Chapter 70: Battle of Yajian (1)

Du Zhengyi threw Huangmao, who had finally passed out, onto the floor, turned back to face the cold and gloom filling the entire corridor, and could not help but shiver.

He ignored Luo Qi's two dolls, and sure enough, those two things did not come to pester him either.

He hesitated when he saw Qi Yue's corpse at the doorway; a roomful of malice surged endlessly from behind the female corpse. Such cold was unbearable, but the person creating it might not be able to bear it either. He anxiously tried to look behind the female corpse; the most serious problem was right here—he could not see Luo Qi.

He ignored the phantom of the female corpse. Even though the cold, hard sensation on his hands when he pushed the female corpse aside was so real, Du Zhengyi knew it was merely a Shield Luo Qi had created to protect himself. He scanned his room, knowing Luo Qi was in this very room, yet he could not see him because Luo Qi had finally begun to output Yajian in reverse.

He could see the quilt he had tossed at the foot of the bed after getting up, and he could also see Luo Qi's bedding bundled under the desk, everything just as it was when he left in the morning, only now the bedding on the floor was empty.

"Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi sighed, "this really is an existential nightmare."

No one answered him, even though he had said something so human.

"Luo Qi." He tried to focus his energy to call him, believing that Luo Qi's Yajian was everywhere and he must be able to feel it.

The only response remained the silence of the room, while a gale blew in from the window smashed open behind him, whistling angrily in the corridor as if it were Luo Qi's rage. Du Zhengyi faced the inside of the room, yet he felt a powerful pressure from the wind-sheltered room behind him, that invisible force pressing down on his spine. He resisted this force and took a step forward; just then, there was sudden movement behind him.

He was startled and just about to turn his head, but then he reacted and firmly restrained himself; he knew it wasn't real. However, he clearly felt a cold, hard body pressed tightly against his spine, and without needing to think, he knew what it was. A woman's small hand rested on his shoulder, the nails cyan, the fingers withered and thin, the blue-black skin stretched tight over the dried flesh within.

He sighed, not even bothering to shake off the hand. In his room, only he and the invisible Luo Qi existed; perhaps they were even face-to-face right now. But just then, he heard a clear laugh by his ear—it was a woman's charming yet withered and cold laughter, mocking him at the perfect moment.

"Luo Qi, stop," Du Zhengyi murmured like a sigh. Luo Qi was actually such a natural master of manipulating Yajian; a battle of Yajian was like this—attacking the other's heart while creating an incredibly realistic scene. The more realistic the scene, the weaker the opponent's Yajian, and the harder it became to distinguish truth from falsehood. Until the end, when the false was taken as true and the true became false, the person being attacked could no longer escape the trap of Yajian, and their whole being would become like a walking corpse, their spirit trapped in a dead loop and gradually withering away.

Unknowingly, a wave of sadness pierced Du Zhengyi's heart, like rain falling in a courtyard on a Sunday afternoon. He stood under the eaves with nowhere to go, the rain drifting onto his face like tears. Gradually, he heard a burst of leaping violin music; the music had not a shred of emotion, like rain falling endlessly into this world, as if describing the absurd rhythm of this world.

He suddenly remembered: the one playing the violin was a child. His parents' blood flowed everywhere on the first floor, and they had already breathed their last, yet the child was playing the violin on the second floor.

But where was he at that time? Was he the outsider standing in the courtyard, or was he that child who kept playing the violin on the second floor?

In a flash, he suddenly came to his senses, realizing he was a man who had just reached adulthood, standing in his own room with tears on his face.

"Luo Qi," he called out, but the world still did not answer him.

But Du Zhengyi already understood that this was not sadness that belonged to him. He remembered that young Lotus Burner, the one called Jin Yu. She was not an Advanced Telepath, but she was quite gifted at controlling people's emotions and took pride in it. But Luo Qi was clearly an Advanced Telepath, and furthermore, he was gifted at controlling people's emotions.

Illusions might be escaped, but the infiltration of emotions could traverse layers of barriers, striking directly at the depths of the heart and evoking emotions that did not belong to oneself. Then, perhaps he would lower his own mental Shield himself.

He stood here, his situation already precarious.

Du Zhengyi hesitated; just at this moment, the female ghost behind him quietly withdrew her hand. Du Zhengyi watched in surprise as she pulled back and retreated, clearly yielding the doorway.

He realized that Luo Qi did not intend to trap anyone here. He could pull away and leave without suffering any harm. He hesitated for a moment, thinking clearly about what the consequences for Luo Qi would be if he left. His Yajian had already expanded and spread to a vast extent; perhaps it was fear that made him pray for the most primitive power deep within his heart. This power had existed since he was an infant, yet he had never learned how to harness and manage it. What he had awakened was like a primitive beast sleeping deep in his mind; he might still have a little self-awareness now, but it was almost impossible for him to pull this power back in.

He would suffer torment here alone. He did not know to what extent Luo Qi's power would expand, but he could be certain that no other Mage would dare approach here. Luo Qi might die from physical exhaustion or fall completely into madness.

He cursed under his breath, slammed the door open, and with a "bang," slammed it shut, locking himself inside.

His irritability and his emotions directed at Luo Qi ignited the Yajian power surging in the room. In an instant, the atmosphere in the room became tense, the light grew dimmer, and more forms struggled and surged in the gloom.

Du Zhengyi knew without looking closely that these would be the most terrifying things from countless memories of Luo Qi and his own.

Before things developed to the point of total ruin, he still had a little time. He had to make Luo Qi understand that he had returned. Luo Qi could not hear him and could not recognize him; there was only one possibility: Luo Qi had already hidden himself in the depths of his Yajian, so he could only approach him within the Yajian.

It was just that the only way to do this was for Du Zhengyi himself to lower his mental Shield and let Luo Qi in. However, the result of doing so could also be Du Zhengyi's Yajian being swallowed and torn apart by Luo Qi. Besides this, there was another more likely thing to happen: Luo Qi's attack might not swallow him, but it would cause his old wounds to deteriorate sharply and spiral out of control. These two possible outcomes were, in fact, exactly the same.