Chapter 945: I

Just as Su Qingli was thinking about how to proceed next, Xu Jingming extended his arms and said:

“Come on, Teacher, I’ll carry you.”

Su Qingli froze for a moment, then immediately reacted, her almond eyes widening in utter disbelief:

“You mean carry me through the air?”

“There’s no other option—we’ll have to trouble you a bit, Teacher. Either carry you or carry you on my back.” Xu Jingming nodded.

Under triple gravity, the Black Glory-class fighter’s top flight speed is only four times the speed of sound.

Four times the speed of sound is already very fast—faster than his own flight speed.

But its thirty-meter-long frame is far too conspicuous, making it a perfect target inside this Breakthrough Tower.

If we encounter danger, we can only escape using the Space Beast Bone.

But the Space Beast Bone only offers two teleportations every twenty-four hours.

Using it here would be an enormous waste.

We can’t use the fighter, and Eva’s Crimson Flow Gold Guardians can’t fly either—so carrying you is simply more practical.

That way, even if elementalists cast spells from afar, I can protect you in time.

“This...” Su Qingli found herself in a difficult position.

She clearly understood the drawbacks of using the fighter, but being carried by her own student felt embarrassingly intimate.

Yet if she didn’t do this, there seemed to be no other solution.

‘Forget it—didn’t he just carry me back earlier? A little more won’t hurt.’

Steeling herself, Su Qingli gave a slight nod. “Then carry me on your back.”

It was fine when she was unconscious before.

But now, fully aware, being held in his arms, their eyes meeting—

The image was too tempting, too dangerous; she couldn’t imagine it. Carrying her on his back was better.

Yet the moment she was lifted onto his back, she regretted it.

She was 1.72 meters tall; Xu Jingming stood at 1.93 meters—twenty-one centimeters taller.

As she was carried, most of her body pressed against his broad back, and it felt strangely intimate.

Especially the male scent so close to her.

It made her, for the first time in her life, so close to a man of the opposite sex, her gaze grow hazy, her body squirming restlessly...

“Teacher Su, can you stop moving?”

Xu Jingming sighed in exasperation.

She was wearing a tight-fitting female combat suit.

As her body shifted, he could distinctly feel two heavy pressures pressing and grinding against him.

He couldn’t help but silently marvel.

He’d never noticed it before, but Teacher Su was surprisingly well-endowed.

“I understand.”

Su Qingli’s cheeks flushed red; she forced herself to still, whispering softly.

“Hold on tight! Let’s go!”

Behind him, the Thunder Dragon Wings unfurled; lightning surged around Xu Jingming as he shot upward like a black streak!

Su Qingli was tall and slender, 1.72 meters—taller than most women.

Yet beside the towering Xu Jingming, she still looked petite.

Even with her on his back, the Thunder Dragon Wings could still fully extend.

The return journey was over four thousand kilometers; Xu Jingming didn’t rush blindly.

Along the way, he had the Iron Lotus search for Void Stones and beast groups.

But their luck seemed exhausted—they found nothing significant.

By the time they reached the rendezvous point with the Flow Gold Guardians, they’d gathered only 64,000 Void Stones and gained just over 40,000 Ability Points.

Hummm~~~

On the ice plain, dozens of Flow Gold Guardians stood in neat formation, behind them lay over a thousand parked drones.

Xu Jingming stood on the ice plain, beside him Su Qingli, who had just jumped down from his back, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment.

In midair, the green-haired, twin-tailed little girl’s eyes streamed with countless data.

She was compiling and analyzing the information gathered by the Flow Gold Guardian subunits and the thousand drones.

After several minutes, Eva exclaimed excitedly: “Found it! The entrance to the next level is southwest!”

“Found it so fast?” Xu Jingming was surprised.

These Flow Gold Guardians were only seventh-rank—they couldn’t fly, and their sprinting speed didn’t exceed the speed of sound.

In such a short time, the distance they could cover was extremely limited.

He’d expected to need four or five search cycles to locate the entrance.

“Of course.”

Eva proudly puffed out her chest. “These Flow Gold Guardians are my subunits—they wouldn’t be so foolish as to just run aimlessly.

Seventh-rank power is enough for them to do plenty.

This information was ‘asked’ from other Ability Users.

Also, they collected 100,000 Void Stones and some Ice Element Essence.”

Seventh-rank Flow Gold Guardians, as long as their cores aren’t found, are immortal until their energy runs out.

Among the hundreds of thousands of Ability Users who entered the Breakthrough Tower, they rank among the strongest.

With Eva’s control, extorting information and supplies from other Ability Users was already a well-practiced tactic.

“All these items have been consolidated—check the S-rank one.”

Under Eva’s command, one Flow Gold Guardian stepped forward from the line and handed Xu Jingming a space ring.

With a sweep of his spiritual force, he confirmed the ring contained a large quantity of Void Stones and a cold-emitting ice sphere.

“Ice Element Essence.”

Xu Jingming’s eyes lit up; he took the ice sphere from the space ring and pulled out his own Ice Element Essence.

The moment the two essences touched, they automatically merged.

Forming a whiter, deeper-hued energy sphere radiating bone-chilling cold.

“The Ice Element concentration has increased,” murmured Su Qingli, surrounded by black thunder.

Without Xu Jingming’s Chaos Divine Thunder protecting her, she couldn’t even endure this cold in her current state.

“Yes, but it’s still far from complete.”

Xu Jingming nodded.

This Ice Element Essence could allow an Ice Ability User’s power to evolve to SS-rank.

But given the current situation, success rate is barely under five percent.

“Once we return, we can try it on Jiang Chu—likely no evolution will occur.

But who knows? If we find more Ice Element Essence later, we might raise the success rate further.”

He placed the fused Ice Element Essence back into the space ring, then turned to Su Qingli. “Teacher, let’s keep moving.”

Though she’d been carried before, Su Qingli still felt uneasy.

But unease or not, she obediently let him carry her again.

“Let’s go—head to the next level. And see if we can find that Divine Son near the entrance.”

Xu Jingming’s gaze sharpened.

He collected all the Flow Gold Guardians and drones into his space ring, then unfurled his Thunder Dragon Wings and shot southwest as a black streak of light.