Durandal knew nothing about the disturbance at the press conference.
Even if she did, to her, it would probably just be a minor ripple of "Love Rival +1."
After all, bad women thirsting for Little Li's body were everywhere like wild dogs by the roadside; adding one Heavenly Strike General of the Yaoqing wouldn't make much of a difference.
In the center of the plaza, the Ye Ying stone pillar beneath Fuli's feet shattered, and the ice crystals turning into dust dissipated with the wind.
He landed gracefully and securely hung the sheathed Plasma Kagehide back at his waist.
This weapon, forged by Ryoma Raiden with all his heart and blood, possessed two unique abilities. One of them was a domain skill called Winter's Grasp. Upon activation, it could significantly reduce the movement speed of all matter within a certain range.
The fact that the battle just now could end so effortlessly and elegantly was largely thanks to this slowing force field deployed silently.
"Hey!"
A clear and delicate shout, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction, rang out. The barefoot girl casually hoisted that door-sized Old Iron onto her shoulder and walked over with large strides.
Yanqing followed closely behind her. The dignified Sword Champion actually looked like a little follower bro.
"What? You lost and don't want to admit it?"
Little Durandal, who had arrived beside Fuli first, furrowed her brows. Like a mother protecting her cub, she spread her arms wide, shielding the boy who didn't know whether to laugh or cry behind her.
"Where did this Soulium brat come from? Don't block the way! I have business with him, and it has nothing to do with fighting!"
Yunli, who saw through Little Goose's true nature at a glance, was very unceremonious. However, perhaps slightly moved by the other party's exquisite and cute appearance like a porcelain doll, she managed to offer an explanation.
"Yes, this little blonde miss." Yanqing also chimed in: "We wouldn't be so petty as to lack that much grace, let alone under the watchful eyes of the public."
"But before that, I still have one doubt I'd like you to clear up for me." He narrowed his eyes, sword qi brewing in its sheath. "The consciousness residing in this Soulium body shouldn't be that Mr. Otto who loves playing all sorts of dirty tricks, right?"
Little Durandal was taken aback at first, and in the next second, she turned completely red.
"I am not that cross-dressing pervert!"
A gross insult! What a gross insult!
The wariness in Yanqing's eyes still hadn't dissipated: "Really?"
He couldn't be blamed for being suspicious. In recent years, that Schicksal Overseer who acted without any taboos had used similar "smurf account" methods to make them suffer plenty. After all, it's very hard to reason with an old bastard with flexible moral bottom lines; even if you try, you'll only be confused by the other party using all sorts of crooked means.
For example, last time, this guy claimed to be an outworld merchant, traveling across major Xianzhou ships under the alias Luocha, causing many incidents.
Even though, overall, it was more beneficial than harmful to the Luofu, this couldn't whitewash the fact that he disguised himself and infiltrated the Taixuan Front.
"Of course it's true."
Fuli's hand appropriately pressed on the head of the baring-fangs-and-brandishing-claws Little Goose. Smoothing hair, rubbing, pinching cheeks, patting.
The anger on the girl's face visibly subsided, but she still glared angrily at the blonde Sword Champion, like a cute cat whose dried fish had been snatched by a bad guy.
"Would the real Otto make such an expression?"
Fuli teased.
"Hard to say."
Yanqing muttered softly.
"You're quite good at pacifying girls."
Seeing Little Goose calm down, Yunli crossed her arms over her chest: "Your name is Fuli, right? The Fuli from Fuli Yuanshi Tianzun."
"Fu as in floating life, Li as in Jiuli," Fuli responded. "Do you want to arrange a match? How about we go all out after I break through the Critical-Class?"
"We can fight anytime. That's not what I want to ask right now." The girl cut straight to the point: "Are you secretly in love with me?"
As soon as these words came out, even though he was long accustomed to this super-aggressive little ancestor's shocking statements, Yanqing almost choked on his own saliva.
"No, sis." He tried to join the conversation: "Aren't you being a bit too narcissistic here?"
(Translated: Pfft! Shrimp-headed girl! Why don't you look in the mirror and see what you look like!)
"Milf-con, shut up!"
Yunli choked him back unceremoniously, her gaze still firmly fixed on Fuli, waiting for his answer.
The girl born into a swordsmithing family possessed a particularly special talent: she was born with the ability to communicate with weapons.
Relying on this talent and hard work, as well as taking her grandfather, the Zhuming's top master artisan Huaiyan, as her master, Yunli took over the title of Artisan at a young age, becoming a forging expert renowned across the Tree and Sea.
During the battle just now, both she and Yanqing realized that Fuli's understanding of them was extraordinary.
Yanqing thought this was the result of meticulous pre-match investigation. As a classic segment of the Luminary Wardance, researching their data was very normal; it was just that this challenger was absurdly strong.
This was also the thought of most onlookers.
Yunli was different. From the Plasma Kagehide in Fuli's hand, she read a complex, indescribable emotion.
That was definitely not an ordinary challenger's desire for rewards. Interwoven within it were excitement, relief, regret, deep longing...
Any vocabulary in the mortal world seemed inadequate to describe even a fraction of that complex emotion.
Besides this, another kind of feedback from the Plasma Kagehide also greatly surprised Yunli.
The person before her seemed to possess some strange negative talent. No matter how sturdy the sword, once in his hands, it would inevitably suffer varying degrees of damage within a few months at most, or a few days at least.
Strangely, even so, those weapons that could no longer be used not only didn't curse the wielder, but their remaining spirituality would turn into invisible sword qi winding around him, as if sincerely wishing the master prosperous martial fortunes.
First, this eliminated the possibility that Fuli was a person who wasted weapons.
Not only that, the weapons that came to him had inevitably bloomed with a dazzling brilliance far exceeding the past, making them willing to burn out their last trace of glory in his hands.
Just like the complex emotions transmitted during the clash, this peculiar constitution greatly stimulated Yunli's curiosity.
The girl had always disliked beating around the bush and tended to be straightforward when expressing thoughts and emotions.
Therefore, she went directly to Fuli and generously raised her question.
How did the person in question react to this?
So I really couldn't hide it completely?
Scratching his head awkwardly, Fuli thought to himself.
As the other half of the Li-Li duo in the previous loop, he knew very well about Yunli's unique talent to communicate with weapons, and he had deliberately restrained his emotions during the battle.
The problem was that no matter how much he hid it, the turbulent emotions were like the great waves of the Qiantang River. Even revealing just a trace was enough for the sensitive person involved to notice something was wrong.
Laugh it off and prevaricate?
Given the current state—like Xiahou Dun looking at Yang Jian, four eyes locking—the flaw would probably be seen through at a glance.
And the most crucial thing was...
The boy's gaze shifted downward.
Sure enough, Little Durandal seemed entirely unconcerned, but those round, cute little ears were already pricked up high like radars.
Wait... could this be the legendary Shuraba?
No! At present, this should only be the prelude! Whether I truly step into it or not depends on my next answer!
His lazy brain overclocked in a ten-thousandth of a second, rapidly filtering through various plans to break the deadlock.
Finally, he looked at Yanqing with confusion first.
"Um... did Yunli just call you a milf-con?"
From frugality to luxury is easy; let's try changing the subject first!
"The lack of maternal love during childhood leads to a subconscious reliance on women of an age similar to a mother. And based on the growing environment, it must be the gentle, virtuous, and modest type to suit the taste."
Yanqing corrected instinctively, and after realizing he had accidentally exposed his fetish, he quickly shut his mouth: "My issue is irrelevant; let's stick to yours first."
"Exactly! It wouldn't matter even if this guy was into monsters!"
"Tch."
Yunli's righteous response made Yanqing quite displeased.
Considering this guy had always had this personality since childhood, he could only curl his lips helplessly.
"Alright."
The tactic of changing the subject was declared a failure, and Fuli felt quite regretful.
At this time, Little Goose also became unhappy. The girl took the initiative to step forward, stepping between the two, and questioned: "Why should the winner be interrogated by the loser? Don't tell me you guys want to renege on the reward, so you specially came up with this method?"
She was indeed curious about the relationship between Little Li and the girl in front of her, but she didn't want Little Li to be put in a difficult position even more.
"Of course not."
Yunli was straightforward enough. She casually took out an ordinary-looking pebble-like object and tossed it to the two.
Yanqing also handed over a USB flash drive, which recorded his insights on Sword Control.
"There, the prizes have all been given." Yunli looked at Fuli again, acting tough: "Also, I was just asking casually. Of course, you don't have to say it."
Uwaa! She's obviously lying!
This time, even Little Durandal could see the stubbornness and curiosity on the girl's face, like a cat seeing a ball of yarn.
"Never mind."
Seeing the atmosphere brew to this point, and at the same time not wanting to disappoint the girls, Fuli closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the depths of his eyes were actually dyed with a layer of unresolvable genuine sorrow: "Miss Yunli, you look almost exactly the same as an old friend of mine."
"Not only are your appearances extremely similar, but even in the name, there is also the character 'Li'."
"You!"
Yunli was exasperated. Her first reaction was that he was talking nonsense.
After Fuli rose to prominence, the Taixuan Front had already conducted a detailed investigation into his background.
Setting aside all sorts of miscellaneous things, in the boy's short sixteen-year life trajectory, there was simply no one with the character 'Li' in their name!
The girl originally wanted to use this as evidence to strictly refute him, but the words reached her lips and she couldn't say them.
Her instincts told her that Fuli was not lying.
This person was truly, truly feeling sad for that girl with 'Li' in her name and an appearance similar to hers.
That emotion even carried a kind of heart-wrenching, bone-deep pain.
"Um, this..."
This instead made Yunli's previously pressing attitude seem exceptionally aggressive. Many onlookers eating melons at this moment also cast condemning glances at her, and fine murmurs gradually arose.
Under multiple pressures, the usually fearless girl rarely appeared somewhat at a loss.
She hurriedly dropped a "Sorry!" and then hoisted Old Iron and fled in a panic.
As for Yanqing?
This astute Sword Champion had long slipped away silently when the atmosphere began to turn sour, his figure disappearing into the crowd.
Leaving only Fuli and Little Durandal standing in place. Two Cloud Knight soldiers patrolling here deliberately stopped not far away, both to maintain order and to prevent certain blind, petty thieves from coveting the spoils in their hands.
It wasn't that they were afraid the items would be robbed; they were worried that the counterattack would cost lives and blood would splash onto passersby.
"Little Li?"
Little Durandal's worried call sounded softly.
She could clearly feel that when mentioning that deceased girl, the hand Fuli was holding hers tightened unconsciously.
"Sorry, did I look pretty uncool just now?"
Fuli shook his head, a clean smile no different from usual rising on his lips.
The reincarnator didn't lie; he did indeed have an old friend who looked exactly like Yunli and also had the character 'Li' in her name.
But how to put it?
"Let's go back, it looks like it's almost noon." Fuli said briskly: "You must be hungry. Let's go back to the Hyperion base and have a big meal."
[First of all, Happy Qixi Festival to you!]
[Little Li, you idiot, you don't happen to like me to death, do you?]
[Alright! Since that's the case, then I, Great King Yunli, will like you too!]
[The atmosphere wasn't built up enough and it's a bit abrupt? Who cares! Great King Yunli's confession is always a decisive straight ball!]
[I like you! More real than those blades you stupidly blocked for me, and more real than the Artisanship Commission warehouse you flipped over! Higher than the tallest Starskiff navigation tower on the Luofu! More... more eternal than the universe collapsing! Did you hear me?!]
Even just remembering a small part of it, the mood is unsurprisingly terrible...
His free hand shielded the projected sun above the Bubble World, and the boy looking up narrowed his eyes slightly.
It didn't take much time to return to the temporary Hyperion base. The huge warship hovered in the airspace outside the port.
Below it was the temporary base prepared by the Luofu, containing a rather spacious courtyard and several connected houses.
There was a not-so-short line at the entrance of the transit courtyard. People from different factions, carrying their respective equipment, were patiently waiting to conduct enhancement or fusion business.
The order in the first few days was nowhere near as good as it was now. The Sea of Quanta was vast and boundless; who could guarantee that everyone inside was an outstanding, law-abiding citizen?
There was even a monk who, after his enhancement ended, stated he could consecrate the warship, wanting to use this as an excuse to get it for free!
The fact that this group of ghosts and snake gods could become so honest and line up was largely due to that colossal entity towering at the edge of the courtyard—apart from the Cloud Knights who patrolled past from time to time.
—Azure Dragon Soaring Sea Mech-God, an advanced autonomous combat machine manufactured by the Taixuan Front.
Its appearance was a giant metal humanoid nearly fifty meters tall. It possessed staggering durability and terrifying defense that even Critical-Class powerhouses found hard to easily break open, and its attack power was unparalleled in the world.
Not long after arriving at the Luofu, Bronya held the token given by Fu Xuan and went to the Artisanship Commission's armory. After picking and choosing, she selected this powerful guardian.
According to the girl when she returned, seeing her take it away, the Artisanship Commission craftsmen's hearts were dripping blood.
"With the Azure Dragon Soaring Sea Mech-God holding the fort here, not only have troublemakers almost vanished, but Hyperion has also met the conditions for promotion to an intermediate organization. We only need to wait for this Luminary Wardance to end, and we can submit an evaluation application to the relevant UN agencies."
"This way, we are one step closer to becoming a super-large faction."
"Yeah, I've always been working hard to abduct Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie."
Just as Fuli and Little Durandal stepped into the courtyard entrance chatting and laughing, a heart-wrenching female voice, sounding as painful as if suffering from some withdrawal reaction, pierced the sky.
"Little Li! My treasure! Let me take another sniff—just one sniff! I beg you!"
They saw an object, seemingly composed of a lab coat and long green hair, rushing towards them from the neighboring base in a completely image-disregarding twisted posture. Baring fangs and brandishing claws, her target was pointed straight at Fuli's trouser leg, and it looked like she was about to pounce and hug it.
"Uh, why is she still here?"
Facing such a terrifying scene, Fuli's voice was full of helplessness.
The important reason why troublemakers hadn't completely vanished was right in front of him.
"Dr. Mobius, please mind your appearance."
Klein, trailing behind with a face full of fatigue, showed that this skilled comforting had clearly happened more than once.
Despite saying this, the look she gave Fuli was also somewhat off, having the posture of taking the opportunity to casually touch him while stopping her own Doctor.
Grand Time-Robbing Gift, an AoE authority that could cause the surrounding human civilization and technology to develop at high speed.
This A-Rank permanent ability effect obtained from the first system ten-pull was so strong it defied heaven, and the trouble it brought was equally huge.
After the Fog City White Moon incident, realizing that he could be exposed at any time because of it, Fuli began to consciously control and compress its effective range.
The effect was also gratifying. During the Kanas Lake incident, he was able to greatly restrain the skill range without alarming any locals.
To this day, he was even able to make the domain dissipate only a few centimeters from his body surface.
This made Mobius suffer miserably.
Since the end of the Fog City incident until now, having held it in for a long time, she had tried every means to arrange her base next to Hyperion this time, just hoping to properly rub off this cheat aura that could be called a super scientific research accelerator.
But you actually don't play fair and compressed the range?!
Going to die going to die going to die going to die! Inspiration exhausted! Sluggish thinking! Without Little Li's essence to nourish me, I'm going to die hmph hmph ah ah ah ah ah!!!
Snake-Snake, descends into madness!