Face-To-Face
The path Edrick had devised for the trio was a winding, lengthy one. Linfeng suspected that the purpose of this game was also to buy time, but neither the protagonist nor the system had any idea what Anoteros would possibly be trying to accomplish by giving himself more time in this manner.
The system was quite confident that it wouldn’t be a trap, as he was certain that Edrick wanted a real fight rather than a swift and clean takedown… Perhaps there was no specific purpose, and the scion merely enjoyed watching Linfeng having to go through this game, or perhaps the noble was trying to practise a specific technique before the finale.
None of the participants could know for certain.
Regardless, Linfeng felt much stronger than at the start. He had been going from city to city, enduring trials on the road, and having to pick a girl to dual cultivate with every time he reached a city. Strangely, Edrick was quite generous with the women he had picked. There were pretty much always Journomanpian cultivators in the mix, so although there wasn’t any special Yin to harvest, the quality made up for it.
This generosity had the effect of making Linfeng worry, though. There was no way the scion hadn’t realised what Linfeng’s technique was all about, meaning that he was intentionally allowing him to grow more powerful, which didn’t bode too well.
Eventually, the travelling between cities grew longer and longer, and before Linfeng and his companions realised it, they had been playing Edrick’s game for more than three months, and they spotted the edge of the territory owned by the Elt clan in the distance.
Their last stop before reaching the end of the game was a place that lacked walls and was much too small to even be a village.
It was just two houses alongside a large shop called ‘Eltysia’s Coffer’. They were led to enter one of the two houses. Mala and Yen’mila had to remain in the entrance hall whilst Linfeng was taken to a room where his final choice of dual cultivation partner was to be made, and there were only two to pick from.
The script holder’s face twisted into a scowl as the woman who had led him to this room placed a hand on the shoulder of each of the two girls.
“The Young Master had to negotiate a fair bit to get these two here, so make your pick, and enjoy one of them for a full hour~”
The woman speaking seemed different from the previous ones he had encountered. She was clearly a member of Red Mansion, but there was something about her that told him she wasn’t like the rest… She was a catfolk, and her orange eyes stared right through him. Her smile and tone made it seem like it was the typical choice, but Linfeng instantly knew something was wrong even without his system telling him.
‘Are they both…?’
He still asked, hoping to be wrong.
…They’re both Immunubils… And they aren’t exactly nearing the time of Bloomin, either…
‘Damn it. What’s wrong with this bastard?!’
They didn’t have any special Yin or quality Yin either. They were just two Immunubil that Edrick had decided to place there.
Linfeng calmed himself, even if he felt like bringing this entire house to the ground.
‘Calm down… He’s just trying to mess with me, isn’t he? I can just pick one and do nothing. There is no rule stipulating that I have to dual cultivate with whoever I pick’
Linfeng thus picked one of the girls at random, the other one heaving a sigh of relief, whilst the one he picked started crying.
The protagonist waited until they were alone to speak up.
“There’s no need to worry. I won’t do anything bad to you”
The girl shook her head.
“If… If I don’t do it, they said they were going to hurt my family…”
Linfeng felt like he died for a second as he heard this.
He made sure to make her elaborate, but there was no other way to interpret it. Edrick wanted him to dual cultivate with one of these Immunubils, no matter what.
The script holder either had to do nothing, preserving his own morals, but allow this girl who had done nothing wrong to suffer. Or he had to do something profoundly reprehensible so as to at least allow her to have a family to return to, as there was no cutting it, Anoteros saying that he would hurt these people could only mean the worst.
Both options were awful. Both options would end up hurting the Immunubil, but the one he found most gut-turning was actually the one that would probably be best for her in the end.
“...Alright… I’ll be gentle…”
…
…
When Linfeng stepped out of the room, he puked onto the ground. He barely even managed to get his club to stand, and he had been so against it that his Primordial Yang had simply remained unresponsive.
‘I’ll kill him… I’m going to kill him…’
Mala and Yen’mila could see that Linfeng hadn’t had a good time at all, but instead of using words, they merely hugged him, which was quite effective at calming him down.
“How cute~ It pains me to interrupt this adorable moment, but the Young Master is waiting for you, Mister Linfeng”
The protagonist frowned.
“Who exactly are you to him?”
“Me? Just a lucky whore that caught the Young Master’s attention”
Linfeng was a bit stunned, as it genuinely felt like this woman believed that calling herself a whore was a good thing.
‘I suppose I shouldn’t try to reason with a dual cultivator from Red Mansion…’
He ignored the catfolk.
He and his companions went out of the house and proceeded according to the map, which actually made them arc around the Elt territory, eventually taking them to a field of grass that reached up to the script holder’s knees. Scattered throughout this field were just a handful of young trees and the remains of ruins, including a few derelict pillars overgrown with flora.
Sitting casually atop the largest piece of debris on the other end of the field was the man himself–Edrick Lucien Anoteros, otherwise known as Zixuan Elt.
Standing beside him as straight as an I, was a woman dressed like a butler with fierce crimson eyes.
“Aah… I was starting to think that you would be late, Linfeng”
The scion grinned widely as he stood up.
“It’s been a while! You almost look like a completely different person now”
Linfeng glared hatefully.
“Where is Fingmi?”
“Relax, she’s doing just fine–I felt magnanimous, so I didn’t even touch a single hair on her head. You can ask her yourself”
Edrick stepped to the side, revealing that Fingmi had been directly behind him this entire time.
“Fingmi!”
“Linfeng!”
“Is it true? Did he do anything to you?”
At a glance, his Alrinir seemed just fine.
She nodded.
“He didn’t do anything to me”
“Thank the gods…”
Edrick stepped off the piece of debris, landing amongst the tall grass as he casually stepped within five meters of Linfeng.
“Have you been waiting for this moment, Linfeng?”
The protagonist didn’t say anything, but his answer was crystal clear nonetheless.
“As long as your two bitches don’t interfere, my maid won’t either. Let’s settle our small grudge like real men”
“Small grudge…?!”
“Let’s not pretend like you give a damn about the people I massacred. You despised them for the way they treated you and your Alrinir. You know well that they would have sold her for a handful of Copper Leyens if given the occasion to… But it doesn’t matter. I hope you’ll be able to satisfy me, Linfeng”
“You will rue the day you made an enemy out of me”
“We shall see…”