Chapter 256

: Liao Nan Beheaded
Translator: Cynthia Editor: X
Liao Nan had not expected that Shi Xueman would suddenly take action. He was shocked to see the spear swiftly piercing toward him.
Shi Xueman’s super quick assault created a stream of lights that gradually enlarged in Liao Nan’s eyes. Liao Nan’s pupils constricted abruptly. As he rapidly retreated, his palm lit up with red light and slapped at the spear, but it was instantly penetrated by the awl-like spear.
With a muffled groan, Liao Nan sped up sharply and reappeared several meters away.
He looked at the bloody hole on his hand and deeply asked,
Why?


No matter what you say, we are enemies. So, why not cut the crap?
Shi Xueman said indifferently. Her voice was as chilly as the morning mist.
Liao Nan asked,
As long as I’m a blood elementalist, you just can’t let it go? No exception?


Maybe there will be.
Her calm and clear voice revealed no emotion. Looking directly into Liao Nan’s eyes, she said,
But it won’t be you.


Apparently, it was all my wishful thinking.
Liao Nan pulled himself together. Suddenly, a bloody glow flashed in his eyes.
Then I won’t be lenient anymore.

Liao Nan took a step forward and disappeared unexpectedly.
The look on Shi Xueman’s face hardened. As the end of Cirrus shivered, she jumped upward abruptly.
Clink!
Sparks splashed in the air.
Shi Xueman felt a blast of power come through the end of the spear, which made Cirrus almost slip out of her hands. She grasped Cirrus with all her strength, spun in a circle as a result of the impact, and stabbed the spear again into the air.
Clink!
Another radiant spark bloomed in the air.
This time Shi Xueman was prepared. After a slight jolt, she stamped hard, dashed like a lightning bolt, and once more stabbed the Cirrus skyward.
A transparent ripple appeared in the atmosphere.
The look on Liao Nan’s face became serious. The spear move used by Shi Xueman seemed to not be fancy or complicated, but he could not help gravitating toward the spearhead. He saw an illusion that the space around the point of the spear was collapsing inward Like a moth flying to a flame, he could not stop his slap from approaching.
Clink!
This time, the force generated by the spear was stronger than the previous ones. It was so powerful that Liao Nan lost feeling in his arms.
Shi Xueman deserved to be called goddess!
Liao Nan genuinely admired Shi Xueman in his heart. She was called a goddess not only because of her unparalleled beauty, but also due to her strength that largely surpassed her peers. Once, he had fought together with the A-1 Unit, so he had witnessed Shi Xueman’s might. She was indeed strong at that time, but definitely could not compare to what she was today.
The power he had obtained through death could not at all compete with the progress Shi Xueman had achieved. Was this the superiority of those so-called aristocratic families?
Liao Nan’s mind was filled with jealousy and a little bit of anger.
He roared in fury, a bloody glow flowing around him. The speed of his attacks accelerated, which generated red lights shining all over the sky.
Shi Xueman stood calmly on the ground. Her moves slowed down, and each strike was extremely simple as well as lucid. With each move, a cloud of bloody glow faded away. Without the protection of the glow, Liao Nan’s hands collided solidly with the spear.
Liao Nan was rocked by every collision.
Shi Xueman’s moves became more and more fluent. She felt as if she was silently swimming in the stratosphere like a whale. There was no splendid radiance, but spectators could sense the incomparable power hidden under the serenity.
Shi Xueman found inspiration.
The humpback cloud whale was the overlord of the sky. They had no natural enemies, which allowed them to freely swim in the sky without any obstacles. As the overlords, they did not need to care about other creatures’ thoughts. All they needed to do was swim silently.
I’m the center…
A brilliance emerged out from Shi Xueman’s eyes as her spear moves became slower and crisper.
Liao Nan sensed the pressure increasing steeply as if he was in a horrible whirlpool. Enormous power pressed against him from all directions. No matter how he changed his attacking angles, his hands would slap upon the spear without exception. The force from the spear was so strong that each collision could numb his arms.
What kind of spear move was this?
Liao Nan now realized that Shi Xueman had become so strange and so strong.
His mind was disturbed for a moment and so was the surrounding space. Liao Nan’s expression changed, as he felt something was about to happen. The snow-white Cirrus dashed out from the clouds like a humpback whale. Then, without any fancy moves, it directly jabbed toward him.
The ambient space seemed to freeze, and Liao Nan felt that he had no way to dodge.
Taking a deep breath, Liao Nan’s chest promptly compressed, while his arms grew much thicker and stronger. Veins crawled all over his hands,resembling a pair of blood-made net gloves..
Liao Nan gradually pushed out his hands while exhaling.
When her spear and Liao Nan’s hands clashed, Shi Xueman’s body was shocked, while Liao Nan’s hands exploded like watermelons. The weirdest thing was that the blood net gloves covering his arms abruptly wrapped backward before flying toward Shi Xueman.
Liao Nan showed a flash of complacency on his face. As a blood elementalist, he could always recover as long as it was not a fatal wound. The blood elementalists who were good at healing could even restore themselves immediately.
Liao Nan could not do that, but he did not care about it at all.
As long as the blood net could cover Shi Xueman, it would be impossible for her to get rid of it.
After he awakened as a blood elementalist, some abilities hidden in his body had swarmed into his mind as memories. His blood was different from the others’—it could be separated from his body and absorb the elemental energy from other elementalists.
When Shi Xueman saw the blood net, her pupil suddenly constricted.
The memory of the time in the tunnel emerged before her eyes. She had almost been swallowed by those crazy blood streaks. If it had not been for the bastard who saved her…
An inexplicable mood rose in her heart, but she stopped it immediately. Killing intent flashed in her eyes.
Being beaten by the same problem twice was not her style.
Withdrawing her Cirrus swiftly, Shi Xueman grasped it bizarrely—she gripped the end of the spear with one hand, the body of the spear with the other like she was holding a bamboo pole, and stabbed forward with a spin.
Bang!
Air exploded ahead of the spear, forming an air shield dome in the sky.
Bang! The blood net crashed on the dome air shield and was blocked by it.
At the same time, Shi Xueman stepped back, easily breaking the attack of Liao Nan.
She had been thinking a way to break an attack like this and finally came up with this solution. The most terrifying part of these blood streaks was that they could swallow and absorb elemental energy. That was to say, elemental energy was useless when facing the blood streaks.
Therefore, she had to find another solution, which was the air shield. The theory behind an air shield was quite simple: compress the air to form a dome shaped shield. The air shield was a popular technique. It provided a low level of protection, but when coping with something special like toxic smoke or mist, it had an outstanding performance.
Blood streak attacks lacked great impulsive force, but they corroded elemental energy, which theoretically made the air shield the best choice for defense.
Real combat also confirmed the theory.
Liao Nan was shocked. He had not expected that Shi Xueman would easily break his killing move. He could not figure it out, but he realized that the situation was now quite dangerous for him. Consequently, he bit his tongue and transformed into a streak of bloody light, fleeing away as quickly as possible.
Shi Xueman had not anticipated that Liao Nan would be so decisive. Before she could react, Liao Nan had already dashed dozens of meters away. It was too late for her to chase him.
Just then, a strip of white blade glow cut toward Liao Nan from behind a pile of ruins.
It arrived so fast that Liao Nan was chopped into two parts before he even realized it.
The upper part of his body flew several meters away before falling heavily to the ground.
Wang Zhen came out from behind the ruins and walked to Liao Nan, who was still alive. Wang Zhen said seriously,
No matter what reason you have, betrayal is a capital crime. You were my bodyguard, so I will end your life.

Then, he beheaded Liao Nan without any hesitation.
Wang Zhen gave a thumbs-up gesture to Shi Xueman and said,
Good girl!

Shi Xueman was a little shy and asked,
How is Master Han?

Wang Zhen answered agreeably,
We arrived in time. There were five blood elementalists. The dean and I killed four of them. The last one was severely injured before he escaped. Next, we escorted Shouchuan to the embroidery workshop. The dean is there with them and I came over to see how things are going.

Only now did Shi Xueman notice that Wang Zhen’s left arm dangled about his waist. Shocked, she asked,
What happened to your arm?


It’s not a big deal. Compared to what I have been through before, this is nothing,
Wang Zhen said lightly before sighing.
I am no match for you youngsters. Nowadays the youngsters like you are marvelous. You are the leaders of the future.

Shi Xueman was filled with deep respect for Wang Zhen. What he had been through, as he just mentioned, referred to the Battle of the Dawn.

How many blood elementalists are there?
Shi Xueman asked.

I have no idea.
The mayor shook his head. His tone was sad, and his eyes were full of sorrow.
I went to the quarantine barracks. No one was alive.

Shi Xueman was astonished.
All of a sudden, the ground began to quake from the agitation of an elemental energy blast. About two minutes later, the elemental energy gradually became stable.
Wang Zhen said merrily,
Ai Hui has inserted the first gold needle!

Knowing this, Shi Xueman’s cold expression melted and her face beamed with joy.
Duanmu Huanghun and the others also arrived at the warehouse at this point. When they saw that Shi Xueman was safe and sound, they felt a sense of relief.
Fatty looked around and asked,
Where are Ai Hui and Lou Lan?


They have just inserted the first gold needle successfully.
Shi Xueman said happily.
Everybody else was excited to hear the news. Altogether there were nine gold needles, so there was still a long way to go before the final success. However, the first victory was still a good sign. After a gold needle was injected into a vital node, it would integrate with the elemental energy of the universe. In that case, blood elementalists would not be able to destroy it anymore.
Ai Hui brought his craftsmen back. They still looked excited.

Let’s inject the second gold needle right now!
someone shouted.

It’s not time yet.
The leader of those craftsmen explained,
We can only do that after the first node becomes totally stable. Then, we can activate the second node.


How long will it take?
Ai Hui asked.

No more than one day,
the leader of craftsmen answered while shaking his head.
Based on the plan, the time gap between inserting two gold needles should not exceed one day.

Hearing that, everybody’s excitement wore off. For them, the longer they waited, the more casualties they might suffer.

Then we wait.
Let’s start to arrange our defensive line,
Ai Hui said deeply and commanded Shi Xueman.
Everybody looked at Ai Hui.
Ai Hui said with gravity,
Blood elementalists will definitely notice this big scale elemental energy fluctuation. I predict they may attack the warehouse.

Everybody present knew that the most horrifying time of the battle in Central Pine City had begun.
Next, no matter if it was day or night, even each second would be soaked in blood.
Looking into the distance, Ai Hui had a feeling that they were under the watch of somebody hiding in the shadows.