"Xuan Lao!"
Xuan Zi's appearance immediately brought joyful smiles to the still-conscious Zhang Lexuan, Ma Xiaotao, Su Meng, Han Ruoruo, and Shen Xu. The taut string in their hearts suddenly snapped, and an unprecedented fatigue overwhelmed their consciousness. Han Ruoruo and Shen Xu both fainted directly, while Su Meng gritted her teeth and moved the unconscious together.
Although Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao were also very tired, they did not faint. They were still gritting their teeth and persevering.
"Children, it's my fault! I'm late!" Xuan Zi's old face was full of self-reproach, his eyes red as he spoke.
"Xuan Lao, Ziyang is gone!" Ma Xiaotao didn't pay attention to Xuan Zi's words, but instead cried out anxiously.
"!" Xuan Zi's expression changed instantly upon hearing this. He then realized that the team of thirteen now only had ten people left!
"Xuan Lao, Ziyang was sent flying by the Nethermoon Forest Boa Emperor's dying backlash, in that direction. Please go find him quickly!" Zhang Lexuan forced herself to stand up, pointing the direction to Xuan Zi and saying, "There's no great danger here anymore, but Ziyang is too dangerous alone. His spirit power is completely depleted. Please go find him quickly!"
Xuan Zi was now extremely anxious. Zhu Ziyang was Grandmaster Mu En's disciple, and the foundation for Shrek Academy's future prosperity. He absolutely could not allow such a super genius to perish prematurely due to his own negligence!
He no longer cared about the heavily injured and unconscious students before him. He immediately rushed in the direction Zhu Ziyang had flown. Xuan Zi flew several hundred meters in one breath, but was horrified to find that Zhu Ziyang was not there. He only found a large pit about a hundred meters from the battlefield, but there were no traces around it, not even a trace of his aura!
Zhu Ziyang had vanished into thin air!
Xuan Zi frantically searched near the large pit Zhu Ziyang had created, but still found nothing. He returned dispiritedly to the Inner Courtyard Disciples' location, not knowing how to face Mu En and the other elders. Ma Xiaotao had fainted after Xuan Zi rushed out to search for Zhu Ziyang. Zhang Lexuan, leaning weakly against a tree, felt her heart sink when she saw Xuan Zi return alone.
"Le Xuan, girl, absorb that beast's spirit ring and Spirit Bone," Xuan Zi said to Zhang Lexuan, forcing himself to be energetic. "This is your spoils of war; it cannot be wasted. Here, these fruits should help you absorb the spirit ring. Go on, I will protect you."
Xuan Zi handed over several bright red fruits, emitting an enticing fragrance.
"Xuan Lao, what about Ziyang?" Zhang Lexuan had no mind to absorb the spirit ring. She felt that this accident was entirely her fault, and Zhu Ziyang, this exceptionally talented junior, absolutely must not have anything happen to him!
"I didn't find him," Xuan Zi said with a somber expression. "So you need to absorb the spirit ring immediately and recover some strength. Only then can I return to the Academy and notify the other elders to come search for Zhu Ziyang!"
"I understand!" Zhang Lexuan understood Xuan Zi's thoughts and immediately felt the urgency of time. She didn't hesitate, directly took the fruits Xuan Zi handed her, and ran towards the Nethermoon Forest Boa Emperor's corpse. With every step she took, she felt something breaking inside her body, but she couldn't care about that anymore.
The blood-red spirit ring, carrying the unique pressure of a 100,000-Year Soul Beast, floated silently before Zhang Lexuan. Zhang Lexuan gritted her teeth, her face resolute, and sat cross-legged. She swallowed the fruits in her hand, then gathered her spirit power to guide that Hundred-Thousand-Year spirit ring.
The absorption began.
——
Where exactly did Zhu Ziyang go?
It turned out that when Zhu Ziyang was sent flying, shield and all, his body had not suffered too severe injuries due to the cushioning of the Black Dragon Shield Formation. After landing, he had exhausted his last bit of spirit power maintaining the spirit tool shields. Just as he was about to faint, Electrolux made his move.
By the time Zhu Ziyang woke up again, it was already noon. He found himself in a tree hollow, located in a large tree at least ten people wide. The entrance to the hollow was twenty to thirty meters from the ground, and the internal space of the tree hollow was very large, more than enough to accommodate four or five adults.
"Grandmaster, where am I?" Zhu Ziyang patted his head, asking somewhat confusedly. Although the force of the Nethermoon Forest Boa Emperor's tail whip had been mostly absorbed by the Black Dragon Spirit Tool Shield, he still suffered minor internal injuries, and his internal organs were shaken.
"I'm not sure, but it should still be in the Star Dou Great Forest," Electrolux's voice came, a little weak. He said, "Our Teleportation distance was no more than five thousand meters. If the direction is correct, this is still the core area, north of the previous region."
"Oh my, that far!" Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but curse, stunned. "How am I supposed to meet up with Senior Sister and the others? That Nethermoon Forest Boa Emperor should be dead, right? Senior Sister and the others should be fine, right?"
"Hard to say," Electrolux replied. "A 100,000-Year Soul Beast's dying struggle, even if it ultimately dies, I estimate few of your companions will survive."
"Sigh! I really don't know what Xuan Lao was doing," Zhu Ziyang said, feeling angry and complaining. "How could he suddenly disappear?"
Zhu Ziyang's resentment towards Xuan Zi was not ordinary. Xuan Zi's actions were completely dereliction of duty. If he hadn't suddenly disappeared, their group wouldn't have been so miserable, and there wouldn't have even been Death.
"Let's figure out how to get out," Zhu Ziyang said.
"You should first recover your condition," Electrolux suggested. "Once you've recovered, just head outwards. The distance from here to the mixed zone is very short. As long as we enter the mixed zone, our situation will be better."
"Mm-hmm! That's right!" Zhu Ziyang nodded repeatedly in agreement upon hearing this.
With Zhu Ziyang's current strength, he faced no pressure against Spirit Beasts below ten thousand years of cultivation. He could retreat calmly against Spirit Beasts between ten thousand and twenty thousand years, but against Spirit Beasts above twenty thousand years, he could only leave it to fate. And twenty-thousand-year Spirit Beasts were the lowest-level existence in the core area.
Only by returning to the mixed zone would he truly be out of danger.
He immediately closed his eyes to rest and recover his condition, preparing to act at night. At night, most Spirit Beasts would cease activity, and the danger factor would naturally decrease significantly.
Time slowly passed. Day retreated, and night fell.
Zhu Ziyang poked his head out of the tree hollow, cautiously looked around, then leaped down to the ground. After determining the direction, he didn't hesitate, immediately using his fastest speed to run towards the mixed zone.
The night in the Star Dou Great Forest was exceptionally quiet. Lush trees obscured the sky; looking up, one couldn't see the vast starry sky, only endless darkness and a wild, untamed aura. Zhu Ziyang ran at high speed, not bothering to conceal his figure. The mixed zone was less than five hundred meters away, so it was best to rush through as quickly as possible. He would not forget the painful consequences of the previous five hundred meters.
Five hundred meters, less than half a minute, and it was over.
The moment his feet stepped into the mixed zone, Zhu Ziyang finally felt a sense of security. His speed also naturally slowed down. As he ran, he pondered whether he should go look for Zhang Lexuan and her group, or directly leave the Star Dou Great Forest and return to the Academy to report this incident.
The rational choice was naturally the latter. However, Zhu Ziyang's heart strongly resisted. He was unwilling to abandon his companions who had experienced life-and-Death trials with him; he wanted to find them. Zhu Ziyang was aware of the current state of the Inner Courtyard Disciples. After a fierce battle to the Death, their combat strength would definitely be less than one-tenth. Even if Zhang Lexuan successfully absorbed that Hundred-Thousand-Year spirit ring, with her damaged origin, it would be impossible for her to recover to normal without a year or half a year of recuperation. Not to mention the others.
Zhu Ziyang decided to find them and bring them back to the Academy together!
This was a difficult choice.
Having made his decision, he immediately began to grope his way forward along the edge of the mixed zone and the core area, recalling the location where they had previously encountered the Nethermoon Forest Boa Emperor. He guessed that after Zhang Lexuan and the others escaped danger, they would inevitably enter the mixed zone, but as almost all of them were injured, they would certainly not move quickly. Searching within a hundred-meter radius of the mixed zone, close to the core zone, he would surely find their tracks.
However, just as Zhu Ziyang was searching for the traces of the Inner Courtyard Disciples, he encountered two Spirit Beasts head-on!
They were two snow-white Unicorns. The manes on their necks were golden, and on their foreheads grew a pure, transparent, brilliant golden horn, three inches and five fen long. In addition, both Unicorns had a pair of huge wings, with the outermost feathers of their pure white wings being golden. As they walked, one could faintly see circles of golden light emanating from beneath their hooves, so dazzling in the pitch-black forest!
They were one large and one small. The larger one was four meters long and two meters tall, while the smaller one was less than three meters long and only about one and a half meters tall.
Starry Unicorns!
Zhu Ziyang's face was pale. The Little Starry Unicorn was not to be feared, having only one or two thousand years of cultivation, but the Great Starry Unicorn's cultivation was at least over thirty thousand years!