Chapter 38

"Ah!!" Tang Yan let out a skyward roar, the Azure Green Fire surging once more. With a single stride, the flames surged, and a concentrated evil light formed around his right eye. A vague, sinister blood-colored doll’s shadow crawled out, surrounded by the shadows of Earth Horn Bulls and other beast monsters, looking both evil and terrifying.

The Eye of Annihilation burst forth with a pitch-black evil light, piercing the sky with a terrifying force that could penetrate anything. It pierced through two Martial Ancestor experts and instantly crossed nearly a kilometer, rushing towards the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile that was just climbing down from the mountain peak.

"Roar!!" The Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile let out a deafening roar, clearly enraged by the sudden attack. The Eye of Annihilation, infused with the blood doll’s powerful energy, was incredibly strong, but after crossing nearly a kilometer, its remaining power was not significant enough to harm the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile. What truly enraged this savage beast was the direct provocation and the evil force contained within!

After the roar, the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile charged towards the battlefield, its massive body causing the ground to tremble and the surrounding trees to collapse. The already frightened beast monsters fled in all directions, with a significant number of them rushing towards Tang Yan.

The battlefield became noticeably frozen, and everyone watched in shock at the 'Flame' in the center. The sudden burst of destructive power and evil aura made them feel a bone-chilling cold. The two Martial Ancestors, whose abdomens had been pierced, were still in shock, trying to heal their wounds with their spiritual energy while cautiously retreating.

The turbulent sea of qi in Tang Yan’s dantian quickly calmed down. The blood doll, enveloped in golden stripes, burst forth with a powerful tearing force, gradually pulling it into the depths of the qi sea. Just before it was completely submerged, it lifted its resentful eyes and glared at the sky: "Little one, remember that I saved you today. This is the only time I will save anyone in my life. If you don’t repay me tenfold in the future, I will burst your qi sea!"

Tang Yan panted heavily, his body trembling slightly. The green flames rapidly receded, revealing a pale and sallow face, as if he had lost a lot of weight in a short time. He staggered a few steps and fell to the ground.

Ailinda rushed back and caught Tang Yan just before he fell, carrying him into the dense forest.

Zhou Linglu and the others snapped out of their shock, exchanging glances, still somewhat shaken. The evil aura seemed to have affected their minds, but they quickly recovered and resumed their pursuit.

Roar!! The angry roar shook the dense forest. The Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile, despite its massive size, moved with incredible speed, like a speeding train. In front of it, a large number of frightened second and third-level beast monsters were rushing towards the area, including some fourth-level beast monsters.

Ailinda had never been so疯狂 (crazy) before, never experienced such a heart-stopping moment. She fled through the dense crowd of beast monsters, seeing their fierce faces, terrifying forms, and brutal auras, feeling her heart leap to her throat and a chill running down her neck.

"Don’t be afraid of them. Spread your aura and charge towards the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile at full speed." Tang Yan, feeling weak, could only temporarily lie on Ailinda’s back, silently running the Undying Heavenly Technique to recover his strength and energy.

Ailinda’s breath steadied, her expression turning fierce. She swung her Ice Crystal Blue Sword, instantly killing a second-level beast monster that was charging at her. The crimson blood and mangled corpse served as a strong deterrent, causing many large beast monsters that were about to trample over her to slightly change direction.

Zhou Linglu and the others pursued with all their might but were scattered by the chaotic beast monsters. Even those attempting to chase from the treetops were interrupted by flying beast monsters.

The chaos served as an excellent hindrance. In a short moment, Ailinda, carrying Tang Yan, broke through the beast monster group and appeared in front of the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile. However, they did not dare to engage such a savage beast.

"Turn, turn, turn!!" Tang Yan was almost frantic.

"No need to remind me!" Ailinda, while running, suddenly veered off, almost brushing past the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile’s charging body and rushing into the adjacent forest. In that instant, they even felt the cold chill of the crocodile’s scales.

The Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile continued its rampage, seemingly ignoring the existence of Tang Yan and Ailinda, focusing its attacks on the group of Zhou Linglu and the others. In its simple mind, Tang Yan was just a small fly, while only those of Zhou Linglu’s level dared to provoke it, so... attack!!

"Scatter!!" Learning from the experience with the Four-Winged Scale Python, Zhou Linglu gave the order in advance. The group quickly dispersed in all directions, avoiding the Ice Crystal Terror Crocodile’s range of anger, then signaled to regroup and continue the pursuit of Tang Yan. However, the two had vanished without a trace!

"Don’t stop! Keep running!" Tang Yan urged Ailinda while being wary of the pursuing enemies and the chaotic and agitated Martial King-level battlefield. He was somewhat worried about Tang Qiong’s situation, given Zhou Lingwang’s extreme ruthlessness and the combined efforts of the three Martial Kings. Even if Tang Qiong was strong, it would be difficult to resist.

Ailinda carried Tang Yan for seven to eight hours, zigzagging through the chaotic forest, not knowing where they were. As night fell and the sky gradually brightened, she almost collapsed from exhaustion.

"You rest first, I’ll go get some food." Tang Yan had mostly recovered, his not-so-severe injuries already healed by the ‘Life Mist’ on the way. However, the sudden assistance from the blood doll seemed to have absorbed a lot of his essence, leaving his face pale and his skin dull and lifeless.

"Don’t go too far, come back quickly." Ailinda sat cross-legged on a tree branch, silently running her spiritual energy to recover her strength.

Soon, the sound of an angry beast roar and a piercing wail echoed nearby, quickly returning to silence. After a few minutes, the same sounds came from a slightly farther distance, this time lasting longer and accompanied by intense fighting.

About two hours later, after Ailinda had completed ten major cycles and calmed her chaotic qi and blood, the battered Tang Yan staggered back.

Ailinda came down from the tree: "Where are the prey you caught? Why are you so injured?"

"Two third-level beast monster spirit source liquids. Quickly refine them; they will help you recover." Tang Yan, weak, leaned against a tree root and sat cross-legged, throwing two spirit source liquids to Ailinda and swallowing one himself, then began to refine and absorb them.

"Huh?" Ailinda was clearly surprised, staring at the liquid droplets emitting dense spiritual energy. She vaguely recalled the day in the valley when Tang Yan forcibly kissed her, and something similar was sent into her mouth. Could it be this?

It’s called spirit source liquid? How did you get it? I’ve never heard of such a thing?

Looking at the cross-legged and focused Tang Yan, Ailinda felt increasingly mysterious about him, almost completely overturning her previous impression of this playboy. Feeling the dense spiritual energy from the two droplets, Ailinda no longer hesitated, swallowing them and beginning to refine them. Her dried-up meridians quickly filled up, and her wounds began to heal faster.

As the sky gradually darkened, after refining the spirit source liquids and meditating for a while, Tang Yan and Ailinda gradually woke up.

"Can I ask a question?" Ailinda looked at Tang Yan with a complex expression.

"Still the same answer, when you enter the Tang family, I’ll tell you everything."

Ailinda rolled her eyes: "Forget it, I didn’t ask."

"Do you remember the map of the Illusionary Forest? Where are we now?"

"The map is lost, but I can guess the area. We should still be in the inner circle of the Illusionary Forest, relatively close to the Divine Spring Town. If I’m not mistaken, this area is where the beast monsters are concentrated, which is both advantageous and disadvantageous for us. We can create chaos and avoid enemy tracking, but we might be seen as food by the beast monsters at any time." Ailinda leaned against the tree trunk, her azure blue eyes gazing at the crescent moon in the sky, her expression gradually becoming lost.

Reflecting on the events of the past few days, it felt like a nightmare. She was caught up in a conspiracy, repeatedly pursued by enemies, and now seemed to be caught in a larger whirlpool, forced to wander in the forest.

Ailinda would rather have died in that chaos, rather than knowing that the mastermind was Zhou Lingwang. It was better than now, hiding and running, knowing the murderer but not daring to speak out, and possibly being framed with some charge.

Noticing Ailinda’s worry and disappointment, Tang Yan suddenly said: "I have a proposal, do you want to hear it?"

"What proposal?"

Tang Yan leaned closer to Ailinda, a mischievous smile on his lips: "How about... we live in this forest? Get married, have a child? Wouldn’t that be a carefree and happy life? Teacher Ailinda, you should know my heart. I swear I will love you well."

Ailinda was so angry she almost kicked him: "Can’t you be serious for once?"

"Ha ha, don’t get so worked up, it’s just a joke to lighten the mood. Don’t look so gloomy. When the soldiers come, we’ll face them; when the water comes, we’ll dam it. Zhou Lingwang can’t frame us for anything. The most likely outcome is that he will announce that he was attacked, the team suffered heavy casualties, and even he was severely injured. I, you, Du Yang, and Tang Ying all died in the chaos. As for Tang Qiong... he will probably be listed as a casualty."

"But can we go back? If we return, Zhou Lingwang won’t let us off! Even if you tell your grandfather about this, he won’t act rashly and might even force you to forget it. After all, in the Northern Wasteland, Zhou Lingwang has the power to cover the sky, and we have no solid evidence."

"If we return to Giant Elephant City, Zhou Lingwang will try to eliminate us, but he won’t dare to kill us openly. As long as we are careful, we might find a way to thwart his plot."

"I don’t ask for much, I just want to return to the previous peace." Ailinda was somewhat lost, having worked hard from a commoner to become a teacher, and she didn’t want to lose it.

"Teacher Ailinda, how long have you been a Martial Ancestor?"

"One year and five months."

"Have you consolidated your realm?"

"I had already fully consolidated it six months ago. Why are you asking?"

Tang Yan pondered for a moment, then grinned: "If you stay with me for two months, I’ll help you break through to the second stage!"