Hearing the voice, Squirrel Alice and Zhao Xianrou showed expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
"It’s over just like that!?" Alice couldn’t quite understand. The Three-headed Shadow Dragon... that was...
At the very least, it was a legendary creature from the Black Sea bearing an Imprint!
Its strength could, when the three combined, rival nearly half of Jiu Yi’s combat force! Yet such a power... couldn’t even last ten minutes.
"You’re... you’re kidding, right..." Zhao Xianrou’s eyes were vacant, completely at a loss as to how the situation had changed so quickly.
"Ti to go. Don’t worry, you’ve already joined us. Death is no longer the end. Every once in a while, we, the blank ones, can recover from all injuries. Even if we die, we will be reborn. This is our basic welfare."
Squirrel Alice quickly said, grabbing Zhao Xianrou and turning to fly madly toward the distance.
"Then why are we running!? Go grab the Dragon King Essence!!" Zhao Xianrou shouted.
"Do you think you survived earlier for no reason? After joining us, you naturally get a world boost, and your entire body is strengthened. But the problem now is, I can’t beat him, even after the boost!"
Squirrel Alice said speechlessly.
"What’s the point of staying if we can’t win? Looking for a beating? Even if you can be resurrected, getting beaten to death still hurts a lot!"
"That guy... that’s my essence... I can’t accept this..." Zhao Xianrou said through gritted teeth, her eyes red.
"Your unwillingness is useless. Let’s return and call for reinforcents now! Find soone who can beat him!! I don’t believe it, daring to snatch sothing we had reserved!" Squirrel Alice said, equally infuriated.
"Oh? Is there soone who can beat ? May I ask, what is the na of your organization?"
Suddenly, a spine-chilling voice descended from above, drifting faintly.
Bang!!
Squirrel Alice and Zhao Xianrou got distracted and slamd hard against a gray-white wall of air in front of them.
It was a white wall ford entirely from the condensation of Blood Essence.
Li Chengyi stood atop the several-dozen-ters-high wall.
"You... you’re so fast!?" Alice’s gaze was grave, as she threw Zhao Xianrou, whose face had been flattened from the impact, behind her and stared at Li Chengyi.
"It’s not that I’m fast, but rather you’re too slow." Li Chengyi said, his mood much better after giving the Three-Shadow Dragon a beating.
"Hehe... you’ve also got the Dragon King Essence, we’ve decided to give up, and there are no conflicts of interest left. How about you let us go? That way, you can avoid so trouble," Alice said with a forced smile.
"Tell the na of your organization," Li Chengyi said, his eyes landing on Alice. No matter how he looked at her, she seed familiar.
"Yuan Ying! Our original na is Yuan Ying!" Alice quickly said.
"Yuan Ying?" Li Chengyi paused, wasn’t that the force rumored to control White Star?
He paused a mont before continuing. "Then, who is Lien?"
"Lien... which Lien are you referring to?" Alice was taken aback.
"Which one?"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a silver vortex appeared out of nowhere behind the two, and a trendous pulling force burst open instantaneously, enveloping both Alice and Zhao Xianrou, dragging them in.
"Thinking of escaping!" Li Chengyi reflexively made a move, his right palm striking forward powerfully.
Woo!
Strangely, his hand actually passed right through the two of them.
As if they had beco phantoms.
The expressions of Squirrel Alice and Zhao Xianrou were completely frozen at that mont, as if the pause button had been hit.
In the blink of an eye, both disappeared in front of Li Chengyi, and the silver vortex behind them also faded and vanished.
Li Chengyi withdrew his hand, frowning deeply.
That instant just now, even his power couldn’t touch that silver vortex.
With the basic knowledge he had of Blind Spots and space manipulation,
’It seems like a space transmission device, but also more like a... disruption of so projection device...’
’Yuan Ying... interesting.’
He turned back to look at the Shadow Dragon, now shrunk to three little snakes.
The scorching shadows in the Dragon King’s Breath were even more effective against shadow creatures than he had expected.
The shadows will not die, nor will the breath.
If he continued burning them now, the three little dragons were going to be incinerated.
Such communicative creatures of the Black Sea were quite rare, and Li Chengyi did not plan to kill them outright; instead, he intended to use them as slaves and occasionally extract so ancient secrets from them.
After all, these three dragons had devoured too many lives; forgiveness was not an option.
If he wanted to continue living in human society, he could not possibly harbor the Three-Shadow Dragon, so the idea of taking them under his wing was not feasible. They could only be slaves.
Looking at the Shadow Dragon writhing in agony, Li Chengyi inhaled gently.
Instantly, a massive amount of draconic fla left the dragons’ bodies, rising into the air and transforming into black fire streams flying toward him.
Each fire stream flew into his mouth, bringing with it a surge of pure life force.
"Hm? There’s this benefit, too?" Li Chengyi could clearly feel his vitality begin to increase dramatically again.
To think, his current total vitality was already so terrifying, far surpassing any human being. Even when faced with Yin Yue, his master from Shaoyin Country, he felt the other’s vitality was not as strong as his.
Yet on top of such foundation, his vitality was now increasing again.
’No wonder Shadow Dragons often go out to devour the shadows of living creatures. The benefits are indeed nurous...’
Li Chengyi felt the rapid rise of vitality within his body; the Three-Shadow Dragon had contributed to about a 40% increase in his life force.
This pushed his already exaggerated total to a new level.
His body temperature was now beginning to exceed a hundred degrees, rushing toward realms beyond boiling water.
’There’s also this...’ Li Chengyi looked at the Dragon King Essence floating in his hand.
He opened his mouth and threw the black essence into it.
Boom!
A torrid yet icy fla erupted in his mouth.
The inferno traveled down his throat, burning everything in its path to ash.
But the terrifying regenerative power imdiately healed Li Chengyi’s scorched throat.
The forces of destruction and rebirth began to clash furiously.
Li Chengyi, not bothering with it, quickly wrapped up the Three-Shadow Dragon, ready to leave.
Suddenly, he saw a figure suspended in mid-air, having fainted away.
Ding ng?
One of Jiu Yi? How did she end up here?
A spark of conjecture flashed through his mind, and he flicked his finger, sending a stream of white vapor that wrapped around the figure’s waist and dragged her along as he rapidly fled into the distance.
It was about 400,000 kiloters from here to the battlefront, and even at a steady pace, it would take at least a day to fly there.
Therefore, he planned to return to the near-Earth orbit fortress first and take a special plane to the battlefield.
After all, the special plane was equipped with short-range teleportation capabilities.
Even though he had made a detour this ti and snatched sothing, Li Chengyi did not forget his original purpose of going to the battlefield for support.
The matters concerning Yuan Ying, Lien, the Three-Shadow Dragon, Ding ng, and so on all needed to be discussed face-to-face with Dongjun to be clearly understood.
*
*
*
In space, millions of kiloters away from Earth-Moon.
A dark red planet of similar size to White Star slowly orbited the only sun in the star systems.
The mighty solar winds blew continuously against the side of the planet facing it, making it shine more brightly as if it were burning embers.
This was Red Rock Star, also rumored to be the headquarters of the Yuan Ying organization.
The planet’s surface was covered in fiery red hues, the sky was red, the land was composed of red soil, and even the occasional trees were red.
The wind whipped up red sand, making the atmosphere murky and dangerous.
Storms erupted every mont here, and even a minor one could cause a tsunami on Earth-Moon capable of destroying coastal cities.
"The influence of the variable is getting stronger...."
Within the red sandstorm, a figure in a black cloak, leaning on a walking stick, slowly made his way through the ferocious winds toward a distant dune.
Coming to the front of the sand dune, he looked up, revealing an ugly, scarred face from beneath the cloak.
"The mission to retrieve the Dragon King Essence by Alice and Lien 1779 has failed," he said in a deep voice.
His voice pierced through the cacophony, traveling straight into the depths of the dune.
Silence.
No response.
But the figure seed accustod to this silence, standing still in the midst of the sandstorm, waiting.
After about ten minutes.
The dune began to tremble gently.
Countless grains of sand were lifted and slid down, cascading away.
A massive red warship, looking as if it were crafted from crystal, slowly erged before him.
The warship’s surface shone brilliantly, with many crack-like patterns.
"1779 is, after all, a four-digit number, too highly recognized by the prototype, causing him frequent pain and conflicted emotions," ca a calm male voice from within the ship.
"For subsequent actions, I suggest we send one with a six-digit number to carry them out," the scarred man in the cloak spoke gravely.
"That is irrelevant," the voice inside the warship replied. "It’s the growing strength of the variable. If this continues, the original balance will be shattered."
"Should we notify the White Emperor?" the scarred man asked.
"There’s no need. Lift the restrictions on Alice’s original body and have Lien, the five-digit, transport it. Also, have Saruman Kaladin handle it together," the voice from within the warship instructed.
"Is it necessary to mobilize the power of the Void Council for an insignificant organization caused by a small variable?" the scarred man could not hide his surprise, seemingly astonished by the leader’s overreaction.
"No matter, just pass the ssage along," was the reply.
"...Yes," the scarred man frowned slightly and bowed his head in acquiescence.
Saruman Kaladin, the chairman of the Void Council, was also the strongest fusion of artificial intelligence and human on Earth-Moon and White Star.
In the entire Yuan Ying organization, he ranked just below the White Emperor and the leader, rightfully the third in command.
In the entire Twin Star network, he was akin to a godly presence.
*
*
*
At the Yun Fortress cluster.
A dark figure, dragging a white sphere, flew rapidly toward the spaceport of the fortress cluster.
The protective fleet of Earth-Moon’s patrol army took off in an ergency to et the newcor.
Ding ng, who was still unconscious, was quickly taken aboard a dical ship, while an honor guard simultaneously ushered Li Chengyi onto the orbit deck of the fortress.
The people of Jiu Yi had been waiting there already.
Upon hearing that Ding ng had been rescued and learning the true nature of Shadow Eater’s conspiracy, the entire Jiu Yi were shaken.
Lord Dongjun, who oversaw the fortress cluster, led the others in welcoming them.
All eight Jiu Yi mbers were present, and with them, nurous high-ranking mbers from Earth-Moon’s major families, the fleet’s upper echelons, all gathered together.
Hundreds of high-ranking individuals were present, and if White Star were to sweep an area-effect spatial shock cannon over them, the entire Twin Star war could end in an instant.
At that mont, everyone’s gaze was focused on Li Chengyi as he slowly erged from the security checkpoint halo.
"Lord Dongjun, could you provide an explanation for this Shadow Eater incident?" Li Chengyi’s gaze also landed first on Dongjun standing before him.
Indulging the Three-Shadow Dragon to consu life at will for the rituals while putting Ding ng in a dire situation, yet he himself had been easily deceived by a simple delaying tactic.
If he hadn’t arrived in ti...
The situation... who knows what it would have beco.
"What kind of explanation do you want?" Dongjun asked with a cold expression, eting his gaze.
Clearly, he had led the situation to this point, yet this old man showed not the slightest hint of regret.
"If Shadow Eater had succeeded..." Li Chengyi’s eyes narrowed.
"So what if they had?" Dongjun countered. "Even if they were successful, the outco would not change; I could still control the overall situation."
"Heh... Old man, confidence is good, but too much of it isn’t," Li Chengyi’s tone also cooled slightly.
The two were at odds almost as soon as they t, creating a conflict upon their very encounter.
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