Chapter 222
Beside Su Jing's spiritual field, pale green spiritual energy swirled like a thin mist. Four hundred mature spiritual herbs were neatly arranged, their leaves unfurled, and the white spiritual fruits at their tips gleamed with a lustrous sheen. Each fruit was plump and round, and spiritual energy overflowed from the fruit stems, condensing into tiny particles of light in the air. These particles landed on the skin with a cool sensation and a warm feeling that nourished the meridians.
Her fingertips glowed with a pale green spiritual energy as she carefully picked the spiritual fruits, her movements gentle to avoid damaging the roots and stems of the spiritual herbs—these herbs were perennial varieties that could continue to grow after the fruits were picked, providing a sustainable source of spiritual energy.
"Be careful not to knock off the new buds next to you."
Su Jing gave instructions to Robot No. 1, who was helping her.
The robot's robotic arm precisely held the spirit fruit, gently rotated it, and picked the fruit intact, placing it in the jade tray beside it.
The trays were made of warm jade from within the space, which could lock in the spiritual energy of the spiritual fruits and prevent it from leaking out. In just half an hour, 10 trays were filled, with 40 spiritual fruits on each tray, exactly 400 fruits in total.
Su Jing picked up a spiritual fruit, brought it to her nose and sniffed it. The rich spiritual energy flowed into her body through her nasal cavity, and the spiritual power that she had consumed in fighting the temperature difference beetle was instantly restored.
"The purity is very high, better than expected."
Spiritual energy emanated from her fingertips as she gently crushed a spiritual fruit, from which pale green juice flowed out, the pure spiritual energy contained within clearly visible.
These spiritual fruits have a wide range of uses: when taken alone, they can quickly restore spiritual power and enhance physical fitness; when refined into "Spiritual Essence Pills," they can raise the level cap of ability users.
Incorporating heating elements or cold-proof materials can enhance the resistance to temperature differences, giving ordinary materials a spiritual blessing.
Just as she was about to send the spirit fruit into the purification room, three brown figures slowly walked over; they were the three spirit deer that had grown into adult deer.
They are robust, with a shoulder height of nearly 1.5 meters. Their fur is a warm, light brown color with a faint, ethereal sheen. The antlers on their heads are short and firm, with jade-colored patterns.
The leftmost male deer walked to Su Jing's feet and gently rubbed its head against her palm, its eyes bright and lively, showing no trace of the timidity it had when it was a fawn.
Su Jing raised her hand and stroked the stag's back, her fingertips clearly feeling the gentle spiritual energy flowing within it: "It's grown up now, and it can find spiritual herbs to eat on its own."
These three spirit deer are not only mature in size, but also have special abilities due to their long-term consumption of spiritual herbs in the space. They can move freely in extreme temperature ranges from -10℃ to 30℃, their fur can automatically regulate temperature, and they can also sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy within a 500-meter radius. When they encounter danger, they will emit a low roar as a warning.
The stag seemed to understand her words, turned its head to nibble on the symbiotic grass beside the spirit field, then looked up at Su Jing, as if demonstrating its foraging ability.
The other two female deer walked to the jade tray, gently nudged the edge of the tray with their trunks, without touching the spiritual fruit, and instead carefully pushed the tray towards the purification room with their antlers, as if they were helping to move it.
"They're even helping now." A warm feeling flashed in Su Jing's eyes as she placed a tray on the stag's back—she had already designed suitable padding and securing devices on the stag's back, allowing the spirit stag to easily carry supplies weighing no more than 20 kilograms.
The stag stood up steadily and walked steadily toward the purification chamber, followed closely by the other two does, forming a small transport team.
Just then, Xiao Jin darted in through the spatial entrance, its little paws still covered with bits of grass from the outside world. It pounced on Su Jing's shoulder, its little ears twitching rapidly: "Su Jing! Su Jing! There's a group of 'cool' monsters about five of them, about a kilometer to the west. Their auras are much stronger than the previous temperature-difference beetles!"
Its voice carried a hint of solemnity, its little paws pointed to the western direction outside the space, and its eyes were full of vigilance.
Su Jing raised an eyebrow and immediately activated the monitoring screen in the space—this was a simple monitoring device she built using mineral powers and spatial energy, which could display the approximate location and energy intensity of the monsters outside through Xiao Jin's sensory fluctuations.
On the screen, five red dots are slowly moving toward the base, their energy intensity marked as "mid-tier third rank," similar to the aura of the previous Ice Soul Beast cub.
"Can you tell what kind of monster it is?" Su Jing asked, her fingertips already gathering faint lightning, ready for battle.
Xiao Jin closed its eyes, sniffed lightly with its little nose, and opened them after a moment: "It's a bit like the big ice beast (ice soul beast) I killed before, but smaller, and the cold aura on its body is more 'dispersed'. It also seems to carry some moisture from melting water. It should be an ice-type monster that has adapted to temperature differences!"
Su Jing immediately understood that this was a variant of the Ice Soul Beast race after the polar night ended, adapted to the temperature difference between day and night. Although its level was not as high as the previous fourth-tier Ice Soul Beast, its strength as a mid-tier third-tier beast was still a threat to the base's ordinary guards.
Without delay, she instructed the three spirit deer: "You stay in the space and guard the spirit field. If anything unusual happens, roar to warn us."
Then, with Xiao Jin activated, they instantly appeared on the open ground outside the villa.
The midday sun was still blinding, the ground temperature was 30°C, and a thin mist of water vapor rose from the distant ruins.
Su Jing activated her third-tier flight ability and hovered in mid-air. Little Jin perched on her shoulder, its little ears twitching continuously as it reported, "They're by the meltwater pool in the ruins area, sunbathing on the rocks, as if they're accumulating energy to attack the base when the temperature drops tonight!"
Following the direction indicated by Xiao Jin, Su Jing, with her enhanced vision from her third-tier lightning-type ability, vaguely saw five monsters, each a size larger than ordinary Ice Fang Beasts, lying on rocks near the melting pool deep within the ruins. Their bodies were covered in a thin layer of pale blue ice, the ice surface reflecting a faint light in the sunlight, clearly indicating that they were variant Ice Soul Beasts capable of maintaining ice-type energy under high temperatures.
"We must not let them get close to the base."
Su Jing whispered, activating her perfect stealth ability. Her figure instantly disappeared into thin air, flying towards the direction of the Melting Pool.
Xiao Jin's perception played a crucial role at this moment, constantly reminding users: "There's a lone creature 300 meters to the left, watch out for its ice spike attack!"
"There's a crevice in the ice 150 meters ahead, don't step into it!" "Their hearing is very sharp, make sure you fly as quietly as possible!"
With Xiao Jin's accurate warning, Su Jing easily avoided the monster's warning range and silently arrived above Rongshui Pool.
The five mutated Ice Soul Beasts were still sunbathing, seemingly unaware of the danger. Su Jing activated her third-tier lightning ability, and deep purple lightning condensed into five thin strands of lightning, precisely locking onto the heads of each beast—Little Gold had already confirmed through perception that their weaknesses were still their heads and abdomens, only the thin ice on their bodies could withstand some of the attacks.
"Now!" Su Jing thought to herself, and the laser beam shot out instantly, accurately hitting the heads of the five demonic beasts.
"Awooo—" The monsters roared in unison, the thin ice on their bodies shattering instantly, and pale blue blood gushed out, falling into the melting pool and causing the water to freeze instantly. They struggled to get up, but the paralyzing effect of the lightning bolts restricted their movements, their bodies twitching and unable to move.
Xiao Jin shouted excitedly, "Hit them! They can't move!" Su Jing didn't give them a chance to recover. She activated her fourth-tier ice-type ability, and light blue ice blades condensed into short blades, which she shot fiercely at the weak points in the monsters' abdomens.
The icy blades, carrying a chilling aura, instantly pierced through their defenses. The five mutated ice beasts struggled for a moment before falling completely still. Their corpses were quickly covered with a thin layer of ice by the alternating effects of the moisture from the melting pool and the sunlight.
Su Jing landed by the melting pool. Xiao Jin jumped down, used its little paws to pry open the head of a demon beast, took out the third-tier demon core inside, and excitedly shouted, "Su Jing, it's a mid-tier third-tier demon core! The ice energy inside is so pure!"
Su Jing carefully put away the five demon cores. These demon cores could not only be exchanged for supplies, but also used to charge the intelligent temperature-controlled heating core and enhance its low-temperature resistance.
Just as she was about to store the monster's corpse in her spatial storage, Xiao Jin's ears suddenly twitched violently, and its voice became urgent: "Su Jing! Not good! There's an even stronger one 1 kilometer to the east! Its energy is so concentrated, stronger than these five combined. It's a high-level ice-type monster, and it's heading this way!"
Su Jing felt a chill and activated her spiritual perception. Sure enough, she sensed a strong third-tier high-level ice-type energy fluctuation, which was rapidly moving towards the Melting Pool. Its aura was similar to that of the previous fourth-tier Ice Soul Beast, but its level was slightly lower. It should be a leader-level being in the clan.
"It's a high-level third-tier Ice Soul Beast. It seems they came for these variants."
Su Jing immediately made a judgment and said to Xiao Jin, "Let's retreat first and ambush it near the base. We can't let it rush into the base."
Xiao Jin nodded, quickly jumped back onto Su Jing's shoulder, and continued to report the monster's movement trajectory: "It's very fast, only 500 meters left!"
"It's bypassing the ruins and heading straight for the meltwater pool!" "It's already 300 meters away, and it seems to have discovered the corpse of its companion; it's become very ferocious!"
Su Jing activated her flight ability and quickly retreated towards the base. At the same time, she sent a private message to Wang Peng via communicator: "Five mid-tier third-level mutated Ice Soul Beasts have been discovered in the Meltwater Pool in the Residue Area (already cleared). Another high-tier third-level Ice Soul Beast is approaching and is expected to arrive at the base perimeter in 10 minutes. Notify the guards to close the outer defenses. All ability users, prepare for battle, and focus on defending against ice attacks!"
Wang Peng's reply came instantly: "Received! The defense team has been notified to take position. Lightning and fire-type ability users have assembled. 'I am the God of Wealth,' do you need us to cooperate with you in a pincer attack?"
Su Jing replied, "No need, you just need to guard the base. I'll take care of it. Be careful to guard against its wide-range ice spike attack."
After hanging up the communicator, Su Jing landed beside a defensive tower on the outer perimeter of the base. Little Jin, perched on her shoulder, reported accurately: "It's 100 meters away! It's high up in the remnant area, staring in the direction of the base!"
Su Jing activated her third-tier lightning ability, and deep purple lightning condensed at her fingertips. At the same time, she took out the spiritual essence that she had previously refined from the spiritual fruit from her spatial storage and swallowed a small bottle of it. The spiritual energy of the spiritual fruit could quickly enhance the power of her ability, allowing her third-tier lightning ability to temporarily reach the peak of the third tier, which was enough to deal with this high-level third-tier ice soul beast.
She looked up at the top of the ruins area, where a huge, pale blue figure stood on the top of the collapsed building. Its icy blue vertical pupils gleamed with a fierce light; it was a high-level, third-tier Ice Soul Beast.
It had clearly spotted Su Jing; pale blue energy was swirling in its throat, obviously gathering strength for an ice spike attack.
Xiao Jin shouted nervously, "It's going to spit ice spikes! The target is the defense tower!"
Su Jing immediately activated her fourth-tier ice-type ability, conjuring a thick ice wall in front of the defensive tower. At the same time, she pushed her third-tier lightning-type ability to its limit, sending a thick bolt of lightning towards the head of the Ice Soul Beast.
This unexpected encounter is just the prelude to the next chapter.
Su Jing knew that the demon core of this third-tier high-level ice soul beast could not only further enhance her ice-type abilities, but also extract purer ice-type energy to improve cold-proof supplies.
Xiao Jin's accurate early warning, the spiritual energy boost from the spiritual fruit, and her previous combat experience all gave her full confidence in defeating the monster and protecting the base.
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