The color drained from Zhang Lexuan's beautiful face, leaving only extreme gravity and horror.
She grabbed Caelus's wrist beside her, her voice filled with urgency: "Go, we must leave here immediately."
Academy missions, Nirvana Corpse investigations—everything seemed so insignificant at this moment.
The battle fluctuations coming from afar made her Soul tremble with every collision; that was destructive energy capable of easily tearing her, a Spirit Douluo, to pieces.
She couldn't even imagine what kind of beings the combatants were. Titled Douluo? Likely far beyond that.
Her only thought right now was to take Caelus and flee this area, which had already turned into a purgatory, at the fastest possible speed.
Caelus was pulled by her, moving at high speed through the white snow and broken ice fragments.
Zhang Lexuan pushed her speed as a Spirit Douluo to the limit, her figure turning into a blurry stream of light as she skimmed close to the ground, avoiding the ice cliffs that were constantly collapsing and the huge ice fissures opening up due to the energy impacts as much as possible.
Wind and snow lashed their faces, carrying a bone-chilling cold and chaotic energy fragments.
Amidst the jolting and rapid movement, Caelus's gaze remained exceptionally calm as it fell on the side of Zhang Lexuan's face, which appeared even more supple and beautiful due to her tension.
He could feel the slight dampness and strength coming from her palm; it was a manifestation of extreme tension and worry.
"Sorry, Senior Sister."
Caelus said silently in his heart.
He couldn't just leave like this; he still had things to do.
With his mind made up, Caelus acted quietly.
His control of Soul Power had already reached the Transcendent level, and after creating the exquisite Airflow Body Technique, his micro-manipulation of his own energy far exceeded those of his level.
While Zhang Lexuan was fully focused on sensing any disturbed, violent Soul Beasts that might appear ahead, one of the four unconventional spirit rings on Caelus's body—that deep black ten-thousand-year spirit ring—flickered extremely covertly. Its light was as weak as a candle in the wind, instantly vanishing within his protective Soul Power and the surrounding violent energy environment.
Fourth Soul Skill: This Moment, That Moment.
In this instant, only Caelus himself and Istaroth, the Arbiter of Time within his spiritual space, could feel an invisible 'anchor' that transcended ordinary Karma being quietly cast into the downstream of the river of time.
The 'Effect' he anchored was very simple.
On their subsequent evacuation route, they would encounter a large-scale pack of Extreme North Spirit Beasts that would be difficult to break through quickly, causing their journey to be severely obstructed.
Effect first, then Cause.
The threads of the World's rules began to silently tighten and weave together to ensure that this anchored 'future' would certainly occur.
The moment the Spirit Ability was activated, Caelus clearly felt the Soul Power within his body suddenly decrease by a chunk, and he even felt a slight sense of mental exhaustion.
Interfering with fate, even just prying open a tiny crack, never came at a light price.
Almost at the same time, just as Zhang Lexuan was leading Caelus around a massive ice peak that was shedding snow due to the vibrations, a sudden change occurred in the relatively calm ice valley ahead.
"Awoooo—!"
"Roar!!!"
"Hiss—!"
Various shrill, terrified, and furious beast roars suddenly rang out from all directions.
The Extreme North Spirit Beasts, who had been hiding in ice fissures and snow caves or trembling from the battle fluctuations, seemed to simultaneously receive some kind of wrong signal or were driven by some 'inevitable' rule in the dark, as they frantically swarmed out from their respective hiding places.
Icefield Wolves, Snow Demon Leopards, Giant Frost Pythons, Frost Wing Demons... thousands upon thousands of them.
Most of them were Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts, but there were also several ten-thousand-year-level existences with fierce auras and massive bodies.
Their eyes were crimson, filled with fear and aggression, and like a bursting dam, they instantly blocked the smoothest evacuation routes in Zhang Lexuan's plan.
These Soul Beasts weren't specifically targeting them; they were more like headless flies fleeing, colliding and biting each other. However, their vast numbers and indiscriminate chaos formed the most dangerous obstacle.
Zhang Lexuan suddenly halted her figure and shielded Caelus behind her, her expression becoming extremely grim.
She looked around, and as far as her eyes could see, there were only swarming beast shadows and flying snow dust. The originally clear path was completely submerged.
------------------------
I've posted 40+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/DaoistRoeoNQ
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"