Chapter 165: Not Bad, I Really Am Researching Him

Not bad, I really am researching Him.

Being a believer of 【Truth】 who leaned toward the orthodox side, Ji Yue had not mixed anything else into this invitation.

Upon hearing the roars and howls coming from afar, the group dove into the Void without a word of hesitation.

Ji Yue cast a glance toward where Mo Wu had vanished, jabbed her spear once more in spite, and only then entered the Void last as rearguard.

Home again......

Cheng Shi gazed at the boundless darkness before him, his heart a tangle of mixed feelings.

I go in and out so often—He won't find me annoying, will He?

As he thought this, he silently recited the prayer of praise once more in his heart.

It named no one in particular and leaned toward no one; in any case, both of Them could hear it, so he counted it as worshipping them both together.

Unlike Cheng Shi's "composure and calm," Seeing Bai Ling had clearly never been to the Void before. The moment her feet stepped on the "ground" of nothingness, she instinctively reached out and looped her arm through Cheng Shi's.

"If you keep hanging on like this, I'm going to have to charge you.

This is the VIP girlfriend spot."

Seeing Bai Ling froze for a beat, then hugged him even tighter. She licked the corner of her lips and drifted off into her own fantasies.

"How do you charge? By the day?

Then I'll pay up front for one day!

Mm, a one-day girlfriend isn't bad either.

But let's get this straight—a one-day girlfriend can't really be just for one day......"

"?"

Cheng Shi was dumbfounded.

The upright me always feels out of place among you 【Fallen】 degenerates, because I'm not perverted enough.

Not just Cheng Shi—everyone's gaze turned toward this 【Fallen】 believer who "pretended not to understand," staring at her until she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Ji Yue sized up Seeing Bai Ling for a moment with an amused look, then turned to Fang Fang Shiqing and Cheng Shi. Without waiting for their questions, she explained first:

"It's not that I don't want to walk the Void—it's just that this place, after all, is not where 【Truth】 shines.

Besides, my talent allows at most six people onto the Void. You have to understand—until we find Experimental Site No. 69, even coming up to the Void for shelter is pointless.

Because the Wall of True Knowledge outside the Void Experimental Site will, at this very moment, not permit a single more person to enter!

So even if we came up, we wouldn't find what we're looking for. What's more, we might even run into 【Chaos】 believers who can walk the Void.

Those people are far, far harder to deal with than the Knights of the Toll."

Everyone nodded in deep agreement. Only Cheng Shi listened to all this with a strange look on his face, then curled his lip and said:

"All that talk is useless. It's your impotent tantrum that drew the lunatics of the Knights of the Toll here."

"......"

Ji Yue's voice hitched. She clenched her hands tight, her eyes turning icy, and anger was clearly gathering between her brows.

"I'm curious—clearly you're a scholar of 【Truth】, so why is it you can't control your temper, just like those brutes of 【War】?"

Her expression grew colder and colder, and the glance she slanted at Cheng Shi nearly spat out howling arctic wind!

"See? That look right there—everyone, am I wrong or what?"

"Good. Very good."

Ji Yue's face darkened. She drew out a long spear and raised it, poised to thrust—but the instant she thrust, Fang Fang Shiqing shifted her steps closer, and mimicking Seeing Bai Ling's manner, looped her arm through Ji Yue's.

That single touch made Ji Yue abruptly calm down.

Her furious gaze cleared in an instant. She let out a long breath and tossed the long spear to the ground.

"Clever. You saw right through it."

Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and thought, Just as I expected.

From the very first meeting, he had felt something a little off about this erudite scholar of the Void Mass-Energy Department.

Based on his past observations, the believers of 【Truth】 mostly displayed traits like steadiness, calm, wit, and a knack for discovery—just like Fang Fang Shiqing. She was what a true 【Truth】 believer looked like.

But Ji Yue was different. Though her insight was sharp and her mind quick, she was also hot-tempered, irritable, and even slightly aggressive.

Only, this hot temper and anger weren't as obvious as in some brutes. Clearly it had "merged" with her own style—namely, a cool detachment paired with extremely rapid shifts in mood.

That personality was like mixing a few pieces of crushed charcoal into a pile of white sand. You couldn't exactly call it a sense of tearing apart, but it was at the very least a poor fit.

Could it be that she, too, had already begun to "fuse"?

And that what she was fusing was 【Truth】 and 【War】?

Otherwise, how to explain a 【Truth】 believer who'd collected so many cavalry lances?

Shouldn't they prefer measuring rods and chalk stubs?

Cheng Shi's question never left his lips, but Ji Yue had already read it. She seemed to have no intention of hiding herself, and very cleanly and crisply poured out her "secret."

"The foundation of cooperation lies in understanding one another. Since we've already walked onto the same path, naturally I won't hide anything from my companions.

Yes, I've been tainted by the divinity of 【War】."

The moment the words fell, both Cheng Shi and Fang Fang Shiqing furrowed their brows.

Cheng Shi's frown, naturally, was because the direction of his guess was right—but the details were wrong.

She hadn't fused with divinity; she had been tainted by it.

The so-called tainting, moreover, differed from the various "modes of accommodation" of divinity described earlier.

If one compared 【Divinity】 and a human vessel to an "item" and a "locker," then:

Sealing was like storing it away; accommodation was like lacquering it in. But tainting was not placing the "item" inside the locker—rather, it was placing it beside the locker, causing a negative effect on the locker itself.

Cheng Shi was very curious how she had come to be tainted by the divinity of 【War】, so for now he kept silent as well, quietly waiting for the answer.

As for Fang Fang Shiqing, her frown was not for this reason.

She was thinking back, and in the four days of trials before, Ji Yue had never once been as "frank" as she claimed to be.

As for the reason, it was easy to guess — it was simply because their strength was too weak, so the Scholars above 2400 and they, below 2400, shared no common ground.

Thinking of this, a slightly self-mocking smile appeared on her face, but her expression was clearly more solemn than before.

Obviously, this Torchbearer was also very interested in the news of 【War】.

Ji Yue didn't dawdle; she went on:

"The Tower of Reason has many research directions, but very few schools of thought can truly be applied on the battlefield.

Especially the scholars of the Void Mass-Energy school — they may be a cut above in communicating with the Void, but their talent for combat is almost zero.

This shortcoming of lacking real combat may not be obvious at lower ranks, but once you reach the higher ranks, research and discovery can only serve as auxiliary means; they cannot replace confrontation and struggle.

So, way back when I climbed to 2000 points, I began to prepare for a rainy day.

But the method to patch this shortcoming is simple — just learn.

As a scholar of the Tower of Reason, I have never lacked the means to learn, and the faithful of 【War】 are the most readily available templates for study.

So I began to imitate them, and tried every way to combine their combat methods with the stirring of the Void."

Hearing this, Cheng Shi suddenly understood.

No wonder he had never seen Scholars rain spears from the sky before — turns out that was something she had researched and developed herself.

"After fumbling about for a long time, I finally found the inspiration — merging the Void's power of spewing forth with the keen edge of cold weapons into one.

But this method still had a problem, because I didn't have that many cold weapons to collect.

As you've surely seen, this kind of method wins through quantity; if the quantity isn't enough, then there's no winning.

So, after being blocked by the difficulty that mortal power could not overcome, I prayed to my Lord for a solution.

And the guidance He gave me was......

A trial of 【War】."

When Ji Yue spoke to this point, her expression clearly became somewhat strange again; she seemed unwilling to recall that trial, but somehow she still forced down her discomfort and continued:

"It was a legendary battle concerning the founding of the Nation of 【War】. I held out for three days in that battle, and ultimately won the trial.

The squad I led was the last to climb the blood-red wall amid raging fire and the dying sun; looking at the mountains of corpses and seas of blood outside the city, I finally understood why His guidance was what it was.

And so......

I carried the entire ravaged battlefield into the Void that belongs to me.

And from then on, this battlefield, brimming with the divinity of 【War】, has influenced me every single moment......"

Cheng Shi's face shifted slightly, and his heart was horrified.

Sis, you're really not afraid, are you? How is this any different from carrying around a source of viral infection?

But then, he furrowed his brow again.

That's not right — Ji Yue at that time hadn't yet been influenced by 【War】, so how could she do something so obviously carrying huge side effects?

Especially since she was a Scholar — even less likely......

Wait!

Scholar!?

Huh?

No, sis, were you really only after all those weapons on the ground?

You couldn't have been planning to use this to study 【War】, could you?

Holy crap — learning the combat methods of War's faithful can no longer satisfy you, so you've started turning around to study their patron deity directly, have you!?

Seeing the flash of shock that passed through Cheng Shi's eyes, Ji Yue actually showed a "gratified" smile.

"You really are clever — no wonder Fang Jue was fooled by you.

That's right, I am indeed studying Him."