Chapter 127: Unexpected Battle

After assassinating Ambassador Yindisi Beckron, Lei Kedun calmly traversed the spirit realm and left the embassy.

The figure of Beckron, who had been quietly drinking and feeling the breeze on the balcony, turned into a thin paper effigy, self‑ignited in the air, leaving no trace.

The corpse, collapsed on the balcony with blood already spreading, only then became visible to the crowd in the hall.

Ah!

The shrieks rose and fell in the hall, prompting the embassy's military officers to arrive and restore order.

Lei Kedun, in a pleasant mood, strolled through the spirit realm, and, both coincidentally and logically, was drawn by the aura of the Undead Realm to the Beikeland Bridge area.

Stepping out of the spirit realm, Lei Kedun saw a familiar figure wearing a double‑breasted pure‑black cleric robe, a soft hat, and dark‑gold hair.

Yinsi Zangweier!

Lei Kedun uttered the other's name.

Yinsi Zangweier, who was communicating with the spirits of this area, was abruptly interrupted by Lei Kedun's sudden appearance and recognized the newcomer.

The next moment, an invisible ripple spread, the surroundings darkened instantly, streetlights were obscured, and deep darkness enveloped the area.

Lei Kedun felt his emotions soothed, becoming desire‑less; the golden flames that had begun to appear dissipated as if they had lost their support.

Several nature spirits materialized in Lei Kedun's vicinity; massive flames rose instantly, accompanied by raging winds, forming a brilliant fire vortex.

Brilliant starlight flickered and surged, bursting from the towering flames; shards of starlight reconvened inside, revealing Lei Kedun's figure.

The once golden hair was scorched to a charred yellow, with some portions completely burnt; the clothes and trousers also bore scorch marks.

As soon as Lei Kedun's form materialized, darkness enveloped him; he sensed a subtle influence on his fate, which was instantly cleansed, as if a defensive mechanism had been triggered.

Without pondering what granted him immunity to the opponent's misfortune, Lei Kedun's right palm swiftly generated a slowly rotating cluster of Star Sand.

One star after another emerged, densely packed and dazzling.

The stars shed successive beams of radiance, enveloping the surrounding area; all nature spirits and undead that tried to approach were dissolved by the starlight, collapsing into nothing.

Within the surrounding darkness, a continuous chant of poetry drifted, serene and soothing, lulling one to sleep. Lei Kedun felt his eyes weakening, as if he would slip into a dream at any moment.

Lei Kedun yanked his own thigh hard, using the pain to stay awake. The next instant, his eyes were veiled by a faint blue‑white glow.

"Frost!" the draconic tongue spat from Lei Kedun's mouth.

Crystal‑clear streams of light fell around, only to be swallowed by darkness. Layer upon layer of ice crystals spread in the gloom, and within a few breaths the area was covered in frost, sprouting countless icicle spikes.

The sudden drop in temperature jolted Lei Kedun's drowsy mind awake.

Seizing the regained clarity, Lei Kedun quickly closed his eyes to meditate, sketching a brass‑colored ring of gears in his mind; as his spirit vibrated, a near‑tangible ring materialized behind him.

Lei Kedun snapped his eyes open; prolonged darkness created by the night‑watch would have left him unable to awaken.

He leaned his body back, arms outstretched as if embracing the sun, and a grand, pure, blazing pillar of light descended from the heavens. The blazing column clashed with the surrounding darkness—one seeking to devour all light, the other to illuminate the dark.

Accompanying the pillar was searing heat; white‑hot flames converged within the glare, resembling a dazzling miniature sun.

Lei Kedun felt his skin cracking from the burn, his hair curling incessantly, as if ready to ignite at any moment.

A figure in a double‑breasted pure‑black cleric robe suddenly appeared behind Lei Kedun; one hand transformed into skeletal white bone and pierced Lei Kedun's chest.

The white‑hot fireball, like a tiny sun, exploded violently, devouring everything. Yinsi Zangweier snapped back to consciousness, his gaze fixed on a burning matchstick.

There was no frost, no flame, no light—the earlier battle had been an illusion!

A paper effigy folded from several pale‑yellow sheets was flung, and the next moment it transformed into a living person.

Just as Yinsi Zangweier was about to pull Lei Kedun into slumber with a lethal strike, he suddenly sensed a deadly threat.

Without hesitation, Yinsi Zangweier turned and stepped into the spirit realm, intending to leave.

A white‑like meteor streaked by, following Yinsi Zangweier's silhouette, and vanished into the spirit realm.

The next instant, a long spear whose tip bore mysterious sigils and whose shaft resembled a branch returned to the paper‑person's grasp. The paper‑person and the spear vanished together, turning several floating sheets of paper into ash that self‑ignited and turned to flying ash.

Lei Kedun stared at the spot where Yinsi Zangweier entered the spirit realm, watching for a while before withdrawing his gaze; the mysterious manifestation of Ganggenier that had just appeared had not killed Yinsi.

"But his injuries should be serious."

Lei Kedun muttered a low phrase, then turned and stepped back into the spirit realm, hurrying toward Thus line: Mingsike Jie.

"That coincidence was way too deliberate, what a terrible script! It can't be that the 0‑08 feather pen arranged this for Yinsi Zangweier, can it?"

"I just happened to pass by, and since Yinsi Zangweier counts as an enemy, he just pulled me over and shot me!"

At the same time, in a hidden room of Beikeland, a classic feather pen continuously wrote in a notebook.

The unlucky Yinsi Zangweier saw an interesting spirit; he wanted to reclaim it, but the erupting aura of the Undead Realm happened to attract the passing A'Er Taiensi.

They clashed outright due to past grudges; the arrogant Yinsi Zangweier, having ascended to Sequence Four and become a demigod, grew overconfident.

A'Er Taiensi is a patron of knowledge and has a mysterious link with the Hidden Sage, granting him methods beyond Yinsi Zangweier's imagination.

The foolish and blind Yinsi Zangweier fell into A'Er Taiensi's trap; the opponent used a mysterious re‑manifestation to destroy his left hand.

The unlucky Yinsi Zangweier, while traversing the spirit realm, encountered a demigod‑level spirit creature wielding storm power; the being disliked the undead aura on Yinsi and expelled him from the spirit realm, causing Yinsi to fall miserably into the icy Tasok River.

"For the unlucky Yinsi Zangweier, that makes perfect sense!"

"The script penned by the great Alesu Huode Zhi Bi is exceedingly logical and perfect; Yinsi Zangweier's today's ordeal created a rift with the great Alesu Huode Zhi Bi, sowing a hidden danger for his tragic future!"

Back on Thus line: Mingsike Jie, Lei Kedun had not yet stepped out of the spirit realm when he heard Kelei En's divination words, and he emerged from the spirit realm, replying:

"Beckron is already dead."

Kelei En's divination coin was caught by an arm that materialized out of nowhere.

Kelei En reflexively stepped back, and after discerning the newcomer's appearance, relaxed. Staring at the suddenly appeared Lei Kedun, he said with displeasure:

"Don't keep appearing out of nowhere before people; a battle just broke out here, and I almost fired a bullet at you."

"Want to guess who I just ran into?"

Lei Kedun reached to touch his slightly singed hair, resonating his spirit, and shattered the hair outright. He then stripped off his tattered coat.

"Weren't you going after Beckron? Aren't the wounds on you from that fight?"

Kelei En, eyeing Lei Kedun's disheveled appearance, asked curiously.

He had just assumed that Lei Kedun's ragged look was due to the assassination of Beckron.

「I encountered Yīnsī·Zànggéwěi'ěr! 」

Léikèdùn uttered a name deeply etched in Kèláiēn's memory.

Kèláiēn's complexion turned extremely ugly:

「What happened? Where is Yīnsī·Zànggéwěi'ěr? 」

「I don't know; knowing wouldn't help, he's already a demigod of the Night Path. 」

Léikèdùn, while speaking, went over Kèláiēn, who was lying face-up on the living room sofa, and told the whole story of his encounter with Yīnsī·Zànggéwěi'ěr.

After hearing that, Kèláiēn's complexion turned very ugly:

「You mean 0-08 directly caused you to inexplicably encounter Yīnsī·Zànggéwěi'ěr and get into a fight? 」

「If there were no other writers interfering at the time, then this would be the only possibility. 」

「I'm not so foolish as to rush up and fight a blatantly malicious demigod upon seeing one. 」

Léikèdùn said with a slight frown.

Speaking of other writers, Léikèdùn reasonably suspected A Meng's older brother, but the other party had no reason to do so.

「Writer? 」

Kèláiēn felt inspired, thinking this term fit 0-08 well; perhaps this is the name of the Audience Pathway Sequence One.

「Um, the Audience Pathway Sequence One writer, also known as the fairy tale writer, whose written stories all become reality, and also has the characteristic that whatever is spoken will be known. 」

「When a person knows Him, He also knows that person, and knows everyone that person has come into contact with. 」

「So, before having secret protection, definitely do not investigate too much. 」

Léikèdùn told Kèláiēn all the writer's information, hoping the other side could take more precautions in this regard. However, A Meng's older brother has likely already noticed Kèláiēn, so it's probably impossible to defend against.

(End of chapter)