Xie Longyun turned to look at her people. With countless thorns stuck in their skin, those people fell to the ground and curled up while screaming in pain desperately. None of those people at levels five and six managed to dodge those thorns. Those thorns sank deep into their body. That must hurt like hell.
"Ah… It hurts!"
"He-help… It hurts!"
Those people lay on the ground, twitching with pain. They didn't dare to make any movements, because they might accidentally push those thorns deeper into their skin by trying to turn their bodies and cause themselves even worse pain.
"Don't move! Don't move!" Xie Longyun immediately shouted at them. Then, she turned around and raised an arm, pulling out the blade that was carried on her back and throwing it into the air. Meanwhile, she raised her other hand and enlarged the blade by using her power. The blade became a ten-meter-long, enormous sword as it flew at the weird mutated tree swiftly.
Boom! The sword landed on the tree trunk but failed to cut through the tree which might need five adults to put their arms around it, getting stuck in it instead. Xie Longyun raised her arms but found that she wasn't able to pull the sword out.
A series of rustling noise was heard as the tree retracted the first batch of branches and swung another batch toward Xie Yunlong, along with a huge wave of thorns flying at her like heavy rain.
Her weapon was out of her control and she was now facing another massive attack. She immediately wielded an arm and released a few fist-sized metal balls. Those metal balls expanded and started shifting shapes the moment they were thrown out. Within a blink, they turned into an enormous shield.Under Xie Longyun's control, the shield soon covered her and her people, shielding them from those thorns.
Before long, Lin Qiao, who was less than three miles away, heard the noises caused by Xie Yunlong and the tree. She stopped moving and landed on the ground, turning toward that area as her eyes glowed with a cold light.
That woman was hiding her vibe earlier, but now, her vibe was suddenly released. It seemed that she was in some kind of trouble, or else she wouldn't unwittingly release her vibe.
Currently, her energy was spreading in the air. Lin Qiao could sense it even from ten miles away, let alone the mere three miles between them at the moment.
She raised a fist to signal for the others to stop moving and then dropped her hand, turning back to where Xie Longyun was.
"Hrr…" Bowwow hopped over and landed by her side as it wagged its tail slightly. He glanced at Lin Qiao and then at the area where she was staring. The dog raised its nose to sniff at that area and then immediately started to shake its head.
"What's wrong?" Lu Tianyi landed beside Lin Qiao and asked. His level wasn't high enough to allow him to sense Xie Longyun's vibe from three miles away.
Lin Qiao had detected that woman's vibe, meaning that she wasn't adapting well to the underground environment. Lin Qiao didn't plan to kill her so soon, because she thought the woman would hide and wait for an opportunity to approach her.
To her surprise, that woman wasn't far away from her; the distance between the two was actually short. Since the woman had delivered herself to Lin Qiao, she decided to take her life conveniently.
Lin Qiao thought for a moment and changed her plan after she sensed Xie Longyun's presence. Instead of staying vigilant for the dirty tricks that the woman might be playing, she decided to go and kill her and her people alone. Lu Tianyi, Duan Juan and the others would continue carrying their mission, so there would be no delay.
"Yes, Ma'am!" Her people responded to her in one voice.
Lin Qiao glanced at Bowwow as she raised a hand and shouted at Black and the mushroom, "Bowwow, Black, Mushroom, you guys come with me!"
She waved at the three while speaking and turned, leaping toward where Xie Longyun was. Soon, she disappeared in front of the others. The big red cat followed behind her without needing her order.
"Roar?" Lin Qiao raised her head and gave the cat a roar. 'Are you going to attack my prey for me later?'
"Awooooooo!" The big cat, which was flying above her head, lowered its head and responded to her with a roar.
Lin Qiao and the four beasts quickly approached Xie Longyun and her people. Three miles of distance only took them a few seconds.
She pointed at the mushroom and said to the other three, "You guys follow this one. Don't get lost!" After saying that, she turned both her body and vibe invisible. Only the mushroom was able to sense her when she switched to her invisible mode.
Bowwow and Black didn't get Lin Qiao's meaning when she told them to follow the mushroom. Only after watching her disappear did the two figure out what she meant.
The large mushroom wagged its tentacles and roots as it ran like a gust of wind. Judging by the movements of its tentacles, it was obviously delighted at the moment. Thankfully, it understood what Lin Qiao said and still followed behind her.
After fighting against another wave of attack from the tree, Xie Longyun suddenly sensed the vibes of a few beasts coming toward her speedily and immediately grew nervous. The tree was troublesome enough. How come there were more coming to worsen her situation?
At that very moment, a familiar type of energy descended from the air and shrouded her metal shield entirely. Sensing that devouring energy, Xie Longyun burst in ferocity.
"Is taking advantage of another's perilous state to launch a sneak attack something a base leader should do?" She growled ragingly. While speaking, she suddenly pulled out a gun. While controlling the metal shield with one hand, turning it into a hood to cover herself and her people, she swiftly raised the gun and fired.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lin Qiao showed her face with a sneer as sne easily dodged the bullets. Standing on another tree, she looked down at Xie Yunlong and said, "How ridiculous! How come you and Si Kongchen are allowed to attack me sneakily but I'm not allowed to do the same to you? We're already enemies. Do we still have to be polite to each other?"
She wielded her arms while speaking, and following her movement, the dark fire that covered Xie Longyun's metal shield grew stronger.
Xie Longyun's metal shield was probably made from some special materials, which caused the devouring speed of Lin Qiao's power to drop slightly. The black fire burned on the shield for a few seconds but still didn't burn through it.
If the shield were made of ordinary metals, it would have melted the moment it touched the fire.