s.h.i.+ Xueman slowly regained consciousness.
Having a breakthrough in the midst of battle had caught her off guard and she’d almost lost her life. Every elementalist yearned for a breakthrough, but because unpredictable situations could easily arise, it became very important to be prepared for one.
Knowing this, it became obvious that s.h.i.+ Xueman lacked experience. There were signs which would present themselves whenever a breakthrough was near, but only seasoned elementalists would recognize them and prepare for it.
Gradually recovering, s.h.i.+ Xueman felt the strange condition of her body even before opening her eyes.
Her limbs were bound tightly by someone from behind. She was unable to move an inch.
That was…
She fell into a short daze. This familiar feeling triggered a certain memory that she had tried so hard to forget. It came back to her now, clear and distinct.
In the dark, every single detail was so clear, as if it happened just yesterday. That indescribable feeling of shame and humiliation was like an electric current circulating throughout her whole body, causing her to tremble uncontrollably.
She’d thought she had already forgotten that event, but when a similar scene played out, the familiarity enveloped her senses once again.
Time had not reduced the pain and humiliation. Instead, it had thickened the emotions involved, like a cup of water turning into alcohol.
Having just experienced a breakthrough, s.h.i.+ Xueman’s three energies were at their strongest. The resurfacing of these intense emotions from the deepest part of her mind led to an unprecedented eruption of fury.
Still in the air with her eyes shut, s.h.i.+ Xueman grabbed her spear with one hand. The elemental energy within her whole body boiled. It looked like she was about to channel all of her rage into this spear!
This fanciless spear!
Cirrus vibrated and started humming. Turbulent clouds erupted and flew out of the spear’s body with a hiss, like an enormous white whale loudly advancing.
Blood ants that came into contact with the clouds burst upon touch, just like fragile bubbles!
Numerous blood flowers blossomed at the same time. The ball of clouds was like a white cloth that made the sea of blood flowers look especially tender and beautiful. This beautiful picture did not last long, however, for the blossoming flowers shook and shattered into a blood fog that was swept away by the stirring air, disappearing without a trace.
Boom, boom, boom!
The whale-like cloud ball, as if making up for its prior negligence, advanced with unstoppable force and pulverized everything in and along its path without holding back.
The wall Ai Hui had made a hole in shattered into fine powder immediately. The formidable cloud ball rushed past the alley and went straight for the opposite wall, causing broken fragments to fly everywhere.
The earth quaked, mountains shook, and the sky rumbled. It was like the monsters were far away.
Duanmu Huanghun and the rest were struck absolutely dumb by the change of events. Ai Hui and s.h.i.+ Xueman had been in crucial danger just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, every single blood ant in the training hall was destroyed.
The twists and turns from start to finish had Duanmu Huanghun and gang gasping for breath.
This attack had consumed more than half of the elemental energy within s.h.i.+ Xueman’s body. She opened her eyes and her anger greatly dissipated. Having vented most of her raging emotions, she regained her composure.
The falling objects within her field of vision reminded her that she wasn’t done yet.
A few blood ants were left struggling to escape this scary training hall.
So, blood fiends also feel fear, s.h.i.+ Xueman thought to herself.
Wait!
Her face darkened immediately upon realizing that the guy on her back had yet to release her, but the b.l.o.o.d.y smell on her neck softened her expression.
She wasn’t completely unaware of what had happened.
Ai Hui had merely been trying to save her life. He’d gotten injured pretty seriously and was unconscious.
Her anger quickly subsided and was replaced with reproach and regret. Ai Hui had just saved her life and yet all she did was blame him, how ungrateful. Calming down, she also became shocked at her overly intense reaction. Her body had subconsciously acted out of instinct rather than careful consideration.
Although she was unwilling to admit it, all that had happened was enough to prove that her fateful blind battle had been etched deeply into her heart and mind.
She pushed the bottom of the spear against the ground to stabilize herself and prepared to removed Ai Hui from her back; however, she was surprised to find that she couldn’t pull his hands and feet apart.
Ai Hui had fallen into a coma, but his limbs were still wrapped tightly around her body with shocking strength. s.h.i.+ Xueman had heard stories from the front lines before. Some soldiers had gotten their bodies tangled with the enemies’ corpses and were unable to separate themselves. She had been skeptical in the past, but who knew that she would now experience it for herself.
What a clingy fellow…
s.h.i.+ Xueman felt both admiration and vexation.
In such a situation, she might cause damage to his body if she were to forcefully remove him. His joints could easily be broken.
But he… looked so unglamorous right now...
Because everyone was looking at her with their mouths and eyes wide open, her face blushed a deep red.
“I’ll… I’ll go in for a bit.”
Face almost burning up, s.h.i.+ Xueman dashed into a room inside the training hall immediately after finis.h.i.+ng her sentence, like a bunny whose b.u.t.t was being roasted.
The sudden return of peace allowed everyone to finally release all of their tension. They were long exhausted and started plopping themselves all over the ground. Only Sang Zhijun bothered thinking about her image as a woman and reluctantly sat on the ground.
“Never thought we’d survive.”
w.a.n.g Xiaoshan said in a somewhat nervous manner with a half smiling, half crying expression.
No one said anything as they were all enjoying this precious calm.
The intensity of the battle made everyone unwilling to recall its details. At many points, they had expected to die right there and then; yet, there was no joy after the calamity since they knew that the blood catastrophe had just started.
Intense sounds from a faraway battle made their way into the training hall as flames and smoke rose amidst the sunlight.
Even though it was so far away, they could still see it.
The sky brightened up but the light emitted by the rising sun no longer carried warmth, but oozed horrifying coldness and death.
A new day of killing had started just like that.
Sang Zhijun gazed absentmindedly at the black, rising smoke from far away as it floated along with the wind like a black armband in a funeral.
She muttered, “I wonder how many are going to die this time?”
No one knew the answer.
Jiang Wei’s expression changed slightly at the sudden thought of the few people in the woodshed. “How are those in the woodshed doing?”
Everyone looked at each other in dismay, a bad feeling rising within their chests.
Lou Lan opened the door to the woodshed and they were welcomed by a choking smell of blood. Their hearts skipped a beat.
Nothing was left in the woodshed except for traces of blood, bits and pieces of flesh, and bone dregs. Everyone could guess that the blood ants must have smelled humans in here and had themselves a feast.
Sang Zhijun dashed out, held onto the wall, and started puking violently.
Jiang Wei and Duanmu Huanghun maintained their calm even though their faces did not look too good. They exchanged looks and understood each other’s intent. No matter what, they must hold it in.
Sang Zhiju vomited for a short while before stopping. While her face was as pale as before, she felt better emotionally. “It’s for the better, death ends all one’s troubles.”
The terrifying blood disaster, nightmare-like battles, and the struggles between life and death made these weak students grow speedily. Their mental strength had improved greatly.
This was the survival instinct. Regardless of origins, the desire for life was the most primitive instinct. During this disaster, compa.s.sion, sympathy, fear, and hesitation would only lead to tragic endings.
They were lucky to have survived the past few battles. They had been given time to understand and adapt accordingly.
They were all smart people. They knew where this luck had come from.
The blood stains on Ai Hui’s back had everyone all tensed up. Such a wound could be infected by the blood poison.
If Ai Hui became infected...
Everyone shuddered at the thought of it. All at once, their gazes fell upon the room into which s.h.i.+ Xueman had dashed earlier.
The light inside the room was dim and s.h.i.+ Xueman had closed the door. She did not have a choice since she was forced into an ugly position and had no courage to show herself to everybody.
Because she was sitting on the ground, Ai Hui looked as if he was hugging her from behind, his legs still wrapping around her thighs.
Although he had saved her life, she still wanted to break all of his limbs.
Okay, she’d better s.h.i.+ft his legs slowly and carefully. His grip was too tight, so she was unable to stand up straight, leaving her with no choice but to remain seated.
So that she would not hurt Ai Hui, she channelled a small amount of elemental energy into her fingertips and used them to provoke Ai Hui’s tensed leg muscles. This was the only harmless method she could think of for now.
Ai Hui had a dream.
In that dream, he and Fatty were hugging a piece of tree trunk, struggling in the middle of a big storm at sea. Lou Lan was in the middle.
The monstrous waves were like many overhanging cliffs, constantly rising from the ground, tilting forward, and collapsing, effectively burying them.
Everyone was hugging onto the block of wood, hanging for dear life without loosening their grip.
Fatty said, Ai Hui, I can’t do this anymore, I’m out of strength.
He then responded, Fatty, persevere!
Fatty was losing consciousness and said, Ai Hui, it’s good for me to die in the ocean. When you burn ritual money, just choose any beach since all of the waters are linked. I’ll definitely receive it.
Lou Lan then said, Fatty, don’t you worry. If you die, I will burn money, chilli and even trainning programme schedules, one book each year.
Fatty replied, it’s alright, I don’t want to die now.
Just as he finished, a wave smashed them into the sea. He laughed until tears spilled out and mixed into the sea water.
They floated up to the water’s surface.
Lou Lan said, Ai Hui, I can become a treasure chest and keep everyone inside. You can grab onto it, swim to the sh.o.r.e, and save everyone. Muddle-headed Ai Hui realized he was lying on the beach, tightly holding onto a treasure chest.
He had no idea why the treasure chest was covered in a layer of armor. The armor looked familiar. Wasn’t this iron lady’s armor? Could it be that she was inside too? The armor was fastened very securely, but it wasn’t a problem for Ai Hui. He had loosened countless armors which had been even tighter.
Ai Hui suddenly jerked a little, giving s.h.i.+ Xueman, who was controlling her elemental energy carefully, a shock, but it quickly turned into joy. Was he coming around?
“You’re finally awake…”
Her words fell as her expression and body stiffened.
In dreamland, Ai Hui peeled open the armor. It wasn’t a treasure chest, there was another layer! He got worried instantly and increased his speed to undo the second layer.
Eh what was this?
Why wasn’t it a treasure chest!
Furious, Ai Hui grabbed...