Chapter 655 - 263: Power of the Progenitor, World Quest
Chapter 655: Chapter 263: Power of the Progenitor, World Quest
Xiao Lingchen... was eliminated?
Everyone present knew that name.
A prodigy on par with Xia Lianxue, and even considered by some to have greater potential. One of the absolute best of Great Xia’s younger generation.
He was eliminated this quickly?
Everyone thought Xiao Lingchen would at least make it to the Dragon’s Nest, just like Xia Lianxue.
And be eliminated by Lin Ye.
The image on the massive light screen in the center of the conference room suddenly switched.
The magnificent spectacle of ten thousand dragons paying homage vanished.
In its place was an emergency medical room filled with the cold texture of metal.
In the center of the frame, Xiao Lingchen lay quietly on a specialized stretcher.
However, everyone who saw this scene couldn’t help but gasp.
His body was covered with dozens of voids, both large and small.
They weren’t wounds.
Because inside those voids, there was no flesh, no tissue, not even any matter.
They were as black as ink, as if someone had taken an eraser and forcibly wiped parts of him from the world, revealing terrifying windows to some unknown universe behind him.
The profound darkness emanated an incredibly evil and bizarre aura. Just looking at it through the screen made one feel as if their very soul was being pulled in.
What was even more horrifying was Xiao Lingchen’s condition.
His eyes were wide and unfocused. At times, they held the blank confusion of a child; at others, they were consumed by absolute madness.
His lips moved ceaselessly, muttering completely incomprehensible and illogical sentences.
Several medical staff in white coats surrounded him, holding various precision instruments, but they were completely helpless, their foreheads beaded with cold sweat.
"His vital signs are failing rapidly, but we can’t find any physiological damage!"
"His spiritual fluctuations... The readings are in complete chaos! This... this isn’t a human brainwave pattern at all!"
"Those black voids are... are eroding the space around him! Conventional treatment methods can’t even get close!"
Hou Guanghe watched the bizarre scene on the screen, a grave look flashing in his cloudy old eyes.
He spoke in a low voice to Yi Jiugao beside him, "Conventional methods are useless. Immediately assemble all medical Martial Artists with an affinity for the light attribute or with restorative-type spiritual abilities to intervene."
He paused, then added, "Be quick. Otherwise, he might not last half an hour."
"Yes, sir!" Yi Jiugao’s expression was grim. Not daring to delay for a second, he immediately stood up, preparing to leave the conference room to make the arrangements himself.
However, just as he reached the door, a gentle voice came from behind him.
"There’s no need."
Mu Qingyin, who had been silent all this time, slowly rose to her feet.
"I’ll handle it."
Her words were few, yet they seemed to carry a power that could calm one’s heart.
Yi Jiugao’s tense body instantly relaxed, and he let out a long sigh of relief.
He turned, giving Mu Qingyin a slight nod, his eyes filled with gratitude and respect.
With Mu Qingyin willing to intervene, Xiao Lingchen’s life was basically saved.
Amidst the complex gazes of the crowd, Mu Qingyin’s figure disappeared through the conference room doorway.
The image on the screen switched once again, beginning a playback of what had previously happened to Xiao Lingchen.
...
The screen showed a vast, boundless, desolate desert.
The sky was a strange, dark red. The massive silhouette of the World Tree, like that of an ancient god, stretched across the distant horizon.
The fierce wind swept up yellow sand, whipping against weathered, crumbling altars and the ruins of a civilization, creating a whimpering sound.
In the lee of some ruins, a bonfire was burning.
Xiao Lingchen sat cross-legged. A metal fragment, emanating an ominous black aura, floated above his fingertips.
As the altar emitted a soft white light, the chaotic information within the fragment was set right, finally transforming it into a pure Earth Vein Fragment.
’That’s the seventh one.’
Xiao Lingchen put the fragment away, a satisfied smile on his face.
Just then, a team member hurried in from outside, reporting warily, "Captain, we’ve found traces of someone else outside the camp."
Xiao Lingchen slowly stood up, patting the dust off his clothes as he gazed into the sand-swept distance.
"We’re just one fragment short of eight. Then we can pinpoint the true coordinates to the Ancestral Land."
A confident smile curved his lips.
"Let’s go. We’ll pay him a visit."
Outside the camp, the wind and sand howled.
Atop a high dune, silhouetted against the blood-red setting sun, a figure slowly approached.
The person was not tall and wore a black cloth robe. Their face was completely obscured by the shadow of a wide hood, making them impossible to see clearly.
He walked very slowly, each step as if measured, precise and steady.
A team member beside Xiao Lingchen suddenly cried out in alarm, his pupils contracting, "He... he isn’t leaving any footprints!"
Everyone looked over at his words. Sure enough, the sand where the man had walked was as smooth as ever, as if he hadn’t walked at all but was a phantom floating above the ground.
Xiao Lingchen’s gaze merely sharpened slightly at this.
The next moment, his figure blurred where he stood, as if swept away by a gust of sandy wind, and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was standing in front of the figure, blocking their path.
"Friend, we have seven fragments here. We’re just missing the last one."
Xiao Lingchen offered a gentle smile as he took the initiative to extend an invitation.
"From the looks of it, you’re a solo traveler as well. How about we team up temporarily? Once we gather all eight fragments and find the path to the Ancestral Land, we can disband immediately and it’ll be every man for himself. What do you say?"