[Restart Volume] Chapter 264: Fierce Battle

As Lin Ao’s voice trailed off, his entire figure dissolved into black particles and vanished into mid-air.

Only Xia Ningxin and little Yueying remained in the corridor.

"Meow~" Yueying let out a soft cry.

"No need to chase him," Xia Ningxin waved her hand. Truth be told, she was fully capable of keeping up with Lin Ao’s pace, but her immediate priority was the divine airship before them—she had to get it functioning normally again!

As for the lingering mysteries—Lin Ao’s appearance, the employer’s true identity, and the hidden moles—they would all have to be cast aside for the moment. Her current task was to find that brat Mo Xing and regroup.

***

Meanwhile.

Looking at the divine airship’s protective barrier, which had been dyed a brilliant red, Mo Xing could not help a gasp of astonishment. Furthermore, the entire vessel had returned to its original trajectory and was flying smoothly, its speed having increased significantly—a development he certainly hadn't anticipated.

"They pulled it off!" Mo Xing exclaimed in admiration.

"Not quite," Shiyan shook her head, pointing toward a glass window nearby where a red light was flashing. "The alarm hasn't been cleared yet. The power compartment hasn't been repaired, and we need to go down and lend a hand."

"Thinking of running?!"

Just at that moment, an angry roar echoed from the deck below. Looking down, the two of them saw Goge! His face was flushed crimson, as if the word "fury" was carved right across it!

"Goge, why don't we just let this go—" Aiji, standing beside him, chimed in.

"Let it my ass!" Goge spat out a curse, following it with a glob of spit. "I'm going to properly deal with these two lower-class brats today and show them what true power looks like!"

"Heavenly Dog Devours the Moon!"

Breaking free from Aiji's restraint, Goge summoned his crimson-red spear and leaped straight into the air, trailing a blur of afterimages behind him.

Shiyan frowned slightly and raised the twin guns in her hands. Just as she was about to unleash her technique, Mo Xing stepped in front of her, saying simply:

"This time, let me handle it!"

"A freshman trying to play the hero?" Goge roared, lunging forward with his spear as if about to impale them both.

Mo Xing raised the [Divine Frostless Sword] in his hand, gathered water elemental energy, and slashed several curved ice blades toward Goge in mid-air—

Chilled Water: Revolving Strike!

"Not this trick again!" Goge shouted loudly, his body shifting through the air amid a flurry of afterimages. His spear smashed straight into the ice blades, sweeping away every obstacle in his path and closing the distance to Mo Xing by another half meter.

Sensing that the situation was turning precarious, Shiyan prepared to strike, but Mo Xing beat her to it: a surge of powerful ice elemental energy gathered in his palm, and the surrounding temperature plummeted by several degrees instantly!

"Useless—" Goge pressed forward, only to find his hands suddenly frozen by a layer of ice elemental energy. Before he knew it, his entire body was encased in frost; the heavy ice dragged down his airborne mobility, and with barely a few dozen centimeters left, gravity pulled him plunging down from the sky.

"What the hell?! Wh... what kind of move is this?!"

In the blink of an eye, Goge crashed down onto the lower deck, looking utterly battered and wretched.

"This move is called—Thousand-Mile Frost Sealing!"

Mo Xing smiled. Adding the "Thousand-Mile" prefix to the basic [Ice Sealing] technique made it sound infinitely more advanced.

"Nice," Shiyan said, giving him a thumbs-up to show her approval of Mo Xing's move.

"Oh, it was nothing!" Mo Xing scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Time is limited. Let's head to the power compartment!" Shiyan beckoned, walking toward the stairs.

"Right," Mo Xing followed closely behind.

***

A short while later.

Following the map on their rings, Mo Xing and Shiyan ran all the way to the door of the power compartment.

"Wh... what's going on here?" Mo Xing gasped in shock, discovering that the entrance had been completely blocked by a bronze-colored metal wall.

"Wudan Ce must have put up a wall to prevent interference," Shiyan frowned slightly. "This technique should be a metal elemental skill called [Impregnable Fortress]."

"Should I give him a call and ask him to open the door?" Mo Xing swiped across the [Titan Ring] on his finger, projecting a blue-and-white screen that displayed the words "Calling..."

"The magnetic field here has been altered. Calls might be disrupted," Shiyan shook her head.

"Then what should we do?" Growing anxious upon finding that the other side was not answering, Mo Xing worried aloud.

"Break the door."

A cold voice came from behind them. Mo Xing turned around to find that it was none other than Xia Ningxin, with little Yueying trotting right behind her.

"Meow—" Yueying flicked its little tail.

"You're here..." Mo Xing scratched his head. Ever since Miss Xia had engaged in her silent standoff with Shiyan upon boarding the airship, she hadn't shown her face once. She had even politely declined the group meals and chats at noon, acting rather aloof, until now.

Shiyan turned her head away and walked to the side, clearly refusing to look her in the eye.

"H... how are we supposed to break a door like this?" Mo Xing puzzled aloud. "This Impregnable Fortress thing looks dozens of centimeters thick..."

"Step aside, I'll do it," Xia Ningxin waved a hand.

"Meow—" Little Yueying immediately scampered away.

"Wh... what is she planning to do?"

Mo Xing quickly retreated to the side as well, watching as a blue-and-white longbow materialized in Xia Ningxin’s hands, its exquisite design encircled by several glowing golden lights.

Sacred Sovereign: Dawn Moon!

Concealing the dragon's soul to gather its breath, materializing a phantom dragon, and with a single swing of the arm, pushing back enemies a thousand miles away!

A sudden cyan gale whipped up, nearly knocking Mo Xing off his feet.

"Gather!"

Xia Ningxin uttered a single, chilling word. The surrounding air rushed to obey, converging in her right hand to form a cyan arrow. This time, Mo Xing could no longer hold his ground, and the ferocious hurricane swept him off his feet, sending him crashing onto the deck.

"Break!"

Xia Ningxin released the bowstring, and the cyan arrow shot forth. Mo Xing was blasted away by the gale, slamming heavily against a nearby railing.

Howling winds piercing the void, clouds scattering before the tempest!

The Impregnable Fortress was shattered to pieces in an instant!

"Oh my god! That is ridiculously overpowered!" Mo Xing clung tightly to the railing, his body fluttering in the wind like a flag. He honestly had no idea Xia Ningxin was this terrifyingly strong! Was she really just at the Blue-Indigo rank?

"Going ahead."

Xia Ningxin dropped the brief words before vanishing from the deck entirely. The hurricane subsided just as suddenly, and the surrounding air currents slowly returned to normal.

"Ouch, my poor lower back..."

Mo Xing propped himself up, groaning as he massaged his spine. The winds had been so fierce that he’d flapped about like a banner, and he had somehow tweaked his back...

"Shiyan? Shiyan, where are you?" Mo Xing looked around anxiously, only then remembering that when the gale struck, Shiyan had been standing nearby without any defensive measures.

"Mo Xing, I'm over here!"

Following the voice, Mo Xing looked up to see a two-meter-wide orange transparent sphere rolling toward him. Shiyan was running inside it, and trotting right beside her shoes was little Yueying. The scene looked somewhat like...

A hamster running in a ball!

"Wh... what kind of skill is this?" Mo Xing stared in utter bewilderment.

"It seems to be this little cat's ability..." Shiyan pointed down at little Yueying by her feet.

"Meow—" Little Yueying lifted its head, and the orange protective barrier instantly vanished.

"That's amazing..." Mo Xing scratched his head, remembering the time they practiced new moves on the school lawn and his weapon had lost control, about to slash straight at him, only for little Yueying to save his life by timely erecting a protective shield.

It seemed... this really wasn't just an ordinary cat.

"No time to waste," Shiyan pointed toward the entrance of the power compartment. "Let's go inside and see what's happening."

"Right," Mo Xing nodded.

The two of them rushed inside, only to be greeted by a stream of complaints.

"Who just unleashed a massive ultimate skill out there?!" Wudan Ce was frantically repairing a fracture in the fuel junction above. "Not only did you scare the living daylights out of me, but the section I just fixed cracked open again!"

"It wasn't us, it was Xia—" Before Mo Xing could finish, his foot slipped on a pool of sticky, pale-yellow liquid, and he nearly took a spill. "Wh... what is this stuff?"

"This is fuel extracted from Stellar Energy Crystals," Shiyan explained. "Wudan Ce, is there anything we can help you with?"

"Well..." Busy patching the breach, Wudan Ce couldn't think of anything for a second. "Why don't you guys go keep an eye on that other person over there first!"

"A person? Where is there a person?" Shiyan looked around. Weren't there only the three of them in the power compartment?

Plus a cat...

"Huh? Isn't he right over there?" Wudan Ce asked in confusion. He glanced toward the corner, only to find that the guy who claimed to be a great handsome fellow, Zuo Zuo, had long since vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a few idle mechanical arms and an empty outer perimeter of the protective shield.

"What the heck, he managed to slip away even like this?" Wudan Ce found it incredible. Just who on earth was that guy?

"Big Brother Wudan Ce, do you think the fuel on the floor can be scooped back in?" Mo Xing squatted down to inspect the liquid on the ground. He hadn't been paying attention to their conversation, having been fixated on the pale-yellow fuel all along.

"That's a pretty crazy idea," Wudan Ce shook his head. "Not entirely impossible, though—provided someone can manipulate water elemental energy."

"Manipulate water elemental energy..." Mo Xing said, "I can do that!"

"..."

Wudan Ce stared at him and blinked.

"He actually can," Shiyan nodded in confirmation.

"Uh... well... I don't really know you well," Wudan Ce scratched his head apologetically.

"It's fine, friends get to know each other over time," Mo Xing smiled. "So, getting back to the point, what do you need me to do?"

"Let me think..." Wudan Ce paused.

"I have a method," Shiyan suggested.

***

Meanwhile.

Two white motorcycles hovered in mid-air, their rear exhausts glowing with pale blue gas and their headlights flashing with bolts of electricity.

Titan Motorcycles!

Motorcycles capable of free flight in the air, they were one of the most representative modes of transportation in the City of Evolution.

Lin Ao and Zuo Zuo sat atop their respective Titan Motorcycles, looking down at the floating ship below—the "Divine Airship."

"The divine airship actually managed to hold its ground."

Zuo Zuo looked at the vast area beneath the airship's protective barrier that had been scorched red by flames, unable to conceal his surprise.

"Zhang Zhihao. He always manages to hold up the sky," Lin Ao said calmly.

"But bearing it all by himself looks exhausting," Zuo Zuo shook his head.

"Well, if you hadn't gone around causing destruction, he wouldn't have been pushed to this point," Lin Ao glanced sidelong at him.

"I couldn't help it, there was no other way to flush out those disguised operatives!"

Zuo Zuo averted his gaze, knowing all too well that look could kill.

"They've had terrible luck anyway. Not only are there so many spies from the Kalentis Sect aboard the airship, but those students lack any sense of unity—when trouble strikes, everyone just runs for their lives," Zuo Zuo muttered.

"It's not that pessimistic. Fortunately, he still has a group of trustworthy companions," Lin Ao paused, his mind drifting back to the young man he had encountered on the deck today.

The unyielding look in the sword-wielding youth's eyes was well worth savoring.

"True," Zuo Zuo shrugged. "By the way, are we really just going to leave Shadow Stream on the divine airship like that?"

"I told him he needs to continue following the main contingent of the Sacred Sky Royal Academy for a while," Lin Ao paused. "After all, we still have a big gig to pull off—"

"The Dragon Fang Island mission."