Chapter 86

In the brief silence, the gunshot was like a thunderclap.

The bullet whistled past.

The moment the lever-action rifle was raised, Lou Feng instinctively ignored it, not taking it to heart, but the next instant, he suddenly felt a chill all over his body, realized the situation was different, and subconsciously shrank back to dodge.

Only after the roaring sound spread did he notice the deep gouge on the spiritual shield in front of him.

And the chill on his temple.

A line of silver light grazed his forehead, plowing a gap through his messy hair. Blood slowly seeped out, viscous and cold, bringing waves of dizziness.

Alchemical bullet!

And the mercury inside the warhead...

The moment he realized the material, he was horrified by the sudden realization!

—Fluid Alchemy?!

But mercury is also a common alchemical material, and even in the field of modern alchemy, it still has wide applications. Just by relying on one bullet, it was completely impossible to judge the reality.

But his heart had already started to become chaotic.

Clutching the warhead that had exploded, his pupils gradually turned scarlet, and he could no longer restrain his anger: "Slan, kill them!"

"As you command—"

The Homecoming Knights, who had been waiting for a long time, did not hesitate anymore. The spiritual horses neighed and galloped forward, charging at the little cow-horse that was moving with flamboyant footwork!

Like an iron wall advancing!

Even though there were only a dozen or so knights, in the process of advancing in formation, they blocked any space for dodging, no longer allowing the opponent to dodge or flee.

And right on the speeding little tricycle, Xiao An, who had been sitting quietly in the back row, tugged at the corner of Ji Jue's clothes and finally made a sound: "They made the first move, Brother Ji Jue."

"Hmm." Ji Jue nodded, "Looking at it now, there's indeed no way to end this peacefully."

"If they are enemies, then there's no other way."

The young man blinked and asked that final question: "Can I kill them?"

For a moment, Ji Jue was silent, recalling Wen Wen's entrustment before he left.

Xiao An was a very obedient child, well-behaved, quiet, and not troublesome.

Because he lacked common sense—to be precise, having grown up in a place like the An family, he never possessed any concepts that a normal person should have, including but not limited to morality, good and evil, and compassion... just like the people of Yacheng had never seen winter.

He knew this clearly, which was why he relied on the assistance, guidance, and thinking of others.

Therefore, do not hand complex matters to him, and do not expect him to think with the weakness of a normal person. He will protect you, regardless of his own safety, but do not expect him to treat other people as his own kind.

Do not let him fight with people, unless necessary.

But now, there was no possibility of patience or retreat.

He said, "As you like."

Click!

In that instant, it seemed as if an invisible shackle had come loose.

A smile appeared on that young, beautiful face that looked like a girl's, so gentle and bright, like a child bathing in the sun in an amusement park.

Because blood had fallen on his face.

Ji Jue didn't even see clearly how he disappeared from behind him; in the blink of an eye, the young man was gone like mist.

And immediately after, he had already crossed dozens of meters and appeared in front of the spiritual warhorse.

Dark Star slid out from his sleeve and was held between his fingertips.

And so, he swung it casually!

And then, the warhorses and knights that brushed past him were like hitting an invisible sharp blade head-on, falling apart, thrown forward under the inertia and potential energy, outlining fleeting, bright blood flowers in the air!

And immediately after, a shrill whistling sound erupted. With a slight movement of his fingers, the iron pieces in his sleeve were projected out, turning into a white light amidst the whistling sword energy, and sped forward.

But immediately after, Slan's figure suddenly accelerated, rushing from the end of the team to the front in an instant, blocking the projected iron pieces head-on. He was shrouded in blood-colored heavy armor, raising the round shield on his arm. The shield, covered in knife marks, collided with the white light of the sword energy, erupting with a harsh, loud noise.

The iron pieces bounced away, but immediately after, a scream sounded from beside him.

The refracted iron pieces actually erupted with new power again, accelerating, correcting the deviation, and then piercing into another knight's chest from the side, gouging out a deep hole!

Blood gushed out, causing heavy damage in an instant!

—Throwing Pot Ritual Book · Brave Arrow!

Slan remained unmoved, not even shifting his eyes. He threw the throwing spear hanging on the saddle backward, and a thunderous roar erupted. The throwing spear whistled, pierced the ground, and nailed into the position where An Ran had originally stood.

But the young man had already disappeared without a trace, like a ghost, appearing in his blind spot—behind him! Dark Star swept across, splitting the helmet with the force of a bamboo being split, but immediately after, it collided with the inverted blade, sparking!

The confrontation started suddenly, but both sides were unmoved, their expressions remaining the same.

One had experienced many battles and had long since put life and death out of his mind, while the other, from birth until now, had never had the concept of life and death in his mind.

The killing machine of the Great Crowd Path and the hunter of the White Deer Path collided, fought, changed moves, and disengaged in an instant.

On Slan's faceplate, a thin crack appeared, piercing through the eye socket. Viscous blood seeped out from behind the crack, almost being pierced through the brain in one strike.

And Xiao An, who had landed again, flicked his hand, and a line of blood dripped from his fingertips.

The tragic blood wound on his arm rolled open, and then closed under the contraction of the muscles, covering the color of the exposed bone. Only the scarlet that gradually rendered on the half-sleeve remained.

He flicked his finger again.

Dozens, hundreds of iron pieces flew out from his sleeve, as if turning into stars all over the sky, gathering, turning into a torrent, and whistling out, colliding with the iron flow of the Homecoming Knights.

In an instant, the pale sword energy was stained with scarlet, the sound of steel rubbing and breaking was endless, and when the countless scattered sword energy gathered again from the Dark Star in his hand, it forged a scarlet sword blade so thick it seemed to be dripping blood.

Slender and elusive, it switched freely between reality and illusion, moving horizontally and vertically through the vast hall, even pulling Xiao An's weightless body, rising, and soaring freely in the void.

It was as if he had unfolded invisible wings, breaking free from the shackles of earth and gravity.

Revealing a brand-new form here!

—Matrix · Sword Song!

A cold snort sounded amidst the sound of iron hooves, and silver-white mist suddenly appeared out of thin air.

A vague, blurred figure appeared in mid-air. The clone created by spiritual shaping once again exerted its unique qualitative change. Countless spiritual particles were atomized into a tiny state difficult for the naked eye to distinguish, but in an instant, they blocked the sky, easily creating cuts on the young man's body.

But Slan's expression changed suddenly.

"Don't!"

The Homecoming Knight Commander looked back, shouting, roaring.

Toward Lou Feng, who was making a sudden, ruthless move.

Issuing a warning!

And then, Lou Feng noticed that fine, faint sound, like the sound of insects crawling on the floor, and even the metallic flash that was like a dream!

That was mercury!

A large amount of mercury flowed on the ground, piece after piece, wriggling, changing.

They grew limbs like insects as if they were living things, crawling flexibly on the gaps, walls, and ceilings, or wriggling, dragging their bulging "abdomens."

At this moment, they had already faintly surrounded Lou Feng.

And then, a crisp sound rang out.

It seemed as if something had been pulled open, and those clumsy and ugly mercury creations all opened their mouths together, spitting out one after another what looked like familiar...

Hand grenade pins?!

In that instant, Lou Feng's face turned pale, and he looked back and roared:

"Ji—"

Ji Jue smiled, his five fingers clenched.

Boom!!!!

Sixteen violent flames close at hand erupted, swallowing him completely.

Without blinking, he emptied all the hand grenades in his stock in an instant. Amidst the flying of countless shrapnel, scorching high temperatures, flashes, and even noise explosions erupted at the same moment. The air waves whistled, colliding with each other, making the roaring sound become distorted and sharp.

The silver mist all over the sky contracted in an instant, blocking in front of Lou Feng, but then evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye amidst the terrifying impact that was beyond expectation.

Right in front of Lou Feng, the phantom of the spiritual clone flickered violently, the blurred face struggled to lift, and then, a hand was lightly pinched onto that blank face.

Suddenly closing.

Slap!

It seemed as if a vague roar sounded, but everything quickly returned to silence.

Right before Lou Feng's eyes, the spiritual clone from the Lou family elder actually disintegrated without any resistance in Ji Jue's hand, dissipating into viscous spiritual essence after losing its form, scattering without a trace.

Without waiting for him to react, the pitch-black muzzle was raised, aimed at the stunned Lou Feng, and the trigger was pulled without hesitation.

After bearing the explosive impact of sixteen defensive hand grenades head-on, the Dragon Scale Armor covering Lou Feng emitted a mournful cry. Under the impact of the slug bullet after the mercury qualitative change, he had already flown backward.

He didn't even have time to be shocked or shout.

Boom!

"Sorry, version update, spiritual shaping has been nerfed!"

Ji Jue pressed on step by step, his movements not stopping for a moment, pulling the trigger repeatedly at Lou Feng without any pause, like swinging a copper-headed belt, whipping Lou Feng, who was in his turtle shell, until he was crawling all over the ground:

"In the new season, we made a lot of very COOOOL changes, and there are more new heroes from sexual minorities, you'll definitely like them!"

And right on his hands, in the complex matrix totems, spiritual light appeared.

This was the only reason that completely overturned the battle situation and left Lou Feng with no power to fight back—【Matrix · Non-Aggression】!

Just look at the miserable appearance of the former blank-slate newcomer Ji Jue when he was suppressed by Lou Feng to know how big the difference is between a Chosen One with a matrix and one without.

The enhancement brought by the matrix is a complete qualitative change for a Chosen One!

And now, it's Young Master Lou's turn to taste the feeling of being thwarted!

Although he seemed to have been thwarted all along, it wouldn't hurt to be thwarted a little more this time!

Non-Aggression.

Its effect is just like its literal description; it does not possess any ability to actively attack, and even all the blessings it points to in subsequent advancements do not have any direct lethality.

The matrix itself has limits, even the most advanced matrix is the same; you can't have it all.

You can't demand that a matrix have the blessing of the Transmutation lineage on the soul and will, the suppression and control of the Heavenly Origin on the surroundings, the speed, armor-piercing, and burst of the White Deer, and even the stealth and trickery of the Mirror, the defense and hardness of the Ruin, and the utilization and control of external objects like the Ember...

There has never been such a thing. Even if you found a contemporary grandmaster to force it to be made, it wouldn't be something a human soul could bear and withstand; it could only be placed on a display cabinet as a retarded yet beautiful exhibit. Perhaps this is still the most convenient lethal weapon, as long as someone is stupid enough to be willing to plug this thing into themselves to use.

And Non-Aggression is the undisputed representative of matrices that discard the irrelevant and specialize in one path.

The Heaven and Men of the past, with a near-utilitarian mentality, eliminated all other possibilities, discarded all aggressiveness and defensive power, and what they exchanged for was the broadness to the extreme of supreme goodness affinity and unprecedented precision!

Simply put, when designing this matrix, the first goal was not how to resist the rule of a foolish and cruel empire, but to facilitate its user to the greatest extent to...

At any time, anywhere, without hesitation, grab the bucket and run!

Ah, worked overtime until four or five in the morning last night, begging for a monthly ticket~