Chapter 2249: Chapter Thirty-Four: The Alien Element

Di Lin was left speechless when questioned, and indeed, it was true—she and Su Xiao had no grudge against each other.

In fact, the two of them didn't even know Su Xiao's name; they only knew he came from the Samsara Paradise and was a Dharma-Destroyer.

Actually, Di Lin had merely received orders from her instructor; she and Su Xiao had no real grudge, and as for their opposing stances, if it came from genuine feeling, Di Lin actually hated her instructor more—the Sage Mage Sephilia, who had brought her endless suffering since childhood.

Although she hated her, several facts lay before Di Lin's eyes: the Sage Mage Sephilia had raised her, taught her knowledge, and even passed on the secret art of 'Natural Element Severance' to her.

To give life but not nurture—cutting off fingers can be repaid; to nurture without giving life—hard to repay in a hundred lifetimes.

No matter what, Sephilia had raised Di Lin and taught her knowledge—this Di Lin never forgot. Though her appearance was feminine with a neutral tilt, her conduct leaned more toward the masculine.

The opposition of their stances destined many things.

"Xiu, since you won't help, then just leave."

The elemental fluctuations around Di Lin intensified, and a golden sigil appeared behind her; various cold weapons were generated from golden energy. This golden energy was not a mere superimposition of earth and light elements, but the separation of their characteristics, forming an異元素.

This異元素 was called 'Li' by the Sage Mage Sephilia (in Void Tongue, phonetically translated, originally meaning 'the light that gradually becomes scorching').

The Li element possesses metallic traits—sharp, highly malleable, stable after shaping, high density, and strong controllability.

Moreover, the Li element inherited some properties of the light element; when it comes into contact with vitality, it triggers a magical reaction, producing terrifyingly high heat.

Simply put, the Li element can be shaped arbitrarily, becomes extremely stable after shaping, and is sufficiently tough; when shaped into a cold weapon, as long as it pierces an enemy's body, it reacts magically with the enemy's vitality, releasing intense heat.

Golden light flickered secretly behind Di Lin as longswords and spears materialized one after another.

"Ah, troublesome."

Xiu Ge sighed, black flames rising around him and spreading outward.

"You pirates, lend me your island for a moment—I'll return it later."

As Xiu Ge spoke, ring-shaped black flames spread outward, and pirates burst from nearby taverns or weapon shops—some still shaken, others just waking up in a daze.

The black flames spread at a moderate pace; within about two minutes, they had driven the pirates over a li away.

Seeing this, Xiu Ge leapt onto a stone house and sat upon it.

"Di Lin, as a comrade-in-arms, I'll hold off everyone except him."

Xiu felt helpless—sometimes things are just like this. The Arcane Eternal Star, as the dominant force in the Void, has its factions, and he and Di Lin belong to different ones. Achieving this much already speaks of deep loyalty.

"You power-struggle faction folks are really troublesome."

Di Lin raised her right arm, gripping a thrusting sword that spiraled in shape, as if nothing could block its thrust.

"Here it comes, here it comes—I can feel it."

The smile on Di Lin's face grew ever more 'brilliant'; she slightly lowered her body, and in the next instant, she vanished from her spot.

Boom!

The ground where Di Lin had stood cracked open. As a spellcaster, she actually charged straight at Su Xiao—without casting spells, without buffing herself, and even without her staff.

Di Lin suddenly appeared two meters before Su Xiao, the spiraled thrusting sword in her hand lunging forward.

With a bang, the air blast spread; the sword's tip seemed to tear the air, sending ripples cascading outward.

The sword nearly grazed Su Xiao's ear; he tilted his head slightly, and a few strands of broken black hair fell beside his ear.

"Ah oh~ I'm in trouble."

Almost as the words left his mouth, Di Lin bent one leg, blocking her lower abdomen, and in the next moment, Su Xiao launched a straight kick.

Thud~

Di Lin retreated hastily; Su Xiao gripped the hilt of his waist blade, his aura growing sharper.

'Blade Path Saber·Qing Gui.'

Chime~

A cyan-blue blade flash lashed out, and in Di Lin's eyes, golden light flickered—an oval golden shield appeared before her.

The slash rang crisply; the shield flew far away. Di Lin seized the opening while Qing Gui was blocked, sidestepping to dodge it.

Su Xiao held his sword with one hand, gazing at the enemy over ten meters away. By rights, the opponent should be a mage, but Su Xiao sensed no use of mental power to gather elements or form mage abilities through natural elements.

According to Su Xiao's perception, Di Lin was fighting using some kind of energy from within her own body.

A sobbing sound came from ahead; Su Xiao swung his blade in a diagonal slash, clang—sending a long spear flying. The Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying energy then clung to that golden spear.

Strangely, the spear was not devoured—it merely slanted into the ground, breaking free from Di Lin's control.

"Didn't expect that, huh—can't even devour it."

Di Lin clenched her left fist; the golden spear embedded in the ground flew up again, hovering beside her.

Seeing this, Su Xiao thought of a possibility: the natural elements forming this golden spear had not been interfered with by magic power, so the Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying energy wouldn't devour it—not because it couldn't, but because it chose not to.

Di Lin could likely control it because she had inscribed coordinates or marks on it; just moments ago, that mark was devoured, so she lost control in a short time.

The Dharma-Destroyers were also called Element Guardians; naturally, the Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying energy would not actively devour elements. And it was precisely this point that the Sage Mage Sephilia exploited to create the Li element.

That said, since Di Lin can drive the Li element, she must have some magical circuit or magical energy within her—this is something every spellcaster possesses.

So far in the battle, Di Lin has never cast spells, possesses strong close-combat ability, and wields Li-element weapons that won't be devoured by Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying energy—all of this seems tailored against Dharma-Destroyers.

Di Lin's instructor is the Sage Mage Sephilia, and Sephilia harbors extreme hatred toward Dharma-Destroyers.

Thinking this way, Di Lin must have been specially trained by Sephilia to counter Dharma-Destroyers, which is why she nearly abandoned all spellcaster traits in battle.

Unfortunately, whether it's Sephilia or Di Lin, they overlooked one issue: Su Xiao comes from the Samsara Paradise, and the enemies he's faced there are far more numerous than mere mage-types.

In Su Xiao's understanding, mage-types are simply too weak against slashing—they die after just a few exchanges.

Di Lin is not a traditional spellcaster; she doesn't cast spells at all—this is actually a compromise, showing that Sephilia failed to develop any ability specifically against Dharma-Destroyers.

As for why, the answer is simple: ask, how were the Dharma-Destroyers' abilities developed? Answer: the early Dharma-Destroyers experimented on themselves, accumulated, and precipitated.

Among the first dozen or so generations of Dharma-Destroyers, those who died developing their abilities numbered dozens, even hundreds of times more than those who died in battle—and it was precisely this that forged the Dharma-Destroyers' strength.

Not only that, when one guards a world's elemental balance, they receive that world's gift—as Su Xiao did in the Wizard World.

Know this: back then, he had only eliminated three ancient gods, who parasitized that world, yet had not reached the point of causing the natural elements to collapse completely.

But the situations handled by the early Dharma-Destroyers were far worse than in the Wizard World; after their success, the worlds saved from the brink of destruction would repay the Dharma-Destroyers with what gratitude?

Some things, even if the era of the Anti-Magic Ones ended a thousand years ago, are not so easily caught up to; the strength of the Anti-Magic Ones was forged by their predecessors using themselves as test subjects, constantly developing and refining their abilities, and also by the world's gifts—countless gifts, so numerous they cannot be counted—these combined forged the strength of the Anti-Magic Ones.

Su Xiao's thoughts were clear at that moment, when the spiral thrust sword came stabbing straight at him.

Ding!

The long blade lay horizontally before Su Xiao; Di Lin, holding the spiral thrust sword, stopped in front of him, the sword tip piercing the blade of Dragon-Slaying Flash.

Azure Qing Qing Gang Ying energy surged forward, instantly attaching to the spiral thrust sword.

Pa-la!

The spiral thrust sword exploded apart; Azure Qing Qing Gang Ying energy is not incapable of devouring natural elements, and as an Anti-Magic One's ability, in most cases it does not actively devour natural elements—let alone the fact that the spiral thrust sword was formed from an alien element.

Zheng.

The long blade nearly grazed Di Lin's neck as it swept past; she strained to lean back, and the spiral thrust sword in her hand shattered.

Di Lin's eyes widened, filled with disbelief, while simultaneously questioning her life.

The misfortune she suffered in childhood was all for obtaining the Dawn Element, and all of this was aimed at preparing for the possible appearance of Anti-Magic Ones.

Now, the Anti-Magic Ones have truly appeared, yet her Dawn Element weapon collapsed after just two exchanges with the enemy, and along with it, Di Lin's mindset also shattered—she was bleeding out emotionally.