Chapter 776: Reconversion Process & Imminent Danger

Lightning continued to lash the blood cocoon.

From a distance, the constant flashes of purple light that lit up the sky and shook the earth each time they lashed it looked especially magnificent, and despite the danger they posed, the human troops in the distance admitted their beauty.

"How long do you think this will continue?" Zhong De asked in a serious voice as he looked off into the distance.

He was still being supported by two other soul evolvers as he had yet to recover from the four cuts Xuanyuan Wentian had made on his legs earlier. Although Xia Ya was present to heal him, no one mentioned anything regarding a healing as they were all aware that the healing skill Xia Ya possessed was different from the more basic healing skills.

None of them had any idea whether Bai Zemin or Shangguan Bing Xue would come out with serious injuries from this confrontation, therefore, it was only natural not to spend precious healing on relatively insignificant injuries.

"It's hard to say." Cai Jingyi bit her nail as she muttered with a frown, "Those lightning strikes have been raining down for a couple of minutes so far. I don't understand why Bai Zemin doesn't finish off that zombie now that he captured it."

Only the most powerful soul evolvers could see the small blood cocoon on the ground, tenaciously resisting the scourge of lightning. The problem was that none of them had even for a moment associated the captured zombie with the familiar of someone important and close.

"That zombie is Bing Xue's mother," Chen He revealed with a pale face and a pained expression on his face.

"What?!" Zhong De's eyes widened and he shouted in disbelief, "That powerful zombie is Shangguan Bing Xue's mother?! Holy crap!"

Evangeline and the others had shocked expressions on their faces as well. Although they had seen Shangguan Xinyue's white hair, none of them had associated her with the mother of the second most important person in the entire Transcendent faction. Moreover, due to the constant explosions and the bad atmosphere controlled by her, they who were far away from the battlefield could not hear the words spoken by those who were fighting at all.

If that powerful and terrifying female zombie really was Shangguan Bing Xue's mother.... Then everything was different.

"Bai Zemin is probably thinking on a way to solve this mess..." Chen He gritted his teeth, splitting his head trying to think of some solution himself. A growl full of anger and frustration came out from between his clenched teeth as he looked off into the distance, "But how the hell are we supposed to sort this out?!"

No one said anything, but everyone felt in their hearts that even if Bai Zemin was an existence capable of creating miracle after miracle he should have his hands tied in this case. After all, this was not about a battle of strength, this was not even about a battle of brains.... This was about a racial change that was beyond what a human being could do, and probably only the legendary and mythological gods might be able to do something about it.

For now, all they could do was look into the distance and wait.... At the same time, some of them sighed in regret as they realized how much suffering Shangguan Bing Xue would soon experience.

...

A few kilometers away, Bai Zemin's expression was dark as he watched the lightning continue to attack the blood cocoon.

His bad mood did not come from the fact that the blood cocoon might soon be destroyed as he knew that such a thing would not happen. Although there was some white smoke that occasionally rose from the blood cocoon after it was attacked by the destructive heat of the mana-filled lightning charged with magical power, Bai Zemin was confident in his creation and knew that even if he did not supply it with large amounts of mana the cocoon would resist.

His bad mood stemmed from a different reason.

"Damn, how much Mana does this woman have?" he muttered under his breath.

Although he didn't know how much Mana each activation of Shangguan Xinyue's skill or skills consumed, Bai Zemin was sure that she had spent a good amount to strengthen the lightning in the sky not to mention all the Mana she must have consumed during their previous confrontation.

At that precise moment, Bai Zemin felt a series of delicate footsteps approaching him, and he didn't need to turn around to know who the person was.

"Zemin, that man is not around at all."

Bai Zemin glanced over his shoulder and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue's face being illuminated by the purple lightning whipping the blood cocoon 200 meters in front of him.

Her ever steady and sure blue eyes shone with sadness and insecurity. Even though she was looking at him, Bai Zemin noticed her eyes constantly wandering beyond where he stood, obviously looking at the blood cocoon where her mother was captured and trying to free herself.

'She's taking it quite well.... If I were in her place...' Bai Zemin sighed in his heart as he looked around the grounds, effectively noticing that Xuanyuan Wentian was nowhere to be found.

Bai Zemin frowned tightly as he felt that something was wrong, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't feel where so he finally ended up shaking his head.

"Forget it, Bing Xue. If that man ran away then let him run, he won't be able to run forever when his bases began to fall one by one." He said looking straight ahead.

"Our current priority is to turn your mother human again."

"Make her human..." Shangguan Bing Xue muttered, stopping standing next to him. As she watched the lightning raining down from the clouds with no end, a pained expression crossed her eyes as she said in a low voice, "Say, Zemin.... Is it really possible to do such a thing?"

Shangguan Bing Xue knew that with the skill Blood Manipulation that Bai Zemin had could modify a variety of things, however, zombification was something that went beyond blood and genes. Zombification affected the soul itself, the records that made up the life and existence of something or someone; this was a realm that the Blood Manipulation skill was not even close to reaching.

Although she really trusted Bai Zemin and believed in him from the bottom of her heart, it was hard to accept some things just because one wanted to accept them.

Instead of saying anything else, Bai Zemin turned his hand and took out a small wooden pagoda with strange engravings that immediately caught Shangguan Bing Xue's attention.

"That is...?"

"This is my pagoda."

"Your pagoda?"

"Mm, I don't quite know how this pagoda thing works, and even Lilith doesn't know since she doesn't have one. But apparently, only the most powerful beings in the universe have a pagoda in their possession, though I think I'm the first to get one in the First Order."

Shangguan Bing Xue was silent, not understanding too much about the matter of pagodas. However, she was smart enough to know that if Bai Zemin had brought out that small wooden pagoda now it meant that the answer to her doubt should be in that small ancient-looking object.

"Is that pagoda what can turn my mother human again?"

Instead of answering, Bai Zemin asked, "Bing Xue, do you remember the army of soul evolvers that appeared out of nowhere?"

"Of course, I remember." She nodded.

How could she forget the sudden appearance of so many powerhouses in the midst of the war against the goblins? Not to mention the subsequent appearance of approximately 150,000 Unclassified soul evolvers.

It was then that she seemed to realize something and her expression changed slightly. She looked at Bai Zemin with wide eyes and whispered under her breath, "Don't tell me.... Zombies?"

Bai Zemin nodded. He looked at the small pagoda in his hand and slowly explained its function so that Shangguan Bing Xue would understand his plan and how he would turn her mother human again.

Hopes grew in her heart, and the more she listened to Bai Zemin the more excited Shangguan Bing Xue became. The thought that her mother might return to the way she was in the past and that they would be able to be properly reunited was no different than receiving a life preserver just when she felt like she was about to drown!

She didn't mind the consumption of Third Order Soul Stones to bring her mother back. Forget about some Third Order Soul Stones, Shangguan Bing Xue was sure that Bai Zemin would not hesitate to consume every Soul Stone of the Transcendent faction for her sake; he was that kind of man after all.

Besides, Soul Stones could be won back after defeating enemies, but a powerhouse like Shangguan Xinyue with such powerful magical skills was not something that could be seen everyday!

"However, we have a problem." Bai Zemin said in a serious voice.

Shangguan Bing Xue's heart immediately became heavier when she heard his tone of voice.

"Bing Xue, your mother's magic power is really powerful and my Unlimited Pagoda is not indestructible since it is still a baby so to speak. I can't lock her inside the pagoda as it is now or else the lightning might destroy it."

Shangguan Bing Xue sighed in relief and tapped her chest softly as she heard the problem. She looked at the lightning in the sky and said in a firm voice, "If that's the problem, then there's no need to worry. Leave it to me."

"Em. I'll leave it to you." Bai Zemin nodded without saying much more.

Even though he could stop the lightning, what he was about to do was to contain a powerful and terrifying Third Order zombie. Bai Zemin did not dare to be careless this time as a single mistake could not only destroy his pagoda but could also cause Shangguan Bing Xue's mother to break free from her bonds and flee.

Bai Zemin knew that the trick he played before would never work on her again!

Shangguan Bing Xue moved forward and closed her eyes for several seconds. Bai Zemin noticed how the wind around her stirred and the temperature plummeted, a sign that she was about to consume large amounts of Mana to activate her skill.

Approximately 40 seconds later, Shangguan Bing Xue opened her eyes and pointed towards the sky as she shouted out loud, "Unbreakable Ice Barrier!"

The Ice Maker skill was activated and the mana moved according to the image in Shangguan Bing Xue's mind. At 200 meters high above the blood cocoon and spreading rapidly, a rectangular ice barrier began to form.

Lightning flashes falling from the sky struck against the barrier, but except for exploding on the surface, they were unable to destroy it. On the contrary, the ice barrier was getting stronger and stronger with each passing fraction of a second.

"Bing Xue? Bing Xue! What are you doing?!"

Shangguan Xinyue's voice echoed from inside the blood cocoon. She realized that the lightning strikes stopped lashing the prison that held her captive and the cause was her human daughter.

"Child? My child, stop joking! Why don't you help mom? Don't you love mom? Don't you love mom anymore? If you get me out of here we can be together forever!"

She was panicking. Shangguan Xinyue had a terrifying instinct too, and every cell in her body was screaming danger for some reason... as if she would soon cease to be her if she didn't get out of this place as soon as possible!

'This damn cunning zombie!' Bai Zemin cursed in his heart and only sighed in relief when he noticed that the expression on Shangguan Bing Xue's face was firm despite his mother's words.

Shangguan Bing Xue continued to strengthen the ice barrier without allowing the lightning to reach the ground, and while looking at Bai Zemin with firm eyes she said without hesitation, "Don't worry about me, I know well that the person in there is not completely my mom. Leave the lightning to me, you do what you have to do without worrying about anything else."

"All right!" Bai Zemin nodded firmly before throwing the pagoda forward.

The pagoda quickly began to grow, in no time reaching the height of a small building ten stories tall. The runes glowed faintly but when Bai Zemin took out three Third Order Soul Stones and fed the pagoda with them, the runes quickly began to glow and the initial floor lit up completely as the firmly closed door swung wide open.

Bai Zemin controlled the blood cocoon to carry it inside the pagoda, ignoring the high-pitched screams and shrieks of the Third Order zombie inside. It was clear that Shangguan Xinyue knew that this was a crucial moment for her.

Unfortunately for her, the blood cocoon was too strong considering that Bai Zemin had consumed a large portion of his total Mana using Overlap Regeneration and considering that Blood Manipulation was several times more powerful than in the past after evolving.

Bang!

The doors closed and the runes glowed brighter.

The process of recovering original records started, it was only a matter of time before Shangguan Bing Xue's mother became fully human again.

But Bai Zemin did not know that a much greater danger was approaching from the distance.