Woosh!
Wang Lu's voice has just fallen but Aya's Caliburn has resolutely been unsheathed. This sharp sword was then pointed at Wang Lu. "Who exactly are you?"
With that, without waiting for Wang Lu to answer, the sword immediately swoop down.
Wang Lu was shocked but managed to lift up his Sword of Mount Kun to block Aya's attack. He scolded, "What the hell! Dead chef, you want to rebel? You don't even recognize your one and only repeat customer in Spirit Sword Mountain?"
Aya resentfully put down her Caliburn. "I thought you were 'spirit occupied' by that guy. To a certain extent, you two are quite similar."
"... You need to get your eyes tested."
Aya still felt that it was unbelievable. Faceless One was someone that was really difficult to deal with and his whereabouts was strange and unpredictable. Not long ago, she even stabbed him in Dragon City with her Caliburn, yet she failed to eradicate him, not to mention capture him alive!
For Aya's suspicion, Wang Lu also has mixed feelings about it. "Faceless One is indeed an exceptionally strong opponent. This time's breaking into the King's Treasure House seemed like a suicide mission, but actually, with the support from Golden King, I was actually confident of our success, so I strut forward proudly. But because of his appearance, several times all our plan nearly capsized. This guy's fighting will is really strong, truly one of a kind. After he was destroyed by Liu Li a moment ago, Faceless One was left without a body, and his spirit occupation of Liu Li has also disappeared. However, during this crisis, with what was left of his strength, he made a false counter charge, but his aim was to cast his spirit occupation on me."
"What?"
Wang Lu said, "At that time, the general outcome has already been decided, when normally, people's spirit was completely relaxed and I myself am seriously injured, and coupled with the previous ups and downs mood, it was indeed very easy for him to swoop in… It can be said that during the whole battle, the best time to make the move is precisely when the victory has just been decided."
"He is indeed a cunning adversary," Aya lamented. Although looking at the appearance of Wang Lu, he had probably properly resolved that final strike from Faceless One, however, listening to him mentioning about the situation just now, she could not help but feel tense.
"But, because that moment is the best time, not only he knows about it, I am also aware of it. I have been waiting for him for a long time, until finally at that time he took a bet on himself. Then there's nothing to say anymore, the remnant soul of Faceless One could not break the defense circle of my Non-Phase Method. After his soul almost scattered away after colliding with my defense, I took that chance to suppress him inside my Non-Phase Immortal Heart. So for the time being, he could be considered as my captive," Wang Lu said and then shrugged, however, the truth was not that simple.
How could Faceless One make a pointless struggle? His last-minute counter-attack was exceptionally swift and fierce. If he had a little bit more power, he would've pierced Wang Lu's defense and successfully implemented the spirit occupation. It could be said that, in this battle, the most thrilling moment was in the very end.
However, no matter how thrilling that moment was, it was in the past. Although there was only a slight hurdle that separated Faceless One from succeeding, the result of that separation was worlds apart. Victory is victory, regardless of how thrilling it was.
The two were silent for a moment before Aya raised a question, "What are you going to do with Faceless One?"
It happened that Wang Lu was currently thinking about this issue. Thus, he casually replied, "Put him into a meat puppet and abuse him?"
"What?"
"Huh?" Wang Lu suddenly regained his senses. Remembering that Aya has always been upright, he changed his tone. "I mean to influence him with justice and benevolence so that he could turn towards the right path."
"..." Aya felt that Wang Lu was simply dismissive of her IQ.
Wang Lu sighed. "To be honest, I am also very embarrassed. Whatever brutal methods of torturing that I can come up with, but compared to what he did, I feel like I am severely lacking in imagination."
With that, Wang Lu shifted his eyes to the still unconscious Liu Li. Although the wound on her right hand has healed, her once slender fingers haven't regrown back—as a sword cultivator, fingers condition was a very important part of Liu Li, even a tiny bit of mistake in regrowing them was intolerable. Therefore, Bai Shixuan didn't dare to rashly apply her medical service, but just tried to stabilize her situation. She needed to carefully prepared for the treatment first until she was one hundred percent sure.
"Alas, the girl's slender hand had turned into that of Doraemon, it truly breaks people's heart!"
Feeling odd, Aya asked, "What is Doraemon?"
Wang Lu was also startled. "Hey, hey, while Liu Li is still injured, why are you more concerned about Doraemon? No wonder they said the Knight King has no human nature!"
Aya was simultaneously dumbfounded and ashamed.
Wang Lu sighed. "I now plan to simply take him back to the sect and hand him to the Elders of the Heavenly Sword Hall. After all, they are seasoned people, and I believe with my Master's unremittingly low limit, she would make a great contribution."
Thinking about the famous Spirit Sword Mountain's Fifth Elder, especially her abnormally low limit of perversion, Aya could not help but tremble.
"This Faceless One definitely hides so many secrets, so won't it be a pity if we just kill him right away? If we don't squeeze every bit of value out of him, I would feel sorry for all of my effort in dealing with him!"
"Yes, killing him straight would be too good for him." Thinking about the past and recent enmity, Aya also has no sympathy towards him, so she seriously nodded her approval.
Wang Lu said, "At present, I will try my best to keep him imprisoned. This guy's method is weird and changeable, if he managed to escape, all of the previous efforts would come to a naught." Although only barely, he still earnestly operated his Non-Phase Method to stabilize his Immortal Heart.
"Then are you going to finish the trial?" Looking at Wang Lu's wounds, Aya could not help but ask, "Can you still keep up?"
Wang Lu scolded, "A woman asking a man such a question, do you expect you will get a second answer? Of course I can!"
While talking, he struggled to stand up. His robe was broken, and wounds covered his whole body. He had never been in such a sorry look before. Aya sighed and then silently reached out to help him up.
"Hey, on your left hand there's Liu Li, and on your right there's me. Oh, you do enjoy both man and woman, truly worthy of the Knight King who is a man and also a woman."
Aya said, "If you say one more word, I will leave you behind here."
After returning to the vehicle, Wang Lu was really powerless to drive again. Therefore, he just sat in a corner to recuperate. Bai Shixuan sat beside him, treating his and Liu Li's injury, but the recovery was very slow. Aya grasped the scepter back from Liu Li's hand and placed it back on the console. She then casually complained, "You said to leave the rest to me, but just before you left, you pulled away the control stick, which almost crashed the vehicle."
"It doesn't matter, I've long known that someone as sturdy as you can find something to plug it in."
Aya shook her head, no longer paying attention to Wang Lu. Instead, she just concentrated on operating the vehicle. The Golden King has left behind the map in the vehicle, therefore the direction was very clear. From the deep sea, the vehicle rushed out and soon returned to the correct path, rapidly advancing in the sea of clouds.
During this time, no one said any words. Wang Lu closed his eyes in repose, silently operating his Non-Phase Immortal Heart to suppress Faceless One, not allowing him to move even a single step.
When his Non-Phase Immortal Heart has been stabilized, Wang Lu finally opened his eyes. At this time, the tower-shaped vehicle had already traveled half of the journey without a single incident. Moreover, with the help of Bai Shixuan, the Jindan level nurse, Liu Li's injuries have also been stabilized, which was a relief to him.
However, even when relaxed, Wang Lu's mood was still unavoidably heavy. When Liu Li was in danger, it was truly because of luck that he, against all odds, managed to turn the table around. Although he has the support of Golden King, each step that he took was truly frightening… After all, the one at stake here was Liu Li, so there was no way he wasn't worried. Faceless One, of course, played a bit part in this incident, but it didn't mean Wang Lu has zero responsibility towards it. Ultimately, although Liu Li has a clear and spotless heart, underneath it all, she actually has a big mental handicapped, which really caught Wang Lu unprepared. Unexpectedly due to lovesick trouble, she was taken advantage by other people, how could he let himself forget about this!
Wang Lu didn't like to fuss over things that have already happened—everything should be forward-looking. Since he had found the flaw in Liu Li, he needed to find a way to make up for this, by giving her love psychology and mental health education… When they got back to the mountain, he must earnestly teach her personally, to make sure this fool remember this lesson for life.
However, thinking about how this fool, in the battle just now, ignoring all of the previous teachings by resolutely giving up the opportunity to escape alone and be together with him to face the death together, Wang Lu didn't have the means to convince himself to scold her no matter what. If she were obedient, Wang Lu wouldn't have the means to stage that brilliant comeback.
All along the journey, everyone was silent. The only sound in the vehicle was the slight buzzing sound of the vehicle itself. Aya herself continued to hold the control stick, maintaining the same direction.
"By the way, Wang Lu."
Somewhere on the journey, the driver Aya suddenly asked, "Don't you think that the rules here are strange? Why do we have to ride the vehicle to advance? Currently, we have passed three-quarters of the whole journey, but I don't think there are any traps or mechanism that could only be broken through with the help of external force. Even here, the strength of the test is limited, something that is not difficult to surmount."
Wang Lu said, "Your hipster action of sighing with sorrow towards the external condition while you yourself sit comfortably in the vehicle is really shameful."
"... No, I just find it really strange. You see, the rules dictated that we must take a vehicle to enter the sea of clouds. Even when Golden King previously was here, he has to obey the rules, meaning that the rules were not tailored by the Golden King for us, but rather something that has been established a long time ago. But what is the reason for the existence of these rules? And who set them?"
Having heard of what she said, Wang Lu couldn't help but become startled. He then seriously thought about it for a moment, then he silently took out a rope and a helmet from his mustard seed bag. He wore that helmet and then, using his sole arm, tied himself to his seat.
"What is it?" Asked Aya doubtfully.
Wang Lu laughed. "It's nothing. I just remembered that in safe driving, we should wear a good helmet and a seat belt. Just continue to drive while I help tie Liu Li up.
"... I have a bad feeling about this."
"Then please steer this vehicle straight towards Beautiful Unique Pool Peak and raise the speed of this vehicle to its limit. It doesn't matter even if it will hurt the chassis."
"What's going on?"
While tying Liu Li on the seat, Wang Lu replied, "At least, from the current clue, the biggest possibility that I can think of is that in the proximity of Beautiful Unique Pool Peak, there is an insurmountable barrier for human. In that area, people will lose their ability to act, and the only way to pass it is to rely on the defensive power of the vehicle and its inertia. The ancient people, who built the castle and other transit points, discovered this problem in their exploration of Beautiful Unique Pool Peak, thereupon, they simply set these rules. Without a vehicle, there's no need to throw away one's life in the sea of clouds."
"... In other words."
"In other words, it may not be long before we have to brace for the impact. So please hurry up."
Seeing that Wang Lu has tied everyone on their seat but left her alone in the driver's seat, Aya really wished that she could pull the control stick and beat him up with it. However, the next moment, they crashed into an invisible barrier. Aya felt everything around her turn black and then she suddenly lost her consciousness.