The One Outsmarted

The flashes of blades and the shadows of swords, like two intersecting bolts of lightning, illuminated each other in an instant, appearing and disappearing in a flash.

Lü Mo, focused intently, stared wide-eyed at the moment of the exchange. The instant her junior brother swung his longsword to meet the attack, she stretched out her hands without reservation. The Void Sword Qi swirled in her palms, then suddenly merged into one, sweeping towards the two flashes of light with a piercing whistling sound.

A dazzling light shone at the point where the swords clashed amidst the lightning-fast clashes. Both Ying Zhou and Yuan Liang were jolted, their sword Sword-Ray dissipating. The latter felt his Green Jade Sword become lighter, accompanied by a soft "clang" sound, like a dragon's roar, as a streak of dark light shot out diagonally and embedded itself in the nearby mountain wall—half of a jade-green blade.

The Green Jade Sword was forcibly severed by the Conquest Demon Saber, but Yuan Liang was not surprised. This outcome was within his expectations. If he were alone, he would undoubtedly have lost this battle, but he still had his junior sister.

Almost simultaneously, the merged Void Sword Qi swept in, attacking Ying Zhou, who was suffering from the backlash of the force. The timing was impeccable.

However, the One Sword strike, which was destined to succeed, exploded just before it hit Ying Zhou, disintegrating into ten Sword Qi that grazed Ying Zhou and deviated from his path.

Ying Zhou caught up in one breath and resumed his movements. He swung his sword at Yuan Liang. Yuan Liang was about to dodge when he felt his energy stagnate and his limbs go weak. He barely managed to raise his broken sword to block, but was cleaved in two by the sword. He could only watch helplessly as the other man's sword struck his chest.

With a "thud," just as he was about to strike, Ying Zhou reversed his blade and used the back of the blade to strike Yuan Liang, sending him flying and breaking two of his ribs.

With a splash, Yuan Liang was thrown into the pool below the waterfall, and Lü Mo fell to the ground right after him. She exclaimed in shock and anger, "You actually poisoned me! How despicable!"

Ying Zhou rolled his eyes again and said irritably, "What's this talk of being despicable when it's two against one? Don't you think it's ridiculous? Of course I can do without poison, but why don't you come and fight me one-on-one!"

Lü Mo blushed and stammered in explanation, "I... we're using a combined attack technique. It's meant to be used by two people. If you come alone, we attack together as a pair. If you come with four people, we still attack together as a pair."

"Does it have to be two people? Can't one person fight? If you encounter a powerful enemy when you go down the mountain to roam the martial world, do you ask the enemy to stop fighting, wait for you to travel a long way back to the mountain gate to get reinforcements, and then travel another long way back to fight again?"

"My junior brother and I always go down the mountain together; we don't act alone."

"What if you get attacked while you're in the bathroom? Are you expecting your junior brother to come with you?"

Lü Mo blushed and said, "No, no one would attack me while I'm on top of them..."

"A naive girl like you, who can't even bring herself to say 'go to the toilet,' has no idea how treacherous the world of martial arts is. If someone were to take their pants off while fighting you, you probably wouldn't even dare to look at them and would surrender on the spot."

Ying Zhou has always looked down on girls who are innocent and shy, finding them cumbersome and a burden to have around. He thought they would only drag him down as teammates. That's why he rarely paid attention to Hongdou when they were in the orphanage, but he was very obedient to Murong Qing.

Fearing that saying a few more words would lower his own IQ, Ying Zhou ignored him, put his index finger and thumb in his mouth, and whistled a sharp whistle.

Immediately afterward, a figure leaped down from the cliff above the waterfall. Just before hitting the pool, he slammed his fists down, the powerful force striking the water's surface with a splash. Using the recoil, he dissipated his descent, then lightly touched the water's surface with his toes, leaping onto the shore like a dragonfly skimming the water. It was Murong Wu.

"Junior brother!"

Lü Mo let out a cry of surprise. Just as Yuan Liang was about to surface, he was unlucky enough to be directly below Murong Wu and was slammed back to the bottom of the lake by the Shennong Fist. He already had a chest injury, and this blow caused his vision to go black, and he sank to the bottom of the lake, spitting out bubbles.

"Oh no, I think I've done something wrong."

Upon seeing this, Murong Wu hurriedly jumped into the lake, rescued Yuan Liang, who was nearly knocked unconscious, and brought him back to shore, setting his ribs as he did so.

"Losers have no rights; hand over the spoils."

Without any ceremony, Ying Zhou removed the bracelets from Lü Mo and Yuan Liang, and took one from each of them, along with Murong Wu. They crushed each bracelet and absorbed its divine essence.

Lü Mo glanced at Murong Wu, then angrily said to Ying Zhou, "So you have accomplices after all. You said we had no right to call it despicable when we were outnumbered two to one, when we were clearly evenly matched."

"Yes, he used poison while I fought, just like you and your fellow disciples teamed up, one for melee and one for ranged combat. So it's a fair fight, and no one should accuse the other of being despicable."

Ying Zhou was too lazy to explain. After finishing his sentence, he was about to pull Murong Wu away when suddenly a figure fell from the sky like a meteorite. The moment he landed, a powerful force rippled out, causing the rubble on the ground to be shaken up ten meters high. Even the waterfall was reversed and rushed into the air.

"My feet have trod the flames of war, my hands have grasped destruction, my name is... um? Why are there two of you?"

Just as Si Ming was about to make a move, he realized it was Ying Zhou and Murong Wu. He had seen four figures in the distance, but fearing they might escape, and knowing this was a "big deal," he hadn't identified them clearly before immediately projecting himself in a 45-degree arc.

Lü Mo was channeling her True Qi into Yuan Liang when she glanced up at Si Ming. Seeing that he was a stranger, she turned her gaze back. Since she had already lost her chance to compete, whether the other person was Ying Zhou's companion or not was irrelevant to her.

Suddenly, she trembled, raised her head and carefully examined Si Ming for a while, comparing him to the image in the rumors. She shuddered and pointed at him, stammering, "You... you... aren't you that World-Forgotten Mohist Luminary?" She was so nervous that she even lost her voice.

"World-Forgotten Mohist Luminary?"

Si Ming paused for a moment, confirming that the other person was referring to him. He then stroked his chin and pondered, "This title is great! 'A thousand years of lofty aspirations, a hundred aspects of life, forgetting the mortal world, transcending all,' the word 'forgetting the world' has a sense of ethereal elegance, while 'Guang Mo' is more straightforward, 'glorifying the Mohist School,' right? Who gave me this title that appeals to both the refined and the common? It balances imagery and reality; it's practically tailor-made for me. I have to reward them with a big red flower."

The reason he used "Son of Light" as his title back then was because he was not strong enough, and taking a title that was too domineering would easily attract trouble. However, as his strength has improved, the title "Son of Light," which clearly belongs to a rising star, is no longer suitable for Si Ming. At least it does not match his current high-profile attitude. It is indeed time to change his title.

Although he personally prefers the title "Blazing Pure Yang, Lord of All Spirits, Subjugated by All Realms, Sevenfold Light, Dark Evil, Heavenly Enemy, Eternal Supreme Holy Emperor," he should be more humble and will temporarily use "World-Forgotten Mohist Luminary" as a substitute.

"So you're the insane guy from the rumors!" Si Ming was feeling smug when Ying Zhou cold water on his thoughts, "World-Forgotten Mohist Luminary? You're dreaming. But ask yourself honestly, based on what you've done these past two days, do you really think anyone would give you such a nickname?"

He curled his lip and sneered, "Listen carefully, your current title is 'World-Ending Mad Demon'!"

Chapter 661 The Wise Man

"World-Ending Mad Demon? That title is way too villainous! Which blind bastard came up with that?" Si Ming said angrily.

Ying Zhou said, "It doesn't matter who came up with the title. What matters is that the title is recognized by everyone. Otherwise, if you just randomly come up with a title, no one will accept it, it won't spread, and it will be as good as nothing."

Si Ming pondered, "You mean to say that everyone on the island is an accomplice and should be punished without being let off lightly?"

Ying Zhou rolled his eyes and said, "How did you come to that conclusion? If you really do that, you'll truly cement your title of 'World-Ending Mad Demon'."

Murong Wu also said, "It's better to guide than to suppress. The more you suppress, the stronger the backlash will be. The Discourses of the States says, 'When the king was angry, he obtained a sorcerer from Wei and made him monitor those who slandered him. If they reported him, he would kill them. No one in the country dared to speak, and they communicated only with their eyes.' You can control the mouths of the people, but you can't control their eyes. Besides, warriors are driven by bloodlust, and violent methods will only backfire."

"So you mean to let them off the hook?" Si Ming snorted twice. He wasn't about to back down. "Then forget it. Now that I think about it, 'World-Ending Mad Demon' sounds pretty good. At least it's impressive. If I can't earn respect, I should at least earn awe. Even villains need saviors."

Ying Zhou said, "You need to think about us, not just yourself. The strong are quick-witted and not easy for you to catch. Those you defeated were all trash. The ones left are all experts. Taking points from those experts is not an easy task."

Murong Wu chimed in, "The opponent we faced a couple of days ago, Brother Ying Zhou easily defeated by himself, but the opponent we faced today was much more formidable, and Brother almost lost."

Although he understood that Murong Wu's words meant he agreed with his point of view, Ying Zhou was unwilling to be underestimated, so he quickly retorted, "Where did I 'almost lose'? Wasn't I just deliberately stalling for time so that the poison you released along the waterfall could take effect? If it really came down to a desperate fight, I still had a great chance of winning, but there was no need to waste it on these two."

Si Ming thought about it and realized that what the other party said made some sense. A lone wolf indeed doesn't have to worry about anything, but now that he had companions, he needed to have some team spirit. Even if he didn't consider Ying Zhou and Murong Wu, he had to consider Si Huaruo and Yu Shuying. If they really defeated all the other opponents, where would they accumulate points?

If there are only enough points for ten people to enter the final day, then for the five of them to all survive, they would have to occupy half of the spots, which seems unlikely.