GA: Chapter 191: A Gentle Ball of Light — A Mutated White Fox on the Snowy Mountain
BOOM.
Endless flames surged through the air, condensing into a volley of fireballs. Yusheng swung his right hand and they shot forward, streaking straight toward the mutated rabbit.
The crimson pupils didn't so much as flicker. A flash of ice-blue light passed through the air — and every fireball was encased in ice in an instant, stripped of its momentum, dropping to the ground as solid spheres of ice.
"Now."
Yusheng gritted his teeth. The flames converged and took shape — a fire qilin, charging at the mutated rabbit. Just as it prepared to freeze the qilin solid, the construct detonated and scattered in all directions. The mutated rabbit blinked, caught momentarily off guard.
And in that fractional window before it could respond and freeze the scattered fire — Yusheng appeared above it. A long blade of compressed flame materialized in his hands. He brought it down.
BOOM.
A violent explosion.
Qingmu was already running, Gouzi-shu on his back, moving hard toward the city.
The explosion rang out behind him — and he didn't dare look back. One glance, and he might not be able to make himself keep going.
Yusheng, meanwhile, paid no attention to the sound. He backed out of the blast radius and kept hurling fireball after fireball into the center of the explosion until there was nothing left in his spiritual energy reserves, and only then stopped.
The fire faded.
What greeted Yusheng's eyes filled him with despair.
The mutated rabbit stood at the explosion's center. Its snow-white fur was touched here and there with black scorch marks — but it was still standing. Still alive.
"Gugu gugu..."
The crimson pupils looked down at the singed fur. For the first time, actual anger surfaced in the creature's expression. Then — under Yusheng's disbelieving, despairing eyes — endless cold rose from his feet and began climbing upward.
Moments later, he was a statue of ice.
The mutated rabbit didn't linger once Yusheng was frozen. It turned and moved toward Qingmu with a speed that defied imagination.
"Faster — go faster—"
Qingmu's mind chanted it without ceasing as he sprinted at the limits of his body.
He didn't know what had happened to Yusheng. He couldn't let himself think about it.
Thinking would unconsciously slow him down. If Yusheng was dead, and he squandered the time Yusheng had bought with his life — then all of it would have been for nothing.
Any of them could die. None of them could afford to die.
Someone in their group had to survive. Someone had to look after the others' families.
Right now, that someone was him and Gouzi-shu. They had to keep living — for Yusheng, for Ruoshui, for Yinguang.
BOOM.
While Qingmu was running with everything he had, a violent force struck him from behind without warning. He and Gouzi-shu were sent flying together and slammed into a tree.
Qingmu dragged himself off the ground and rushed to Gouzi-shu's side. The man's face was ashen. A massive footprint had been imprinted across his back.
"Gouzi-shu..."
That kick had been meant for him. If he hadn't been carrying Gouzi-shu on his back—
Gouzi-shu had lost consciousness. Qingmu looked up in silence at the familiar shape of the mutated rabbit standing before them.
"You deserve to die."
"You truly deserve to die."
Golden radiance gathered around Qingmu's body. A ring of gleaming golden blades formed and circled him.
His expression set hard. He walked forward — then broke into a run, a golden long blade in his hand while the surrounding blades hurled themselves at the mutated rabbit in a frenzied assault.
Ruoshui was frozen solid.
Yinguang was frozen solid.
Gouzi-shu had lost the use of both legs, and now lay unconscious, life status unknown.
And Yusheng had in all likelihood lost his life.
Die.
Let's all die together.
He swung his blade in wild abandon.
But reality was merciless. It didn't respond to emotion by raising your strength. If anything, losing your reason lowered it.
Like now — the mutated rabbit only watched Qingmu approach. Then—
BOOM.
In a single jarring impact, Qingmu was kicked away. Every sharp golden blade circling him hadn't done the creature so much as a scratch.
Spit.
He struggled to push himself off the ground — but the pain wouldn't let him move. From his abdomen came an agony so sharp it drove blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Is this how it ends..."
He looked at the blurring world around him and slowly closed his eyes.
Then — faintly, barely — he seemed to hear a gentle voice.
"Sorry. I was late."
"Rest. When you wake up, it'll all be over."
Qin Tian retrieved two medicinal pills from his spatial ring and placed them in both men's mouths. He felt their life force steady, let out a quiet breath, and turned his gaze toward the mutated rabbit — which hadn't moved, had only been watching him.
"Strange thing."
He furrowed his brow. The mutated rabbit before him was visibly, obviously present — and yet in terms of perception, there was nothing there.
No presence?
Or was it concealed that well?
RUMBLE.
A thunderous sound rolled through the sky. Dark clouds gathered into a swirling vortex.
CRACK.
From deep within the cloud mass, a bolt of lightning dozens of meters in diameter came crashing down.
BOOM.
At that speed, even the mutated rabbit had no hope of dodging. The lightning enveloped its entire body.
"Gugu gugu gugu gugu..."
"Gugu gugu..."
"Gugu..."
Through the blue-violet radiance came the rabbit's cries — not quite what one might call desperate — but within Qin Tian's line of sight, the creature at the lightning's center was trembling violently. Its white fur had been scorched black, had ceased to exist in many places. Even the outline of its bone structure was visible.
The lightning faded. The mutated rabbit lay on the ground. There was not a single unharmed patch anywhere on its body.
But since he couldn't sense any presence from it, Qin Tian couldn't confirm whether it was actually dead.
Then — under his surprised, faintly astonished gaze — the mutated rabbit's body began to dissolve. A gentle ball of light separated from the remains and shot away in a particular direction at inconceivable speed, vanishing from Qin Tian's sight within moments.
"A soul?"
"A split body?"
Qin Tian furrowed his brow, then ultimately shook his head.
He'd file a report when he got back. See if similar things had been encountered elsewhere.
With only this much information, nothing could be determined.
But first — Qin Tian looked at Qingmu and Gouzi-shu on the ground. He should wait here for the two of them to wake up, and check the surrounding area for any companions they might have had.
Even if there were only bodies left, they needed to be brought back. Being consumed by mutated creatures had to be prevented where possible.
At the same time — on a mountain peak blanketed in white snow.
A mutated white fox lay draped across a rock, eyes half-closed, wholly lost in the contentment of dozing.
A gentle ball of light cut across the sky and dropped directly onto its head.
The mutated white fox's expression of blissful relaxation instantly shifted — twisting through discomfort, tossing and turning — and then jolted awake in terror.
----
Want to read 60+ chapters ahead? Join my Patreon! Want to read 10 FREE chapters ahead? Join as a free member!
patreon.com/Rogue_Reader