LIGHTNOVELONLINE 73: Running… Towards Them… At The Speed Of Very Fast
Liu Xueli felt like blowing the conference hall up right then and there. Sitting there with her arms crossed, legs crossed, and her best Mingqing ice queen impression, Xueli sat there, waiting for the stupid, brick-for-brains bureaucrats to finish their excuses.
It had brought an utter silence across the room when a reporter had burst into the conference hall, shouting that the plant had bloomed ahead of the expected time.
The bureaucrats had all frozen up, rushing up to the podium to make a neutral political statement about how they “didn’t expect this” and “took full responsibility (but not really because it wasn’t actually their fault).”
While as of now they were going on and on about their “lack of responsibility” and how they’ll “ensure the situation is resolved with the utmost care and urgency.”
Xueli wanted to chuck those bureaucrats right out the ornate glass windows that lined the hall. If they were so urgent, let the group of people assembled for the strikeforce get going already!
Even more, as her hands clenched the bottom of the button up shirt she was wearing under the loose coat draped over her shoulders, Xueli looked around and saw that... instead of creased foreheads in worry or clenched jaws, all there were cultivators looking around with an awkward look.
Xueli knew that look. Xueli knew it like the back of her hand, maybe more, maybe like the front of her hand. She had grown up seeing it time after time. That was a look of “oh shit, I look bad now that the situation has gone south, I originally only signed up for this because I thought it’d be a smooth expedition where I could get some easy credit and fame.”
The only other person who had even a remote sense of urgency was Elder Xiao Feng, the elder of the new traveling companion of Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing that Xueli had heard about for the past few weeks.
Well... she knew Xiao Feng from the past, but that was unimportant business.
...
At least they were wrapping up now. With the clapping and flashing lights settling after a few moments, Xueli got up from her chair as soon as she noticed people beginning to shift in their seats getting ready to leave the conference hall.
She had places to be. Places that weren’t full of plebeian brick-brained fools.
Autumn leaves, shadows, misty rain, roaring dragons.
Each elder disappearing from the hall one by one with their own unique movement technique, Xueli disappeared as well in a small shower of snowflakes, reappearing outside where her jet was waiting for her.
Rushing up the steps, taking two at a time, Xueli paused for a moment before calling out to Xiao Feng who was also sprinting towards his own vehicle. “Just get on mine! It’s faster. Hurry over here, you big buffoon!”
A wave, then another but more exasperated wave later, Xueli ran into the jet, retracting the small ramp and just leaving the door open for Xiao Feng.
Hearing Xiao Feng enter the jet, Xueli channeled her Qi through to the jet, pushing it to liftoff, and begin to accelerate into the distance.
-------
Pouring Qi into the jet as if she was dumping koi feed into her pond, Xueli watched as the scenery became a blur.
“Where are they right now?” Xiao Feng asked, taking a seat on one of the couches, pressing his hands together as he stared out the window.
“I have no clue.” Xueli sighed, massaging her eyes as she supported her elbows on her knees. “Can you try and call the disciples to find where they are right now? I’ll focus on just getting us there as fast as possible.”
“Sounds good.”
Hearing Xiao Feng’s affirmation, Xueli crossed her legs, tossing the coat she had draped over her shoulders to the side and focusing on circulating her Qi. Her breathing settling and her heart rate slowing, Xueli’s Qi recovery rate skyrocketed as the temperature around her began to drop.
‘Almost there.’
A mental map of the route she needed to take burnt into her mind, Xueli pushed her senses through the jet, getting a rough estimate of where they were,
‘Fifteen more minutes... Just hold out for fifteen more minutes and your master will be there.’
Xueli relaxed her fists, directing more and more of her Qi into the Qi-artifact vehicle, pushing it beyond its normal cruising speed. It was a workout in itself, Xueli felt as if there was a drain attached to her Qi reservoirs, the Qi disappearing just as fast, or even faster than she could recover it.
It was fine though, having been in the “late” realms for the past oh... fair amount of years, Xueli had enough Qi to spare.
And so, fifteen minutes passed in the jet without much of note. Xiao Feng contacted Han Youhong and found where they were, updating her while also sharing that Songmei was experiencing some eye troubles.
Having been the bearer of bad news, Xiao Feng expected Xueli’s top to be blown off. Xiao Feng expected her to cuss out the bureaucrats until their ears fell off all the way from their conference hall. Yet, contrary to his expectations, Xueli’s mouth remained sealed.
Nodding and giving Xueli credit for improving, Xiao Feng looked out the window, leaning back into the couch.
As he tried to see what the scenery was outside though, Xiao Feng felt himself get pressed back into his seat for a moment as the jet accelerated further, going beyond the recommended cruising speeds... by a lot.
This, for sure, was going to leave damage on the jet... nothing that couldn’t be solved with money though, and honestly? From what Xiao Feng remembered, Xueli had enough of that lying around...
She didn’t spend on anything other than koi feed and her disciples after all.
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Contrary to the morning, the sky was now overcast and cloudy. As if the world wanted to mirror the grave events taking place, the clouds had swooped in without a moment's notice. Along with it, the plateau of Westriver was going through a catastrophe.
Across the plateau, sparked by the one main bud, offshoots of the Red-Edged Swamp Leaf all bloomed, sending seed clumps into the air. With it, spiritual beasts across the entire plateau began to suffer from its effects.
A rise in their innate realm. A rise in their strength. With it though, wild rampages that were tearing through the natural systems of the plateau.
Although there was only one city on the plateau, the metropolis of Westriver, the city was bracing for impact. Cultivators throughout the area had been called back, ready to defend the city as the futuristic weapons were raised, the gates locked, and the walls strengthened.
Four disciples were now making slow progress out of ground zero, the crater where the bud had bloomed and where there was now a brawl fest that could put any other monster-fighting movie to shame.
Taking a break in a small alcove in the side of the ravine wall, the four of them laid against the ravine wall, ignoring the spikes that jutted into their backs while guzzling down some water.
They weren’t in good shape. Mingqing had sweat running down her forehead after carrying Songmei the long distance. Youhong was physically worn but also had yelled his voice hoarse talking to not only his master but being the in-betweener for Wang Taigang and Mingqing. Wang Taigang, on the other hand, though doing better than the rest physically, was still covered in sweat and feeling the burn of lactic acid in his body after acting as the path-finder for the past... what... few hours?
And lastly, there was Songmei who couldn’t open her eyes. Though she felt like she could’ve walked and everything, Mingqing had stopped her.
Good decision.
Very good decision.
Pale-faced and looking gaunt, Songmei’s condition had gotten worse as her eyes began to burn through all her Qi, inching her closer and closer to Qi exhaustion.
She didn’t know how to stop it either, the other three had tried to help, but nothing Songmei could do could stop it. All it did was make her eyes hurt more, or make them burn through it faster.
It was at that moment though, with the four of them sipping their water and resting, that a golden jet pierced through the clouds, ripping them apart as it blazed through the air towards the area.
