Chapter 149 Co-operation

After handing over the [Cloud Mirror], the grotto returned to silence.

The situation between the Xuan Turtle and the Great Deer had seemed balanced before, but it wasn't really... Although the Great Deer Saint had advanced to the Title realm earlier, he knew in his heart that once the Xuan Turtle successfully broke through, he would be at a complete disadvantage. He couldn't match him in strength, nor did he have the advantage in authority.

But now, with an additional item of authority, it was different.

A Title like Xuan Turtle, with its average killing ability, couldn't kill the Great Deer Saint with a single blow.

Once he made a move.

Then the Great Deer, at worst, could run away with the [Cloud Mirror]!

The current situation was truly balanced.

The Xuan Turtle Divine Envoy looked gloomy. He was at the most important juncture of his breakthrough, and quickly adjusted his mentality to concentrate on merging the two domains into one.

Before long.

The steam in the grotto dissipated, all returning to the Xuan Turtle's body.

The [Iron Stomach] and the [Embryo of Xuan Water] were perfectly integrated, indicating that he had successfully broken through.

"Brother Xuan Turtle has broken through?"

The Great Deer Saint spoke with a smile, offering congratulations, "Congratulations, congratulations."

But there was no joy on the Xuan Turtle's face.

He had no good way to deal with the Great Deer Saint's opportunistic behavior and could only accept it.

"Great Deer, I need to remind you."

The Xuan Turtle said in a deep voice, "What you are holding now is the 'authority' of the Sky Divine Seat."

After advancing, his tone was different from before.

The Xuan Turtle knew that he couldn't get the [Cloud Mirror] back for the time being, but this level of intimidation was still necessary.

"Don't worry, I will return the authority as soon as I leave the 'Ice Sea'..." The Great Deer Saint didn't buy it at all, and didn't think the [Cloud Mirror] was a hot potato.

This level of intimidation was only good for fooling others.

Before the Divine Seat Lord went to sea, the Church of the Storms had been in internal strife for more than a decade—

The several Saints fought fiercely among themselves!

What thoughts, what tricks, hadn't he seen?

The Great Deer, who was still healing, didn't even bother to lift his eyelids: "If I'm not mistaken, the second batch of formal troops from the Five Continents heading south to sea should have already set off. Maybe when we leave the [Ice Sea Ruins], they will have already arrived at the periphery. By then... even if I want to take this item of authority away, I won't be able to."

"It's good that you know..."

The Xuan Turtle could only snort coldly.

"Okay, now withdraw your 'spirit'."

The Xuan Turtle said calmly. He had completed the final advancement and didn't need this means of checks and balances to ensure his safety.

In his mind, there was still a wisp of the Great Deer Saint's spirit.

This was really unsettling.

Keeping this wisp of spirit, the Great Deer Saint only needed a thought to detonate his mind. His best ending would be to perish together with this madman!

He quickly requested to lift the mental connection in his mind.

"Not so fast."

Unexpectedly, the Great Deer Saint looked relaxed and said indifferently: "Wait until I heal my injuries... Your breakthrough has been completed. Now I am the weaker party. It's your turn to protect me."

"You son of a..."

The Xuan Turtle was so angry that his teeth itched.

Now, thinking carefully, he had really fallen into the Great Deer Saint's trap. This guy came to him and took the initiative to request an exchange of spirits in their minds as a Title, to maintain balance in the situation... presumably waiting for this moment. Now that the strong and weak had switched, the Xuan Turtle was tied to the Great Deer's thief ship.

He suppressed his anger and asked unhappily, "Your injury is almost healed, how long will it take?"

"Soon."

The Great Deer said indifferently, "What's the rush? What if we encounter that red shadow again? Are you confident?"

"..."

The Xuan Turtle was speechless for a moment.

However, after breaking through, he was now looking forward to encountering that red shadow again, not because he wanted to compete with the red shadow again, but because he had more than 90% certainty that he could retreat unscathed and, by the way, kill the Great Deer Saint at the hands of the red shadow!

He waited for a while.

The Great Deer Saint finally ended his healing.

His whole body radiated a bright blue glow, and the azure waves attracted by the [Tide] authority slowly dissipated.

Except for the broken antlers, the Great Deer's injuries had been repaired by more than 90%.

"Phew..."

The Xuan Turtle finally waited for the Great Deer to come out of seclusion and quickly urged, "Release the 'spiritual connection'."

This time, the Great Deer was still unhurried: "Not so fast."

The Xuan Turtle's eyes widened.

"You and I need to work together to have a chance to leave the Ice Sea..." The Great Deer Saint smiled: "Since we've decided to form an alliance, then I think it's better for us to maintain the 'spiritual connection', so that no matter who encounters a dilemma, the other party can't abandon them. Didn't you just get stabbed in the back by Yun Hu once before? Don't want to be stabbed in the back again, right?"

"You..."

The Xuan Turtle stared at the Great Deer Saint. He had never seen such a shameless person!

"I don't care about your backstabbing."

"But I do."

The Great Deer said indifferently, "You can release the spirit in your mind, but I won't release mine... Sorry, before leaving the Ice Sea, you must help me, you have no choice."

"???"

The Xuan Turtle was struck by lightning.

He felt like he had fallen into a huge trap. From the moment the Great Deer Saint came to him, he was hooked.

Step by step, sinking deeper and deeper.

He took a step forward, grabbed the Great Deer Saint's collar, and was filled with anger, "Old thing, are you playing me?"

In the world of transcendents, strength is paramount.

Before advancing, no matter how much the Xuan Turtle looked down on the Great Deer, he had to call him "Senior" when they met.

After advancing, it was different.

The title of "old thing" did not make the Great Deer angry.

A mocking look appeared on his face, which was already equivalent to a clear answer.

Yes, so what can you do?

The Great Deer Saint had been fighting in the Church of the Storms for many years and had seen all kinds of scenes. He only gently patted the Xuan Turtle's tiger's mouth and reminded him, "Brother Xuan Turtle, why are you so agitated? Don't forget... your [Cloud Mirror] is still in my hands."

"Bastard."

The Xuan Turtle let go of his collar and stared at the Great Deer.

If he left the Ice Sea, he would kill this guy as soon as possible!

"Where are the airships from the East Continent and the North Continent?"

He suppressed his anger and decided to endure it for a while.

"..."

The Great Deer slowly stood up. He shattered the ice curtain of the grotto and slowly walked out, looking out at the icy and snowy world in the distance.

After a moment, the Great Deer Saint turned his head and glanced at the Xuan Turtle who was following him out, and said with a smile.

"Don't worry, your and my ultimate goals are the same. On the road to the destination, the process is inevitably a bit rugged. All the things I have done are just for 'self-preservation'."

He held out a hand and pointed in a certain direction in the snowfield.

"On the way here, I saw the source energy boats from the North Continent and the East Continent. I used [Tide] to mark them spiritually."

The Great Deer said indifferently, "Next, we will seize the ships. You and I will each seize one."

...

...

Two source energy boats were moving slowly in the air.

After being ambushed by the red shadow.

The joint forces of the two continents had become extremely cautious. They had confirmed the existence of transcendent life in the Ice Sea Ruins...

And their strength was extraordinary!

Now, the most rational thing to do was to find the exit of the [Ruins], leave quickly, and bring the intelligence of this exploration to the periphery of the Ice Sea. According to the original plan of the mission, the Five Continents fleet was about to arrive near the [Ruins].

This operation seemed to be a joint law enforcement operation by the Five Continents world.

But in fact, the intelligence was not shared.

The resources and information explored by the advance teams of each continent were confidential.

Of course, Changye Central City, which had merged into the alliance, was an exception.

"Captain Wei Cheng, this [Ice Sea Ruins] seems a bit strange... It's obviously so huge on the outside, but exploring the inside, it's much smaller than expected."

"Indeed, this snowfield doesn't seem that big."

The control rooms of the two source energy boats were holding a closed-network spiritual link meeting.

Zhong Fan said in a deep voice, "After leaving that snow mountain, we haven't encountered any 'transcendent life' anymore. If we go further, we may be able to return to the original entrance."

"The entrance and exit of this kind of disaster zone are likely not the same."

Zhong Yuan said calmly, "Even if we return to the origin, we may not be able to return the same way."

Their biggest problem now was to find the disaster zone exit to leave the [Ice Sea Ruins].

"In any case, we should try it first..."

Wei Cheng said, "To find the disaster zone exit, we can only search little by little. There's no shortcut."

"Speaking of which," Zhong Yuan suddenly asked, "Don't you think it's strange that the red shadow didn't choose to pursue us at the last moment?"

Even though he had escaped, he still couldn't forget that terrifying guy.

"It is strange."

"A normal transcendent would have been enraged by such a barrage."

Li Shici said with a chuckle, "Do you remember the 'Statue of the God of Light' that appeared in the sky above the snowfield before? That should be the [Incense Master] domain of Long Qi, the Seventh Elder of the Temple. If we had given Guangming City a chance to counterattack on the Ice Sea before... we should have had a chance to see that statue."

The vision on the snowfield before was a bit scary.

They guessed that Long Qi had probably confronted the red shadow... They didn't know what the result was.

They hoped for a lose-lose situation.

If they could only choose one, it would be okay if Long Qi was killed.

That Ice Sea transcendent was a bit scary, but not as hateful as Guangming City.

"You seem to hate the Guangming Temple very much?" Wei Cheng rubbed his eyebrows, a little puzzled. "Why?"

In the early years, Central City and Guangming City had a very good relationship.

As an old member of the legion.

Wei Cheng still maintained contact with some of the strong from Guangming City. Although the alliance between the two continents had broken down, they could still be considered friends.

The aura of Guangming had changed.

But some people had not changed.

"Do you need a reason to hate someone?"

Zhong Fan didn't explain, but said indifferently, "The people of Changye beat up Guangming City every time they see them. Besides, weren't your initial reactions to attack as well?"

"That was the discipline required by the legion. When encountering non-friendly forces, seize the opportunity to gain the upper hand to avoid being attacked."

Wei Cheng smiled and said, "Your round of artillery fire was a bit personal... But what you said makes sense. You don't need a reason to hate someone. If I knew it was Long Qi, that bastard, I would have also pulled out all the firepower."

In recent years, the Holy Arbitrators had been spreading their faith in the Five Continents.

The major legions of Central City had all encountered varying degrees of erosion.

Wei Cheng had friends in Guangming City, but that was based on common knowledge and the same level.

He was also very disgusted with the fanatical believers in the Temple.

In the meeting room, only one person was still thinking about the previous topic.

"After we left the snow mountain, the red shadow didn't continue to pursue us."

"Leaving the snow mountain, no longer pursuing..."

Zhong Yuan raised his head and asked puzzledly, "Do you think that the red shadow seems to be guarding something?"

The others looked at each other, face to face.

At this moment, a sudden burst of loud noise came!

The control room suddenly shook violently.

The mental meeting ended instantly.

Wei Cheng and Zhong Yuan stared at the screen in front of them—

They saw a burly black-clothed figure, suspended in the air.

An upright humanoid beast appeared behind him. This was a "domain life" that had condensed into a humanoid form with a certain degree of autonomous consciousness. It had a human body and a deer head, and exuded an extremely dangerous barbaric aura!

Wei Cheng and Zhong Yuan exchanged glances. They recognized the identity of the black-clothed figure!

"Church of the Storms! The Great Deer Saint!"

At the same time, the shield of the North Continent source energy boat was shattered by a giant axe, a large amount of source matter was burning in the air. The shield exhausted all its energy to barely withstand the first blow.

"Boom!"

The next moment—

The giant axe was gripped by the power of the void and slowly pulled out!

The Great Deer Saint reached out his palm, grabbed the black axe that flew back, and without any hesitation, immediately chopped down with the second axe!

...

...

(ps: 1. Three updates are completed! That's all for today, please vote for the monthly ticket~ 2. By the way, mention the easter egg in the previous chapter. The red shadow's laser eyes are actually a tribute to Uncle Wu Zhu. Mao Ni's "Jian Ke" is one of my favorite novels~)