Chapter 45

The energy core of the flying boots is limited, so Gu Fan and the other four almost had to move forward on foot.

On Xinghe's tablet was a map of the Freedom Era's highways. The five of them chose the shortest route and slowly advanced towards City C. The highways, once extensive, had become virtually impossible to navigate for more than five minutes after fifty years of monster destruction and geological changes.

Xinghe is responsible for identifying the direction, Meng Lianying and Fenghuo are responsible for making jokes, Qingteng is a little taciturn, and Gu Fan will pay attention to whether there are any usable herbs in the grass on the side of the road.

Suddenly, Xinghe, who was walking in front, stopped and signaled everyone to be alert.

This section of highway is located between a mountain forest. There are mountains dozens of meters high on both sides of the road. Looking around, the mountains are covered with dense trees.

Meng Lianying, Qingteng, and Fenghuo moved while being on guard against their surroundings. Together with Xinghe, they surrounded Gu Fan, the weakest one.

Gu Fan released his spiritual sense.

There was silence all around, with only the sound of wind blowing through the woods. Just when Gu Fan was wondering if Xinghe had heard it wrong, there was suddenly some movement in the woods to the northeast.

Two large green and yellow snakes, each as thick as an adult's thigh, slithered down from a tree separately like flowing water.

This is the difference between spiritual consciousness and a detector.

The detector can identify all monsters within its detection range. Even if a monster is skilled at hiding, it cannot escape Earthlings' technological means. A cultivator's spiritual awareness is merely the breadth of their vision; whether they can detect a target depends entirely on their eyesight. Just like the two snakes, Gu Fan didn't notice them when they were motionless.

"To the northeast, there are two green-scaled snakes. Judging by their length, they should be Class B."

Gu Fan whispered.

Fenghuo: "Hehe, the complex spiritual consciousness is useful."

Xinghe: "Leave these two snakes to Fanfan."

After saying that, Xinghe took the lead and walked to the other side of the road.

Fenghuo and the other two followed with a smile. Their mission this time was not only to go to City C to collect supplies, but also to serve as sparring partners for Gu Fan and try to help him build his foundation as soon as possible.

Fenghuo was particularly looking forward to this, because Gu Fan said that if she advanced to the foundation-building stage, she could refine a pill called "Xu Gu Dan" to help him grow his right arm. Of course, the raw materials for refining the pill were also indispensable, and they also had to find a medicinal herb called "Red Ginseng".

Almost as Fenghuo and the others had just stood firm, two two-meter-long green-scaled snakes flew out from the ground. One went straight to Gu Fan who was standing closest to the front, and the other pounced on Xinghe and the other three.

The green-scaled snake is a water monster with an extremely fast speed. Gu Fan first cast an earth-type "protective shield" to block the two snakes' path, and followed with a "fireball spell". With a bang, the two snakes were engulfed in a sea of ​​fire.

This was the first time Gu Fan encountered a B-level monster after leaving the base. In order to verify her current strength, Gu Fan did not hesitate to use her spiritual power.

With two slight "bang" sounds, two snakes fell to the ground from a low altitude, turning their heads and wagging their tails to escape.

Gu Fan's confidence soared, and he released two arm-length golden swords at the same time, accurately piercing the two snakes' vital points.

The two snakes were nailed to the ground. They struggled hard and spewed out green mist towards the five people.

Gu Fan released another fireball, and the flames wrapped in mist fell on the two green-scaled snakes. This time, the two snakes were finally burned into charred pieces.

The entire battle lasted only about a minute, and Meng Lianying smiled and applauded Gu Fan.

Xinghe analyzed, "The Green Scaled Snake is a B-level monster with agility and low defense. Fanfan's combination of offense and defense makes it easy to deal with. However, this still shows that Fanfan's current strength has reached the level of a B-level esper."

Fenghuo: "Maybe Fanfan has established his foundation and will catch up with us directly."

Gu Fan explained with a wry smile, "Actually, building a foundation is very difficult. It doesn't mean that just because I've reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, I'll definitely be able to build a foundation as long as I continue to practice. Breakthroughs in realms depend on fate, and some people get stuck at this step their entire lives."

Meng Lianying: "It doesn't matter. Building a foundation is the icing on the cake. If you can't build it, you can still enjoy the good life by following us. Don't feel pressured."

After saying this, Meng Lianying secretly glared at Fenghuo, feeling that he was adding pressure to Gu Fan. It was like a student taking an exam. The student could envision a bright future after success, but those around him had to pay attention to the student's emotions and not put any more psychological pressure on them.

Fenghuo felt that Meng Lianying was simply overthinking. Does Gu Fan seem like the kind of person with poor endurance?

He glared back at Meng Lianying.

Xinghe went to examine the bodies of the two snakes, took out the parts that could be used, looked ahead and said, "Let's continue."

——

After driving along the highway for a few days, a big river suddenly appeared in front of us. The river was more than 200 meters wide. The worst thing was that the highway on the river was broken into several sections as if it had been cut by someone.

The same situation was seen on other roads across the river in the distance.

If you want to cross the river, you can only fly over it.

Gu Fan stood on the riverbank, releasing his spiritual sense. He found nothing on land within a hundred meters, but he did discover a dense swarm of fish monsters lurking underwater. The monster's level generally corresponded to its size. Gu Fan, observing only a hundred meters underwater, spotted two A-level sturgeon sharks. Their bodies, over a dozen meters long, were completely covered in scales, revealing two rows of sharp teeth in their mouths.

Ordinary fish monsters swam in the middle and upper layers, and the two A-level sturgeon sharks lurked in the deep water.

Gu Fan explained the situation to the team.

Fenghuo: "Strange, are these two sturgeon sharks here guarding the passing mutants, or have they smelled the blood on us in advance?"

They had killed quite a few monsters along the way, so they were somewhat stained with the smell of fish.

Xinghe: "Maybe he smelled something."

Meng Lianying: "There must be sturgeon sharks lurking in places Fanfan can't detect. Could they possibly fly out and catch us?"

Xinghe: "Even if a sturgeon shark can jump out of the water, there's a limit to how high it can go. Let's fly higher."

After saying that, Xinghe was the first to fly to a height of about two hundred meters.

Gu Fan and his four companions followed, and the five of them still maintained the formation of surrounding Gu Fan in the middle, keeping the formation and flying quickly towards the other side.

Just when the five people flew to the center of the river, more than a dozen sturgeon sharks suddenly appeared in the river, swimming rapidly. The next moment, countless ice arrows shot up from the water into the sky, covering the entire river surface in front, behind, and around the five people.

The ice arrow is too fast to escape horizontally.

The five people flew up at the same time. At the same time, Meng Lianying used his special ability to condense a metal barrier and pressed it down under the feet of the five people, trying to block the ice arrows below.

The ice arrow hit the metal barrier and its speed dropped significantly.

However, before the five people could be happy, countless other ice arrows in the air suddenly gathered towards them from all directions, and their speed was obviously faster than their flying boots.

"These sturgeon sharks are so skilled in using their special abilities, and they even have some tricks!" Fenghuo cursed while setting fire to try to melt the ice arrows.

Meng Lianying: "It is said that sturgeon sharks are mutated from sturgeons. Humans used to enjoy eating sturgeons, but with this mutation, the sturgeons must hate us. Confined to the water, they can only desperately practice using their supernatural powers to catch people."

Fenghuo: "Who asked you to do this? Why don't you find a way to block it for us?"

Meng Lianying: "Here they come!"

Before he finished speaking, metal barriers suddenly began to spread upward from the feet of the five people, finally forming a huge metal sphere. Almost as soon as the metal sphere closed, ice arrows from outside slammed into it.

Xinghe: "I'll be responsible for the outer defense, and you control the metal ball to fly to the other side."

The Xinghe team had already reached a tacit understanding. Meng Lianying concentrated on controlling the flight of the metal ball, while Xinghe condensed a thick layer of ice on the outside of the metal ball, weakening the impact of the ice arrow.

Gu Fan was responsible for sensing everyone's distance from the other side.

Releasing two metal barriers that could withstand the attacks of A-level monsters had already consumed some of Meng Lianying's mental power. This high-altitude movement continued to consume his mental power reserves. Fine sweat condensed on his forehead and face, gradually gathering into beads of sweat the size of beans.

Gu Fan: "It's still twenty meters away from the shore."

Meng Lianying signaled with his eyes that he could still hold on.

Gu Fan's spiritual consciousness also covered the five people below. Suddenly, a huge ice cone thicker than a metal ball suddenly broke into her sea of ​​consciousness!

Gu Fan only had time to remind everyone to be careful. With a bang, accompanied by a huge collision sound, the metal ball and the thick ice layer outside it suddenly exploded.

Gu Fan saw it most clearly and was the only one among the five who had time to react. At the moment the metal ball exploded, Gu Fan threw out the defensive talisman that she had wanted to give to Lu Ya: "Fly to the shore!"

Out of tacit understanding and trust in her, the four people of Xinghe activated their flying boots at the same time, gave up all resistance, and flew towards the other side at the fastest speed.

Twenty meters can be crossed in a very short time, but in the joint encirclement of more than a dozen A-level sturgeon sharks, this little time must be fought for with life.

At the urging of its owner, a small piece of talisman paper turned into an invisible barrier, which was released outward with Gu Fan and the other four as the center. Wherever it passed, the huge and deadly sharp ice cones and the countless ice arrows around them were instantly destroyed.

In just a blink of an eye, the second wave of attacks from the sturgeon sharks in the water shot towards the five people again.

However, Gu Fan and the other four had already crossed the last twenty meters and flew into the building on the shore like an afterimage.

There was a series of loud rumbling noises, and more than a dozen abandoned high-rise buildings collapsed like rotten wood under the final attack of the sturgeons. The ice arrow was blocked by the sturdy buildings and fell halfway, leaving only the huge ice cone to continue penetrating the buildings and chasing the five people relentlessly.

A solid metal barrier wrapped around the emerald green vine ball, and a thick layer of ice quietly adhered to the metal barrier.

The sharp tip of the icicle pierced the ice layer, penetrated the barrier, and pierced the vines bit by bit. Finally, when the green vine ball hit a building and could not move forward any further, the huge icicle stopped close to the ground.

At this time, Gu Fan and the other four all fell under the tip of the ice hammer. If the ice hammer did not stop, the huge cone would crush them into meat paste.

Meng Lianying used his last mental strength to control the metal barrier and open a hole.

Xinghe was the first to go out and make sure there was no other danger around before coming to support Meng Lianying.

Fenghuo circled around the giant ice cone, feeling a lingering fear: "If it weren't for Fanfan's attack, we would all have been fed to the fish today."

Gu Fan was both relieved and distressed.

One talisman saved five lives, it was worth it.

But that talisman should be enough to withstand the attack of an S-level monster, but it was just forced to be used by a group of A-level sturgeons. It was such a waste.

But there is no way around it. The biggest advantage of monsters is their numbers. There are so many A-level sturgeon sharks in the river. The ice cone they release together is probably no worse than the attack of an S-level monster.