Chapter 430 - Arrogant Bai Zemin & Anxious Shangguan Bing Xue
"Then... Legion Leader Bai will face the enemy troops together with Legion Sub Leader Shangguan and together with the Leader of the Legion Blood Whip Chen?" A level 22 soul evolver named Yan Yang asked.
Approximately two minutes had passed since Bai Zemin had finished his speech. After giving some simple orders and leaving Wu Yijun in charge along with the rest of his trusted people, Bai Zemin along with Shangguan Bing Xue and Chen He set off towards the south with leisurely and carefree steps.
They were very close to the outer perimeter of the forest, about half a kilometer. With the speed of those three, they could have arrived immediately. But apparently, they were in no hurry.
"Why? Do you doubt our victory?" Xiao Ming asked with an arrogant smile on his face. He had reached level 23 in a short time and even though he did not possess a prominent position within the Blood Spear Legion, his title of Noble level 3 was something that could not be ignored by anyone as it was proof not only of the trust the highest leader had in him but also proof of his achievements to date.
"Well... The other side has battle tanks and a lot of IFVs.... The situation is very different from when we faced the enemy as thanks to the protection of the forest they were not able to use the real power of their weapons." Yan Yang said with some concern and a few soul evolvers couldn't help but nod.
They were all mainly soul evolvers who had recently joined the faction so they didn't know how powerful Bai Zemin was and only recently witnessed Shangguan Bing Xue's power.
The Transcendent faction not only received normal survivors every day, occasionally there were also soul evolvers who came to the walls seeking refuge. After all, even if one was strong what a person could do alone in this world was limited. It never hurt to have powerful allies protecting your back.
"Yan Yang, you say that because you've only been in the faction for two weeks so you haven't seen our King in action." Xiao Ming patiently explained. "Let me tell you, even if the number of enemies multiplied by five times and even without anyone's support, our Legion Leader Bai by himself could easily crush them."
Xiao Ming was loyal to Bai Zemin even in death. He would rather commit suicide than betray him and anyone who dared to bad mouth him would definitely receive his anger. Xiao Ming's loyalty to Bai Zemin was so high not because Bai Zemin was a possessor of great powers but because Bai Zemin was the person who made his and his family's life better; it was he who gave Xiao Ming honor and it was he who opened Xiao Ming the opportunity to raise his head high.
Before Bai Zemin came to the establishment, Xiao Ming was nothing more than a dog in the faction led by the Four Big Bosses. He and his family struggled to survive another minute, often eating dried tree bark to kill the hunger, and going to bed with a completely empty stomach was not uncommon at all either.
The arrival of Bai Zemin was like the arrival of god in the eyes of Xiao Ming and his loved ones. It was this young man who gave them a new life when they thought it was the end of everything for them.
Moreover, Bai Zemin was responsible and worked harder than anyone else to support himself and his people. He never let the fact that he was the most powerful existence in the entire faction become a reason to loaf around or to lose himself in carnal pleasures and luxury. Therefore, even though Xiao Ming was already almost thirty years old, he was steadfastly loyal to Bai Zemin.
In his eyes, Bai Zemin could achieve anything he set his mind on, and it was precisely for this reason that Xiao Ming was the first person to stand up and agree to continue following Bai Zemin that day when he decided to unify all of China under his reign and become King.
Forget about a couple of war tanks and several IFVs; Xiao Ming blindly believed that even if an army of fighters arrived Bai Zemin would take them all down with ease.
"Is that so...?"
Yan Yang and the rest were not quite sure despite hearing Xiao Ming say those words.
"You guys will see it with your own eyes." Wu Yijun approached with light steps and said with a faint smile, "Bai Zemin cannot be defeated. Numbers are of no use against him."
At her words, everyone was silent.
All those who had already seen Bai Zemin's power naturally agreed. As for those who still had their doubts about it had no choice but to rethink the question again as Wu Yijun used to be very reasonable in most situations so her saying something like this naturally made that feeling of doubt waver.
Even those soul evolvers who previously belonged to the Baiquan Camp but had submitted due to circumstances had no choice but to rethink several things.... If the normal soul evolvers were already so powerful, then how strong was the one who led them all?
Be that as it may, their doubts would soon be cleared up and the truth would come out in an instant.
"Pei Pei, could you please activate your skill?" Wu Yijun looked at a girl next to her and asked with that little cheerful smile characteristic of her.
"Yes!" The young girl named Pei Pei responded loudly and immediately got to work.
She was 21 years old and, in the past, she used to be spoiled by her parents. Her life before the apocalypse was quite luxurious; at the very least, she didn't have to worry about not having a safe roof over her head, clothes, or food. However, when the world changed the mana wave turned her father into a zombie and he bit her mother shortly after losing his sanity.
In the end, Pei Pei's mother was forced to kill her husband to protect her daughter, and finally, before losing what little sanity she had left, the woman committed suicide.
The young Pei Pei saw her world devastate and collapse before her eyes. Her entire life had gone from rainbow-colored to black and white in an instant.
Fortunately or not, the deaths of her father and mother granted Pei Pei two skill scrolls and it was those two skills that kept her alive until she was finally found by an exploration group led by Wu Yijun herself.
From her father's scroll, Pei Pei obtained the passive skill First Order Boosted Senses. This skill was the main reason why she managed to avoid zombies and other creatures, barely surviving while maintaining her weak existence.
Finally, from the scroll she obtained when her mother committed suicide Pei Pei received the active skill First Order Shared Projecting Eyes. This skill allowed Pei Pei to release from her eyes a projecting light that amplified the image seen by an ally.
It was a seemingly useless skill, but in reality, it was very good depending on the circumstances, for example for espionage and information gathering. The only downside was that in order to see what another person saw and to be able to project it, Pei Pei first needed the indicated target to allow her to share the vision, or else the skill would not activate.
Pei Pei sent the connecting link to Shangguan Bing Xue, who had departed together with Bai Zemin, and a few moments later a bright light shot out of her eyes before turning into a transparent energy screen.
"Amazing!"
"We can actually see what the leaders see!"
...
The scene immediately became quite heated as everyone discussed what had just happened.
The soul evolvers who were once part of the Baiquan Camp were dumbfounded. One of them couldn't help but shake his head and said wryly:
"No wonder we lost this battle... These kinds of skills are looked down on in Baiquan Camp as priority is given to combat skills. However, these people make the most of even a seemingly useless skill."
Cai Jingyi looked at that person and chuckled as she said, "Even though Pei Pei is weak and her level is barely 9, she is highly valued by our Legion Leader because of the strange characteristics of her skills.... As he always says, there are no useless skills, only useless holders or incompetent leaders."
The soul evolver remained silent as he pondered Cai Jingyi's words. Soon, however, his attention was drawn to the same thing that everyone's attention was drawn to; the group of three finally emerged from the forest and on the energy screen they could all see the ruined city slowly appearing.
"W- What is that?"
"Watch out!"
However, everyone became agitated as they saw a huge ball of burning fire appearing out of nowhere.
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On the other hand, the group of three composed by Bai Zemin, Chen He, and Shangguan Bing Xue finally arrived outside the forest.
Just as the group came in sight of the ruined city and were moving forward to reach the edge of the mountain to descend, a tremendously badly injured person entered their line of sight.
Shangguan Bing Xue narrowed her eyes and her gaze flashed dangerously. She could sense that even in such a miserable state the man before her was truly powerful and nothing to scoff at.
Bai Zemin simply looked curious, but Chen He had the biggest reaction.
"It's you!"
One could imagine how shocked Chen He was to see the enemy who was supposed to be out of action on his feet before him. Even if Mo Zan had not died after receiving his most powerful arrow, Chen He estimated that he should have at the very least fainted!
"Hehe... hehe..." Mo Zan laughed weakly and his eyes glittered viciously as he slowly said, "You finally came out, little vermin.... All of you... Cowards who only know how to run away.... Weren't you and your broken arrows brave? At the end of the day, you're not much... Just a dog running with your tail between your legs."
Chen He's face turned livid and his body trembled from anger. When had he ever been treated and mocked the way Mo Zan was doing now? Never! However, regardless of whether he was at that moment not in his prime, Mo Zan's words were the irrefutable reality.
Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes flashed with understanding after hearing the young man's words before them and seeing the ugly expression on Chen He's face, it was not difficult to assimilate what had happened.
Bai Zemin did not say a word and began to walk forward. His eyes looked past Mo Zan as if he was nothing but invisible air to his eyes.
"Bai Zemin, fight with me!" Mo Zan shouted loudly and raised his left arm towards the sky before activating his most powerful skill.
Fire-like energy began to form rapidly along with burning mana and in a few blinks of an eye, a huge bright yellow fireball whose diameter exceeded 50 meters appeared floating in the sky.
However, Mo Zan did not get any response from Bai Zemin.
"How dare you ignore me!" Mo Zan shouted angrily and frustrated. His mood was already terribly bad after losing a limb while chasing after the enemy archer so he directly spent all his remaining Mana to boost the power of his skill.
"Bai Zemin!!"
The fireball grew to 100 meters in diameter but it still showed no signs of stopping.
"Are you also a coward just like that pretty face back there? Eh?!" Mo Zan roared with a pale face at the same time as the fireball hovering several meters in the sky grew explosively, reaching 200 meters in diameter in an instant.
The temperature rose abruptly and even the ice that had frozen the outer perimeter of the forest began to show signs of giving way. This surprised Shangguan Bing Xue a little, however, upon understanding the level of the enemy in front of her that surprise soon disappeared. If she was providing Mana to the ice behind her back then Mo Zan's flames would definitely not be able to casually melt it, but since it was now just ice slowly losing its energy it was no longer so surprising what was happening.
Mo Zan bellowed and roared like a wild beast in an attempt to make himself heard. However, Bai Zemin's expression remained unperturbed as he advanced at a steady pace seemingly oblivious to the heat coming from the flames that illuminated the area as if it were a small artificial sun.
When the distance between Bai Zemin and Mo Zan closed to only 100 meters, the latter finally felt something break inside him.
With bloodshot eyes like those of a demon, he waved his hand and shouted, "GO TO HELL YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!"
This was undoubtedly the most powerful attack Mo Zan had ever performed. The 250 meter diameter fireball advanced at a snail's pace but steadily forward as it gained more and more speed.
At a distance of 100 meters and considering his current condition, Mo Zan definitely could not avoid the damage of his own destructive attack. However, at this point he was no longer thinking at all and it seemed that his only goal in life was to kill the person before him.
90... 70.. 50... 30 meters...
The fireball advanced and finally Bai Zemin stopped for a moment. When the huge fireball was one meter away and was about to swallow him whole, under Shangguan Bing Xue's slightly worried gaze and under Chen He's stupefied eyes, Bai Zemin extended his right hand forward.
The movement of his rising arm seemed to be extremely slow, however, it was enough for his palm to come into contact precisely when the giant fireball entered his range.
"Don't do it!" Chen He shouted unconsciously.
His words only served to make Shangguan Bing Xue's heart even more anxious as she knew Bai Zemin's skills very well. He definitely did not possess any defensive skills that would allow him to evade damage from a tremendous magical attack like the one he was facing!
Unconsciously, she stepped forward with an anxious look. For a moment her rationality and natural intelligence seemed to have flown out the window.
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