59: Chapter 59 You wouldn't believe it, I can fly too!

At the very moment Li Xiuyuan and the giant bird began their lethal clash, Fang Jingxuan was already standing at the boundary line between the restricted area and the outside world, with Lu Xingyun, Gu Xiao, and a select group of rescue team members behind him.

There were no wasted words, only the steely resolve exchanged through their gazes.

Lu Xingyun bit his fingertip, and his bright red blood snaked through the void, moving with the fluidity of a dragon and snake to rapidly outline a complex talisman.

"Rise!"

Following his low shout, the talisman transformed into an invisible, glazed energy shield, enveloping everyone within.

Once the barrier formed, the group stepped into the restricted area without hesitation.

The Lingbao Heaven Talisman was truly miraculous; the moment they stepped into the restricted area, the suffocating sense of sluggishness was blocked out. The few Talismanic Dao practitioners on the team did not dare to be negligent, quickly casting Wind-Walking Talismans to boost everyone's speed.

To prevent Lu Xingyun from overdrawing his spiritual power, Gu Xiao stayed close by his side, keeping a fixated watch on his condition.

Following the coordinates left by Li Xiuyuan, the group moved with lightning speed and finally arrived at that mountain stream.

Inside the stone cave, over twenty students had fallen into deep comas, and even the accompanying teachers were pale as sheets, their breathing faint and weak.

Seeing the rescue team, Lu Zhixing, who was huddled in the corner, saw his previously dim eyes instantly ignite with brightness.

"They're right inside! Hurry, get everyone out, time is tight!"

After Fang Jingxuan gave the order, the team members filed in and picked up the students from the ground.

As the number of people entering the Lingbao Heaven Talisman barrier increased, the pressure Lu Xingyun bore grew exponentially. Beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down his face, and the veins on his hands, which were forming incantation gestures, bulged, as if an invisible giant hand were tightly gripping his heart.

His heart hammered wildly, as if it were about to shatter his chest.

"Captain Fang, hurry, Lu Xingyun can't hold on much longer!" Seeing this, Gu Xiao abruptly put on his mask and forcibly injected his own half-demon essence qi into Lu Xingyun's meridians to keep him going.

Fang Jingxuan understood the urgency of the situation. Once everyone had rescued the people in the stone cave, he quickly turned around and led the group away.

On the journey back, Lu Xingyun's face was as pale as paper. Although he had Gu Xiao's help, his life force was still rapidly fading.

The usually steady Lu Zhixing was being carried on a team member's back. Watching the swaying figure ahead, the connection of their shared bloodline caused a sharp pain in his heart, and his eyes instantly turned red.

Just at the moment Lu Xingyun's vision went black and his heart was about to burst, a gentle yet majestic surge of vitality suddenly flooded in from behind.

That vitality was like a spring breeze bringing rain; it instantly smoothed out his crumbling meridians, giving him a new lease on life.

Gu Xiao turned around in astonishment to see a woman in a light blue dress wearing glasses who had appeared at the back of the group at some unknown time. Her expression was calm, yet she exuded an indescribable elegance and intelligence.

"Teacher Lin?" Gu Xiao was surprised by her identity.

Teacher Lin did not explain, simply continuing to silently transmit vitality to protect Lu Xingyun.

The moment they rushed out of the boundary, the excessively overdrawn Lu Xingyun could no longer hold on and collapsed, but luckily, Gu Xiao caught him just in time.

After turning back to confirm all the students were unharmed, Fang Jingxuan walked quickly to Lu Xingyun.

"He's just exhausted to the point of collapse; there's no immediate danger to his life. Quick, send him to the medical team."

The support personnel who had been waiting outside the boundary immediately rushed forward, lifted Lu Xingyun onto a stretcher, and sprinted away.

The remaining students were also taken away by the support personnel.

"Old Gu, can it handle this on its own?" Fang Jingxuan came to Gu Xiao's side, looking worriedly toward the churning white mist within Shouyue Mountain.

Gu Xiao's expression was grave: "I don't know, but it refuses to let us intervene. We can only choose to trust it."

... ...

The torrential rain poured down, with raindrops the size of peas pattering against every inch of land on Shouyue Mountain.

However, the sea of fire continued to spread. The rapid rainfall not only failed to extinguish the blaze but was instead instantly evaporated by the high heat into rolling white mist, turning the entire mountain forest into a living hell.

The Red-clothed Bird spread its wings and soared high, its three pairs of wings stretching out in the curtain of rain. Dark red flames burned fiercely on its feathers, vaporizing the rainwater before it could even get close.

It let out a long cry toward the sky, its voice sharp and piercing.

Before the cry had even faded, a scorching white pillar of fire erupted, transforming in mid-air into a baring-fanged, clawing fire dragon that whistled toward Li Xiuyuan with the momentum to destroy everything!

Where the fire dragon crushed, trees instantly scorched, rocks shattered, and even the air was burned until it twisted and deformed.

Li Xiuyuan did not meet it head-on.

His massive flood dragon body displayed astonishing agility in the torrential rain; with a twist close to the ground, he slid into the depths of the dense forest. The fire dragon struck the path he had just taken, exploding with a boom, sending rubble flying and sparks scattering everywhere.

Several giant boulders were blasted away, snapping large swaths of trees.

Li Xiuyuan wove through the forest, Mirage Qi churning to conceal his form, making it appear and disappear.

The Red-clothed Bird hovered in mid-air, its turbid black pupils scanning below, attempting to lock onto its prey's tracks.

"Not bad, your reaction is fast, but how long can you keep hiding?!"

The Red-clothed Bird opened its mouth again, and the pillar of fire transformed into four fire dragons that dove into the dense forest from the east, south, west, and north.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The four loud bangs exploded almost simultaneously, and the dense forest instantly turned into a sea of fire.

The Red-clothed Bird proudly raised its head, wanting to admire the fruits of its attack, but it did not notice that at the edge of that sea of fire, a mass of white mist was quietly drifting out, silently circling behind it.

The massive flood dragon head emerged from the mist, scales slightly opening, and a golden light shot out. The ancient coin transformed into a thin golden thread, tearing through the curtain of rain and heading straight for the Red-clothed Bird's neck!

Sensing danger, the Red-clothed Bird performed a sharp roll in the air, narrowly avoiding the golden thread.

The ancient coin grazed its wing, slicing off a few burning feathers.

The feathers drifted down, turning into ash in mid-air.

The Red-clothed Bird looked down at the gap in its wing, a flash of surprise and delight crossing its turbid black pupils.

"To think you have actually refined a human practitioner's ancient martial weapon..."

Before it could finish speaking, the ancient coin returned. The Red-clothed Bird dodged it again, but the massive flood dragon tail seemed to have already anticipated its landing spot.

A fishy wind howled!

'Smack!'

The Red-clothed Bird couldn't dodge in time and was heavily struck by the flood dragon tail, letting out a shrill cry of pain. Its body swayed violently in the air, almost plummeting.

After stabilizing its body, the Red-clothed Bird stared fixedly at the white mist below. The mockery and arrogance in its eyes had vanished, replaced by undisguised, monstrous killing intent.

It spread its wings and flapped them violently!

Scorching heat waves spread wildly in all directions with the giant bird as the center, and within a radius of a hundred zhang, it instantly turned into a vacuum of fire.

Li Xiuyuan felt the terrifying heat wave rushing toward him. Most of the Mirage Qi was dispersed, and his massive flood dragon body was completely exposed to the Red-clothed Bird's sight.

His pale golden vertical pupils calmly watched the giant bird in the air. Beneath his scales, his muscles were tense, ready to strike.

Suddenly, the Red-clothed Bird soared into the sky, its wings blotting out the sun, attempting to completely fill Shouyue Mountain with a sea of fire and trap Li Xiuyuan within it.

But the next second, the Red-clothed Bird's eyes widened sharply, its pupils shaking as it looked in astonishment at the scene before it!

The White Flood Dragon on the ground had actually soared into the air, swinging its dragon tail and slamming toward the Red-clothed Bird at a speed that defied logic!

Wait, wasn't this guy crawling on the ground just now?

How can he fly too?!