Chapter 1365: Conveying a Message

By Sanjiu YinyuWord Count: 1229

Rustle—

The centipede moved across the desolate land of the Grey Realm. With a jolt, Jian Changsheng groaned, forcing his eyes open.

"Where... is this place?" Jian Changsheng tried to sit up, but the next second, a sharp pain shot through his waist, making him wince. "Did a Realm Train hit me???"

"You're awake?" Jiang Xiaohua's voice came from beside him. "We're almost at the Xuanyu Realm."

"The Xuanyu Realm?"

Jian Changsheng paused, then after a moment's thought, remembered what had happened before he fainted. His expression became incredibly complex.

His full-power attack was easily blocked by Chen Ling with one hand. It didn't even cause any substantial damage to him, while he himself became weak from excessive use of killing intent and was knocked out by a mere wave of the black-robed Chen Ling's hand.

That mocking and violent face lingered in Jian Changsheng's mind like a terrifying shadow. The power gap between them was immense; the absolute domination left him with an unprecedented sense of decadence and loss.

Jian Changsheng had felt his strength had improved rapidly, even confidently believing he could easily defeat Chen Ling. But it wasn't until he actually fought Chen Ling that he realized how naive he had been.

Chen Ling had already reached another level, like a phantom sparrow in the heavens, distant and unattainable.

"What kind of General Jian am I..." Jian Changsheng sat on the centipede's back, his fists silently clenching, veins bulging on his hands. "I was actually quite smug before... I'm so damn stupid! Away from the battlefield, I'm nothing."

Jian Changsheng was in a rather low state. Just as he was mentally berating himself, a sound of someone smacking their lips in sleep came from nearby.

Jian Changsheng turned his head, annoyed, and directly kicked Sun Bumian, who was fast asleep on the centipede!

"Still sleeping?! We just got humiliated, and you can still sleep?!"

Sun Bumian was jolted awake by the kick.

His hair was a bit messy. After looking around blankly, he glared at Jian Changsheng through gritted teeth:

"What the hell are you doing, Spades? I was knocked unconscious; can't I even get some sleep?"

"So you *do* know you were knocked out! The two of us teamed up and couldn't even break through Hearts' armor! At least I managed to wound him a little; you didn't do any damage at all!"

"I... I'm not a Soldier-God Way practitioner; isn't it normal for me to not be able to hurt him?" Sun Bumian said, a little defensively. "Besides... I wasn't even serious?"

"Your domain was active, and you say you weren't serious?"

"Anyway, I wasn't using 100% of my power."

"Just tell me if it's shameful to be knocked unconscious and thrown out of here!!"

Just as Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumian were bickering, Jiang Xiaohua suddenly spoke up from the side: "Hearts asked me to pass along two messages for you."

Their voices instantly ceased, and both turned to look at Jiang Xiaohua.

Jiang Xiaohua first looked at Jian Changsheng, cleared her throat, and slowly said, mimicking Chen Ling's demeanor and tone:

"Spades, you're too weak. You're not even as good as the scorpion that serves you food every day."

Jian Changsheng: ?????

Jian Changsheng had expected Chen Ling's words to be a farewell or at least a few words of encouragement... But he never imagined Chen Ling would start with such a supreme insult.

Infuriated by the comment, he jumped straight up from the centipede's back, his face beet red. "He... he he he..."

"If this is all you've got, don't claim to be a 'Generation 6' of the Twilight Society. It's truly disgraceful." Jiang Xiaohua reproduced the message precisely.

"Your killing intent is fine for scaring minor calamities or bluffing bystanders, but in a real fight, it's clumsy and rigid, completely inflexible... And that broken sword of yours at the end, it's ridiculous. You seriously charged it up for so long; are you afraid people won't know you're about to use your ultimate move? Why don't you yell out the name of your skill too, so everyone can applaud you?

Next time, if you're still at this level, don't come seeking a spar with me; you'll just be wasting my time."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Jian Changsheng's eyes were bloodshot. He flailed his arms on the centipede's back, a furious, distorted expression on his face, practically ready to beat his own chest with his fists.

Jian Changsheng had originally been immersed in self-doubt and chagrin, but Chen Ling's words directly infuriated him to the point of bursting. His intense unwillingness to concede and competitive spirit were ignited, and he was now bouncing around as if pumped full of adrenaline.

Hadn't Chen Ling just crushed him once?!

What's so great about that!!!

Jian Changsheng could even imagine the mockery and amusement on Chen Ling's face as he spoke those words. The more he imagined it, the more enraged he became. He could accept looking down on himself, but he absolutely could not accept Chen Ling looking down on him!

"Damn it, Hearts! You just wait! One day, I'll beat you so badly you'll be picking your teeth off the floor!"

Jian Changsheng fiercely brandished his fists.

He was determined to improve his strength no matter what. And his "rigid" killing intent, which he'd been mocked for, and his "Selfless Sword," which had been severely ridiculed... he refused to believe he couldn't find a way to improve them.

Once he returned to the battlefield of the Xuanyu Realm, he would use those calamities for practice.

Sun Bumian saw Jian Changsheng's furious state and was grinning, but the next second, Jiang Xiaohua turned to him:

"Diamonds..."

"You've lived for so long; have you spent all that time just eating?"

Sun Bumian: ?

Sun Bumian stared at Jiang Xiaohua for a while...

"...That's it?" Sun Bumian asked tentatively.

"That's all," Jiang Xiaohua shrugged. "Hearts' message to you was just that... He seemed to say... he was worried that if he only insulted Spades and not you, Spades would feel unbalanced... so it was just a symbolic insult... Oh, and he also said he can protect himself, and he thanked you for holding back."

Sun Bumian tsked.

Chen Ling saw things very clearly...

Chen Ling had probably realized long ago that he had held back during their fight... However, from the beginning, Sun Bumian had no intention of using his Samsara power. That was not a technique to be used against one's own brethren. Aside from the Samsara power, Sun Bumian had indeed fought with all his might.

Among the three of them, Jian Changsheng's foundation was the simplest and weakest; only he needed to progress step by step through his own efforts. That's why Chen Ling only used reverse psychology on Jian Changsheng. As for Sun Bumian... Chen Ling knew from the start that he didn't need to do anything himself; Sun Bumian knew exactly where he needed to go.

After all, Sun Bumian had lived for thousands of years and immediately understood Chen Ling's intentions. He leisurely glanced at Jian Changsheng, who was still fuming and cursing beside him, a faint smile playing on his lips:

"That kid Hearts... even though he didn't come with us, he certainly didn't hold back on the worrying, did he?"