The medical personnel moved swiftly, carrying away the dying and retreating with haste, leaving behind only the melancholic, handsome man.
There was something profoundly unsettling about him.
Bai Cha narrowed her eyes, a flicker of familiarity passing through her. As she pondered this, the man vanished from her sight, leaving only the tranquil pool and the scattered starlight.
Gone?
The sudden turn of events put Bai Cha instantly on guard. Before she could fully process it, her muscles had already reacted with exceptional precision.
In what felt like an instant, a dagger was reversed in her hand. Bai Cha twisted her waist, propelling her upper body backward at an unnatural angle. Her right arm swung upwards, parrying the sharp sword energy that was as cold as autumn water.
The strike was remarkably subtle, yet upon contact with the dagger, it unleashed an unparalleled chill. It felt like a person devoid of the will to live plunging into the deep sea in late autumn – piercingly cold, yet carrying a sense of willing surrender. Not only was this sword strike devastatingly powerful, but it also seemed to corrode one's mental energy.
The clash of sword and dagger produced a crisp metallic sound that stirred a gust of wind, making both their long hair fly. The moment they saw each other's faces, a shared look of surprise froze them. With a blur of blue, the melancholic handsome man, like a mermaid entering the water, created a splash and landed nimbly by the pool. Bai Cha, however, recoiled as rapidly as hot oil meeting cold water, executing a somersault to land on another tree.
Bai Cha half-crouched on the sturdy branch, looking down at the melancholic handsome man by the pool. She shook the frost from her dagger. Both appeared remarkably calm.
No wonder he had sensed her presence. It turned out to be a merfolk, a species whose senses and bodily functions far surpassed those of humans, and who were particularly sensitive to heat.
After a long silence, the blue merfolk pulled up his hood. Bai Cha saw a complex mixture of emotions and hesitation in his eyes. He stared at her intently, his gaze carrying a peculiar sentiment that Bai Cha couldn't quite place.
The merfolk turned and, like a mermaid returning to the sea, dove into the dense forest, disappearing in an instant.
"Wow~ Smart choice~" On the screen, Meng Qinghuan clapped her hands together in satisfaction. "Little Cang is truly the potential seed I've been looking for."
"Why do you give everyone such effeminate names?" Lang Ya grumbled. "Smart? Facing a mere woman and running away."
"Isn't that the same thinking that got you beaten by Little Bai Bai back then?" Meng Qinghuan chuckled. "Have you forgotten about your broken bones?"
Lang Ya pouted, quietly touching his ribs, and deflated.
"Don't always think about rushing headlong, little wolf~ Strategy requires situational assessment. Cang Liu is a cute child who takes things seriously; he puts his all into everything he does~" Meng Qinghuan said with a smile. "Cang Liu's power carries ice and erosion. But during that collision, although Little Bai appeared to be forced back, there was no frost on her hands, and her expression didn't change. This means Little Bai didn't suffer any disadvantage in that exchange.
Little Cang's full-force attack against Little Bai's hurried block caused no damage, which implies Little Bai's strength is superior.
Moreover, Little Cang had already killed several people single-handedly and was not in peak condition. Engaging someone stronger who *was* in peak condition would not have been wise~"
"Uh, well, it's not necessarily a loss," Lang Ya said stubbornly. "Even though we both know Boss would definitely beat him to a pulp, running away after one encounter shows too little courage."
"This is a free-for-all, little wolfie~" Meng Qinghuan pointed to the time in the top-left corner of the screen and sighed helplessly. "It hasn't even been half an hour, and the carnival lasts three to five days. Going all out so quickly, you don't want a ranking anymore??"
"Uh... you're right. Lang Ya, being a rough fellow, didn't understand these things. As long as he followed orders, whatever his superiors and Bai Cha told him to do, he would do it."
At the carnival.
Seeing Cang Liu depart, Bai Cha finally breathed a sigh of relief. Exposing her full strength at the start was not what she intended, and the man's departure perfectly aligned with her desires.
The man's speed was incredibly fast, like a phantom. Bai Cha's speed was already world-class, having been a global powerhouse even before resonance. After resonance, her physique had become even more exceptional. Yet, she hadn't expected a first-year student to possess speed that could rival hers.
With blue hair, blue eyes, and sharp features, Bai Cha frowned slightly. During their brief clash, he had been very close to her, and she could clearly feel the non-human coldness emanating from him. That icy aura radiated from his skin.
It seemed he truly was a merfolk.
Bai Cha had read about this race in her files. Merfolk were deep-sea mermen who had been mutated by extraterrestrial radiation from a meteorite that fell during the Dragon Race's arrival. Their guardian deity was the world's only Sea Dragon, above all dragons except the Ancestral Dragon. Only one merfolk resonated with it each generation.
Merfolk possessed powerful physiques and reflexes by nature, making them as strong as humans after resonance, or even stronger. However, they had a fatal flaw: they could not leave aquatic environments. Only the merfolk who resonated with the Sea Dragon once every three thousand years could live on land. In the entire Jun Yao, there was only one such merfolk.
This explained his considerable strength, but why had that merfolk's gaze been so peculiar?
Bai Cha knew she was attractive, but she doubted it would warrant love at first sight. If it were due to her looks, such affection without an emotional foundation was likely mere lust.
Furthermore, that look made Bai Cha feel as though the merfolk somehow recognized her.
This was but a minor interlude and did not affect Bai Cha's progress. She continued to traverse the forest.
Bai Cha moved with great stealth, like a butterfly, light and silent. Points could be accumulated and carried over; with many days available, Bai Cha was not in a hurry.
However, as Bai Cha silently observed her surroundings, her muscles suddenly tensed.
It was a peculiar sensation, as if she were suddenly being watched. She was the prey, and the hunter, having finally found its target, had locked its gaze upon her. This was an instinctual alertness to being targeted.
Bai Cha instinctively tried to move away, but as she leaped into the air, a massive spiderweb, subtly glowing with a purple light – a sign of poison – descended from above.
Beneath her, an earth spike suddenly erupted from the ground, its sharpness threatening to pierce her chest.
In that split second, the thick vines of the tree where Bai Cha had been standing suddenly came alive. The green vines instantly turned black and elongated, wrapping around Bai Cha's waist and flinging her sideways, narrowly dodging the pincer attack.
The unfamiliar aura that had briefly appeared was quickly concealed. Bai Cha understood; she had learned much about the types of Dragon Calamities in these past few days. This was likely a Dragon Calamity capable of concealing one's presence. While its individual strength might be lacking, it could be incredibly effective as part of a team.
A powerful support could bolster an entire team, and was often highly sought after. Even if they couldn't secure a top ranking, many would willingly recruit them to assist, sharing resources after achieving higher rankings. This was another viable strategy.
The aura had only been present for a fleeting moment, but for Bai Cha, it was enough. She instantly pinpointed the direction. A surge of black energy pulsed beneath her feet, and she darted off, leaving a trail of black afterimages.
As Bai Cha rapidly approached, the group's aura became even more chaotic. Bai Cha's guess was correct; one member of this five-person team, named Ye Sheng, possessed the ability [Dragon Calamity: Unseen], which allowed him to visualize everything within his scanning range three-dimensionally and conceal his teammates' auras.
Another member complemented him perfectly. They were brothers, and Ye Xuan's ability was [Dragon Calamity: Sensory Sharing]. He had trained hawks and a type of moth called a wax moth, allowing them to scout when necessary and share a million photoreceptor cells per square millimeter and sound frequencies up to 300 kHz, as well as vision.
However, being able to see was one thing; reacting was another. Five individuals, after all, were only first-year students. Seeing Bai Cha approaching at high speed, their brains registered the warning, but their movements lagged by half a beat.
The earth spike and the spiderweb collided, too late to retract. The only girl in the group raised her hand, and a ball of flame two meters in diameter rushed towards Bai Cha.
She was clearly the leader of the team. She quickly calmed her teammates, unleashed the flames to block Bai Cha, and simultaneously led them in a retreat. Her thinking was clear, as if she had already planned their escape route. For a girl of fifteen or sixteen, achieving this was already quite remarkable.
However, what the little girl didn't expect was that Bai Cha's speed would not diminish. With a flick of her wrist, she raised her dagger, and the condensed dark energy on it instantly tore an opening in the flames. Bai Cha then pushed off the ground, accelerating again, and like a bolt of lightning, squeezed directly through the gap.
Everything happened too quickly. Bai Cha's killing intent, accumulated from years of combat and bloodshed, turned the faces of the group pale. Before they could react further, a whistling sound cut through the air. Ye Sheng's chest now bore a dark dagger. The group instantly lost their [Unseen] detection.
Bai Cha flickered and vanished back into the jungle.
The group was thoroughly terrified. In fact, they all recognized Bai Cha as the newcomer on the list. Bai Cha's appearance was too striking; if such a person existed, everyone would have known about her from the previous semester.
Initially, they had assumed that Bai Cha, having only resonated a few days ago, even if she had accustomed herself to her post-resonance physical changes, would not have mastered the skills they had learned last semester. However, Bai Cha's speed and strength far exceeded their expectations, and they all grew nervous.
"Zhi Ying, what do we do now?" Ye Xuan's forehead began to sweat.
As first-year students, their previous semester's ranking was based solely on their learning progress and abilities. The carnival was their first time. Suddenly seeing someone "die" before their eyes, and being taken down in one blow, made Ye Xuan feel his legs turn to jelly.
Although modern medical technology was extremely advanced, as long as it wasn't a direct dismemberment or decapitation, let alone severed limbs, even damaged nerves could be reconnected. Yet, witnessing their comrade's demise firsthand had startled Ye Xuan.
"There's nothing else we can do. Didn't you bring your wax moths? Let's share our hearing. It's better than nothing," Zhi Ying was the first to calm down and said methodically. "This person is definitely Bai Cha. She exceeded my expectations. Let's share our hearing and pay attention to the sounds around us. Follow my command, and we'll retreat. Although her points are high, we can't handle such a high score ourselves. We shouldn't court disaster. Let's leave first."
"Okay, no problem." Ye Xuan quickly nodded. Just as he was about to move, Zhi Ying pressed his hand down. As he was about to look up and ask, he suddenly saw Zhi Ying's complexion turn pale.
"Why hasn't anyone come to help Ye Sheng, who has been incapacitated for so long?" Zhi Ying suddenly realized something, his face turning ashen. "No, the battle isn't over yet!"