Chapter 12: Life and Death Speed

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Lei Qing’s Fighting Qi was almost completely exhausted after the successive battles. But in such a critical moment, he still reacted with extreme agility, wrapping his arm around Zuo Qianqian with a backhand motion and landing unsteadily with a flip. The wounds on his body, which had slightly healed thanks to the stimulation of the Fighting Qi seal, burst open again, and blood seeped out.

“Brother Lei, my foot is injured, I can’t run. You go alone first, just remember to avenge me.” After experiencing the storm, Zuo Qianqian’s expression was unusually solemn. On her pale, bloodless little face, a look of determination was clearly revealed.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Take out the Frost Crystal Core. Don’t touch it with your hand; wrap it in wolf skin.” Lei Qing’s face was as calm as water, but his eyes showed extreme exhaustion.

Zuo Qianqian hurriedly dug out the icy, crystal-like demon wolf core from her package. Lei Qing carried her on his back and began to walk forward through the snow, stepping deep and shallow alternately, saying in a low voice: “Put the Crystal Core on my shoulder for a moment first.”

Zuo Qianqian wrapped the Frost Crystal Core in wolf skin and applied it to the blood hole on his shoulder.

Lei Qing used a trace of his remaining weak Fighting Qi to stimulate the icy Crystal Core at the wound. Stimulated by the Fighting Qi, the Frost Crystal Core suddenly emitted a dense cold air.

Even through the wolf skin, Zuo Qianqian could feel the intense cold. She endured the freezing chill radiating from the Crystal Core and refused to let go.

“Hiss!” Lei Qing was stung by the bone-chilling sensation, causing severe pain. But that pain was fleeting, quickly turning into numbness. The blood hole, which was oozing blood, was frozen solid by the Frost Fighting Qi within the Crystal Core in just a few breaths.

Lei Qing, whose lips had turned iron-blue from the cold, continued to carry Zuo Qianqian while walking, his voice trembling: “My chest. This time, don’t take it away.”

Zuo Qianqian understood immediately and hurriedly placed the Frost Crystal Core on his chest to freeze his burst wounds and stop the bleeding. But Lei Qing’s intention was not just that; instead, he urged a trace of his weak Fighting Qi to stimulate the Frost Fighting Qi within the Crystal Core.

It was well known that a Crystal Core could not only quickly replenish Fighting Qi consumption but also serve as a wonderful tool to temper the body, improve overall constitution, and promote advancement. Unfortunately, Crystal Cores mostly had different attributes. If one used a Crystal Core with an attribute that did not match one’s own to replenish Fighting Qi, let alone the pain that ordinary people could hardly endure, it was also an extremely dangerous thing to do.

Fortunately, although Lei Qing’s Thunder attribute did not match the Ice attribute, it had not reached the point of mutual restraint. Therefore, he would only suffer pain, or sustain some damage to his meridians and body, but as long as he absorbed a small amount, it would absolutely not cost him his life.

Such a risk was actually a helpless move for Lei Qing. The Fighting Qi in his body was almost depleted, and under these conditions, it was absolutely impossible to reach the coniferous pine forest ahead of the chasing bandits within a distance of about a mile. If they could not escape into the forest and rely on the trees for cover, neither of them would survive.

Fortunately, although the Frost Crystal Core brought great pain to Lei Qing, in a short time, it not only stopped his bleeding but also temporarily provided him with a significant amount of Fighting Qi. Through a subtle conversion, that Frost Fighting Qi was endowed with the Thunder attribute.

Thunder Flash.

Lei Qing’s speed began to increase. With one step, he left footprints less than half an inch deep in the snow. With continuous rapid steps, his figure moved like a ghost, speeding forward. When Lei Qing burst out with his speed, in a short time he was comparable to a galloping horse, even slightly faster than a horse at its maximum speed. This was the speed he burst out with while suffering from wounds and carrying Zuo Qianqian. From this, one could see how astonishing the speed of the Lei Family’s Thunder Flash movement technique was? Moreover, Lei Qing was already a High-stage Bronze figure, and the Thunder Flash had been cultivated to the Small Success realm by him during their escape.

In just a short time, Lei Qing rushed into the coniferous pine forest like a gust of wind and lightning, while the nearest enemy was still six or seventy zhang away. After entering the pine forest, Lei Qing still did not stop, continuing to rush forward, his face becoming paler and paler. Using the Frost Fighting Qi within the Crystal Core was not without its price.

Whoa~ Whoa.

The six riders at the very front reined in their horses in front of the woods. On their rough faces full of fierce aura, looks of disbelief appeared. More than that, they felt ashamed and humiliated. Fourteen people had ambushed the opponent, not only were eight of them killed in succession by the opponent, but the opponent had also broken through their defense and gone away.

Theoretically, they should avenge their dead brothers and rush into the woods. They should hack that detestable boy and the arrow-shooting girl into mincemeat.

But everyone was not a rookie; they still understood the basic principle of never entering a forest. Especially a forest where a terrible enemy might be hiding, they dared not enter casually. The group of bandits glared at each other. Yet no one dared to propose chasing in. After all, one only had one life; if just these six people went in, they would likely be delivering themselves as food.

Even if they were to chase, they had to wait for the large group behind them; there was safety in numbers. Anyway, the opponent seemed to be injured and probably couldn’t run far. Thus, they waited for several dozen breaths. When nearly thirty riders from behind galloped up, they dismounted one after another and began to explore into the woods.

Lei Qing had already run several miles into the woods with a life-threatening burst of speed. But even with Lei Qing’s strength, he could not hold on for long and fell to the ground with a tumble. The consequence of using the Frost Crystal Core to replenish Fighting Qi was that his internal meridians were almost frozen solid. His whole body felt as if he had just come out after staying in an ice cellar for three days and three nights. He sat down cross-legged with difficulty: “Qianqian, wait for me a little while.”

Zuo Qianqian also fell to the ground, but under the pressure of hatred and danger, she burst forth with the tenacity in her bones. Without the slightest bit of affectation, she bit her torn cotton jacket with her mouth and first pulled the arrow out of her thigh. The barbs tore out a small piece of her flesh.

As blood spurted out, she tremblingly pressed the mostly consumed Frost Crystal Core against the wound. Although she had not reached the Black Iron-rank, she also had weak Fighting Qi in her body. Following Lei Qing’s example, she stimulated it, and the terrifying Frost Fighting Qi quickly froze her wound.

Her face suddenly turned pale and filled with extreme pain. But she endured it, shivering as she took out herbs and bandages from the bag she had never thrown away. She applied the medicine and bandaged herself at the fastest speed.

Immediately after, she began to help Lei Qing treat his wounds. Due to the lack of time, she could only wrap the bandages around his armor as well. With her extremely nimble hands, it only took half the time it takes to drink tea. Although she was also exhausted, she still gritted her teeth and persisted. She took out a beast trap from her bag and set it beside the bloodstains. After a little arrangement, it was impossible to see through.

At the same time, she started climbing a tree to scout from a distance. After a short while, she slid down the tree and whispered in Lei Qing’s ear: “Brother Lei, the enemy is less than a mile away from us. Perhaps because they are alert, they are grouped very close together and searching extremely cautiously, like crawling turtles. Brother Lei, how is your recovery?”

When Lei Qing slowly opened his eyes, his frozen-death appearance had improved a lot. The cold air in his meridians had also been mostly dispelled by the newly generated Heavenly Thunder Fighting Qi during his breathing exercise. He looked at Zuo Qianqian, whose lips were purple from the cold, with some admiration and said: “Your skills exceed my imagination. I have recovered thirty percent of my strength now, but because my internal meridians are damaged, my combat power will be greatly affected. In a head-on fight, defeat is certain.”

“Mhm, while we still have some time, let’s set up some traps to disrupt their formation and leave a deep impression on them,” Zuo Qianqian said calmly. “Brother Lei, I don’t have much strength right now. Help me press this tree branch down a bit. Also, I need you to help me whittle some sharp wooden spears.”

Although this was a coniferous pine forest, in the gaps, there were still some miscellaneous trees of strange shapes growing. Lei Qing helped as instructed, while Zuo Qianqian took out sturdy white ropes and began to set up various snares.

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