Chapter 763

"Dogeza!"

Ao Yulie clapped his hands and said, "Do you know dogeza? It's a posture of apology."

Looking at his beaming, smug expression, he was definitely talking about more than just an apology.

Liu Wuxiu wore a strange expression; just what kind of related information had been instilled into the War Spirits when they were summoned?

Zhao Zilong, isn't your taste in postures a bit too broad? Do you know you'll lose fans acting like this?

Ao Yulie naturally wouldn't care; he wasn't the real Zhao Yun anyway, and what's wrong with a man being a little dissolute? We're all our own people, so there's no need to hide anything.

"Is that so? But she's a Spirit Master, why would she..." Zhuge Liang's confusion was naturally not about the posture.

But why the Spirit Master knelt.

"Yeah, she's clearly the Spirit Master." Liu Wuxiu nodded in agreement, but halfway through he suddenly felt a pang in his heart, a bit sad.

He didn't cry, but tears flowed down.

"The guest bullies the shop, the shop bullies the guest." Zhu Bajie said, making an expanding gesture with his fingers; the water screen magnified, revealing the scene around Hirata Mi as well.

She was in a spacious room.

Although the room was brightly lit, there was a faint, lingering aura of darkness winding around.

Especially about ten meters in front of Hirata Mi, it had completely sunk into darkness.

Hirata Mi didn't utter a word, just kneeling there in dogeza.

"Can you see inside?" Tang Luo asked.

Zhu Bajie narrowed his eyes: "To peek isn't impossible, but it's extremely likely to be discovered."

"Then forget it." Tang Luo waved his hand.

This time, we're playing the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

After a while, the darkness in front of Hirata Mi churned, and a figure walked out from within.

It was a red-clothed, red-haired youth, peerlessly handsome, looking about the same age as Tang Luo, this "Lu Bu."

That red robe looked a bit like a bathrobe, worn loosely and sloppily by him.

He looked somewhat lazy.

He walked up to Hirata Mi, crouched down, and gently lifted her chin: "Raise your head."

Hirata Mi raised her head following his movement, the fearful unease on her face gradually disappearing, revealing infatuation for this youth.

"Don't be afraid." The red-haired youth gently caressed Hirata Mi's face, "The Lord isn't angry."

"Just don't make such a foolish mistake next time. The Lord doesn't care who the enemy is. He needs to know where they are, make them unable to escape. Understand?"

Hirata Mi nodded: "I know, I'll definitely investigate properly, absolutely won't be discovered again."

"Mm, go." The red-clothed youth stood back up, retreating into the thick fog.

Hirata Mi retreated respectfully on her hands and knees, only standing up once she reached the door, pushing it open and leaving.

"Do Spirit Masters all end up this miserable?" Ao Yulie couldn't help but look at Liu Wuxiu.

This "all" was used very subtly.

Liu Wuxiu scratched his hair, his expression somewhat grave: "Although the Hirata Family is reclusive, their strength isn't weak, and Hirata Mi wouldn't be a weakling either."

As a Spirit Master, one is usually in a leadership position.

Even if a War Spirit's strength surpasses the Spirit Master, it's still the same.

Unless the gap is truly too vast, the Spirit Master won't have any say, even becoming a role almost like a servant, like Hirata Mi.

Or, like Liu Wuxiu, the summoned War Spirits are just too outrageous, and he can't control them at all.

He can only let them do as they please.

"So that means the War Spirit she summoned is very strong." Ao Yulie was quite interested.

"Absolutely very strong." Liu Wuxiu said, "Good thing we were decisive, otherwise..."

Otherwise, that whatever "Lord" would be dead.

Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie thought to themselves.

"The backdoor you left, it won't be discovered, right?" Liu Wuxiu looked at Zhu Bajie; he really didn't want to be targeted first by that unknown powerful enemy.

Best to let the other Spirit Masters and Hirata Mi's group mutually destroy each other, then go out and pick up the pieces at the end.

And the only reliable candidate to pull off this operation was the old schemer Sima Yi.

"It won't." Zhu Bajie was full of confidence.

"Good, then we'll lie low!" Liu Wuxiu clenched his left fist, waved it hard twice, saying the most cowardly words with the most arrogant tone, "Let them mutually destroy each other first, then we make a move at the end, settling everything in one stroke!"

Translated, that means "I'm bad so I chicken out first, you're strong so you fight first."

For this, Liu Wuxiu soon threw himself into work.

He made a spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet listed the currently known Spirit Master and War Spirit intel—

Valentine, first-rate expert, War Spirit unknown, not to be provoked.

Sun Hongyun, first-rate expert, War Spirit unknown, not to be provoked.

Qin Wushuang, first-rate expert, War Spirit unknown, not to be provoked.

Hirata Mi, second-rate expert, confirmed War Spirit is a red-clothed youth, identity unknown, additionally has a powerful War Spirit, identity unknown, not to be provoked.

Ao Yulie leaned over to look: "Xiu, you've got a lot of 'not to be provoked' on here."

"Can't help it, I'm weak." Liu Wuxiu sighed.

His own strength really wasn't strong.

If he put himself on the spreadsheet too, he'd probably be rated "eighteenth-rate weakling."

"Doesn't matter, we're strong, you just lie there." Ao Yulie said.

"Mm." Zhuge Liang nodded. "My Lord, rest assured — we will surely help you achieve final victory."

Liu Wuxiu was a little moved; in everything, one fears comparison.

Compared to Hirata Mi, his Battle Spirit was simply a "Battle Spirit with a conscience."

"Let's eat first, I'm hungry. How about you?" Tang Luo stood up and said.

"Eh, do Battle Spirits still need to eat?" Liu Wuxiu asked in puzzlement.

"They can not eat, but there's no need to." Tang Luo said.

Battle Spirits can naturally eat normally; of course, not eating has no effect on them either.

"Go, go, go." Ao Yulie called out. "Kongming, what do you want to eat?"

"No, we should keep a low profile." Liu Wuxiu said. "These few days it's best not to go out at all."

Whatever happened to the plan to lie low?

Liu Wuxiu had prepared to just stay in the hotel room without being discovered, having meals delivered directly to the door.

"Living a normal life is true low profile." Tang Luo said. "You say several men hole up in a hotel room and don't leave for seven or eight days straight, meals sent up — is that low profile? It blatantly tells everyone we have a problem."

"The more it's a time like this, the more we should be calm and unhurried, treating ourselves as ordinary people, ordinary tourists."

"... Makes sense." Liu Wuxiu was persuaded again.

Feels like this Lu Bu's IQ is really high.

"My Lord, this is for you." Zhuge Liang walked over and gave Liu Wuxiu a thing like a small sachet.

"This is your clever stratagem in a brocade pouch?" Liu Wuxiu said in delighted surprise.

Zhuge Liang, you've finally started to exert yourself!

No, exert your intellect.

If it's exerting force, the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow at the start already did that.

"Mm." Zhuge Liang said seriously. "When you encounter a critical moment, when an enemy you can't beat appears, you just open the brocade pouch."

"There's a countermeasure inside?" Liu Wuxiu said. "Could it be you can foresee the future?"

That's too amazing, too heaven-defying!

"... Then, throw the brocade pouch out." Zhuge Liang said.

"Throw it out?"

"That way you can eliminate the enemy." Zhuge Liang laughed.

"... Isn't this just a hand grenade? What 'clever stratagem in a brocade pouch' my ass!" Liu Wuxiu roared inwardly, then carefully put it away.

A hand grenade is fine, still better than nothing.

As a Spirit Master, not having to kneel, kowtow, or prostrate himself was already super-preferential treatment.

What other extravagant hopes could there be?

Everything is illusory; only victory is real.

For the next three days, the entire Battle City was calm and peaceful, without a shred of Spirit War atmosphere.

Tang Luo and the others toured everywhere like ordinary tourists.

They encountered no battles at all.

After spending three pleasant days, Tang Luo's group ran into a bit of trouble.

Their money ran out early.

The few of them looked at each other.

Where did all that money go? All that money placed there — how did it just disappear?

Just as Ao Yulie was about to rekindle an old connection, after three quiet days the Spirit War's first battle finally erupted.

The time was deep in the night, the dead of night.

In the northwest of Battle City, a distinct and peculiar aura emanated.

Including Liu Wuxiu, everyone sensed it.

Zhu Bajie opened the rear water-screen; one could see Hirata Mi — who had been searching and investigating other Spirit Masters these past days with no results — react instantly, not even caring whether it was a trap.

She rushed swiftly toward the source of the aura.

Tang Luo's group reacted just as fast, instantly settling onto the sofa to watch Hirata Mi livestream the scene for them.

What?

Going to see in person? Not happening.

There's already a livestreamer; why would we still run over ourselves?

Hirata Mi's way of rushing was the same as when she fled that day — she practically turned into a streak of white smoke.

Very hard to be discovered.

Clearly, the powerful Battle Spirit behind her wants to wipe out all Battle Spirits in one net, so at first it didn't want Hirata Mi creating side issues and startling the snake.

It only needed her to ferret out more Spirit Masters and Battle Spirits.

This point, coincidentally, was exactly the same approach as Tang Luo's.

Hirata Mi's speed was not slow; before long she arrived at the incident site, hid herself, her body flickering in and out of visibility — at a glance she looked like a female ghost.

In the middle of the night, enough to scare someone to death.

The place where things happened was a half-abandoned, secluded park.

Neither side had left; they were still engaged in fierce combat.

One of them wore a black cloak, a top hat, and a mask on his face.

He leapt at extreme speed, the cloak behind him spreading open — under the moonlight like a giant monstrous bird.

His enemy was even more bizarre.

The entire body was wrapped in a mass of black mist, looking not humanoid at all; most of the black-cloaked strange man's attacks passed straight through the black mist.

It appeared to have caused no damage whatsoever.

"This... seems to be Spring-heeled Jack?" Liu Wuxiu pointed at the black-cloaked strange man.

That leaping, high-and-low figure — the characteristics were still fairly distinct.

"Then that other one, could it be Jack the Ripper?"

"Possible."

A showdown between the two Jacks.

"Could it be Valentine?" Zhu Bajie said casually.

Based on current intelligence, only Valentine fits the XXX Jack Spirit Master identity.