Chapter 77
Xue Mushi covered his shoulder wounded by the Military Formation puppet, his body heavily stained with blood. His condition looked quite bad, though somewhat better than Mei Liangyu's "delicate" Junior Sister who lacked the strength to stand.
For Xue Mushi, the possibility of encountering someone who possessed Strange Fire and was also a World Destroyer might happen before his death, but when it truly occurred, it was so subtle and amusing.
From the special-grade Military Formation onward, Xue Mushi had felt that Yu Sui was not simple, yet he had never guessed in the direction of Strange Fire.
Now looking back, if there was some connection to Strange Fire, it seemed quite reasonable.
Mei Liangyu looked up and asked Yu Sui, "Is that him?"
"Yes!" Yu Sui spoke softly beside Mei Liangyu's neck, her gaze fixed on Xue Mushi. "Divine Calculator Xue, are you alright?"
Hearing Yu Sui call him by that nickname made Xue Mushi's heart tremble.
Xue Mushi kept his head lowered, letting out a brief "mm" from his throat, appearing quite cold and rude, aloof and keeping people at a distance.
He carefully remembered the character setting requirements Yu Sui had given him.
Yu Sui continued, "This is my Senior Brother. Yan Xiaochuan found the Sound Crossing Water outside and called out to summon Sister Yuezhen and the others."
Xue Mushi walked along on his own, only responding to her words with a brief sound.
Yu Sui added, "We need to go find the warship on the water, challenge the Guardian General, and break the formation to get out."
Xue Mushi replied without turning back, "Fine."
Yu Sui asked Xue Mushi, "Can you still hold on?"
Xue Mushi: "Yes."
Mei Liangyu watched with a half-smile.
He did have quite a temperament.
Walking past Xue Mushi, he glanced sideways for a moment and said, "Find a way to use Wind-Riding Techniques to get to the water."
Xue Mushi nodded instinctively.
Mei Liangyu: "How come when it's my turn to ask, you don't make a sound?"
Xue Mushi opened his mouth: "Fine."
Yu Sui: "......"
Why are you being so obedient?
Xue Mushi reacted half a beat later, feeling somewhat depressed. When he looked up, Mei Liangyu had already carried Yu Sui ahead. Yu Sui turned her head to glance at him with a slightly speechless expression.
I didn't want to either.
Xue Mushi knew he had somewhat ruined his aloof character setting. He hung his head and didn't dare look at Yu Sui, silently following behind.
Mei Liangyu was in a hurry now. He needed to break the formation and get out before his Five Elements went into chaos. He ignited golden protection and used water-crossing techniques to fly toward the water surface with Yu Sui.
The red fish moved slowly. Without a master controlling it, it wouldn't actively attack. At this moment, the warship couldn't block the red fish. The water was clear and transparent. Without the interception of Military Formation puppets, the three of them easily flew out of the water surface and saw the huge black warship in the distance.
The Guardian General clad in golden battle armor stood at the bow of the ship. It held twin blades, and though its eye sockets were dark, you could feel it coldly watching you.
Most Guardian Generals within Military Formations excelled in swordsmanship and used swordsmanship frequently.
Yu Sui thought Mei Liangyu would give some instructions or have her get down before taking action, but who knew Senior Brother would say nothing. He immediately released overwhelming Five Elements Energy, causing the calm water surface around the giant ship to form a storm's eye, with whirlpools pulling everything toward the storm's center.
The huge black warship was also shaken, moving uncontrollably with the water flow.
On the water surface, two forces collided invisibly. The Guardian General stared intently at Mei Liangyu in the water ahead, drew its swords from their sheaths, and slashed toward him with twin blades.
Two fierce sword energies stirred up huge waves on the water surface. The sound of water was drowned out. Yu Sui only saw two water walls rising straight to the sky. The sword energy split apart the seawater carrying them, trying to make them fall back down to the red fish below.
Mei Liangyu used Wind-Riding Techniques to stay suspended in air. Xue Mushi cleverly moved his position behind Mei Liangyu, letting him figure out how to kill the Guardian General while he and Yu Sui treaded water together, not adding trouble while also observing changes in their surroundings.
Whether it was the Guardian General of Military Formation: Dragon Fish or Mei Liangyu, the power both displayed at this moment was shocking enough to be a height that the other two couldn't reach, aside from Strange Fire.
Yu Sui's eyes reflected the Guardian General standing on the black warship. She hesitated momentarily whether to use Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye, but Mei Liangyu had already taken action. He formed hand seals with one hand, and black talismans flew out.
Mei Liangyu rarely used Ghost Way School Nine Schools Arts.
Because his compatibility with the Ghost Way School was lowest; he simply wasn't suited for this school. Compared to using Ghost Way School Nine Schools Arts, he found other schools' Nine Schools Arts easier to use with less burden.
But for some things, he could obtain them even by forcing himself.
Ghost Way School Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Seven Consciousness Tower.
Countless white eyes appeared around the warship, surrounding it within, overlapping as they rushed toward the height of the clouds. The entire Military Formation space was occupied by these white eyes that were as thin and soft as paper cuts.
In just an instant, they covered the entire space.
The vast expanse of white was filled with horror. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi could feel the sensation of Five Elements Energy being drawn away. Though weak, it was happening.
Yu Sui immediately realized that Senior Brother wasn't insisting on fighting head-on with the Thirteenth Realm Guardian General, but like her method of breaking out of Asura Hell, he was trying to disrupt the Five Elements Energy balance of the Military Formation.
The Guardian General seemed to sense the crisis, let out an angry roar, slashed with both swords in fury, and sword energy swept in all directions.
In the storm, Mei Liangyu lightly lifted his eyelids. Deep in his dark eyes, talismans shattered. The white eyelids covering the entire space opened, brilliant black light burst forth, devouring all light in the entire space.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi instinctively closed their eyes, finding it blindingly bright.
Black light was everywhere. Light still existed, just dyed black. The black storm whirlpool sucked the warship into its center, devouring it together with the seawater.
……
The time Mei Liangyu spent in Military Formation: Dragon Fish was neither long nor short.
While waiting, Shi Yuezhen had already removed the thunder mark from Su Tong's body. Zhongli Shan turned around to accompany Su Tong, asking about her journey.
Both Su Tong and Yan Xiaochuan praised Xue Mushi. Zhongli Shan and Shi Yuezhen were both very surprised by Xue Mushi's divination abilities.
"Divine Calculator Xue appears silent and quite cold, but his relationship with Little Princess should be quite good," Yan Xiaochuan squatted on the sandy ground, stroking his chin and making wild analyses. "I learned about Little Princess coming to Dragon Slaying Cave through a friend of a friend of a friend. Now that I think about it, that person seemed to be Divine Calculator Xue."
Just as he finished speaking, he felt someone approaching the seaside.
Su Tong looked up somewhat puzzled.
"Sheng Hao," Zhongli Shan said.
Yan Xiaochuan turned his head and indeed saw the black-faced Sheng Hao rushing over with Wind-Riding Techniques. He was quite cautious, keeping distance from Zhongli Shan and the others before glaring and asking Yan Xiaochuan, "Where's Sui Sui?"
"Little Princess, she..." Yan Xiaochuan nimbly stood up, just extending his hand to point toward the sea surface to explain when he heard the sound of splashing water.
Mei Liangyu carried Yu Sui as they broke through the water surface, using Wind-Riding Techniques to come from the seawater to the sandy ground.
Xue Mushi was still swimming around behind them, splashing water everywhere.
Both Yu Sui and Mei Liangyu turned back to look at him, both their eyes full of "why don't you use Wind-Riding Techniques to come up?"
Xue Mushi wanted to explain. He wanted to say that your Senior Brother's Nine Schools Arts blew up heaven and earth, sucking all the Five Elements Energy out of the space. Of course he wasn't affected carrying you, but I, who was separated from him by some distance, couldn't use Five Elements Energy either!
But he remembered the character setting Yu Sui had given him.
Aloof.
Speak little.
Don't explain.
Let them guess.
Xue Mushi splashed around and swam to shore by himself.
Mei Liangyu didn't bother with him either, walking toward Shi Yuezhen. He didn't say anything extra, only saying, "Help her remove the thunder mark first."
Now Sheng Hao didn't care about anything else either, striding over: "Sui Sui!"
He said with a dark face, "Which blind bastard used Golden Thunder on you?"
Yu Sui was put down by Mei Liangyu and sat properly against a boulder. Before she could answer, Yan Xiaochuan raised his hand actively: "I, I, I know! Senior Brother, it was Taoist School's Wen Yanghui!"
"Wen Yanghui?" Sheng Hao couldn't believe it and widened his eyes. "Did he eat the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard or what? Running to Dragon Tail for no reason to clear out D-Class disciples. Is he sick?!"
In just an instant, Sheng Hao had a new line of thinking, his face becoming even more gloomy: "Did Gu Qian tell him to act? Gu Qian, that traitorous bastard. You came to Taiyi Academy to save his life, and he actually had Wen Yanghui use Golden Thunder on you!"
Su Tong, Shi Yuezhen and the others heard Sheng Hao curse Gu Qian for the first time, from beginning to end without repeating a single word, going from surprise to finding it novel.
Yu Sui had heard it since childhood and could skillfully let it go in one ear and out the other, obediently keeping her head down to let Shi Yuezhen help remove the thunder mark.
Last night, Mei Liangyu and Zhongli Shan had listened to Pang Rong curse and swear all day. Sheng Hao had only occasionally chimed in. At this moment, neither had expected that when Sheng Hao started cursing, he was about the same as Pang Rong, as if wanting to display his School of Names Word Command advantage and curse someone to death before stopping.
The "little School of Names" disciple Yan Xiaochuan nearby followed his Senior Brother's footsteps, singing in harmony with him, agreeing with Sheng Hao's words by clapping enthusiastically and nodding repeatedly in agreement, further encouraging Sheng Hao's momentum in cursing Gu Qian bloody.
Zhongli Shan lowered his voice to Mei Liangyu: "You didn't do anything to Nangong Sui, did you?"
Mei Liangyu raised an eyebrow: "What could I do?"
Zhongli Shan gestured for him to look at the fire-breathing dragon Sheng Hao: "If he reaches the level of School of Names Spirit Speech, you'd better be careful with Nangong Sui, or else Gu Qian in his mouth will be your future."
Mei Liangyu smiled without warmth: "It's rare for you to talk so much, but it would be better if you talked less."
Sheng Hao guarded beside Yu Sui, watching Shi Yuezhen remove her thunder mark. Only after it was completely removed did he reach out to pat Yu Sui's head, saying viciously, "Where's Wen Yanghui?"
Yu Sui looked up and smiled: "He's already been eliminated by Sister Su, Yan Xiaochuan and me."
Sheng Hao couldn't swallow this anger and immediately said, "Then let's go kill Gu Qian. He happens to be in the Ninth Section too. Without Qian Ying, if this guy gets injured, he won't recover so quickly."
When they met again, he would smash all the random thunder he knew onto Gu Qian.
Yu Sui looked surprised: "Did you encounter him?"
Sheng Hao sneered: "More than encounter. I beat him quite badly, and he fled in panic."
Zhongli Shan and Mei Liangyu both looked at him simultaneously, their squinted eyes full of "do you have no shame?"
Sheng Hao took Yu Sui's hand and helped her up: "You follow me."
Su Tong reached out to stop them: "She's someone I've been carefully protecting since the first day, working hard to get this far. You say take her and just take her?"
Sheng Hao pulled Yu Sui behind him, looking down at Su Tong condescendingly: "Well, thanks indeed. From here on, I'll take my little sister."
"Her Senior Brother has brought Sui Sui this far, but you didn't even know Sui Sui participated in the Dragon Slaying Cave challenge. Letting such a careless brother lead, who could feel at ease?" Su Tong looked at him suspiciously.
Sheng Hao: "......"
He glared at Mei Liangyu standing nearby, then glared at Yan Xiaochuan cowering behind Mei Liangyu. You little brat, since you've been secretly following Sui Sui all along, why didn't you tell me earlier?!
Yan Xiaochuan smiled ingratiatingly: "Senior Brother Sheng, we have Divine Calculator Xue here. His divination is quite skilled and can find the fastest transmission points, which is why we arrived so quickly. It would be a pity not to join such a powerful team."
Xue Mushi held his water-soaked sleeves and didn't turn around, crying inwardly. You can argue all you want, don't drag me into it.
Sheng Hao said angrily: "Yan Xiaochuan, whose side are you on?!"
Yan Xiaochuan raised his hand: "I'm definitely on Little Princess's side."
Yu Sui glanced at Xue Mushi in the corner and said softly, "Third Brother, I also want to continue walking with Divine Calculator Xue and Sister Su."
Now Sheng Hao had no choice. He turned to look at Yu Sui and lowered his voice: "Your Senior Brother and I aren't on the same team."
Yu Sui pretended not to understand, looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.
Zhongli Shan said, "We have no conflict with the School of Names here."
Sheng Hao gritted his teeth: "I'm helping Mu Mengbai. You have two Technical Arts School members."
"They don't have any demands this time either," Mei Liangyu smiled back at Sheng Hao, his words carrying some playfulness. "You just need to abandon Pang Rong."
This was the only conflict.
It had to be said that Sheng Hao was tempted by what he heard.
Originally, Mei Liangyu's team had many strong members. His midway cooperation with Pang Rong was also because he thought Nian Qiuyan had designs on Ye Pool. Everyone in the Technical Arts School knew of Nian Qiuyan's strength. To compete with him, he had to find partners.
Now Mei Liangyu said Nian Qiuyan's target wasn't Ye Pool Heavenly Mechanism Arts, so they had no conflict.
As for Pang Rong.
Let's part ways.