Li Kuanglan gave it some thought before darting over. A stream of frost energy shot out from her hand and promptly sealed the four-armed native in ice. However, the icy surface was soon filled with cracks from the natives’ powerful struggles.
Startled, Li Kuanglan rushed onto the four-armed native’s body and slashed his throat before he could regain movement. Despite that, the enemy’s vitality was so strong that he could still unleash a thunderous roar from his chest.
“Oh no!” That was the only thought in Li Kuanglan’s mind. They were at the center of the stone keep, so the outcome would be unimaginable if the entire compound was alerted of their presence.
A slender figure flew in from the side and slammed into the injured warrior, sending him flying. “Let’s go, why are you dazed?”
Li Kuanglan charged toward the stone wall with her. The natives were extremely quick. Dozens of two-armed people were soon blocking their way and more were scuttling out from their tents.
Li Kuanglan took a step forward and scattered a large cloud of frost energy, sealing a dozen or so natives in ice. Even for these two-armed natives, Li Kuanglan’s ice could only seal them for a brief moment.
But a short moment was all they needed. Ji Tianqing produced a long whip, with which she la.s.soed the natives, tossing them into the air and slamming them down onto buildings or their comrades.
Taking advantage of the commotion, Ji Tianqing dragged Li Kuanglan through the crowd and toward the outer wall.
It was at this time that the latter felt something tighten around her foot. A two-armed native had grabbed onto her! The man immediately became excited afterward—his strength increased abruptly as his other hand started running toward her thighs.
Li Kuanglan stomped down several times, but she simply couldn’t get rid of the native. It almost felt as though there was a steel hoop around her ankle. Her kicks to the chest elicited cracking sounds, and the native’s thorax had more or less sunken in. Despite that, the native clung tightly onto her leg and tore off a large patch of her outer armor. Fortunately, her inner armor was much stronger and remained intact.
Ji Tianqing was surrounded by natives at this point, and having taken several blows herself, she simply couldn’t find the time to save Li Kuanglan.
One after the other, the two-armed natives realized that the latter was a female. They went into a frenzied state of excitement as they pounced toward her, aiming to overwhelm her with sheer numbers.
It was at this time that a powerful quake erupted from the center of the stone castle. As sensitive as they were to vibrations, the natives began to stagger and stumble from the impact. The stone house Qianye was in exploded all of a sudden, soon followed by the adjacent ones. As though there was a fuse running through all of them, the entire row of stone houses was destroyed. A speck of light flew out from the dust and gravel, shot through the tents on the other side, and then flew up onto the wall. The tents exploded as well, and countless two-armed natives were flung into the sky.
Chaos descended upon the stone keep as the series of explosions left the natives howling in pain. Seeing an opening, Ji Tianqing la.s.soed Li Kuanglan with her whip and dragged her to the wall. There, she grabbed the rope she had prepared beforehand, climbed onto the wall, and started running toward the exterior.
Li Kuanglan dragged her back, shouting, “Qianye’s still inside!”
“He can escape on his own!” Ji Tianqing tugged on Li Kuanglan and charged forward, dragging her along in the air. The two then dropped down from the wall and fled.
Explosions rang out continuously in the stone keep and only died off after a good while. By the time the gates opened and squads of fully-armed natives charged out from them, the two girls were already nowhere to be found.
After running for several kilometers, Li Kuanglan refused to go any further. Ji Tianqing didn’t force her, either, and opted to take a break. She didn’t remain idle, though—she started carving wood to build a circle of traps, and then both of them found places to hide.
However, the natives never caught up. The two girls were outstanding in both running and concealment. After putting a certain distance between them, they managed to throw the hunters off completely. Moments later, a beam of golden radiance shot through the air, and Qianye emerged from the light. He glanced down briefly before retracting his wings and jumping down toward the two ladies.
Suddenly realizing something, Ji Tianqing shouted, “Don’t come down!”
But how could one just stop suddenly in the Great Maelstrom? Startled, Qianye slowed down his descent but still couldn’t help landing on the ground. He had just touched down when the soil suddenly gave way and numerous wooden spikes shot out, stabbing his legs mercilessly. One of the stakes narrowly missed his nether regions.
Qianye was drenched in cold sweat despite his usual fearlessness. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan rushed over and quickly removed the wooden spikes that had nailed into his body. They had no time to feel embarra.s.sed as they checked all of Qianye’s injuries, but found only a few red spots. Only then did they heave a sigh of relief.
But the two girls reacted quite differently—Ji Tianqing looked thoughtful, while Li Kuanglan was puzzled after she had gotten over the initial panic.
Qianye ultimately managed to extricate himself, but he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He had used Spatial Flash twice during this escape and was utterly exhausted when he happened to fall right into Ji Tianqing’s trap. Qianye’s traps were nothing compared to hers in terms of ruthlessness. Even now, he could still feel a chill from between his legs.
Ji Tianqing asked, “Did you get anything?”
Nodding Qianye stretched his hand out, holding two white fruits. “There were seven or eight of them on the tree last time, but they must’ve been alarmed by the theft. They’ve plucked all the ripe ones, leaving only these two.”
Ji Tianqing received the white fruits and studied them carefully. “Not bad, it should be barely enough. We’ll get through another night at least.”
Qianye nodded. “Did you notice anything?”
Ji Tianqing pointed in a certain direction. “We’ve run a great distance, and the gravity has been s.h.i.+fting along the way. If I sensed right, the gravity is weaker in that direction and that’s where the first fortress was. What do you think?”
Qianye said, “Same.”
Li Kaunglan asked, “Then, should we go back or move on?”
Ji Tianqing replied, “We go back, of course! We can’t get through the frigid night without those fruits.”
That was reasonable. The natives treasured the white fruits even more than their lives. At the moment at least, it would seem the white fruit was an extremely rare resource. They would have to move back toward the spatial pa.s.sage while they had enough stock, or get to a safer area at least.
“Of course, we should also collect natural resources along the way. Who knows if we’ll find something miraculous?”
Qianye said after a while, “Don’t you guys feel that the white fruit and wine might be extremely rare treasures?”
“How so?” Ji Tianqing became spirited.
“The white fruits do produce some medical effects after we eat them, and they’re constantly reforming our bodies during the day time, making our muscles stronger. Most importantly, our vitality is also increasing,” Qianye explained in detail.
“Increased vitality? That means…” Li Kuanglan was stunned.
Ji Tianqing nodded. “Correct, our lives are being extended. This white fruit is none other than divine longevity medicine. Although I don’t know how efficacious they are, the quality can’t be too bad. It shouldn’t be a problem for each fruit to give us a decade.”
Li Kuanglan said, “The Longevity Monarch will probably cough up his entire fortune if we can bring one out.”
Longevity Monarch was at the end of his life, and that was something many people knew. He had long since stopped fighting and remained indoors most of the time, doing his utmost to extend his life. The amount of resources required to do so was also increasing exponentially.
Although the Longevity Monarch remained one of the strongest human experts currently, Zhang Boqian had overtaken him for the most part. The marshal was at the height of his prime and never slowed down after stepping into the heavenly monarch realm. In fact, he progressed faster and faster, and was following closely in the Pointer Monarch’s footsteps.
Every heavenly monarch was an irreplaceable tactical power for the empire, even one with one foot in the grave. The Longevity Monarch didn’t have to do anything except remain at the imperial capital.
During these years, he had taken every longevity medicine he could find, and none of them were effective anymore. The white fruit would be a priceless treasure for him, even if it could only extend his life by three years.
Now, Li Kuanglan felt as though she had wasted a valuable natural resource. Ji Tianqing’s expression was also filled with regret. They were both young, so these increased years didn’t feel all that special to them. All they could think of were the things they could get out of the Longevity Monarch. Li Kuanglan could even demand her freedom as one of the conditions.
Who would dare to force her into a marriage with the Longevity Monarch endorsing her? And those who could suppress the Longevity Monarch had no interest in her marriage.
As for what Ji Tianqing really wanted, no one really knew. It was just that one could tell from her expression that it could be bartered for with this fruit.
After a good while of silence, the two ladies sighed in resignation. They exchanged glances, but then looked away at the same time.
Qianye broke the silence. “If the white fruit can extend one’s life, then the wine we got must have similar effects.”
Ji Tianqing collected her thoughts. “The wine can extend vitality, but the effects aren’t that obvious. Judging from the effects, it’s possible that they suppressed the longevity effects and channeled everything toward reproductive instincts. This wine is probably necessary for the four-armed natives to produce offspring. Perhaps they can only get pregnant after drinking the wine.”
Qianye was somewhat disappointed. This meant that the wine wasn’t really that valuable, but even a small amount of extra lifespan was still hard to come by.
Ji Tianqing suddenly said, “I know what we should do with the wine!”
“What should we do with them?” Qianye and Li Kuanglan were both puzzled.
“Sell them to the demonkin!” Ji Tianqing’s words surprised everyone.