Chapter 644 - Another King Level (Patreon)

Who was it that was trying to take advantage of the current crisis to cause trouble? Truly unforgivable.

After a thousand years of peaceful development, the troublemakers were finally crawling out of the woodwork the moment they sensed an opportunity.

It did not matter who they were. Jade swore she would find these people and stomp them out completely. No one would be allowed to threaten what had been built.

She had dedicated a thousand years of her life to ensuring the continent remained prosperous. There was no way she would allow someone else to snatch away the fruits of that labor so easily. She would protect every hard-won step of progress with everything she had.

Not to mention, if people like this rose to power, they would monopolize all progress and gatekeep it from the masses simply to maintain their own control.

They would ruin every advancement made over the past millennia. That alone was reason enough for her to act without mercy.

In about a century, the continents might be linked together for the first time in the history of the world. Massive changes would follow.

Thirteen separate continents, each with its own history, culture, and knowledge. For the first time, true exchange would become possible on a global scale. Ideas, techniques, resources, and wisdom that had remained isolated for ages could finally flow freely. It was a chance that might never come again.

Incredible opportunities like that would be completely ruined by these troublemakers. That absolutely could not be allowed to happen. She would not let the future of the world be stolen before it even began.

Jade sighed. Another soft stream of cold smoke left her lips.

“Am I currently being tested? Trouble just keeps coming.” she muttered, her voice quiet but firm.

The mysterious attack on the Mystic Realm portal, the Red Eye Phenomenon, and now parasites trying to claim power. What next? A cosmic predator coming to devour the world?

“Maybe I’ve been far too nice with certain people.” she continued, the weariness in her tone undercut by a clear edge of resolve. “That ends now.”

The next moment, she frowned deeply.

There seemed to be resistance coming from within the ice mountain. She could feel her ice being steadily corroded by the king cobra. It had begun to fight back using its extremely corrosive venom.

She had already expected something like this would happen, but the rate of corrosion was noticeably faster than she had anticipated. The pressure on her energy reserves was rising quicker than planned.

If this continued, she would run out of power well before Voltroze arrived, and that would place her in a dangerous position.

However, a few minutes later, the worst-case scenario occurred.

Jade received a message from Voltroze. He was currently in the southeastern part of the Central Region and had just finished rescuing the Buchanan Family territory, which had been suddenly besieged by a dozen crazed General Level demonic beasts that appeared out of nowhere.

At this moment, he was heading toward her location at his fastest speed, but it would still take him about eight hours.

“Sudden attack at Buchanan Family territory," Jade muttered. Her giant ice figure frowned deeply at the information.

Eight hours. That was far longer than she could comfortably maintain this level of restraint.

Now it was painfully obvious that none of this was coincidence. The sudden appearance of the crazed King Level snake, the carefully timed assault on the Buchanan territory, and the deliberate drawing away of the nearest combat Protector… everything had been arranged with clear intent. 

But the question remained. Did they know that the Protectors now possessed new communication devices capable of instant contact, or had they simply assumed the Protectors had something similar?

She hoped it was the latter. If it was the former, that would mean their side had already been compromised.

Jade had full confidence in the other Protectors. Therefore, if a leak had occurred, it could only have come from an Envoy. All of them had received the modified array communication devices, which meant they knew this secret. 

If possible, she really did not want to suspect any of them. The Envoys had been carefully and personally selected by each Protector. Such appointments were never made without a high degree of closeness and proven loyalty. Questioning them felt like questioning the foundation they had all built together.

However, enough speculation for now. She had a far more pressing matter at hand.

Eight hours.

She did not have enough energy to last that long. At best, she probably had five hours remaining before her power began to fail. That left her with a very narrow window to find a solution.

Now, how should she solve this problem?

Her mind quickly calculated the time and distance between her current location and Voltroze while visualizing the map of the continent. No one was more familiar with that map than she was. Every major route, every cluster of settlements, every family territory was clear in her thoughts.

If she flew toward Voltroze while luring the king cobra along the way, they would meet deep within the human region. Dozens of human settlements along that path would be completely turned into death zones by the Venom Domain. The corrosive power would leave nothing intact.

This included five high and top-tier cultivation families. Their territorial grand barriers would have no chance of protecting them against a King Level power. Entire bloodlines and generations of hard work would be erased in moments.

Doing this would cause far too much destruction and death. She simply could not allow it. Protecting the people of the continent was the very reason she had held her position for so long. Sacrificing them to solve one problem was not an option she would accept.

Even if she took careful detours to avoid every human settlement, they would still encounter people along the way. She could not guarantee that the crazed beast would not change its target the moment it saw them. It might even turn toward human settlements on its own, drawn by the presence of more prey.

As much as she tried to convince herself that some human sacrifice might be necessary to save her life, the thought sat heavily in her chest. She weighed the numbers, the lives, and the consequences and still found she simply could not do it.

In the end, Jade decided to hold on for as long as she could until Voltroze arrived. She would use everything she had, even if it meant consuming all of her spirit stones and Qi-replenishing pills just to recover a portion of her energy. That might buy her about two additional hours.

When the time came, she would reserve a small portion of her remaining power to run and lead the snake in circles within this region, stalling for whatever time she could still gain.

Although this might cause numerous demonic beasts living in the area to perish and turn the land into a death zone, it was still better than allowing the same fate to fall upon humans.

She was, after all, human. Her first priority would always remain with her own kind. That choice was no longer in question.

And so, with the decision already made, Jade waited while maintaining the ice mountain that sealed the King Level monster.

One hour passed in heavy silence.

Two hours. The pressure on her energy continued to mount steadily.

Three hours. She could feel the slow, constant drain eating away at her reserves.

Four hours. Fatigue began to settle into her bones, but she held firm.

At this point, Jade began consuming and using everything that could replenish her energy.

However, at the fifth hour, something went wrong.

The resistance from the giant snake started to rise, then climbed higher still. Within moments it became several times stronger than before, rapidly melting through Jade’s ice.

The monstrous hissing from inside the ice mountain grew louder, layer by layer, until it pressed against the frozen shell like a living force.

Her frozen world began vibrating more and more violently. The ice melted faster with each passing breath, far beyond what she had prepared for.

“This is bad. The snake is becoming more efficient at using its power. It is simultaneously using its powerful venom and vibrating hiss to counteract my ice.” she realized.

She had not expected the snake to improve its abilities this quickly. If she continued holding on like this, her energy would be completely depleted very soon.

Although it was much earlier than planned, she had no choice but to stop her Frozen World and begin running in circles within this region.

Jade apologized in her heart to all the living beings that would perish here as she cut off the energy supply to her frozen world. The decision sat heavily on her. She had held for as long as she could, yet it still was not enough.

After that, her Ice Goddess form returned to a normal Soul Body, which then shrank and disappeared.

Without the sustained support of her power, the ice mountain trapping the snake quickly began melting and crumbling. Large sections broke away and fell, the structure collapsing under its own weight.

One by one, streams of venom sprayed out from the collapsing ice, rapidly filling the atmosphere with a thick, deadly haze.

Jade knew she had to put distance between herself and the beast immediately.

However, before she could fly away, another King Level demonic beast aura erupted in the distance.

Her face turned pale at once.

For a brief moment it felt as if every remaining hope had been stripped away. One King Level was already beyond what she could safely handle in her current state. A second one appearing now left her with no realistic path forward.

There was no way she could face two King Level demonic beasts at the same time.

“HAHAHA! SISTER JADE! I’VE COME TO HELP!”

Jade froze in shock. She knew that voice very well.

In the direction where the second King Level aura had erupted, an unnaturally enormous cloud came racing across the sky, vast enough to blot out the horizon as it approached at tremendous speed.

“KEKEKE!”

The unique laugh echoed clearly across the sky, bright and unmistakable against the tension of the moment.