Edited by Aelryinth

Zhang Xiaohou was the expert when it came to dealing with winged beasts. Mo Fan knew what his longtime friend was capable of, so he was not too worried about letting him lure the Skyice Beasts away by himself.

The group followed Zhang Xiaohou's instructions. The tanned soldier brought them to the tree hollow. The tree itself had already turned into a small mountain of ice. The people inside were going to die from the cold in less than half a day.

Li Dexin had only asked the tanned soldier to look for Mo Fan and the others because they were left with no choice!

Luckily, Mo Fan and his crew had not gone too far. Otherwise, the whole platoon of the Violet Imperial Battalion would have been wiped out before they could rescue their target!

More cries were heard. At times, they noticed huge birds with icy and transparent bodies flying past the tree through the gaps between the leaves.

Mo Fan's group was hiding in the shadows of his magic. The Shadow Element was perfect for concealing their presence in a complicated environment. These low-level Skyice Beasts had no chance of detecting their presence.

The Skyice Beasts flew away after they failed to notice anything unusual in the area.

Some time later, loud cries were heard coming from the dark woods. The Skyice Winged Beasts were enraged suddenly. They began to stream away in a certain direction!

Their cries faded into the distance. Mo Fan asked Apas to keep an eye out. He only withdrew his Shadow Magic after he was sure the Skyice Winged Beasts were gone.

"Zhang Xiaohou seems to have lured them away," Zhao Manyan said.

"Brother Xiaohou is impressive when it comes to keeping demon creatures at bay," Bai Hongfei praised him.

Having outstanding strength might be impressive in the wild, but the ability to perfectly distract demon creatures was the most important for a team!

"Enough talk, help me with the ice," Mo Fan said.

The ice was very thick. It felt like they were digging into a mountain even when they were using powerful spells. Mo Fan was using all three Soul-grade Flames, while the others were casting their spells to get rid of the ice as quickly as possible.

---

They finally broke through the layer of ice. Li Dexin and the men who were trapped in the tree cave had not given up, either, and had kept attacking the ice from the inside.

"I thought you were going to leave us to die," Li Dexin said.

"Can't your mouth say anything pleasant?" Mo Fan was utterly speechless.

"So what? You want me to thank you?" Li Dexin said.

"Forget it, we weren't doing it for free, anyway. Let's leave this place and find a safer spot. The Skyice Beasts should be on their way back," Mo Fan snorted.

Mo Fan was surprised to see Li Dexin acting so humbly. He looked into the tree cave, curious to see the important person who the Violet Imperial Battalion had come all this way to rescue.

A skinny figure walked out from the tree cave, their face covered in dirt and hair disheveled. The person was wearing a military jacket from the Violet Imperial Battalion, but the clothes inside it were torn and rugged. He wondered how long they had been trapped here for.

The person went past Mo Fan and abruptly looked up. Her glittering eyes fixed on him.

Mo Fan was startled too!

The person might look like a savage, yet Mo Fan was able to recognize her instantly!

"Jiang Shaoxu! It's you!" Mo Fan yelled, pointing at her.

"Mo Fan! Did the Heavens arrange for us to meet here?" Jiang Shaoxu was shocked too. She did not expect to stumble into Mo Fan in a place like this.

"Holy crap, you vixen, why...why are you here? My gosh!" Zhao Manyan shrieked when he saw Jiang Shaoxu.

Was the world that small? Why would they stumble into her in a place like this?

Speaking of which, they had not seen Jiang Shaoxu since they came back from the Taklamakan Desert, nor had they contacted one another.

"You know each other?" Li Dexin was surprised.

"We were on the national team together!" Jiang Shaoxu said.

"Let's leave this place first… we'll talk later..." Mo Fan was struggling to believe this, yet now was not the time to have a little chat. Zhang Xiaohou was still risking his life to buy them time.

---

The person the Violet Imperial Battalion was trying to save was Jiang Shaoxu!

It was definitely a surprise to them. Mo Fan immediately asked about it after they found a secluded spot.

Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan understood after asking Jiang Shaoxu what she had been up to.

It turned out that Jiang Shaoxu had never stopped looking for her brother Jiang Shaojun after the incident in the Taklamakan Desert. She had learned about the existence of the winged beasts' paradise from the clues left by her brother, which pointed to the existence of a noble Totem Beast around here.

She had been exploring the Qinling Mountains for a long time, and finally found her way up to the winged beasts' paradise on Mount Baiba.

Unfortunately, her capabilities were limited. She ended up being trapped by the winged beasts, despite being extremely cautious. She had no choice but to use a heirloom artifact of her clan to ask for help!

"The Violet Imperial Battalion is here just to save you! You must have a formidable background!" Mo Fan exclaimed.

Mo Fan remembered Zhao Manyan mentioning Jiang Shaoxu's formidable background when they were still on the national team. However, Mo Fan did not know the details. Jiang Shaoxu never told him about her family, either.

"It's good to see you two here. If I can't find my Mr. Right in the future, I shall choose between you two," Jiang Shaoxu smiled.

She was very happy, not only because she was saved, but she was glad to bump into Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan again. It was always interesting to go on an adventure with them!

"What? What did you just say?" Li Dexin suddenly yelled.

"I promised them on behalf of General Li..." the tanned-face soldier said softly.

"Am I in charge or you? Did I ever say I would help them kill the demon tree?" Li Dexin grunted.

"But they did help us!" The tanned-face soldier felt wronged.

"I can find a way out without their help. Our mission is to escort Miss Jiang back. It's our duty to stick to our mission!" Li Dexin said.

Jiang Shaoxu glanced at Li Dexin before turning to Mo Fan, "Are you planning to do something?"

For some reason, Jiang Shaoxu's eyes were glittering. She seemed quite excited for someone who had been trapped by demon creatures for days.