Chapter 360: The Unconscious Witch and Dragon Speaker (6600)

Chapter 360: The Unconscious Witch and Dragon Speaker (6600)

Francesca soared into the sky like a bird.

As she flew upward, she continuously released the forest spiritual energy within her body!

Bang! Bang bang!

The spiritual energy erupted repeatedly, disrupting the traces left behind by the giant dragon.

With the continuous flow of cold air currents in the sky, the dragon's aura would soon be completely erased.

However, because Seraphis had descended from an altitude of ten thousand meters,

Francesca also had to rush up to a similar height to create the illusion that the dragon had never lingered near this area from start to finish.

Yet, the higher one flew into the sky, the lower the temperature dropped!

One had to remember that when Cao Xing had previously flown to an altitude of two thousand meters, the temperature had already reached -78°C.

It was easy to imagine how frigid the temperatures would be even higher up.

The moment she reached an altitude of five thousand meters,

Francesca's body was already covered in a thick layer of ice crystals, her movements grew increasingly stiff, and even her blood began to freeze!

Yet she knew that every second counted right now!

She had to clear all the dragon's aura in the shortest time possible.

Whoosh—whoosh—

Braving the howling gale, Francesca continued to push higher into the sky.

When she reached eight thousand meters, the extreme cold had reached a terrifying degree, seemingly breaking past some critical threshold.

She felt her body becoming stiffer and stiffer, while bone-chilling cold pierced wildly into every inch of her skin like countless sharp ice daggers!

Her blood felt as though it was freezing solid, and sensation gradually faded from her limbs as if they were encased in heavy blocks of ice, heavy and completely numb!

Every breath felt like inhaling crushed ice; the freezing cold traveled down her airways straight into her lungs, making her chest feel crushed beneath a massive slab of ice—agonizing and suffocating.

Even the forest spiritual energy inside her seemed locked within her body, making it extraordinarily difficult to channel!

Such was the horror of extreme cold; even a Commander-level creature like her could barely withstand it!

If an ordinary person reached this altitude, everything about them would be frozen solid in an instant.

Had Francesca not recently advanced to become a Tier 6 Master-level powerhouse, she would have lost consciousness by now.

Grit-teeth firmly set, she continued to charge higher into the sky!

After finally reaching the ten-thousand-meter altitude, Francesca exerted every ounce of her strength, channeling the very last wisp of forest spiritual energy to purge the nearby dragon aura.

Bang! Bang bang!

The forest spiritual energy repeatedly detonated.

Only when she could no longer sense any trace of a dragon having ever lingered here did the beautiful witch finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, under the extreme cold, Francesca's nerves had been stretched taut the entire time.

The sudden relaxation caused her consciousness to scatter instantly, and her vision plunged into darkness.

Unable to hold on any longer, her aura sputtered out; she closed her eyes and plummeted straight down from the sky.

At this moment, Cao Xing looked up and saw a black dot falling rapidly.

Like a kite with a severed string!

"Is that Francesca? Something seems wrong with her state!"

At that exact moment, the wings on Cao Xing's back snapped wide open.

Whoosh!

He did not enter his demon transformation, but instead activated the Wind Wings on his back.

The invisible wings of wind, accompanied by powerful gales, carried him rapidly into the sky.

At an altitude of roughly fifteen hundred meters,

Cao Xing reached out with both hands and caught the falling Francesca.

A crushing, tremendous force struck him!

Crack! Shatter!

Because it was an instantaneous freefall, driven by gravity, Francesca's downward momentum was terrifyingly high!

It even shattered his Holy Shield directly.

Like a heavy block of iron, she violently dragged Cao Xing downward with her!

The wild winds in the sky shrieked past their ears, producing piercing howls!

Cao Xing held Francesca tightly, yet he too could not halt their downward plunge.

A look of urgency surfaced in his eyes.

"Damn it! At this rate, both of us will be smashed half to death!"

He himself would probably be fine, given his numerous life-saving abilities.

Francesca, however, was clearly in a state of deep freezing; the extreme cold had even damaged her body. If she smashed into the ground, she would likely shatter into a pile of fragments on the spot…

During the plunge, Cao Xing channeled the Wind Wings on his back with all his might, doing everything he could to counteract the gravitational pull.

Flap—flap—

The sound of wings flapping resounded continuously.

Finally, when they were five hundred meters from the ground,

thanks to Cao Xing's relentless efforts, their downward momentum was finally slowed.

Then, holding the witch in his arms, Cao Xing landed steadily onto the ground of the territory.

Seeing this, everyone below let out a collective sigh of relief.

At the same time, Cao Xing realized just how stiff Francesca's entire body had become!

She was practically like a heavy block of ice!

Even her blood had frozen.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her face ghastly pale, and white ice crystal fragments still clung to her eyelashes.

Looking at the witch's condition, a hint of heartache surfaced in his eyes.

Cao Xing quickly instructed, "Everyone, return to your rooms and erase what just happened from your minds."

"Act as if nothing ever happened."

Hearing this, everyone nodded solemnly and returned to their respective shelters.

As for Cao Xing himself, he carried the stiff Francesca and quickly rushed into his Lords Cabin.

He brought her over to the fireplace,

pouring milk into her mouth while retrieving layers of Cloud Yak coats from his backpack to cover her body,

hoping to quickly thaw her frozen state.

Roughly three minutes after the giant dragon departed,

everyone had returned to their rooms.

The cold currents high above swept past continuously, carrying away the last remnants of the dragon's presence.

And right at that moment,

the expressions of the people below changed once again!

Because they felt a frenzied, terrifying aura suddenly sweep across the sky above the territory!

Even across such a vast distance, Cao Xing still felt a lethal sense of impending crisis!

This aura surpassed even that of the Dragon Speaker from before!

The entire territory fell dead silent.

Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their hearts filled with extreme tension.

This included Cao Xing himself.

He had no idea whether the series of measures they had just taken could deceive this terrifying existence!

Right now, Cao Xing could only pray they wouldn't be discovered.

Fortunately, that aura did not pause in the slightest.

Instead, it surged at extreme speed directly toward the direction where the dragon Seraphis had vanished!

In the blink of an eye, that terrifying oppressive pressure disappeared.

It was as if a thousand-pound boulder pressing on their hearts had dropped, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

Everyone knew they were temporarily safe.

Even so, Cao Xing did not let down his guard.

He quickly pressed the communication device on his ear and switched to the team channel.

"Do not relax. Stay vigilant."

Hearing this, everyone braced themselves and remained on high alert.

Nearly an hour passed.

During this time, Sarah brought the Dragon Speaker to the surface once to breathe fresh air,

before diving back beneath the water well.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing held the unconscious Francesca, continuously adding firewood to the fireplace to raise its heat.

Under such tense atmosphere,

time… slowly ticked away…

Another half hour passed.

That terrifying aura doubled back!

A frenzied, sinister oppressive pressure swept in.

It seemed exceedingly enraged!

It circled back and forth in the vicinity several times, searching for a full ten-plus minutes.

For over a hundred kilometers around, all birds and beasts shivered in terror, completely silenced!

Even if they didn't know what was happening,

they could feel the deathly pressure brought upon them by the dreadful aura overhead.

Until… another ten-plus minutes passed.

Only then did the aura finally depart.

Yet Cao Xing still did not relax.

He continued to wait for another two hours.

Sarah remained at the bottom of the well with the woman.

Every half hour during this period, Cao Xing notified her to come up for air once.

It wasn't until around eleven o'clock late at night,

after nearly one or two hours had passed without that terrifying aura reappearing,

that Cao Xing finally confirmed that horrific existence had truly left!

He let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Damn… that was terrifying!"

"Just what level of existence was that?"

"And how on earth did the Dragon Speaker provoke them?"

Questions arose in his mind one after another.

However, the answers to these questions would have to wait until the Dragon Speaker awoke.

Cao Xing quickly adjusted his mindset, restoring his calm.

Looking up at the ceiling, a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.

"Although I knew this world was vast and full of powerhouses,"

"I never expected creatures as powerful as the Dragon Speaker and that giant dragon would be hunted down."

"According to Hilda, this Dragon Speaker is already a Tier 8 Hero-level powerhouse."

"Could the one hunting her be a legendary Tier 9 powerhouse, or something even higher?"

Thinking of this possibility, Cao Xing was startled once more.

He felt anew just how deep the waters of this world ran.

His actions tonight could be considered the biggest gamble he had taken since arriving in this world.

The danger level even surpassed the time he snatched the sacred scripture of the Church of Light in Lake Doron City!

After all, if discovered by that entity, Cao Xing's territory could never withstand an attack from them!

Of course, the old saying held true: high risk came with high reward!

By saving this Dragon Speaker, she would essentially owe him a massive favor.

Last time, this woman had given him a Spirit Calling Totem.

If he managed to save her this time, given her personality, she would surely provide an appropriate reward.

He might even gain her friendship.

After all, she was a Tier 8 Hero-level powerhouse!

Thus, Cao Xing deemed the risk worthwhile!

Then, he gave the command: "Everyone, you may stand down."

Hearing his voice, several hundred combatants across the entire territory let out a collective sigh of relief.

Isabelle also spoke through the communication device: "My Lord, I have already cast aura shielding magic in one of the basements."

"We can now transfer that woman to the basement."

Cao Xing replied, "Alright, understood."

Compared to staying in the [Twilight Well], the basement was considerably safer.

After all, Sarah couldn't keep hiding at the bottom of the well with that woman forever.

It was completely unknown when she would even wake up.

Thus, Cao Xing pressed the communication device on his ear and switched to another channel.

"Sarah, you can come up now."

"The basement over there is ready. Change into dry clothes once you come up, and change this woman's clothes as well."

"Muxue, go help too. Feed her Life Secret Elixir and Cloud Yak milk; don't let this woman die."

Liu Muxue nodded solemnly, then quickly left the Lords Manor.

Sarah also leaped directly out of the well.

She then carried the unconscious Dragon Speaker into the basement.

Having settled all this, Cao Xing continued holding Francesca to help her body gradually recover.

After hours by the warm hearth, her body was no longer as stiff and frigid as it had been at the start.

At this moment, Francesca felt as though she was trapped in a dream.

She had fallen into an endless frozen sea, sinking continuously deeper into the abyss.

The seawater brought bone-chilling cold, filling her with a suffocating sensation.

Darkness, freezing cold, despair…

[part:gemini-3.5-flash-lite]

Half-asleep, she suddenly felt herself being embraced by someone, breaking free from the endless icy sea and bringing her floating to the surface.

Then, she felt as if she were lying on the ice, with howling cold winds all around, and a burning campfire next to her, but it lacked any warmth at all.

At this moment, bouts of sharp pain came from her frostbitten body parts, which also woke her up completely.

"Hmm…"

After a bout of indescribable soft exclamations.

Francesca gradually opened her eyes.

"Are you awake?" Cao Xing asked.

Francesca was stunned for a moment, and upon noticing that she was being held in Cao Xing's embrace, her face instantly blushed.

Nodding gently, "Mhm…"

Cao Xing continued, "How does your body feel? Can you stand up?"

The witch in his arms rubbed her body slightly, a hint of pain appearing between her brows.

She shook her head and said, "No, my limbs have no sensation."

"It might still take a while…"

Hearing this, Cao Xing did not mind, "It's fine, then let's wait until you recover a bit more before getting up."

Finished speaking, he continued to hold this beauty, using his own body temperature to keep her warm.

Meanwhile, Francesca also lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking.

The two of them fell silent one after another.

The atmosphere seemed to fall into a certain subtle state.

After a moment, Francesca broke the silence first.

"Thank you…"

Cao Xing smiled, "What are you thanking me for? You were injured because of my orders. As your lord, of course I must take corresponding responsibility."

Hearing this, the witch in his arms softly said again, "Mhm…"

She was somewhat unaccustomed to the current situation before her.

And Cao Xing also noticed that the paleness on her face, as well as the frost on her eyelashes, had gradually faded away.

However, her dark green eye shadow and long eyelashes did not have the slightest trace of fading.

Even the light purple lip tint at the corners of her small lips emitted a faint luster under the illumination of the flames.

Previously, Cao Xing had thought that Francesca's makeup was specially done.

As a result, looking at it now, this was her bare-faced state.

Speaking of which, Francesca's skin was truly good.

Her actual age was unknown.

But regardless of her appearance or demeanor, she still looked like a woman in her early twenties.

However, beneath this beautiful exterior lay her life experience of at least several hundred years.

Therefore, compared to her peerless appearance, the calm and erudite aura on her body was even more attractive.

Cao Xing definitely did not say this because of the magnificent scale on her chest.

Of course, setting aside these things, one still had to say.

Her chest was really big.

And Cao Xing also noticed the expanse of snow-white on her chest beneath her purple evening dress.

However, his gaze at the moment was not attracted by this expanse of snow-white, but rather by her beauty.

It could be said that Francesca's beauty ranked among the top three of all the women he had ever seen.

Those light purple lips, carrying a slight luster, were bewitching and mysterious, like a fully ripened grape that made people unable to help wanting to taste them.

And Cao Xing indeed did so.

Directly leaning down.

Lips touched.

Francesca's beautiful pupils instantly widened.

The muscles in her limbs tensed in an instant, and she subconsciously grabbed Cao Xing's arm.

"Mhm…"

A low sound came from the witch's throat, along with bursts of swallowing sounds.

She seemed not to have expected that Cao Xing would suddenly make such an aggressive move.

According to her personality, she should have instinctively pushed him away.

However, whether because her limbs had no sensation or for other reasons, Francesca let Cao Xing taste her at will.

And following Cao Xing's next action, Francesca gripped even tighter with both hands unconsciously.

She felt her tongue moving continuously.

Her whole body trembled in waves…

The blood that had already been frozen cold actually began to rapidly heat up.

Meanwhile, in her mouth, Cao Xing tasted a trace of herbal medicine flavor, along with an elegant orchid-like fragrance…

Leaving one with endless aftertaste.

Clearly, this woman was different from everyone else in the territory.

She possessed the bloodline of a half-elf, plus she had mastered forest spiritual power.

Compared to ordinary pure-blood elves, she was even closer to nature…

And Cao Xing truly felt at this moment that what he held in his arms was a goddess of nature.

Just like lying in a jungle filled with the chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers, making one unable to help getting intoxicated.

Until three or four minutes passed.

During this process, Francesca did not dare to breathe.

Like a doll, she lay in Cao Xing's arms, not daring to move at all.

It could be seen that she had never experienced such a thing before, and her whole person was in a dazed state.

A few minutes later, Cao Xing parted lips from hers, carrying a trace of crystal-clear saliva.

The moment Francesca felt the tongue leave, she seemed to suddenly snap back to her senses.

Instantly taking a deep breath.

"Hoo… Hoo…"

She breathed in large gulps, her chest rising and falling continuously.

Looking at Cao Xing, her beautiful eyes widened.

"You… I… You…"

This witch, who had always been calm and elegant, began to stutter incoherently in a rare display.

Seeming not to know what to say, she directly shrank her head into the Cloud Yak coat.

At this moment, Cao Xing chuckled and asked, "How is it? Do you feel better?"

Hearing this, Francesca in his arms froze for a moment.

She sensed herself, discovering that her frozen stiff body had miraculously recovered!

A look of surprise flashed through her beautiful eyes.

"How magical…"

"Your frivolous actions towards me just now actually had this kind of effect?"

Cao Xing was stunned.

Good grief, so she thought he was taking liberties with her.

"Uh… I think you misunderstood…" Cao Xing explained.

A soul-stirring smile appeared at the corner of the witch's mouth, and she stood up from Cao Xing's embrace.

At this moment, the forest spiritual power on her body vibrated accordingly, and all the ice crystal fragments on her light purple dress completely vanished.

A cold and elegant aura emanated from her body.

She once again became that beautiful and erudite witch…

"I'm heading out." The witch said faintly.

Cao Xing also came back to his senses at this time, then said, "Alright, rest well."

Francesca walked directly towards the outside of the Lords Manor, completely acting as if what had just happened never took place.

"Clang!"

After the door closed, Cao Xing touched the residual warmth and fresh fragrance lingering on the corners of his mouth, "Were my actions just now a bit too much?"

"However, her favorability didn't drop, indicating that she wasn't angry."

And the moment the door of the Lords Cabin closed, Cao Xing heard a system notification.

[Because of your care for subordinates, territory member: Francesca's loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 94]

…

Cao Xing immediately chuckled.

Patting his body, he stood up from the ground.

"Now, it's time to go check on that Dragon Speaker."

Words falling, Cao Xing quickly arrived in the basement where the aura-shielding magic had been cast.

Sarah, Liu Muxue, and Isabelle, three women, were all there.

They placed that Dragon Speaker on a small wooden bed, cleaned the blood and dirt off her body, and changed her into new clothes.

Liu Muxue sat by the bedside, feeding her a bottle of Life Secret Potion into her mouth from time to time.

Seeing Cao Xing approach, Liu Muxue raised her head and asked, "A-Xing, how is Francesca? Is she out of danger?"

Cao Xing nodded slightly, "She has almost recovered, and has already gone back to rest."

Hearing this, Liu Muxue also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"How is this Dragon Speaker's condition?" Cao Xing asked closely after.

Liu Muxue shook her head, "Not very optimistic. Her injuries are too severe, and she has been losing vitality almost constantly."

"We need to feed her Life Secret Potions uninterrupted for 24 hours to halt the deterioration of her wounds."

"Otherwise, before long, she will probably die from exhaustion of her vitality."

Hearing this, Cao Xing frowned.

Given this Dragon Speaker's injuries, if it were an ordinary tier 5 or tier 6 powerhouse, they would have already died by now.

Thanks to her astonishing vitality, she was able to hold on until now.

"Judging by the current situation, how many bottles of Life Secret Potion need to be fed a day to maintain her life?"

Liu Muxue calculated slightly, "About a hundred and ten bottles or so."

This number could be said to be quite outrageous.

A bottle of Life Secret Potion is worth ten to twenty thousand crowns, which means to sustain the Dragon Speaker's life, one to two million crowns must be consumed every day.

But fortunately, his territory could still afford it.

Cao Xing directly said, "Then let's keep feeding her for now, and see how long it takes for this woman to wake up."

"I'll send a few territory residents to live in the basement later to take turns taking care of this woman 24 hours a day."

"You all go back first."

Hearing this, Sarah and Isabelle stood up one after another, then left this place.

Meanwhile, Cao Xing glanced at this Dragon Speaker's status panel.

Still the same as before, a whole bunch of question marks.

However, in the status column, a bunch of negative statuses such as [Bleeding], [Pain Curse], [Dying], [Comatose] appeared…

In the current situation, Cao Xing had no other choice.

He could only continuously replenish the Dragon Speaker's vitality and then rely on her own willpower to wake up as soon as possible.

As long as she wakes up, things will be easy to handle.

These powerhouses all had their own means of recovery.

Under Cao Xing's orders, four women in their thirties or forties soon arrived in the basement.

Cao Xing had them split into four shifts to take turns caring for this woman 24 hours a day.

Then he walked out of the basement.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "Who knows when this woman will wake up…"

"But now, the time for the system update is almost here, so I better make preparations first."

Thus, Cao Xing returned to the Lords Manor and waited together with Liu Muxue for the update to arrive.

Time began to slowly flow away…

Soon, it reached 23:45 at night.

There were only the final 15 minutes left until the system update.

The Survivors in the chat channel had already started a fierce discussion.

"Woohoo! The new version is finally coming, I'm already ready to make a big splash!"

"Sigh… I don't want it to come so fast! I still wanted Construction Week to continue for a while longer."

"+1 to upstairs, Construction Week is truly a welfare week, the territory's resource accumulation speed is much faster, it's just that the strength enhancement slowed down a bit."

"Damn it, during this Construction Week, I didn't get any benefits at all. Those son-of-a-bitch nobles ran to my territory to collect taxes, it was simply asking for an exorbitant price! I fucking couldn't pay that much tax, and those bastards took away the Arctic People and Imperial Soldiers in my territory, screw their ancestors!"

"Me too, screw these son-of-a-bitch nobles, they snatched my wife. When I become badass, I'll definitely sleep with all these nobles' wives!"

"The brothers upstairs, you guys are really miserable…"

…

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