm voice, "Be that as it may. Evangeline, with your talent and the endless amount of effort you put into raising your level by hunting high-level beasts I"m sure you don"t need to worry about falling behind."
He had seen how Evangeline at night would mysteriously disappear and once, out of curiosity, he quietly followed her from a distance. He was surprised to discover that in reality, Evangeline only slept 2-3 hours a day and the rest of her time was spent caring for orphaned children who had lost their homes or families, training with soul evolvers from whom she could learn a thing or two, or leveling up.
Therefore, Bai Zemin had no doubt that with time and effort, Evangeline would come back stronger than ever. It was just that this time she had been unlucky as Bai Zemin did not expect to encounter so many powerful enemies or else he would have taken her on this mission.
"By the way, it seems like there was no problem while I was away?" Bai Zemin asked a little surprised and as he said those words looked at Sun Yun.
Both Sun Yun and Wu Keqian were talking to Sun Ling and Wu Yijun. The two uncle-father was clearly relieved to see two of their loved ones return safely.
"In fact, there were no problems." Evangeline nodded as she looked at Sun Yun casually. "No one tried to hurt your family at any time and even though there were several people occasionally watching your parents" house no one really did anything bad."
This came as a surprise to Bai Zemin. Before he left, he somehow expected Sun Yun or Sun Jie to order some kind of murder in a form of revenge; it happened often in light novels after all.
"Well, whatever it is, it"s a good thing nothing bad happened." Bai Zemin nodded.
Part of the reason why he was treating Sun Yun respectfully, aside from the fact that he was Wu Yijun"s maternal uncle and Sun Ling"s brother who had been good to him, the other part of the reason was that Sun Yun hadn"t tried to touch his family.
He hoped that everything would go well since he did not want to have to clash with Wu Yijun"s family as far as possible. Since Sun Yun had moved on and Sun Jie was silent or perhaps his father was holding him back, then Bai Zemin did not have to have a hard time.
...
About an hour later, Bai Zemin gave everyone a rough summary of what had happened. He simply talked about the important parts, he explained everything about what took so long but left out the insignificant details.
Bai Delan was a little better since Feng Hong had told him some things earlier, but it took Wu Keqian and Sun Yun more than ten minutes to come out of the state of shock they fell into after hearing the whole story from Bai Zemin.
"So... The reason why the Five Silver PaG.o.das of Changping Silver Mountain didn"t fall like the rest of the structures when the ground shook... was because it turns out that the entire area was protected by huge defensive magic circles.... Because that area turned out to be a ruin left behind from unknown times by a power capable of sweeping us all up at will?" Wu Keqian looked at Bai Zemin as he tried to confirm that everything he had heard was not his hallucinations.
However, to no one"s surprise, Bai Zemin nodded and said in a serious voice, "That" s correct."
Sun Yun added, "Then.... This giant battles.h.i.+p... Sky Destroyer was its name? So, you found this battles.h.i.+p thousands of meters underground protected by magic circles, and after defeating millions of enemies among which there were even several Third Order ones, you managed to clear the paG.o.das?"
Bai Zemin looked at Sun Yun and nodded, "That"s about right too."
Wu Keqian and Sun Yun looked at each other for a moment before they both shook their heads.
Sun Yun had given up the idea of ever taking revenge for his son, it was pointless and would only lead to more trouble in the future. He was a powerful Second Order warrior, in the future and with the constant evolution of the world, there would probably appear some medicinal herb capable of treating Sun Jie. Sun Yun would take the events that happened to let his son learn; it was best for everyone.
On the other hand, Wu Keqian looked at Bai Zemin with complicated eyes.
"You know, Zemin... I knew from the beginning that you were an incredible young man, from the first time I saw you."
Bai Zemin listened without saying anything and with a solemn expression on his face.
Wu Keqian continued, "From the moment I realized that my little princess was in love with you, I knew you were not someone normal as there is no way the first man who manages to enter my daughter"s heart can be, even Chen He who is the most outstanding young man I had ever seen in my life before I met you did not make it... But the more I watched you the more I was surprised. I have seen all kinds of people in my life, but before I met you, there were only two that I couldn"t read or understand.... One of them is my father, and the other is President Xuanyuan... You are the third."
Even Shangguan Bing Xue"s true self could not be hidden from Wu Keqian. Although he did not know her perfectly since she was very good at hiding her real personality and emotions, Wu Keqian could understand and conclude how she felt and what she was really like based on her past and previous small actions.
However, he could not understand Bai Zemin at all.
"That mystery surrounding you has only grown now." Wu Keqian shook his head and sighed. He looked at Bai Zemin with a happy smile and said genuinely, "Kid, I really can"t wait to see how far you make it in this s.h.i.+tty world we were dragged into!"
Wu Yijun was all smiles as she watched her father and Bai Zemin chat, free of quarrels or hidden agendas. She was beaming with happiness because one of the biggest burdens weighing on her heart had finally disappeared without a trace. The worst could have been avoided, it was difficult and risky but finally, the peace that she had longed for and hoped to the point of praying to the G.o.ds at night even though she had never been a religious person was achieved.
Bai Zemin simply smiled and listened to Wu Keqian in silence. He believed that what he most wanted to hear was coming now.
However, instead of good news, what awaited Bai Zemin was bad news.
RUMBLE....!
For the second time since the Soul Record arrived on Earth, the entire world trembled.
This time, however, there was no expansion.... The sky began to darken but not to the point of total darkness, the sun dimmed but not to the point of disappearing completely....
"What"s going on?"
"T-The mana..."
"My Mana stat just went up a bit!"
"One of my skills leveled up!"
"..."
Amidst the shock of the soul evolvers who didn"t know what was going on, Bai Zemin looked to the side and whispered in an urgent voice, "Lilith, this is...!"
"Em. Second Stage of Evolution. This world is finally officially evolving."
Lilith"s voice rang in Bai Zemin"s head, announcing something he already knew in his heart but hoped was not the case. At least not yet!
Bai Zemin ignored everyone"s surprise and shouted out loud, "Everyone, get moving! Split into four teams each led by at least one Second Order existence and head for the base walls!"
Bai Zemin"s words were met by a fierce flash of lightning that lit up the near-night sky. The explosion was so powerful that it seemed as if the end of the world was approaching.
And just like that, the Earth became even more dangerous than it already was.