Li Li knelt on the ground and wiped away the blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked up at the endless waves of monsters, then slowly forced herself back to her feet.
“Damn it… come on then! Do you think I’m scared?!”
Xia Saisong finally finished off the monster in front of him with a punch after hearing Li Li’s roar. He turned to look at her and saw that her small body was already covered in blood. He wanted to go help her, but more monsters kept rushing in endlessly, leaving him no choice but to grit his teeth and keep fighting.
He could only hope that the people who escaped would bring Shen Biqian back. Among the more than twenty awakened ability users in Peace City, her cultivation level was the highest. If she came, the chance of holding off the monsters and preventing them from breaking in would increase greatly.
This was the greatest crisis Peace City had faced since its founding. If they could not survive it, Peace City would turn into a living hell, and there would be no more peace.
Seeing another monster swing its claw at her, Li Li’s legs weakened slightly. She knew she could not dodge it, so she prepared to take the hit head-on. But even if she was going to be injured, she would make sure the enemy paid a price—her little fist shot forward. She, Li Li, never accepted losses!
Just as her fist struck the monster, the expected pain did not come. She turned her head—and saw Shen Biqian standing beside her. The monster’s claw had already been kicked cleanly apart by her.
“Boss, you’re finally here!”
Shen Biqian kicked away another monster charging toward them. Looking at Li Li covered in blood, a trace of anger rose in her heart. She was extremely protective of her own people. Since she had already acknowledged them, she would not allow anyone to bully them.
“You go rest. Leave this place to me!”
Li Li waved her hand and smiled. “Boss is awesome! Beat these damn monsters into meat paste!”
“Alright, go wait over there!”
Shen Biqian looked at the monsters swarming toward the residential area—there were about fifty of them. Xia Saisong and the others had been fighting for too long and most of them were already on the verge of collapse like Li Li.
She shouted loudly, “Everyone, fall back!”
She currently had two leaves fully formed, one flame, and another faint leaf and flame taking shape. By estimation, she was slightly above Qi Condensation Level Four. That move… she could barely use it.
The exhausted fighters, hearing her voice, felt a surge of hope. Although they rarely saw the City Lord fight, she had provided them with cultivation techniques—her strength must be extraordinary. They slowly retreated.
Once everyone had fallen back behind her, Su Jianmo walked to Shen Biqian’s side. If her spiritual energy was insufficient, he could channel energy into her body.
Seeing him quietly step beside her, Shen Biqian smiled at him. She dared to use this move even though she had not reached Qi Condensation Level Five precisely because she knew he would be there. No matter what happened, he would support her—so she was not afraid.
After everyone withdrew, the monsters roared and instantly surrounded the two of them. Shen Biqian closed her eyes and mobilized all her spiritual energy.
“Ten Thousand Wood Life!”
With her roar, countless green vines surged out from her body, circling around her and Su Jianmo, forming a protective cocoon.
Then suddenly, countless vines extended outward and wrapped around the monsters.
Screams of agony erupted everywhere. The vines tightened instantly after binding the monsters—many were crushed alive under the pressure.
Seeing this near-slaughter, everyone watching was stunned. Were these weak-looking monsters the same powerful enemies they had been desperately fighting before?!
Li Li’s eyes widened even more. She had always known Shen Biqian had a powerful move called “Wood Binding,” and she had almost died to it before.
“Damn… this is like an upgraded version of Wood Binding!”
She became more and more excited, jumping up and shouting:
“Boss is amazing!”
With her lead, the others also began to shout.
“City Lord is amazing!”
Some awakened ability users had originally been doubtful about Shen Biqian becoming City Lord. After all, she was only a twenty-year-old girl who had only provided cultivation techniques and had not contributed much else. But this battle had completely convinced them—strength ruled everything in the apocalypse.
Outside, everyone was excited. But Shen Biqian’s face gradually turned pale.
She had underestimated this move—the spiritual energy consumption was enormous. In just over ten minutes, her once abundant energy was nearly exhausted.
Su Jianmo sensed her condition and began communicating with the wood elements in the air. Over these past few days, his connection with wood energy had grown smoother, and his affinity seemed to have strengthened as well. The amount he could draw in had increased.
Li Li noticed the sudden surge of wood energy in the air and found it strange. But soon, that energy formed a green vortex, pouring into the cocoon Shen Biqian had created. As it entered, the dim green glow immediately flared brilliantly once more.
“Holy… that’s insane!”
Not far from them, a group of five people were flying in the air with flying swords.
The beautiful woman leading them looked at the wood-element energy in the atmosphere, all of which was converging toward a single direction.
“Is someone cultivating there? To be able to mobilize such a massive amount of wood-element energy…”
Beside her was a gentle girl in a white dress—Bai Xue, the same woman who harbored feelings for Su Jianmo. Looking at the surging wood energy, a thought formed in her mind. After all, among the people she knew, only he was capable of drawing in such a large amount of wood-element energy.
Next to them was a young man in fiery red robes—Mu Ranzhu. His eyes carried both doubt and understanding. Although he also suspected the same thing, Su Jianmo had once been able to manipulate wood-element energy, but never on such a massive scale.
“Let’s go take a look. If it’s some senior expert cultivating, it would be good to meet them.”
After exchanging glances with Mu Ranzhu, Bai Xue spoke up to stop him.
“Let’s not. If it really is a senior cultivating, disturbing them would be inappropriate.”
The girl leading them was Mo Yao, the most outstanding member of the Mo family’s younger generation.
Her strength was only slightly below that monstrous genius from the Wen family, but among her peers she was one of the strongest. However, she was extremely proud and most unwilling to be overshadowed by anyone from the Wen family. In order to increase her strength, there was nothing she would not do.
If this green vortex truly was caused by Su Jianmo, then Mo Yao would definitely capture him and use his exceptional wood-element affinity to force him to help her cultivate.
Bai Xue could not let Su Jianmo be taken away by Mo Yao.
“It’s fine. We’ll just watch from a distance. We won’t disturb the senior. We’ll approach after they finish cultivating.”
But Mo Yao had already made up her mind to go and see for herself. Someone capable of drawing in such a vast amount of spiritual energy—this was the first time she had ever seen such a person. Even the strongest ancestor in her family could not achieve something like this.
If she could meet this “senior” and gain their favor, perhaps she might even receive guidance.
This was her opportunity, her fortune. If she could surpass that person now, it would be perfect. So no matter what, she had to go and take a look.