novelraw Chapter 1052: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (60)
Chapter 1052: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (60)
Bullets flew from the unsilenced barrel of an M16A, and the sharp crack of gunfire instantly alerted Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe.
These two high-ranking members of the Demon Association instinctively turned their gaze back.
One of the two Gaia chasing them suddenly swung a massive metallic claw.
But that crimson claw was destroyed in an instant—yes, destroyed in just an instant!
The shattered half of the claw disintegrated into ash!
The Gaia that had been struck abruptly halted—just then, another gunshot rang out. The already maimed Gaia swung her remaining crimson claw again, but it was destroyed once more.
Now with both arms severed, the Gaia's eyes flickered intensely!
As the third gunshot rang out, the armless Gaia suddenly opened her mouth wide—a massive beam of light shot from it, streaking toward a distant grove!
And at the very moment the beam was fired, the Gaia’s head snapped backward… and like her arms, it too was obliterated!
BOOOOM!!!The massive light beam blasted into the distant grove, cutting it clean through in the blink of an eye!
Where the beam passed, the ground turned molten. Heat surged forth, the air warped from the temperature, and all that remained was scorched, blackened land!
The sheer scale of the attack startled both Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe, but having fought through so much and already experienced the might of Gaia, they were shocked—but not terrified.
The Management Bureau members, however, were a different story—they had never seen such terrifying power!
This wasn’t some large-scale thermal weapon. It came from a childlike individual!
In that instant, over a dozen Management Bureau members were caught by the beam and lost their lives before they had a chance to dodge.
There was no time for grief. Captain Ling Feng and his team had to act fast—because another of those terrifying little girls was still alive!
Ling Feng glanced at Hong Ling. She had taken out one of the enemies with just three bullets—but that was only because the enemy hadn’t known the special properties of those rounds.
No matter how powerful a bullet is, it’s useless if it doesn’t hit. Meanwhile, the enemy’s terrifying destructive power and wide area of attack could wipe out the entire Bureau squad in moments!
"Everyone!" Ling Feng took a deep breath. "Spread out! Squad One and Two with me! Squad Three, prep long-range spell support! Squad Four, lay down suppressive fire!"
As he spoke, Ling Feng raised his assault rifle and charged down the grassy slope from the forest!
From the distance, dozens of figures emerged from the woods. Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe exchanged glances, both spotting the glimmer of relief in the other’s eyes.
It was Management Bureau reinforcements!
In a dire situation like this, finding allied forces and getting backup was a cause for celebration—especially since the Bureau had somehow managed to kill one of the monstrous little girls!
Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe had barely escaped the earlier disaster using secret arts. Since then, they’d been relentlessly hunted by these two monster girls.
The girls’ teamwork was uncanny, while Cang and Qu clearly lacked that level of coordination—and lingering in battle would only attract more of their kind!
Fighting one was already nearly impossible. What if more showed up?
But now the situation was different—they had the Bureau’s backup, and there was only one enemy left!
Cang Jinshui slammed his fists together, surging with azure Demonic Energy. “Qu Xinghe, can we finally fight side by side now?”
“Haven’t we been all along?” Qu Xinghe narrowed her eyes, her tone light and teasing. Despite that, this alluring Vermilion Bird priestess already had scarlet flames blazing in her hands!
Together, the two lunged into battle!
In mid-air, fierce winds rose and flames soared!
A massive Azure Dragon and a Vermilion Bird emerged from the skies!
“They’ve revealed their true forms!” Captain Ling Feng frowned. These two had looked pathetic while being chased, and now they were all high and mighty again. “Squads One and Two, flank from both sides with ranged attacks! Use the spell bullets!”
Because the Bureau had been relocated here in a rush, much of their equipment hadn’t made it—but the standard-issue spell bullets were something everyone carried.
(Spell bullets: rounds imbued with one-time-use spell power through a special process. The Management Bureau had specific partnered Daoist sects that produced them.)
The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird fiercely charged the Gaia, while behind them, dozens of Bureau members pulled out specially modified firearms loaded with spell bullets and opened fire.
Rat-tat-tat-tat—!!
Beside Ling Feng, the M16A roared in full-auto… making him sigh. Hong Ling’s violent tendencies were already infamous in the Bureau.
Fortunately, she was still somewhat rational—at least she wasn’t burning through the expensive Godslayer Bullets, just the more affordable spell rounds.
Still, watching Hong Ling go through magazine after magazine made Ling Feng wince. Damn, how am I going to write this in the report?
“Screw it, we’re saving Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe, two Demon big shots… If Hong Ling wasn’t pissed, that’d be the real surprise.”
“Glasses (眼镜)…” Ling Feng started to say something but ended with a sigh.
(Note: 眼镜- Literally "glasses." This is a nickname for a character, most likely a tech expert or analyst. In Chinese fiction, characters with such nicknames often play support roles and are identified by notable accessories like glasses.)
“But… what the hell is that thing?” Glasses frowned, staring into the heart of the battlefield. The lone remaining Gaia was taking simultaneous attacks from Cang Jinshui, Qu Xinghe, and the entire Bureau—and she wasn’t falling behind in the slightest. Glasses' face turned grim. “She’s practically a living weapon.”
Despite the coordinated assault, the last Gaia showed no signs of being overwhelmed!
Then—suddenly—a deafening dragon’s roar rang out from the front, followed by the piercing cry of the massive firebird!
The azure dragon spat out a colossal blue energy orb, while the firebird flapped its wings, unleashing two roaring pillars of fire!
The orb and fire pillars intertwined in midair, merging into a towering blue-red inferno, crashing down on Gaia like a wrathful judgment!
BOOM—!!!
A searing wave blasted across the grassland, the chaotic airflow nearly knocking people off their feet!
Moments later, nearly half the grassland had been destroyed. On the charred earth, only the fallen figure of Gaia remained.
Her body had turned completely black, cracking apart piece by piece—like shattered porcelain—until nothing was left but dust.
The roar of a dragon and the cry of a phoenix echoed. Afterward, two streaks of light landed in front of Captain Ling Feng and the others—it was Cang Jinshui and Qu Xinghe, who had temporarily returned to human form.
“Representative Cang, Representative Qu.”
At this moment, a team captain beside Ling Feng stepped forward and nodded to them—it was Glasses, one of the Management Bureau’s commanders in charge of guarding Kunpeng Manor.
“Captain Glasses.” Cang Jinshui also nodded. “Thanks to all of you for your help. I owe you one.”
Glasses replied, “Representative Cang, save it for later... What exactly happened? What did you and Representative Qu encounter?”
A flicker of fear passed through Qu Xinghe’s eyes. She shook her head. “We don’t know what it was. But frankly, I fear most of the elite attendees from both the Demon and Daoist Associations have perished.”
“What?!”
The other captains were shocked!
Cang Jinshui added grimly, “This isn’t the time for discussion. There weren’t just two of those things—we encountered hundreds! This battle likely exposed our position. The rest could catch up at any moment.”
Glasses’s face darkened as he exchanged a look with Ling Feng.
To think there were hundreds of such terrifying entities... It was already difficult to take down one. If Hong Ling hadn’t fired three Godslayer Bullets right at the start and eliminated one of them...
“In that case, we should leave immediately,” Ling Feng said, nodding. “On the way here, we found a cave that might serve as a temporary shelter. We have team members skilled in concealment techniques.”
“Good.” Cang Jinshui nodded. After the intense battle, he definitely needed time to recover.
“By the way, Captain Glasses,” Qu Xinghe suddenly asked, “what exactly did you use to deal with the first one?”
Glasses replied casually, “Spell bullets. They’re rare, though—we can barely make a few each year. And if it’s true that most of the Daoist Association’s elites were lost, making them will only get harder...”
Qu Xinghe nodded without comment.
The main force then quickly moved into the forest, heading toward the cave Ling Feng had mentioned.
On the scorched prairie, a gentle breeze blew. At some point, a white silhouette had appeared above the charred earth.
A cold and pristine figure—like a fairy from myth—walked slowly toward where the Gaia had fallen.
Along the way, she bent down and picked up a bullet casing from the ground, studying it closely.
“Spell bullets… Looks like humanity has come quite far in the past centuries,” she murmured, tossing the casing aside.
She arrived at the spot where the first Gaia had fallen—the one with severed arms and head, now reduced to ash.
She frowned slightly and looked toward the forest—this was the direction from which the Gaia had been sniped.
She began searching the area—and finally, from the soil, she retrieved another bullet casing—different from the spell bullet casing.
She placed the strange casing in her palm, silently studying it.
Suddenly, she sensed a disruption in her mana—subtle, but real. Though she quickly suppressed it, the incident made something clear.
“This kind of bullet… it can disturb the balance of magical power?” she murmured. “Anti-magic? Not only have they advanced… they've created something dangerous.”
This time, she didn’t discard the casing. She held onto it.
She scanned the prairie, then looked up at the sky.
“Master, you once said you found Penglai, but after you went, there was no more news. My Huan Zhen Dao has reached its limit... It’s been 500 years. Where are you? Are you here?”
“Though faint, I can still sense the subtle aura of the Green Lotus Sword…”
“Have you encountered these battle weapons too?”
Suddenly, faint sounds came from the sky. She turned and looked up—one of the Gaia was flying rapidly toward her.
Identical in appearance to the ones that had devastated the Daoist and Demon Associations.
The crimson claws of this Gaia shifted—transforming into a cannon mode.
She frowned slightly and took a single step forward.
A thin, cyan sword beam shot from between her fingers, like a straight line of light. It swept across the sky—instantly slicing the Gaia into two symmetrical halves, which then turned to ash.
“What… is this place really?” she murmured. “It doesn’t quite match that shop… but still feels oddly similar…”
She frowned again, then left the area—headed toward a strange stone forest in the distance. From afar, it looked like some sort of peculiar formation. She decided to investigate.
Emmmm...
Tai Yinzi was in deep conflict—should he summon Gaia again?
Ever since the Gaia had split into more than a hundred and disappeared, Tai Yinzi had been weighing the pros and cons.
That brief moment of boldness made Tai Yinzi feel that if he really tried to defy the Club using what he got from Gaia, it’d be a dead end.
If he couldn’t break the Boss’s control over him, rebellion was pointless.
Maybe it was still safest… and most profitable… to stick close to the Boss?
“Emmmm... What’s going on now?”
Just then, as Tai Yinzi was deep in thought, a loud explosion echoed in the distance. A giant pillar of blue and red fire burst into the sky!
Then silence.
He frowned.
But suddenly, a terrible feeling swept over him. A chill ran down his spine.
He turned instinctively—and saw the restrained Wang Hu, still trapped in strange gray crystals, now radiating a terrifying Demonic Energy.
A crack appeared in the crystals.
Tai Yinzi blinked… The cracks spread rapidly—snap!
The gray crystal shattered like broken glass, scattering into the air.
“You old bastard… You said it felt good when you hit me earlier, right? Mind if I return the favor?”
Tai Yinzi gulped.
He suddenly felt like he was shrinking infinitely, while Wang Hu was expanding beyond control.
“W-Wait! I’m just a kid—no, I mean, just a newbie, aaahhhh—!!”
(End of Chapter)