Chapter 117: No More Pretending!
In the natural open square of Devil City, there was a dead silence.
Although the speech of the Tuo Wuali Lei Clan Leader, combined with Fang Ji’s statement, had some persuasive power, the representatives from the other three major tribes remained unmoved.
Relying on their powerful tribes, they had enjoyed dominance on the Gobi Desert for a long time, especially in recent decades, when no members of other tribes dared to speak out loudly in front of them.
Fang Ji came from the Miracle Cult, which was acceptable, but now the Tuo Wuali Lei Tribe suddenly wanted to take precedence over them. How could they tolerate that?
It felt as if it was acceptable to be killed by an enemy hero in a game, but being defeated by minions was simply unacceptable.
Without mentioning anything else, they couldn’t get past this psychological hurdle.
Fang Ji quietly observed from the side, and seeing both sides at a stalemate, suddenly smiled and stepped forward, saying, “Since everyone finds it difficult to make a decision, why don’t we vote to elect a leader? That way, it should be more acceptable to everyone, right?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Gur Aluslan raised a hand, with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes, and said, “Then I vote for myself!”
The Tayou Clan Leader exchanged glances with Gur Aluslan and also raised their hand, saying, “I also vote for Brother Gur.”
Seeing this, the envoy from the Gu Zheng Tribe glanced at the three seated individuals, hesitated several times, and finally sighed, stuttering, “I… I abstain.”
“Ha!” Gur Aluslan sneered, “Two votes for me, one abstention, and even if Tuo Wuali Lei votes for himself, it’s only one vote. So the result is quite obvious…”
“Wait!” Fang Ji suddenly interrupted, “Leader Aluslan, isn’t that wrong? There are so many clan leaders and envoys here, and everyone hasn’t voted yet. How can the result be obvious?”
As he spoke, he turned around and addressed the half-urban legends on the periphery, “I’m sure everyone is quite clear about the style of the Aluslan Tribe, right?”
“I can guarantee that if the Tuo Wuali Lei Clan Leader becomes the leader, you will definitely receive more benefits. This is also one of the conditions for our cooperation with him in the Miracle Cult.”
“I’ll say no more. Now, anyone who wants to vote for the Tuo Wuali Lei Clan Leader can raise their hand!”
After waiting a moment, when one half-urban legend, who had long been oppressed by the Aluslan Tribe, raised their hand, the others gradually raised their hands as well.
Seeing this, Fang Ji showed a satisfied smile.
————
Under the blazing sun, the petite figure of Luxianbei was running wildly, chasing, like a hummingbird flying low over the ground.
Although the hummingbird is not the fastest bird, it is one of the most agile birds. In the complex terrain of the Gobi Desert, agility is often more important than speed.
In the Gobi Desert, aside from the flat barren desert, the most common features were rolling hills.
Between one hill and another, deep ravines could suddenly appear, sometimes with a width of less than a meter.
Pursuing speed blindly and rushing forward recklessly, you might step into emptiness and fall into the abyss.
And below those abysses, there might be quicksand, underground rivers, salt crusts, and other more complex terrains, perhaps even hiding urban legends.
All of this combined is simply malice from nature — a pure natural backstab without artificial additives.
If possible, Luxianbei, who always believed in safety first, wouldn’t want to dive into those hills, but her objective didn’t think so…
Dailin and his companions, realizing that the calamity wouldn’t fly and that movement would be restricted by the terrain, purposely moved closer to those hills while fleeing, trying to use the terrain to shake off the pursuing doom.
The more complex the terrain, the more they aimed for it!
After all, aided by the power of spirit patterns, the complex terrain had little impact on him.
He relied on the floating hands created by the spirit pattern powers, which although merely floated around him, had a subtle connection to his body, functioning as an extension of it, allowing for an extreme distance of force.
In practical use, it was akin to the grappling hooks often used by thieves and agents in movies, with perfect accuracy and no limit on the number of uses.
Luxianbei was not local, hadn’t reconnoitered the surrounding terrain in advance, and lacked the bizarre ability that Dailin possessed. Even though her speed slightly surpassed Dailin and his companions, she could only closely tail behind them, slowly closing the distance.
Suddenly, she felt that those designers of chase problems must be psychopathic individuals holding a grudge against Xiaoming because such things truly happen in reality.
She roughly calculated her speed in approaching Dailin and found that at the current rate, she would need at least two or three hours to catch up, provided no accidents occurred along the way.
The more dreadful part was that during those two or three hours, any members of the Solar Eclipse Society supporting Dailin could appear at any time, and if they wanted to leave then, it would be even harder to stop them.
This couldn’t go on!
Luxianbei thought with a heavy heart. After a brief moment of contemplation, she took a deep breath and shouted aloud.
“I’m saying, you guys stop running for a moment, shall we talk?”
“In fact, I was lying in ambush there, not to attack you, but to go after those half-urban legends from the Gu Zheng Tribe. They attacked the blockade area of the Siye Society last night, and as an operative of the Siye Society, I have the obligation to capture them.”
Finding that she couldn’t catch up solely on speed, Luxianbei decided to initiate a talk therapy with Dailin.
Dailin, “…”
He’d be crazy to believe you!
Although she looked different from the calamity described in the information, since Fang Zuo had said that the person present here must be the calamity, could it be fake?
With that thought, Dailin maintained his speed and pushed the spirit energy fluctuation to the limit.
At this moment, Luxianbei’s voice, filled with a power to entice the mind, came again.
“Surely you don’t really think you can escape, right? If I wanted to, I could catch up to you anytime. However, I just want to learn about those half-urban legends of the Gu Zheng Tribe, and I hope you can cooperate, which is why I haven’t done that.”
“I guarantee with the reputation of the Siye Society that I will not harm you! You all should know that the Siye Society treats witnesses very well!”
After all, it doesn’t matter if the reputation of the Siye Society is ruined; what does it have to do with me, the calamity? Luxianbei thought secretly.
As the words fell, the two figures ahead continued to rush forward without the slightest intention of stopping.
Seems ineffective? Luxianbei thought, shifting her gaze from Dailin to his companion, considering briefly before deciding to change tactics.
When one person is determined to do something, it’s indeed hard to stop them.
But if there are two people, it’s different.
Different individuals, no matter how high their mutual understanding, can still have discrepancies. As long as she creates conflicts to induce differences, it’s possible to make them stop.
“Oh right, the girl’s face looks very fresh! It seems like your relationship with Dailin isn’t that close, you wouldn’t put your life on the line for him, right?”
“Now, he is indeed running away with you, but what if later he realizes that he can run faster if he leaves you behind… Do you think he would abandon you and run off by himself? He’s a notorious gambler and cannot be trusted…”
After speaking, noticing the girl accompanying Dailin turned to look at her, Luxianbei’s eyes brightened.
Great! As long as she is listening, there’s a chance to sway her, and once she wavers, she might help me do something!
In simple terms, it’s looking good!
“Think about it carefully, actually I have no grudge against you, and there seems to be no reason to take action against you. How about this: you knock out your companion now and let yourself leave?”
“If you want, you can even take all his belongings—spirit energy items, alchemical materials, or anything valuable. A high-level spirit energy user should have a lot of valuable things on them. If you’re worried about being found out afterward, I can even help you…”
“Without anyone knowing, as long as you don’t slip up, no third party will know. Of course, if you really have no interest in what he has, I can do my utmost to help you fulfill your wish. If you still don’t trust me, I can even sign a contract with you.”
“…”
Listening to Luxianbei’s incessant words from behind, Dailin’s expression gradually turned ugly.
Not only his companion, but even he began to feel a hint of hesitation.
If their positions were reversed, he might have started considering taking action against his companion.
Thinking this, he glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye and said in a deep voice, “Don’t listen to her. It’s rumored that the calamity is best at seducing others’ minds. If you believe her…”
Before Dailin could finish his sentence, the girl reached out and pushed his slightly turned head back, saying, “Watch the road ahead.”
After a moment, she added, “I know the calamity is untrustworthy and won’t believe what she says, so you only need to focus on fleeing and don’t let them catch up.”
Hearing this, Dailin gritted his teeth, focused on the front, and activated his spirit pattern ability.
Accompanied by a wave of spirit energy fluctuations, a pair of pale hands shot forward like bullets towards the towering hills ahead. With a thud, they sank into the wind-eroded rock, then tightened their fingers, gripping the rock firmly.
In the next moment, Dailin and his companion on his back were pulled forward, flying over ten meters, crossing the ravine and landing steadily.
As soon as they landed, he heard the chanting of a spell formula in his ears.
“Golden yellow emblem, ancient distant sealed secret compendium, swords, arrows, iron hooves that subdue the rebellious…”
“Broken pointer clock, open flowers in the book, shattered dead skies, desolation, silence, consumed…”
“Rumbling heavens…”
Different spell formulas completed over ten chants simultaneously, the voices overlapping and converging, turning into a noisy hum in his ears, until the final words of the spell formula echoed like an afterthought, lingering in his ears.
“…Miracle’s crossbow bolt, heed my directive, cut!”
“…Desolation, silence, swallowed up, the land of silence!”
“…”
The fragrant aroma of the Miracle Flower began to waft in, startling Dailin, who widened his eyes and turned to look back.
To a high-level spirit energy user, multi-layered chanting wasn’t particularly difficult; even a slightly proficient high-level user could achieve triple or even quadruple chanting.
But it was rare to see someone like the girl manage to complete a dozen different spell formulas in one go with such speed.
A true miracle!
But clearly, this was not the right time to let the Miracle Flower bloom.
Using such an extremely complex chanting method to simultaneously cast dozens of precision-level spell formulas would certainly heavily deplete spirit energy. Once that was exhausted, the girl would become a burden.
At that point, just as the calamity said… she’d have to be left behind, right?
For a moment, Dailin’s thoughts churned.
Perhaps influenced by the allure hiding in Luxianbei’s words, he even briefly suspected that the target of the girl’s spell formulas wasn’t the calamity but him.
However, when he saw the girl unleash a dozen spells without breaking a sweat, as if her spirit energy wasn’t drained at all, he couldn’t help but be slightly stunned.
What kind of helper did Fang Zuo arrange for me?
As the spell chanting concluded, the girl withdrew her gaze from Luxianbei and noticed Dailin was secretly observing her.
Tsk, looks like someone who hasn’t seen the world! She sighed silently, shook her head, and explained, “Certain spirit pattern powers can provide special enhancements to the casting of spell formulas; you should know that, right?”
“My spirit pattern power is of that type. Although the power of the spell formula will be reduced, the casting frequency, compared to regular spirit energy users, hmm…”
The girl thought for a moment, gesturing as she spoke, “It’s like switching from a lever-action shotgun to an Uzi submachine g*n, understand?”
Dailin frowned and nodded.
————
Luxianbei had always believed that, backed by her captivating ability, her talk therapy skills were quite decent.
At least most of the time, they were quite effective…
She had thought this time would be no different, successfully swaying Dailin or his companion, but unexpectedly, not only did they show no sign of wavering, but they also retaliated with a series of spell formulas.
Amidst the sounds of breaking air, fierce winds, high temperatures, and dazzling bright lights simultaneously approached her.
Dense spell formulas shot forth, blooming in mid-air like a “spectacle” of fireworks, momentarily giving one the illusion of being transported into a b*llet hell game.
“Holy sh—!?”
Luxianbei could only curse once before she slammed her feet down hard on the ground, and with the sound of crumbling earth and stone, her figure flew backward.
It was as if she suddenly took off; her petite body drew an arc in the air, flashing several times across the undulating hills, ultimately landing in a half-squat posture on a weathered rock a hundred meters away.
Before she could steady herself, an ear-splitting explosion erupted.
Dozens of spell formulas exploded at the same spot, as if billions of tons of high explosives had been ignited, instantly evaporating a small hill. The shattered rocks and gravel were hurled in all directions by the terrifying shockwave, resembling a small-scale sandstorm.
The ground shook, and the fierce wind tugged at her black hair, while the hem of her skirt fluttered like pure white wings, revealing her fair thighs.
Fragments and sand swirled in the air, sometimes grazing her cheeks and leaving a couple of faint stings.
Once she steadied herself, Luxianbei bit down against the wind and sand, widened her eyes, and looked towards the direction Dailin was fleeing, searching slightly, and finally managed to spot two blurred figures among the disturbed yellow sand.
Hmph! Is this your escape route?
Luxianbei thought, glancing back and frowning slightly.
She knew that Nan Ling Yaohua was close behind her, so she hadn’t used some of her tactics earlier.
But now, after all this talk therapy effort, not only did the enemy not surrender, but they even launched an attack against her, so she could no longer hold back.
If Dailin and his companion managed to escape, they would likely immediately relocate Jiang Li, and that lead would essentially be severed.
Once again finding new leads and starting the pursuit for Jiang Li’s whereabouts would take an indefinite amount of time.
In some respects, this situation resembled human traffickers abducting women and children; when the incident first occurs, tracking the criminals usually has a high success rate, but if the abducted individuals have changed hands multiple times and been sold off, it becomes incredibly difficult to rescue them.
Even if they captured the initial traffickers, it would be pointless, as by that time, they probably wouldn’t even know the whereabouts of the people they had abducted.
With this in mind, Luxianbei pursed her lips, hesitated for two seconds, then silently called upon the Ling Tai Purification to cover herself in armor, soaring into the persistent small-scale sandstorm.
With the protection of Ling Tai Purification, whatever complex terrain or spells came her way, she could charge through it head-on!
At the instant she flew into the sandstorm, accompanied by a flash of golden light from the opening of the God Realm Prototype passage, over a hundred paper cicadas carrying alchemical bombs also appeared around her.
“…”
Calamities don’t fly, but calamity’s paper cicadas can fly, and if they can bring a pure white puppy along while flying, let them run through the bombings.
This wave is a coordination between air and ground, enhancing overall pursuit capabilities!
As for Nan Ling Yaohua… It’s already exposed, so why put on an act in front of her?
If she’s unsatisfied, she can go report me!
Luxianbei thought fiercely, and with a thought, the whirling paper cicadas around her erupted into a sounds of breaking air, flying towards the direction Dailin was escaping.
At the same time, she raised the tower shield transformed by Ling Tai Purification in front of her, intercepting all the impacts from the unexpected explosion of the paper cicadas and the incoming spell formulas, maintaining her speed without reduction.
However, after pursuing forward for a moment, Luxianbei gradually sensed something was off.
Although the winds and sand stirred up by the spell explosions were fierce, their range wasn’t that wide, and now she had clearly chased several kilometers but seemed to still be within the sandstorm’s reach.
Could it be… Dailin or his companion had the ability to control the sandstorm?
No, when I started pursuing Dailin, Nan Ling Yaohua seemed to shout something at me…
It’s going to get windy?
Luxianbei thought, raising her gaze to look at the sky, and her heart sank.
The sky darkened, and clouds had gathered overhead without her noticing. Beneath those clouds, gusty winds swirled the yellow sand, resembling several yellow dragons fighting wildly in the air, their deafening roars sounding like their growls…
