Chapter 18
Pei Zhao was thinking about asking, and just as he finished his words, he heard a "whoosh" sound in the air. He keenly felt that the sound was going straight towards Zhou Yuli.
Almost as a subconscious reaction, Pei Zhao pulled Zhou Yuli with one hand and stretched out the other hand behind him to support him -
Densely packed lenses spread out from his palm, and in an instant covered half of the back wall, "clang--" blocking the incoming arrow.
Zhou Yuli staggered when he was pulled by him. Just as he was about to say something, he also heard a "whoosh" sound, which was coming straight towards Pei Zhao. He subconsciously blocked in front of Pei Zhao and raised his hands to cover his face——
At this moment, the only sound could be heard: the sound of trees growing and Bai Zhou and Lan Ji's exclamations.
Zhou Yuli opened his eyes and saw that branches were spreading wildly on his hands for some reason, forming a symmetrical front wall with Pei Zhao.
"Oh my god?" Bai Zhou exclaimed, "What element is this?"
Zhou Yuli and Pei Zhao were also shocked. Pei Zhao had awakened superpowers before, and Zhou Yuli originally thought that it was a special gift from the system to allow them to complete the task more safely. However, in a hurry just now, he thought that he was a puppet and could recover from the scars temporarily, so he could defend Pei Zhao. Who knew that he had awakened superpowers as well?
Pei Zhao slowly loosened his hands, and the two of them formed an interlaced front and back wall that just wrapped up the four of them.
Lan Ji and Bai Zhou looked at each other. Lan Ji closed his eyes slightly and raised his hands to the sky. A transparent ice curtain completely enclosed the four of them.
"It's safe now." Bai Zhou said, while remaining alert. He kept his hands on his chest, as if he was holding something.
Pei Zhao was surprised: "Did you take anything?"
Bai Zhou looked at him and suddenly laughed. Lan Ji explained, "Mars."
Pei Zhao looked carefully and saw a few sparks of light between Bai Zhou's fingers. "What's the use of this?"
As they were talking, they saw a pitch-black mass rushing towards them. Pei Zhao frowned. This thing was huge and looked like some kind of wild beast. If it rushed towards them, the protective shield would probably be damaged... At this moment, Bai Zhou moved his fingers slightly and swung them towards the place where the giant was rushing. A red flash appeared in his golden pupils. The next second, the beast outside suddenly fell over and roared. A wisp of charred black smoke was rising from his chest.
Pei Zhao was stunned, "Tang Sect hidden weapons?" He couldn't help but exclaimed.
Bai Zhou and Lan Ji looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he was talking about.
Zhou Yuli laughed out loud: "Yes, Tang Sect hidden weapons."
*
The four of them were exhausted when they moved into the main building with the protective shield.
Especially Lan Ji, his previous injuries had not yet fully healed, and the ice that was supporting his ceiling at this moment made his face pale and he almost couldn't breathe. After entering the hall, the threatening shadows around them seemed to disappear. The four of them removed the protective shield, and Bai Zhou helped Lan Ji to rest.
"His body..." Pei Zhao hesitated to speak.
Bai Zhou shook his head, found a cup to rinse the water, and knocked down a piece of clean ice to melt the water. While feeding Lan Ji, he said softly: "He has always been in poor health. He was seriously injured when he was captured. In the past few years in the city, we have to fight against the outside world all the time. There is no chance to fight against the inside of the team."
Lan Ji started coughing while drinking. When he opened his eyes, his vision was much clearer. "I'm fine."
Bai Zhou patted his back with a look of heartache, then warmed the water and coaxed him to drink it.
Pei Zhao and Zhou Yuli were upset and changed the subject abruptly: "Did someone attack us just now?"
Bai Zhou shook his head: "Those arrows are also leaked energy, they will automatically attack anything that appears...but I don't know about that beast." Bai Zhou frowned as he spoke. As far as he could remember, the eldest prince didn't have the habit of raising beasts. With the elemental talent of the central city, it was not suitable for raising beasts. How could there be beasts here...
He thought, and suddenly his pupils dilated, "Unless... the energy source mutated and turned everyone into beasts!"
"Huh? Is this okay?" Pei Zhao's expression was a little stiff. "Can you just say this casually? Do you... do you think it's reasonable?"
Pei Zhao really wanted to say that up to now, the development of things was completely beyond his understanding. The four elements were just being performed, and now suddenly Beauty and the Beast and the prince turned into a frog? The next step won’t be to return to ancient times, right?
With doubts, Bai Zhou supported Lan Ji, and the four of them came underground. It was said that this was where the energy source was located, but now, it looked like the remains of some abandoned underground factory.
Pei Zhao’s eyes turned dark after just one look: Okay, it’s not ancient times, it’s steampunk.
This is very similar to the description of steampunk in history textbooks, trains, airplanes, telephones, steam engines, and some... weird-looking... goblins?
"Goblins?" Pei Zhao opened his eyes wide: "What is this? Suddenly I'm in "Magic Pop" again?" Although they were goblins, their appearance was very similar to the elves in a movie he had seen in the real world. This made Pei Zhao wonder if there was no system at all. Could these be actors?
Of course not. Actors certainly don’t have super powers.
The goblins fled away the moment they saw them. Behind them, a tall golden figure walked out.
"Fifth brother, how are you?"
Bai Zhou's expression changed, and he subconsciously blocked the three people behind him. He stood up straight, lowered his eyes and looked at the man, with an upright posture, "Brother, long time no see."
This person is Bai Zhou’s elder brother, the eldest prince of Hall City, Ice Emperor.
"You came to see big brother, why didn't you say hello in advance? And you brought some strangers with you, oh, and our traitor, what, is he not behaving well? Fifth brother, did you come here specially to bring him back?"
Bai Zhou did not answer Bingdi's question, but said coldly, "Brother, they are the Enlightened Ones."
Bingdi looked a little surprised. He turned to look at Pei Zhao and the others and seemed to sigh, "Oh, Enlightener."
After he turned his head completely, Pei Zhao could see clearly that this tall Ice Emperor had an icy majesty on his face and looked very... old-fashioned. The most obvious thing was that his eyes were deeply turbid.
Bingdi's eyes moved slowly. Pei Zhao could hardly see his eyeballs. His eyes were cloudy. The most cloudy part stopped at the place closest to him. He repeated uncertainly, "Enlightener?"
Bai Zhou did not react, but still protected Lan Ji behind him, and said coldly: "The Enlightened One will save the City of Hall, brother, will you help us?"
Bingdi didn't speak for a long time, but Pei Zhao noticed that his eyes were always moving, shifting back and forth between him, Bai Zhou, and Zhou Yuli.
Finally, it stopped at Zhou Yuli, "A new energy user? Haha, rare."
Pei Zhao immediately became nervous. This Ice Emperor obviously saw everything when Zhou Yuli made his move just now. Now he said this, and there was ill intention in his words.
Bai Zhou obviously also felt this and frowned: "Brother, what do you mean by this?"
Bingdi sneered, "What does it mean that Fifth Brother came to me? That's what I mean."
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. There were faint noises coming from all around, and Pei Zhao realized that they had been surrounded by a group of people in armor without him noticing.
Pei Zhao was stunned for a moment, and the next second there was a person standing in front of him. He raised his head and it was Zhou Yuli.
Zhou Yuli's exposed neck was already covered with wood grain, his hands were wrapped with branches, and he looked at Bingdi coldly.
Seeing that the battle was about to begin, the four of them slowly adjusted their positions. Pei Zhao and Zhou Yuli stood back to back, while Bai Zhou continued to protect Lan Ji.
Bingdi's eyes darkened: "You don't think you can beat me here, do you?"
As he spoke, a sharp ice spike rose from the ground, trapping everyone present in an ice cage. At this moment, a ray of burning fire passed by his face, and Pei Zhao only felt a lush green enveloping him. When he opened his eyes again, Zhou Yuli was slowly retracting the branches. The guards around him could not open their eyes in the burning steam, and even Bingdi retreated a few steps.
"Fifth brother is still as powerful as ever." Bingdi said and waved his hand. Immediately, more guards surrounded the place. Pei Zhao couldn't help but frown. There were too many people. Unless he fought his way out...
As I was thinking about it, I saw something slowly descending above my head. Before the four could react, a huge cage fell down.
Countless ice flowers were stirred up on the ground, and the smoke and dust dissipated, revealing only four people in the circle.
"Despicable and shameless." Pei Zhao couldn't help but curse.
The Ice Emperor had obviously made plans long ago. The guards who surrounded the group held huge ice bricks in their hands and piled them up layer by layer, trapping the four people.
Soon, a huge ice castle rose from the ground, and the four were shrouded in darkness.
Outside the Ice Castle, the vague voice of the Ice Emperor came: "Fifth brother, you know me best. If you have thought it through, you know how to find me."
With that, the voices of Hyotei and the troops faded away.
In the darkness, Pei Zhao felt someone holding his hand. He took a quick breath and asked, "Zhou Yuli?"
The person next to me uttered a soft "hmm". Pei Zhao felt that the voice was not right, so he held his hand and asked nervously, "What's wrong with you?"
Some vines entangled his hands and slowly fell down. Zhou Yuli seemed to sink slowly against him. Pei Zhao only felt that the hand he was holding was getting harder and harder, and smaller and smaller, and finally turned into a dry puppet hand...
A flash of fire lit up before my eyes.
With the help of the firelight, Pei Zhao finally saw clearly that Zhou Yuli had completely turned into a puppet, and in his hand there was a hanging wooden vine, drooping to the ground. There is an icicle wrapped around the end of each vine, making a crackling sound.
Pei Zhao was anxious: "What happened to him?"
Bai Zhou only took a glance and said, "He's overusing his abilities." Under the firelight, Bai Zhou looked strange, "Is he also your puppet?"
Pei Zhao nodded: "Yeah."
He carefully freed the ends of the vines from the icicles and slowly retracted them back into the puppet until it was restored to its original state.
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