"Zhou Zhe, you finally came."
The one who spoke was a tall, slender young woman.
She had fair skin and wore a Daoist robe. Two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth.
Judging from the parts not covered by her clothes, she looked much the same as an Earth Human—and was exceptionally beautiful.
She was, of course, Wenren Yi from Xuanji Star in the Dongcang Cultivation Star Circle.
Wenren Yi narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, her gaze settling on Zhou Zhe. A flying sword circled around her, radiating a sharp, formidable aura. "Come here and receive your death!"
There was no grudge between them, yet only one of them could leave alive.
"Where did that confidence come from?"
"Just earlier, someone had been thinking of a way out... I wonder who told me not to destroy her soul after killing her..."
Zhou Zhe gave her a couple of glances, then shifted his gaze toward a gray-skinned native wearing a flamboyant golden coat. "Wait a moment. No rush. I need to say a few words to The Silent One first."
Tsk...
He was really short.
Zhou Zhe estimated that he was only around one meter thirty tall. The fellow was even wearing shoes with soles so thin they were not half a centimeter thick.
Combined with that standard deadpan face that showed no emotion, Zhou Zhe guessed that he was The Silent One.
"Oh... all right."
"Then hurry up. Once you're done, I'll send you on your way."
After those two sentences slipped out, Wenren Yi vaguely felt that something was off.
Her thoughts seemed to be... not quite flowing smoothly.
Come to think of it, why had she agreed to Zhou Zhe's unreasonable request to waste time?
Her head felt like a bowl of porridge.
She did not take it to heart, merely treating it as the natural nervousness of facing a powerful enemy.
Her reaction made Zhou Zhe cast her a sidelong glance.
After a brief thought, he understood that the Museum Destroyer title was taking effect.
Museum Destroyer—within a hundred-meter radius, enemy intelligence -10%.
Only ten percent...
Zhou Zhe had originally regarded it as nothing more than a bonus attached to Legend Points. He had never imagined that this thing could produce such terrifying intelligence suppression!
That was an unexpected delight.
"Earth Human, Zhou Zhe."
The one-meter-thirty gray-skinned Kindling person gave Zhou Zhe a deep look. "I am The Silent One."
He seemed not to have spoken for a long time. The moment he opened his mouth, he gave people an awkward feeling.
"I originally intended to help you kill Wenren Yi."
"This arrogant female human has personally killed 315 natural humans in the Kindling World over the past few days, attempting to subdue us through force and make us her assistants."
"But just now, I received news of Jack Clark's death."
Hearing this, Zhou Zhe smiled gently and gave him an encouraging look. "So? If you want revenge, you'd better seize the chance. Once you miss this village, there won't be this shop."
The Silent One's eyelids twitched slightly, as though he were suppressing his emotions. In an even tone, he said, "Jack Clark is dead. Then he is dead."
"My expected lifespan still has 1,300 years remaining. I can completely reproduce even more outstanding descendants."
"I will not help Wenren Yi, nor will I befriend someone who killed my descendant."
"But you can rest assured. I will not seek revenge against you in any way."
"Hatred is the source of pain and disaster."
"You... settle it yourselves."
The Silent One was exceedingly rational, and his stance was clear.
The moment he finished speaking, he turned and left, seemingly unwilling to spend even one more second with Zhou Zhe and Wenren Yi.
"How cold-blooded..."
Zhou Zhe somehow had the nerve to criticize someone else. "Emotionally detached... perhaps that is the flaw of long-lived species?"
Wenren Yi, standing opposite him, suddenly picked up the conversation. "People of the Kindling World generally have short lifespans. Their average lifespan is usually only around one hundred and ten years."
"The Silent One is an exception."
"He stole most of this world's resources to sustain himself, forcibly extending his own lifespan."
Wenren Yi felt that something was slightly wrong with her condition.
It was somewhat like the day her sect had been exterminated, after she drank up all the spiritual wine brewed by her senior disciple brother—the faintly tipsy sensation.
She still remembered that slight euphoria: forgetting troubles and pain, floating dreamily along, her mind needing to think about nothing at all.
The words hidden in her heart could not help but spill from her lips. She wanted someone to vent her emotions to.
It did not matter whether that target was air or stone.
"I really envy you..."
"As an Earth Human, you don't have to face competition between sects, nor do you need to worry about the calamity of your sect being annihilated."
As Wenren Yi spoke, the flying sword circling around her spun faster and faster, turning into a pale violet streak of light that encircled her. "I was born into a very, very small sect."
"It was called the Luoxia Sect."
"Master was very kind and compassionate. He often treated illnesses and injuries for the villagers at the foot of the mountain, hanging his pot to aid the world. When he encountered patients with walls bare on all four sides, he would even give them some worldly money."
"My senior brothers and senior sisters loved me dearly. To forge a natal flying sword for me, everyone practically traveled across half of Xuanji Star before gathering all the materials."
"My junior brothers and junior sisters were all very adorable—so sensible it made one's heart ache. They never complained that the sect lacked spirit stones or that the medicinal pills were of poor quality. Outside their cultivation, they even worked hard to make blank talisman paper to support the sect."
"But..."
"That day..."
"They all died."
Wenren Yi's eyes reddened, her voice carrying a faint sob. "Only I—only useless me! Because I was selected to become a Cosmic Gladiator and fought on other planets, I dragged out a miserable existence and survived by sheer luck."
"Sometimes, I wonder—if the ones who survived had been my more outstanding senior disciple brother and Third Senior Sister, would the Luoxia Sect have already regained its former glory?"
"Sorry. I said too much."
Wenren Yi closed her eyes. When she opened them again, dazzling divine light flickered within them. "I swore that I would avenge everyone! Revive the Luoxia Sect!"
"Before I complete my mission, I absolutely cannot stop moving forward!"
"Zhou Zhe, you are strong—extremely strong!"
"So strong that even someone like me, who has suppressed her rating at Black Iron Five Stars for many matches and possesses Bronze Level combat power, would not dare claim certain victory."
"But my life does not belong to me alone."
"Victory! Victory! All I want is victory!"
"Even if I have to stop at nothing, I must live until the very end!"
"So... even if it means winning dishonorably, borrowing another's power, using despicable methods to win, and staining my Dao heart, I will not hesitate!"
Wenren Yi drew a deep breath, pulled out something resembling a white pill from her pocket, crushed it fiercely, and shouted, "Descend..."
"Ceramic Domain!"
Lunch cafeteria hhh
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