Surrounded!

After the encounter with the Sword Tooth Alligator, Li Zhu and Bo Ai met many spirit beasts, all in the ninth stage qi gathering. As long as there were only a few beasts, Li Zhu could deal with them before Bo Ai even reached him. A few times, though, when they encountered more opponents, Bo Ai had demonstrated the powers of the soul element.

It was interesting to see her fight, since there were no visible attacks, as she struck the souls of her enemies. Usually, she simply looked in the eyes of a spirit beast, and it would fall to the floor. Of course, there were a few stronger beasts that managed to struggle for a few seconds, before meeting the same fate.

The soul element was incredibly strong because most beasts and cultivators did not strengthen their souls. As long as one practiced soul strengthening techniques regularly, fighting a cultivator that used the soul element was actually quite easy, as long as the enemy did not have a much higher cultivation.

Of course, the Myriad Soul Palace was the leader in soul element techniques, so they would not be completely hopeless against someone with a powerful soul, even though their attacks would be much weaker.

As one rested while the other fought, Li Zhu and Bo Ai traveled quickly, approaching the center of the swamp, where the soul crystals stayed.

"What is that sound?" at that moment, Li Zhu suddenly froze, perking up his ears.

"It's just the bugs!" replied Bo Ai, who was not as worried as Li Zhu.

Although what he was hearing was in fact the continuous buzzing of the swamp, it was undoubtedly louder, something that made Li Zhu nervous.

"Let's just keep going, the longer we stay in one place the higher the chance of meeting a powerful enemy!" Bo Ai reminded him, as she began jumping from island to island once more.

Throughout their journey in the swamp, she had gradually gained more respect for Li Zhu, and although she still made snappy comments every once in a while, she did not show any disdain towards him anymore.

With that, they continued on their path to the soul crystals, but it did not take long for Li Zhu's fears to come true.

Barely a minute after Li Zhu had noticed the sound, the two had to stop, since there was a wall in front of them. It reached high into the sky, and one could not see anything past it.

"Who would have built a wall here?" asked Bo Ai, puzzled. The wall was all black, and would have had to be made by a human.

"That is no solid wall Bo Ai... that is a wall of Qi Devouring Mosquitoes!" exclaimed Li Zhu, shock appearing on his face.

Qi Devouring Mosquitoes were very weak spirit beasts on their own, but they generally moved in massive packs, which made them much more dangerous. These mosquitoes absorbed the qi of their enemies to feed themselves, so fighting a swarm of them was basically impossible.

"We need to run!" yelled Bo Ai, realizing the severity of the situation. If one got stuck in a swarm of these mosquitoes, their heavenly energy would be slowly sucked out of them, eventually resulting in an incredibly painful death.

Realizing this, they both retreated as fast as they could, not looking back. Luck was not upon them, though, as after only a few seconds of running, another wall of mosquitoes appeared in front of them, and then to the sides... they were surrounded!

"How could they have been so fast!?" wondered Bo Ai, but she realized that had she listened to Li Zhu's comment earlier, they would not have been in this dangerous situation.

"That's not important now... we need to figure out how to get out of here!" replied Li Zhu, who was racking his brain to find a solution.

"Do you have any soul attacks with a large area of effect?" asked Li Zhu, trying to understand their options.

His shadow claws would not work with such a big group of spirit beasts, so the only other solution would be Frost Touch. Of course, he would not have enough time to use Frost Touch before his heavenly energy was drained, so that was not a plausible solution.

"I only have one large scale attack, but it expends most of my energy!" she replied, before starting to send waves of soul attacks towards the mosquitoes, keeping them at bay.

Li Zhu was in the same situation, as he swiped his hands furiously, releasing hundreds of shadow claws. He was gradually losing heavenly energy, but if he stopped, the mosquitoes would flood towards him, draining his energy much faster.

This stalemate lasted for a wile, as Bo Ai and Li Zhu did their best to persevere. Every time they killed a hundred mosquitoes, a hundred would be there to replace them, forming an endless army of enemies.

Slowly but steadily, the walls of mosquitoes were getting closer to Bo Ai and Li Zhu, who had sweat dripping down their faces, in nervousness.

"We have to do something different, Bo Ai... this isn't working!" yelled Li Zhu, understanding that they were currently only delaying their fate.

"Well what do you propose, then, smart guy?!" asked Bo Ai, unleashing her anger on Li Zhu. She, the heir of Myriad Soul Palace, not to mention golden core realm cultivator, was about to die in a small country by a group of qi gathering realm mosquitoes... it was simply not acceptable!

"Bo Ai, If you can use your powerful area of effect skill, then I will have enough time to jump towards the water, and freeze the mosquitoes with a skill that I have!" Li Zhu said, ignoring her snappy comment.

If he wanted to use Frost Touch, he would first need the mosquitoes to move away temporarily, since they were currently on a small island, away from the water. To make the best of the freezing ability, he would need to have access to the water of the swamp, which was a few yards away.

"Are you sure... after I use this skill, I will temporarily lose all strength!" revealed Bo Ai, who was hesitant. She had just met Li Zhu, and although he had proved his strength, she did not trust him enough for the risky strategy he was proposing.

"Look, Bo Ai... whether you like it or not, we both know that this is our only chance at survival! I can't promise you that we will survive if we follow my strategy, but what I can promise you is that if we don't, we will be dead within ten minutes!" calmly explained Li Zhu, realizing that he needed to convince Bo Ai, or they would slowly lose heavenly energy and eventually be attacked by the swarm of mosquitoes.

Bo Ai looked hesitant, as she simply did not know what to do. Her strongest attacks were effective against single beasts, so she would without a doubt meet a painful death if she did not follow Li Zhu's strategy. That said, simply the thought of losing all her strength when she was surrounded by energy devouring beasts made her grimace, fear gripping her heart.

Li Zhu was panicking by now, but he tried to seem calm, as he said, "Bo Ai, if you do this now, it can all be over soon. For all we know, death in this illusion is not real!

Of course, Li Zhu did not believe his own statement, since the statue at the entrance of the trials had even stated that death was likely. He sounded convincing, though, and that was all that mattered.

"Ok... I can do this!" announced Bo Ai, mostly trying to convince herself.

"These mosquitoes will die!" she yelled, before charging towards the water, and activating her powerful skill.

It was a magnificent sight, as the wall of mosquitoes was blown away by an invisible force, hundreds of them dropping to the ground, dead. In a single strike, Bo Ai had managed to push the wall of mosquitoes back twenty yards, and killed many of the beasts.

Li Zhu did not idle around, either, as he charged at full speed towards the water, knowing that twenty yards was not very far away for spirit beasts.

He jumped into the water as soon as he reached a close enough distance, as Blue, who had already exited the spirit ring, quickly fused with him. Of course, this meant he interrupted his fusion with Buddy, who now stood on the island.

Li Zhu's body was covered by ice, and as he reached the water, he slammed his hands downwards. He used about half of his heavenly energy in this slam, as a massive wave was formed, water launching into the air.

The murky water sprayed all the way to the mosquitoes, who were instantly drenched. Of course, they were spirit beasts, so water would not kill them or drag them down, and they kept charging forwards.

Without Bo Ai and Li Zhu's attacks slowing them down, the mosquitoes quickly closed the distance of twenty yards. A few mosquitoes even landed on Li Zhu's back, before starting to suck his heavenly energy out of him.

Li Zhu would not just stand there as they drained his energy, though, as he swiped the water below him, causing a small pillar to hit the mosquitoes.

He then activated Frost Touch, instantly freezing the pillar of water, and many mosquitoes with it. From then on it was a chain reaction, as mosquito after mosquito was frozen, each smashing into the next, gradually transforming the wall of bugs into a wall of ice.

He was not completely out of danger, though, as suddenly a Sword Tooth Alligator jumped out of the water, aiming at his exposed side.

'No! I cannot dodge it!' thought Li Zhu in panic. If he dodged the strike of the alligator, Frost Touch would be interrupted, and the chain reaction of mosquitoes freezing would stop, something which would be incredibly difficult to repeat.

'I have to take it!' thought Li Zhu, bracing himself for the pain that was soon to come. Fortunately, he did not have to wait for long, as he suddenly felt an incredible pain in the side of his stomach, the sharp teeth of the alligator sinking deep into his skin.

Li Zhu circulated heavenly energy towards his side, pushing the alligator away. The wall of mosquitoes was nearly frozen completely, as he persevered through the pain.

As the alligator struck again, Buddy charged towards it, using Shadow Claws. The black dog had been too far from Li Zhu when he had been bitten the first time, but it was now in the perfect location, and with the use of shadow claws, the alligator was quickly driven away.

Li Zhu sighed out of relief, since he understood that a second bite from a Sword Tooth Alligator would have probably signified death from poison.

The wall of mosquitoes was now completely frozen, and Li Zhu barely managed to walk back onto the island before collapsing, exhausted and in pain.

"I did it!" mumbled Li Zhu, as waves of pain flooded into his body, the poison of the alligator taking its toll.

His vision slowly turned blurry and gray, as the last thing he saw was a massive wall of ice crash into the ground, shattering into millions of pieces. He had managed to kill the swarm of mosquitoes, but had paid a heavy price for it!