Chapter 136: Earth Dragon Guard

The originally blue sky, brown earth, and surrounding scenery looked as though they had merely been painted on canvas, only to be suddenly torn to shreds. The surrounding space shattered in the same manner, covered in cracks before transforming entirely into gray.

Wang Jiao screamed like a madwoman, staring up at the gray sky with eyes filled with both terror and frenzy.

"What is going on? What's wrong with Wang Jiao?" Bai Wan'er was also startled by the sudden change in Wang Jiao. Wang Jiao could be considered a representative female figure among the incoming freshman class this year; though somewhat timid by nature, she certainly wouldn't have turned out like this just from stepping outside for a brief moment.

Bai Wan'er pulled Wang Jiao into her embrace, attempting to calm her frenzied behavior while questioning the Inner Earth clansman.

Tian Xin also felt a surge of irritation. At the very moment the space shifted, he had suddenly lost all connection with the outside world. Now, none of them dared to move around rashly. In a space that was still undergoing transformation, no one could predict what risks might lurk ahead. Although they were currently standing in place, the ground beneath them had entirely vanished from sight.

"Lang Xin, go and check what is happening." This new spatial exploration was turning out far more unexpected than anticipated. Tian Xin attempted to re-establish contact with the outside world to figure out what was actually going on.

"Miss Bai, please do not worry. I can assure you that during the process of luring and killing the three-dimensional entity of the quaternary microorganism, Miss Wang did not suffer any harm, nor were we attacked on our way back," Lang Xin explained to Bai Wan'er, recounting everything that had transpired during the lure-and-kill operation.

"However, I can examine Miss Wang's physical condition," Lang Xin added after a brief pause, seemingly harboring some sense of guilt over Wang Jiao's inexplicable madness. After all, Wang Jiao was brought out by them and had returned in this state; anyone in their position would feel a twinge of remorse.

In Bai Wan'er's arms, Wang Jiao's expression was somewhat distorted, her curved eyelashes trembling unceasingly. From time to time, she let out faint whimpers as if trying to articulate something. After the initial frenzy subsided, Wang Jiao gradually grew quiet, trembling continuously within Bai Wan'er's embrace.

"Then examine her right here." Bai Wan'er had no intention of handing Wang Jiao back over to the Inner Earth clan, fearing that the newly calmed girl might suffer another relapse.

"Very well." As Lang Xin spoke, his pupils began to shift, his originally brown eyes turning crimson.

The scenery before him began to transform slowly. Bai Wan'er and Wang Jiao vanished from view, replaced by two elemental energy bodies—one large and one small. The larger one was earthy yellow, representing Bai Wan'er, while the smaller one was water blue, representing Wang Jiao.

In Lang Xin's eyes, Bai Wan'er's earthy yellow radiance was blindingly bright, especially around her abdomen where a massive concentration of heavily compressed earth-elemental energy had gathered. Compared to Bai Wan'er, Wang Jiao's water-elemental energy appeared somewhat insignificant.

Lang Xin did not dare to look too closely. While his horned pupils were extremely sensitive to elemental forces, they acted essentially like X-ray vision when applied to human bodies. Though unable to make out solid details, the graceful contours of the female form were vividly outlined by the glowing elemental energy.

Shifting his gaze to Wang Jiao, he noticed that, much like Bai Wan'er, her abdomen was the focal point of concentrated elemental energy—exceptionally striking, blue, pure, and devoid of any impurities. Lang Xin knew inwardly that there was no problem there.

Immediately afterward, he moved his gaze upward. "What is this...?"

Suddenly, Lang Xin spotted a black thread on Wang Jiao's shoulder, looking precisely like the ink-colored filaments emitted by the Mo Blade.

"Check if there is any abnormality around Miss Wang's neck," Lang Xin said to Bai Wan'er, casting a glance toward Dao.

Bai Wan'er unbuttoned the collar of Wang Jiao's garment, instantly revealing a patch of snow-white skin. Shielding Wang Jiao slightly with her side, Bai Wan'er glanced at the shoulder, her expression shifting instantly. She immediately looked at Dao and said, "Dao, come here for a moment."

Bai Wan'er's tone was calm, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. "Do you know what this is about?"

On Wang Jiao's shoulder, a palm-sized black mark was writhing beneath her skin, appearing to expand continuously.

Dao took a look, furrowing his brow in thought for a moment before replying, "It looks like an infection, or perhaps an invasion. It must have happened when we lured and killed the three-dimensional entity and came into contact with the blood of the quaternary creature."

"Then why are you fine?"

Dao had already served as bait twice; the probability of him coming into contact with the quaternary creature's blood was far higher than Wang Jiao's.

"Physique." Dao didn't know how to explain it, ultimately attributing it to his Demon Hunter physique.

"Is there any way to resolve this?" Bai Wan'er cared only about completing the mission now—bringing everyone back alive. Everything else had ceased to matter.

"Tian Xin, combined with my blood." Dao recalled his master once saying that the Physique of the Five Elements or an Awakened Individual, combined with their blood, could purge infections brought by demonic entities.

He had no idea whether Tian Xin was the Awakened Individual his master had spoken of, but Tian Xin's milky-white energy bore an uncanny resemblance to his master's description.

Meanwhile, at the original location of the new spatial anomaly, cracks suddenly appeared in the sky. An old man and a youth stepped out from within, both wearing solemn expressions.

The old man waved his hand through empty air, and a muffled sound echoed across the landscape. The surrounding scenery began to recede as trees and structures vanished one by one.

"It really has vanished!" The old man stared in disbelief at the Divine Wood Secret Realm he had guarded for nearly a century, crying out in his heart that disaster had struck.

The young man's expression was equally grim. His entire body instantly transformed into a silver-white hue, melting into space, only to emerge a moment later. "It's still in the same spot, but it seems to have been pulled into a sub-quaternary space. We will wait here. If they cannot come out after half a month, we will force them out."

The silver-white sheen on his body faded back to normal as he spoke. Having finished, the young man vanished once more, leaving the old man standing alone.

A moment later, the old man muttered a single word—"Lost"—and likewise disappeared.

"Wang Jiao, Wang Jiao, how are you feeling?"

Looking at Wang Jiao's fluttering eyes, Bai Wan'er shuddered slightly, recalling what had just happened.

Dao used the Mo Blade to slice open the skin on Wang Jiao's shoulder. Not a single drop of blood emerged; instead, beneath Wang Jiao's skin, another layer of black flesh seemed to encase her. Without hesitation, Dao slashed his own palm, and his blood dripped onto the black tissue, instantly boiling with a sizzling sound.

At that exact moment, Wang Jiao's complexion turned ashen and withered, making her look like a walking skeleton. Dao's blood acted like a corrosive agent, eating away a large hole wherever the black skin resided.

For a split second, Bai Wan'er felt as though she could see Wang Jiao's beating heart. At that very moment, Dao let out a fierce roar: "Tian Xin!"

Immediately afterward, milky-white energy enveloped Wang Jiao's wound, and moments later, Tian Xin announced that it was done.

Wang Jiao slowly opened her eyes. Seeing Bai Wan'er, her gaze was filled with intense emotion, yet she restrained herself from throwing her arms around Bai Wan'er and weeping. No one knew what she had experienced during her unconscious state, nor could anyone imagine what the quaternary space was truly like. Wang Jiao buried everything deep within her heart, right up until the birth of the Space Queen.

"Hiss... ah." Just as Wang Jiao struggled to sit up, a sharp, searing pain shot through her shoulder.

"Get some rest for now." Bai Wan'er gently wiped the tears from the corner of Wang Jiao's eyes and forced a smile as she spoke.

"Mn." Looking at Bai Wan'er's smile, Wang Jiao suddenly felt the pain in her shoulder vanish. She cast her gaze toward her surroundings, but before the relaxation on her face could last even a second, it froze completely. Staring in absolute disbelief, she stammered, "How can this be? Isn't this a dream?! Is this still a dream?!"

Suddenly, Wang Jiao looked up at Bai Wan'er. Bai Wan'er's smiling face began to elongate; the arm wrapped around her waist tightened like an iron vice, crushing her ribs, while her smiling mouth stretched open to a grotesque, exaggerated size, snapping down toward Wang Jiao as if to swallow her whole in a single bite.

Wang Jiao struggled violently, but bound tightly by the iron-like grip around her waist, she was completely immobilized.

"No, no, no!"

A pitch-black, cavernous maw swallowed Wang Jiao whole.

When Wang Jiao opened her eyes once more, Bai Wan'er was right there before her, asking with genuine concern, "Wang Jiao, Wang Jiao, how are you feeling?"

Wang Jiao froze. Following right behind, a sharp pain flared in her shoulder, yet the tightening contraction of her heart caused her far greater agony than the physical wound.

"What's wrong with you?" Bai Wan'er reached out to touch Wang Jiao's forehead, finding nothing out of the ordinary, yet Wang Jiao's horrified expression told a completely different story. Bai Wan'er quickly added, "Just rest for a little while longer."

Wang Jiao shook her head gingerly, asking in a tentative whisper, "Are you... really Bai Wan'er?"

The moment she finished speaking, Wang Jiao slammed her eyes shut, refusing to watch the scene transform once again. After waiting for a moment with no changes occurring, she cautiously peeked open one eye.

Instead of being angered, Bai Wan'er was amused by Wang Jiao's bizarre expression. A trace of a smile playing on her lips, she said, "If I'm not Bai Wan'er, who else could I be? Besides, we're still in the middle of a spatial exploration. If you don't get up right now, I'm leaving you behind."

"No, don't!" Hearing those words, Wang Jiao's expression twisted in extreme tension. She grabbed tightly onto Bai Wan'er's arm, but the instant she turned her head to look at the gray sky, her entire body froze in place.

"Could this still be a dream?"

"What?" Before Bai Wan'er's words could fade, a resounding roar echoed through the gray heavens.

Hearing the piercing roar, Wang Jiao's expression collapsed completely. She muttered hollowly, "As expected... I still didn't escape, did I?"

"What is going on?" The moment the roar echoed, nearly everyone crowded around, forming a large and a small circle enclosing Bai Wan'er and Wang Jiao.

Ye Bai stared fixedly at the gray mist drifting aimlessly across the desolate space, a sudden familiarity washing over him as he recalled that resounding roar.

Could it be a dragon again? Directly or indirectly, he had already crossed paths with dragons three times: the first time during the entrance exam, the second time at the Purple Sable District Guard Station with that dragon roar. Yet, he had never laid eyes on a real dragon. Could they actually be running into one this time?

"Wuu—" Suddenly, the gray mist before them surged toward a single point, accelerating rapidly. A faint, monstrous silhouette began to take shape beneath the swirling shroud of gray vapor.

"Wang Jiao, do you know something about this?" Bai Wan'er asked, having caught the second sentence Wang Jiao had muttered earlier.

"Mn." Wang Jiao nodded, a bitter expression contorting her face as she spoke, "It's the Earth Dragon Guardian."

"Earth Dragon Guardian?!"

Tian Xin and Ye Bai exclaimed in unison.