"?" Han Li sensed True Venerable Qu's emotions and laboriously sent over a thread of divine sense. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's nothing. I hallucinated," Qu Jianlei said through bared teeth. "I actually saw you as Luo Fu. Guess the pressure's too much."
"I'm almost... at my limit too," the handsome youth said, his face a little flushed. "I just don't want to lose to you!"
"Why bother?" Qu Jianlei shook his head and focused on linking up with the Spider Grand Monarch outside.
Before long, the rate at which the pressure increased slowed. He let out a long breath. "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality."
Han Li said nothing. After a while, he asked, "Last time... did you get through it like this too?"
Giant Axe's current rate of collecting life force was holding steady at two hundred twenty to two hundred thirty per day.
"It felt... maybe a little harder," Qu Jianlei answered casually. "I was alone back then. Maybe my emotions were amplified."
Han Li fell silent again. Two days passed before he asked, "Can you take over now?"
"Let's split it half and half," Qu Jianlei replied casually. "You'd better keep it up. Don't let me overtake you."
"You might as well go to sleep," Han Li snorted coldly. "You can have everything in your dreams!"
Qu Jianlei answered offhandedly, "After the last time ended, I slept for three years in one stretch. This is nothing."
The Handsome Youth fell silent again. After a long while, he sighed softly. "You really are ruthless... Don't tell me you're thinking of copying the War Shaman's methods?"
"I'm not sick," Qu Jianlei replied without hesitation. "Follow what is good, and change what is not."
"Tell me about