Chapter 357: I Know a Little About Everything (12)

Silver Sand City is an earthen city built on low sandbars.

Low, dry, and filthy everywhere; when the wind blows, dust fills the sky again.

Those who survive here may go without clothing, but they must always wrap a towel around their head, which can shade them, wipe sweat, and cover mouth and nose to block dust.

In the northern suburbs of the city, Luosen and Tilalilin stand shoulder to shoulder on a dirt slope, looking ahead at the earthen city.

After a while, Luosen commented: "Although quite crude, it's still sizable—over five kilometers across, with at least seventy to eighty thousand people gathered."

At this point, less than ten days remain until the Gate of Creation opens.

Most of the extraplanar explorers have mostly gone north, leaving Silver Sand City much quieter.

Tilalilin's face fell somewhat: "It's practically a ruin; not a trace of the Dawn Empire's glory remains."

There's still a bit.

Luosen pointed to a black Dawn Guard standing at the northern entrance of the city.

Come to think of it, it's also an old acquaintance of yours. If we enter the city, will it recognize you?

The intel shows there are twenty of these black Dawn Guards, which is a big problem.

Tilalilin shook her head: "Don't worry, I've altered all my identifiable features; it won't recognize me."

Having said that, she led the way down the slope: "Let's go, we're entering the city."

Luosen immediately followed up: "Do you sense the location of the memory artifact?"

"It's a bit clearer than before, but I still can't pinpoint it precisely; we need to get closer."

Luosen, however, wasn't too keen on risking entry into the city.

"You said the memory artifact is a 22-ring divine artifact, so ordinary high-energy weapons probably can't damage it, right?"

Tilalilin instantly understood Luosen's plan: "Your Majesty, do you intend to scour this city with high-energy power?"

Luosen didn't deny it either: "I will always keep it as a backup option."

He is no benevolent saint; if the situation demands it, he will use it.

Tilalilin felt no empathy for the ashen city before her; she had witnessed high-energy war before and was not surprised by Luosen's idea.

But she raised objections from a practical standpoint.

Your Majesty, high-energy weapons—for instance, the fusion explosion bomb you wield—reach extreme intensity at their detonation center; a direct hit could destroy any artifact.

Moreover, although high-energy weapons are immensely powerful, for every spear there is a shield; the Empire possesses many high-energy magics capable of defending against such weapons, and I am sure Xisailuo would have thought of this and taken appropriate measures.

Even aside from him, even I, who has lost much of my memory, can think of many ways to defend against fusion explosion bombs—for example, burying them deep underground, or hiding them inside a Dawn Guard's protection cabin.

Luosen was convinced, spreading his hands: "All right, I was ignorant."

Soon after, the two reached the outskirts of Silver Sand City.

The earthen city had no walls, so there were many openings for free passage, but the townspeople were highly vigilant; any stranger entering would be regarded as an outsider by the locals.

After walking a while, Luosen sent a soul whisper: "The city is too small; our movements are watched by countless people, leaving nowhere to hide."

Those staring eyes gave him a sense of déjà vu, as if he had returned to his rural hometown for New Year in a past life.

But this time, the usually talkative Tilalilin did not respond.

Her face darkened, her gaze unfocused, and she walked as if in a dream.

Luosen immediately noticed something was wrong, quickly grabbed her arm and shook it: "What's happening?"

Tilalilin's body trembled slightly, and her scattered gaze refocused.

"I just had a temporal duel with Xisailuo; he knows I've come, but hasn't pinpointed my exact location. Yet Silver Sand City will soon be on full alert."

Luosen frowned slightly: "Then are you certain of the memory artifact's location?"

"I am certain the artifact is near Xisailuo, less than five kilometers from us. But I haven't yet found a specific hiding place."

Tilalilin sighed.

"I don't know how he discovered my secret, nor when he did. But one thing is certain: to recover all my memories, I must utterly defeat Xisailuo."

At this point, Luosen had already detected nearby changes through the void vision.

The black Dawn Guards in the city began to activate, and the city guards started scouring the streets for outsiders.

A dangerous surge was rapidly rushing toward their position.

For this, Luosen naturally had prepared contingency plans.

In fact, depending on the situation, he had devised many counterstrategies, including legion sorties and nuclear ground sweeps, etc.

But given the current circumstances, large-scale military action is not yet necessary.

He intended to take advantage of the enemy's incomplete reaction to attempt a lightning strike.

The first step of the assault was to ensure he had a safe retreat.

While the black Dawn Guards were not yet fully activated, Luosen began using ghost resonance to link with the Dawn Guards under their control and set corresponding combat commands.

Although they had only one Dawn Guard, it possessed an advantage the other Dawn Guards lacked: it was loaded with a full kilogram of solar essence, giving it far greater power than the black Dawn Guards.

When needed, this Dawn Guard could enter a higher-intensity combat mode on emergency.

Of course, unless absolutely necessary, Luosen would not unleash this trump card lest it scare Xisailuo away.

Immediately afterward, he grabbed Tilalilin's hand and hurried into a side passage entrance.

These passages ran very deep, reaching at least 1,000 meters underground, with numerous passages intersecting to form an underground city resembling a maze.

Their main purpose was to evade law ring storms and harsh weather; they were dug out generation after generation by the Empire's surviving remnants.

Underground Silver Sand City is much cooler than the surface, making it quite lively—even livelier than above ground.

The passage walls were lined with many glowing crystals; pedestrians could be seen from time to time, mostly locals of Silver Sand City, with a small portion being travelers from elsewhere.

Luosen and Tilalilin naturally attracted considerable attention, but not more than they would on the surface.

Luosen rushed deep into the underground passage at great speed, seemingly heedless of direction.

After running for a while, Tīlālìlín became a bit dazed: "Where are we going?"

Although her power has already risen to the Legendary 19th Extreme, matching Luosen's level, her void‑vision range is far smaller than Luosen's, and far less clear.

In this current situation, she can only see clearly within less than 200 meters around her.

In contrast, Luosen can see clearly out to about 2 kilometers, almost covering half a city.

He, of course, is not running recklessly.

He runs while speaking in a low voice.

"Of course, before Xi Sai Luo reacts, we find his hideout through the underground passage."

After speaking he adds, "During this time you'd better not use time spells, lest we expose our position."

These past days he also learned some basics of time magic from Ti La Li Lin, gaining a general idea of how to counter time‑magic probing.

But it's only basic knowledge, and he still can't master it.

Because time magic itself is extremely profound, it also requires a mysterious time talent to support it.

According to Ti La Li Lin, when the Dawn Empire had 8 billion people, fewer than 2,000 possessed this talent, and only seven ultimately reached the Master Realm.

On the other hand Ti La Li Lin was still confused: "If we don't use time spells, I can't pinpoint Xi Sai Luo's exact location."

"But he also can't determine your position, right?"

"Right."

"Very well, then tell me what Xi Sai Luo looks like, or any obvious features."

"Sorry, too much time has passed, I don't know." Luosen wasn't disappointed either: "Alright, then we can only go ask Silver Sand City Lord Ba Li Er for directions."

He saw clearly that the fellow was in a spacious underground hall about 1,800 meters ahead of them.

A rather winding underground tunnel directly connects the two sides.

Even without spells, relying on his divine body and superhuman stamina to sprint all the way takes less than a minute.

Moreover, for safety's sake, they currently cannot use spells.

Because once they use spells, they might be detected and targeted by awakened Black Dawn Sentinels.

Ti La Li Lin ran alongside Luosen, saying, "Xi Sai Luo is hidden deep; City Lord Ba Li Er might not know his location."

"You're right, but do you have a better method?"

"No."

"If not, just follow my lead."

Without causing chaos, they ran forward as fast as possible for a kilometer, and guards began to appear in the tunnel ahead.

The guards were on alert but not highly vigilant, continuously screening travelers in the tunnel.

In this situation, it's hard to get through by ordinary means.

Ti La Li Lin grew uneasy: "Your Majesty, the plan has changed; perhaps we should retreat temporarily and devise a better tactic."

"If the plan fails, I will retreat, but not now."

Luosen stopped running, led Ti La Li Lin to a recessed, secluded corner, got intimate, and whispered softly.

"Don't move, cooperate with me."

Ti La Li Lin didn't know Luosen's plan, but had no better option, so she complied, letting his hand probe inside her clothing.

To make it more realistic and draw the guards' attention, Luosen deliberately tore her clothing, exposing a white thunderclaw to the air.

Moments later, two guards arrived beside them.

Seeing the situation, the two instinctively relaxed their guard.

Just as they were about to question them, Luosen spun like lightning, a deep violet flash on his hand, "puff—puff" twice, each guard's side of the head struck once.

The two guards fell silent, their bodies going limp as they were about to collapse.

It was a pocket‑sized Spell‑Breaking Nail Hammer, crafted for Luosen by the Natural Empire's High‑Energy Laboratory, modeled after the Dawn Sentinel's Spell‑Breaking Blade.

Its powerful spell‑breaking property sliced through the guards' magical talismans as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Because it is a blunt weapon, it didn't cause a spray of blood.

Nevertheless, the two guards' skulls were shattered, part of their brain crushed, and they died on the spot.

Luosen quickly lifted his hand, seized the collapsing guard, pressed him against the wall to hold him, then pulled Ti La Li Lin onward.

After running a dozen steps, she finally reacted, tugging her clothing to cover herself while asking, "Your Majesty, aren't you a mage? How can you wield a nail hammer?"

Luosen smiled, "I've learned a bit of everything."

"A bit. Is that a bit?"

She herself couldn't, but her gaze was razor‑sharp.

The two guards just now possessed eight‑ring souls, their aura extremely robust, surely skilled, yet they were killed by Luosen at a glance, not even having time to scream.

So this is fundamentally a Master‑level cold‑weapon combat art.

She vaguely felt that, in close combat, perhaps even Beilu Dandi wouldn't match Luosen.

Luosen, of course, wouldn't explain that this was Laifu's Heart of the War God effect, and that only raised the latter's appraisal of his talent again.

Later on the road, Luosen repeatedly encountered four waves of inspecting guards.

Because the underground tunnel was narrow and dim, Luosen silently killed all those guards with his Spell‑Breaking Nail Hammer.

No matter how skilled the guards, even legendary warriors, the combat made no difference; it was a single hammer blow.

And from start to finish, Luosen never used any spells, so naturally he didn't attract the Black Dawn Sentinels.

About five minutes later, the two arrived at a considerably more spacious underground tunnel.

In the tunnel stood two rows of ten guards each, left and right.

These were elite guards; each was a legendary warrior.

They wore fine sand‑lizard hide armor, with unknown hard metal plates covering vital spots.

Their weapons also far outclassed ordinary guards: a bizarre artifact‑fragment shield in the left hand, and an artifact‑fragment spear in the right, usable for both offense and defense.

One could still feel that there were two people in the hall at the end of the passage.

One of them had a tenacious soul with Legendary 10 strength, matching the description of the city lord Ba Lier by the saintly scout.

The other person had Legendary 19 strength, but lacked a divine body, and their exact identity is unknown.

Luosen quickly wrote on Ti Lalilin's hand back: 'Is the memory artifact in the hall?'

Ti Lalilin shook her head, likewise writing back: 'I can feel that the artifact is very close, but something is interfering with the signal, making precise location difficult.'

Luosen wrote again: 'In the hall ahead, do you know the other person?'

Ti Lalilin wrote back on Luosen's hand: 'I sensed the soul trait of the Sangluo Family.'

That means, that guy is a member of the Black Death God Sangluo Family.

She then wrote again: 'The situation ahead seems tricky, what are you planning to do?'

Luosen replied: 'Give it a try; if it doesn't work, we'll go hard.'

To be frank, the current situation is quite complex and bewildering, but since we're preparing to carry out a lightning strike tactic, we can't worry about so much.

Luosen pulled out a stack of flying knives from under his cloak, exactly ten, likewise made from the materials of the magic-breaking artifact.

Ti Lalilin stared, looking strangely at Luosen, the meaning obvious: 'You can still throw flying knives?'

Luosen's mouth twitched, he said silently: 'I said, I know a little bit of everything.'

Compared to various intricate and tedious spells, the difficulty of close-quarters combat techniques is practically child's play.

Laifu's 'Heart of the War God' requires less than one-ten-thousandth of computing power, enough to make him an unparalleled master of cold-weapon combat.

And the power of cold-weapon combat largely depends on the weapon's strength.

Luosen's magic-breaking flying knives, the upper limit of their magic-breaking performance is naturally far inferior to that of the Dawn Guard's magic-breaking blade, but when dealing with Legendary or lower strength, the effect is hardly different.

He suddenly rolled out from his hiding place, before rising, the flying knives in his hand were flung out violently with momentum.

As he flung them out, his ten fingers minutely adjusted the direction of each flying knife.

'Sssss~~~ puff puff puff~~~'

Like lightning, he flung two waves in succession; ten guards were almost simultaneously hit, collapsing straight to the ground.

Luosen didn't stop, rushing at full speed to the hall's entrance; before revealing himself, he flung something inside.

But they weren't flying knives; they were two magic-breaking spheres.

'Puff puff~'

The two people inside the hall had already heard the commotion outside, but didn't expect the opponent to arrive so quickly.

Before they could even react, their heads were struck by a magic-breaking sphere, knocking them senseless to the ground.

Luosen's powerful divine body granted him speed far beyond that of an ordinary Legendary warrior, and with no magical disturbances, this caused the two inside the hall to fatally misjudge the opponent's strength.

Thus, Luosen obtained two high-ranking captives.

(End of chapter)