Shi Xueman didn’t look alright all all. The armor that covered her right forearm had been shattered, revealing her slender, snow-white forearm. She was still holding on to her Cirrus tightly. Her blue-white body armor was filled with cracks. She had been wearing this armor since she was in Central Pine City. Years of battles and training sessions had caused some damage to it. However, she certainly didn’t expect this battle to completely destroy it.
Her face was emotionless, but in reality, she was battling hard with the bloody glow in her body. Even though her powerful [Iron Flowers Thrust] had shattered Xing Shan’s [Axe of Nether River], a few traces of the bloody glow had still managed to enter her body. By the time she could react, it was already too late. These few traces of bloody glow were thin like hair strands. Even though they were not deadly, they swamed extremely fast through her body. To Shi Xueman’s horror, her body’s elemental energy circulation was becoming increasingly sluggish.
"Hahahaha!"
Xing Shan burst into laughter and pleased look appeared on his face. His severed arm was still bleeding, but he looked as if he couldn’t feel any pain.
"How is it? Miss Shi, do you like my [Axe of Nether River]?" Xing Shan smiled.
No one could tell what Shi Xueman was feeling. Deep down, she was trying to expel the bloody glow within her body as soon as possible. However, the bloody glow was unusually slippery, like a loach. There seemed to be a layer of membrane on the surface of the bloody glow. The membrane looked very thin, but it was actually extremely tough and durable. It stopped elemental energy from eroding the bloody glow.
"If Miss Shi has four hours to spare, you might be able to think of a solution. However, right now, you should just follow me. Isn’t it too much for your soft skin and tender flesh to take so much pain?" Xing Shan sneered.
His injury looked horrifying, but it was not really severe. Blood elementalists had powerful physical bodies, and their regenerative ability was comparable to dire beasts’. The Beast Venom Temple had many odd methods that could help them recover from their injuries.
Xing Shan purposely used his injury to bait Shi Xueman into fighting him head-on. And by doing so, he could plant [Gadfly] in her body. [Gadfly] was a technique of [Netherworld Bestial Ox]. It wasn’t deadly, but it could hinder its host’s elemental energy circulation.
Its effect would last for four hours.
From the moment he thought about capturing Shi Xueman alive, he had been thinking of ways to do so. Eventually, he came up with this idea.
Suddenly, Shi Xueman raised her head and looked directly at Xing Shan and said, "Is it? You’re getting happy too soon!"
The smile on Xing Shan’s face froze as a premonition arose in his heart. He then roared, "Get her!"
Beneath him, there were a few experts that were prepared to take action any time. They rose into the air and lunged for Shi Xueman!
Suddenly, Shi Xueman dug into the sea of clouds above her head.
Xing Shan’s facial expression changed drastically. He had lost Shi Xueman!
Without Xing Shan saying anything, his experts took action immediately. Streaks of red light blasted towards the position where Shi Xueman had disappeared into. A burst of odd-looking, blood-colored flames erupted and burned a huge hole in the sea of clouds.
However, they still could not see Shi Xueman.
The experts flew through the layer of clouds and appeared above it. They scanned the boundless sea of clouds but still could not find Shi Xueman.
Xing Shan’s face turned ashen. A cooked duck could fly?
Suddenly, the Chieftain Wolf beneath him howled in at a particular direction.
Everyone stared at that direction. More than a few kilometers away, they could see a figure that resembled an agile whale in the sea of clouds.
"Chase her!"
Without any hesitation, Xing Shan led the chase. That few experts followed suit as well. His main forces on the ground advanced with a loud rumble too.
Xing Shan clearly understood that such an exceptionally good chance wouldn’t come by a second time. His eyes were very sharp, so he could tell that Shi Xueman wasn’t using her elemental energy to fly. Rather, it was the Cirrus in her hand that was helping her fly.
Upon thinking about it, he felt that it wasn’t surprising. After all, she was a member of the Shi family, so how could she not have a few treasures in her hands?
Within these four hours, Shi Xueman’s capabilities would be limited. To the Ardent Flower Blood Division, these four hours would be the best and only chance to capture her. Without Shi Xueman, the Spear of Heavy Cloud would suffer a huge loss in strength.
Shi Xueman’s strength was extraordinary, and her skill basics were extremely solid. Furthermore, her spearmanship was out of this world. If it weren’t for [Gadfly], Xing Shan felt that he wouldn’t have a high chance of pulling this mission off.
This time around, Shi Xueman was unprepared. Hence, [Gadfly] would work by surprise. This move could only be used once. Once the opponent was prepared for it, it would be ineffective.
Shi Xueman was holding her Cirrus very tightly. Traces of mist were spiralling around the body of Cirrus. It was flying Shi Xueman through the sea of clouds at a lightning speed.
The Cirrus’ body was forged using a bone of a humpback cloud whale. Shi Beihai personally chose the most perfect bone to forge the Cirrus. Humpback cloud whales were powerful entities that lived in deep space. They were at the peak of the food chain and they were born with the ability to fly in the sea of clouds. At this moment, the Cirrus was flying Shi Xueman nimbly through the clouds.
Meanwhile, above her head, Xing Shan and his counterparts were chasing relentlessly after her.
There was no sign of panic on Shi Xueman’s face. She even closed her eyes and let Cirrus fly her through the air freely. Even though she knew that the hair-like traces of bloody glow in her body weren’t deadly, she had no intention of becoming a sitting duck.
Xing Shan and his counterparts could only see a faintly discernible figure flying swiftly through the vast sea of clouds.
The sea of clouds was like a thick, protective screen, hindering their sensory perception.
Traces of mist entered Shi Xueman’s body in a steady flow. She used the boundless water elemental energy from the sea of clouds to compress the water elemental energy in her body.
The thin traces of bloody glow were very weird. Their surfaces were extremely slippery and they were swimming like loaches in the water elemental energy within Shi Xueman’s body. Ordinary methods would not work against them, but Shi Xueman thought of an idea. She intended to compress the water elemental energy in her body and turn it into the firmament iron that made up the tip of her Cirrus. This way, those traces of bloody glow would have nowhere to hide!
Firmament iron was only made up of one ingredient, water. However, now it had become one of the hardest materials in the world.
Compressing water elemental energy was a very bold idea. It was extremely risky as well.
The water elemental energy in the sea of clouds was mixed with other elemental energies as well. For example, metal elemental energy from the metal winds and fire elemental energy from the sun.
At this point in time, Shi Xueman did not have the time to remove the impurities. Along with the endless stream of water elemental energy, these impurities would gather in her body.
Every elementalist pursued the state of purity for the elemental energy within their bodies. Impurities would affect an elementalist’s control over his or her elemental energy. The greatest impact of impurities was that they might gather in the five residences and eight palaces and directly reduce an elementalist’s connectivity with his or her elemental energy greatly.
Very often, once an elementalist’s connectivity with his or her elemental decreased, the effect would be irreversible.
If one wanted to reverse the effect, it would be as difficult as improving his or her talents.
However, at this moment, Shi Xueman couldn’t care about these things. It was too early to think about the negative effects of impurities. She could last for a long period of time before the negative effects set in. Right now, all she cared about was making it out alive!
She kept on compressing the water elemental energy that gushed into her body. Her eyebrows knitted slightly as a rarely-seen tinge of agony appeared on her face. The process of converting water to firmament was extremely arduous and difficult. Similarly, the process of compressing water elemental energy wasn’t easy either. However, Shi Xueman did not give up. She could sense that as the water elemental energy increased in viscosity, it became more and more difficult for the traces of bloody glow to travel around her body,
Suddenly, her body trembled.
Time was passing slowly. The atmosphere in the Spear of Cloud’s camp was becoming extremely tense.
The anxiousness on Yang Xiaodong’s face was becoming increasingly intense. Sang Zhijun and the rest were becoming nervous and worried as well. Jiang Wei was the only one that was calm and collected. He wasn’t affected by any emotions.
The tightly-closed eyes of Fatty, who was still unconscious, kept on trembling. It appeared that the eyeballs behind his closed eyelids were rolling around.
Zu Yan was keeping watch over Fatty by his side. Upon seeing Fatty’s eyelids trembling, he became worried. Was he having a nightmare?
Suddenly, Fatty opened his eyes and quickly picked himself up. With a voice filled with panic, he yelled at the top of his voice, "The enemy forces are arriving!"
Everyone shifted their gazes to Fatty.
Zu Yan quickly assured him, "Fatty, we are back in the camp. There’s nothing, there’s nothing!"
It appeared Fatty was really frightened this time around.
A sympathetic look appeared on everyone’s faces. They also thought that Fatty acted this way because he was traumatised badly. However, they also knew that it wasn’t easy for Fatty to make it back alive.
Meanwhile, those meticulous individuals felt that Fatty was having a nightmare as they noticed his eye pupils weren’t focused.
Jiang Wei, who had been emotionless all this time, suddenly asked, "Fatty, where are the enemy forces coming from?"
"That side!" Fatty pointed to a forest in his southeast direction.
"Get ready for battle! Everyone, get ready for battle!" Jiang Wei suddenly shouted.
He walked around the camp and urged everyone to prepare for battle. Everyone then began to make preparations. However, they were feeling extremely confused.
What was wrong with the Vice Division Leader? Fatty was obviously traumatized, so how could the Vice Division Leader believe his words?
However, Jiang Wei’s gaze was limpid and resolute, putting pressure on everyone. None of them did not dare to hesitate, and they all made their preparations.
Suddenly, Yang Xiaodong’s facial expression changed. An incredulous look appeared on his face. "I think… the enemy forces are really arriving!"
He could not help but take a glance at the dazed Fatty.
Fatty had actually sensed the enemy forces’ presence earlier than him!
His strength was much higher than Fatty’s. Furthermore, he was a Master. Suddenly, he let out a yelp again and looked at Fatty with doubt.
He realized there was something wrong with Fatty’s body...
At this moment, the ground began to tremble. Veterans were able to tell that the enemy forces were huge in number.
Rumble! Rumble!
The ground was trembling furiously. Jiang Wei and the rest felt as if they were standing on a drum that was being beaten. The rising smoke in the distant was coming towards them with tumultuous momentum, and the enormous forest ahead of them turned blurry.
Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air. The previous Blood of God’s combat divisions that they fought were much weaker than this incoming combat division!
"Pagoda cannons, get ready!" Jiang Wei remained composed.
In the center of the camp, the twelve pagoda cannons were already prepared. Vats of snow lava were being poured into the fire pools continuously. When the battle intensified later on, they might not even have the time to replenish the snow lava.
At this moment, Fatty had regained his senses as well. The loud rumbles struck fear into him and caused his face to turn white. He quickly dashed to a nearby pagoda cannon and snatched over the main cannon position. "Let me do it!"
The level of Fatty’s control of the pagoda cannon far surpassed everyone in the combat division, so naturally, no one would snatch the position from him.
At this point, all of them could see the enemy forces. Deafening rumbles filled their ears. They could clearly see the sinister-looking faces of the enemy forces now. In the face of such a terrifying flood of blood elementalists, many members of the Spear of Heavy Cloud had their faces turned pale-white and their minds went blank.
The enemy forces were charging towards them.
At this point in time, a familiar figure descended from the sea of clouds above their heads like a kite that had its string broken.
"Lady!"
"Xueman!"
Everyone’s facial expressions changed drastically. Sang Zhijun did not care about anything and soared into the air to catch the falling Shi Xueman.
The layer of clouds above everyone’s heads suddenly exploded and howling laughter echoed through air.
Jiang Wei clenched his teeth. At this moment, even he himself could not maintain his composure. He widened his eyes angrily and roared at the top of his voice, "Pagoda cannons! Listen to my commands! Listen to my commands!"
Twelve pagoda cannons were slowly initializing.