I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 259 - 257: Northern Fortress

"What? Where’s the beast tide, explain clearly!"

Luo Jun grabbed his collar, nearly lifting him off the ground. The staff member was already panicked and anxious because of the beast tide, and now being scared by Luo Jun, he was about to wet himself, tearfully answering:

"At the same moment the snowstorm appeared, the Northern Fortress was hit by a massive beast tide. To support the Fourth Army, all reserve students from the Cold Smoke Pavilion have gone to the battlefield. The contestants have all gone to fight, so the competition is obviously canceled."

So that’s how it is, no wonder there weren’t many students in the Cold Smoke Pavilion, and even the teachers were all in a hurry.

Luo Jun released the person, twisted his stiff neck, and asked Wen Dao, "Principal, when do we head out for support?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

When it comes to resisting the beast tide, the attitude of the Qianyuan people is astonishingly unanimous. They might play and bicker normally, but when the Star Beasts attack, everyone absolutely unites against the external threat.

People from the other three schools have all gone; they from Harssas can’t fall behind.

Even though most of the teachers now felt sore all over as if they had just completed a 500-kilometer load-bearing run, upon hearing Luo Jun’s words, they all prepared eagerly, their eyes shining brightly as they looked at Wen Dao, waiting for his orders.

"Teachers who didn’t participate in the road-clearing action earlier, come with me to the Northern Fortress, the rest stay and rest at the spot!"

In doing so, all the martial masters were left behind, which wouldn’t do! Unless all the martial masters were dead, there was no way they would let the principal lead the healing masters and talisman masters to the battlefield to risk their lives!

Luo Jun shouted, "No way, I don’t agree! I’m from the first group, my fatigue period is over, I can go!"

Other martial master teachers also expressed that they had recovered and could participate in the battle, surrounding Wen Dao and arguing.

The martial masters’ voices were so loud that it gave people a headache, leaving Wen Dao no choice but to compromise, asking Jin Hua to oversee. Anyone who didn’t pass the fitness test was forbidden from going to the Northern Fortress no matter how much they rolled around.

In the end, forty-nine people were selected, with Li Xing, Qi Ming, Ye Qingting, and Cui Tianxiao among them.

Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao did not pass Jin Hua’s fitness test, but Ye Qingting found a reason that neither she nor Wen Dao could refuse:

The contestants from the other academies all went; what if the event organizers impulsively made slaying Star Beasts one of the competition items? Wouldn’t their team be understaffed? Never mind if they could fight, the team had to be complete.

As the people from Harssas were preparing to find transportation to leave the city, they bumped into the anxious Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng, after arriving at the Fourth Army stronghold stationed at Cold Smoke Castle, learned of the fortress being besieged by the beast tide, and was extremely anxious at that moment.

Tang Zheng’s military task this time was to purchase supplies, but he was trapped by the snowstorm for so long that he couldn’t deliver the supplies before the beast tide arrived.

The food and water inside the fortress could hold out, but they didn’t have many Energy Stones. In such frigid weather, if the temperature-adjusting talismans fail, the warriors face the danger of freezing to death; how could they fight then!

The situation was urgent, so he didn’t even stop to rest. After switching enough Energy Stones for the armored vehicle, he set out with his men, just in time to meet the people from Harssas at the city gate.

Upon learning they were also preparing to support the Northern Fortress, Tang Zheng was moved to tears as the Harssas group once again boarded the heavy armor and raced towards the Northern Fortress.

The Northern Federation is a vast frozen plain; to prevent the Ice Plain Star Beasts from attacking the federation towns southbound, the government built a fortress leaning against the enormous iceberg.

Because the conditions were harsh, no one wanted to be stationed at the Northern Fortress; the earliest garrison was convicts sent there, with their time served counting as their sentence.

The convicts’ families followed them to the northern ice plain, establishing a city, which was the predecessor of Cold Smoke Castle.

Over time, along with the invention of the talisman array dome, the city prospered more and more and eventually became one of the twelve upper cities.

Cold Smoke Castle wasn’t far from the fortress, and soon Li Xing saw the whole view from the back of the Northern Fortress.

A gigantic black construction resembling a long wall was embedded on a thousand-meter-high frozen cliff, exuding a sense of ancient history. However, dozens of high-speed elevators reaching from the ground to the fortress’s interior infused modern vitality into this ancient structure.

The people from Harssas followed Tang Zheng and the others up one of the high-speed elevators.

From afar, the elevator appeared as a small black dot outside the long wall, but it was actually a massive device capable of accommodating five hundred people at once. From this, one could infer the grand size and scale of the long wall.

In just a few seconds, they entered the fortress’s interior from the ground.

The ground and walls of the fortress emitted a comfortable white light, and all they could see were advanced equipment and instruments. Li Xing felt like she had entered an interstellar spaceship, not an ancient fortress with thousands of years of history.

Tang Zheng hurried off to handle the supply handover, asking Sun Jing to take them to meet up with people from the other reserve academies.

Li Xing and others followed Sun Jing, taking several more internal elevators, before reaching a room with tempered glass, offering a view of the outside of the long wall.

Through the glass, everyone saw the dense Ice Plain Star Beasts below the fortress, climbing toward the frozen cliff like a tide.

Fluorescent colors glowed amongst the beast tide, which were all glows of Elemental Power. The Elemental Spirit Warriors were fighting the Star Beasts, preventing them from crossing the cliff and attacking the long wall.

Compared to the number of Star Beasts, the human warriors were disadvantaged in terms of numbers. Yet, facing Star Beasts several times their size, they were relentless, halting each assault with their flesh and blood.

Li Xing specifically observed the eyes of the Star Beasts, seeing no sign of bloodshot eyes, hence it should be a naturally formed beast tide, unrelated to the Triocular Worm.

With the fierce battle unfolding below, Luo Jun couldn’t bear to just watch, shouting at Sun Jing, "Let us down quickly!"

Sun Jing, already worried for his comrades, hurried even more under Luo Jun’s urging, and pointed to the room opposite the glass room, saying to Jin Hua and others, "That’s the rest room for the wounded; you all head over yourselves."

With these words, Sun Jing then led the Harssas martial masters and descended using a flapping flying device.

Jin Hua and the others quickly walked to the opposite side, entering a very spacious hall, where they finally saw familiar faces.

Rows of sickbeds were set up inside the hall, stretching out of sight. Dozens of Healing Masters moved back and forth between the sickbeds, providing treatment and changing bandages for the wounded, including teachers and students from the healing department of the other three major military academies.

Bai Ling was bandaging the wound of a warrior, her face showing undisguisable fatigue and worry. Sensing someone watching her, Bai Ling looked up and met Li Xing’s gaze.

"Li Xing—!"

Bai Ling exclaimed in surprise, quickly bandaging the wound, wiping her hands, and walking to Li Xing’s side.

"Thank goodness, you all finally arrived!"

The war had been going on for just over ten hours, yet so many were injured, indicating the size of this beast tide was larger than ever before.

Bai Ling had arrived earlier and knew the situation better, and so Jin Hua asked her, "Is there anything we can help with?"

"Mr. Jin, how much medicine did you bring?"

"Not much, forty vials of Advanced Healing Potion, thirty vials of Universal Antidote, five vials of Spiritual Soothing Agent."

With Li Xing present in the arena, Jin Hua wasn’t worried at all about the students. Had she known about the beast tide, she would’ve prepared more.

Jin Hua took out all the medicine and gave it to Bai Ling. Joy flashed in Bai Ling’s eyes, but she still pleaded, "Mr. Jin, could you make some more medicine? There are simply too many wounded!"

"Of course I can!"

"The pharmacy is over there, it has all the ingredients, feel free to use them."

Jin Hua jogged to the pharmacy, while Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao went to help carry the wounded.

Li Xing, not having many Heavenly Essence Pills on her, was preparing to go to the pharmacy with Jin Hua to start refining, but was stopped by Bai Ling.

"Li Xing, I have a more important task for you, come with me!"

Bai Ling brought Li Xing to the bedside of a young female martial master, pointed at her, and said to Li Xing, "Quick, help me see if she can still be saved?"