Chapter 346 - 18: Fierce Battle 3

Chapter 346: Chapter 18: Fierce Battle 3

BANG—

Dust and smoke billowed as a figure shot out from the haze, slamming violently into a nearby tree.

Even though she was only grazed by the Sword Qi, its aftershock shattered Gu Xue’s shield and tore multiple gashes into her equipment.

"Gu Xue!!!"

Jia Rui cried out at the sight. He had been about to turn back and help Lei Zhou, but seeing Gu Xue go down, he forgot all about his captain. Having long held a secret crush on her, he immediately rushed to her side to check her injuries.

Gu Xue’s external wounds weren’t severe, but the massive impact had caused her to stop breathing. Jia Rui immediately removed her helmet, then his own. He paid no mind to whether Li Hua would take the opportunity to attack, pressing his mouth to hers to begin artificial respiration.

Meanwhile, after striking Gu Xue, Li Hua had resumed his assault on Lei Zhou. The captain had just managed to catch his breath when he was forced to face another barrage of Sword Qi, leaving him unable to spare a thought—or the strength—to help Gu Xue.

He now regretted ever challenging Li Hua and wanted to surrender.

But Li Hua gave him no such opportunity. He was forced to desperately defend against the relentless Sword Qi.

Just as he was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, Wang Wei, who had vanished, reappeared behind Li Hua.

The moment he materialized, he plunged a dagger straight for the center of Li Hua’s back.

He didn’t feel the expected sensation of his dagger tearing through flesh.

Wang Wei felt as if he had stabbed a highly resilient spring.

Layers of resistance pushed back from the dagger’s tip, a sensation completely different from that of a Spiritual Shield.

Wang Wei put every last ounce of his strength into the push, channeling all the Spiritual Energy in his body into the dagger. He finally pierced the protective barrier of spiritual energy.

The moment the dagger touched Li Hua’s back, a tremendous repulsive force erupted. It was as if Li Hua had turned into a Spiritual Bomb; a vast amount of Spiritual Energy detonated.

BOOM—

The massive explosion echoed in all directions as a small mushroom cloud rose over the forest.

A shallow, radial crater now marked the center of the battlefield with Li Hua at its epicenter. The Steel Earth Spikes had all been blasted away, along with a good deal of soil. A thick layer of the highway below had been sheared off, revealing the alloys and equipment within.

The battlefield fell silent. Other than Li Hua, who remained standing in the middle, everyone else was down.

He had just chugged two potions, flooding his body with an incredible amount of Spiritual Energy. The concoctions had too much of a kick; the Spiritual Energy kept welling up inside him so fast he thought he was going to explode.

As a result, he could only fire off Sword Qi relentlessly, but even that couldn’t release the Spiritual Energy as fast as it was being replenished. Luckily, Wang Wei’s desperate stab had punctured the overflowing aura of Spiritual Energy around him, allowing it to erupt outward and trigger the massive Spiritual Energy explosion.

Moreover, because the Spiritual Energy erupted outward, the blast was directed away from him, so Li Hua himself was unharmed.

After releasing the excess Spiritual Energy, Li Hua felt much more comfortable. The massive surge of Spiritual Energy had also tempered his body, improving his constitution. He could feel that his normal capacity for Spiritual Energy was now at least a third larger than before, and his physical attributes had also increased slightly.

Li Hua looked behind him. "Oh, right. Where’s the little helper?"

Behind him, Wang Wei’s blood-soaked body lay amidst a pile of shattered branches. There wasn’t an inch of intact flesh on him, and his equipment had been shredded into rags.

Li Hua walked over. Seeing no signs of Eye Demon parasites on him, he checked for breath. It was extremely faint—he was breathing in, but barely breathing out.

’Since you’re not parasitized, and you did end up helping me... I’ll let you live.’

With that thought, Li Hua pried open Wang Wei’s mouth. From a short distance, he spat out the last dregs of potion, guiding the liquid into Wang Wei’s mouth with a current of Spiritual Energy.

Wang Wei’s breathing immediately grew stronger. The wounds on his body began to knit together; though not fully healed, they at least stopped bleeding. He then broke into a violent coughing fit. "COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... HWUACK—"

After spitting up a mouthful of blood, the color returned to Wang Wei’s face.

"What are you doing?" he asked weakly, opening his eyes to look at Li Hua.

"Saving your life!" With that, Li Hua grabbed Wang Wei and moved over to Lei Zhou’s side.

At the edge of the crater, Lei Zhou and the others were also unconscious, their equipment equally tattered. However, compared to Wang Wei, who had been at the very center of the blast, their injuries were much lighter.

Li Hua carefully inspected their bodies, finding no signs of Eye Demon parasites on any of them. Since that was the case, he decided to spare them.

"Lin Yu—take them back!"

Li Hua called out, and five vines slowly snaked out from the nearby woods. They bound the five unconscious people and swayed off in the direction of the city.

In the forest, some colorful mushrooms silently withered away and vanished.

...

At the GS8-F4 intersection, the crowd, instigated by a few individuals, had once again grown boisterous. They surrounded two Legion staff members, peppering them with questions like, "Why is the road blocked?" and "When will it be reopened?"

The two staff members didn’t know the answers themselves and could only try to placate the crowd with practiced rhetoric.

"What’s all the racket?" a loud shout echoed from the forest, and Li Hua emerged, sword in hand.

Behind him, five vines slithered into view like octopus tentacles, carrying five bound people with them.

Everyone present had witnessed him violently destroying the highway. Knowing he was not someone to be trifled with, they all began to back away, leaving the two poor staff members in the clear.

"Are there any doctors, nurses, or other medical personnel here? Help me treat them."

No one from the crowd responded.

"Anyone who helps can come with me to the treehouse in the forest. You’ll be under our protection and won’t have to wait out here."

Li Hua added the condition, knowing that with the plants Lin Yu had summoned to defend the forest, he wouldn’t need to worry about a thing.

"I’m a doctor!"

"I’m a nurse!"

"I’m a..."

...

Several medical professionals immediately stepped forward from the once-silent crowd. Li Hua weeded out the impostors—like a veterinarian trying to pass as a physician—and selected a few doctors and nurses with senior qualifications. After checking them for parasites and finding none, he led them into the forest.

In the crowd, a spy from the Eye of the Celestial God stared at the five bound figures, nearly crying out in alarm. He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, shrank back into his car, and pulled out a communicator to send a message to the Eye of the Celestial God convoy that was en route.