Chapter 230: They’re Finally Fighting
The figure struck swiftly, not aiming for the Mutated Mermaid, but reaching for Xu Qingsui, who was slung over the Mutated Mermaid’s shoulder.
Upon touching Xu Qingsui, the corners of Shen Yan’s lips curled up. He threw a triumphant look at Lu Jingyu, as if to say, “See? I saved Qing Sui!”
Shen Yan thought he had the situation perfectly in the bag. But just as he was showing off to Lu Jingyu, the Mutated Mermaid suddenly snapped its head sideways and roared at him. A sudden blast of putrid stench hit the defenseless Shen Yan, flipping him right off his feet. While he was still staggering, the Mutated Mermaid retreated several meters, keeping Xu Qingsui firmly on its shoulder.
“Useless! Go find a place to hide. Don’t lose control and cause me more trouble!” Lu Jingyu’s icy voice rang in Shen Yan’s ears. By the time Shen Yan looked over, Lu Jingyu had already shot past him, chasing straight after the Mutated Mermaid.
Meanwhile, the expression on the Mutated Mermaid’s face shifted.
Its Spiritual Attack was malfunctioning. Facing a difficult opponent alongside a mediocre helper, it was confident it could safely escape, but it couldn’t guarantee it would be able to take its nutritional supplement along. With such a delectable supplement in its grasp, nobody would want to miss out on it.
The Mutated Mermaid made up its mind to flee with its supplement first. Once it digested the supplement, not only would its weakened Spiritual Attack recover, but its power would also soar tremendously. By then, the man in front of it would absolutely be no match for it.
Without hesitation, it opened its mouth wide at the oncoming Lu Jingyu, and a melodic singing voice poured out.
Although the song was nowhere near as overpowering as before, Lu Jingyu still didn’t dare lower his guard. Realizing that the Mutated Mermaid intended to retreat and escape with Xu Qingsui, Lu Jingyu couldn’t afford to give it another chance. He immediately directed the Frenzy Power straight to his five senses, utilizing it to block out the Mermaid’s singing.
However, with his five senses sealed, he could only rely on his lingering consciousness to act. He charged straight at the Mutated Mermaid, plunging his hands—now wreathed in black patterns—toward its chest.
The Mutated Mermaid tried to dodge but couldn’t avoid the strike in time. Ignoring everything else, it hastily thrust Xu Qingsui horizontally in front of its chest like a shield.
At this moment, Lu Jingyu’s five senses were completely sealed off. Unaware that Xu Qingsui had been turned into a meat shield once again, his attack speed didn’t slow down in the slightest.
In the distance, Shen Yan—having just been berated by Lu Jingyu—initially didn’t want to meddle anymore. But seeing Xu Qingsui pushed to the front, right in the path of Lu Jingyu’s impending strike, his expression changed drastically.
Instantly, a berserk aura enveloped him entirely. Red patterns rapidly spread from his arms across his body. In the final second before he lost his reason, he lunged in front of Xu Qingsui.
The fist wrapped in a black aura felt as if it had punched into a wad of cotton, encased entirely by a pulsating mass of red energy. For a moment, neither man could gain the upper hand, and both stood deadlocked in place.
The Mutated Mermaid had assumed its supplement would be reduced to a bloody mist to protect itself, so the sudden appearance of this figure made it freeze in surprise as well. However, among the two men and one Mutant, it was the first to react. Seeing that it had narrowly escaped disaster by a stroke of luck, it quickly slung Xu Qingsui over its shoulder and dashed toward the castle.
The very castle that Xu Qingsui and the team members had been endlessly chasing—yet could never seem to reach—suddenly acted as if its spell had been broken before the Mutated Mermaid. In just a few strides, the creature arrived right at its doors.
The Mutated Mermaid hoisted Xu Qingsui up, ready to storm inside. But the very second it prepared to step into the castle, its body suddenly froze stiff.
At the same time, Lu Jingyu and Shen Yan finally reacted to the aftermath of their collision. Right now, one was engulfed in black patterns, and the other was enveloped in red.
Regaining their senses, both forcefully pulled back and rapidly retreated. After putting a certain distance between themselves, they stared at each other with eyes that had long been clouded over by their berserk states.
With an explosive burst of powerful aura, they both launched off the ground simultaneously and charged at each other again.
Having fully entered a frenzied state, their bodies were no longer under their own control. They clashed using their radiating power on pure, primal instinct alone. Two blurred figures—one black and one red—collided in midair, leaving behind nothing but sparks of impact and waves of deafening crashes.
After several exchanges, they landed simultaneously, taking a brief pause. By now, both were covered in fresh wounds, though Shen Yan’s injuries were visibly more severe than Lu Jingyu’s.
But neither backed down. A few heavy breaths later, the two blurred figures collided once again.
However, unlike their previously earth-shattering clashes, this collision was like a stone sinking into the ocean. Apart from the sparks, there was absolutely no sound. The two figures hung suspended in midair, as if caught by some invisible gravitational pull, before slowly drifting down to the ground.
When they landed and the intense light faded, a third figure was revealed standing between them. Xu Qingsui, who had previously been carried off by the Mutated Mermaid, appeared between the two men, each of her hands pressed firmly against their respective foreheads.
After landing, Xu Qingsui looked at the two of them with an expression of utter helplessness. Pondering for a moment, her gaze settled on Shen Yan.
Immediately, the palm pressing against Shen Yan’s forehead emitted a ray of golden light that drilled straight into his mind. Moments later, the red patterns all over his body were enveloped by a soft golden glow.
Shen Yan’s originally tense body relaxed instantly. Aside from the red patterns that had yet to fade, there was no longer the slightest sign of his frenzied state. Seeing this change, Xu Qingsui breathed a sigh of relief and promptly turned her head toward Lu Jingyu.
“Why did you two start fighting each other? It’s a good thing I devoured the pollution source in the Mermaid’s song just in time and unlocked the Spirit Barrier skill. Otherwise, one of you would have been truly done for today.”
Just a few minutes earlier, exactly when the Mutated Mermaid was about to enter the castle, Xu Qingsui had finally finished devouring its spirit body within her Sea of Consciousness.
With its spirit body completely consumed, the Mutated Mermaid instantly lost all its vitality. As for Xu Qingsui, she felt a powerful surge of Spiritual Power filling her own spirit body. She could even see a faint fluorescence radiating from it.
[Congratulations to the host for successfully devouring the pollution source of the Mutated Mermaid’s song. Your spiritual power has significantly improved!]
[Congratulations to the host for the improvement in spiritual power. You have successfully activated the Spirit Barrier skill. This skill can shield against Spiritual Attacks, and the stronger the host’s spiritual power, the wider the range of Spiritual Attacks that can be shielded.]
[PS: In addition to shielding against Spiritual Attacks, the Spirit Barrier skill possesses other effects that the host may explore independently.]
She was already quite happy, but hearing the Golden Octopus’s prompt put Xu Qingsui in an even better mood. She was itching to test out this new skill.
However, before she could explore it, she sensed the energy fluctuations coming from this area. Because she had provided spiritual guidance for both of them before, she immediately recognized that the two colliding auras belonged to Lu Jingyu and Shen Yan.