Chapter 267

Tian Kuan did not give up .

He was someone who had returned from the verge of death . The obstacle he currently faced was nothing compared to what he had experienced in the past and was not enough to throw him into despair .

There were 16 blood elementalists under his command, but half of them were injured .

While blood elementalists were much more tenacious compared to regular elementalists, their capabilities were still affected by injuries .

The consecutive failures that these injured blood elementalists had faced were a huge blow to their morale . With morale at an all time low, more and more of them were deserting from Tian Kuan . This batch of blood elementalists were elites who were carefully selected, and as such, had very keen intuitions .

They were quick to figure out that Tian Kuan’s method of controlling them had loopholes and managed to exploit these to escape .

Seeing their comrades escape sent the morale of the remaining blood elementalists plummeting even further . Loyalty to the group was dead . Those that remained would definitely seize any opportunity to slip away .

What went wrong?

Tian Kuan could not figure out why nothing was going according to plan .

“Sir, your face?”

A surprised voice rang out from among the blood elementalists .

My face? What’s wrong with my face?

Tian Kuan subconsciously touched his face and felt something wet . His hand froze .

Aghast, the other blood elementalists looked at Tian Kuan .

Tian Kuan looked at his fingers and saw that they were stained with blood . The blood was a dusty-red color and had a foul rotting stench . His eyes revealed a deep, troubling fear while his fingers trembled slightly .

He could tell without looking that the blood traces on his face had become like the withered rings of a rotting old stump . The traces had broken in many places, becoming shattered and leaking the dull, greyish-red blood that stained his hands .

Shattered traces!

Tian Kuan’s mind blanked as he fully registered what was happening to him .

The skin on his forehead shrivelled up rapidly, forming deep-set wrinkles that densely covered his entire forehead . His head full of black hair gradually turned white while his large biceps shrank and his spine hunched . In the blink of an eye, Tian Kuan had aged several decades .

The blood elementalists who witnessed this transformation stepped back in horror . It was as if they were staring at a monster .

Not knowing what was going on served only to amplify their fears .

“Shattered blood traces? Why? Why is this happening?”

Tian Kuan’s dry, hoarse voice was filled with fear and panic . His tone had completely changed .

He was utterly racked with fear and felt like a cornered beast .

Shattered traces were an indication that a blood elementalists’ training had gone down the wrong path and something feared by all blood elementalists . Ruptured blood traces marked the beginning of the end as the blood elementalist would lose the power he had attained . The vital energy of the blood would begin to seep out via these broken blood traces, causing the blood’s color to dull . Over time, the blood elementalist’s blood would turn into a clear liquid . At this point, the blood elementalist’s life would come to an end .

The shattering of blood traces only occurred when one’s training had gone horribly wrong .

Where had he gone wrong?

Tian Kuan forced himself to calm down, completely ignoring the blood elementalists who were already fleeing in all directions .

The other blood elementalists were scared off by Tian Kuan’s transformation . The biggest consolation that forming blood traces had given them was their increased strength . After seeing Tian Kuan’s abrupt deterioration, they finally understood that the path of a blood elementalist was not that easy after all . In fact, it was even riskier .

Although training as an elementalist was relatively slow, it was much safer and would definitely not result in something this terrifying .

They were unsure of what would happen to Tian Kuan, but were certain that he was unusually weak at this point .

A few of the blood elementalists stared at Tian Kuan with hatred in their eyes .

None of the survivors were grateful to Tian Kuan . In fact, their hatred toward him was something they all shared .

Because of Tian Kuan’s accumulated strength, they were afraid that he would have some sort of a backup plan . A few of them hesitated for a moment before deciding to slowly retreat . They took off for the forest the moment they saw Tian Kuan’s groggy, weakened state .

Tian Kuan’s vitality continued to decline as he carefully sieved through his memories to recall his recent actions . He remembered something that immediately roused him from his thoughts .

Why had everything he attempted to accomplish end unfavorably ever since he entered the city? Because he had chosen the wrong path right from the get go . He had never attempted to recruit strength from external sources before . Although he appeared to have planned everything adequately and appeared to have accomplished his recruitment easily, everything was actually pretty messed up . He could clearly see the hatred burning in the eyes of the deserters and knew that they would tear him into pieces at the earliest opportunity .

When did this begin?

His battle with that Infantry Division warrior had left him physically injured and mentally shaken . Soon after, he chanced upon Yu Mingqiu gravely wounding Situ Zhong and became even more alarmed . After entering Central Pine City, he witnessed the Battle of Long Street, which made him feel even more fearful .

Retreating step after step had created fear in his heart, making him filled with trepidation . Although it looked as though everything was within his control, obtaining strength from external sources was the clearest sign that he had lost confidence in himself .

This was his inner demon .

As his self-confidence wavered, his inner demon grew stronger . He was soon overwhelmed by fear .

The precarious balance between life and death was ever so mysterious . As his blood spiritual force transformed, this balance tipped over, resulting in the loss of his attained power and the rupturing of his blood traces .

It would seem that his will had been robbed from him during that fateful encounter with the Infantry Division warrior . Tian Kuan had lost his indomitable spirit .

His pupils suddenly became clear as he extended his legs and leaned on his left arm . Tian Kuan’s stance made him look like a three-legged beast . He twisted his body and tapped his right fist against his tailbone .

Pop!

A crisp popping sound could be heard as a bloody glow appeared on his tailbone .

One by one, he tapped each vertebrae in his spine, causing a series of popping sounds and blood-colored lights to appear on his back .

Tian Kuan stood up and straightened his spine . The wrinkles on his face had completely vanished, and his skin regained its original moisture and smoothness . Only his full head of white hair remained .

The spinal blood had saved his life .

As a god guard, Tian Kuan’s training focused mainly on his body . He would store traces of blood within his vertebrae during his daily practice . He had only done this as a backup plan, but little did he know that it would save his life today .

Despite training for so long and undergoing round after round of blood refinement, the spinal blood he had managed to store was merely as thin as a strand of hair .

Although the amount of spinal blood was minuscule, the power it possessed was incredible . Once utilized, it swiftly stabilized his condition .

Tian Kuan sighed lightly . He used to think that he was a fearless person, but he finally realized just how much of a coward he really was .

Was this a bad thing? Tian Kuan did not think so . Rather, he felt that it was something favorable . Detecting his cowardice and better understanding himself at this early point was a good thing .

Perhaps this was the real purpose of training .

Moreover, it was not as though he had no chance .

He could defeat his inner demon by achieving victory .

The reversal of life and death . Coming back from the dead was what Tian Kuan was capable of accomplishing .

Victory was the one true explanation for everything .

Tian Kuan suddenly raised his head . The elemental energy waves in Central Pine City had become unusually intense .

Ai Hui’s small group was nailing in the ninth gold needle .

Tian Kuan walked unhurriedly through the ruins .

“The ninth gold needle,” muttered the lady in red .

Having witnessed her transformation with his own eyes, Yan Hai looked at the lady in awe . Her presence had become ever so fleeting and unpredictable . It was as though she had become one with the dense mist amid mountaintops, mysterious yet ephemeral .

The lady had grown much stronger .

He had never seen her train but could feel the changes she had undergone . Yan Hai inexplicably thought of something that the lady had previously said to him .

Although it was beyond his understanding, Yan Hai knew that the key to her progress lay within it . He secretly committed the words to memory, noting that he could not grasp it because his level was too low .

“Remarkable . “

The lady in red looked impressed . She looked up at the sky and watched the waves of light dancing about layer after layer . This light show was the result of the intense elemental energy fluctuations .

Still looking up, the lady in red abruptly said, “It’s time for us to go . “

“Go?” asked Yan Hai, at a loss .

“Withdraw from Central Pine City,” the lady in red explained as she retracted her gaze . “The entire city’s elemental energy has been activated . The sky, the earth, and even the plants . We’ll have to retreat further away so as to avoid being trapped within it .

The lady in red and Yan Hai quietly left Central Pine City . They found a mountain that directly overlooked the city and began their observation .

When the ninth gold needle was fully nailed into place, the vibrantly chaotic patterns in the sky above Central Pine City abruptly changed into a brilliant whirlpool of multi-colored light . The different colored lights fused and expanded, slowly spreading across the sky and becoming more distinct .

Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth . The five elemental energies combined to form a perfect five element ring in the sky .

The abnormally powerful elemental energy waves roused Yu Mingqiu from his exhaustion . He had reached his physical limit and could not help but wonder how he actually managed to guard the city’s sky with his strength alone .

As the battle on the ground raged on, so did the battle in the sky . Toward the end, Yu Mingqiu was fighting purely by his combat instincts .

This ordeal was finally over…

He shakily descended back to ground level, landing heavily with a stagger and plopped backward right onto his rear .

His gaze swept up to look at the five element ring in the sky as he sat there, too tired to even lift a finger .

After putting in so much effort, he wondered if there were any bonus rewards awaiting him…

It’s not going to be my problem if things start to go awry again . The most handsome person is going to sleep now…

Darkness swiftly engulfed him the moment he closed his tired eyes .

Yu Mingqiu’s wretched-looking state gave everyone around a shock . They heaved a huge sigh of relief when he started snoring loudly . His performance over the past few days had earned everyone’s unwavering respect . The city could not possibly have lasted so long without him protecting the sky, let alone have had the chance to install the needle .

The five element ring in the sky started to stabilize .

The ferocious blood fiends became terrified and hastily escaped the city .

Looking down from the skies, one would see the red tide rapidly receding out of the city .

After a moment of silence, loud cheers rang out all over Central Pine City .

Amid the cheering, an exhausted Ai Hui sat heavily on the ground .

Master, Mistress, the nine gold needles are in place . . .

In his mind’s eye, he saw his master excitedly explaining the plan to “treat the city like a piece of cloth” and subconsciously smiled .

Around him, his team members were all over the place . The A-1 unit had carried out the most important missions in this battle . They had relentlessly pressed onward, tapping into every last bit of energy and breath they could muster . Now that their missions were completed, they could finally collapse and take a breather .

Although they were completely drained, everyone’s eyes were glued on the Jade Embroidery Workshop .

The Jade Embroidery Workshop opened its tightly sealed door .