Chapter 1279.1: All conditions fulfilled: Sky Ruler & Third Order (Part 1)
A few minutes later, Bai Zemin finally arrived at the area where the portal between this world and the mysterious space called the Worlds Connector was hidden.
Due to the battle between him and Sonnata, the entire forest, as well as the giant mountains that covered the area, had been razed to the ground to the point where there was nothing left of them. Therefore, the stone portal was exposed under the sky for anyone passing by to see.
What left Bai Zemin even more discouraged than this was the massive amount of Mana he expended after activating some skills meant to increase his movement speed in order to reach his destination faster.
"Really. Unless it's my last resort and I have no other choice it is better not to use Immortal's Blood," Bai Zemin smiled wryly as he glanced over his Mana.
The consumption of any skill Bai Zemin activated between now and the next 15 days would be four times higher than normal; it was a side effect of Immortal's Blood.
Under normal circumstances he wouldn't mind spending more Mana, the problem was that at present Bai Zemin couldn't afford to use Overlap Regeneration to "take advantage of the bug" and regenerate his Mana to 100%. After all, although his physical body was completely regenerated his soul was a different matter.
Bai Zemin estimated that it would take at least a month of calm to be able to recover 100%. He absolutely could not afford to face tough battles during this period of time or else he might hurt his soul to the point where his whole vitality would be greatly affected.
After thinking for a moment, Bai Zemin called out softly, "Little Blue, can you help me?"
As if responding to his request, Bai Zemin immediately felt the faithful Endless Blue Lotus Flame stirring restlessly in a corner of his soul.
Before he said more, a small flame of dark blue fire slowly floated up from inside his chest and stopped suspended in front of him. The small blue flame waved gently in the sky, and although it did not speak at all Bai Zemin understood what it wanted to tell him.
Thanks to the fact that the Endless Blue Lotus Flame was currently an advanced Fourth Order flame through the constant care Bai Zemin gave it since they became comrades, nourishing it with huge loads of Soul Stones of all varieties, the little blue flame could not only understand its master's intention easily but Bai Zemin could now understand to a certain extent the fluctuations it sent back to him in response.
"I'll be back in two days at best. It should be four days at most." He said after a moment's consideration, as before carrying out that grand plan he had to discuss it with some of his subordinates and trusted friends.
The Endless Blue Lotus Flame seemed to nod and quickly launched itself towards the ground, descending over 300 meters in the blink of an eye. Only this particular type of flame that could burn endlessly was capable of carrying out this task without the need for its master to be present.
Bai Zemin watched without a word as the entire area within 500 meters around the portal instantly turned into a sea of fire. The temperature did not seem to be particularly high, but this was actually a great misleading; Bai Zemin was pretty sure that even a Third Order soul evolver would suffer a hell of a lot of pain if they dared to enter there even if they did not die.
"This should be enough temporarily." He was quite satisfied as he nodded.
According to his knowledge of this world, now that the Emperor had been killed by him there should only be one Third Order soul evolver while all the others should be somewhere in the Second Order and below.
Even though there was still the Emperor/Empress of the mutant beasts, Bai Zemin was not too worried as unless they really wanted to die they would not venture beyond the portal after sensing his aura and seeing the sea of blue fire.
Having finished this, Bai Zemin dashed straight towards the portal and disappeared a second later.
* * *
Earth, Mariana Trench.
Every second that passed felt like a minute and every minute felt like an hour to Shangguan Bing Xue and Feng Tian Wu as they anxiously awaited Bai Zemin's return.
Although Shui Meiying was also a little worried, she was relatively fine after finding out that her father did not have the ability to beat the two next to her.As for Bai Zemin, the relationship between the two was practically nonexistent so naturally she could not understand how the two women felt about the whole thing.
Gabriel shook his head and smiled slightly as he saw their respective expressions of unease. Still, he said nothing as he felt it was beneath him.
As far as this clever Archangel was concerned, Bai Zemin was already dead. Of course, Sonnata had to be dead as well since a long time had passed and he was probably already turned into mortal remains by the purple lightning of the Soul Record.
The only thing Gabriel was waiting for now was the return of his Leader and the others, therefore, the portal connecting Earth with the other worlds was insignificant at this point.
Just as Gabriel was smiling inwardly and feeling all too good about himself, a flash brightened from the portal and soon a figure flew out from beyond at lightning speed.
'Oh? That Lower Existence named Felix managed to survive?' Gabriel was slightly surprised but that's all.
However, when Gabriel saw the appearance of the other party he felt as if an earthquake suddenly struck his heart and the smile on his face froze.
"Impossible!" Gabriel shouted without realizing it.
Wearing the red tunic and black pants he stole from the Emperor of the Asura race after ending his life but barefoot and holding the ancient bronze spear in his right hand, Bai Zemin stopped at the bottom of the ocean when he heard Gabriel's voice.
Bai Zemin shot him a cold-eyed glance for a moment before ignoring him directly. His eyes moved around the surroundings and he quickly found those he was looking for.
Feng Tian Wu subconsciously let out a heavy sigh of relief when she saw him heading towards them. Her red lips curved slightly into a small smile and her crimson eyes sparkled brightly as she stared at him.
"I knew you'd win!" She said with some pride, as if she had been the one who defeated the angel and not Bai Zemin.
Only Feng Tian Wu herself knew she was lying as she was actually so nervous that she could only convince herself with baseless lies.
When Bai Zemin shifted his attention to Shangguan Bing Xue and was about to say something he subconsciously took half a step back when he saw a beam of sky blue light swimming swiftly towards him. The other party's speed was so fast that it reached him in an instant as the distance was very short.
Even under the icy water, Bai Zemin just felt a warm body rushing into his chest followed by a slender pair of arms clinging tightly to his back leaving him no room for retreat.
He froze in his tracks as he felt the shivering of the woman's small but curvy body on his chest, but what made Bai Zemin's steady eyes tremble was that from the woman's hidden face, he saw small bubbles floating out slowly.
Tears? Bai Zemin felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
In fact, this was the second time Shangguan Bing Xue cried for him due to extreme worry. Unfortunately, Bai Zemin did not know since the first time she shed tears he was in no condition to pay attention to her.
Was Shangguan Bing Xue a strong woman? Bai Zemin knew the answer to this probably even better than her own mother.
Shangguan Bing Xue was strong not only physically as a soul evolver but she was strong as a mountain to bear the pressure of the whole world on her slender little shoulders. From childhood to adulthood, Shangguan Bing Xue suffered from constant pressure that would have shattered the will of the strongest man but she not only persisted but also launched her own counterattacks without complaining to anyone.
Today, seeing her cry for the first time, Bai Zemin suddenly felt a strong squeezing in his chest as if someone was tearing his heart apart. At the same time, an intense murderous intent directed toward the Army of Heaven began to burst out of his control.
He said nothing but hugged her back with his free hand, pulling her closer to his body. His eyes, however, were as spine-chilling as the eighteenth level of hell as he gazed at Gabriel.
As the Archangel Gabriel's pupils trembled, he kept muttering to himself, unable to believe, let alone accept, what he was seeing.
Alive? How could such a thing possibly be happening!
Whether it was speed or sheer strength, Sonnata should be able to overwhelm Bai Zemin in everything! And yet, Bai Zemin was alive while Sonnata was nowhere to be seen!
Indeed, the thought that perhaps Sonnata did not cross paths with Bai Zemin actually passed through Gabriel's mind. However, seeing that practically all the equipment Bai Zemin used before entering the portal was gone and noticing that the Rank 6 spear in his right hand was quite abused he had no choice but to accept the truth.
Gabriel did not underestimate Bai Zemin. He did not look down on him for even one instant; otherwise, a proud archangel at the peak of the Seventh Order like him would never have concocted a plan in which a Fifth Order angel would be forced to doom just for the sake of killing Bai Zemin.
However, Gabriel who thought he had given him enough importance and value realized that he made a mistake; horribly wrong!
Feng Tian Wu watched the duo embrace with a somewhat complicated look on her face. It would be a lie to say that she did not feel a hint of envy towards Shangguan Bing Xue, however, she knew better than anyone that she did not have the qualifications to envy her considering what she once did.
Just at that moment of silence and stagnation where the atmosphere seemed to be unable to get any heavier than it already was, a portal of white light shone 300 meters in the distance.