Chapter 80: Yue Qingyao
Laura turned back to look at the lord on the city tower, her axe pointing directly at his head, and said, "If I die, wrap my body in the flag, pick up my weapon, and keep fighting."
With that, she swung her giant axe around, slicing the soldiers on the execution platform in half.
A grand upheaval in the apocalypse was initiated in the Prussian Empire.
Far away, in the northern region of the Daxia Kingdom, Mount Changbai was covered in a pristine blanket of snow, burying the entire peak.
A stunning woman, with bright eyes and exquisite features, leaned against a large tree. Her delicate face looked a bit frail, and her graceful body was tightly wrapped in a flowing celestial dress, yet still couldn't hide her impressive figure.
After regulating her breathing, Yue Qingyao gritted her teeth against the sharp pain in her abdomen and struggled to stand. Her abdomen was pierced by a longsword, and the blood seeping out had stained her bluish-white dress. The cold had slightly frozen the blood, preventing her from losing consciousness due to excessive blood loss. Yue Qingyao began to curiously survey this unfamiliar world.
"Where am I? I remember being pursued by my junior sister and jumping off a cliff to end my life. How did I end up here?"
In the distance, several mindless figures were shambling toward Yue Qingyao. She frowned, thinking these people resembled living dead controlled by some kind of insect.
The zombies' rancid breath was palpable, and their claws seemed poised to tear her apart. There was no time for further thought. Yue Qingyao swiftly pulled the hairpin from her head. Engraved with strange runes and made from a material neither gold nor jade, it was her mother's relicโa mystery even to Yue Qingyao.
As soon as the hairpin touched her hand, it transformed into a sharp longsword. Snowflakes landed on the blade, adding an icy chill.
With her long hair loose over her shoulders, she resembled a cold fairy standing atop the icy mountain, staring coolly at the approaching zombies. Although her dantian had been pierced by her junior sister Yue Qingge, leaving her powerless and broken, her swordsmanship, honed since childhood, remained. These shambling, mindless zombies were no match for her.
The sword in her hand moved like a silver serpent, accompanied by her agile movements. She pierced the hearts of several zombies in an instant. However, these fatal wounds had no effect on the undead.
The zombies turned and roared angrily at Yue Qingyao, arms outstretched, still intent on attack.
Her cold face furrowed slightly. It seemed these beings were indeed under the control of some strange force that allowed them to ignore fatal heart wounds, becoming pain-immune undead.
Wondering whether decapitating them would stop their movements, she skillfully wielded her sword. Just as she suspected, severing their heads halted their actions entirely. The corpses collapsed at her feet.
What's this?
Yue Qingyao discovered a fingernail-sized red crystal inside the skull of one zombie, emanating a weak spiritual energy. With caution, she extracted the crystal using her sword, examining it closely in her hand.
It resembled the energy cores found in beasts on the Heavenly Spirit Continent, condensing this world's force into a crystal. Despite its low energy, it was perfectly suited for Yue Qingyao, now devoid of spiritual power. It was gentle and easy to absorb.
Operating similarly to beast cores, the crystal's energy could be directed into her body through mindful control, enhancing her cultivation.
However, unlike beast cores, this crystal's energy absorbed rapidly without loss. In just a brief moment, she had wholly absorbed the energy from five crystals, which then dissipated into thin air.
During absorption, Yue Qingyao noticed her abdominal wound beginning to heal slowly. Though gradual, it was perceptible to her keen senses.
An amazing crystal! More effective than spiritual stones, and capable of healing injuries.
After contemplating, she conservatively estimated that a hundred more crystals could completely heal her wound, with a possibility of reconstructing her dantian.
"Yue Qingge, you didn't foresee me surviving after falling off a cliff. I, Yue Qingyao, will remember this day and return to the Heavenly Spirit Continent to avenge your treacherous strike."
With that, Yue Qingyao steadied her recovering body and descended the mountain, searching for more zombies to extract the crystals and heal herself, reigniting her cultivation.
Meanwhile, Ye Zian followed the voices from the radio to a plaza.
Inside a building behind the plaza, Huizi had quietly infiltrated. Dozens of young men were scattered across the first floor, armed and guarding the hall. The captured female members were restrained in a corner of the building's ground floor.
Their hands were tied behind their backs, and cloth stuffed in their mouths to keep them silent. Observing from a distance, Huizi noted, though several were severely injured, they were still aliveโa testament to the raiders' task to capture them alive as instructed by Su Chen.
A horse-faced youth, bored, suggested casually to the leader nearby, "Boss, how about we have some fun first?"
Despite feeling tempted by the suggestion, a scarred man barely managed to speak before his throat was pierced by a light blue crossbow bolt, clutching at his spurting arterial wound.
Waiting long for a response, the horse-faced youth raised his head only to see Huizi appear in the hall, swiftly flinging hidden weapons at the guards present.
Each projectile found its mark, targeting the throat. Taken by surprise, many guards fell before they could react, with Huizi swiftly eliminating most of them.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack."
The youth's attempt to shout was cut short as a short blade slit his throat. In less than a minute, Huizi had dispatched about fifteen guards.
With no other intruders nearby, Huizi sliced the ropes of the less injured team members, who promptly set about freeing their comrades. Huizi remained vigilant, ensuring no one returned unexpectedly.
A female team member whispered, "Captain Huizi, aside from five severely injured companions unable to move, the remaining twenty-seven are combat-ready."
Nodding, Huizi retrieved crossbows from Ruoxue's spatial ring, distributing them among the able women, who hid in the shadows, prepared to ambush the returning invaders.
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๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ค ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ ๐ข๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฎ. ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐!
๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐ ๐๐ผ:
โข ๐ฝ๐ค๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐จ๐๐ช
โข ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ
โข ๐ผ๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ:
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐: ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฑ+ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐.
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐๐-๐ข๐๐: ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ!
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐. ๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ท๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐!
๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ: ๐๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐ฃ.๐๐ค๐ข/๐๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ง