zChapter 977 - Underwater thrills
Chapter 977: Underwater thrills
Just as the mirror shards flew at them, a bright light exploded into being, forcing everyone to shut their eyes. By the time they opened them, they realized they were out of the water and enclosed without a large light sphere. Outside was liquid, but inside was completely dry. Even their clothes had lost all moisture. They didn’t even have to hold their breath, but could breathe naturally.
Han Yunxi, Long Feiye, and Xu Donglin were all familiar with this sensation. This was the Mermaid Clan’s Lightstream Ball, capable of separating humans from the water. The mermaid soldiers had used the same thing to funnel Han Yunxi and Long Feiye away from the maze at Lost Void Lake. Every member of the clan was capable of producing such a sphere, but the size and duration of each sphere varied. Baili Mingxiang was a direct bloodline descendant of the Mermaid Clan, so she was much stronger than a typical mermaid soldier. Moreover, the state of the Lightstream Ball could reflect the condition of its host. Judging from its luminosity and stability, Long Feiye could tell that Baili Mingxiang was injured.
Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao had never seen this before. At first, they thought it was another illusion, but when they saw Baili Mingxiang swimming outside, they realized what was going on.
Thank goodness!
The girl had made it back at the last possible second. Gu Qishao touched the walls of the Lightstream Ball and felt like he’d touched nothing but a stream of air. It didn’t seem real at all. He looked around in amazement and muttered, “So powerful, why didn’t you use this earlier?”
That’s right!
With Baili Mingxiang’s skills, saving them in the water was as easy as turning over her palm. Just what had she been doing all this time? Long Feiye and Han Yunxi looked at Baili Mingxiang wordlessly. Meanwhile, she circled around the sphere once and waved to them before speeding off to one side. The Lightstream Ball was seemingly summoned to follow in her wake.
At first, the waters were calm, but soon Long Feiye sensed something wrong. “Something’s going on underwater!”
It took less than the time to brew half a cup of tea before they saw more and more air bubbles rising from the depths. What was this?
“What’s going on?” Han Yunxi asked.
Long Feiye shook his head. He rarely went underwater and had never seen such a phenomenon.
“Ask Baili Mingxiang. Why isn’t she saying anything?” Gu Qishao asked.
“She’s outside, so we can’t hear her voice. She can’t hear us either,” Long Feiye explained.
If he didn’t guess wrong, then the water currents outside must be massive. They couldn’t sense it here beyond the presence of the air bubbles. Baili Mingxiang seemed to be helping them escape, but just how serious were her injuries? Her normal speed underwater wasn’t anything like this!
In the middle of their conversation, a huge wave rose from the depths and raised the Lightstream Ball up high. Long Feiye quickly held on tight to Han Yunxi while spreading his legs to stand still so the two wouldn’t go flying. Gu Qishao and the rest weren’t so lucky and ended up crashing around the Lightstream Ball without cease. Very soon, Long Feiye stretched out a hand, undid his whip, and lashed it towards Gu Beiyue.
“Grab on!”
As soon as Gu Beiyue caught the whip, Long Feiye reeled him in so he could hold onto him like a pillar. Then he lashed his whip between Gu Qishao and Xu Donglin. Unfortunately, the Lightstream Ball was abruptly smashed by another wave that sent the entire sphere shuddering. Gu Qishao and Xu Donglin were thrown to the side as a result.
For the third time, Long Feiye used his whip. This time it landed on Xu Donglin’s body, allowing him to grab on and get pulled in.
“Look after Gu Beiyue!” Long Feiye shouted at him.
Xu Donglin was angry at himself. He was in charge of protecting Gu Beiyue, but he’d utterly failed! The doctor’s body was so sickly that a few extra tremors would leave him half-dead. Below their feet, wave after wave crashed against their sphere, each stronger than the last. If they hadn’t found a foothold to begin with, it would be nearly impossible to find one now. Gu Qishao was already squatting on the ground, but he’d hardly had time to circulate his qi when the Lightstream Ball was buffeted by a fresh wave, knocking him off his feet. Long Feiye didn’t plan on helping him out, but Gu Qishao wasn’t expecting him to anyways. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi was preoccupied with the water outside them. She could see Baili Mingxiang’s body sinking and floating amidst the waves, her form flickering in and out.
“Just what is Mingxiang doing?” she couldn’t help asking.
She’d hardly spoken when a massive sea serpent flew past the Lightstream Sphere, giving her a fright. If Long Feiye hadn’t been holding her, she would have jumped into the air.
Too horrific!
The sea serpent was humongous, at least twice as big as the Ten-Thousand Year Python they’d met once upon a time. Three people were needed to hug its girth! Its body was black and devoid of scales. If it hadn’t caused such a commotion swimming up, Han Yunxi and the rest might never have noticed its existence. Its body blended in perfectly with their shadowy surroundings.
The most frightening thing of all was that they had yet to see its tail, as its long black body was still swimming up past them. But once it past, the waves in the water abruptly stopped. Gu Qishao finally found his footing and shot Long Feiye a cold glare. Unfortunately, Long Feiye didn’t notice. While everyone started looking for the snake’s tail, they temporarily forgot about Baili Mingxiang. Now Han Yunxi exclaimed, “Where’s Mingxiang? Why has she disappeared?”
As soon as she spoke, the Lightstream Ball gave a shudder as a massive snake ahead appeared from behing them and opened its bloody maw!
That was probably the first time Gu Qishao had been scared in his life. The mouth facing them was big enough to swallow four to five men at once. Han Yunxi’s side of the sphere had yet to notice anything when Gu Qishao pointed a shaking finger. “Poison lass, be…behind you guys!”
Han Yunxi’s group turned back and saw nothing but a bright red tongue and wicked large fangs at their backs. It was so close that they would’ve been swallowed up if not for the Lightstream Ball’s protection. Still, they edged away from the jaws. The massive snake seemed to be sizing up the ball with its jaws to see if it could swallow them in one gulp. Han Yunxi felt her hairs stand on end, but she still didn’t forget Baili Mingxiang.
“It couldn’t have eaten Mingxiang, right?” she asked worriedly.
“The Lightstream Ball is still here, which means she’s still alive. I bet it was this snake that kept her behind beforehand,” Long Feiye said.
He eyes darted left and right, trying to gauge the snake’s true size while calculating how long it’d take for him to kill it if he left the sphere.
“If she really was eaten, then she’s still alive in its stomach. But she’ll choke to death before long!” Han Yunxi said.
Gu Qishao and the rest began to search for Baili Mingxiang’s whereabouts, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
“Long Feiye, we need to save her!” Han Yunxi declared. Whether it was for public or private interest, Baili Mingxiang needed to live! They could hardly cast her aside since they’d be dead if she perished with the Lightstream Ball. The conditions of the sphere allowed anyone within it to go out, but to enter again, they’d need Baili Mingxiang’s help.
“First, find out where she is!” Long Feiye murmured. He hadn’t shifted his sights from the giant snake as he tried to find the best speed and technique to slice it in one shot without making massive waves that would affect the people inside the Lightstream Sphere.
But the snake was truly too big. All of the waves they felt before must have come from its swimming upwards. If he couldn’t defeat it fast enough, Heaven knows what kind of waves they’d make in their wake.
Suddenly, Han Yunxi cried out. “Baili Mingxiang’s over there! Right there!”
They saw her directly beneath the Lightstream Ball as she rose from the shadows. Close up, Han Yunxi could finally see her face and body. Her clothes were torn, and wounds littered her frame. Even her beautiful face was riddled with cuts, as if something sharp had sliced her. Neither Han Yunxi nor the men by her side made a sound.
As they watched, Baili Mingxiang swam soundlessly past the Lightstream Ball with her sword in one hand, drawing closer to the massive snake’s head. It was quite calm, still opening and closing its mouth to try and eat them whole. Baili Mingxiang was already very close, but it still hadn’t noticed a thing. Everyone’s gazes followed her as their tension rose.
Abruptly, Baili Mingxiang stopped. Seeing thing, they knew she was about to strike. If she could stab quickly and accurately enough, then her sword would slice through the snake’s head. Without it, it would die.
Just as she prepared to strike, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi cried out.
“I’m going out!” “Long Feiye, we can’t let Baili Mingxiang take such a big risk!”
Here was a group of men whose martial arts skills all outranked Baili Mingxiang, Gu Beiyue excepted. How could they let her face such dangers alone? Suppose she failed to kill the snake? Wouldn’t it bite back mercilessly? Since Baili Mingxiang was currently unharmed, they had no lingering fears. Long Feiye himself was enough to slay the snake.
As he prepared to leave, Han Yunxi remained holding onto his hand. “I’ll go with you!”
“Alright,” Long Feiye didn’t refuse. Once they left, Gu Qishao was quick to follow behind, leaving Xu Donglin alone to look after Gu Beiyue in the Lightstream Ball.
The big snake had just shut its mouth and was going to try agan when it noticed figures coming out of the ball. At the same time, it discovered Baili Mingxiang.
When Baili Mingxiang saw His Highness, the princess, and Gu Qishao coming out to help, tears poured down her face.