Chapter 57: Setting Off Again

Clang—

Su Lin fired off several shots in quick succession, sword-light dancing along with them.

"What a shameless piece of work — why don't you whip out a Maxim gun while you're at it?" Miss Kelaien cursed under his breath, his figure flickering and leaping through the flames.

He began trying to interfere with Su Lin's "spirit body threads," thinking to dull Su Lin's mind.

Sure enough, the precision of Su Lin's aim began to falter; a formation appeared beneath Su Lin's feet, currents of water coiling around his body, autonomously blocking the throwing knives Miss Kelaien hurled over.

A Magician's elemental manipulation could already push ordinary destructive power to a terrifying degree, but the trouble was that the Beyonder abilities of the Lord's World were rather special, leaning more toward a contest on the conceptual level.

Sword-light flew, flames exploded.

With the aid of his historical projection, Su Lin pushed every one of his abilities to the limit.

Sword Qi and golden light came at him from front, back, left, right, and from directly overhead; Miss Kelaien snapped his fingers, leaving a paper effigy substitute in his place.

At the same moment, beneath Su Lin's feet, a single seed sprouted and took shape, a rose bloomed, a thunderous explosion rang out, and amid the firelight, smoke billowed.

This was Miss Kelaien using illusion.

He gave Su Lin no chance to catch his breath, firing several air blasts at the location of the spirit body threads within the smoke.

When the smoke cleared, several holes appeared on Su Lin's body, but his form was dissolving into particles.

Miss Kelaien was not at all surprised by this.

Hmm—

The hum of a sword rang out from the sky; Miss Kelaien looked up, and a human figure overlapped with the sun.

A crimson phoenix phantom spiraled out from behind him.

Sword Qi was biting cold, like the north wind howling; Su Lin was like a meteor from beyond the heavens

descending from the sky.

—————————

"Old Zhou, what are you lying around here for?" Lu Mingfei dragged his weary body along, his steps unsteady; right now he didn't even feel like cultivating — he just wanted to go back and sleep.

That bastard Ye Fan had drawn way too much blood; without ten days or so of rest, he probably wouldn't recover.

Ye Fan had said it was just a small bottle, and Lu Mingfei, being the generous sort, had agreed right away.

He hadn't bothered to mention beforehand that the bottle was a magic treasure capable of holding a great many things.

Lu Mingfei had been drained until his eyes saw stars, and only after popping several Blood-Supplementing Pills did he pull through, but cultivating in the next few days was pretty much out of the question.

All the way here, he grabbed whatever replenishing things he could find by the roadside and ate them — just as Ye Fan hadn't been polite with him, he wouldn't be polite with Su Lin either.

He'd already signed a contract of indenture, so eating a few fruits to work hard was only fair,.

Although strictly speaking, that didn't really count as selling himself, but for the sake of the fruits, Lu Mingfei decided to treat it as a contract of indenture — that way he could freeload with a clear conscience.

When Lu Mingfei passed by the martial arena, he saw Miss Kelaien lying on the grass by the road, gazing at the sky, lost in thought; sunlight spilled across his face just like that, peaceful and serene.

"I'm wondering why a Diviner like me has to accompany him in close-combat drills every day." Miss Kelaien pushed himself up, sat on the grass, looked at the weary-faced Lu Mingfei, and said, "Right now I might also have to ponder the question of whether cultivating immortality leads to kidney deficiency."

"This is from blood-draining..." Lu Mingfei explained helplessly, then suddenly remembered to ask, "Who won today?"

"I did." Miss Kelaien glanced at Lu Mingfei and fell back into thought.

"Same old story, so why are you sitting here mulling over this question?" Lu Mingfei was a little puzzled — nine times out of ten Miss Kelaien won, and at times like this Miss Kelaien should be happily heading back to the rental with the fruits of victory, that is, the stakes, to play video games.

Sometimes it was some worthless fruits, sometimes rather precious spirit fruits, and sometimes some small objects with special abilities — that is, refined magic treasures.

"It's getting harder and harder to fight, that guy Su Lin." Miss Kelaien recalled the situations of these recent battles and said, "If he's really at the so-called Golden Core Realm, without marionettes or prior preparation, the outcome would be hard to call."

After all, his Sequence wasn't originally meant for direct combat in the first place.

From the first time when it was a complete stomp to now, the trouble Su Lin could give him had grown more and more.

Of course, a large part of that was because of Su Lin's clone ability, as well as something like the historical projection ability of a Sequence 7 — Ancient Scholar.

If it were just Su Lin at Foundation Establishment, beating him would actually be easy — after all, the spirit body threads were right there on display.

"That guy's clones are a real pain to deal with." Lu Mingfei said in agreement, "You never know if the one you're fighting is the real body; it's not even clear how many clones that guy can have."

"You knock one down and another one walks out — just like nesting dolls." Lu Mingfei had noticed while spectating that this clone ability was ridiculously useful; just when you finally won, another one with a full health bar strolls out from the side — tell me, isn't that infuriating?

Lu Mingfei sat down beside Miss Kelaien, thinking he might as well just take a nap right here — the sun felt rather warm.

"Is there any possibility..." Miss Kelaien's expression was a little odd; having often seen Su Lin use that ability, he always felt something about it was strangely off, and he said:

"That it's my Sequence — the Ancient Scholar's ability?"

Every time Weigong Shilang activated his Origin Bullet, things appeared from his hand; every time Su Lin projected something, his motion looked like he was pulling something out...

And on top of that, having drunk the fake liquor he projected before — could that guy have actually been to his world?

Originally Miss Kelaien had never thought along these lines, but with Lu Mingfei as a cautionary tale right in front of him, he suspected whether that guy Su Lin had gotten his hands on the Beyonder potions of their world...

Miss Kelaien just couldn't figure it out — where would you find a Saint this weak, and one who could also cultivate immortality at that?

Actually, what Miss Kelaien would never guess was that Su Lin's abilities were a hodgepodge.

"It's not impossible." Lu Mingfei wouldn't deny the possibility of things anymore — after these past few months, even if you told him the world was ending tomorrow he wouldn't argue; anything was possible.

Lu Mingfei lay on the grass and asked Miss Kelaien beside him, "Are you planning to head back?"

"Mm, I've pretty much rested enough." Miss Kelaien nodded — unlike the others, his main purpose was simply to return to his old environment and stay for a while.

During this period, he felt his mental state had stabilized quite a bit; although this Earth had none of the people he used to know, playing games every day helped him forget all that.

Mm, and the delicious Chinese food, the deep-fried chicken dripping with oil, salt, and fat, the carbonated drinks, and all those foods seasoned with familiar spices.

Part of the money he had "earned" together with Su Lin had been spent on these things; he had also purchased quite a few items to take back, planning to sacrifice them above the gray fog for preservation.

Of course, these things were stored in storage bags — he had traded a not-very-high-grade sealed artifact with Han Li for several storage bags.

One of them was stuffed with spices, several dozen boxes' worth; with no idea yet what to "borrow" from the modern world to start a business back home, Miss Kelaien had no choice but to play the peddler for now, planning to make a small fortune.