Chapter 128 - Pulling a Radish Out of the Soil

God, why did you have to extinguish the fire of hope right after you gave us one!?

The six beastmasters watched blankly as Zhang Che “slipped” and fell off his flying mount, plunging into the pond several dozen meters below. Their faces turned ghastly pale, their hearts ashen.

There was no way he’d survived from falling from such a height, even if it was falling into water.

The six of them had given up on resisting, since they were all going to die anyway. It was only a matter of time.

Of course, it’d be useless even if they tried to resist the ferocious attacks of the water insects. The remaining subdued beasts turned into streaks of light and dissipated one after another, and their fragile, paper-like defenses were finally broken through.

The flat-bodied water insects at the forefront of the assault were floating on the muddy water. Their sharp legs paddled quickly, like they were in a dragon boat race, rushing towards the group of beastmasters ahead of them.

They could see the open mouths of the water insects were filled with several sharp, thin fangs, moving to the rhythm of their muscles, giving them the shivers.

“Ahh! I don’t want to be eaten by them!” The female beastmaster who originally had a determined look, referred to as “Qiqi” by her companions, finally couldn’t hold on any longer and crumbled. She whipped out her dagger, bringing it to her throat.

Rather than being eaten alive by these exotic beasts, she’d prefer ending it herself!

“Qiqi, don’t!”

The young man at her side quickly noticed this and slapped the dagger from Qiqi’s right hand. He held her tightly with both arms, turning her around and said with a firm gaze, “I don’t want to see you die before my eyes. If these insects want to hurt you, they have to get past my dead body first!”

However, Qiqi didn’t see the resolute look on his face. Her mouth was agape, looking ahead incredulously, as if she just saw something unthinkable.

“Qiqi, I have always wanted to tell you this-”

Feeling their impending deaths approaching, the man finally mustered his courage and was about to tell her those three words that he never had the courage to, but Qiqi suddenly pushed him away, cheering, “We’re saved, we’re saved!”

It was like having to clench his butt tight at the crucial moment just as a big number two was coming. The man’s face experienced multiple changes as he turned around stiffly and saw a bolt of purple lightning shuttling back and forth around them. Every time it flew by, the ferocious water insects rushing towards them were cut in half, green juices splattering everywhere.

-What happened? Is someone else coming to save us?-

“Gods! That person is fine, we’re saved!”

“I’m alive… I’m alive!” someone sobbed

A couple of the beastmasters cheered excitedly, while some others wept in happiness. On the other hand, the man’s face was strangely mournful… -The confession that I finally had the courage to say… It’s gone, just like that…-

Before Zhang Che made the jump, he had already given the order to the Purple Jade Condor, telling it to save these beastmasters as quickly as possible. As such, it activated the Wing Blade skill while it was still diving, aiming at the bunch of water insects and beginning a one-sided slaughter.

Before the one-minute limit was up, the group of beastmasters discovered, to their astonishment, that the dozens of water insects around them had been wiped out, shredded to pieces, and their carcasses were strewn everywhere in the swamp.

Even though they realized beforehand that this ferocious purple flying beast was strong, they didn’t expect it to be so powerful.

This group of powerful water insects that had chased them to no end was actually wiped out within a minute!

After venting the happiness from pulling their feet out of their own graves, the beastmasters suddenly felt something was amiss.

“Shit, that person still hasn’t surfaced after falling into the pond! Save him, quick!”

It was Qiqi who reacted to the situation first, and she immediately ran towards where Zhang Che landed.

It was only then that the others realized. No wonder it felt weird; so that was it!

Even so, the purple bird was much faster than them.

Right after completing its rescue mission, the Purple Jade Condor immediately received another command from Zhang Che to give him a hand… uh, no, to give him a talon!

Zhang Che was depressed! He clearly calculated that he wouldn’t be in any danger, and thus jumped down without a care to let the Purple Jade Condor save the others as soon as possible. That was indeed the case, too. Although the pond wasn’t very deep, only about five meters, and was able to dissipate some of the impact, allowing the Swamp Crocodile King armor to protect Zhang Che from any injury.

{Editor’s Note: The record for a human surviving an impact on water is about 200 feet. High divers routinely do 100 foot dives. Our hero was in no danger even if he was human.}

Alas, Zhang Che didn’t anticipate that there was actually this much mud accumulated at the bottom of the pond!

When Zhang Che made the jump, although his feet were facing down, he couldn’t avoid sinking into the mud when he fell into the pond, leaving only his head above the mud.

There’s that, and then coupled with the fact that Swamp Crocodile King armor inhibited his movements, it became impossible for Zhang Che to pull himself out of the mud!

Thus, he could only wait for a while to make sure that the pond was safe, before taking in a deep breath and unequipping his armor, trying to pull himself out of the mud.

As things would have it, once he was stuck in the mud, it didn’t matter how much strength he had.

Zhang Che stirred the bottom of the pond, making a mess out of it, before realizing to his dismay that he couldn’t get himself free!

Fortunately, his body was now different from ordinary people. He wouldn’t feel suffocated even if he had to hold his breath for a few minutes. Otherwise, he might really suffocate to death in the water.

Left without a choice, Zhang Che could only stop moving and allow the mud to settle down, while he commanded the Purple Jade Condor to pull him out immediately after rescuing the others.

Zhang Che had thought of using the Rotten Ent Prowler whip to save himself, but before he made the jump, he remembered that the pond was surrounding by a flat swampland. There was nothing for him to anchor the whip, and thus this method wasn’t feasible.

With Qiqi at the fore, the beastmasters were relieved after seeing the Purple Jade Condor flying to the pond, knowing that the beastmaster who came to save them would probably be fine.

However, they still ran over. They could still express their gratitude if that person needed a helping hand.

Moreover, this benefactor had just pulled them back from the gates of Hell. How could they stand by and watch in such a situation?

The Purple Jade Condor soon flew over to the pond. A brief moment later, Qiqi and the others saw a purplish-brown whip shoot out of the water, reaching a few dozen meters into the air.

Before the long whip fell down, the Purple Jade Condor flashed and caught it with a talon. It beat its wings furiously, rising into the sky.

Pop!

Qiqi and the others heard a sound similar to the opening of a bottle ring out clearly, followed by a dark figure being pulled out of the pond by the Purple Jade Condor, with lumps of mud falling off him.

The scene was exactly like pulling a radish out of the soil!

For some unknown reasons, they felt an urge to laugh out loud at the sight of this. However, considering that would be very impolite, they could only force themselves to hold it in, their pale faces quickly turning red.