Chapter 380: Chapter 380 Prosthetic Eye (13)_1
The normally low-key Li Min, suddenly belting out like that, undeniably indicated a serious problem.
However, at the very next moment, the hazy mist had once again transformed.
In just the span of a single breath, the view before their eyes became desolate and vague.
The fog seemed to instantly condense into white frost, plummeting the temperature of the entire space. Visibility dropped to zero as everything turned into a blanket of white.
This…
Shang Shiming, as one of the people involved, subconsciously felt that something was off but was nowhere as decisive as Li Min.
And in that slight hesitation, he quickly discovered an intense chill to the bone as the white frost surged like a tide.
By then, even if reluctantly, he realized the gravity of the situation.
“Get out first!”
He yelled sternly and rapidly started to rush outwards.
Yet as soon as he spoke, a sharp pain pierced through his chest, as if countless needles had suddenly appeared inside.
The icy mist that he had inhaled into his lungs seemed to have formed into frost there too, gathering into sharp spikes.
A heart pierced by a thousand arrows was nothing compared to this; it seemed as if any slight movement would impale his organs.
How could this be…
Even the usually slow-to-catch-on Shang Shiming realized at this moment that there was something extremely amiss here.
It was no longer just a matter of whether the ritual could be completed or not but there seemed to be a danger of perishing.
Bang!
In his outrage, a torrid ring of fire exploded from Li Min, shaking the entire space.
The white frost was pushed back, but in just a breath’s time, it surged forward once again.
However, during the brief moment it was repelled, the surroundings were briefly revealed.
To their surprise, they discovered that the ground and the walls around them, even beneath their feet, had sprouted tufts of crystalline spikes, nearly sealing the exit completely.
This—
Seeing this, Shang Shiming’s heart sank.
“Move aside!”
Li Min’s voice once again echoed, but it was hoarse and abrasive, as if her throat was packed with steel needles.
Rachel evidently had a deep understanding with her, almost instinctively giving way.
Shang Shiming, realizing too late, stepped back half a step when a heat too intense to describe had already formed in Li Min’s hands.
The next moment, two parallel purple-red beams shot out from her fingertips.
The beams, carrying intense heat, pierced through the white fog and slammed into the cluster of spikes at the exit.
In an instant, the seemingly impregnable crystal melted away like snowflakes.
“Follow up!”
Li Min, gritting her teeth and holding on for a few seconds, used the beams to clear a path and then shouted, stopping the emission.
It was clear that the move had placed a great strain on her spirit; despite being in the icy mist, sweat was rolling down her face.
By then, Shang Shiming had completely snapped to his senses. Without needing to be told twice, he was the first to dash out.
Rachel also grabbed Li Min’s arm, pulling her along and following right behind through the opened passage.
…
Outside the Stone Tower, the stormy weather still persisted with thunder and rain.
As they emerged one after the other and looked back, they could see the dense white frost completely enveloping the area centered around the Stone Tower.
Standing outside now, they felt no trace of the cold.
“This doesn’t seem like the power of the tower itself.”
Li Min wiped the rainwater from her face, looking at the scene and slowly shaking her head.
“How could this be…”
Shang Shiming suddenly understood her meaning, looking around instinctively, and he too fell into a brief daze.
“But I had already confirmed multiple times that there were no Night Watchmen or other Transcendents nearby, and besides the four of us, no one else knew the plan.”
“Four people… wait, that guy doesn’t seem to have come out yet!”
Yet, Li Min’s words made Rachel realize something, and she cried out subconsciously, pointing towards the Stone Tower.
Li Min and the other person were also suddenly startled, realizing that they were missing one more person!
Just now, their full attention had been on this strange crisis, and the newly promoted Transcendent surnamed Che had not come out with the others.
“Go in and rescue him?”
Shang Shiming instinctively looked at Li Min, whose performance had just proven that she was quite reliable, both in terms of strength and mentality.
The white frost was too dangerous. If it hadn’t been for her, it would have been nearly impossible for the three of them to be standing here intact.
“That guy was too slow in responding, he might already be dead by now.”
Rachel obviously didn’t want to take the risk of going back, and she did not have a good impression of Fu Qian either.
“I can try, but with my current condition, I can only help from the outside at most.”
Li Min agreed to try, and was honest about her substantial exhaustion, unsure of her ability to go in and come out again.
“Then let’s give it a try.”
After a brief hesitation, Shang Shiming stepped forward, about to take action.
However, the next moment, amidst the roaring thunder, an unusual noise emerged.
Boom!
Stones flew as a corner of the Stone Tower suddenly collapsed.
The Stone Tower, which had only been slightly tilted, groaned in agony before slowly and firmly collapsing towards the trio.
As tens of thousands of tons of mass came crashing down, debris fell like rain, with an incredibly alarming momentum.
The three of them were stunned, forced to put the rescue aside as they swiftly dodged to either side.
Boom!
In an intense shockwave, the Stone Tower finally crashed to the ground, causing ripples of aftereffects.
“Strike with the thunder, that’s the right way, isn’t it?”
The dust, quickly doused by the rain, dissipated along with the white frost that lingered at the base of the tower, and at that moment, a familiar voice sounded.
“Mr. Che?”
Shang Shiming, who had already been mourning for Fu Qian, was dumbfounded as he looked at the figure emerging from the rubble of the Stone Tower.
In this moment, Fu Qian looked even more horrifying than he had during the assembly.
Not only had his size expanded once again, but sharp bone spurs had even grown out amidst the black fur covering his entire body.
“Did you… smash that thing?”
Shang Shiming couldn’t help muttering to himself, deeply mystified by the scene before him.
However, before Fu Qian could answer, Shang felt a sensation and looked down at his right hand.
A sharp pain hit, and a wound ripped open from the inside out on the wrist of his right hand.
A dark red strip of flesh, as if alive, crawled out from within.
The flesh strip, resembling a thin snake, wound around his wrist once before crawling up towards his palm.
This incredible sight promptly focused everyone’s attention on it, making them forget their earlier doubts about Fu Qian’s actions.
Shang Shiming was entirely stiff, unable to move.
The flesh strip quickly wound around his fingers and then slowly gathered in the palm of his hand, eventually twisting upon itself and rapidly withering away.
After who knows how long, Shang Shiming took a deep breath and lifted his right hand.
In his palm, there was now a red and black spike, shaped like a long nail.
Was this the gift obtained upon the completion of the ritual?
Fu Qian watched the scene with great interest.
This is…
In the next moment, feeling something, Shang took the spike with his other hand.
Amidst excruciating pain, he pressed the nail into the back of his hand.