Chapter 469

Chapter 469: Chapter 466: "It’s better to receive well than to hit well.Old Te glanced at him with his murky eyes, then started to smoke with his head bowed.

Rings of smoke rose one after the other, and Old Te’s breathing gradually became steady. He rubbed his fingers as if hinting at something.

Eni had no choice but to give all the Gold Coins he had snatched earlier to the greedy farmer.

"Hmm..." Old Te weighed the Gold Coins in his hand, his smile becoming more benevolent, "What you said could be possible. For example...

"Bang!"

Before Old Te could finish his sentence, a loud noise suddenly came from the entrance.

Guide Hettos, who was responsible for keeping watch, kicked open the door and rushed in. The moment Eni and Flora saw him, they understood—the enemy had arrived.

"—It’s Su Ming’an! Grab Old Te and run!" Flora shouted.

"Crash—" Glass shattered as Eni and Flora leaped through the window, heading toward the direction of the fields.

"Click."

The door lock fell to the ground, and Su Ming’an walked through the main entrance, just in time to see Eni and the others scrambling to escape. He had only wanted to find the farmer Old Te to obtain the second stone, but happened to run into Eni and his group.

The villa’s interior was a resplendent hall; the farmer seemed to know how to enjoy life, with lavish and modern decor that was out of place with the factories outside.

Su Ming’an extended his hand, and a stream of dark mist climbed along his arm, forming into an extremely long blade. During his previous search, he had acquired an item exclusive to Jiu Shen’s Ghost, the "Ghost’s Blade." As long as it hit someone from a distance, it could cause significant damage, and it was a prop that extended the reach of one’s attacks.

He quickly made his way toward the corridor; Eni and Flora had already smashed through the window, leaving broken glass scattered all over.

"Wait, slow down..." Xiber was struggling to keep up; she was left far behind and even found climbing through the window to be cumbersome.

Su Ming’an didn’t wait for her and directly jumped over the window ledge with ease.

Ahead, Flora was running while looking back. When her eyes met Su Ming’an’s, her face went pale.

"...It’s definitely Su Ming’an, keep running!" She pulled Eni along as they ran.

Even though their speed had been halved, Eni and Flora were still not slow, as their Agility Points were not low. Su Ming’an wouldn’t be able to keep up with them at a normal pace.

But it had been over an hour since JingXue Chunzi’s death, and he had at least to make a move, so as not to arouse suspicion.

He raised his hand symbolically, aiming for the gap between the two runners, and deliberately slashed at the empty space—

That strike was intentionally a miss, meant to prompt Flora and the others to take the opportunity to scamper away.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, Flora stumbled and unintentionally stepped towards Eni, coincidentally right into the blade’s path.

...It turns out that it’s less about making a good strike than about a fortunate catch.

"Pht!" With the sound of the blade piercing flesh, blood burst forth, and Flora, who had been severely slashed in the back, groaned.

"Flora!" Eni turned pale with shock. He knew that Su Ming’an’s strength had been augmented fivefold, which could instantly kill them. Even though Flora had just activated her strongest survival skill, which could forcibly reduce a thousand Points of damage, she’d be cut down with one strike...

...Hmm?

Eni, looking at Flora, who hadn’t fallen yet, was stunned.

Even though her health bar was only a sliver, she hadn’t died.

Eni vaguely sensed something was off... Why hadn’t Flora been killed instantly?

He turned his head to look, and Su Ming’an was still walking at a steady pace, his speed not as fast as expected.

"Wait, Flora..." Eni said, "Something seems off."

"Run! This is definitely one of Su Ming’an’s strategies!" Flora spat out blood, having injected a dose of medicine to barely maintain her ability to move: "—He’s deliberately not killing me, luring you to look back!"

Sure enough, as Eni slowed his pace, Su Ming’an once again raised his longsword, its blade edge pointed right at him.

In the darkness of the night, the longsword flowing with sinister energy seemed particularly terrifying, as if countless ghosts were reaching out their hands of death towards him.

Eni didn’t doubt for a second, and immediately started running. Sёarch* The Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Flora, go block him," he called out.

"I won’t go," Flora said with a frown.

"You go, don’t walk beside me!"

"Why don’t you go?"

"You go."

"You go!"

"You go!"

"You....."

After a brief argument, Flora still requested her Guide, Raphael, to block the way.

Raphael was an "Enchanter," adept in manipulating others with his mind, but after one glance at Su Ming’an, he realized that the opponent’s spiritual power was not below his. He directly swung out a sword, slashing in the direction of Su Ming’an.

Majestic pink energy overflowed from Raphael’s sword, transforming into a pure force of impact. Su Ming’an, who was in the midst of running, immediately slashed out in response, meeting it head-on.

When the pink and black energies collided, the pink energy simply swept past the longsword, rushing straight toward him.

"Whoosh—"

Su Ming’an was forced to step back a few paces; he couldn’t withstand that overwhelmingly strong force.

And at that moment, Eni slowed down once more.

During his previous communication with farmer Old Te, he had sensed something odd about the farm; Su Ming’an’s overly slow killing speed had already raised his suspicions, and the opponent’s movement speed, this unexplainably low damage, didn’t seem like a disguise, which deepened his doubts.

The main reason that made him turn back was... behind Su Ming’an, the presence of the supposed First Guide had not followed.

He was tempted to test his suspicions, but Flora was still clinging to him, along with a fleeing Old Te. In the darkness of the night, their figures ran farther and farther away...

After hiding behind a tall stack of grass, Eni could no longer suppress his curiosity.

"Old Te, we have a good relationship, right?" He extended his hand, placing it on Old Te’s shoulder.

The panting Old Te nodded with some difficulty, Eni had brushed up quite a bit of favorability with him before.

"Then, could you continue answering my earlier question... are there any particular circumstances in this Sacrifice Field...?" Eni asked, "For instance, the Ghosts of Jiu Shen are not very strong, that sort of situation?"

"There are special circumstances like that." Old Te was a little scared and spilled everything he knew: "For example, if the person chosen as the Ghost of Jiu Shen is naturally attuned to the aura of Bai Shen. Jiu Shen would not favor him..."

"Really?" Eni and Flora looked at each other, their eyes full of delight.

Flora was more cautious; she asked Old Te, "So in that case, is the opponent’s strength..."

She was asking a question when her gaze suddenly froze, and she stood there rigidly as if turned to ice. Above her head, an opaque silhouette of a balance scale could be vaguely seen.

A figure flashed beside her abruptly, a finger raised, and a streak of black light emerged—

It was easy for Su Ming’an to kill Flora, whose strength was halved. Under the Judgement’s prerequisite, Flora couldn’t even react in time.

"—Su Ming’an!" Eni yelled out upon seeing Su Ming’an suddenly Teleport beside him. Hettos had quickly thrown himself to his side, transforming golden flames into a Shield that completely protected him.

"I’ve discovered your secret, Su Ming’an!" Eni shouted.

"You have?" Su Ming’an said, "Then go ahead and spread the word. You don’t lack long-range communication skills, do you?"

Eni’s face stiffened slightly; in fact, he didn’t have any.

He had chosen "Agile Perception" and "Concealment Color", both skills meant for evasion, without a single one to contact others.

"I’ve figured out your secret, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone for now. Let’s make a deal, how about it?" Eni looked at him, his posture confident and unafraid.

Eni wasn’t panicked at the moment, Hettos was guarding him, this Fire Controller’s power was remarkably astonishing, and he was confident that Su Ming’an, now at half-strength, couldn’t break through.

"What deal?" Su Ming’an asked.

"I’ve found an escape route within the field. Once all the other Black Sheep Players are dead, the last remaining person can escape directly through the route and still receive the reward of two Silver Stars," Eni explained. "As long as you prevent the gate from being opened, you win. This way, we could achieve a ’win-win’ situation."

"You mean, we collaborate to hunt down the rest of the Black Sheep Players, and you escape through the secret route in the end?" Su Ming’an smiled, "You really trust me, don’t you? Aren’t you afraid that I’ll kill you too in the end?"

"I trust the hundreds of millions of viewers behind you," Eni pointed at the air behind Su Ming’an, "You wouldn’t break a promise in front of so many people, would you?"

"What do you say? Since the rest are competitors anyway, why not collaborate with me to wipe them out in this instance?" Eni spread his hands, confident in his proposition, "Where’s your Guide? That can’t be the First Guide, or else you wouldn’t be killing so slowly."

"Earlier, didn’t you want to show me the Fire Mystery?" Su Ming’an suddenly threw out the topic.

Eni remembered his earlier tough talk at the comic convention and couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed.

If he was the Ghost of Jiu Shen, he would have killed Su Ming’an before him long ago, but he wasn’t, and his power had been halved. He wasn’t certain Hettos could beat Su Ming’an, which is why he had suggested the alliance.

If his proposal for collaboration could be realized, he could run, Su Ming’an could win, and they would eliminate eleven competitors. The situation couldn’t be better; he couldn’t think of a reason for Su Ming’an to refuse.

"Fire Mystery... I can demonstrate it to you later," Eni coughed, "Let’s survive first and talk about it at the final stage. After all, no one is more suitable than me to make a deal with you, right?"

As he was speaking, he suddenly saw Su Ming’an raise his hand.

Eni’s eyes widened in surprise as an uncontrollable balance scale silhouette appeared over his head.

The next moment, Su Ming’an had already charged through the searing flame Shield, his blade aimed at Eni’s head. His movements were incredibly fast, not giving anyone time to speak, and Eni couldn’t react.

Hettos immediately summoned flames; Dark Gold Fire with extreme heat burst forth from his body, a vibrant and scorching river of fire leaped like a giant whale, curling around Eni and shooting straight towards Su Ming’an.

Walking into the flames, Su Ming’an didn’t stop, the intensely hot wind lifting his black hair, the firelight turning the cornfield bright as daylight, and he raised the pitch-black longblade in his hand—

A blood-red damage number sprang up.

The damage sprouted from above Eni’s head.

The longsword, imbued with annihilation, pierced through Eni’s shoulder, slicing down through the heart in Eni’s left chest, down to the lower abdomen; wherever it passed, muscles, blood, and skin seemed to evaporate, leaving behind a deep, dark line.

However, those flames that were previously so aggressive merely brushed past Su Ming’an’s hair like a warm breeze, lightly lifting his robe before dying down.

A faintly shining membrane had attached to Su Ming’an’s body, enveloping him completely and preventing the external flames from injuring him in the slightest.

"You—!" Eni, having recovered from his dizziness, noticed that death was imminent and immediately tried to retreat, yet found that a gash had unknowishly opened up in his body. Since annihilation had melted his wound, even his blood was a slow step behind, only now beginning to flow out.

Blood spread across his upper body, with intense pain radiating from his heart, causing his retreating steps to wobble.

Eni was almost dumbfounded.

—He knew that Su Ming’an had a resistance against flames, but Hettos’s fire was completely different! This was the Fire of Origin, a fire of the highest magnitude in terms of power; how could anyone be completely immune to fire... It was simply too absurd!

Yet, Su Ming’an in his Shadow State was just that bugged. As long as it was an elemental attack, as long as the opponent’s Mentality Points were below one hundred and thirty, no matter how powerful, it posed no threat to him; this was an absolute defense in terms of judgment. The extent of his immunity to fire was so astonishing that even Su Ming’an himself was a bit surprised; he really hadn’t sustained any injuries and had just charged straight through.

With that said, he completely countered the combination of Eni and Hettos. It was truly unfortunate how the other side lost.

"Su Ming’an—Is my trade offer not good enough?" Eni still tried to salvage the situation: "You guard the gate, and I take the escape route. We can cooperate to hunt others down. Why would you refuse—"

He simply couldn’t understand why Su Ming’an had refused him; if Hettos could join, it would definitely ease the current awkward gap in Su Ming’an’s strength.

Su Ming’an took a step forward, his left hand pressing down fiercely on the weakened Eni’s shoulder to prevent him from escaping backward, while his right hand was raised high—

Golden flames blazed, and the longsword in Su Ming’an’s hand, unprotected, was scorched by the brilliant flames, melting away. The hand that wielded the hilt of the sword suddenly shifted up to the blade.

"Because someone already proposed this partnership before you did," Su Ming’an said:

"Goodbye, Fire Mystery."

Eni’s pupils shrank.

Flames danced before his eyes, rising up.

Beneath the leaping flames, Su Ming’an’s hand that was protecting the blade opened to reveal a sharp blade tip that had not yet melted.

The blade tip pointed directly at Eni.

Just as Eni thought to avoid it, that segment of the blade tip thrust forward abruptly, penetrating his throat in an instant!

Scarlet numbers bounced into view.

The smell of fire and burning permeated the space between the two, as Su Ming’an, holding on to a section of the blade tip, gazed at the blood-covered Eni.

The fluttering flames rose on his own body, but they could no longer harm him.

In the silence of the oppressive farm, the sword in his hand melted into molten metal.

"Su Ming’an, you..."

Eni, clutching his throat and slowly collapsing, suddenly found this scene strikingly familiar.

... It seemed that, a long time ago, he had experienced something similar.