Nine Star Burden

Chapter 243: Leader of the Lava Lake in the West

“Help, help!” A faint shriek came from afar, which suddenly became louder. It turned out that the Rules Awakened had taken off the mask and was running while yelling loudly, “The students over there, can you help us? Please help us!”

Logically speaking, even if they were incompetent, they should be able to kill a Lava Ghoul General. Otherwise, why would they take part in the competition? To court death?

Ever since the team was hunted down and appeared in front of Jiang Xiao, one of their members, a melee fighter, lost some of the mobility in his leg. Jiang Xiao reckoned that they should have suffered a sneak attack by the Lava Ghoul General.

Besides, the Lava Ghoul General was extremely strong and domineering, causing the team to retreat continuously.

Yuan Xuanchen was the Rules Awakened and the commander of the team from White River High School No. 2. At this moment, he was the one asking Jiang Xiao for help. He felt particularly aggrieved deep down. Where did this damned Lava Ghoul General come from? He wondered.

Ever since they were ambushed and attacked, the Lava Ghoul General had been chasing them and not giving the team a chance to breathe at all.

Along the way, Yuan Xuanchen had run into two participating teams in total. Jiang Xiao and Xia Yan’s team was the third team of contestants he encountered. The Lava Ghoul General had obviously been chasing them for a long time!

Yuan Xuanchen met two teams along the way, but he had never asked them for help. All he thought was, Stay strong! We can win!

Yes, we might have encountered a sneak attack and almost lost some members, and our melee fighter is also crippled, but we have our Medical Awakened, we can heal them!

Hold on! We can win!

We...

Damn it?

Why is this Lava Ghoul General so menacing?

Yuan Xuanchen and his team were hunted down by the Lava Ghoul General across more than 30 streets, from Nantianmen all the way to the Lava Lake East Road. The Lava Ghoul General did not blink or flinch at all.

Yuan Xuanchen couldn’t stand it anymore. The Lava Ghoul General seemed tireless. The more it hunted, the more excited it got. Who would be able to stand that?

A single mistake would result in even more mistakes!

The Lava Ghoul General made it hard for the human team to unite.

Horrible! Infuriating!

Yuan Xuanchen finally met the third participating team. This time, he asked for help!

“Students over there, please help us!” As soon as Yuan Xuanchen said these words, he began to find that something was amiss. Why were there only two people on the team?

What are those two people doing? Why are they holding such large swords?

Those giant swords... are incredible! Oh my! We’ve run into celebrities!

Out of the hundred-odd contestants, only two of them possessed such special weapons.

They were clearly the little toxic healer and Goddess Yan.

As soon as Yuan Xuanchen cried for help, the “Goddess Yan” of his heart immediately rushed over with the giant sword.

In an instant, the team of four was overjoyed. Xia Yan was extremely beautiful to them.

Even the massive amount of volcanic ash in the air could not hide her beautiful figure.

Even the hot and eye-catching lava lake could not hide her glow.

A few seconds later, Goddess Yan’s and Yuan Xuanchen’s teams passed by each other.

They’ve met!

The tyrant of the Lava Lake East Road and the female leader of the Lava Lake West Road have finally met!

A ray of sacred light suddenly fell from the sky!

The toxic healer on Lava Lake West Road chose to launch a despicable sneak attack.

The fiery red demon shrieked loudly and its massive head was severed immediately!

Xia Yan’s flying figure suddenly stopped.

She put her sword away and turned around.

It was hair-raising, terrifying, heroic, and suave.

The massive head of the demon was bleeding with fresh blood that dripped onto her feet. Behind her, the four teammates were all horrified and dumbfounded.

At this moment, Yuan Xuanchen broke down emotionally and thought to himself, This is too brutal!

I need to save myself some embarrassment.

He chased the four of us across more than 30 streets and yet, you managed to deal with it effortlessly with one slash of the sword?

Do I still have time to withdraw from the competition now?

Yuan Xuanchen looked at Xia Yan resentfully, only to see that Xia Yan had stowed away the Star Bead and was walking towards them while carrying the giant sword.

Although the rules clearly prohibited fighting between participating teams, Yuan Xuanchen’s team of four nonetheless took a step back in unison in the face of the female tyrant of the Lava Lake West Road.

“Are you from the east?” Xia Yan asked.

“Yes, yes, we’re from the east,” Yuan Xuanchen answered while nodding like a chicken pecking.

“Since I saved your lives, asking to take a look at the map that you’ve drawn shouldn’t be too overboard of a request, eh?” Xia Yan asked.

Yuan Xuanchen was stunned for a moment. He exchanged glances with his teammates before taking out the handbook, which he then handed to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan threw it backward. At this moment, Jiang Xiao had also rushed over. He grabbed the handbook and flipped through it before sketching on his own handbook quickly.

Xia Yan was in a better mood after seeing how cooperative the team was.

Logically speaking, if the team chose to be ingrates and refused to hand the map over, there would be nothing Xia Yan could do either. If she were to rob them forcefully, she would definitely be flouting the rules and end up getting disqualified.

Jiang Xiao collected all of the information and headed west together with Xia Yan, while Yuan Xuanchen and his team remained seated on the soil, waving goodbye to them.

However, they didn’t know that the godlike existences in their hearts were just like childish preschoolers in real life.

Walking forward side by side, Jiang Xiao whispered, “Some people are here to compete on the surface, but in reality, they’re here to court death.”

In front of outsiders, “Goddess Yan” was demure and godly, but at this moment, she was grinning and grimacing while nodding continuously. “Tsk, tsk, the pitiful one was attacked horribly and he even lost his shoes while running...” She pretended to have lingering fears.

Jiang Xiao asked, “Eh? Do you think they’re limping?”

If the team were to hear their conversation now, they would probably be infuriated.

“Hey, by the way, why didn’t you let me step in to help immediately?” Xia Yan suddenly thought of something. She placed the giant sword behind her and said, “It was really dangerous just now.”

Jiang Xiao licked his dry lips and pondered silently for a while, unsure of how he should answer.

The incident that happened on Central Street on the eve of Lunar New Year was an episode for others, but it was a vivid and memorable lesson for Jiang Xiao.

Jiang Xiao helped the members of the Victors Legion twice, but their reactions were worlds apart.

Although the final result was very gratifying, it was because Jiang Xiao was thick-skinned. If it were someone else, they probably wouldn’t be able to get the rewards that they deserved.

Jiang Xiao thought about it again and again before saying, “If you’re a real hero who acts based on your own moral character and discipline, you should be helping everyone immediately.”

Xia Yan was momentarily stunned because she didn’t expect Jiang Xiao to say such a serious thing.

“Since I want to help them and collect their information...” Jiang Xiao shrugged his shoulders and continued, “Only when they have been driven to a dead-end will we benefit most. What do you think?”

Xia Yan frowned and thought about it before wiping her damp forehead and saying in a muffled voice, “You’d better ask me if I’m willing to be your big brother and give you children.”

Jiang Xiao was speechless.

I’m being serious for once and this chick can’t get used to it?

The two of them walked silently by the lava lake while, and Jiang Xiao suddenly asked, “Are you willing to, then?”

Xia Yan pursed her lips and thought about it for a while. All of a sudden, her eyes glistened and she seemed to be interested. She asked, “Will your sister move in together with you after you marry me?”

Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded.

He never expected to hear such a sentence from her.

Jiang Xiao was defeated.

Jiang Xiao was really defeated. He thought, You’re the most mischievous!

The two of them walked along the edge of the lava lake and finally reached the end. They stepped on the hot soil and approached the deep mountain area.

“Something’s going on.” Xia Yan bent forward and the muscles in her thighs tensed up a little as she hurriedly pulled out her giant sword before subconsciously stepping forward to shield him.

Jiang Xiao looked over, only to see a dark cave opening at the foot of the mountain in the distance.

There was a huge bonfire in front of the cave, but they had no idea what fuel was used.

There was a group of little red demons singing and dancing around the bonfire.

Ahem...

Singing and dancing!?!

Jiang Xiao rubbed his eyes and looked carefully, only to discover a total of eight miniature Lava Ghoul Generals making peculiar noises and jumping around the bonfire.

Are they Lava Ghouls of the lowest level?

“Yo, yo, yo~”

“Yo, yo, yo~” Although the little fiery red demons were rather slow to react, they had clearly discovered Jiang Xiao and Xia Yan.

They stopped dancing awkwardly and their singing had also stopped abruptly. They stared at Jiang Xiao with anger written all over their faces, seemingly blaming him and Xia Yan for interrupting their party.

“They may be ugly, but they look so happy.” Xia Yan seemed a little interested.

All of a sudden, the “massive bonfire” diminished.

Jiang Xiao finally discovered that it was not a bonfire at all. Instead, it was an ensemble of more than a dozen little demons with fiery red skin gathered together and covering their bodies with the Star Technique Burning Flame, forming a huge bonfire.

“Yo, yo, yo~”

“Yo, yo, yo~”

The red-skinned miniature demons were about 60 to 80 centimeters tall and were rather petite. They showed their fangs and shrieked while rushing over.

Previously, Jiang Xiao had seen the large and stout Lava Ghoul General, which he felt was a fiery red-skinned demon.

However, after he saw the few demons, he finally found them to be rather familiar-looking! He felt like they were monsters from an ancient game.

Xia Yan flicked her sword in a fancy manner and raised her arm confidently and without hesitation. She decided to let Jiang Xiao witness her killing each miniature devil with a single shot.

To Xia Yan’s surprise, she suddenly heard some strange noises coming from behind.

Xia Yan turned around, only to discover that Jiang Xiao was surprisingly trying to communicate with them.

The red miniature demons said, “Yo, yo, yo~”

Jiang Xiao said, “Ra, Rakanishu?”