While Bai Zemin was inspecting the records that made up his existence and the records obtained after defeating countless enemies, Shangguan Bing Xue had taken very seriously the task of protecting him.
Although it would only be a few minutes at most and from previous experience it was unlikely that the enemy would arrive so quickly, she did not want him to be interrupted or worse yet injured because of her incapacity in meeting the level of trust he was placing in her.
In fact, Bai Zemin hadn't realized one thing.... That he had just trusted Shangguan Bing Xue with all his heart!
At this moment, he was probably in his weakest state; even weaker than when he was asleep. After all, navigating the records deeply required maximum concentration because while it was impossible for Bai Zemin to modify the records at will since he did not know how souls worked, what he could do was harm himself if he made a wrong step. Of course, the existence of the Soul Record made it basically impossible to hurt oneself while inspecting the records.
By focusing his 100% on one thing and leaving his life to Shangguan Bing Xue, the level of trust he was placing in her temporarily was undoubtedly on the same level as the level of trust he had in Lilith. Even if this was only happening because the passive effect of the Stone Heart skill was being weakened by 10% due to the Brilliant Mind title, it was still worth mentioning as probably only a handful of people in the entire world could make Bai Zemin do such a thing as handing over his fate on a silver platter!
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the face of the man behind her over her shoulder. He had a serene, serious, and composed expression. His firm jaw was slightly clenched as was his tightly closed mouth, his lips were thin, his hair that had been neglected for too long was beginning to look too long, his eyelashes as dark as the thickest ink partially covered his lower eyelids, etc.
She observed every little detail of him. She didn't know why but she simply felt like doing it, therefore, she just did it. Shangguan Bing Xue seized the opportunity before her that she would hardly ever have again.
The first five minutes passed smoothly. Shangguan Bing Xue spent this time watching Bai Zemin while keeping her guard up.
Suddenly, Shangguan Bing Xue's body tensed and her head turned in a northerly direction. Although it had been an extremely small sound and basically impossible to hear from such a distance, the Soul Power exuded by whatever was approaching at breakneck speeds caused every muscle in her body to automatically prepare for combat.
As the incoming enemy got closer and closer, Shangguan Bing Xue's expression changed from seriousness to slight helplessness and even some bitterness.
Although Shangguan Bing Xue was only a First Order existence, her Soul Power was incredibly pure. The purity of her Soul Power had only gotten better and better, especially after the previous massacre in which she had taken the lives of over 200 First Order and even 1 Second Order; her Soul Power was so pure that few in the universe could compare to her at the same level.
The problem was that even with such pure Soul Power, she was feeling horrendous pressure coming from whatever was approaching. So, Shangguan Bing Xue naturally judged that the enemy was above what she could handle in her current state.
"I hope you wake up soon, Bandit King." She sighed and after giving Bai Zemin one last look her eyes turned cold.
"Ice Wall!"
"Ice Wall!"
"Ice Wall!"
...
In just a few seconds, Shangguan Bing Xue spent 1/4th of all her Mana to erect hundreds of ice walls around and above Bai Zemin, forming a kind of frozen cube. If it were someone else, the coldness exuded by the ice alone would have frozen them to death, but considering how high Bai Zemin's stats were, Shangguan Bing Xue didn't care about this.
Besides, she didn't have much choice anyway since if she took Bai Zemin with her to Earth, that enemy would undoubtedly pursue them since it had locked its aura on them and if such a creature arrived on Earth it would only cause chaos and massacre since there was no one capable of stopping it.
A few seconds later, Shangguan Bing Xue finally spotted the enemy.
The enemy was ten feet tall and from the tip of its head to its tail was no less than twenty feet. Its wings seemed to have stainless steel feathers as they shimmered faintly in the artificial light that this strange object released from the sky, giving it a truly beautiful appearance. Its legs had giant claws that looked menacing enough to pierce through any kind of defense with ease.
Bang! Bang!
The creature expanded both wings wide as it hovered in the sky and used its two large golden eyes to stare at Shangguan Bing Xue with murderous intent. It opened its beak that resembled the scythe of death and let out a high-pitched shriek that caused the earth to tremble for an instant.
"This couldn't get any worse." Shangguan Bing Xue gritted her pretty teeth as she saw that she would have to face an evolved Second Order eagle that clearly far surpassed level 80.
The eagle was known as the king of the skies, a ruthless hunter whose speed was enough to terrify its prey, and its sharp claws possessed the ability to send even those with tougher skins to despair. Not to mention its ferocious pointed peck capable of piercing even the scales of a crocodile.
The eagle looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and then looked at the large ice cube. Its eyes flashed with intelligence no less than that of a human and after letting out a second high-pitched cry, it swooped down towards the ground.
Shangguan Bing Xue's face changed noticeably as she realized the beast's intention and without delay pointed her left hand towards the sky.
"Ice Arrows!"
Hundreds of ice arrows appeared several meters above her head and flew one after another at speeds no slower than a bullet towards the giant eagle.
The eagle's golden eyes glowed strangely and without stopping its movements at all it let out a small sound.
Swoosh!
A kind of wind barrier appeared around the giant eagle's body. The transparent barrier followed the beast wherever it passed as its faithful guardian and an instant later Shangguan Bing Xue's attack met the creature's defensive barrier.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!....
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!...
...
The ice arrows seemed to have hit an impenetrable wall because when they came into contact with the wind barrier surrounding the giant eagle's body they exploded noisily and turned into small pieces of crystalline ice that rained down from the skies. Once the fragments fell to the ground, the earth began to freeze and the corpses were no exception.
The eagle continued its seemingly unstoppable charge and just as it reached above the giant ice cube it changed its body posture so that its two sharp claws pointed towards its target.
Just as the eagle was about to accomplish its goal, the sound of lightning noisily echoed throughout the battlefield and like a ghost, that human woman from before appeared before it again.
Shangguan Bing Xue, standing on top of the ice cube that protected Bai Zemin inside, readied herself for impact. She flexed her legs slightly and lowered her stance as she positioned her Frozen Winter Sword in front of her and created several ice shields on the front of her body.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
...
In less than a second, most of the ice shields were crushed by the impacting power of the eagle.
Even so, when the last ice shield was shattered, the power behind the beast's attack had clearly weakened considerably and this was precisely what Shangguan Bing Xue needed to have any hope of withstanding what was coming.
Boom!!!
Shangguan Bing Xue felt as if a giant truck had struck her unprotected body and immediately felt the blood inside her shake violently. She forced herself to swallow back the blood she was about to spit out, but still couldn't stop a thin trickle of red blood from sliding out of the corner of her mouth.
Her feet sank deep into the top of the ice cube and cracks spread along the top of the structure.
Two pairs of eyes met as one of the beast's claws was parried by Shangguan Bing Xue's main sword and the other parried by an ice sword formed with 1/4 of Shangguan Bing Xue's total Mana.
In about 30 seconds, she had already consumed half of her total Mana to protect Bai Zemin and to forge an ice weapon capable of withstanding the weight of the monster she was dealing with.
The giant eagle tilted its head forward and Shangguan Bing Xue naturally understood that a second's delay here would cost her life so she hurriedly conjured dozens of ice swords and silently activated her Frost Rebuff skill.
The ice swords acquired a strange light blue glow and flew at different angles towards the beast.
One of the ice blades in particular was aimed at one of the creature's eyes, which forced the beast to reconsider whether it still wanted to continue with the intention of pecking at the enemy in exchange for losing one eye because as surprising as it seemed, the eagle realized that the human woman before it was more powerful than she really should be.
In the end, the creature judged that there was no need to take such a risk so it flapped its wings and swiftly flew away.
Bang! Bang!
The power behind the creature's fierce flapping created explosions that cracked the ice cube even more and Shangguan Bing Xue could barely hold on. Moreover, all the ice swords were shattered by the shockwave alone.
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes flashed with a hint of unnoticeable coldness and silently activated the attached effect of the Empowering Necklace. Her Health, Stamina, Agility, and Strength stats received a tremendous boost and power surged through her body as she felt her internal injuries suffered after the shock of her internal organs heal a lot faster.
The eagle that was planning to fly away and take to the skies suddenly sensed that something was wrong. However, when its giant wings withdrew from the front of its body after the previous flapping, its pupils trembled lightly as it realized what was wrong.
Shangguan Bing Xue had launched herself skyward with a mighty leap and completely ignored the defense. She knew that the times her enemy would underestimate her would be few and so she decided to seize the opportunity that presented itself when the eagle had its vision covered by its wings, swooping with all her strength towards the creature.
Slash!
Shangguan Bing Xue had kept the Frost Rebuff effect on her Frozen Winter Sword active at all times and when she finally reached the necessary range she performed a lethal slash from below upwards to take advantage of the momentum of the jump.
The beast's golden eyes widened and a thunderous cry involuntarily escaped from deep within as it quickly flapped its wings and soared over two hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Shangguan Bing Xue's body was sent flying from the sky to the ground like a kite whose string had been cut. She felt as if all her bones were going to turn to dust as the eagle's sonic booms hit her and this only got even worse when her back hit solid ground.
However, this was not the worst of it, the worst of it was that the giant eagle's blood seemed to have some sort of radioactive property as her Rank 1 armor did not even hold firm for more than a couple of seconds as it began to be corroded.
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes turned red and a wrenching cry of pain involuntarily escaped from her lungs leaving her breathless. Between the pain in her bones and the pain being transmitted to her from her chest, she barely had time to rip off the top of her now completely useless armor.
She looked down and helplessness shone in her eyes as she saw that just above her bosom was a hole the size of two fists put together. The wound was so terrifying that from one side she could even see her heart pounding as blood continuously gushed out like a broken dam.
Were it not for the fact that she had currently reached level 49, were it not for the fact that her Health stat was 289 points, forget about standing up; Shangguan Bing Xue would already be dead!
However, in her current condition it would be difficult for her to survive. Not only because of how deadly the wound on her chest was, but also because in the skies there was a terrifying predator waiting for her.
Shangguan Bing Xue drank all the potions she brought with her and her power temporarily increased another notch. She gritted her teeth and looked up at the sky.
The giant eagle was still writhing in pain, blackish blood splattered everywhere and the wound on its chest far from healing only grew larger and larger.
Seeing this, Shangguan Bing Xue let out a small sigh of relief as apparently, the eagle's level did not exceed hers by more than 50 or else her Frost Rebuff skill would not have worked on the creature's body. Then, she looked down at the ice cube and a hint of bitterness shone in her eyes.
However, her gaze was soon filled with resolve, and while she bit her lips hard enough to make them bleed, she raised her sword towards the sky.
The Mana spread out with her as its center and hundreds of ice swords encircled by the power of the skill Frost Rebuff floated above her head.
Shangguan Bing Xue's ice swords soared through the skies as she commanded, flying in the direction of the giant eagle that seemed to be struggling to hold its ground in the skies.
While Bai Zemin was inspecting the records that made up his existence and the records obtained after defeating countless enemies, Shangguan Bing Xue had taken very seriously the task of protecting him.
Although it would only be a few minutes at most and from previous experience it was unlikely that the enemy would arrive so quickly, she did not want him to be interrupted or worse yet injured because of her incapacity in meeting the level of trust he was placing in her.
In fact, Bai Zemin hadn't realized one thing.... That he had just trusted Shangguan Bing Xue with all his heart!
At this moment, he was probably in his weakest state; even weaker than when he was asleep. After all, navigating the records deeply required maximum concentration because while it was impossible for Bai Zemin to modify the records at will since he did not know how souls worked, what he could do was harm himself if he made a wrong step. Of course, the existence of the Soul Record made it basically impossible to hurt oneself while inspecting the records.
By focusing his 100% on one thing and leaving his life to Shangguan Bing Xue, the level of trust he was placing in her temporarily was undoubtedly on the same level as the level of trust he had in Lilith. Even if this was only happening because the passive effect of the Stone Heart skill was being weakened by 10% due to the Brilliant Mind title, it was still worth mentioning as probably only a handful of people in the entire world could make Bai Zemin do such a thing as handing over his fate on a silver platter!
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the face of the man behind her over her shoulder. He had a serene, serious, and composed expression. His firm jaw was slightly clenched as was his tightly closed mouth, his lips were thin, his hair that had been neglected for too long was beginning to look too long, his eyelashes as dark as the thickest ink partially covered his lower eyelids, etc.
She observed every little detail of him. She didn't know why but she simply felt like doing it, therefore, she just did it. Shangguan Bing Xue seized the opportunity before her that she would hardly ever have again.
The first five minutes passed smoothly. Shangguan Bing Xue spent this time watching Bai Zemin while keeping her guard up.
Suddenly, Shangguan Bing Xue's body tensed and her head turned in a northerly direction. Although it had been an extremely small sound and basically impossible to hear from such a distance, the Soul Power exuded by whatever was approaching at breakneck speeds caused every muscle in her body to automatically prepare for combat.
As the incoming enemy got closer and closer, Shangguan Bing Xue's expression changed from seriousness to slight helplessness and even some bitterness.
Although Shangguan Bing Xue was only a First Order existence, her Soul Power was incredibly pure. The purity of her Soul Power had only gotten better and better, especially after the previous massacre in which she had taken the lives of over 200 First Order and even 1 Second Order; her Soul Power was so pure that few in the universe could compare to her at the same level.
The problem was that even with such pure Soul Power, she was feeling horrendous pressure coming from whatever was approaching. So, Shangguan Bing Xue naturally judged that the enemy was above what she could handle in her current state.
"I hope you wake up soon, Bandit King." She sighed and after giving Bai Zemin one last look her eyes turned cold.
"Ice Wall!"
"Ice Wall!"
"Ice Wall!"
...
In just a few seconds, Shangguan Bing Xue spent 1/4th of all her Mana to erect hundreds of ice walls around and above Bai Zemin, forming a kind of frozen cube. If it were someone else, the coldness exuded by the ice alone would have frozen them to death, but considering how high Bai Zemin's stats were, Shangguan Bing Xue didn't care about this.
Besides, she didn't have much choice anyway since if she took Bai Zemin with her to Earth, that enemy would undoubtedly pursue them since it had locked its aura on them and if such a creature arrived on Earth it would only cause chaos and massacre since there was no one capable of stopping it.
A few seconds later, Shangguan Bing Xue finally spotted the enemy.
The enemy was ten feet tall and from the tip of its head to its tail was no less than twenty feet. Its wings seemed to have stainless steel feathers as they shimmered faintly in the artificial light that this strange object released from the sky, giving it a truly beautiful appearance. Its legs had giant claws that looked menacing enough to pierce through any kind of defense with ease.
Bang! Bang!
The creature expanded both wings wide as it hovered in the sky and used its two large golden eyes to stare at Shangguan Bing Xue with murderous intent. It opened its beak that resembled the scythe of death and let out a high-pitched shriek that caused the earth to tremble for an instant.
"This couldn't get any worse." Shangguan Bing Xue gritted her pretty teeth as she saw that she would have to face an evolved Second Order eagle that clearly far surpassed level 80.
The eagle was known as the king of the skies, a ruthless hunter whose speed was enough to terrify its prey, and its sharp claws possessed the ability to send even those with tougher skins to despair. Not to mention its ferocious pointed peck capable of piercing even the scales of a crocodile.
The eagle looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and then looked at the large ice cube. Its eyes flashed with intelligence no less than that of a human and after letting out a second high-pitched cry, it swooped down towards the ground.
Shangguan Bing Xue's face changed noticeably as she realized the beast's intention and without delay pointed her left hand towards the sky.
"Ice Arrows!"
Hundreds of ice arrows appeared several meters above her head and flew one after another at speeds no slower than a bullet towards the giant eagle.
The eagle's golden eyes glowed strangely and without stopping its movements at all it let out a small sound.
Swoosh!
A kind of wind barrier appeared around the giant eagle's body. The transparent barrier followed the beast wherever it passed as its faithful guardian and an instant later Shangguan Bing Xue's attack met the creature's defensive barrier.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!....
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!...
...
The ice arrows seemed to have hit an impenetrable wall because when they came into contact with the wind barrier surrounding the giant eagle's body they exploded noisily and turned into small pieces of crystalline ice that rained down from the skies. Once the fragments fell to the ground, the earth began to freeze and the corpses were no exception.
The eagle continued its seemingly unstoppable charge and just as it reached above the giant ice cube it changed its body posture so that its two sharp claws pointed towards its target.
Just as the eagle was about to accomplish its goal, the sound of lightning noisily echoed throughout the battlefield and like a ghost, that human woman from before appeared before it again.
Shangguan Bing Xue, standing on top of the ice cube that protected Bai Zemin inside, readied herself for impact. She flexed her legs slightly and lowered her stance as she positioned her Frozen Winter Sword in front of her and created several ice shields on the front of her body.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
...
In less than a second, most of the ice shields were crushed by the impacting power of the eagle.
Even so, when the last ice shield was shattered, the power behind the beast's attack had clearly weakened considerably and this was precisely what Shangguan Bing Xue needed to have any hope of withstanding what was coming.
Boom!!!
Shangguan Bing Xue felt as if a giant truck had struck her unprotected body and immediately felt the blood inside her shake violently. She forced herself to swallow back the blood she was about to spit out, but still couldn't stop a thin trickle of red blood from sliding out of the corner of her mouth.
Her feet sank deep into the top of the ice cube and cracks spread along the top of the structure.
Two pairs of eyes met as one of the beast's claws was parried by Shangguan Bing Xue's main sword and the other parried by an ice sword formed with 1/4 of Shangguan Bing Xue's total Mana.
In about 30 seconds, she had already consumed half of her total Mana to protect Bai Zemin and to forge an ice weapon capable of withstanding the weight of the monster she was dealing with.
The giant eagle tilted its head forward and Shangguan Bing Xue naturally understood that a second's delay here would cost her life so she hurriedly conjured dozens of ice swords and silently activated her Frost Rebuff skill.
The ice swords acquired a strange light blue glow and flew at different angles towards the beast.
One of the ice blades in particular was aimed at one of the creature's eyes, which forced the beast to reconsider whether it still wanted to continue with the intention of pecking at the enemy in exchange for losing one eye because as surprising as it seemed, the eagle realized that the human woman before it was more powerful than she really should be.
In the end, the creature judged that there was no need to take such a risk so it flapped its wings and swiftly flew away.
Bang! Bang!
The power behind the creature's fierce flapping created explosions that cracked the ice cube even more and Shangguan Bing Xue could barely hold on. Moreover, all the ice swords were shattered by the shockwave alone.
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes flashed with a hint of unnoticeable coldness and silently activated the attached effect of the Empowering Necklace. Her Health, Stamina, Agility, and Strength stats received a tremendous boost and power surged through her body as she felt her internal injuries suffered after the shock of her internal organs heal a lot faster.
The eagle that was planning to fly away and take to the skies suddenly sensed that something was wrong. However, when its giant wings withdrew from the front of its body after the previous flapping, its pupils trembled lightly as it realized what was wrong.
Shangguan Bing Xue had launched herself skyward with a mighty leap and completely ignored the defense. She knew that the times her enemy would underestimate her would be few and so she decided to seize the opportunity that presented itself when the eagle had its vision covered by its wings, swooping with all her strength towards the creature.
Slash!
Shangguan Bing Xue had kept the Frost Rebuff effect on her Frozen Winter Sword active at all times and when she finally reached the necessary range she performed a lethal slash from below upwards to take advantage of the momentum of the jump.
The beast's golden eyes widened and a thunderous cry involuntarily escaped from deep within as it quickly flapped its wings and soared over two hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Shangguan Bing Xue's body was sent flying from the sky to the ground like a kite whose string had been cut. She felt as if all her bones were going to turn to dust as the eagle's sonic booms hit her and this only got even worse when her back hit solid ground.
However, this was not the worst of it, the worst of it was that the giant eagle's blood seemed to have some sort of radioactive property as her Rank 1 armor did not even hold firm for more than a couple of seconds as it began to be corroded.
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes turned red and a wrenching cry of pain involuntarily escaped from her lungs leaving her breathless. Between the pain in her bones and the pain being transmitted to her from her chest, she barely had time to rip off the top of her now completely useless armor.
She looked down and helplessness shone in her eyes as she saw that just above her bosom was a hole the size of two fists put together. The wound was so terrifying that from one side she could even see her heart pounding as blood continuously gushed out like a broken dam.
Were it not for the fact that she had currently reached level 49, were it not for the fact that her Health stat was 289 points, forget about standing up; Shangguan Bing Xue would already be dead!
However, in her current condition it would be difficult for her to survive. Not only because of how deadly the wound on her chest was, but also because in the skies there was a terrifying predator waiting for her.
Shangguan Bing Xue drank all the potions she brought with her and her power temporarily increased another notch. She gritted her teeth and looked up at the sky.
The giant eagle was still writhing in pain, blackish blood splattered everywhere and the wound on its chest far from healing only grew larger and larger.
Seeing this, Shangguan Bing Xue let out a small sigh of relief as apparently, the eagle's level did not exceed hers by more than 50 or else her Frost Rebuff skill would not have worked on the creature's body. Then, she looked down at the ice cube and a hint of bitterness shone in her eyes.
However, her gaze was soon filled with resolve, and while she bit her lips hard enough to make them bleed, she raised her sword towards the sky.
The Mana spread out with her as its center and hundreds of ice swords encircled by the power of the skill Frost Rebuff floated above her head.
Shangguan Bing Xue's ice swords soared through the skies as she commanded, flying in the direction of the giant eagle that seemed to be struggling to hold its ground in the skies.
