About forty minutes later, Fu Li, having finally made all the necessary preparations, stood at the entrance to the shrine.
He gripped the bat tightly and silently activated Demonic Blade · Unknown Fire.
Honkai Energy like a blazing sun erupted from within his slight body, like a glazed fire blending liquid and gas, dyeing the tranquil night with a dreamlike, gorgeous radiance.
Centered on him, the surrounding temperature began to rise sharply.
But soon, that illusory flame drew back into Fu Li's body, leaving only a thin film over his skin.
This was his first time activating Demonic Blade · Unknown Fire, and the life force being madly drained from within told him why Shiranui was only rated C-rank despite being capable of raising its user's physical abilities to A-rank.
I need to end this quickly.
With that thought, he gave the command.
The descending Shadow Blade struck the Sessho-seki in the center of the courtyard with a piercing howl, cracking its surface in a web-like pattern.
Crack!
Crash!
Heaven! Earth! Trembled!
The Herrscher! Descended!
"Roarrrrrr!!!!!"
The colossal canine beast, clad in red-and-white plating, burst from its shell and threw back its head in a roar. Scorching breath reeking of sulfur billowed from its enormous nostrils, while the segmented rope wrapped around its body and its four fox tails unfurled together, stirring the air and lashing the atmosphere into thunderous booms.
The Demon Fox leaped from the crater and set foot upon the vast earth for the first time in five hundred years. Its four flame-wreathed paws suddenly swelled, scorching the soil beneath them black.
That was still acceptable, because the shrine ruins that had been the real target were now nowhere to be seen.
Having done all that, the monster amid the sea of fire lowered its head. Its wheel-sized crimson eyes focused on the little speck that had freed her, and the corners of her mouth curled into a humanlike smile.
Ling did not know why this person had freed her, nor did it matter to her.
Die.
She raised a forelimb and smashed it down toward Fu Li.
The baked, softened ground was instantly crushed into a pit. Dust flew up, only to be ignited by the heat surrounding the massive claw, becoming a shower of sparks that spread at high speed.
You could only blame your rotten luck, kid.
Ling mockingly withdrew her front claw.
Five hundred years of battling wills had long left Yae Sakura, who had been sealed alongside her, utterly exhausted. Most of the time, she remained dormant as well.
If the miko happened to be awake, Ling might have shown some restraint under her interference.
But now, you could only blame your rotten luck, kid—
Hm?
The dust was burned away by the sparks, revealing nothing beneath the ruins.
The long blade that had been waiting for this moment attacked from the side!
Though it was merely a cold weapon forged by humans and held in human hands, its flight carried the force of a supersonic fighter jet at full speed!
Air shockwaves wrapped around it, sweeping up fragments of the shattered Sessho-seki, scorched earth, and the sparks ignited from lingering particles in the air, sending them spiraling around it at high speed!
A hurricane seemed to sweep through the basketball-court-sized courtyard as the two figures crossed paths like actors in a samurai drama!
"Ungh!"
The hurricane carved a wound across the Demon Fox's lower abdomen.
A huge amount of blood gushed from the wound, extinguishing a large patch of flames at once!
Chapter 22: "Ling Keeps Making Bad Moves"
A hurricane seemed to sweep through the courtyard of Yae Shrine as Fu Li and Ling crossed paths like actors in a samurai drama!
"Ungh!"
The hurricane carved a wound across the Demon Fox's lower abdomen.
A huge amount of blood gushed from the wound, extinguishing a large patch of flames at once.
"Standing in flames thousands of degrees Celsius hot, it wasn't beyond my expectations that her blood would resist fire."
Fu Li withdrew his gaze from the wound and shook the gleaming cold blade in his hand.
He had achieved that effect by using Mikazuki Munechika, which he had charged for an entire day and night.
The results were outstanding enough. Combined with the Five Blades Under Heaven it came with, it had easily broken through the Demon Fox's defenses.
Who told her to be so careless?
And this was not over yet.
"Go!"
With a thought from Fu Li, the seven Shadow Blades circling around him shot forth with howls.
Shadow Blade was an exceptionally flexible skill full of possibilities. Before his rebirth, Fu Li had developed countless ways to use it.
For example, Flying Sky, which accelerated it to the limit and launched it at enemies with the speed of wind and thunder;
Yu Kong, which controlled several blades to whirl rapidly around the user, allowing them to attack when advancing and defend when retreating;
Tingyun, which controlled them to wait for chances to strike an enemy's weak points and deal massive weakness-break damage;
And Bai Heng, the technique he was using now, which detonated the Shadow Blades after they struck an enemy to inflict tremendous damage in a short time.
The great military strategist Sun Tzu of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods once said: soldiers never tire of explosions.
Translated, that meant every soldier stepping onto a battlefield should be prepared to be blown to pieces.
Unfortunately, Grandma Ling, at the tender age of fifty thousand, had never read this literary classic.
Fu Li's control of the Shadow Blades had nearly reached perfection. Even though she reacted and tried to intercept them, four Shadow Blades still pierced her defense and exploded inside the wound he had cut earlier.
This time, more than blood came pouring out.
"Roarrrrrr!!!"
Faced with such a vicious tactic of striking while she was down, Ling's rage surged from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head, and she no longer considered communication or negotiation—though she had never considered either to begin with.
Faced with a hellish barrage as dense as a Touhou Project Stage 6 boss's spell cards, a smile instead slowly spread across the lips Fu Li hid beneath his collar.
Because the rage-blinded Ling had failed to notice the silver ring that had somehow been placed atop her head, now glowing faintly.
The Demon Fox roared at the moon behind her, freely spreading her four massive tails as Flame Burst shots fired indiscriminately from their tips in every direction.
Heavenly fire fell like torrential rain, and wails blew like fierce wind.
In an instant, she dyed half the mountain peak red with scorching heat and flame, like a masterpiece cast into a furnace.
As if deliberately serving as a contrast, Fu Li's movements were equally exaggerated as he swung his blade through Flame Burst shots, cleaved apart defenses, and cut through barriers. His posture was twisted and wild, as though he were dancing some foreign dance across a battlefield.
This savage combat style came from the Schicksal Valkyrie training manual's Anti-Beast Combat Tactics. Fu Li had copied it after seeing someone else use it once. Since he had not learned it completely, its rank did not matter, but it worked quite well against giant animal-type Honkai Beasts.
He knew many similar tricks, including Anti-Titan Gymnastics for dealing with Anti-Entropy constructs. They were all experience accumulated during his Honkai life in his previous cycle.
It was precisely because of this wild, unrestrained, eye-catching fighting style, combined with the relentless bombardment of the Shadow Blades, that Ling, who was "painting," failed to notice that everything Fu Li had done so far was merely to divert her attention.
His true trump card had already taken the opportunity to settle atop her head, in her blind spot.
Name: Incomplete Moon Ring
Level: C-rank
Category: Item
Effect: A Honkai Energy suppression device made based on the principles of Selene. Wearing it effectively reduces Honkai Energy activity within the body.
Note: It's all fake! It's all fake! —Theresa Apocalypse
Who knew whether Fu Li was lucky or unlucky? More than half of the items in his only ten-pull had clearly been props, yet quite a few of them turned out to be useful.
Before coming to Yae Village, he had tried wearing the Moon Ring. The circulation speed of Honkai Energy in his body immediately dropped by more than eighty percent.
The remainder became sluggish and difficult to move as well, nearly returning him to an ordinary life.
Temporarily, of course.
After taking off the Moon Ring, the blocked energy began flowing again.
From that moment onward, Fu Li had begun drafting a plan to "put the Moon Ring on the Demon Fox."
His plan had three steps in total:
First, quietly place the Moon Ring in the enemy's visual blind spot.
Second, distract the enemy as much as possible and make her confuse the Moon Ring's suppressive effects with the expenditure of Honkai Energy during battle.
Third, once most of the enemy's internal energy had been depleted, use the ultimate method: a nuclear explosion to harvest her at light speed.
Did that sound especially crude?
That was exactly the effect Fu Li wanted.
The plans in many movies and novels were absurdly complicated, often spanning who knew how many years, with any mistake in any step causing all previous efforts to go to waste.
Why were they designed that way?
Because it made the villains look cool.
But in reality, plans really were better the simpler they were.
A plan was nothing more than the means used to achieve an objective.
In the process of achieving that objective, the more complicated the methods, the more easily they could be sabotaged.
If every step of a plan could not go wrong, that was the plan's greatest flaw.
On the contrary, the simpler the plan, the more room for error it had when problems arose, and the more likely it was to succeed.
Of the simple three-step plan above, Fu Li was fully confident he could complete the first step.
The charged draw-slash of Mikazuki Munechika alone dealt enough damage to make the enemy take him seriously, causing her to overlook the Moon Ring quietly placed atop her head.
The truly difficult part was the second step.
Demonic Blade · Unknown Fire only enhanced physical abilities. Fu Li's defense, energy reserves, and everything else remained C-rank. That meant if even one of Ling's attacks landed cleanly on him, Prometheus could sit at the children's table at his funeral banquet.
Luckily, his pre-battle preparations had been thorough. Whenever Ling's Flame Burst, Sharp Claws, or Tail Sweep were about to touch Fu Li's body, Shadow Blades descending like divine judgment interrupted those attacks that would wound with a graze and kill with a hit.
It enraged Ling so much that she fumed helplessly and spewed curse after curse.
Put yourself in her place. On a summer day nearing fifty degrees Celsius, three or five flies buzzed around in front of you, occasionally landing on the lunch you had just bought, eyeing it greedily as if they wanted a share.
And you had neither a flyswatter nor an electric mosquito racket. You could not hit them with your bare hands, your air conditioner had broken down, and the repairman had not arrived.
If you could still keep smiling after that, take my advice: go buy a plane ticket to Sichuan, then take a taxi to Leshan. There was a giant Buddha there. Let him leave, and you take his seat.
Ling clearly did not possess the state of mind of a living Buddha, though fortunately, Fu Li was not one of those flies.
As time passed, the Shadow Blades hanging upside down in the night sky began to run short.
With C-rank energy reserves, how many Shadow Blades could he really create?
Besides, Ling was not stupid. Even if rage had clouded her mind, she was not blind.
Coming down from the sky, huh? I'll burn the whole damn sky with one Void Dog Cannon!
Thinking that, Ling opened her bloody maw. Surging energy formed a visible black void inside her mouth.
She took a deep breath. Like a dragon-whale swallowing water, the endless flames outside and the Honkai Energy scattered through the air transformed into particles of light and were devoured, flowing into the black hole in her mouth like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
The next moment—
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
It was as though an angel guarding Eden had swung down its flaming sword!
After slicing off an unfortunate mountaintop that happened to be within its range, a blazing white beam dozens of meters wide swept through most of the night sky with unstoppable force!
A few scattered explosions rang out as the Shadow Blades hanging in the air were caught in the blast and detonated!
Before you continue