Not just one ring.
There was another one that rolled to the edge of a nearby crevice.
That person… was friendly?
Algiers and Shou Bing exchanged glances, shifting slightly to look.
Behind that rock where the person had stood, there was no longer any trace of a shadow. The person had left.
Shou Bing observed carefully for a while, finally confirming: “Really gone.” He picked up the other ring too.
The rings rested safely in his palm, surface temperature extremely high, in an unstable state.
“These two rings—we shouldn’t mess with them for now. When Old… Mr. Lan Xia comes back, we’ll hand them to him to handle. Elansno is an S-level evolver. Using mental power to tamper with the inside would be too easy.”
Shou Bing had actually already considered Lan Xia as his teacher in his heart, but right now he was still far from meeting Mr. Lan Xia’s requirements, so naturally couldn’t count as a student. Thus the word “teacher,” just before slipping out, was swallowed back down.
“Don’t worry, I understand,” Algiers nodded. He frowned slightly, looking toward where the mysterious person had stood.
Who on earth was that person…
Why would they have spatial rings that Elansno was holding?
And with so many people in the chaotic magnetic zone, why did they quietly give these things specifically to them?
Algiers’ thoughts spun in several circles in an instant but found no leads. He vaguely felt trouble and difficulty. But since this thing had already fallen into Dawn’s hands, there was absolutely no reason to spit it back out.
“Let’s leave here first.”
Shou Bing nodded: “Okay.”
Unfortunately, those two rings were destined not to be so easily obtained. The two hadn’t taken more than two steps when ahead, a strange figure shrouded in gray robes appeared like a ghost.
This pole-like figure had a raised back, as if bearing a large hump.
“You two, wait a moment.” The voice was soft enough to wring water from, yet one couldn’t tell if it was male or female.
Lian Yao had originally been at the right exit. Always a very practical person who valued tangible benefits, knowing it was impossible to snatch rings from that mysterious S-level evolver’s hands, he cleanly left the scene.
By a strange coincidence, he happened to witness this scene.
An extremely slender, jade-like finger extended from under the robe: “That ring—may I have a look?”
——
With so much happening, only a few minutes had actually passed.
The mental power Elansno released grew weaker and weaker. The brilliant golden light gradually dimmed, but Lan Xia showed no sign of relaxation. Instead, he continuously adjusted his own mental power’s intensity to coordinate with the other.
They were now grasshoppers on the same rope. Three rings lay horizontally between them. Once the balance was broken, everyone present had only one fate—death.
Lan Xia: “Will you continue?”
Elansno’s gaze slid inch by inch across Lan Xia’s brows, eyes, nose bridge, lips.
He didn’t know why, but this face made him feel incomparably familiar, yet he couldn’t remember where he’d seen it.
Perhaps because his mental power was nearly depleted, enduring the constant stabbing pain from his brain, he repeated the memorization over and over, barely managing to imprint this face in his mind.
“Tired of playing,” Elansno’s lashes trembled as he said, “Only you are interesting. Dying like this would be too much of a waste.”
He curved his lips slightly.
Elansno didn’t follow the solution Lan Xia had just mentioned. Instead, rebelliously, without warning, he withdrew his mental power.
Almost simultaneously, sensing Elansno’s mental power retreating, at this critical moment, Lan Xia also pulled back his mental power.
The surrounding air violently shook.
The onlookers watching dared not breathe heavily, hanging on a breath like a roller coaster, hearts nearly jumping from their throats, their recognition of Elansno’s madness reaching a new level.
They saw the two people in the air rapidly extend their hands, grabbing for those three spatial rings falling from the air—
Elansno grabbed two, Lan Xia grabbed one.
After getting the rings, Elansno didn’t linger, nor did he care about the one Lan Xia had snatched. Instead, he rapidly pulled out over a dozen bombs from the rings and threw them around.
*Boom!*
Explosion sounds filled the air.
Dust and smoke rose everywhere. Lan Xia abruptly looked up, seeing through the dust a pair of playfully smiling purple eyes. His attacking movement instinctively paused.
The next instant, his chest suddenly exploded with pain.
Ice-cold black military boots wrapped around long legs, muscles taut, at an angle full of explosive power, viciously kicking him right in the center of his ribs!
“Thanks for the leverage~”
The cheerful laugh gradually disappeared into the smoke and dust.
This kick nearly broke his ribs, just to use his body as leverage to escape. With so many rocks around, he specifically kicked him.
Lan Xia wiped clean the bloodline at his lips, watching the direction Elansno had departed. After a long while, he smiled gently, that smile carrying the scent of blood, utterly without warmth.
Turning to glance at the crowd that hadn’t yet reacted, he pressed his lips and quickly left the scene.
——
The explosion sound affected the left exit. Chaotic rocks rolled.
Startled wall-spine ants were shrieking.
Shou Bing pulled Algiers running outward, that androgynous gray-robed person following behind them the whole time.
Shou Bing’s ears had turned red from all the running. Not knowing how to curse, he couldn’t help saying softly: “Bad luck. When I get back, I’m definitely burning mugwort leaves.”
Algiers panted: “You—you don’t believe in spirits.”
Shou Bing: “That one behind is like a ghost.”
Algiers listened and looked back.
A trace of aura leaking from that gray-robed person who had come after them was very strange, but they hadn’t attacked yet.
After those explosion sounds earlier, large-scale collapses occurred here. Taking advantage of the chaos to escape couldn’t be better. But this gray-robed person was extremely bizarre—feet not touching the ground, drifting near them like a wandering spirit.
Really like a ghost.
Seeing Algiers look back, the gray-robed person even extended a boneless, weak arm, white as lotus root, waving at him. The robe billowed in the wind as if there were other living things inside—
Making one involuntarily imagine—who knew how many arms were under that robe.
Algiers felt his whole body shudder, goosebumps immediately rising, hurriedly turning back to rub his arms.
“Bad luck.”
About ten-some minutes later, they ran out of the collapsed area. Corpses and wall-spine ants that hadn’t managed to crawl out were all buried inside.
The gray-robed person who’d been chasing behind them seemed to have also lost patience, suddenly speeding up, floating in front of them, extending their hand. “Hand it over.”
Tone light and soft. Shou Bing’s gaze went down, seeing a slender cannon barrel tied to that gray robe’s wrist.
Pitch black, aimed directly at them.
Shou Bing: “…”
Wouldn’t it burn when firing?
Algiers said calmly: “If you attack, the rings will explode unstably, and none of us will be able to leave.”
Gray-robed person: “You two don’t look like people who treat life as light as a feather. Of course, neither am I. How about this—you have two rings. Give me one, and we each take one. After dividing them, we’ll have nothing to do with each other. Otherwise…”
“—Otherwise what?”
A breeze suddenly arrived.
A slender hand lightly patted the gray-robed person’s shoulder. The newcomer’s tone was gentle, the edge of thin-framed golden glasses stained with blood somewhere.
Lan Xia asked: “Kill them?”
…!
“Sir!”
“Teacher!”
Algiers and Shou Bing’s eyes brightened, immediately breathing a sigh of relief.
The gray-robed person’s back went rigid, still wanting to float away. Lan Xia applied force with his hand. “Not chatting… hmm?” His voice became puzzled.
When he’d patted just now, he clearly felt bone. Now applying force, it felt like grasping a mass of water.
Lan Xia instinctively tugged.
*Rip—*
A small piece of fabric from the gray-robed person’s shoulder was directly torn off. The entire person, soft as dough, twisted once and floated away again.
They laughed softly: “S-level… the one who fought Elansno just now. Didn’t expect you to have a connection with these two kids. We’ll meet again soon.”
Clearly without mental power fluctuations on their body, yet like gray mist, they vanished in a few moves.
Lan Xia frowned for a moment, putting away the scrap of fabric clutched in his hand. He didn’t chase but instead turned to the two: “Can’t stay here long. People are chasing me from behind. Call back all of Dawn’s people, mix into the crowd and get out. I’ll go separately from you.”
“About the rings we have—we’ll explain to you when we get back to Dawn.”
Algiers’ mind was perceptive. The collapse here earlier was probably related to teacher. Those people were also coming for teacher. Separating now was the most appropriate method.
He thought for a moment, handing both rings in his hand to Lan Xia. “That strange person just now might chase back. Teacher, you keep them.”
“Do the opposite,” Lan Xia shook his head, pushing them back. “You two hold them. Besides, even if they come back, they won’t dare approach you.”
Fear of harming what they wanted—indeed so.
Algiers simply put them away: “Alright, I understand.”
“I’ll watch you leave first.”
“Sir, please be careful yourself.” Though Shou Bing felt something wasn’t quite right, he couldn’t say what for the moment. In the end, he gritted his teeth and ran off with Algiers.
…Too weak.
He was still too weak.
Couldn’t break through the mirror period, too weak to avenge Suto, too weak to gain sir’s recognition, couldn’t become his student.
Shou Bing looked back.
Light opposing, the road they’d just run down had become pitch black and viscous.
The powerful yet gentle Mr. Lan Xia stood beside rocks eroded by the scent of blood, the corners of his windcoat lifting like a butterfly in the dark night.
Moonlight couldn’t touch him at all, like an isolated island.
“Don’t look back.”
He heard Mr. Lan Xia’s calm voice.
That gaze seemed like it would watch them forever. So Shou Bing steadied himself, and together with Algiers, the two teenagers continued running forward.
Some remained in place, some ran toward the future.
The great road ahead was rugged—
Yet brilliantly lit.
…
Once the people were completely out of visual range, Lan Xia’s ears twitched slightly.
People wearing featherfall armor had already chased over, searching for Lan Xia’s figure while shouting in the air about their own faction’s advantages, inviting him to visit…
Lan Xia flashed into a small cave, concealing his aura, finally breathing a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down to sit.
Then slowly curling up his body.
Just now he’d been too absorbed in the performance. His main body had kicked this body once. Pain was certain, but what he hadn’t expected was that one kick directly kicked away over half a year of this reconstructed body’s lifespan.
[Lan Xia:
Survival time: Four years and ninety-seven days
True value: 46%]
Small light orb: “To put it bluntly, this body was also reconstructed from your main body’s power, equivalent to a branch. A branch kicked by the main body is like a small twig crashing into the trunk. Tsk.”
Gong Du: “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Small light orb *crack crack crack*: “I just found out too.”
Gong Du: “…Stop spitting seed shells in my brain, thank you.”
The body he controlled through split consciousness—chest connected to abdominal cavity, all in pain. Gong Du was a god born in disease, or more narrowly, could be considered a god born in pain.
He didn’t dislike the sensation of pain. Even appropriate pain made him feel pleasant and relaxed. He knew the expressions humans showed when feeling pain—enduring, twisted, despairing, mad…
Gong Du experienced all of this during his formative years, so he learned to mimic such reactions with perfect ease. He was intimately familiar with this side of human nature. Even the small light orb believed that when he was injured and felt pain, he was genuinely suffering, busily working to relieve his discomfort.
He had deceived them all
But he wasn’t a liar. He just didn’t speak the truth aloud.
No matter how special the reconstructed body was, it was still a human form. Losing over half a year of lifespan from that kick—almost at the instant of being kicked, the body wanted to faint. He’d forced himself until now, even backed up those two kids. So weak even breathing was somewhat labored.
It wasn’t that he was unwilling to leave with Algiers and the others—he couldn’t hold on. Once he couldn’t hold on, those behind would most likely discover him. Gong Du would never allow anything to have a possibility of largely deviating from his script, so he let the two of them leave first.
Hands and feet were cold, yet his forehead was frighteningly hot.
“Losing so much lifespan at once is equivalent to a serious illness. High fever and weakness for a few days—you’ll slowly recover. Will you faint here and hide for a few days?” the small light orb said.
Gong Du: “Of course not.”
So the small light orb shut up.
Outside, the intermittent searching sounds gradually disappeared.
Dawn’s light glimmered faintly.
The pale-faced young man slowly stood up supporting the wall, veins protruding on the back of his hand. He flipped through the plot line, coughing lowly as he walked forward. After just a few steps, he disappeared at the cave entrance.
Such a good full character setup and opportunity to stage an accident.
Gong Du thought.
Author’s Note:
Master Gong currently has no heart.
PS: Why did some treasures in the last chapter think Brother Lan Xia was also wearing a mask ahhhhh, he wasn’t.
Elansno, for certain reasons that can’t yet be spoiled, doesn’t know what he looks like. Even if his brother stood before him, he wouldn’t recognize him. Saying Lan Xia was “fake” and “wearing a mask” was because Lan Xia clearly wanted to kill him yet was so gentle and polite, as if wearing a false face.
To avoid misunderstanding, that section has been slightly revised _(:з」∠)_ No major impact.
PPS: Fair warning—the next few chapters have a bit of a sting. Not a knife, after all emotions haven’t been pulled to full yet. Still laying groundwork.
**
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152
Hmm, a bit of a sting, huh?