Not to mention the powerless survivors; even Chen He and Liang Peng had changes in their expressions when they saw the debris of different sizes scattered everywhere. The entire place looked as if several bombs had blown up the foundations of nearby buildings and demolished them in the process!
"What... What happened here?" Chen He muttered dumbfounded. Although his words were uttered unconsciously, everyone heard him clearly due to how awfully quiet the atmosphere was.
"No need to worry." Bai Zemin broke the silence and continued to move forward.
"No need to worry..." Chen He looked at Bai Zemin's back and wondered if this person had gone crazy. If there was no need to worry about this, then what were they going to worry about? However, another person spoke up just then:
"Let's continue. It should be fine." Shangguan Bing Xue gently shook her head and also slowly moved forward.
"This..." Chen He did not know what to say. His childhood friend had also gone crazy? Since the world changed, Shangguan Bing Xue's attitude had changed a little compared to his memories; this was something confused for the talented archer.
Actually, it wasn't that she had changed; Shangguan Bing Xue was simply adapting to the new world and learning the new rules for survival. Simple as that.
Being forced by the fighters who protected both sides of the diamond, Chen He and Liang Peng had no choice but to move forward. As a consequence, all the survivors were forced to walk whether they wanted to or not, after all, they could not survive alone as they lacked the power to do so.
* * *
"My God..."
"What... What is that creepy thing...?"
"Beetle? How can there be such a big beetle?!"
When the group of more than twenty people arrived at the place where the body of the First Order Blazing Beetle lay inert, it didn't matter if it was Chen He and Liang Peng or if it was a powerless survivor; they all gasped and took a step back.
Seeing the creature's body that was over three meters tall and looked similar to a small flesh building, they were all shocked beyond words. Moreover, when they looked at that mighty horn and its long legs, they all felt as if their hair stood on end just imagining having to face something like that.
"What other monster could have been able to kill this terrifying beast?" Liang Peng couldn't help but slowly reach out and touch the elephant beetle's shell only to be surprised to realize that it felt like he was touching cold metal.
"Apparently the monster that fought this elephant beetle cut off a large part of its head." Chen He noticed a large amount of dried blood running down the creature's slashed neck and quickly came to the conclusion.
Shangguan Bing Xue simply stood silently as she stared at the giant beetle. Only she knew that the cause of all this was probably the man who was even younger than her and the person who had had the least interaction with the rest of the group.
"I wonder if the big monster that defeated this First Order beetle is also a monster in bed~" Lilith joked as she listened to the humans' conversation. She would never miss a chance to tease him as she loved his reactions.
As for the "monster" that had ended the life of the First Order Blazing Beetle, Bai Zemin, he almost spits out two liters of old blood when he heard the words of the beautiful succubus beside him.
This woman really didn't know when to give up! Bai Zemin secretly gritted his teeth, trying not to imagine wild scenes.
Ignoring everyone's gaze and not caring about their comments, he walked towards the head of the giant elephant beetle and jumped approximately three meters with a loud stomp.
Seeing this scene everyone was amazed and astonished. A three-meter high jump was something that in the past would be taken as superhuman, but now it was happening before their very eyes.
Fu Xuefeng clenched his fists tightly as he secretly vowed to become powerful enough to perform such feats. Cai Jingyi and the other two students also had resolute looks in their eyes, further reinforcing the idea of becoming stronger.
"Are you sure it's here?" Bai Zemin whispered softly as he approached the giant beetle's forehead.
"Little Zemin, are you doubting the older sister?" Lilith folded her arms, emphasizing her already big attributes even more.
Cough... Bai Zemin quickly turned his gaze away as he secretly cursed her.
Without further ado and under everyone's confused gaze, Bai Zemin wielded the Xuanyuan Sword and using the tip easily pierced the beetle's flesh. He cut several centimeters deep until he reached about half a meter before finally stopping.
Bai Zemin stuck his right arm in as he put the sword down for a moment and rummaged around before finally pulling his now blood-filled arm back out. However, his attention was on the dark yellow rock the size of a baby's fist in his hands.
The rock was not perfect and had many imperfections in it. However, its glow was extremely enchanting.
"That's a First Order Soul Stone fire element." Lilith nodded and slowly explained, "I had previously overlooked it as it is not valuable to me, but to the current you, it is. Soul Stones are used to evolve skills, boost the power of spells cast from the same element, and can even boost treasures as long as you find a person with the Blacksmith class and enough ability. In short, Soul Stones have many other uses that you will slowly learn about."
Bai Zemin's eyes glittered when he heard her words. Such a treasure had almost been overlooked and fortunately Lilith remembered it or else he would have no tears to cry later.
The more time passed, the more he realized how valuable the help that Lilith was giving him was. While he could learn all of this on his own as time went by, the truth was that it was an extremely big advantage in the beginning.
Without saying a word, Bai Zemin took out a plastic bag from his backpack and carefully put away the First Order Soul Stone before putting it back into his backpack. Then, he took out an empty bottle and began to draw blood from the beetle.
He had not forgotten the requirements to evolve his Blood Manipulation skill to Second Order. It was so difficult to defeat the First Order Blazing Beetle and his life was close to ending on so many occasions that Bai Zemin couldn't even imagine defeating nine other similar or more powerful creatures... Worse yet, he also needed to defeat a Second Order monster!
One step at a time... One step at a time. Bai Zemin sighed as he continued his work.
While everyone was dumbfounded, Shangguan Bing Xue's beautiful eyes glittered and without saying a word to anyone, she walked away from the group.
"Bing Xue? Where are you going?" Chen He called out to her but was completely ignored.
A few seconds later and just when Bai Zemin had finished filling several bottles of blood just in case, Shangguan Bing Xue came back walking like an ice goddess.
"That woman is smart." Lilith praised as she looked at the silver-haired woman. "She went back to look for the body of the mutated dog that was frozen to death three days ago to obtain its Soul Stone."
"What, those creatures have too?" Bai Zemin was dumbfounded.
"Not all of them." Lilith shook her head and slowly explained, "Even evolved creatures don't necessarily form a Soul Stone. Besides, the value of an unranked creature is far less valuable than a Soul Stone from an officially evolved creature... But still, it's valuable to you."
F*ck its mother... Looks like I should go find the mantis corpse when I get the opportunity. Bai Zemin sighed and after washing his hands with some water he climbed down from the giant beetle's body.
Bang!
Suddenly a bang sound forced Bai Zemin to look in that direction and when he saw the scene his face became a little strange. Not only he had that strange reaction; Chen He, the rest of the survivors, and even the cold and indifferent Shangguan Bing Xue had strange looks plastered on their faces.
Lilith looked at the scene with a touch of amusement as well, waiting to see what would happen next.