Chapter 205: Intelligence

A streak of white rainbow light, like a meteor slicing across the sky,

carried Gao Jie Ming's will to survive via the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror Identification, fleeing madly toward the distant silhouette of the wizard camp at a speed surpassing conventional limits.

Wherever the light passed, time and space seemed to blur.

However, just as he was about to approach the camp's defensive perimeter, a surging, irresistible repulsive force suddenly struck him!

It was the outermost protective formation of the camp, automatically triggering its forced exclusion mechanism upon detecting an abnormal energy body approaching at high speed.

This formation was designed to withstand ultra-high-speed physical or energy impacts; at this moment, Gao Jie Ming's entire body was in a state of light transformation, unable to transmit a friendly signal from his terminal, causing the formation to identify him as an enemy attack.

"Pu—!"

Under that terrifying repulsive force, Gao Jie Ming was forcibly knocked out of his light-transformed state.

His body, originally merged with the light, was as if violently thrown from a speeding train, instantly reverting to normal, while the energy and blood within him surged wildly in reverse!

He felt as though he had been struck head-on by an invisible mountain peak; his internal organs shifted out of place, a sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spewed a mouthful of fresh blood.

His condition at this moment was extremely poor, nearly half-dead.

Merely executing the Light Transformation Evasion technique of the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror Identification had already exhausted all the true essence and spiritual power within his body, pushing his physical form to its absolute limit.

Now, he had been forcibly knocked out of his light-transformed state by the brute force of the protective formation.

The collision of these two forces was like a bomb exploding inside him, inflicting severe injuries.

It was only thanks to his dual cultivation of body refinement, making his body strong enough, that the previous blow hadn't been enough to send him to his death.

But Gao Jie Ming's current state was still dire; he had even lost the most basic ability to maintain flight.

Like a kite with its string cut, his entire body fell straight down from the high sky, powerless.

The wind howled beside his ears, and his consciousness rapidly blurred.

"Fortunately—at this height, I won't be smashed to death upon impact—"

However, just as he was about to crash clumsily onto the ground, Gao Jie Ming felt the downward trend of his body change rapidly.

That irresistible gravity was neutralized by a gentle yet powerful force, and his falling body quickly entered a suspended state,

merely a few meters above the ground.

Yet at this moment, Gao Jie Ming's condition was so poor he was on the verge of unconsciousness;

even though this was merely a simple floating spell, he lacked the strength to break free from it.

He could only allow that force to support him as he slowly descended.

In a daze, Gao Jie Ming gathered his last shred of strength, struggling to open his eyes, trying to see clearly who had saved him.

Through his blurred, blood-tinted vision, he vaguely saw a calm and dignified face.

It was an elder clad in simple gray robes, with a demeanor as steady as a rock; within the other's eyes seemed to lie a sea of stars.

It was precisely one of the three Level Five Wizards stationed at the camp, Master Elwin!

"I have urgent—intelligence—"

Gao Jie Ming held on, squeezing these few words out from his throat.

He tried to amplify his voice, only to find it as quiet as a mutter to oneself, so faint it was barely audible.

Fortunately, a Level Five Wizard's perception was sharp enough; Master Elwin's eyes narrowed slightly, easily understanding what Gao Jie Ming intended to convey.

Expressionless, he simply extended a hand, conjuring a bottle of green potion emanating an aura of life out of thin air, gently yet irresistibly pouring it down Gao Jie Ming's throat, and signaled with his eyes for him to continue speaking.

As soon as the potion entered his stomach, a gentle yet surging life energy instantly spread within him; like a dried riverbed welcoming spring rain, it rapidly repaired his shattered meridians and damaged organs.

Gao Jie Ming felt his condition improve significantly; at the very least, the near-death weakness was temporarily suppressed.

However, once freed from the most immediate mortal danger, his willpower, which had been tightly strained to sustain his escape, collapsed rapidly, as if its spine had been pulled out.

An irresistible sense of exhaustion and drowsiness surged into his heart; he felt he might lose consciousness at any moment.

But Gao Jie Ming knew this was not the time to faint.

Using his final strength, he forced his consciousness not to sink, and facing Master Elwin before him, he condensed the intelligence he possessed into three sentences with an urgent and clear pace:

"The Snow Beasts and the Lava Giants have joined forces!"

"The monsters possess a... strategic-level time-type ability!"

"The frontline node has been breached!"

At the moment he executed the Light Transformation Evasion technique, Gao Jie Ming's perception of time fell into a strange state of chaos;

everything in the outside world appeared incredibly slow to his eyes, like a frozen frame.

Relying on this unique perspective, he had instead clearly seen everything that had occurred previously in that frontline node area.

That special manifestation, where even dust hung suspended in the air, undoubtedly indicated that the advancing legion of Lava Giants was accompanied by some terrifying "Time Stasis Domain."

In fact, there were many abilities capable of achieving similar effects, such as large-scale mental control or field spells that altered physical laws.

But the reason Gao Jie Ming could so confidently guess it was a time-stasis type effect was primarily judged based on the special circumstances of this plane.

As had been said before, the four basic elements of the Wizard World, besides representing their own attribute powers, also represented four different high-level concepts.

The Fire Element represents "Energy."

The Water Element represents "Time."

And the Yan Shuang Plane is precisely a special world perpetually illuminated by the projections of both the Fire Element and the Water Element.

Life born here naturally and inevitably bears the imprint of the characteristics of these two high-level concepts.

The Lava Giants, as darlings of the Fire Element, differ most from elemental beings of other planes in that the energy reserves contained within their bodies are extraordinarily vast!

Every adult Lava Giant is like a mobile energy source; during combat, they release their own energy in a manner akin to squandering it.

It can be said that this is the fundamental reason why the strength of Lava Giants is noticeably superior to similar elemental beings from other planes.

Moreover, Lava Giants are naturally capable of moving ley lines to mobilize energy over a wide area.

The so-called "strategic weapons" they displayed in previous battles were, in essence, simply the instantaneous release of massive amounts of energy into a target area, causing temperatures to rise sharply and achieving the effect of burning cities and destroying lands.

Since Lava Giants possess such talents deeply bound to the concept of "Energy," the Snow Beasts, who have always been at odds with the Lava Giants and are creations of the Water Element, naturally possess their own exclusive talents.

Undoubtedly, the snow monsters' innate talent was related to "time"!

Under normal circumstances, the snow monsters' own cores and physiques could only bear a time talent capable of accelerating themselves.

Its external manifestation was that the snow monsters possessed extreme speed and superb reflexes, often catching opponents off guard.

Although this trait was powerful, it was not particularly noteworthy; many wizards attributed it to the snow monsters' unique gifts without probing its essence.

But this time, the situation was entirely different: this "time" talent had evolved to the terrifying degree of being able to pause surrounding time.

Moreover, what was even more bizarre was that the one activating this ability was not a snow monster, but a lava giant!

Therefore, Gao Jie Ming could so confidently deduce the two pieces of intelligence mentioned earlier!

Clearly, the lava giant had provided a massive, nearly endless supply of "energy" as both fuel and amplifier.

This had amplified and magnified the snow monsters' innate "time" talent to near its limit!

Two originally opposing forces, through some unknown method, had perfectly combined to create such a terrifying strategic-level ability.

After Gao Jie Ming expended his last shred of strength to deliver these three crucial pieces of intelligence, he could no longer hold on; his vision went black, and he completely fainted.

Master Elvin, standing before him, felt a trace of imperceptible gravity flash deep within his eyes,

and he nodded calmly, as if he had long been mentally prepared for the arrival of this intelligence.

He casually handed the unconscious Gao Jie Ming to Viola, who had also arrived at some point without anyone noticing.

Viola took Gao Jie Ming, and looking at his pitiful state—half-dead and covered in blood—a strange, excited glint flickered in her silver-gray eyes.

Meanwhile, the wizards who had rushed over upon hearing the news instantly erupted into an uproar after clearly hearing Gao Jie Ming's three pieces of intelligence!

"What? Time pause?! Are you kidding me!"

"Damn it! The front-line node was breached so quickly!"

"The lava giants and snow monsters have joined forces—that's not unexpected."

After the initial shock and panic passed, the wizards' strong mental fortitude allowed them to quickly calm down.

Deep down, everyone actually felt mostly relieved.

Fortunately, this wizard had risked his life to bring back this intelligence!

For wizards, time-based abilities were indeed mysterious and unpredictable under unknown conditions, extremely difficult to handle, often leading to total annihilation in a single encounter.

But now that their existence and principles were known, defending against them became quite manageable.

"Full alert!"

Master Elvin's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached every wizard's ears, instantly suppressing all the noise.

His gaze swept across the entire assembly, carrying an unquestionable authority:

"Activate the 'Chrono-Stability Anchor'! All defensive nodes, immediately switch to anti-time-distortion mode!"

"Order the Potion Department to immediately mass-produce 'Time-Congelation Potions'!"

"Notify all combat squads to replace their equipment with 'Time-Lag Runes'!"

Master Elvin methodically issued command after command.

Under the direction of this Level 5 Wizard, the entire wizard camp, like a precise war machine activated, began operating at high speed to cope with the impending enemy.