Chapter 190: Saying GG Amidst Cheerful Laughter

Moduo hurriedly helped Tuya up. This was an extremely ancient ritual of allegiance within the Blazing Eye Clan, signifying that one's life was now at the other party's disposal.

Before she could even react, Tuya had already completed the ritual.

It was merely a formality, possessing no actual binding power.

When the Blazing Eye Clan was at its peak, everyone deeply respected this ceremony. Now, however, it was hard to say how much reverence remained.

Still, it was a clear display of loyalty. Tim and Simon, on the other hand, hesitated, looking troubled despite Tuya's urging.

"What are you waiting for? This is the Princess Imperial!" Tuya urged once more. "Moreover, she has been favored by the Sacred Relic."

"We are willing to maintain our respect for the Sacred Relic..." Tim emphasized, but then quickly added, "However, the Princess Imperial has only just returned. She does not fully understand the current situation on Blazing Eye Planet, so we should not act recklessly."

Li Yu shifted his gaze to Simon. On the surface, Tim was saying that Moduo did not understand Blazing Eye Planet, but he was actually implying that they did not understand Moduo.

Moduo had fallen from the sky. Naturally, no one was willing to hand their fate over to a little girl. Even if she was their so-called Princess Imperial, their reluctance was understandable.

As soon as those words fell, Tim showed no particular reaction, but Simon exploded. He roared furiously, "Betray the Blazing Eye Clan?!"

"If we were going to betray our people, we would have done so long ago! Do you think anyone actually enjoys hiding in an underground Karst Cave, gnawing on terrible dried meat?"

Tuya stepped in front of Moduo, glaring at Simon. "If you are not traitors, then you should swear allegiance to the Princess Imperial!"

Simon's face flushed red as he bellowed, "We have endured for ten years! Where was she when we were being hunted down?"

"Where was she when we were on the verge of starving to death?"

"Just because she is the Princess, we are supposed to mindlessly pledge our loyalty just because she decided to suddenly appear?"

Tim made no attempt to calm Simon down. Clearly, he shared similar sentiments. Neither of them were blindly loyal fools.

Expecting their fealty based solely on her identity as a princess was practically impossible.

Li Yu watched the scene in silence, forming a basic understanding of the Guard Corps.

Even though the Blazing Eye Clan was on the brink of extinction and lived in constant peril, its people were not the type to blindly latch onto the first glimmer of hope. They had their own thoughts and agency.

"The Princess Imperial was only a child back then!" Tuya scolded fiercely. "Furthermore, the Princess Imperial has now returned with the Sacred Relic. This is the hope of our Blazing Eye Clan."

"Hope?!" Simon sneered. "Can the Sacred Relic restore Blazing Eye Planet? Can it resurrect our dead clansmen? Can it slaughter our enemies?"

Compared to Colin, the former priest who served the Ghost God, the Guard Corps had very little contact with the Ghost God Orb. In their minds, it was little more than a mascot.

They were not foolish enough to count on a mascot to save their world.

"I do not need your allegiance," Moduo said, shaking her head. The Guard Corps numbered barely a thousand; what use was their fealty anyway?

Tim's expression softened considerably. Simon stood panting like an enraged bull, staring down his old rival, Tuya.

Tuya hesitated to speak, but Moduo stopped her with a single glance.

"I only need you to tell me how to reach the Planetary Core."

"The Planetary Core?!"

The expressions of the three Guard Corps commanders shifted simultaneously. Tuya spoke with urgency, "We have waited ten years just for your arrival."

"Legend among the Guard Corps commanders says that the hope for the Blazing Eye Clan's rise is hidden within the Planetary Core."

Tim and Simon exchanged a covert glance before nodding in agreement.

Tuya continued excitedly, "It is just that none of us can open the Planet Core Passage. I believe you will definitely be able to do it."

Watching the thrilled Tuya, Moduo could only nod. When she was a child, she had met Tuya, one of the senior generals of the Guard Corps who had a close relationship with her mother.

Now, however, she did not know how to treat Tuya. Tuya's intense emotions made it even harder for her to figure out how to respond.

"Tim, Simon, quickly bring out your fragments to map out the path to the Planetary Core!" Tuya brought out a Scarlet Fragment as she urged them.

However, neither Tim nor Simon made a move, choosing to stare at them coldly instead.

"Princess Imperial, we find it very difficult to satisfy your request," Tim said, shaking his head.

Tuya was immediately displeased and lashed out, "His Majesty left that for the Princess Imperial! What right do you have to refuse?!"

"Wrong!" Simon shouted. "That was not left for some Princess Imperial; it was left for the entire Blazing Eye Clan!"

"It is our only hope. Only someone capable of leading the Blazing Eye Clan out of this predicament is qualified to obtain it!"

"Princess Imperial..." Simon looked at the young Moduo, his gaze momentarily distant but quickly turning resolute. "I hold respect for you, but I cannot admit that you are qualified to lead us out of this despair."

Ultimately, they believed that an untested youth could not be trusted. They just saw Moduo as too young and could not put their minds at ease.

"This..." Moduo was at a loss, entirely unprepared for this outcome. She turned a pleading gaze toward Li Yu for help.

Li Yu raised an eyebrow. The Ship-breaking Blade in his hand extended segment by segment, scraping against the ground and sending sparks flying. This was not a difficult problem to solve; he would just use his old method.

"Hand over those fragments, or die!"

His indifferent voice echoed endlessly throughout the Karst Cave. Only then did Li Yu, who had been treated like empty space, finally attract everyone's attention.

Hearing his words, Moduo felt completely helpless. She bit her lip but remained silent.

"Who are you?" Tim frowned slightly. Li Yu's presence had been so negligible as he trailed behind Moduo that Tim had assumed he was just a bodyguard or something similar.

"Take a guess," Li Yu shrugged. "I will give you three seconds to hand over the items."

"Who do you think you are?!" Simon immediately flew into a rage. "This is our clan's internal affair. You have no right to interfere!"

"True..." Li Yu nodded in agreement before adding, "But I am interfering anyway... One..."

"Is this the intention of the Princess Imperial? To attack her own clansmen?!" Tim demanded, his face darkening.

"We already tried the polite approach. Bringing your so-called Sacred Relic and presenting Moduo's identity showed you a great deal of respect, but you still wanted to debate qualifications." Li Yu's tone was calm, his posture lazy. "So now we have to use force... Two..."

"It seems our refusal was the right choice after all!" Simon sneered.

"Three!" A sharp light flashed in Li Yu's eyes. Surging electric arcs erupted like a tidal wave, filling the entire Karst Cave with thunder and a continuous crackling sound.

Swaths of Guard Corps members collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably. Faced with an attack of this caliber, they had absolutely no room to resist.

Only Tim and Simon managed to block the rampaging lightning, relying on hazy magnetic fields that enveloped them.

"Interesting..." Li Yu stared at the murky magnetic fields covering their bodies. They existed somewhere between tangible and illusory—much like mental power, yet seemingly different.

The power stemmed from the Red Crystal Stones embedded in their armor, and it packed a decent punch.

"We can channel the power of the Red Crystal Stone through our Blazing Eyes. The stronger our mental power, the greater the force we can draw out," Moduo explained.

Realization suddenly dawned on Li Yu. He had previously wondered why the Blazing Eye Clan, possessing such uniquely advantageous traits, could only use their Blazing Eyes to control living creatures. Their methods had seemed far too one-dimensional.

Now it was clear that the native Red Crystal Stones of Blazing Eye Planet served as another tool in their arsenal.

"You are courting death!" Simon roared. Brandishing a red long spear, he charged forward. Bolstered by the power of the Red Star Stone, his speed was formidable, distorting the surrounding void to disrupt Li Yu's line of sight.

Stepping back and to the side, Chains shot out from the back of the Titan Colonization Armor. The Red and White Twin Blades struck out, grating against the magnetic field surrounding Simon. It was like plunging into thick mud, drastically slowing down their movement.

"Not bad at all..." Li Yu's eyes lit up, his interest piqued. He raised his arm, assembling an energy cannon. He fired a few probing shots, all of which were neutralized by that peculiar magnetic field.

Dodging Simon's assault, Li Yu swung his Ship-breaking Blade into the barrier. It felt like chopping into compacted cotton—not hard, but incredibly difficult to penetrate deeply.

Even so, the brute force behind the Ship-breaking Blade remained intact. Simon was sent flying backward like a missile, crashing hard into the stone wall of the cave.

He bounced several times like a rubber ball before finally dispersing the momentum.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. With a fierce and sinister glare, he locked his eyes onto Li Yu.

"I like that look in your eyes. It reminds me of an old friend," Li Yu remarked wistfully. 'Third Fatty... are you doing well in heaven? Oh... a guy like him probably went straight to hell.'

"Haa!" Simon charged forward once again. This time, Li Yu discarded his weapon and instead thrust both hands directly into Simon's surface magnetic field.

A sharp glint flashed in Simon's eyes, seeing this as the perfect opportunity. He thrust his red long spear straight at Li Yu's chest.

Clang! Sparks cascaded outward. The spear failed to even scratch the surface armor of the Titan Colonization Armor, let alone trigger its passive purple light membrane defense.

Meanwhile, Li Yu felt as though his palms were sinking into a thick silicone substance. Even though it looked like empty air, he could physically feel something resisting his advance.

'It feels like a hybrid product of mental power and some other energy,' Li Yu pondered. He then asked Claptrap if it was possible to acquire this power.

"Master, there is no data in the Titan Colonization Armor's database regarding the devouring of this mineral. However, according to preliminary calculations, there is a high probability of successfully acquiring it."

Claptrap replied.

"That works..." Li Yu understood and could not be bothered to test it any further. His wrist armor split open, assembling the Magnetic Energy Resonator—technology acquired from the Black-Armored Man.

As the resonator activated, a terrifying force erupted from his hands, directly tearing apart the magnetic field covering Simon's body.

The Red Crystal Stone embedded in his armor shattered into pieces. Simon was sent plummeting to the cave floor, spewing mouthfuls of blood.

Clang!

The Ship-breaking Blade grazed his nose and plunged deep into the rock. With a light pinch of his fingers, Li Yu gathered the residual electric arcs wreaking havoc throughout the Karst Cave, condensing them into a sphere the size of a fingernail.

He squatted down, letting the arc sphere float right before Simon's eyes. "Refuse to hand it over, and this thing will detonate."

Tuya hesitated to speak. Even though they did not see eye to eye, she still did not want to watch Simon get killed just like this.

"Princess Imperial..." She looked toward Moduo. Moduo gave her a reassuring look, signaling that Li Yu probably wouldn't kill Simon.

Tim's expression shifted slightly. Simon had been defeated far too quickly—so fast that Tim hadn't even had time to react. Their opponent's strength was overwhelmingly powerful, far beyond what they could handle.

'He must be at the true Commander level at the very least...' Tim calculated silently.

Simon, gnashing his teeth, sneered, "I..."

"The item is on him. You can retrieve it yourself." Tim's voice abruptly cut off whatever Simon was about to say.

Simon stared at Tim in sheer disbelief. It was bad enough that Tim hadn't lifted a finger to help while he was getting beaten to a pulp, but now he was stabbing him in the back?

"The Princess Imperial... is not an outsider after all," Tim offered a bitter smile. He wasn't like Moduo; he didn't know Li Yu well enough to gauge his limits.

Judging by Li Yu's recent demeanor, movements, and expressions, there was not a shred of mercy to be found.

If Simon were killed now, his death would be utterly meaningless.

"You should have said so earlier..." Li Yu kicked Simon over to Tuya, then turned to look at Tim. "I assume you know what is good for you."

"Weren't your methods a little too extreme..." Tim smiled bitterly, finally grasping that the other party likely bore no actual malice.

Li Yu shook his head. "I am in a hurry. Moduo is under immense mental pressure from that giant orb, and I cannot be bothered to slowly persuade you."

"Besides, not a single person died, and the matter is settled. It's a win-win situation."

Tim could not help but shake his head in utter helplessness. This completely deviated from the expected script. Wasn't Moduo supposed to endure numerous trials, eventually earn their recognition, obtain the power known as "Hope," and then lead the Blazing Eye Clan out of their predicament?

Li Yu casually picked up a piece of the shattered Red Crystal Stone from Simon's armor off the ground. He pressed it against the Titan Colonization Armor, and it was slowly devoured completely.

"Master, according to estimates, it will take approximately thirty metric tons of Red Crystal Stones to form a large-scale standard magnetic field without relying on a Blazing Eye."

Claptrap's results came back quickly. Thirty metric tons was no small amount. Moreover, considering the severe over-mining on Blazing Eye Planet, it was hard to say how much of the mineral even remained.

"In that case..." Li Yu glanced at Moduo and asked quietly, "Can the Titan Colonization Armor devour a Blazing Eye?"

"Master, it is highly unadvised for the Titan Colonization Armor to devour a Blazing Eye, as they possess a special connection to the Ghost God," Claptrap cautioned.

"True." Li Yu recalled the connection and decided it was best not to mess with the Blazing Eyes.

On the other side, Tuya gathered the three red crystal fragments and fitted them together. A crimson glow flickered in her eyes as the three pieces slowly merged, radiating a dazzling light that projected a holographic map.

"It's that simple?" Li Yu leaned in, asking out of curiosity. "Why didn't you three separate? If you got wiped out in one go like you almost did today, wouldn't that be a disaster?"

Tim shot him a speechless look. Simon squatted to the side, and seeing that what was done was done, could only watch with a face full of grief and indignation, occasionally coughing up blood. It was a miserable sight.

The location of the passage was not fixed; it could only be mapped out using the fragments.

"We were originally separated. However, some time ago, a scientific survey vessel discovered Simon's tracks. He was forced to destroy it, which unfortunately attracted far too many stowaways."

Tim sighed, "We haven't been grouped up for long. We were just preparing to deal with a small number of the stowaways before splitting up again, reducing the danger for the rest of our clansmen."

Who could have known they would run into a guy lacking martial ethics like Li Yu, forcing them to call GG almost immediately.