Free Web NovelChapter 158: Chapter 158: I Know My Limits
"Then please tell her for me, everyone was just running their mouths for a moment... If possible, I hope she can put the bigger picture first!" The Water Monster stepped back, dozens of tentacles pressed together, standing upright on the ground.
His movement was now utterly comical, yet strangely solemn.
"The consequences of the Dark Forest invading the world—she should know what that means. If we drag our feet even a little, everyone’s land expansion will turn incredibly difficult." The Water Monster’s tiny mouth curled downward in a stiff smile; his fish lips opened and closed for a while, but he didn’t say anything more.
He hadn’t expected that, just over ten minutes ago, he was still secretly laughing at Ding Ning for doing nothing but burying herself in work.
A few minutes later, such a dramatic reversal arrived.
He couldn’t say if Ding Ning was doing it for her human husband, or just to go out and snatch territory.
It used to be them just watching the drama—for now, Ding Ning had become the spectacle herself.
He could easily picture Ding Ning right then, sitting in her castle on the throne, laughing out loud however she liked.
Hua didn’t answer his question. How the Dark Forest would grow and spread in the Human Realm—what did that have to do with them?
The Water Monster stared at the enormous flower in front of him and gave an awkward laugh, his fish lips twitching high up in discomfort.
He could sense that, at that moment, the massive flower didn’t even spare him a glance.
Swallowing his irritation, and realizing Hua wouldn’t bother with him anymore, he could only leave awkwardly.
He didn’t wonder whether Ding Ning was hiding in her castle because something was wrong—because really, they were the ones at fault for all of this.
Everything Ding Ning did now was simply revenge.
Once away from Ding Ning’s territory, he brushed off the last wisps of purple mist swirling around himself.
The messy eyes scattered across his head turned cold now; they no longer spun about in anxious chaos every time someone asked a question.
He looked behind him, at the area where Hua was, and reached his hand toward the border of the Dungeon—a branch of the Dark Forest snapped with a crisp sound in his fingers.
The edge of the Dark Forest was incredibly easy to break, nothing like the mother plant that keeps propagating endlessly.
He wrenched off the tree branches bit by bit, the countless eyes atop his head focusing together on a single spot.
"Ning, what happened? Is it them teaming up against you?" Once the Water Monster was fully gone, Hua immediately sent a message to Ding Ning.
She was guarding the sky above the castle, alert; a purple mist had engulfed the entire building.
"No, I’m fine." Ding Ning heard her friend’s question and replied with a smile.
But Hua thought Ding Ning’s voice sounded extremely weak and immediately rushed into Ding Ning’s room.
She hadn’t locked the door, nor did she set any sort of forbidden entry ward.
Hua had barely stepped inside before she saw Ding Ning leaning on one hand, sitting on a chair.
Her brows were tightly knit, the aura around her fluctuating dramatically, becoming weaker at a terrifying pace—she simply dragged her head, slumped on the chair.
"What happened?" Hua hurried over.
"It’s nothing." Ding Ning waved her hand. "I’ll be fine in a bit."
Hua was incredibly sensitive to Spiritual Power and immediately sensed that Ding Ning’s Spiritual Power was piercing through the void, via some kind of contract power, heading to another world.
"Jiang Che! Why are you sending him your Spiritual Power?" Hua grabbed her hand, trying to transfer some of her own Spiritual Power. "Do you even realize how much you lose crossing worlds to transfer Spiritual Power—it can be as high as ninety percent!"
Transmitting Spiritual Power was always a losing game.
The farther the distance, the more violently power dissipates. And now, at such a critical juncture, Ding Ning was disregarding all loss to send her own Spiritual Power to Jiang Che.
"No." Ding Ning shook her head, refusing. "I’ll be okay in a bit."
"Once this is over, I can recover," she said.
The active recovery rate of Spiritual Power wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t fast either.
"If your Spiritual Power suffers, those Lords—every one of them has more schemes than hairs on their heads. They’ll know something happened to me." Ding Ning shook her head, denying Hua’s help.
Recalling the Lords outside, Hua could only grit her teeth and pull back.
"Jiang Che is deploying an anchor point, and something went wrong—there’s a ’Spirit’ spawning in the area," Ding Ning took a deep breath, her Spiritual Power still being frantically consumed. "If I don’t help him, he’ll be drained dry."
"If you help, you’ll get drained too!" Hua snorted coldly. "Only you would even think to transmit Spiritual Power across regions!"
"The situation is urgent, there’s no other way." Ding Ning grinned.
"He’s pretty amazing, being able to generate a ’Spirit’. My taste isn’t bad at all—he’s definitely not the loser you call him." Ding Ning mentioned Jiang Che, her eyes brimming with happiness.
Ding Ning’s condition was far from right, but she had no intention to stop.
"If this keeps up, you’ll take real damage," Hua sighed.
"As long as I survive. Helping him means I only get a little hurt; if I don’t, he might die." Ding Ning smiled calmly.
"But damn, he’s impressive—I bet the anchor point he’s deploying covers a huge area." Ding Ning’s eyes sparked with pride.
"Eat it, come on!" Hua snorted, and stretched out her hand; instantly, a purple fruit appeared in Ding Ning’s palm.
Ding Ning froze, staring at the fruit in her hand, and immediately shook her head. "No way, I can’t take this."
She kept shaking her head, refusing point-blank, determined not to accept that fruit.
Hua could produce plenty of Life Crystals, which, when consumed by beings below her rank, immediately restore them to their pre-injury status.
But this fruit was different—it was the key to Hua’s ascension to SSS-level. She didn’t know how much Life Essence she’d condensed to create that single fruit.
"Damn, you’re amazing—about to ascend!" Ding Ning cradled that fruit, still refusing to accept it no matter what.
"What you’re doing—transmitting Spiritual Power, you might’ve injured your source already."
"I didn’t. I know my limits." Ding Ning shook her head.
"I won’t need it yet, and there are only ten SSS-level slots in all. I’ll make another one later, so just keep this."
"No!" Ding Ning shook her head, absolutely refusing.
"Jiang Che, that brat! What the hell is he doing?" Hua’s hands trembled in rage, unable to figure out what kind of anchor Jiang Che was deploying that needed so much Spiritual Power.
At that moment, Jiang Che felt his spirit become much lighter; he sensed a stream in the void, soothing and nourishing his parched mind.
This pure flow was inexhaustible, endlessly feeding him as he generated a world.
The stream felt so familiar and warm—Jiang Che sensed it turning from a rushing river into a gentle brook.
He only had one thought in his heart: Don’t let this stream dry up!
