Chapter 2155: Retaliatory Action

Soon, Xia Duo returned to reality once more. Watching the color of the focusing crystal in his hand fade a little further, he could not help but feel a trace of anxiety in his heart.

After a moment of hesitation, he still contacted Yinaole, requesting the portions of the Longevity Ritual spells from him. Yinaole agreed to the matter quite readily, yet Xia Duo felt exceptionally conflicted inside.

……

With the focusing gemstone, Xia Duo was not only able to perceive the soul, but his resistance to the information storm invading his consciousness level had also significantly improved, which in turn caused the speed at which Mohawi's consciousness gathered and reorganized to slow down slightly.

【To be honest, I've been using Yeguo Reading to keep up with books lately. It has many sources, and the text-to-speech voices are great. It works on both Android and Apple.】

This also meant he did not need to enter the mental world frequently, so Xia Duo finally had time to consider the retaliatory action against Zhamu Dasi.

As the saying goes, "A gentleman does not let a grudge go unavenged." Xia Duo was certainly not the type to only take hits without fighting back, especially since his display of the Floating City during the Siluwende war was, aside from disrupting the Demon Descendant conspiracy, primarily intended to deter others!

Looking at it now, Zhamu Dasi seemed completely unimpressed by the power displayed by the Floating City!

Perhaps it was due to their location in the south, combined with an internal system of 【redacted】 that made them unwilling to receive outside information, but now that they had provoked him, Xia Duo naturally had to return the favor!

The key to deterrence does not lie in whether one possesses sufficient power; often, having a qualified baseline of power is enough. The key lies in whether one has the determination to use that power.

If not, what does it matter even if you hold the power to destroy the world in your hands? Others still won't take you seriously!

In a very famous novel from Xia Duo's hometown, there was such a character who possessed absolute deterrent power, yet at the critical moment, she dared not use it, leading to the downfall of her nation.

Or rather, Cheng Xin gave the enemy the feeling that she would not dare to use her power from the very beginning. Even though she held the power to destroy the world, the enemy launched an attack without hesitation and destroyed that power.

Xia Duo naturally could not be Cheng Xin, so after recovering his energy slightly, he began planning the upcoming retaliatory action.

He wanted to establish a clear, untouchable bottom line for everyone—anyone who uses conspiracies to threaten my life, I will retaliate against them at all costs.

From now on, if anyone wants to scheme against him, they will have to carefully consider the consequences of failing to kill him.

……

Walking out of the Xiu Xi Shi, Niya, having received the news, immediately rushed over and asked with concern: "How is the effect of the focusing gemstone Master Yinaole gave you? Has the hidden danger been resolved?"

"Not yet, but it won't affect my upcoming actions."

"Upcoming actions?"

Niya didn't react at first, thinking Xia Duo was talking about travel plans or returning to Netheril, but seeing the deep look in Xia Duo's eyes, she immediately understood—

Xia Duo was going to retaliate against Zhamu Dasi.

As his partner, Niya naturally understood her husband. Although Xia Duo usually appeared very peaceful, Niya knew he had very strong bottom lines and principles in his heart.

As long as those bottom lines and principles were not touched, everything was easy to talk about, but once they were touched—though Niya had never seen it with her own eyes—she had heard rumors of Xia Duo raiding and killing his enemies on a snowy night when he was still an Apprentice.

The current situation was no different, except that the enemy was more powerful.

As his wife, Niya certainly could not stop her husband's revenge, but Xia Duo's current state made her particularly worried:

"Why not wait until you've resolved the hidden danger in your body? What if you encounter that kind of illusion Master again? How will you handle it?"

"I didn't just sit idle while I was unconscious these past few days. I've mostly figured out why I was pulled into a Mental Image World by an illusion Master I had never met before."

"Why?" Niya asked curiously.

"It's not that the opponent was infinitely strong, capable of invading the soul of a Great Arcanist with multiple protections so easily. To put it simply, it's actually quite straightforward. To scheme against Calimshan and Kaitemier, Zhamu Dasi made preparations in Kalim, and the illusionary home-field was one of them. If I had stayed in Yungong that day, or returned directly to the Floating City from Yungong, nothing would have happened."

What Xia Duo said was a summary based on his reflections within the Mental Image World and the fragments of Mohawi's memory he obtained while purifying his consciousness during his coma. There might be some discrepancy with the facts, but it should be close enough.

If Zhamu Dasi's illusion Master could truly invade anyone's soul and consciousness at will, Zhamu Dasi would have long since unified the south, or even the entire Main Plane.

Xia Duo was confident in carrying out a retaliatory strike; at the very least, he could use the Ether Plane as a barrier.

That special world, which approached the embryonic form of the material world's creation, reacted exceptionally strongly to will and consciousness, but precisely because of this, the role of consciousness was highlighted, making it easier to guard against.

If it were a purely spiritual world like the Astral Plane, he feared that even ten of him might not be a match for a Psionic illusion Master.

As for how to use the Ether as a barrier, it was actually simple: he only needed to completely overlap the space where he was staying with the Ether Plane, similar to that Ether Overlap Region of the Arcane Union.

……

After soothing Niya, Xia Duo began to take action. However, he did not have Niya avoid it; as his wife, she would inevitably experience similar events in the future, and early exposure could be considered a form of training.

"Niya, you control the Wide-Area Detection and find the densely populated areas of Zhamu Dasi."

"Mm."

Niya responded and began to get busy.

Xia Duo himself began to control the Floating City to lower its altitude while advancing toward the east, in the direction of Zhamu Dasi. Merely striking the population was not enough to vent his anger, nor was it enough to deter other conspirators.

Only by eliminating enough Elite Spellcasters could a nation feel the pain, and for Zhamu Dasi, there were twelve Artifacts that were even more precious than Elite Spellcasters.

It was precisely because of those twelve Artifacts that almost every citizen of Zhamu Dasi could undergo Psionic Enlightenment, and the vast majority of citizens could obtain Psionic power of varying strengths.

For those outside of Zhamu Dasi, there was almost no other way to obtain Psionic power other than traveling to Zhamu Dasi to receive an Artifact Baptism.

These were things Xia Duo had heard while chatting with Talafu during his time in Kalim, and the situation regarding Psionic Enlightenment was not far from what he had previously learned in Aifuruisi.

There were Psionic Mages in Aifuruisi as well, but every single one of them had received enlightenment in Zhamu Dasi without exception. Xia Duo had also been invited to go to Zhamu Dasi when he was there previously, but he had refused.

Not only did he refuse himself, but he also stopped the plan of Yinaole's student, Luowei, to go to Zhamu Dasi.