Chapter 57
The shaking of the ground is getting stronger as rocks started to fall from the tunnel roof. Cracks started to appear and freezing cold can now be felt which is slowly rising from deep within the tunnel.
"Ahhh... I think I'm going out of my mind… But if I left them here and let them die, I cannot consider myself as a human anymore." Shin Jiao berated himself as he fights with the decision to save or abandon these mortals.
Then with a resolute gaze, he clenched his fist and once again look at the emaciated and weak bodies of the women, children, and the old people around him. Now his conscience finally overcame his sound judgment.
"You! Go! Get out of here." Shin Jiao shouted at the beast guard leader who immediately jumps in fear.
"Th… Thank you for sparing my life…" he said as he quickly scuttles towards the exit.
Shin Jiao noticed that most of the men are already running towards the exit while the woman and the weak ones are hugging each other in fear and already submitting their life to fate. This made Shin Jiao realized the fickleness of human emotions, he knows that some of those men who ran had a family here but still decided to leave.
But he didn't mind it; since he decided to help them, then he would just do everything in his power to at least protect the people who are left. Shin Jiao began throwing some ordinary array formation flags covering their radius. Since learning formation array he has already improved although he is not aware of his level however at least he already studied and had the experience of slightly opening a level 7 array formation.
Now Shin Jiao is thinking of making a protective array using some formation flags combined with some beast cores as their power source. In all the cultivation land only Shin Jiao has this ability to use beast cores instead of spiritual stones as a power source.
According to his estimate, they would just be buried under some hundreds of thousands of tons since they are already nearing the exit. If he made a shell-like protective array and combined with level 3 beast core it could at least hold. But Shin Jiao didn't want to risk it, so he would just use level 4 cores.
Not long after finishing the array formation Shin Jiao saw one of the men running towards the exit being squished like a tomato by a falling rock. This made the women shrieked and closed their eyes in fear and despair. In all this chaos Shin Jiao decided to just sit cross-legged in the middle and began to scrutinize in his mind the things he had gained while fighting since he is confident that the formation he set up is already enough to protect them.
Inside his body, he noticed that the spheres in his dantian have once again increased. Shin Jiao remember when he reached the 40th sphere which is the big orb in his dantian which contained all the spheres before. Now that he had formed his 40th sphere Shin Jiao noticed that all of them became dark gold. It's like he has 40 tiny gold cores in his dantian. As of now, 41 spheres are revolving inside his dantian, this is due to the green gem upgrading to another level.
"I think this is the reason why I can feel that my strength has improved a lot." Shin Jiao said to himself.
"Hmmm… my lifespan seems to have increased a lot. I never noticed this before; I guess I'm not just a mortal after all. Hehe." Shin Jiao laughed but he noticed that his vision became blurry and a single tear escaped his eyes and slid down his cheek.
He could not help but remember what Cherry Lao's reason for abandoning him. He thought that the two of them are truly in love and that he already found someone whom he can share his life in this world.
"I guess at that time I just don't understand the mindset of the women on this planet. Sigh… I think not just in this world, I think women, in general, are truly hard to understand." Shin Jiao sigh within himself as he recalls some hurtful things.
"I should not think of those things for now. Improving my cultivation arts should be my priorities. Now that I know fire, I should learn water or earth next… Hmmm, maybe water is more useful if I learn how to control water then I can cast water balls which is useful for cleaning or drinking. I can also turn it into ice for attacking." Shin Jiao was in deep thought as he tries to decide which skill he should learn next.
Now that his mind is inclined to learning water magic Shin Jiao immediately took out a beast skin book which was given to him by Qin Lou. This book contains water cultivation arts and Qi cycle for controlling water elements. When Shin Jiao saw the book cover, he suddenly remembers the actions of Qin Lou when she put out the fire which he accidentally made when he first cast fireball.
Shin Jiao started to read the book no minding the chaos which is happening outside. After a while, Shin Jiao noticed that the rumblings and the shaking of the ground stopped. This means that the collapse of the dungeon is already done and that they are already buried underground. The dim light from the formation is the only thing that keeps the darkness at bay.
…
"Guys, I think the thick fog outside is already gone." Lemy suddenly said as he felt that there are changes outside.
Then his eyes went wide in amazement after he sends his spiritual sense outside and saw the surroundings. Lemy didn't expect that the terrain in the swamp would suddenly change in just a short time. It is known that the swamp area is too wide and vast with multiple beasts and a lot of rare plants, although the swamp is dangerous many still ventures there are the prospect of riches and obtaining something rare is far too alluring. But now everything is in ruin as if the swamp itself was turned upside down.
Qin Lou and Susu Ling suddenly had a bad premonition as they look at Lemy with worry. The relationship between the three became close enough that they almost regard each other as the best of friends. Though Qin Lou had a deeper feeling for Shin Jiao still she is unsure of what it is. Right now she is just feeling really worried about what could have possibly happened to him.
Lemy understood what the two women are thinking so he decided to take them all out of his tiny world.
Appearing now in the vast swampy ruin they noticed that there are many beasts which seem to have been frozen and some parts of the swampy water are also frozen solid. Shin Jiao didn't know that the chain reaction of the freezing bomb he made would be this great. As this world almost didn't follow the laws of the natural elements on earth, so the result of that was devastating.
As the three of them walks around the swamp they noticed that a lot of rare medicinal herbs are lying on the ground. So nobody said anything but just grab anything they deemed useful and store it in their rings. Even Lemy wantonly harvested tons of medicinal herbs and fruits, even the cores of level 4 beasts that were frozen were not spared. It's now already half a day when they started to roam around the ruined swamp and suddenly they realized that the rings on their finger are almost filled with medicinal herbs, fruits, and other materials.
"Guys this is unbelievable. If the people in the nearest town found out about this, it would cause an uproar. A lot of cultivators would surely flock this way and fight over this area. Maybe even some sect would close this vicinity and lay some protective formation array…" Susu Ling hadn't finished what she was saying when they felt heavy pressure from afar coming towards the swamp.
"This… this is pressure from a world nascent realm expert. We have to move out of this area of else we'll be in deep trouble." Susu Ling suddenly said.
Susu Ling as the daughter of a famous merchant company, she knows and has talked with different kinds of personalities. In her dealing with different kinds of people, she is already familiar with the aura that many different kinds of powerful cultivators.
She can remember it clearly when one time she had a chance meeting with a world nascent realm expert when she, along with her father visited the capital of the Empire. She could not forget that majestic and imposing aura, and what's more, it came from a beautiful middle-aged lady. Later she found out from her father that the lady is one of the Dao protectors of the Empire.
"Che! Only a world nascent realm, if this daddy is in his peak that ant won't even be worthy to be my servant." Lemy said in disdain.
"Yeah we know but right now we are the ant, so we should be the one to scuttle." Susu Ling replied in a sarcastic tone.
The trio immediately went out of the swamp area in a hurry. They have been searching for Shin Jiao for almost half a day now and still didn't find him. Although the two girls are worried yet they understood his strength so at least that knowledge calms them down a little.
After they left 30 minutes later a large flying sword suddenly arrived in the vicinity. Standing in the front of that huge flying sword is a man who seems to be in his 40's with his white snowy hair flowing, wearing an imposing blue robe with a lotus insignia on his back. Sitting behind him are three people two are already in the infant soul realm while the other one is a young woman in her 20's but her cultivation is already in the late-stages of the gold core realm.
"Dao ancestor Lao, this is the swamp that contains the Pale Blue Fruit with the essence of fire and ice." The infant soul realm old woman who sits behind the world nascent blue robe man said.
"Are you sure ice palace master?" the blue-robed man asked.
"Yes… But it seems that the whole swamp was turned into ruins not too long ago." The old woman replied.
"Hmmm… You're right I can see the plant itself, but the fruit seems to have been taken by someone or eaten by a beast already. Sigh… We need to… Wait a minute! I can sense three people in that direction." The blue-robed man suddenly said pointing at the direction of Qin Lou, Susu Ling, and Lemy.
"Guys send your rings inside my tiny world now. I think they noticed us." Lemy said in a panic.
He suddenly felt a spiritual sense reaching them and though Lemy has his pride except right now Susu Ling is right he just an ant. So he immediately asked the two women to send their rings to him, because of this the two didn't think twice specially Susu Ling as she knows how powerful the other party is.
Not long after that, a huge sword suddenly appears above them and they saw four people boarding it. The three was dumbfounded on finding out that they cannot fathom the cultivation level of the three except the beautiful young woman behind the old woman with a late-stage gold core realm.
"You two stop right there!" the old woman shouted while she spread her aura to suppress them.
Feeling the aura Qin Lou and Susu Ling couldn't help themselves but shiver, Susu Ling even fell on her buttocks as she could not control her feet. Lemy acted like a large domesticated beast bird so as not to attract more problems and also stopped.
"Seniors! What might this lowly junior help you with?" Susu Ling quickly stood up and gave a salute in respect.
Before anyone could say anything an old voice suddenly echoed from behind the people sitting on the huge flying sword.
"This... This young woman seems familiar. Who might you be?" The old man behind who is sitting with his eyes close suddenly opens them and stare at Susu Ling, but his gaze is with a tinge of affection and longing which is clearly visible in them.
"This junior's name is Susu Ling. I and my friend with our pet beast here is lost in this forest." Susu Ling replied politely.
"Seniors this lowly one is Qin Lou, from Er city. We are both disciples of the Floating Lotus Alchemy school." Qin Lou also said as she also cupped her hand.
"Wait a minute! I think I've heard both of your names before. Right! At that time I was in Haven town when we heard that your convoy was attacked by a Land Devouring worm and that was a few months ago. Now, I think Elder Ao and Elder Duang of the alchemy school are both looking for you and are on their way to the town of Dis." The young woman suddenly said with realization in her eyes.
The old man sitting calmly behind the group suddenly floated down and stood in front of Susu Ling. Upon seeing the old man's face, Susu Ling wasn't able to react immediately. Then as if struck by something, Susu Ling's mind turns blank. The face she is seeing right now is a very familiar face, one which she misses the most. She would always see that face when she was a small kid, and the warm smile would always brighten up her day. Then all of a sudden her hand began shaking and tears suddenly streak down her jade white cheeks.
"Woo woo… maternal Grandfather! It's you! It's really you! I finally see you again after a long time! Oh, I missed you so much!" Susu Ling suddenly cried as she rushed towards the old man's arms crying on his chest.
Everyone was dumbfounded seeing the reunion of Susu Ling and her maternal grandfather. While this is happening, the blue-robed world nascent Dao ancestor Lao immediately scanned the three storage item but frown upon seeing that only low-level medicinal herbs and pills are on their pouch. In his mind, he is clear that these people are not the ones who took the Pale Blue fruit. Then his spiritual sense stopped at Qin Lou when he saw a weird-looking pill. After scrutinizing the pill he lost interest as it didn't contain any spiritual fluctuation which means that it's just a pill for mortals.
"Susu, my child come with grandfather and I'll take you home." the old man said to Susu Ling.
"Grandpa, wait! We need to look for our friend. We lost him in this swamp when the fog suddenly rose." Susu Ling hurriedly said.
"No other living being is in here for a couple of kilometers. Yoru friend may have already left this area a long time ago." Dao ancestor Lao suddenly said as impatient can be seen in his eyes.
"Are you… Um... Yes, senior thank you for taking us with you." Qin Lou said as her heart felt a little heavy.
Both Qin Lou and Susu Ling looked at each other with a gloomy expression. Without a choice, they followed Susu Ling's grandfather and also boarded the huge flying sword.
Not long after they left an arm suddenly burst out of the ground, not too far from where they stood.