Chapter 363: Rank 99 (1) |
"I still don't understand why I need to be here... I could have prepared so many dishes. Carrot Dumplings. Carrot Soup. Carrot Salad. Carrot Curry. Oh! Carrot Cake! I just thought of it! Think how crunchy a carrot in a shape of a cake would be~!"
Zi Ji eyes the Rabbit happily chattering away about various dishes until Xiao Bei finally quietens down and mutters, "Sorry... I know you don't like vegetables. Oh! Maybe I can try and boil carrots a lot, mash them, flavor them, and fashion them as meat—"
"Oh, shut the hell up already!" Zi Ji barks, "I don't know what that Bibi Dong is thinking by making you wait here, too."
"Well... I am switching places with Little Lana. My seventh spirit skill is a really good illusion skill," Xiao Bei mutters as both of them keep their distance and remain on branches of a Blue Silver Tree.
"If you knew that then why ask about it in the first place?!" Zi Ji snappily glares at Xiao Bei only for a mother of an equally chattery and playful rabbit to pout, "I just thought that we should try and get along. We can't mate together so talking it is."
"We are never sleeping together," Zi Ji ascertains seriously.
"Don't be like that," Xiao Bei smiles, "I'm sure Ja Sun wouldn't mind sleeping with you after I become a Titled Douluo."
Zi Ji stares at Bei for a full minute before scoffing, "I don't like this. At least, back then, you used to be scared. Now you're just a bitch who munches on carrots for practice."
Xiao Bei playfully sticks her tongue out. It's true she does like to act more mature and 'contained' when Xiao Wu is around but... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? She's just as playful as her daughter and truly, while she feared Zi Ji during their initial interactions... now, somehow, she just doesn't find Zi Ji that scary.
Blanking out, Zi Ji questions, "Say what?"
"Ah, did I say that out loud?" Xiao Bei gasps.
"What was that about Erlong?" Zi Ji brushes past Xiao Bei's surprise and questions regardless, her vertical pupils shrinking to thin bits as her predatory intent can be felt from miles away.
"Well..." No longer acting so casually, Xiao Bei gulps, "After Beast God retired into his room... Erlong began to invite herself into our, and I assume, others' room to share her experience with him and you... and how she managed to subdue the two of you easily."
With curiosity glinting in her gaze, Xiao Bei adds, "Is it true? Did she make you, to quote her, a quivering mess in less than five kisses down there? Oh, and did she milk Beast God for all his worth in less than five pumps?! That would have felt amazing!"
Zi Ji quietly stares at Xiao Bei as she shrinks her neck, "Don't look at me like that," she whines, "Again, I just heard this from Erlong..."
Instead of responding and risking the loss of her mental health and even this plan which would stir the spider that even the Abyss Dragon did not want to stir, Zi Ji simply vows in her heart to stick her tongue right up Erlong's lying little hole and, to quote this lying bimbo, turn her into a quivering mess in five short moves.
Observing the lack of response from Zi Ji, Xiao Bei gradually settles down, too.
Meanwhile, sharing her sight with Bibi Dong from the heart of this spatial artifact, Ah Yin cannot help but frown, "Are you sure you want to leave these two? I assume that having Golden Crocodile is a major part of your plan since he's the only one we are trying to relocate."
"He is," Bibi Dong shrugs and keeps little to no secret about what she wants to achieve even if the 'Why' is still a secret, "But as I said. If possible, I don't want to risk any of your pregnancies and Xiao Bei happens to have decent charm and illusion skills. Meanwhile, Zi Ji is a prime predator and in a top-tier strength in the category of 100,000-year-old beasts. The two of them should be fine. I just need to be in the last part of the plan. That's all."
Then, the duo shares the vision of the other spatial artifact that Qian Xunji is progressively unveiling. Within this artifact, everyone is quick to fall into a disadvantage as they are forced into the sea. Those that are caught by surprise died then and there but a Titled Douluo happened to have a rather unique martial soul.
Standing atop a gigantic floating book with a grey cover, the group of dwindling Spirit Masters quickly recover and begin their counterattack. Most of the beasts here are strong but they have lower numbers than the outside world and being beasts younger than the age of 100000, the chances of a domain appearing are small, too.
"What's this martial soul?" Ah Yin inquires as she can view anything in this space, too, through the virtue of the Yang Node already planted here deep in the depths of this artificial sea as she waits for her chance.
"It's called Grimoire," Bibi Dong introduces the martial soul, "Held by the former elder of the Spirit Hall, Jiang Long. Titled Pale Scholar. But in reality, his Grimoire has nine pages. Each signifies one of his spirit skills and the color of the pages corresponds directly with the color of his spirit rings. Unlike his title, however, Pale Scholar has only researched the ways of draining the blood of his enemy and developing effective means of massacring others."
"He's struggling against the beasts," Ah Yin notes as they view the middle-aged man in the white robes.
"His grimoire must be open and the page of the skill he wishes must be on the front to allow him to use a spirit skill. And... he is an expert in massacring humans," Bibi explains as Ah Yin raises a brow, "Huh."
"And why are we not attacking the enemies right now? I can take out half the Spirit Sages once again. I've had some time to recover and my main body is in a constant boost from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well," Ah Yin questions.
"Qian Xunji is right outside. The moment we start to kill indiscriminately, he will lose the novelty of trying to solve the puzzle the arrays pose and use his divine strength to directly break through instead. I need him to stall for some more time."
"Is it just me or... your master is acting a little weird. At least, from how you spoke about him before he became a God compared to now."
"Aside from his declaration that I am more suited to carry his children instead of Ja Sun's... yeah, I think he is acting a little strange. But I am no God so I cannot make accurate assumptions," Bibi Dong narrows her eyes and shifts the conversation, "Alright, as I predicted. Someone will eventually be selected to recover the corpses of the Spirit Masters who died in this ambush. The only one who will feel responsible enough and has the strength to command absolute obedience in these dire times is... Golden Crocodile."
Just as Bibi Dong finished speaking, Golden Crocodile's old body inflates to the size of a small hill as golden scales cover his form and he soon dives into the sea in a giant golden crocodile's form! The small portion of the sea around them is already stained with blood but this does not stop Golden Crocodile or impact his vision in any manner.
"Get ready," Bibi Dong whispers and Ah Yin nods.
The white tree in the depths of this spatial artifact stirs and barely veiled spatial fluctuations emerge around its surface.
This isn't the effect of Ah Yin's domain. No. This is the second spirit skill formed from the union of Petals and her Blue Silver Goddess in her eighth spirit ring aside from Blooming Grey.
Opposites Trap.
This skill only works on Ah Yin's yin and yang spirit energy and not the spirit energy infected by the pure life force of the Blue Silver Goddess. But again, this skill consumes quite a bit because it's not a spatial skill. It's a Yin-Yang skill that not only mimics spatial ingenuity by laws of causality and this would be her second skill that involves causality.
Basically, this skill exchanges yin with yang and anything it touches physically.
Even now Ah Yin struggles to make good use of this skill because its applications are quite widespread. This skill has too little 'rule' and this makes it harder to fully comprehend even by someone like Ah Yin. But exploring it is something Ah Yin looks forward to doing.
Still, despite all this, the white 'tree' spreads out, and by the time Golden Crocodile finds out about this abnormality since the spiritual fluctuations are too hidden, he finds himself surrounded by pure white vines and branches as he also suddenly endures the standard restrictions of an enemy's domain!
*Roar*
Letting out a massive roar, Golden Crocodile chooses to attack as he realizes the true identity of the enemy in an instant. After all...
'Qian Daoliu never stopped bragging about your skills,' Golden Crocodile feels a sense of desolation in his heart understanding how much of a rift there already is between the two sides.
But this act of engaging with the enemy becomes his downfall.
Knowledge.
Golden Crocodile knows too little about the enemy's skills but they have been observing him for a long time now since the first attack and have a pretty good sense of information on almost all the Titled Douluos in the group!
*Blink*
The moment Golden Crocodile comes into contact with one of the white branches, he alongside the white tree disappears and instead, a black tree— the Yin Node— appears in this location!
This just shows how 'vast' this skill— Opposites Trap really is.
Ah Yin did not just swap the location of two trees. No.
She just swapped two domains each connected to a node!
But this is also the end of Bibi Dong's plan with this group. While the enemy's voyage only lost one Titled Douluo, all these masters have their potential fully tapped with little to no progress in their way unless they consume important resources like immortal herbs.
But the Spirit Sages? The Spirit Doulous? They are all a talented bunch!
Their deaths just meant a dent in the near-sighted future of the Spirit Empire.
And due to this acknowledgment, Ah Yin lets the Yin Node wilt away into nothingness as the space of the artifact cracks and lets a bloody miasma seep in.
As Bibi Dong anticipated, Qian Xunji did not wait for a second longer to satiate his urge to deconstruct Ja Sun's knowledge through this artifact and used his divine methods to break it open in seconds. But it's too late. Had Qian Xunji been equipped with his God Tablet and Divine Weapon then things would be different but...
He's not.
***
Alternate Title: Swapping Yin and Yang? Reverend Insanity Flashback Intensifies!
***
A/N: So, I was reading HxH and Opposites Trap is inspired by the manga from its name to its use. But also... Bai Ningbing. If you know, you know.