At a fairly close distance from the Cosmos Gate that connected through a space passage the Oblon world with planet Earth, Shangguan Bing Xue was fighting against a Second Order existence.

The battle had begun no more than a few minutes ago but was already nearing its end.

"Bitch..." The woman of the asura race growled.

She too was a beauty, but in front of Shangguan Bing Xue who looked like a goddess among mortals, she was lacking quite a bit; besides, the fact that her body was riddled with frostbitten wounds didn't help at all.

"I've heard those words so many times throughout my life that I've lost count.... If you want to make me angry or alter my mood, I'm afraid you're losing your breath." Shangguan Bing Xue replied in a cold voice. Suddenly, her pink lips curved slightly upwards and while looking at the woman in front of her she said in a playful voice, "But how about you keep trying, old granny?"

Old granny?! The woman of the asura race immediately went berserk. She naturally knew that the enemy she was facing was actually extremely young and even though the asura woman knew that she could actually be considered quite a young woman considering her natural life expectancy, the truth was that effectively; in front of the silver-haired woman, she was nothing but an old granny.

"Die!" The asura woman roared, enraged as a tigress.

She had been forced back over and over again by the silver-haired woman in front of her and her wound-riddled body caused her great pain with every step she took. Her mood was already on the floor after being humiliated by a First Order existence and the final taunting words had finally worn down the asura lady's patience.

Unfortunately, while anger was a good source of power and strength; losing her mind in the midst of combat was not necessarily the best thing to do. There was no shortage of cases where the powerful fell under the schemes of the weak but intelligent.

Seeing the Second Order woman charging towards her as her sword flared with crimson flames, Shangguan Bing Xue's expression remained calm. She simply jumped back with the elegance of a butterfly flapping amidst the breeze and even though what covered her body was not a dress but a cloak torn here and there, her beauty did not diminish at all.

The Second Order woman struck the ground and a crater of several hundred meters immediately formed followed by a torrent of flames that exploded everywhere. However, just as she planned to continue forward, a sky-blue magic circle glowed beneath her feet and an instant later a column of ice over five meters high and about a meter wide rose into the sky sealing her inside.

Shangguan Bing Xue lunged forward as lightning crackled over her gorgeous body and when she reached the ice pillar she stabbed mercilessly towards her enemy's throat.

The asura woman's eyes trembled and even though the ice was being melted by her flames quickly, it was already too late for her as the tip of the sword stabbed deep into her throat.

[You have absorbed the Soul Power of Second Order Shima level 86.....]

Shangguan Bing Xue slowly pulled out her sword from the ice pillar and set her flawless palm on the cold but smooth surface.

Bang!

The ice pillar exploded into countless crystalline fragments. As for the woman's body; the only thing left of her was a Soul Stone.

Shangguan Bing Xue picked up the Second Order Soul Stone without any happiness on her face.

To her, probably only peak Second Order existences could present any challenge at present; that was how powerful she had become compared to her previous one before coming to this world..... Of course, the current Shangguan Bing Xue was also enhanced by 20% by the effect of the Destroyer of Destroyers title; an effect which would disappear once she returned to Earth. Still, even without the title, she was confident of defeating practically all Second Order existences with relative ease.

As for why she could not rejoice at all despite her feat; a feat which less than four hours ago would have been impossible to achieve...

"The explosions stopped." She muttered under her breath.

Her blue eyes looked off into the distance with concern impossible to hide.

It had been several minutes since the battle had ended and despite her confidence in Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue could not help but feel extremely worried. After all, this was the first time Bai Zemin had met an enemy capable of standing up to him for so long and it clearly meant that the battle he was going through was far from being like any other fight in the past.

As she felt her heart beating wildly and her palms were drenched with sweat, she suddenly noticed a familiar aura slowly approaching.

Shangguan Bing Xue rushed forward at full speed with no more concern for the task of protecting the rift that led to Earth.

In a matter of seconds, she saw a person walking with some difficulty in a southerly direction.

Who else could it be but Bai Zemin?

"You... What happened to you?!" She asked in astonishment as she saw the miserable condition Bai Zemin was in.

His luxurious black armor was in shreds, his torso capable of attracting any woman's eyes was riddled with charred holes and on his chest, she could still see the bloody wound from before. Moreover, every step he took seemed to be extremely difficult to accomplish and the tired look in his eyes spoke louder than a thousand words.

Although Shangguan Bing Xue had already seen Bai Zemin end up in bad conditions similar to his current one, back then their relationship was not like today. Therefore, the fear and worry Shangguan Bing Xue felt at the possible loss of a loved one could not be compared to the past.

"I'm okay, it's not as bad as it seems." Bai Zemin chuckled and wanted to joke but his brow furrowed as deep pain assaulted him from the chest area.

"That's being okay? You're an idiot?" Shangguan Bing Xue scolded and stepped forward to support him.

"Thank you." Bai Zemin let her bring his left arm behind the back of her neck and rested some of his weight on her.

The two walked in silence for a few steps until Bai Zemin remembered something and commented with a faint smile: 

"Hey, Bing Xue."

"Mm?"

"Do you remember when we were still in college?"

"Of course I do remember. It was the beginning of everything, it's impossible to forget... Why do you ask?"

"Well, do you remember back then? When I went out to get medicine at the campus pharmacy?"

"Oh! Now that you mention it... Back then you were too full of yourself and didn't want anyone to help you so you decided to go by yourself. In the end, when I went out to look for you, I found you in such a bad state that you couldn't even stand up properly."

"Hey, at that time I was only level 15 and the creature I was facing was a giant beetle that had not only entered the First Order but was even beyond level 30 and even possessed a powerful fire skill that surrounded its entire body."

"Well, if you had listened to me back then, with my ice skill it could have all been a lot easier and you wouldn't have had to suffer burns of such magnitude."

"Back then I didn't know you, I couldn't trust you. Besides, you didn't particularly like me either, did you?"

"... Back then I thought of you as an arrogant bastard who had gained some strength and that power had gone to your head."

"Hahahaha."

"And you? What was your first impression of me?"

"My first impression of you? Well, as I said before. You were a well-known figure at the university, unlike me.... Nevertheless, my impression of you was nil until the apocalypse broke out.... Do you really want to know what I thought of you back then?"

".... Just say it."

"For the record, you asked for it.... In my eyes, you looked no different than an overly full of herself bitch."

".... My fragile heart will break."

"..."

...

Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue reminisced about old times while chatting with each other as they got closer and closer to the spatial rift.

Perhaps neither of them noticed or perhaps neither of them found it important or strange, but if there were a third person from the Transcendent faction present, they would undoubtedly be surprised to see how intimate they looked as they walked together with their bodies pressed against each other as if in each other's arms.

Neither Bai Zemin nor Shangguan Bing Xue wondered how Wu Yijun and Chen He would view them in this kind of situation. After all, from the point of view of both of them, there was nothing unusual about what they were doing.

After several minutes, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue were only 100 meters away from the spatial rift and both of them looked at it silently for several seconds.

They had only been on the Oblon world for about five or six hours but for both of them it felt as if a lifetime had passed.

It all started here.

"It will all end here." Bai Zemin said in a deep voice and slowly withdrew his arm with which he was relying on Shangguan Bing Xue.

"Bai Zemin?" She looked at him in confusion and took a step back to give him more space.

Bai Zemin said nothing and instead slammed his greatsword hard against the ground.

Boom!

A crater over 300 meters in diameter immediately got formed as the weight of the weapon rested on the scorched earth.

"Bing Xue, stay close to the crack and prepare to erect your strongest defense when I give you my signal."

Seeing Shangguan Bing Xue looking at him blankly, Bai Zemin was about to explain the situation. But fortunately or not, it was not necessary.

Shangguan Bing Xue's body shivered like an autumn leaf in the middle of a storm being blown away by the strong winds. Her beautiful face turned pale white and her lips lost their seductive color in a matter of milliseconds. 

"Wh- What... Wh- What..." She couldn't even speak clearly as she looked away in fear.

Right. Fear. But this fear was not fear of losing a loved one; this fear was a more natural one and one that everyone at some point in life felt.

For the first time in who knows how many years, Shangguan Bing Xue felt fear of another living being.

The atmosphere began to shudder and the heavens seemed on the verge of tears. The earth rumbled slightly as if an impending earthquake were approaching and the red clouds exploded into torrents of fire that as if it were the punishment of god sending uncontrolled flares over the world.

Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes and a vicious glint crossed his gaze for a second before disappearing. His lips curved imperceptibly upward as every cell and every fiber of his entire existence screamed danger.

Bai Zemin did not consider himself a masochist by any means. But ever since he killed that mutated bee on Day 1 of the apocalypse, the thrill that danger generated in him was so great that it made him want to roar towards the heavens.

"This feeling where adrenaline runs wild and runs freely like a runaway horse through my veins.... This thrill of facing great dangers in exchange for great rewards.... It really is the best!" 

The approaching existence was far from anything else Bai Zemin or Shangguan Bing Xue had ever felt in their lives.

Even the mighty Glineira was an insect in comparison!

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