Chapter 233 - 232: Counter-kill
Time stood still.
The temperature was frozen.
Even day and night were halted.
Only the endless yellow sand moved without wind.
Suddenly, the sand seemed to take on a life of its own.
It began to morph, shifting from a formless expanse into a yellow dragon in the blink of an eye.
Then, the dragon transformed into a fierce tiger.
Finally, it took human form, resembling an old man on the verge of death.
Lin Yi watched the sand’s transformations.
Although the sand was constantly changing its shape,
it showed no intention of attacking Lin Yi.
It was more like it was putting on some kind of show for him.
Inside this time-stilled Heart Spirit Domain,
Lin Yi gradually lost all sense of time.
He had no idea how long he had been standing there watching the performance.
As the yellow sand tirelessly continued its shapeshifting,
Lin Yi chuckled and shook his head.
"Such a shoddy performance, and you think you can trap me in your Heart Spirit Domain?"
The moment he spoke, Lin Yi waved a hand.
The surrounding scenery instantly changed from a barren desert to a vast, starry sky.
His vision was filled with an expanse of darkness,
dotted only by the faint, shimmering light of distant stars.
AWOO—
Suddenly, a tiger’s roar tore through the heavens.
A colorful white tiger charged toward Lin Yi from the distance.
SCREECH—
Then, another cry pierced the nine heavens from above.
A massive, multicolored bird soared through the sky on beating wings.
The bird and the tiger brandished their unrivaled power.
The very air began to distort around them.
It swirled and churned madly, forming hurricane-force winds.
It seemed as if the very stars might be torn apart in the next moment.
As streams of starlight gathered around Lin Yi as if drawn to him,
he stood like a god, looking down upon all creation...
This filled the middle-aged man opposite him with growing dread.
After a long silence, he spoke in a low voice, "How did you see through my attack?"
Lin Yi glanced at him with a smile. "An old master once told me that the heart spirit is the root of a Martial Artist!"
"It is also a Martial Artist’s qi. When someone launches a spiritual attack, a flaw will always appear. For instance, a trace of qi will leak from their body!"
"It might dissipate into nothingness, or it might be keenly detected!"
"Of course, I don’t possess such great skill. I’m not capable of detecting that wisp of qi released from a heart spirit!"
"But a bird I keep managed to pinpoint it!"
After Lin Yi finished speaking,
he glanced up at Xiaoqi, who was soaring with wings outstretched.
SCREECH—
Xiaoqi let out a cry,
as if acknowledging Lin Yi’s praise.
The middle-aged man looked up at Xiaoqi, then at the colorful white tiger beside Lin Yi.
In that moment, he seemed to understand something.
The panic vanished from his face. He nodded and said, "I see. I was careless!"
"I never thought you’d be able to pull me into your Heart Spirit Domain instead!"
"Kid, next time, I won’t make such a mistake..."
"Next time?"
After the middle-aged man finished speaking, Lin Yi looked at him in surprise.
"You think there will be a next time?"
"Hahaha... Kid, you can’t possibly think you can kill my heart spirit?" the middle-aged man laughed with extreme confidence.
Lin Yi shook his head. "To my two pets, you’re nothing but a snack!"
"He’s all yours!"
The moment Lin Yi finished speaking, the white tiger and Xiaoqi, who could no longer hold back,
lunged at the middle-aged man from above and below.
A Martial Artist capable of creating a Heart Spirit Domain would naturally not be of a low realm.
Faced with the pursuit of Xiaoqi and the white tiger,
he surprisingly managed to remain composed.
And this was inside Lin Yi’s domain. He threw a punch at the approaching white tiger.
The punch was powerful, its force twisting the air.
But just as it was about to hit the white tiger, the beast leaped.
It easily dodged the attack.
This move undoubtedly infuriated the white tiger.
In its eyes, this heart spirit was a snack already at its lips.
The snack dared to fight back? How could it not be angry? And in that brief delay,
a fierce gust of wind howled past.
Xiaoqi swooped down from high above, diving straight for the middle-aged man.
Just as it seemed Xiaoqi was about to snatch the man’s heart spirit first,
AWOO—
the white tiger let out a roar and pounced on the man as well.
The bird and the tiger, one from above, one from below.
The terrifying pressure made the middle-aged man’s expression turn to panic.
After all, this was Lin Yi’s Heart Spirit Domain; he couldn’t use his full strength.
His realm was also suppressed.
Otherwise, even if he couldn’t defeat the white tiger and Xiaoqi, he could have easily escaped.
But now, with his realm suppressed, the middle-aged man was no match for either the white tiger or Xiaoqi alone,
let alone both of them charging at him together.
The middle-aged man’s heart sank, and a crimson glint flashed in his eyes.
AHH...
Suddenly, he let out a piercing shriek.
PUH...
He spat out a mouthful of crimson.
Just as Lin Yi was wondering what he was trying to do,
BOOM—
with a deafening bang, the middle-aged man’s heart spirit self-detonated.
This was something Lin Yi hadn’t expected.
It was also something Xiaoqi and the white tiger had never encountered before.
After self-detonating, the heart spirit shattered into countless fragments.
They scattered and fled toward the vast, starry expanse.
Seeing this, Lin Yi’s eyes darkened. ’I didn’t think he could do that. Self-detonate his heart spirit to leave a sliver of a chance for survival?’
"Too bad this is my Heart Spirit Domain. You won’t be leaving with a single remnant of your spirit!"
As he spoke, Xiaoqi and the white tiger immediately chased after the shattered spiritual fragments.
Although the fragments seemed to have disintegrated,
under the pursuit of Xiaoqi and the white tiger, they were caught and swallowed one by one.
When only two or three pieces remained, they seemed to be blocked by the Power of the Stars.
They couldn’t escape very far at all.
Lin Yi watched the fragments floating nearby and couldn’t help but laugh.
At this moment, the middle-aged man grew terrified.
If all the fragments of his heart spirit were devoured,
his physical body wouldn’t die from losing its spirit.
However, he would become a witless fool, and his Qi and Blood would rapidly dissipate.
His realm would also continuously decline until he became an ordinary person.
He would eventually be sent to a mental hospital to live out the rest of his days...
"Lin Yi, don’t you want to know who sent me?"
Suddenly, the middle-aged man’s voice drifted over.
"AHH..."
The moment he spoke, a fragment was caught and swallowed by Xiaoqi.
Lin Yi chuckled and shook his head. "Not interested!"
"You... don’t you want to know who wants to harm... AHH..."
Another miserable scream.
Now only one fragment remained, dodging the pursuit of Xiaoqi and the white tiger.
Just as he was about to say something else,
the white tiger leaped high into the air, jumping two or three meters.
It opened its cavernous maw, and the fragment was sucked directly inside.
Once the last fragment was devoured,
the white tiger landed and chewed a few times in a feigned manner.
A defiant look flashed in its eyes as it glanced up at Xiaoqi.
But Xiaoqi acted as if it hadn’t seen a thing, flapping its wings and flying off into the distance.
Seeing this, the white tiger looked a bit disappointed.
Apparently, its actions had failed to provoke Xiaoqi.
Lin Yi walked over and gently patted the white tiger’s forehead.
Then, a flash of light appeared before his eyes.
Lin Yi’s eyes snapped open. He was back in the cafeteria.
Everything that had just happened had taken no more than twenty-odd seconds.
But in those twenty-odd seconds, he had experienced a life-and-death struggle
and destroyed a man’s heart spirit.
Just as Lin Yi picked up his chopsticks again, ready to eat,
he suddenly heard someone shouting from the back kitchen.
"Someone help! A master has fallen!"
"Quick, help contact the School Medical Bureau! Master Liang has fallen into a coma!"
After the chefs in the back kitchen shouted a few times,
some curious students started walking over.
Lin Yi’s brow furrowed. ’So the person who just attacked me with a spiritual assault was a chef from the back kitchen?’
"How are you? Are you okay?"
Suddenly, Wei Shang, who was sitting opposite him, whispered.
Lin Yi was taken aback, then smiled and shook his head. "I’m fine!"
"Were you just hit by a spiritual attack?" Wei Shang’s expression grew more solemn.
"How did you know?" Lin Yi was a little surprised.
Wei Shang smiled. "Spiritual attacks leave traces. If I’m not mistaken, that master from the back kitchen was the one who attacked you!"
"You’re one hell of a kid, dodging a spiritual attack and even managing a counter-kill?"
Wei Shang said with a look of admiration.
Lin Yi shook his head. "I just dodged it somehow. Pure coincidence, I guess!"
Wei Shang: "..."
Spiritual attacks were generally an assassination technique used by high-level Martial Artists.
They were also the most common form of attack in the New District.
Because the New District had strict regulations, Martial Artists were not allowed to fight casually.
If they wanted to arrange a duel, they had to go to a designated dueling ground.
Therefore, some high-level Martial Artists would choose to attack using their spirits.
They might even deploy their Heart Spirit Domain.
This way, it wouldn’t affect the real world, let alone buildings or ordinary people.
Unless the spirit was completely annihilated, even in defeat, one could recover after a period of rest.
So, when Lin Yi had previously thought of using his Heart Spirit Domain to ambush those students,
it turned out that others had already been doing it for a long time.
"To be precise, someone wanted to trap me in their Heart Spirit Domain!" Lin Yi suddenly added.
Hearing this, Wei Shang’s expression changed drastically.
"Someone wanted to trap your heart spirit?"
Lin Yi nodded. "That’s right. When I was attacked just now, the Heart Spirit Domain I was in was a bit different. Time was frozen, everything was still, and there was only a patch of yellow sand transforming into various things!"
"And the master of the domain never even appeared!"
"So I guess he wasn’t trying to attack me, just trap my heart spirit!"
Wei Shang said nothing.
But he was already planning to call Old He later to report this incident.
"What are you two whispering about?"
Suddenly, Wei Nan, sitting beside them, looked up from his food tray.
He saw Lin Yi and Wei Shang whispering about something.
He asked curiously.
Lin Yi shook his head. "Nothing. Are you guys done eating? What are you planning to do next?"
"I’m planning to go back to the Cultivation Field to train some more!" Wei Nan said, putting down his chopsticks.
Zhou Qi, Sun Tao, and Shen Mengyi also nodded.
"Still training? It’s almost dark, aren’t you going back to rest?" Lin Yi said in surprise.
He couldn’t help but sigh.
’What’s gotten into Wei Nan and the others?’
’Why are they all acting like they’re on steroids?’
Zhou Qi smiled and said, "There’s no rush to rest. We want to use this mission quiet period to push our realms, so we don’t hold you back in Jail City!"
The others all nodded in agreement.
Seeing their determined gazes, Lin Yi could only say, "Well, I won’t join you then!"
"I have to go back and feed Xiaoqi. But don’t ruin your bodies just for the sake of training!"
Wei Nan and the others nodded with a smile, then left the cafeteria and headed for the Cultivation Field.
Feng Lei and Wei Shang didn’t move.
Lin Yi glanced at them. "You two not going?"
"Huh? Um... Feng Lei, didn’t you want to do some strength training? You should go. I’m a bit tired, I think I’ll head back and rest!"
Feng Lei nodded. "Alright, I’m heading out then!"
With that, he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.
In the end, only Lin Yi and Wei Shang were left, and they left the cafeteria together.
When they reached the entrance of the cafeteria,
they saw Master Liang from the back kitchen being carried out on a stretcher.
They were rushing toward the School Medical Bureau.
Lin Yi glanced at the middle-aged man lying on the stretcher.
It was the man whose heart spirit had been devoured by Xiaoqi and the white tiger.