The duo of Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin covered several kilometers across the forest in search of the areas where the treasures formed from the remaining Soul Power of the mutated Second Order spider could have been sent flying after the blood trident, a physical representation of the Third Order Crimson Blood Judgment magic skill, mercilessly slammed into the beast's body and caused an explosion of colossal magnitude.

The two did not limit themselves to searching only in the central area of the forest as the range of the explosion had reached tens of kilometers and the shockwave had easily spread out beyond, therefore, the treasures could easily have fallen in the outer areas of the forest.

The only thing that calmed the anxious hearts of Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue a bit was the fact that at least they were sure that there were no humans near this area able to steal the treasures. As for the beasts, they were not yet smart enough to learn how valuable such things were so they would definitely not stop for more than a few seconds at the sight of a small glowing orb.

After wandering for about a hundred kilometers with the center of the explosion as the main direction, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue were finally able to find two yellow colored Magic-grade treasure orbs, a skill scroll, and a Second Order Poison-type Soul Stone.

Gathering at the outer perimeter of the central area of the forest after about twenty minutes of searching, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the items resting on the surface of the trunk of a large tree that had been neatly cut down.

"So this is it..." Bai Zemin felt a little bitter.

"Well, there might be more things but it will be hard to find them unless we spend days inside this forest." Shangguan Bing Xue pointed out.

Although this particular forest was slightly smaller than the forest where the military camp was located and where the army of hundreds of thousands of spiders appeared, it was still a very large forest; this was especially the case after mutating. Therefore, it was not a simple task to find such small objects in the midst of such darkness.

"I don't think that's good either. Even though your strength increased a lot after absorbing a portion of the Second Order giant ape's Soul Power, there are probably a few more Second Order beasts that still remain in the central area... The only reason they haven't moved yet is probably because they sensed the death of three beings that were similar to them, which somehow warned them of the imminent danger." Bai Zemin reasoned the situation with his head as calm as possible.

In a forest as large as this one, Bai Zemin refused to believe that only three Second Order beings existed. Even he might end up dying if he was careless, let alone Shangguan Bing Xue who was considerably weaker than him.

"Yes... That's why I think we'd better settle for this." She nodded as she gently rubbed her eyes. After a pause, she pointed out, "Besides, according to what you told me, that Second Order spider's level barely crossed the level 50 threshold. Considering that your strength and that spider's strength weren't that far apart compared to the ape and the tiger, I think the spider didn't necessarily have enough Soul Power to form a treasure of Epic magnitude."

Bai Zemin thought about it for a moment, and after considering it better, he realized that Shangguan Bing Xue's words actually made a lot of sense.

"Although it's a pity that there isn't another Epic grade treasure nor is there a new construction plan, our harvest tonight could be considered quite great." He finally relaxed a bit.

"Five Magic grade treasures, two construction plans, one Epic grade treasure, two Second Order Soul Stones, and many valuable Second Order materials among which is the exquisite and valuable meat of such evolved beings..." Shangguan Bing Xue muttered under her breath before she giggled softly and said, "I also gained a friend as well. Tonight could be considered fruitful no matter how you look at it... Of course, that's if you leave aside the fact that you almost killed us both."

Cough! Cough!

At first, Shangguan Bing Xue's statement was extremely logical and Bai Zemin found himself nodding automatically. However, when he heard the end of her sentence, his face turned green and he couldn't help but cough a couple of times awkwardly.

Crimson Blood Judgment was already a double-edged sword from the beginning. After all, it was a skill with great power that did not know how to differentiate between allies and enemies; it simply destroyed everything in its path without any control.

But not content with this, Bai Zemin added Gravity Manipulation x15... Another double-edged sword. In the end, as a consequence of using two double-edged swords, Bai Zemin almost ended up burying himself and Shangguan Bing Xue forever in this forest crowded with wild beasts.

"The important thing is that the skill served its purpose." He concluded.

"Hehehe... I guess we can leave it like this." She covered her mouth with one hand and chuckled softly before finally deciding to stop teasing him.

Bai Zemin shook his head and in his heart he forced a smile as seeing the woman's attitude to him.

He would really need some time to get used to this Shangguan Bing Xue. After all, in Bai Zemin's mind, she was a cold woman who talked little and generally only killed evolved beings. Therefore, the drastic change now that she had opened up to him and trusted him was something he still needed to properly adapt to.

After picking up all the spoils of war obtained and storing them inside their bags, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue turned into two shadows that soon disappeared amidst the fierce storm. 

The two continued to chat in whispers as they charged toward the outside area.

"I need a hot shower." She complained in a low voice.

"Believe me, I understand you..." He sighed as he felt his body completely soaked.

"Then I need to sleep." She continued.

"Believe me, I understand you..." He repeated, again sighing.

"I could eat something first though." 

"Believe me, I understand you..."

"Hey... Are you listening to me?"

"Believe me, I... Na, I'm kidding."

"..."

The two chatted calmly with each other, occasionally joking lightly to lighten the still somewhat heavy mood a bit. After all, they had just experienced a great deal of danger in just an hour or two.

Especially Shangguan Bing Xue, who was not only almost blown to pieces by Bai Zemin's Crimson Blood Judgment but also had a duel to the death against the giant Second Order ape.

However, a few minutes later and just as they reached the outer perimeter of the inner zone, the sound of gunshots and roars made the expression of both of them change at the same time.

Neither of them said anything and as if they thought alike their bodies moved forward at a much higher speed than before, disappearing like ghosts in the middle of the night.

* * *

Boom!

Yan Tu swung ferociously with his bone mace whose size had been tripled thanks to his Gigantic skill, forcing a huge five-meter bear to retreat several steps. However, he had no time to rest as he immediately felt every hair on his body shiver at the approaching danger.

Hastily he turned his body and slammed his mace again to stop a huge tail flying towards him like a flexible whip.

Bang!

The First Order mutated snake hissed in pain as it hastily backed away. Several scales on its body were broken and the cracked skin allowed blood to slide down endlessly. 

Although the snake had been injured and slowly the wounds on its body increased with each collision, Yan Tu's hands were also numb and stained with his own blood because although his Strength was high and the toughness of his body supernatural, after so many collisions against such powerful animals, even he was finally starting to falter, barely enduring thanks to his advanced level and combat experience.

Immediately after that, an approximately two-meter tall monkey whose tail seemed to have several thorns along its length jumped up and slashed with its claws over thirty centimeters long towards Yan Tu's back. If this strike connected, then it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yan Tu's body could be cut into two pieces!

"Watch out!" Kang Lan exclaimed from a distance as she struggled to hold back a First Order mutated flower that was attacking from afar with tentacle-like vines. No matter how many poisonous spells Kang Lan cast, the dead vines grew back seemingly relentlessly.

Yan Tu gritted his teeth and used all his combat experience to lean his body to the side as he took a step forward with no more time to dodge.

Swoosh!

The monkey's claw cut a large chunk of flesh and Yan Tu was sent flying five meters forward, falling heavily and then rolling over a huge pool of blood belonging to the mutated beasts he had killed. He grimaced in pain and his sweat-filled face was mercilessly whipped by the endless raindrops.

With no other choice, he scrambled to his feet and with a quick glance saw how his leather armor had been ripped just below the ribs. As his armor barely had 110 defense points, it failed to resist the claws enhanced by the monkey's skill and he finally ended up wounded.

However, he was relieved that he managed to react in time or he would be history at this moment.

Flash!

A sphere of white light flashed in the middle of the night, flying towards Yan Tu at lightning speed. Before Yan Tu could even react, that white light hit him... However, instead of hurting him, the white light entered his body and he soon felt his wounds begin to heal at a far faster speed than before.

This ball of white light had been released by Kang Lan, who was fighting several tens of meters away. She had activated Lesser Healing at the first instance to support Yan Tu as she was well aware that if he fell then those three First Order beasts would unleash a one-sided massacre which would lead to the human side losing this battle.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Although it was only a brief instant, a second or two at most from the moment of the skill's activation and release, Kang Lan had to look away from her enemy. The mutant plant naturally gave her no rest nor did it care if its enemy was attentive, so it immediately waved three vines forward and cut off the raging wind.

One vine was aimed at Kang Lan's head, another at her chest, and the other at her abdomen. 

Kang Lan knew immediately that she would not have time to evade this attack with her current condition. Therefore, she hurriedly activated her strongest movement and escape skill to save her life at the last second.

The lightning crackled and the vines struck the air before retracting once again.

Ten meters distant, Kang Lan gasped as her hair stuck to her face. Her glasses had long ago been lost in the midst of the battle and her vision was slightly blurred, which if not for her constant evolution would have been countless times worse.

On her body, blue lightning flashed one after another, which was a clear indication that she had just activated Lightning Movement.

The problem was that she was not Bai Zemin or Shangguan Bing Xue... Her Mana barely amounted to just over 150 points at this moment, and the activation of Lightning Movement had directly consumed 40 points!

The situation was not looking good at all for the base fighters.

* * * * * * *

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