Chapter 144: In the Right Place at the Right Time

“Everyone inside! Take cover! Hurry!”

Jumping off her sword, the young woman began shouting at the passengers and other workers, who had been standing frozen in place, wide-eyed as they watched the raging battle.

As if her screams had snapped them out of a trance, the workers finally came to their senses and began pushing the passengers farther inside the ship.

“ROOOAR!”

“Oh no!” Turning around, she saw the creature already standing directly over Su Mei, one of its limbs raised as it prepared to deliver a crushing blow.

Without thinking, she leaped back onto her sword and raced toward the enormous limb, trying to give Young Master Su at least a chance to recover.

“Master Su! Get up! Please!” Flying over, she positioned herself between the descending limb and Su Mei, who was still lying on the ground.

She turned her head and saw the enormous limb, more than three meters thick, hurtling straight toward her without slowing down.

All her courage and recklessness vanished in an instant. She went pale and began trembling. “N-no... What have I done-?”

“You little idiot! Watch OUT!!” Cursing at the top of his lungs, Old Oluye shot toward her at full speed and knocked her aside.

BOOOM!

The enormous limb caught its target and slammed the old man straight into the ground, burying him several meters deep.

With great difficulty, the young woman pulled herself to her feet, clutching her head, which was throbbing more painfully. She saw the enormous, charred limb emerge from the ground, tearing up everything around it.

“S-Sergeant?! Sergeant Oluye!” She started running, only to collapse to the ground again, her head still spinning and unbearably heavy.

“Lost Petals Creation!”

She immediately heard Young Master Su’s heavy, hoarse cry.

In an instant, the entire ground was covered in white petals that had appeared out of nowhere.

“HA!” With a sweeping motion of her fan-like combat blades, all the petals shot into the air and, before the beast even had time to understand what was happening, covered it from every direction.

“Ptooey!” Spitting blood onto the ground, Su Mei dropped to one knee. “Die, you damned beast!”

“GHA-AA!! GRA-AAH! ROOOAR!” A tearing howl erupted from the enormous mouth of the twenty-meter-tall beast, a cry filled with fear and panic mixed with rage.

Overwhelmed by the pain and losing control of its mind, the creature collapsed to the ground and began thrashing and burying itself, desperately trying to get rid of the wretched petals that were burning through its flesh.

“Kh-! Gh-!” Dragging her wounded body forward, Su Mei shook off the cracked membranes created by her talismans. Their damaged structure was squeezing her already battered body too tightly.

“ROOOAR!”

The beast scorched everything around it in its agony. Every violent movement tore away charred pieces of its own flesh and sent tongues of flame flying in all directions.

“Dance of Illumination! Second Form!” Making a circular motion, Su Mei crossed her fan-like combat blades and directed them toward the burning beast.

Whooosh!

A blinding beam of energy shot out and slammed into the beast at tremendous speed, entering directly through its enormous open mouth and punching straight through its back.

“GRAA?! A-AAAGRAA...”

All four limbs immediately locked up. Convulsing violently, they began smashing everything around them. Even with its brain pierced and the creature was taking its final breaths, its body continued to wreck havoc all around it.

“Oh fu-! Watch OUT!!” Su Mei suddenly screamed and jumped toward the young woman lying on the ground.

The woman raised her head and saw only an enormous limb filling her entire field of vision.

BOOOM!

With a crushing blow, the limb slammed directly into her, smashing her into the ground and leaving behind nothing but a smear of blood and scraps of clothing inside a deep crater.

“No! Damn it!” Su Mei rushed over and saw the bloodstain. Hope still flickered in her eyes as she looked around, but once she realized that nothing remained except the stain and there was nothing she could do, she turned toward the ship.

“Miss Su. I’m glad you’re all right! But this is no time to relax. We have to help Master Feng!”

Old Mo appeared beside her, looking as though several buckets of blood had been poured over him.

“O-okay! You’re right! Let’s go! Follow me!” She nodded several times, then took one last look at the bloody crater before pushing off the ground and flying toward Feng Min, who was clearly fighting the two beasts with everything he had left.

Old Mo nodded approvingly at his young mistress’s determination and resolve. Without wasting another second, he flew after her.

....

“Ptooey! Cough! Cough! Ptooey!”

Two hands emerged from the ground, desperately trying to grab onto something.

With great difficulty, Old Oluye pulled his head out and continued dragging himself free, his expression dazed but satisfied.

“Ha... Hahaha! Cough! The rune master and his creation, hehe! Kha! I hope that foolish girl is all right!”

Finally climbing out, he stood on his trembling legs and brushed the dirt from himself, noticing that only two rune chains now wrapped around his arm instead of three.

Turning toward the cries, roars, and sounds of battle, he saw the other three surrounding and herding the two remaining creatures, giving them no chance to attack.

“Where are you, you reckless girl? Hm?” He looked around and suddenly spotted the sword lying on the ground, the artifact she had been using to fly.

Looking a little farther away, he saw the enormous body of the beast that had already breathed its last. Not far from it, near the edge of one of the hundreds of craters, he could clearly see a bloodstain.

The moment he saw it, Old Oluye felt a sinking feeling in his gut. Deep down, he immediately understood what had happened.

“Ah, youth... Sometimes we forget that we’re nothing more than pawns in this game... Foolish, foolish girl…”

Pressing a hand against his chest, the old man lowered his head, closed his eyes, and began muttering something in a strange language.

Opening his eyes and looking at the bloodstain once more, he pulled out his tobacco pipe.

“May your next life be a hundred times easier. Rest in peace, and don’t hold onto any unfinished business. Go in peace...”

After lighting his pipe, he took several deep drags and nodded. First, he looked toward the battle to make sure everything was going well. Then he turned toward the ship and quickly ran to the hole in its side, where several silhouettes were still peeking out, watching what was happening outside.

....

Walking slowly through the forest, An removed the upper part of his clothing, leaving only a worn, old shirt.

Activating his Qi, he directed almost everything in his dantian into his inner defensive membrane, as well as the membranes surrounding his bones and organs.

He pre-created several thousand energy points on each fingertip, using only Death Qi.

Once fully prepared, he also activated his Qi Silence technique to its maximum possible level, concealing even the slightest trace of energy around him.

‘I hope everything goes smoothly... Otherwise, this little gamble of mine could turn out badly.’

After checking that everything was in order, he continued walking toward the now-quiet battlefield.

....

“Huu... Huuu...”

Leaning against a massive slab of natural stone and iron that had been split in two, the captain held a huge, ragged wound running across his entire chest with one hand.

His other arm hung uselessly at his side, shredded.

Holding both sides of the wound together with his good hand so that nothing inside could spill out, he stared at the enormous beast lying not far away, three of its limbs torn off and a huge hole in its head.

“Kh... Hm?” Suddenly, he heard the sound of breaking branches nearby. Turning toward the noise, he saw An.

For a moment, the captain felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation as he looked into An’s green eyes and sensed nothing but coldness and emptiness within them.

“How are you, Captain? I came as soon as I could.” An continued slowly walking toward the wounded man. Turning his head toward the corpse of the third-rank Terra Octopus, An examined the condition of both spirit cores.

One of them had already lost more than a third of its energy because of a crack running straight through it.

“Kh… What about the passengers? Did they manage to deal with the other beasts?” The captain shifted his position slightly, instinctively trying to shield himself from the young man.

An continued approaching with a confident, unhurried stride. “The passengers are safe. When I left, only two Octopuses were still alive.”

“Then why are you here?” The captain’s eyes filled with growing distrust as he stared at the young man. He was also deeply puzzled by the fact that An was moving so stiffly and slowly.

“You’re the only Golden Core cultivator among us. Without you captain, it’ll be difficult for us to reach safety alive... So I’m here.”

An came almost right up to him and stopped.

The captain grew wary. The moment An pulled a small box from his ring, the captain shuddered. “What is that?”

With every passing second, the captain’s paranoia grew.

He understood that, if necessary, he could eliminate the young man in front of him without difficulty. What frightened him was that any movement, even one without using Qi, could make his condition collapse at any moment.

The problem was his cracked core, visible through the enormous wound across his chest.

“This is a Second Life pill. It quickly restores the physical body regardless of one’s dominant element.” An carefully took out a red pill with two white veins.

During his three years here, An had discovered many new spirit plants with unique properties. Even so, he had managed to create only a few working recipes during that time.

The Second Life pill was one of those breakthrough creations. After experimenting with hundreds of second- and third-rank plants, he had managed to create a pill that worked somewhat like his own regeneration, only much weaker.

But even after perfecting the pill and giving it two veins, it still had one major flaw.

“A perfect two-veined pill?” The captain immediately pulled the pill toward himself using his Qi. Although his inner voice screamed at him to be careful, his fear for his life and greed at the sight of such a pill won out.

Tossing the pill into the air, the captain caught it in his mouth. It immediately dissolved, and before even a moment had passed, an enormous amount of concentrated energy erupted from within it and rushed toward his hardened dantian, desperately trying to repair it.

Feeling himself grow stronger, the captain exhaled deeply and raised his head toward the sky. As he felt his body returning to normal, he relaxed completely, even though he was sitting within arm’s reach of An.

Looking up at the sky, he slowly said, “You know... On the day of the attack, when I first saw you... I recognized you immediately, An, the inner disciple of the Heavenly Soul Sect.”

Lowering his head and looking An in the eyes, he continued, “Or rather, no longer a disciple, but merely a deserter... even a traitor...”

An put on a surprised expression but remained silent.

“Hah... Hahaha! That same day, I wanted to capture you and lock you in a cell. But because of the threat of another attack, I decided against it, giving you a chance to breathe some fresh air... for the last time.”

The captain looked into An’s seemingly frightened eyes, his own filled with irony.

“Do you still want to lock me up?” Suddenly, An dropped the entire act. His body relaxed, his gaze once again becoming empty and cold as he studied the captain carefully with his green eyes.

The captain, failing to notice the change in the young man before him, snorted and shook his head.

“Do you have any idea how much your own sect is offering for your head? And do you know how much the heiress of the great Ridegold clan is willing to pay? Dozens of times more than your former home... And you’re asking whether I want to lock you up? Ha. Kh-! Hahaha!”

An remained silent for a long time, waiting for the captain to stop laughing. Then, suddenly noticing a certain flow of Qi had begun to shift, he interrupted him.

“Thank you.”

The captain immediately fell silent, a sudden wave of unease washing over him. “Thank me? What do you mean?”

“Your arrogance gave the pill enough time to finally do its job... Of course, it took much longer than I expected.” An spoke calmly, almost in a whisper, never taking his eyes off the captain, or, more precisely, his Qi flows.

“What? What the-! KhAA!”

Suddenly, all the captain’s muscles seized up, as though everything inside him had frozen solid.

“You bastard-!!”

The captain activated all his Qi without holding anything back, igniting even his cracked core. He knew he could not hesitate.

At the same time, An dropped his Qi Silence technique, unleasing his energy at full power.

His entire body was immediately covered in Qi. Both his hands turned black from thousands of tiny points of Death Qi.

He quickly covered himself in a white, almost transparent but extremely dense membrane, through which only his blazing green eyes could be seen.

Swish!

The captain’s fist reached its target first.

Seizing the instant when he had already been struck but the force of the blow had not yet fully reached him, An pressed his open palms directly against the captain’s chest, near the edges of the wound.

Finally, the force of the captain’s punch reached An.

BOOOOM!

Like a tiny pebble fired from an enormous cannon, An was hurled through the air at a speed far too great for him to comprehend, until he was driven deep into the earth.

“A-AAAGH! Fuck! F-f-!” Blood poured nonstop from every opening in his body, from his eyes, mouth, ears, nose, and even his pores.

Most of his energy channels, muscles, and tendons had tore apart in an instant.

“H-haa... Kh! Haaa...” Drawing Qi from his surroundings, An desperately tried to refill his completely drained dantian.

Wrapping Qi around his hand, he began creating vibrations to destroy the earth around him.

After creating enough space, he crouched down and focused all his physical strength into his legs, and propelled himself upward, smashing through the layers of soil above him.

“Ugh!” Breaking through the ground, he emerged and immediately focused on the captain lying half a kilometer away.

‘Damn... I flew that far from a single punch... I didn’t even realize how I ended up underground... A Golden Core cultivator is too dangerous, even when injured!’

He began slowly hovering toward the captain, trying to ignore the pain inside his body.

The captain, already completely immobilized, stared in shock as a mangled silhouette crawled out of the earth and slowly floated toward him.

At the same time, the captain’s chest began turning black, and thick black rot slowly seeped from his wound.

“H-How... did you survive?” Speaking through clenched teeth, paralyzed by the terrifying pain in his chest, the captain never took his eyes of him.

The left side of An’s torso was missing, along with his arm and left thigh, which had been torn to pieces.

His entire body was riddled with small holes, all caused by the energy released from the Golden Core cultivator’s punch.

“Haa... Haa... Kh!” Drawing in an enormous amount of Qi from his surroundings, An’s wounds began rapidly closing.

Right before the captain’s eyes, thousands of holes sealed themselves shut. New bones began growing around An’s shoulder joint and rib cage.

Watching all this in horror, the captain finally felt his energy for the first time. An had deactivated his Qi Silence technique.

The captain finally sensed that the young man before him was only in the early stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Yet the energy radiating from him had no business belonging to someone at that stage.

And it wasn’t just the density. It was the purity, the uniqueness of it.

He had never sensed energy so strange and yet so pure before.

All these discoveries sent the captain into an even deeper panic. He could feel death drawing closer and closer, while his desire to survive grew stronger with every passing moment.

“What?! You-?!”

Clenching his teeth so hard that several of them cracked under the pressure, the captain desperately tried to move.

He couldn’t even draw Qi from his dantian, as though someone or something had severed the connection between them.

“Y-you can stop trying...” With a heavy, exhausted voice filled with undisguised pain, An slowly approached him.

“There’s a spirit plant c-called Monkey Milk Cones... When I was in the s-sect, I read that once its fruits reach the second rank, they can heal any wound, even in Golden Core cultivators.”

Coming right up to him and dropping to his knees, An finally showed the enormous, still-unclosed hole in his own body.

Looking through it, the captain saw a terrifying emptiness. There was nothing inside An’s torso except his rib cage, spine, and a strange organ wrapped in dense, almost transparent muscle tissue.

The captain watched as tens of thousands of dense energy channels extended from that organ, which resembled a strange, deformed dantian, with blood rushing through them at incredible speed.

“What-?!” Already terrified and having never seen anything like this before, the captain was overcome by genuine fear.

A Golden Core cultivator was experiencing true fear at the sight of a strange Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Completely ignoring him, An continued. “The only drawback of this fruit is that it dulls the connection between the mind, body and the dantian.”

He pointed with one finger at the captain’s blackening chest and head.

“Now imagine how much that drawback increases when the fruit reaches the third rank and is made into a pill without losing any of its properties!”

An fell silent and looked into the captain’s terrified eyes.

Seeing his gaze, the captain understood everything. “NO-!!”

And then, without even giving him time to finish, An plunged his hand directly into the enormous, already blackened wound in the captain’s chest.