New Mission!

At the last possible second, a red haired figure appeared out of nowhere. Both her hands were wreathed in energy and with her hand outstretched, a red tinted barrier appeared. The flaming blades of energy smashed into the barrier, sending ripples through it.

"Lia!" Lin Ke shouts, surprised she was able to get here so quickly. "Hold on for a bit longer okay? We just need another few seconds!"

Lia glances back at them, and incidentally sees her grandfather's lifeless body. Her red eyes widen in shock, and she falters.

That slight second was too much. Unable to keep up her concentration a blade of energy makes it through her barrier, and slices into her.

"LIA!" Lin Ke screams, rushing forward to catch Lia's falling body. The fiery blade left a huge bleeding wound across her body, from her shoulder to her hips. Slowly, her hair begins to change back to its usual black and the pressure that was being exerted from her earlier couldn't be found. The blood red moon that had hung overhead also faded away, leaving the bright morning sun shining in its place.

"Hn! Did you really think that you would be able to beat me, little girl?" The red cloaked man walks closer and closer, his blade by his side. "Now, time to capture you and bring you back."

"Done!" Lily suddenly says. Beneath them, an intricate looking array appears. "Teleportation Commencing!"

The red cloaked man looks at the array in surprise. His eyes narrow. "Like I'll let you get away!" He yells. "Flame Speedforge Blade Technique: Bladestorm!"

As the flaming blades came closer, Lin Ke felt his vision fade away. Everything turned black.

----------------------------

A few seconds later, Lin Ke felt the hard stone beneath his fingertips. A soft breeze blew across his face, causing him to take a deep breath and sigh. Lin Ke opened his eyes to see a perfect blue sky and a towering treeline below. Lin Ke looked around. He was in a cave with an opening to the side of a mountain, with a running stream right below. The forest stretched for as far as Lin Ke could see. A few feet away from Lin Ke was Lia, lying there unmoving. Master Sal's corpse was also in the cave.

This causes Lin Ke to get extremely concerned. "Lia!" He calls while getting to his feet. He moves towards Lia and bends down beside her to see her injury.

The sight was ghastly. A large bleeding cut ran down the front of her body, with many other cuts all around. Lin Ke puts a hand to her nose to see if she was still breathing.

"Please still be alive!" He hoped while waiting for a breath. Faintly, he felt a slight exhale, causing Lin Ke to heave a sigh of relief. However, the breathing was extremely shallow and Lia looked to be in a lot of pain. He turns to Lily, who was currently lying at the mouth of the cave, basking in the sun. "Lily, do you have a way to save Lia?" He asked.

Lily looked up and turned her head. "There is a way to save her…"

Lin Ke brightens. "What is it? Tell me!"

Lily frowns. "It's for you to complete the next mission from the system. The next mission allows you to choose a reasonable reward for its completion."

"Really? What's the next mission then? Give me it quickly!" Lin Ke replies.

Lily stands up tall looking quite majestic in the sunlight. "Your next mission is to paint a satisfactory painting of the S-ranked beast in this forest, the Three-Eyed White Tiger King." She said with a serious look on her face. "Right now you might want to stop her from bleeding to death yeah?"

Lin Ke looks down Lia, who was indeed losing a lot of blood. Her dress, or at least what was left of it, was completely stained in blood.

"Lily, give me some clean bandages." Lin Ke askes.

"10 Low-grade Chaos Stones."

"Fine, but only if you add on a small mattress or something."

"It has been deposited in your spatial storage space, you may access it at any time. Our bandages come with powerful healing properties that will clean the wound automatically as well as provide pain relief. It is the best you can find on the market!" Lily proudly says.

Lin Ke pulls the bandages and the mattress out of the spatial storage space. Immediately after taking out the mattress, which was a small deflated cube, it inflated itself automatically. Both the mattress and the bandages and mattress are silky soft in texture, and give off a refreshing scent. Lin Ke looks down at Lia's barely covered body, and feels his face heating up a little.

Trying to keep his head straight, Lin Ke removes what was left of Lia's clothing to reveal her pure white skin. 'Lin Ke, don't look, don't look don't look! She's injured!' However, no matter how much Lin Ke repeats this statement to himself, he couldn't help his eyes being unconsciously attracted to her chest area. After all, Lin Ke reasoned with himself, it would be impossible to dress the wound that practically covered her whole body. Lin Ke lifts Lia's body and places her onto the now inflated mattress.

Lin Ke looks down at the bandages, not sure of how to bandage her correctly. The slashes ran across her entire front side, and he wasn't sure how he should attempt to wrap it up. However, it turned out his issues weren't relevant, as the moment he touched Lia with the bandage, it began to divide itself into different parts, covering only the long gash perfectly. Apparently, it also had adhesives or something, as it didn't need to wrap itself around Lia's entire body. The bandage also stuck itself onto the smaller cuts, dividing itself perfectly. When it was done, there wasn't a single roll of bandage left.

Lin Ke looks at Lia's face, which was now slightly more peaceful than earlier, and can't help but let out a sigh of relief. Then, he realizes that Lia was still pretty much completely naked from the waist up, and his face turns red again. Quickly, Lin Ke takes off his shirt and covers Lia with it.

Lin Ke turns to Lily, who was watching the show while eating a bucket of popcorn. She had an amused expression on her face.

Annoyed, Lin Ke askes. "Lily, sell me a shirt."

"5 Low-grade Chaos Stones." Lily replies.

Lin Ke's jaws drop. "What? That's daylight robbery!"

"Fine, 1." Lily replies.

Lin Ke raises an eyebrow. 'How rare? Lily's not haggling?'

Lily humphs. "What do you mean. I just don't feel like arguing right now. Plus, you still need to go on the mission remember?" As she says this, a clean white t-shirt appears in front of Lin Ke's face, and he puts it on.

"That's right." Lin Ke says and stands. "It's time we go draw a Tiger."