Chapter 436: Mind Mage vs. Battle Mage

"Are you going to kill me? I advise you not to do that." Luo Qi observed his surroundings anxiously while still managing to stall with his mouth. He now realized that Chi Yu was indeed acting strangely, and Wen Lin must have seen it long ago, which was why she had tried to find a way to warn Du Zhengyi and him to be on guard. "I advise you to think it over again. If you kill me, Du Zhengyi will definitely know. No matter what you think, if I die, Du Zhengyi will certainly come back to investigate thoroughly. If the stuff in your skull hasn't melted yet, you should know that what I'm saying is true."

Chi Yu turned a deaf ear to his words. Luo Qi finally understood why the Qionglin used elite Mages like Du Zhengyi to catch the mentally ill.

"I can give you a way to have a fair duel. You are a Mind Mage, so use your tricks, and I will use my blade." Chi Yu said pompously, and a long blade appeared in his hand.

Luo Qi stared at him. He stood before him holding the long blade, a full head taller than Luo Qi; backlit, he looked like a Grim Reaper who had grown too tall from overeating.

"No Mind Mage would have a one-on-one duel with a high-level Battle Mage," Luo Qi said indignantly. The Mind Shields of Battle Mages were exceptionally sturdy, not to mention that they would all receive some degree of enhancement from high-level Mind Mages. In the final analysis, a warrior's will was incomparably firm.

Chi Yu revealed a cruel smile; he didn't care about fairness. He had followed Luo Qi just to make him pay the price.

"Yeah, you lot can only stand behind the asses of Battle Mages," he said contemptuously.

Luo Qi felt the biting murderous intent once again.

"Mind Mage, pfft!" He spat on the ground. Luo Qi couldn't help but flinch, as if he had been the one spat upon. Chi Yu looked at him viciously, chewing the second half of his sentence between his teeth, "The most fucking disgusting thing!"

Luo Qi keenly felt that he had caught onto something. Chi Yu's resentment was deep-seated and long-standing; he was bellicose and aggressive, not just holding a grudge against Luo Qi for their minor conflict, but vaguely venting his hatred for all Mind Mages.

Luo Qi took another step back, his heel hitting a cactus, making him wince. "Damn it, I don't really want to suffer this, I could defeat you without any effort if I wanted to."

This sounded like bragging no matter how one heard it. Chi Yu burst into a burst of dull laughter, basically the most boring laughter Luo Qi had ever heard in his life.

"Why do you think I ran here? Because I'm an idiot?" Luo Qi looked up and scanned his surroundings. It was empty and desolate here; people mostly liked temperate forests, and some were obsessed with tropical climates, but no one went to deserts or swamps. Since Luo Qi couldn't breathe through gills, he couldn't dive into the water of swamps or lakes, so he had reluctantly chosen the uninhabited desert.

Chi Yu didn't bother with small talk. Luo Qi clearly saw the muscles on his arms tense up, the blade edge shifted slightly, and a bloody murderous intent arrived overhead, faster than the blade itself. Luo Qi could almost clearly perceive the immediate future: Chi Yu would likely have two choices—give him a heart-piercing blow to make his heart fly, or hack his neck open like a chicken. This brutal, hulking Mage was just so lacking in aesthetic sense, completely different from Du Zhengyi.

"Wait!" Luo Qi shouted. Chi Yu hesitated for a moment. Luo Qi focused his mind to sense his surroundings; dune connected to dune, there was not a trace of human Yajian, and there was no one else besides the two of them. Luo Qi felt aggrieved; he was about to die, and if Du Zhengyi were still nearby, he should have come out to help by now.

He didn't know why he held onto such a thought; perhaps it was because when people face bad news, they are always unable to believe it is true at the very first moment. He knew his subconscious believed Du Zhengyi would not leave; he could not betray him or abandon him because of some order or some bullshit mission.

"Are you using your imagination to call for help from the air?" Chi Yu squinted at him. Luo Qi thought that Chi Yu must be similar to Du Zhengyi, possessing basic Telepathy; perhaps the basic requirements for Battle Mages were all about the same. He felt the scream of Luo Qi calling for help in the spiritual world. He tilted his head to listen, "Praying?"

Luo Qi's lips trembled, and he muttered, "I am indeed praying."

But his prayer went unanswered. Above his head was a clear, cloudless sky. Both the Mind Mage and the Battle Mage knew there was no one here. A twisted smile appeared on Chi Yu's face. "What? The Great Dali Cat King, not taking out your phone to start a livestream? Guess what I'm going to do to you? Maybe I won't kill you, I'll just slit your mouth open and make you a real harelipped freak, just like the illusion you created that day."

Luo Qi felt a wave of nausea. He kept his head tilted toward the sun, and soon he felt dizzy. "No, you will definitely kill me to silence me."

"You guessed right," Chi Yu laughed.

"Wait," Luo Qi called out again. He was starting to become hysterical now; the pain lurking in his heart only now triggered a normal reaction, and he was about to break down. Du Zhengyi had already been taken away, and his life was completely under the control of the Qionglin; he finally understood everything completely. His face was gloomy and ugly, and his cat in his pocket kept screaming, struggling restlessly to jump out. Luo Qi covered his cat and said, "I've had enough. You want to spar with me, right? Whether I'm a Mind Mage or not, I can defeat you in one move. I didn't make a move earlier because I didn't want to. Once I do, you won't have any room to parry."

Chi Yu's eyes narrowed even further, his expression stiff, completely stunned. "Do you rely on bragging to be valued by the Qionglin? Du Zhengyi wasn't defeated by your trash talk, was he? How can someone as childish as you exist?"

"You think I'm a charlatan?" Luo Qi said angrily, incensed.

Chi Yu didn't say a word; who the hell could respond to Luo Qi in this situation?

Luo Qi angrily began to chant a Spell and Secret Language. Chi Yu heard what he was chanting but didn't move, not wanting to defend at all. The words Luo Qi was chanting were written in the Third Grade textbook; they had no great offensive power and were completely standard weather Magic. A Mage like Du Zhengyi, who liked to adjust subtle weapons, might use Lightning Technique, but Luo Qi was invoking Frost Magic.

Chi Yu watched as the earth froze and snow condensed in the air. The cold extended down the dune, turning the ground beneath his feet into permafrost. Patches of cacti and succulents turned into crystal ice art. Chi Yu opened his mouth, and the air he exhaled turned into white mist. He furrowed his thick brows and twisted his face to mock Luo Qi, "The power is not bad, being able to create such a large drop in temperature, and it's actually quite romantic. Are you stupid?"

Luo Qi glared at him, "Go to hell, the most important thing for humans is wisdom."

"You plan to freeze me to death?" Chi Yu said in astonishment. The current temperature was about minus twenty degrees; there was still a long time before he would freeze to death, and there was plenty of time for him to slit Luo Qi's mouth open, not to mention he had ways to keep himself warm.

"SB," Luo Qi said, covering his cat, afraid of freezing it to death. "I'm trying to freeze the cacti to death."

"What?" Chi Yu asked. He didn't have time to finish his sentence; at that very moment, Teleportation occurred at at least ten points around them. His gruff voice couldn't help but roar, "What?"

Ten Highland Mages appeared around them simultaneously, surrounding them tightly. For the first time, Luo Qi saw Highland Mages lose their temper. The leader, Kawa, said angrily, "Who lowered the temperature here? Why are you destroying the precious plants of the Highland?"

Chi Yu was completely stunned. Luo Qi secretly gave him a cold sneer, instantly changing into a panicked appearance, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Help! Murder! He's trying to kill me!"