The Stalker

After obtaining the Enchanting Magic Wand, Luo Jun wandered around a few more times before finally leaving the Yuanqiang Group. He then took a night bus and headed towards his rented apartment in the city center.

"Driver, slow down, no rush..." Luo Jun sat in the back seat, laughing as he fiddled with a deck of cards.

"Young man, still working overtime in the middle of the night?" The driver was a bit bored driving at night, so he chatted idly.

"Yes... poor oxen and horses, even working 996 is a luxury." Luo Jun sighed.

"It's alright, Yuanqiang Group is Duke, the benefits are pretty good." The driver said with a wry smile, "It's much better than us taxi drivers, who are burdened with debt from the moment we open our eyes, driving all day until dark, and barely making any money..."

"You can't say that, maybe our luck will change today," Luo Jun said with a smile, casually pulling out a playing card.

"To be honest, young man, this is my Zodiac Year in the Chinese zodiac. Everyone says that your Zodiac Year is a time of bad luck, let alone good fortune. I'll be lucky if I can get through this year peacefully." The driver sighed and shook his head.

"Don't be so pessimistic, uncle..."

A seductive female voice suddenly came from beside him, startling the driver. He turned around and saw a foreign girl in a long black dress with a sinister aura sitting in the passenger seat. She wore heavy Smoky Makeup and was looking at him with a half-smile.

"Wow! A ghost!" The driver was startled, his hands trembled, the steering wheel wobbled wildly, and the whole car swayed sideways on the road. Fortunately, there were no other cars on the road at night, so no accident occurred.

After swaying a few times, the car stabilized again, but then changed direction, turning onto an unfamiliar alley and heading into the darkness.

"Lilith ..." Luo Jun sighed in the back seat of the car, "If you're going to let me control him, you should have done it more decisively, or you almost caused a car accident."

"This is more interesting," Lilith said sweetly, reaching out to pat the driver's head. At this moment, the driver was already dazed, his eyes lifeless, like a puppet mechanically driving the taxi forward.

"These are minor matters, just don't mess it up during the actual performance!" With that, Luo Jun took out the Ancestral Skeleton Headband and summoned Ailongtan.

As soon as Ailongtan appeared, he put on a mask, changing his appearance to that of an unfamiliar person. Then he donned Horrifying Hide, took the three-piece set of Hanging Hook and Kai Ren Qi, wore Iron Wall Belt, and equipped himself with two accessories that enhanced his Protective Qi Strength and strength. He was armed to the teeth.

As for Lilith, she casually changed her makeup, transforming from her original dark and alluring look to one of righteousness. She even picked up two Rare-level pistols, which, combined with her Westernized features, gave her a rather dashing cowgirl vibe.

With everything ready, and the car already parked in a wasteland, Luo Jun took out three thousand yuan from his Generous Person Badge and tossed it to the dazed driver. "Thanks for the fare."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and jumped out of the car. After landing, he rolled twice and started shouting for help!

Closely following him were Ailongtan and Lilith, who were in disguise. As soon as they came out, they gave chase to Luo Jun. Ailongtan yelled and brandished Hanging Hook, while Lilith fired at Luo Jun repeatedly with both guns!

Meanwhile, Luo Jun, while fleeing for his life, took out the Heinlein's Left Arm and used the Energy Cannon to retaliate.

As for the driver, after the three of them got out of the car, he drifted around a corner and sped away at an extremely high speed.

Why did Luo Jun do this?

In fact, he sensed someone following him as soon as he entered the black market. However, he was appearing in his true form this time and did not know the other person's identity, while the other person knew that he was Luo Jun.

This situation—where the enemy was in the shadows while he was in the open—and being in the densely populated black market, made Luo Jun hesitant to provoke trouble. However, he was also curious about who his opponent was, so his wanderings around the black market weren't just for finding a treasure, but also to create opportunities for his opponent to make a move.

However, the stalker's patience exceeded Luo Jun's expectations. He wandered around the black market several times, even deliberately going to secluded places and creating several openings, but the other party did not make a move.

Left with no other option, Luo Jun had to leave the black market and think of another way.

Since the other party is so cowardly, I'll go all out and summon two assassins to hunt me down, pretending to be fleeing for my life in a sorry state.

He was being chased down by his enemies, and could be killed at any moment. There couldn't be a more vulnerable situation. Even if his opponent wasn't confident, surely they would be able to hold back their attack at a time like this?

At least a sniper shot or something would be fine!

Finally, when Luo Jun was cornered by the two assassins and had almost no way to escape, a Killing Intent that seemed to be tangible came over!

"It's here!" Luo Jun looked into the depths of darkness. It's coming—a person? Or an attack?

Brush!

What appeared was a golden light!

The target wasn't Luo Jun, but rather Ailongtan, who had already rushed in front of Luo Jun and was wielding the Kai Ren Qi!

In desperation, Ailongtan could only use the Kai Ren Qi to defend himself. With a clang, the qi attached to the Kai Ren Qi was instantly shattered, and his wrist could not withstand the powerful force. The Kai Ren Qi flew out of his hand and stuck in the ground not far away, with a clear notch on the blade!

This scene truly startled Ailongtan. He turned his head in shock and saw a slender figure wearing a cloak emerge from the darkness. She raised her hand and removed the hood, revealing a beautiful face.

"Ling Xin?!" Luo Jun recognized the person at a glance. He had guessed many possibilities: a fanatical fan, Rogue Cultivator jealous of his fame, the relentless Hell Creek Family, and so on... He never expected it to be Ling Xin?

"Who came from here, ruining my plans!" Lilith, not caring who it was, raised her dual pistols and fired repeatedly at Ling Xin!

Ling Xin snorted coldly, her fingertips flashing with golden light, transforming into a golden thread that sliced bullets in half wherever it passed, sending them crashing to the ground.

"It's the Golden Edge Witch!" Ailongtan shouted. "She's no match for us! Retreat!"

After saying that, the guy picked up the Kai Ren Qi and ran into the darkness. Lilith, who was standing to the side, snorted coldly and also put away her gun and fled.

Ling Xin frowned and took a step forward to chase after them, clearly not wanting to let the two "thieves" get away!

Seeing this, Luo Jun immediately groaned loudly, "Ouch... it hurts so much..."

Ling Xin was startled upon hearing this and stopped chasing the two. She quickly went to Luo Jun's side and asked with concern, "How are you? Where are you hurt?"

"Thankfully, no one was hurt..." Luo Jun said while dealing with the situation, communicating with Ailongtan and Lilith in his mind to make sure they had escaped far enough so that they could put their equipment into Ailongtan's Hundred Treasure Box and disappear without leaving any trace.

"Why are you yelling if you weren't hurt?" Ling Xin looked in the direction the two had fled. "They got away!"

"Not being injured doesn't mean it doesn't hurt..." Luo Jun rubbed his calf. "Teacher Yu has really tormented me these past few days, and I haven't fully recovered. I didn't feel it when I was scrambling to escape, but now that I've rested for a while, my whole body aches..."

Ling Xin a sigh of relief, "It's good that you're not hurt... Who exactly are they? Why did they attack you?"

"I don't know either..." Luo Jun said with a wronged expression, "I was just taking a taxi home normally, but suddenly there were two other people in the taxi, and the driver was also restrained. He attacked me without saying a word, and didn't even say where he came from... Sigh, people are afraid of becoming famous, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat. Are they jealous that I've been in the limelight lately?"

"Stop flattering yourself!" Ling Xin said irritably, "By the way, aren't you Elemental School? Why didn't you use your Elemental School abilities just now? You escaped in such a sorry state..."

"Uh..." Luo Jun hadn't figured out how to explain, so he simply changed the subject. "By the way, Ling Xin, what are you doing here? Didn't you say you were going to get a good rest tonight? Why did you end up in this godforsaken place?"

"Uh..." Ling Xin stammered, somewhat flustered at the mention of this. "I... I just came out for a walk and happened to be passing by..." "Passing by?" Luo Jun looked incredulous. "You weren't following me, were you?"

As he spoke, he examined the cloak Ling Xin was wearing. "I feel like I've seen this outfit before... in the black market..."

"You... you must have seen wrong..." Ling Xin said, her eyes darting away...

"No!" Luo Jun grabbed the hem of Ling Xin's cloak and said with certainty, "It's this one. I've seen it more than once. It's always hanging around me. You haven't been following me since the black market, have you?"

"You told me you didn't want to move today and told me to go by myself, but you were actually secretly following me?" Luo Jun looked at Ling Xin with a strange expression. "Are you my mother?"

"Alright, alright!" Ling Xin finally couldn't stand Luo Jun's sarcasm any longer, and golden light shone from her fingertips. "If you say another word, I won't be polite!"

Luo Jun was forced to take a half step back, and unconsciously swallowed.

Seeing his expression, Ling Xin sighed, as if she had mustered some courage, and suddenly said, "You guessed right, I really am following you!"

"Huh? You just admitted it like that?" This was somewhat unexpected for Luo Jun.

"But don't get me wrong, I'm not a stalker!" Ling Xin looked at Luo Jun: "I just want to confirm, are you... really you!"

"Am I me or not?" Luo Jun was taken aback. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

The version listed in 1619 is flawless!

Ling Xin looked at Luo Jun, shook her head, and said, "I can sense that sometimes you're not really yourself! For example..."

As she spoke, she removed the blue Hair Tie from the back of her head. "For example, when you gave me this, at least that version of you was definitely not the real Luo Jun!"

Upon hearing this, Luo Jun's pupils suddenly contracted. Ling Xin had actually noticed?

How can this be explained? Does it mean that Lian Ye's identity has already been discovered?

"How is this possible? How can there be two of me..." Luo Jun tried to struggle a bit more, but at the same time, he had already summoned the dice in his mind. "Don't let Ling Xin discover the truth!"

"Don't try to fool me. I'm pretty sure that during this time, there will be someone else impersonating you at times!"

"This... is just your imagination..." Luo Jun looked at the dice roll. "Final Points 100 + 5, Event Difficulty 38, event Great Success!"

This isn't that difficult... Could it be that Ling Xin only had suspicions? And it was Great Success, so...

Luo Jun was still figuring out how to explain when Ling Xin said, "If I'm not mistaken, the person who occasionally substitutes for you should be named Lin Feng, right?"

"Huh?" Luo Jun was taken aback. "What did you say?"

"Judging from your reaction, I think I guessed right." Ling Xin was quite confident in her prediction.

"How did you know this name?" Luo Jun recalled that Ailongtan had told him that Ling Xin had asked about Lin Feng. The fact that she cared so much about this name meant that Ling Xin had likely heard of it before. But Luo Jun had clearly made that up on the spot!

"I not only know Lin Feng, but I also know that this person is the master with Elemental School abilities. His realm is far higher than yours, and he has known you for a long time, right?" Ling Xin looked into Luo Jun's eyes and said, word by word.

Luo Jun looked at Ling Xin, surprised that she had come up with such a subtle answer, one that was both right and wrong...

But since Ling Xin had already said so, Luo Jun sighed, "You still found out... To be honest, I'm still only at the Foundation Establishment Realm, and I haven't awakened the Heart Refining Realm at all. When I use Elemental School abilities, it's not actually me, but the person who's impersonating me..."

"As expected!" Ling Xin frowned. "Why did you do this? And who is this Lin Feng?"

"He's nobody..." Luo Jun shook his head. "If I had to name someone, I'd say he's someone I imagined..."

"Fantasy?" This time it was Ling Xin's turn to be surprised. "But he clearly exists, he even participated in missions, and you were in the Main World at the time..."

"The fantasy I was referring to was the past..." Luo Jun said truthfully, "But the one who can replace me now is real, though not a person, but something I summoned using a Noble Phantasm."

"A Noble Phantasm summoning?" Ling Xin frowned.

"During my Otherworld Internship last year, I experienced a major upheaval..." Luo Jun sighed, "And after that, this person appeared."

Ling Xin's eyes widened. "I know, that time was..."

Luo Jun nodded. "In short, this summoned creature can perfectly mimic me, and it even possesses a higher level of cultivation, more abilities, and can even do missions for me. At the time, I had many inconveniences, and sometimes I would have this Summoned Creature replace me..."

"Who would have thought this replacement would last so long? Now I'm even a little dependent on him, unable to live without him..."

What Luo Jun said was absolutely correct. He never said that the Summoned Creature was named Lin Feng, and Lin Feng was indeed an identity he had made up on the spot.

As for that major upheaval, Luo Jun was referring to his experience traveling to [Utopia]. Indeed, after that trip, the Tomb King became Ailongtan and began to replace him... He didn't know what Ling Xin interpreted it as...

But all of this sounded perfectly reasonable to Ling Xin, even the timing of the replacement's appearance matched!

"You can't go on like this!" Ling Xin grabbed Luo Jun's shoulder. "No matter how powerful that Summoned Creature is, it's not the real you. If you want to become Cultivators can stand on his own, you have to become truly strong yourself!"

"I know, but..." Luo Jun shook his head and said, "But I really can't live without him now, and I've already established my persona, but no matter how hard I try, I can't feel any inclination towards the Heart Refining Realm... Maybe I'll never be able to..."

"No!" Ling Xin shook her head and said, "As long as you continue to cultivate diligently, you will definitely be rewarded! Moreover, you don't necessarily have to reach the Heart Refining Realm to be considered successful in cultivation; perhaps... there are other paths!"

"What did you say?" Luo Jun was slightly taken aback and looked at Ling Xin with surprise.

(End of this chapter)