Emperor Yuansheng tripped on his words multiple times before he could ask, “… Brother Bodhi, did you fall into a pit of bears? What sort of overgrown dog ambushed you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Abels grouched.
In consideration of Abels’ royalty status, Emperor Yuansheng tried to choose his words carefully, but it only confused the former. In turn, Abels’ annoyance almost prompted the guards around Emperor Yuansheng to draw their weapons and Lai Jingzhen to wake up.
Emperor Yuansheng wagged his hands to settle his subordinates. “So, I meant to ask, what happened to your face?”
“My face?” Abels touched his nose. “Oh, hahaha, I ran into a bandit. He dashed after we had three hundred exchanges. I just got clipped a little.”
Expecting Emperor Yuansheng to keep his cool at this point was being unreasonable. Lai Jingzhen couldn’t be relied on. Luo Ming hadn’t even spoken to him. All his other elites hadn’t reached Divine Realm. Even Abels couldn’t stop his opponent from getting away now? If Abels’ opponent could light his face up, what would happen if Emperor Yuansheng fought the same opponent? Was there such a thing as a safe zone anymore? Suffice to say, Abels wouldn’t tell Emperor Yuansheng he ran into Ming Feizhen at the rear, though.
Ming Feizhen made a flashy, windy entrance and said, “Brother Bodhi, please give me some pointers,” before unleashing Enlightenment on Abels. In spite of Abels’ extensive martial arts knowledge, he still marvelled at the infinite variations of Ming Feizhen’s style centred around manipulation of barely-visible threads. Rather than say Abels couldn’t make heads or tails of the skills, it’d be more precise to say that he didn’t get any chance to.
Abels had to go up to the sixth level of Evil Eminence Domain to stay in the game against the whirlwind-like assault. The longer the fight drew out, the more distance Ming Feizhen put between them. As such, Abels couldn’t get in to make the most of his expertise in close-quarters combat.
At a certain point, Ming Feizhen stopped to tell Abels, “Luo Ming has seen up to here. When Luo Ming posed as you, he had an easier time than you using purely Evil Eminence Scripture.”
As much as it ground Abels’ gears to hear the mention of Luo Ming, he didn’t believe Ming Feizhen’s attack and information was aimless.
“Want to see how I beat Luo Ming?”
The smirk on Ming Feizhen’s face rubbed Abels the wrong way, but Abels nodded despite it possibly being solely provocation.
After one move, Abels, standing on desolate land, lost any will to fight. Up until that moment, he had contemplated how big was the gap between him and the man who beat Heavenly Swordsman when he was armed with Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer. Subsequent to witnessing how Luo Ming was defeated, Abels realised how much a time-wasting endeavour it was for him to even bother comparing a rabbit to an eagle. It finally answered why Luo Ming was seemingly stuck in a mental mire. No amount of analytical skill could compensate for the discrepancy in raw might.
“Luo Ming was able to force me to go this far. How do you think you compare?”
Sea Deer Hunter already bandaged Abels’ internal injuries, but he couldn’t recover the level of his skill he used to have. The root of his situation wasn’t physical; the main reason he plateaued was the sword and its wielder that took his brothers’ lives and almost everything he cared about. Calmness doesn’t erase anger. The deeper magma is buried, the more violent it gushes out when its container blows.
Abels didn’t take advantage of Luo Ming’s injured state to get his revenge for no reason other than because he looked down on those who chased tainted victories. Abels didn’t need to be told Luo Ming’s power was necessary if they were to take down the beast, but if Luo Ming could recover enough to fight the beast, Abels would have to take his revenge.
Ming Feizhen was cognisant of those points, and he was fully aware that persuasion wouldn’t work. “If you want to kill Luo Ming for revenge, I can’t stop you, nor do I have the time to interfere. What I want to ask is, what sort of warrior is Abels? What sort of revenge does he want?”
Though Abels didn’t answer, he knew he had fallen into Ming Feizhen’s trap. “… I must kill the scum. There’s nothing to brag about if I can’t beat him fair and square, nevertheless. Whether or not you can pull him out of his borderline-dead state is on you.”
Ming Feizhen’s silence was an irrefutable indication that even he wasn’t confident he could motivate Luo Ming.
“What? Challenged already? Putting him aside, I haven’t fully recovered, either. You may have come here for nothing.”
“That’s simple to remedy.”
Thereafter, Ming Feizhen aimed every strike at Abels’ face without any reservations. When Ming Feizhen departed, Mountain Monster was heard yelling, “Go die, you dingbat! Piss off, you wanker!”
Recalling the beating he took, Abels smiled. Emperor Yuansheng interpreted Abels’ long pause and smile totally differently to how it should’ve been comprehended.
If even Brother Bodhi has been beat so bad that he’s questioning life, doesn’t that mean my useless subordinates are just forage for the bandits?! If I’m going to hope someone can help, I may as well help myself! I must!
“Brother Bodhi, just relax. I shall go see someone.”
The bandits who ambushed them avoided the direction Emperor Yuansheng ran in because that was where Luo Ming was located.
***
When I sneaked back into my tent without letting anyone notice, I caught Young Shiyi checking herself out at the makeup table. I went over on my toes and gently draped my arms over her shoulders.
Young Shiyi smiled and grabbed my arms as though she was aware I came back. “Finally done trolling?”
“I’ve trolled, but not enough.” I caressed Young Shiyi’s smooth face.
Although Young Shiyi clicked her tongue, she clearly enjoyed my touch. “I shall spare you on account of you being busy.”
“You can scold me if you like. I’ll get to touch some more. It’s not bad interest if you ask me.”
“Oho?” Young Shiyi perked up her chest. “Go ahead. Touch however you desire. I’d like to see how far you dare to go.” She laughed at my stupefied reaction, then scrubbed my head and got up. “Stop wasting time. You still have a schedule to get on with. You ready to meet the four states’ rulers?”
