"Elder Ling Ruo, this brute is much more powerful than we expected."
"I wonder if the sect master has found the phoenix. If he can't make it in time, we're doomed this time."
Ling Ruo tried to force herself up, but found that her limb bones had been broken by a powerful force and many parts of her body were dislocated. She couldn't even muster the strength to stand up.
"This brute is indeed more powerful than we thought. It seems to have consciousness, and it mainly targeted Elder Ling Ruo, who was leading us."
"Everyone, if we can't get out of the Nether Valley today, we'll have to rest here forever. I've already sent the sect master the image of our situation here. He'll surely come to rescue us soon. So now, we must hold on."
The remaining disciples were still struggling to hold on. But without the central force in the Demon-Suppressing Net and with Elder Ling Ruo unable to stand up, if the Chaos gathered its strength again, they would all meet the same fate - death.
After the Chaos had recuperated, it stood up from the ground once again.
"The sect master hasn't arrived yet."
"Elder Ling Ruo, what should we do?"
"Elders, we can't hold on any longer."
The Chaos kept ramming into the net. The remaining disciples and elders didn't dare to slack off, but despite their efforts, they felt a sweet taste in their throats and blood welled up.
The Chaos was gathering its strength for a final blow. Everyone felt hopeless.
But at the last moment when the Chaos rammed into the Demon-Suppressing Net, a new force seemed to surge from the core. This force was so strong that it propped up the entire net in an instant.
Finally, help had arrived.
Seeing that the loopholes in the net had been repaired, the Chaos became even more restless.
Zhao Shuning poured all her spiritual power into the net to restrain the Chaos inside.
Everyone opened their eyes and saw a young girl in the place where Elder Ling Ruo had been. The girl was dressed in red with a light veil covering her face. Her firm eyes shone with a strange light.
"Who - who is this girl?"
"How did she get here?"
"She looks like Luo Feiyan from our academy."
"Luo Feiyan is not very powerful. How could she be here and bear the core strength of the net?"
Elder Ling Ruo thought for a while. The red lotus between the girl's eyebrows did look very much like Luo Feiyan among their new students.
"Student Luo, is that you?"
"No, it's not her. Do you remember the girl who appeared beside the sect master that day? We all thought she was Luo Feiyan at that time, but the sect master said her name was Luo Qiu and she was his disciple. So, this red-clothed girl is Luo Qiu."
"Luo Qiu!"
"Elders, please follow me and channel your spiritual power towards the center. Otherwise, the net will be easily broken in the areas with weak strength."
Zhao Shuning had never tried to subdue an ancient divine beast before. Back then, before she reached the Eight-Phase level, her master had given her the phoenix. Yes, just given it to her.
So, this was Zhao Shuning's first time facing an ancient divine beast. And only at this moment did she realize that it was extremely difficult for an Eight-Phase Spiritual Pharmacist to subdue a divine beast, and even a Nine-Layer Spiritual Pharmacist only had a 50% chance.
At this moment, Zhao Shuning was severely exhausted. As time passed, the elders and disciples in other parts of the net could no longer hold on and fell from the sky.
Whenever someone fell, Zhao Shuning had to divert her attention to fill the loophole. But the loopholes were getting more and more, and her strength was running out.
In just a moment, her sweat had soaked her entire body.
"Miss Luo Qiu, if you can't hold on, don't force yourself. Otherwise, you'll be torn apart by the power of the net."
Torn apart? It was almost the same as being dismembered.
Zhao Shuning wanted to give up, but she couldn't. If the Chaos escaped from the Nether Valley, it would endanger the entire Kyushu Continent.
Zhao Shuning wasn't being overly kind-hearted. She just knew from the history books that the Chaos was subdued around this time. Her memory wasn't very good, and she only remembered the general content of the books she had read. So now, she just couldn't remember how the Chaos was subdued.
Her consciousness began to blur. Sweat was flowing down her cheeks, and some of it had even seeped into her eyes, but she didn't even dare to blink.
She was so tired. In the 18 years since she came here, this was the first time Zhao Shuning felt so painful.
It turned out that the gap between the realm of monsters and divine beasts was even longer than the Milky Way.
Master, it's all my fault that I didn't study the knowledge of the beast world well. I knew it was difficult to subdue a divine beast, but I didn't know it would be this difficult.
Ye Ling was a disciple spoiled by Yan Ruyu. Before she reached the Eight-Phase level, Yan Ruyu had given her the rare divine beast phoenix. Her contracted divine beast was far more powerful than many ancient divine beasts from the very beginning. So, she didn't study the knowledge of divine beasts thoroughly. The proud phoenix was always by her side, and other ordinary divine beasts simply couldn't catch Zhao Shuning's eye.
Look, now Zhao Shuning was suffering because of her lack of knowledge about the Chaos.
The red lotus between Zhao Shuning's eyebrows began to bloom slowly. Her whole body was gradually surrounded by red light.
Just as Zhao Shuning was on the verge of collapse and was falling rapidly from the sky, a fast cyan figure flashed like lightning and suddenly appeared below her.
The figure caught her.
At this moment, Zhao Shuning's mind was already unclear. When she looked up, she saw the master she had been longing for day and night.
The feeling of grievance suddenly welled up.
"Master, you're finally here."
"I'm so scared."
"I'm so afraid I won't be able to go back and I won't be able to see you again."
Won't be able to go back? Won't be able to see? What did Luo Qiu mean by these words?
As soon as Zhao Shuning withdrew her spiritual power, the Chaos, like a trapped animal breaking free from its cage, fled frantically towards the north of the Nether Valley.
"Sect Master! The divine beast Chaos is about to escape!"
Yan Ruyu just stretched out his right hand, and the huge Demon-Suppressing Net shrank rapidly, enclosing the Chaos inside. Then, under the restraint of the net, the Chaos's body was shrinking at a visible speed.
At this time, Yan Ruyu was still holding Zhao Shuning with his other hand.
"Apprentice -"
"Don't be so reckless next time."
Yan Ruyu captured the Chaos and put Zhao Shuning down.
He was different from the master in her dreams. The master in her dreams was extremely gentle towards her, but the one in front of her still had a cold face.
"Woo - wah -" With a cry, Zhao Shuning hugged Yan Ruyu's arm and burst into tears.