Chapter 224: The Land of Oblivion

Someone walked into the corridor.

Luo Qi's heart was pounding; he felt the pressure and knew who had come. He had gradually begun to understand his own weight; there were very few people in this world who could still directly exert influence upon his mental world.

Resisting the bitter cold and murderous aura eroding his heart, he turned his head and took a deep look at the female corpse. The dead young woman was suspended in mid-air, like an elf sleepwalking in the moonlight. On the inside of her wrists were cyan patterns, spreading all the way to her upper arms, which were covered by a shroud. Luo Qi believed that these were tattoo pigments visible only to the eyes of a Mage.

The footsteps outside the corridor were drawing closer. Luo Qi raised his right hand, and a cluster of flames rose from his palm. He shook his hand, and the flames suddenly flared up, leaping and surging; it was as if he were holding a great fire in his hand. The Gatekeeper opened his mouth, staring dumbfounded at this astonishing scene before him.

Luo Qi gazed at the female corpse, a flash of reluctance crossing his face. He let out a long sigh and suddenly hurled the Fireball in his hand fiercely at the corpse. The moment the flames touched the corpse, they seemed to turn into greedy fire snakes, coiling around the body. The shroud on the female corpse was the first to be ignited, and then her long hair began to burn.

Sun Jian knelt on the ground, staring blankly at this scene. He heard the boy murmuring something; he could not understand a word of what was said, but the fire snakes coiling around the female corpse seemed to understand his urging. The flames emitted a cracking sound and suddenly burned violently; white-hot flames swallowed the entire human body, and the female corpse turned into a ball of fire.

"Ah—" Sun Jian finally screamed. The horrifying scene before him left him unable to move a muscle, and he cowered into the corner of the wall.

The Fireball burned onto a small work cart nearby. The flames would continue to burn, consuming the entire morgue, consuming the entire building. Sun Jian trembled; he knew he could not escape.

To his surprise, the boy watched the female corpse being swallowed by the great fire and stayed quietly for only three seconds, as if silently mourning. Then, he rushed toward him and grabbed his arm, dragging him up. He was an adult man of average size; he did not know why the boy had such immense strength. His legs were still soft, unable to support his weight like noodles. The boy gave him a tug, and upon discovering he could not stand, actually dragged him straight out by his arm.

The heavy door opened automatically before them. The boy dragged him out of the door, as if there were something that terrified the boy immensely. Sun Jian was terrified out of his wits; fear burrowed into his chest like a hungry ghost, clutching his heart tightly. The sound of his heartbeat was like a beating drum. He could hear nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat.

As soon as they walked out of the door, the boy flung him into the corner of the corridor wall, as if shouting something at him. Thick smoke and the nauseating smell of burning corpses seeped out from the door crack. He wanted to run, but the feeling of being paralyzed by a nightmare was even stronger than before. He was so scared that he wept bitterly, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Run!" Luo Qi roared again. The Gatekeeper did not react; the man was already finished.

Luo Qi knew he had no chance left. The man standing in the middle of the corridor holding a cane looked at him gloomily.

"Luo Qi," the man said, savoring the feeling of the name leaving his lips, as if "Luo Qi" were also a Secret Language, and reciting it was like casting a Curse.

Luo Qi did not speak. He stood in front of the morgue door, thick smoke constantly seeping out from the cracks.

The man in black looked behind him, likely knowing that there was nothing left to burn inside and that there was no point in hoping for anything more.

"It seems I was negligent after all," the man in black said.

His voice was different from the last time Luo Qi had heard it. Luo Qi suspected that none of them were his real voice, just as his appearance was different this time. But whenever Luo Qi tried to look closely, he could never see his face clearly, as if he had suddenly become severely nearsighted.

"What did you find on the dead person?" the man in black asked him.

"I forgot," Luo Qi said, cautiously staring at this man nicknamed the Clownfish.

The man in black stared at him. The contest of Yajian took place in a thousandth of a second. Luo Qi successfully resisted the Clownfish's attack on his deep Yajian; he failed to fully pry open Luo Qi's brain. His risky attack on Luo Qi's brain only caught a glimpse of his shallow Yajian. In Luo Qi's surface memory, he saw absolutely nothing related to the female corpse.

The genius boy revealed a wicked smile, "Interesting, isn't it?"

He stared at Luo Qi in astonishment.

Luo Qi continued, "As for what happened in the morgue behind me, even I don't remember."

The man in black gazed into his eyes, silently evaluating. He realized that the boy was not lying; the boy standing here at this moment truly did not remember what had happened in the morgue. Perhaps he did not even remember that he was the one who had set the fire. He smiled gloomily, "Hiding it in your deep Yajian—truly well done."

"When I have time, I will pick a quiet moment when no one is bothering me to dig this matter out," Luo Qi laughed.

"I hope you have the time," the man in black said gently. He was a refined and courteous man, yet he was like a hurricane. He always stood in the quiet and peaceful area at the center of the hurricane, yet wherever he went, he stirred up world-destroying gales, not hesitating to destroy the entire world.

His words cast a layer of ice over Luo Qi's heart. As a counterattack, Luo Qi smiled and said, "However, after seeing that female corpse, I suddenly realized where you came from, Mr. Clownfish."

The man in black looked at him steadily, though one hand tightened around his cane, "Is that so?"

"Yes," Luo Qi said brazenly, "You are a man with a lot of style; I admire you."

The man in black smiled slightly and accepted the boy's tall talk, "Thank you for your admiration."

He looked around, ignoring the trembling Gatekeeper, appearing as if he were looking for someone. Luo Qi knew he was just putting on a show. He was also a Mind Mage; he knew what a Mind Mage's field of vision was like. They did not need to rely on their eyes to find people.

"Your friend didn't come with you today?" the man in black asked.

Luo Qi laughed, spirited and with a touch of innocence, "A little afraid of him? My brother is amazing, right? Much stronger than Zhao Jiaozhu."

The man in black smiled amusedly. "But he is not here. You are ultimately alone. You know his life fire—every bit used is a bit less—and you can only use him sparingly, just like Pei Shu, using the best steel on the blade's edge."

This was also a retaliatory strike at the heart. A Mind Mage's attacks were always most effective when accompanied by the heaviest mental blows. Both were circling each other invisibly, cautiously looking for the moment the other would waver.

Luo Qi was still young; a look of pain instantly flooded his face. He opened his mouth and actually choked up in front of his enemy, "It was you who attacked him when he wasn't even an adult."

"So what? This is war. Was I supposed to let such a genius grow into a true warrior? But then again, the fact that he managed to barely persist until adulthood—I think Great Mage Luo Ruian must have had a hand in that," the man in black said with a double meaning.

However, Luo Qi could no longer care about his threats; he couldn't help but follow up, "Persist until adulthood?"

"Oh—" the man in black realized, "You didn't know. Perhaps you are too useless; they have always treated you like a child, so they didn't tell you the truth that he won't live for many more days. I am not like them; I know how fast your real age is growing. I respect my opponents, so I am willing to point out a way to help you resolve this matter."

"You will point it out to me?" Luo Qi asked blankly.

"Of course," the man in black smiled, "I suggest that after Du Zhengyi dies, you wipe out all your memories of this friend, just like you forgot what happened in the morgue. Aren't you quite good at playing these mind games?"

In an instant, a dull pain sliced through Luo Qi's chest. Even knowing this was retaliation and an attack against him, the pain of losing his dearest friend and completely forgetting him still tore him apart. The Clownfish's attack hit at the right moment, following his pain like a shadow. Luo Qi's head began to ache violently, but he simultaneously launched his own attack. When the Clownfish launched his strike, he discovered that Luo Qi had no defenses at all, because all of his Yajian Zhili was being used to attack.

In the moment their Yajian Zhili collided, he read Luo Qi's furious train of thought—there was simply no way to win, no way to defend, and no other choice but to go all-in on the attack.

What Luo Qi read was a string of shock; the Clownfish simply did not believe he had such courage, nor did he believe he would be this stupid.