Leaving without Saying Goodbye

If, when the Simulation first began, Lu Cheng's goal had merely been to chase that rating, to turn this world upside down without caring whether a deluge swallowed it afterward, then now...

He wanted to leave something behind.

To leave that girl, whose eyes had once held nothing but him, something she could rely on to survive and find her footing.

After all, this world might keep turning after he left, and perhaps he would never see her again.

[Fourth chapter, side mission: Save Zhang Lexuan, completed. Mission reward: Secret method for stripping others of their Martial Souls (scroll)]

A light flashed, and a scroll appeared in his palm.

"Step one: Introduce your own blood into the subject's body, force them to summon their Martial Soul, and circulate this secret method to accelerate the fusion of the Martial Soul and blood. One drop of blood each day, until it has dissolved completely..."

"Step two..."

Lu Cheng carefully read through the secret method and committed its circulation technique to memory before putting it into his storage soul-tool ring.

Studying the vivid red blood in the little green bottle, Lu Cheng pondered for a long while before dripping it into his palm. The blood was not scalding, but it still held a trace of warmth.

Lu Cheng let out a long, stale breath and found a huge rock amid a lush green valley. With the surrounding forest providing cover, the spot was quite secluded and quiet. He sat cross-legged atop it, tilted his head back, and dripped that drop of blood into his eye.

His eye socket took on a dark red tinge, and the Soul Power throughout his body suddenly churned. It seemed that the Martial Soul within this body, Blood Pupils, was desperately resisting this foreign blood...

Zhang Lexuan's blood was clearly incompatible with his Martial Soul, and getting that girl's body not to reject his Martial Soul in the future would probably be no small challenge.

In that case, let the Martial Soul adapt to her blood first.

As he dripped in the blood, Lu Cheng activated the secret method and began the agonizing process of adaptation.

Then it felt as though raging flames had set his eye ablaze. Pain swept from his eye through his entire body, searing and scorching, especially in such a vulnerable place as his eye.

"Hiss..."

Even with Lu Cheng's considerable mental fortitude and thorough mental preparation, he still sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, baring his teeth in pain.

He clenched his fists tightly and tried his best to still his mind and focus, but the pain in his eye socket grew steadily worse, making him wish he could gouge out his eyes...

Only after a full quarter of an hour.

Did that marrow-deep agony slowly subside. Like a drowning man pulled from the water, Lu Cheng gasped for breath and braced a hand against the rock to stand. The back of his clothes had long since been soaked with sweat, and his face was faintly pale.

That really fucking hurt.

According to the manual, however, the pain would diminish with each attempt. As the blood and Martial Soul gradually fused and stopped rejecting one another, the pain would disappear completely.

"Whew..."

Lu Cheng slowly exhaled a stale breath, and a healthy flush visibly returned to his face, as though none of that suffering had ever happened.

Vigorous Soul Power surged around him once more.

He slowly flexed his fists.

"Caw, caw~"

A black crow flew over. "A message from the Supreme Elder: Go and return quickly. Don't linger in the Star Dou Great Forest, in case Shrek Academy retaliates..."

"Understood." Lu Cheng frowned slightly, then nodded.

Ye Xishui truly worried about his safety.

Ever since learning back then that Long Xiaoyao had recruited him, she had even personally visited the outskirts of Shrek Academy several times. She spoke to him quite kindly, like an elder in his family.

Only...

Forget it. Everything will pass.

They're only simulated characters.

Inside the cave.

Zhang Lexuan secretly glanced at Lu Cheng. Seeing that his expression seemed off, she curled her red lips and sneered coldly, "Could you have practiced some evil art and damaged your body? Watch out, you might suffer Qi deviation one day and spare me the trouble of killing you myself."

"..."

Seated cross-legged on the ground, Lu Cheng cast a leisurely glance at Zhang Lexuan.

"Confidence is a good thing, but don't reach beyond your grasp. If you could kill me, sows could climb trees."

The corner of Zhang Lexuan's eye twitched, and her delicate hands clenched.

That same infuriatingly lazy tone again.

What made it even more infuriating was that he was telling the truth...

Killing him was indeed as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Given the combat strength he had displayed earlier, only someone like Dean Yan coming in person would have a chance of killing him. Moreover, his other Martial Soul, Blood Pupils, had bizarre abilities and could conjure mirror images, making his true body impossible to distinguish. Often, just when you thought you had killed him, the head you severed actually belonged to a mirror-image clone. It was infuriating.

Three months passed in a flash.

Inside the cave.

"Eighth Soul Skill: Eclipse of the Blood Moon!!"

Zhang Lexuan cried out, her gaze resolute.

By now, she had fully digested the immense power provided by the Blood-Eroding Devil Python, and her Soul Power had reached rank eighty-five Soul Douluo. With the hot spring nourishing her body and her daily battles with Lu Cheng (cross that out-being beaten senseless), her Soul Power had become completely stable. Absorbing the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring had not left her foundation unstable from a sudden surge in Soul Power at all; instead, it was even steadier than an ordinary person's.

It was just that she had to take a savage beating from that fellow every day.

Coughing up three liters of blood...

Fortunately, the hot spring and the herbs he brought each day to nourish her flesh kept her blood and vitality from being depleted.

"Not bad."

On the other side of the cave, Lu Cheng raised his eyebrows, a hint of appreciation showing on his face, but it soon gave way to teasing amusement.

A crimson longbow appeared in his left hand.

With effortless ease, he drew the bowstring fully back and loosed an arrow...

The fiery red arrow collided with the ray descending from that blood moon, unleashing a muffled rumble within the narrow cave.

It burst apart with a bang.

As brilliant as fireworks.

Zhang Lexuan's gaze remained calm, as though she had long since grown accustomed to this. Her Soul Power was already completely exhausted. Ignoring Lu Cheng, she turned, deftly stripped off her clothes, and slipped into the hot spring to recover.

Rather than leaving her greatly disheartened, defeat after defeat, day after day, filled her with eager anticipation.

Because she could clearly feel herself growing stronger each day.

Even if that fellow still stood there like an unshakable mountain, as long as she lived another day, she would never give up the thought of climbing it.

Yet after she finished meditating and dressed.

A black crow flew in instead.

Zhang Lexuan instinctively frowned, but the black crow spoke first. "I'm leaving. Hopefully, the next time we meet, you'll have what it takes to fight me."

"Keep at it, girl. Don't disappoint me too much~"

"Damn it!" Zhang Lexuan clenched her teeth, her pretty face filled with anger. "Why didn't that fellow come say goodbye to me himself?! What's he trying to say by sending a crow?"

"Say something!"

Seething with anger, Zhang Lexuan seized the black crow in her delicate hand, her pale blue eyes fixed coldly on it.

As though, if this black crow failed to give her an explanation, today she would surely...

"If you're angry, take it out on him..."

The black crow cawed twice and said somewhat speechlessly.