"Xun Wind wants to meet you." Kun Earth maintained a friendly attitude, but her question carried a hint of threat. "Could you do us the honor?"
Undercurrents stirred beneath the lake, accompanied by the rustling of leaves, and the scene froze at that moment.
3...
Fan Daoyi counted down in his head.
2...
Li Fire stepped between them, blocking their view of each other, her red hair strikingly conspicuous.
1...
"Kun Earth, even if you want to invite him, you should wait until he's feeling a little better." She smoothed things over between them.
Just as Fan Daoyi had expected.
Li Fire and Kun Earth worked together, one playing the good cop and the other the bad. Though they had not discussed a plan with each other, they worked together with surprising tacit understanding.
Fan Daoyi braced both hands on the railing by the lake and gazed out at the water and mountains.
When the moment was right, Fan Daoyi cut into their argument. "Meeting you is an opportunity one can only hope for, so how could I refuse? But as Sister Li Fire said, I'm not feeling well at the moment. I'm truly sorry, but could I invite Xun Wind to come here instead?"
The moment he said that, the people around him fell silent. Li Fire and Kun Earth looked at He Piaojian, who was standing to one side. He Piaojian grinned and said outright, "That guy doesn't dare."
He disparaged his companion without hesitation. "That guy Xun Wind is simple-minded and crippled in all four limbs. He's no good at anything except intuition, and he doesn't dare go out at random."
As Fan Daoyi listened to He Piaojian's description, he turned back, his expression freezing.
Xun Wind had been disparaged as utterly worthless. By comparison, Fan Daoyi seemed to have lost a better reason to refuse.
A gentle breeze brushed past the lakeside. The group stood there, each with their own thoughts.
"All right. When?" Fan Daoyi agreed.
Kun Earth considered it from Fan Daoyi's standpoint as well. "If you're feeling up to it, then now."
"Okay."
Afterward, they left the hospital on foot. A black sedan had already been waiting outside for some time.
Fan Daoyi took the front passenger seat, while the other three squeezed into the back. The driver was a man of few words. Once everyone was in, he drove straight to the vicinity of the [Eight Trigrams] organization's base.
The car stopped at the entrance to an alley. They all got out and walked deeper into it. The alley was permeated with a musty air, and the mottled walls told the story of passing years.
Farther in, they entered a place of bright lights and revelry. Hotels of every kind lined both sides of the alley, along with noisy bars. Music, laughter, and the clamor of voices mingled together.
Kun Earth walked at the front. She pushed open the door to the Moonlight Bar, went to the old man at the counter, and gave him a small eight trigrams diagram.
The old man gave the Eight Trigrams diagram a quick glance and rummaged through a drawer for a card with a paper-like texture. Kun Earth took the card and continued into the bar.
They followed Kun Earth into an elevator, where she swiped the card across the slot. A string of numbers appeared on the screen. She entered the numbers as a password, and a hidden floor button appeared.
The [Eight Trigrams] organization was underground. When they stepped out of the elevator, Kun Earth bent the card in her hand and casually tossed it into a trash can nearby.
Fan Daoyi glanced at it. The trash can beside the elevator was full of cards just like it.
They passed through another long corridor and pushed open the door at the very end. The organization's true appearance was laid bare before Fan Daoyi.
The scene before him looked much like a lounge. There was a sofa, a television, and a snack cabinet, with a coffee machine and a bar counter off to the side.
"Oh, Kun Earth, you're back so soon?" A woman emerged from a corridor to the side.
She wore a tight-fitting workout outfit, her short hair neatly tucked behind her ears. Sweat dripped slowly from beside her ears. Her skin was wheat-colored, and the lines of her toned muscles were clearly visible.
"Did you just finish training? Where are the others?" Kun Earth asked.
The woman brushed the damp strands of hair off her forehead. She was still slightly out of breath; clearly, her training had been intense. "Yeah, I was about to take a shower. The boss and Zhen Thunder went to run a dungeon, and Xun Wind is still holed up in his room."
"And this is...?" Seeing Fan Daoyi's unfamiliar face, the woman could not help asking, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
"He's the person Xun Wind wanted to meet in person." Kun Earth introduced the woman and Fan Daoyi to each other. "This is Gen Mountain. Her ability is related to protection. But her principle is that the best protection is to beat every enemy to death."
The woman was about to say hello when she noticed someone crouching in the corner by the door. She pointed over there. "Uh... no, he's over there."
Fan Daoyi looked in the direction she was pointing and met Xun Wind's gaze.
"Is your ability teleportation?" Xun Wind's voice came from the corner where he was crouching, dark and sinister.
Fan Daoyi smiled and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Xun Wind reached behind him and picked up a palm-sized stone he had prepared in advance. He slowly stood and shuffled toward Fan Daoyi.
Fan Daoyi took a small step back.
But before Xun Wind could complete his gloomy act, he stumbled. "Ow, damn, my foot's numb. Hang on a second."
The members of [Eight Trigrams] are all sick in the head!
Once Xun Wind had composed himself, he eagerly trotted over and held the stone out to Fan Daoyi, explaining its purpose. "This stone can detect an ability someone has acquired. Could you try holding it?"
Fan Daoyi took the stone and gripped it tightly.
The surface of the stone began to glow, and a series of abilities flashed across it. Fan Daoyi casually grabbed one related to teleportation that was also of decent quality and selected it. The ability's name appeared engraved on the stone.
[Essential for Getting Around, Boundless Fleeting Shadows]
What the hell kind of name is that!? Fan Daoyi ranted wildly in his head.
The others, however, seemed quite calm.
"Guixu always has a bit of a twisted sense of humor when it comes to naming the abilities it grants." They wore expressions that said they had expected as much.
It wasn't me. I didn't do it. This has nothing to do with me.
Fan Daoyi's lips twitched as he silently thought to himself.
"But that's normal too. Abilities with strange names are never weak," Xun Wind said. "For example, my [Who Needs Brains? Intuition Above All] and He Piaojian's [Water Too Clear Has No Fish, a Shameless Man Is Invincible] are both gold."
Xun Wind's gaze fixed on Fan Daoyi again. "So, is it really just teleportation?"
Fan Daoyi remained unhurried, with no sign of lying on his face. "Yes."
Xun Wind narrowed his eyes and studied him. "Do you know? My intuition tells me there's an immensely vast and terrifying energy surrounding you. If it were only teleportation, that would be impossible."
He rubbed his aching eyes and muttered to himself, "It definitely isn't just teleportation. What is teleportation related to? Fleeting shadows... boundless..."
"Boundless, boundless. Right, that's it! It's space! Space is boundless. The upper limit of your ability should be space!"
Having convinced himself, Xun Wind excitedly grabbed Fan Daoyi. "Friend, have you considered joining [Eight Trigrams]?"
Gen Mountain had already returned to her room to shower, and Li Fire had also left at some unknown point. He Piaojian liked to join in the fun and had stayed nearby the whole time without interrupting, so it could only be Kun Earth who, seeing how excited Xun Wind was, pulled him away.
"Xun Wind, don't get too excited yet."
"No, no. We can't let that future-seeing guy from [Twelve Hours] find out. They hold grudges. First, we have to trick... invite this talented person into [Eight Trigrams]."
Kun Earth could not pull the stubborn Xun Wind away, so she could only give up for the time being.