Chapter 684: Tianming Sect Ambush! Crisis!

The remaining small area, Xu Jingming cleared in less than two hours, collecting 18 liters of Thunder Tyrant King's divine blood.

All the divine blood combined totaled nearly 500 liters!

"Five hundred liters of divine blood—I wonder how much my physical body will strengthen after consuming it!"

Xu Jingming's eyes burned with an unprecedented fervor.

Of course, before beginning to consume the divine blood, he must first find a relatively safe place.

Just as Xu Jingming prepared to find a spot to consume the divine blood, nearly seventy kilometers away, deep within the wilderness zone, Hearing Ling Shuang was about to reach her destination.

Beneath the blazing sun, she wore a tight-fitting dark black combat suit, barefoot, with no combat boots on her feet.

Yet her pale feet did not touch the ground directly—they hovered ten centimeters above the surface.

Each step propelled her forward by over ten meters, her body light as a swallow thanks to her spatial ability.

"Along this entire journey, I didn't encounter a single eighth-rank Flame Serpent..."

A faint frown of confusion marked Hearing Ling Shuang's delicate, pale face.

This was her sixth day entering the wilderness zone; in these days, she had advanced over six hundred kilometers deep into it.

Though eighth-rank Flame Serpents were rare, there should still have been some traces of them.

Yet along this entire path, not only had she seen no Flame Serpents, she had barely encountered any beast controlling fire-elemental abilities.

That was why she had pressed onward, heading to the location recorded in the mission intel.

"Less than five kilometers left—should be close."

Thinking this, Hearing Ling Shuang slightly quickened her pace.

Yet the closer she got to her destination, the more something felt off.

Flame Serpents were eighth-rank fire-elemental beasts, preferring dry environments, especially soaking in lava.

Even in areas without lava, an eighth-rank Flame Serpent could easily create its own.

Though the wilderness zone's plants were tough, most could not survive near lava.

Thus, the closer one got to a Flame Serpent's territory, the sparser the vegetation should become.

Yet with less than one kilometer remaining to the target, the surrounding plants remained lush and dense.

She could not even smell the sulfuric odor of lava; the air's temperature and humidity remained perfectly normal.

"This is not the characteristic of a normal fire-elemental beast's territory."

Hearing Ling Shuang's gaze sharpened; she drew her SSS-grade alloy short sword from her space ring and approached the destination with heightened caution.

When she finally arrived, she found the place utterly empty—identical to any other part of the wilderness zone, with not a trace of an eighth-rank Flame Serpent.

"What's going on? Did the mission intel get it wrong?" Hearing Ling Shuang frowned sharply.

But logically, that shouldn't be possible—this was an eighth-rank Grand Master-level mission from Thunder Temple.

Even Director Liu Shan would never fabricate such a mission.

After all, reporting this to Su Qingli would make Liu Shan suffer greatly.

"Roar—"

At that moment, a beast's roar suddenly sounded from not far ahead.

Unlike the usual wild, bloodthirsty cries of ordinary beasts, this roar was remarkably calm, its volume unimpressive.

Yet Hearing Ling Shuang's face turned pale.

Space had been frozen!

As a spatial S-rank adept, when her ability activated,

the surrounding space became like a pond, and she, a nimble little fish, able to freely dart about and teleport within it.

But now, that pond had frozen into solid ice—her little fish could no longer swim freely!

Swish—

The space ahead blurred, then a beast was teleported into view.

The beast resembled a wolf, but its fur was an unusual pure white.

Five sharp horns protruded from its head, like a crown resting upon it.

Unlike the crimson eyes of ordinary beasts, its eyes held not a trace of red.

Instead, they were clear and profound, as if containing a starry sky.

Though merely a beast, it radiated the detached, wise aura of a human sage.

"Ninth-rank Beast Sovereign, Bai Xi White Wolf!" Hearing Ling Shuang's face turned instantly ashen.

Just as human adepts possessed various abilities, beast clans also contained beasts with unique powers.

Bai Xi White Wolves were one such beast clan; most had no special abilities.

They fought solely through their thick hides and tough bodies, ranking among the weakest in the beast clans.

Yet a tiny fraction of Bai Xi White Wolves would naturally evolve, gaining control over space during later growth.

Once this spatial ability emerged, they became among the most elite beasts in the entire beast clan.

Such spatial variants were exceedingly rare and never appeared on frontline battlefields.

Yet here, one existed—and it had reached the terrifying ninth rank!

Under its suppression, Hearing Ling Shuang could not use her spatial ability to teleport away.

"To have our Bai Kong Lord personally come out—"

"Hearing Ling Shuang, you are the one among this group granted the highest level of treatment."

At that moment, a melodious voice rang out as over a dozen figures emerged from the forest.

All wore the crimson moon robes of the Tianming Sect, their figures hidden beneath the cloaks.

Only the leader who had spoken, a Tian Yao, wore a pure white tight-fitting combat suit.

Her fiery figure and curves were fully revealed beneath the skintight battle suit.

She was seen striding forward on her long, slender legs, her slim waist swaying gently with each step—breathtakingly beautiful.

"People of the Tianming Sect..." Hearing Ling Shuang's expression darkened.

One fierce beast, one human—two Tier-Nine powerhouses in total!

In addition, there were four Tier-Eight Red-Robed High Priests of the Tianming Sect.

If her spatial ability could be used normally, she might still be able to escape.

But now that space was sealed, the probability of her escaping could only be said to be infinitely close to zero.

"How did you know I was here?" Hearing Ling Shuang asked coldly.

Being able to ambush her here in advance—needless to say, there was definitely a problem with the mission given by Lei Ting Wu Guan.

But she wanted to know exactly where the problem lay.

Was it a leak of mission information, or was Liu Shan, who had assigned the mission, himself the problem?

"Truly worthy of being the chief steward of Lei Ting Wu Guan who possesses an S-rank spatial ability—even at a time like this, you're still trying to fish for information."

Tian Yao placed her right hand over her chest and laughed: "Hehe—"

"But unfortunately, you won't get the chance to escape, and I won't tell you the source of our intelligence either.

The only thing you need to do now is to die in peace, just like the others!"

As her words fell, Tian Yao's beautiful face was already brimming with killing intent: "Move!"

PS: Three or four updates tonight—take down Hearing Ling Shuang!