Chapter 441: Teleportation Artifact?
Chapter 441: Teleportation Artifact?
"I told you to move!" Huang Bingbing struck again, this time with icy coldness surging instantly. Her beautiful eyes had turned ice blue!
Asura didn't dare to be negligent. The flow of time around him suddenly slowed, reducing the spread of coldness. At the same time, incandescent flames rose from his body. He drew a circle with his hands to block in front of him.
A muffled thud echoed and Huang Bingbing remained unmoved, but Asura staggered back three steps, almost crashing into the door.
Huang Bingbing was taken aback. She was surprised that when Asura blocked her palm strike, the coldness produced by her bloodline ability seemed to be partially absorbed. Then, the incandescent flames surrounding Asura intensified at the final collision, actually blocking her attack.
Huang Bingbing had not actually reached the Great Nymph King level; without the Throne of Frost, she was just at the peak of the tenth order. Even so, she was a divine being and the most powerful in her clan.
Meanwhile, she could clearly tell that Asura was only around the ninth order. Although his spiritual power was at the peak of the ninth order, he was undoubtedly not a god. Yet he could block her attacks consecutively, which was quite incredible. Moreover, his technique seemed to dissipate her attack as if absorbed into the ocean. Even though she didn't use her full strength, her realm was still significant, making this scene quite astonishing.
"Clan Leader, please don't be impulsive. Anger without power will do you no good. Are you planning to storm the Ancestral Court’s Council now? I dare say you won't even see a single emperor before you get caught."
"I'll go to the Sunborne Nymph Emperor to complain!" Huang Bingbing retorted, still angry.
Asura shook his head silently and said, "It's useless. The Ancestral Court's gathering of fortune benefits all emperors. The interests of the Ice Maidens aren’t even on the list of priorities. Complaining won't change anything. They won't alter the status quo because of your complaint. After all, if the fortune is dispersed, the inheritance of the emperors will also be affected."
"Are you saying we should let our clan perish?" Huang Bingbing's voice was turning colder, and even felt somewhat shrill.
Asura gave a bitter smile and said, "Isn't that why I'm here to solve your problem? So please, don't be impulsive. Let's analyze the situation first, okay?" He gestured toward the sofa as he spoke.
Huang Bingbing's chest heaved with anger, but she eventually calmed down. She snorted angrily and turned to sit on the sofa.
Asura finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was only now that the coldness in his body completely dissipated. Although the Lion-Tiger Golden Astral had absorbed the cold somewhat, there was a huge gap between their levels. Moreover, Asura could sense that upon reaching the god level, the bloodline of the Ice Maidens was no longer third tier but at least second tier.
The extreme cold left him shivering.
Returning to his seat, Asura looked at Huang Bingbing and asked, "Clan Leader, how many members does your clan have now?"
Huang Bingbing replied coldly, "Fewer than a thousand."
Asura took a sharp breath. A clan with fewer than a thousand members was clearly endangered. The Lion-Tiger clan was different—even if they disappeared altogether, they were the offspring of lions and tigers, and they would eventually appear again. Even if the birth and survival rates were low, the lion and tiger races did not lack numbers. However, the Ice Maiden clan required a hundred years to produce offspring. They were clearly on the brink of extinction. No wonder they had to auction off the Icebound Throne; they were desperate.
"You’re in really critical condition," Asura said, taking a deep breath. "Can you leave the extreme north and live near the Ancestral Court or in one of the main cities?"
Huang Bingbing shook her head. "No, we can't. Leaving the extreme cold environment would deplete our vitality, and our cultivation would also be difficult to improve. While we need the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, we also need the extreme cold environment. In a way, our bodies are like ice; if ice leaves the cold, it melts. If we leave, we will only die off faster."
Asura frowned deeply. This was a really thorny problem.
He had actually already devised a solution for the Ice Maiden clan's inheritance, although Huang Bingbing might not agree. However, at the critical juncture of life and death, she might have no choice but to accept it. But solving their fundamental problem was of the utmost importance. Without enough spiritual energy, nothing else would matter. Even if they could produce offspring, their overall cultivation would decline, leading to extinction.
Huang Bingbing watched him intently but did not interrupt his thoughts. After Asura blocked her two attacks, her trust in him had increased without her even realizing it. Although Huang Bingbing had a simple nature, she could sense that the golden aura around Asura was the product of a first-tier bloodline, and an unfamiliar one at that. Moreover, the slowing of time was beyond her understanding. This human was not only mysterious, but also very strong.
Finally, Asura raised his head and asked, "Clan Leader, can the spiritual energy you need for cultivation be replaced by life energy?"
Huang Bingbing nodded and said, "Of course. In fact, what we need most is life energy. Ice is abundant in the extreme north, but life isn’t. Life energy is the scarcest resource in that bitter cold because hardly any creatures can survive there. And to sustain life and produce offspring, we need a combination of life energy and ice elemental energy."
"Then I have a solution," Asura said, slapping his thigh. "But this solution requires a significant cost and can't be implemented immediately."
Huang Bingbing's eyes lit up. "What solution?"
Asura said, "You lack life energy. Although you can't leave the extreme north for long periods, you should be able to do so for short durations, right? If we set up a teleportation array in your Ice Maiden clan, we could periodically send your clan members to a place with abundant life energy to absorb it, then teleport them back. Wouldn't this solve your problem of lacking spiritual energy?"
"Teleportation array? What kind of teleportation array?" Huang Bingbing stared at him in a daze. This was beyond her knowledge.
Asura explained, "We can set up a teleportation array somewhere in your territory, so we can directly transport your clan members to the Ancestral Court to absorb life energy. Long-distance teleportation, simple as that."
"How is that simple?! Don’t tell me it’s possible to transport people over such long distances," Huang Bingbing said in disbelief.
Asura shrugged and said, "It's indeed impossible now, but that doesn't mean it will always be impossible."
"What's your evidence?" Huang Bingbing's voice carried more emotion, even a hint of irritation.
Asura's hand flashed with light, and an array disc appeared in his palm. He handed it to Huang Bingbing.
"Within two hundred meters, you can teleport anywhere. Wherever your mind goes, your body follows."
Huang Bingbing took the teleportation array disc, showing a hint of surprise on her face. Infusing it with her divine consciousness, she instantly teleported a dozen meters away.
Her eyes brightened immediately but quickly dimmed again. "Fine, but this is useless! Short-distance teleportation is not the same as teleporting thousands of miles."
Asura said, "Then we just need to make the array larger. I have a plan, but it will take some time. A master of arrays crafted this array disc. He has always aimed to create a teleportation artifact that can transport him to any corner of the continent at any time. If he succeeds, we can borrow it to solve your problem."