Naturally, Bai Zemin had no idea what was going on with the Holy Church faction.

In fact, although he and the top commanders of the Transcendent faction were aware that things in Italy seemed to have stabilized to a large extent thanks to some images captured by their main orbiting satellite, Bai Zemin and the rest had little idea of how things were going over there.

The truth was that when it came to information from the outside countries, it could be said that Bai Zemin and his faction were behind the other major factions.

This was because unlike Angelo and Israfel who spent a lot of resources and sacrificed many men sending covert troops to other continents to gather information from the strongest factions in the area, Bai Zemin unhesitatingly rejected such an idea when crafty old politicians proposed it.

Bai Zemin’s words at the time were as follows: “Send to death those who loyally follow me? With what face will I look at their loved ones in the future? Absolutely no way. When our territory becomes stable we will naturally advance to the rest of the world and gradually find things out. As for sacrificing my soldiers in such a way… it is out of the question.”

Since then, although some still thought it was better to start gathering information from the other factions, no one said it out loud anymore. Everyone knew that their young Leader was stubborn like a mule when it came to certain matters, and pushing him further would only be detrimental to themselves.

Currently, Bai Zemin was finishing reading Shangguan Bing Xue’s records.

Since the two of them could link with increasing perfection to the point where there was no pain at all in their souls, Shangguan Bing Xue did not miss the opportunity and proposed to show him how strong she was after evolving.

She remained seated obediently by his side with a faint smile at the corner of her lips. The light of the sunset shone on her beautiful face in profile as she looked at the man younger than her sitting next to her.

Bai Zemin and she had been holding hands for the last 10 minutes or so. Although this was nothing considering everything that had happened before, for Shangguan Bing Xue it was one of the best moments of her life.

Having realized her romantic feelings for him coupled with her evolution, Shangguan Bing Xue began to appreciate her time with Bai Zemin twice as much; particularly moments like this where she could hold his hand and feel his warmth up close.

Lilith and Fire Sorrow were sitting across from them, waiting patiently.

“Bing Xue… with all this power you could bury half of Beijing under a thick layer of ice.”

Shangguan Bing Xue’s power was, to say the least, overwhelming.

Her level had jumped from 100 directly to 173 after the barrier obstructing her shattered into thousands of fragments when she completed the last requirement to advance and become a Third Order soul evolver.

All of her stats were slightly above 9400 points, but her top three were undoubtedly Magic, Mana, and Agility; all three were over 10.000, with her Mana surpassing 10.500!

Not only had Shangguan Bing Xue’s power increased tremendously after absorbing and assimilating all the Soul Power she had accumulated for about 1 year but her skills had gained special effects and evolved in some cases.

In fact, the biggest surprise of all was that Shangguan Bing Xue’s race was no longer ‘Human’ but ‘Charming Human’.

Bai Zemin didn’t quite know if her race was higher than his as those records were too deep to be shared, but what he did know was that she had finally started walking the path that would eventually lead her to wherever she had to go.

“It’s still not enough to destroy a world though.” Shangguan Bing Xue’s lips automatically pursed into a smirk as she looked at him, “But that might be good. I don’t want to bury my allies because of my attacks.”

Bai Zemin coughed before clearing his throat uncomfortably, “You really won’t forgive me for that, huh?”

“Well, it didn’t happen just once after all.” Shangguan Bing Xue chuckled. 

Bai Zemin looked at the outline of her blue eyes, and noticing the unmistakable crimson couldn’t help but feel puzzled even after reading the description of the passive skill that had caused such a change.

​ The group chatted some more, and after some consideration they decided to return to China as early as tomorrow.

“Even if we hurry it will still take more than 5 days to reach China.” Kang Lan pointed out with a slight frown. “I’m afraid with the way things are going it’s best not to venture too far from home.”

“No one knows what those Higher Existences can do. Really, I don’t know why they don’t stay in their caves.” Nangong Lingxin grumbled before realizing something. She looked at Fire Sorrow and added, “Don’t take it offensively please.”

“… It’s okay, you’re right.” Fire Sorrow sighed and said with some regret, “Higher Existences and Lower Existences weren’t supposed to interact unless the Lower Existence reached the Fourth Order… but Earth is a great treasure chest from every possible point of view.”

Lilith let her back rest on Bai Zemin’s chest and wriggled gently like a cat as she muttered under her breath, “Besides, Zemin’s existence was finally revealed, and it happened during a battle that forced him to reveal practically all of his strongest cards. It is natural for the more cautious to start planning to hinder him since no one wants to be overpowered.”

“Bai Zemin’s existence could literally completely upset the balance of the universe the moment he becomes a Higher Existence. To say that the current eight factions are slightly divided into two groups, each with 4 factions, is not bad if you look at it from some aspects.” Fire Sorrow looked at him and said in a serious voice, “A ninth faction could completely break the balance, if you know what I mean.”

Bai Zemin nodded calmly, but in his heart he couldn’t help but shake his head.

He had no intention of joining anyone or any particular side. Besides, Fire Sorrow was greatly underestimating him and among all those present only Lilith and Shangguan Bing Xue knew about it; particularly Shangguan Bing Xue, in fact.

Higher Existence? Bai Zemin would relatively soon prove that he had his ways of making himself respected even while being a Lower Existence.

“All right, everyone.” He gently patted his companion’s smooth thigh and after she stood up he followed her. “Time to get some rest. First thing tomorrow morning I’ll talk to Angelo and get the core of Abyss as we agreed. We will leave immediately after that.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, but just as Bai Zemin was about to expel everyone from the Collector’s Pocket World he was stopped.

“Zemin, wait a moment.”

Bai Zemin and the others looked at Shangguan Bing Xue, but she stared only at Feng Tian Wu.

“Could you leave me and Feng Tian Wu here? I need to talk to her.”

“Talk, you say…” Bai Zemin frowned slightly as he felt the obvious tension in the air when both women stared at each other.

Feng Tian Wu’s beautiful reddish eyes shone with a mysterious light, and after a moment of silence she opened her mouth softly, “Don’t worry, I’m fine with it.”

She looked at Bai Zemin and bowed her head slightly for a moment, “Please leave us alone for a while.”

Bai Zemin frowned harder and harder, but just as he was about to refuse he heard Shangguan Bing Xue calmly saying, “Don’t worry, I promise not to hurt her… not much.”

“Same here.” Feng Tian Wu shrugged her shoulders and calmly closed her eyes.

Bai Zemin sighed as he thought in his heart that the words Feng Tian Wu had said to Shangguan Bing Xue on the way to America had really made her angry.

* * * * * * *

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