"A special training method?"
Xia Yu looked at the weathered face before him; it had the handsome charm of a middle-aged man with a story to tell. It would have been even better if his eyes weren't emitting a red glow.
"What is this light?"
Blaidd, walking over, also saw the red light in Darryl's eyes and asked with some surprise and confusion.
"This is proof of being controlled," Xia Yu explained. "When the mind is interfered with by an external force, the eyes glow red."
"Darryl actually..." Blaidd fell somewhat silent. Was this man's mind actually interfered with? Is that why he betrayed us?
Feeling Blaidd's silence beside him, Xia Yu didn't mention that this was only his guess, though it was highly likely that this guess was close to the truth.
Because in the late game, when Blaidd was controlled by the Two Fingers, his eyes also emitted a strange red light.
Although the game and reality couldn't be equated entirely, the red-eye characteristic in both was identical, so it couldn't be said that the two were completely unrelated.
However, looking at the red light in Darryl's eyes, Xia Yu felt a bit of disdain. This mind control from the Two Fingers was so crude; if he were to control someone, he would never leave such a conspicuous flaw.
Moreover, this mind control directly drove the controlled subject into a frenzy; it was simply unsightly.
"Alright, alright, quiet down." Xia Yu patted Darryl's face. Within the other's crazed gaze, a flash of blue light flickered in Xia Yu's eyes.
"Look into my eyes..."
In the next moment, Xia Yu effortlessly smashed through Darryl's mental defenses with overwhelming force.
How should he put it? Right now, Darryl's mind was like a city with its gates wide open; anyone could walk in and take a look, almost entirely unguarded. There wasn't even a'Sempty City Stratagem' to put up appearances.
Xia Yu couldn't help but look down on the Two Fingers' mind control again. This trashy control didn't even bother with defenses. It was also lucky that almost no one in The Lands Between specialized in the soul and spirit; otherwise, with Darryl's near-zero mental defenses, anyone with a slight understanding of the field could probably peek inside.
After pulling back his wandering thoughts, Xia Yu began to scan Darryl's inner soul and outer spirit.
Soon, he discovered a golden Secret Script engraved on the other's soul, looking somewhat like one of the weapons originating from the Two Fingers, the Coded Pata.
The Coded Pata is formed by a sequence of incorporeal Secret Scripts; these so-called Secret Scripts are words of light written in the air by the Two Fingers.
So, it was this Secret Script that was controlling Darryl's mind?
Xia Yu looked at the shining Secret Script and tried to transform his soul power into a blade to begin peeling it off.
But in the next moment, the Secret Script seemed to trigger a defense mechanism, suddenly emitting a golden radiance that lit up the entire mental space.
Darryl's soul, struck by the light, actually began to dissolve under the radiance.
This is bad!
Xia Yu, noticing this immediately, had a change of expression. He had been overconfident, subconsciously assuming that with the Two Fingers' crude methods, they wouldn't have even set up defenses. Now, he had been outmaneuvered.
While the soul had only just begun to dissolve slightly, Xia Yu hurriedly wrapped Darryl's soul in all his soul power, then used his spirit as a cage to shroud the radiance emitted by the Secret Script.
However, this was only a temporary measure. If the engraved Secret Script wasn't resolved as soon as possible, problems would arise sooner or later.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu gave a faint sigh. He thought he could solve it using only his own power.
Oh well, we're all 'me' anyway, nothing to be embarrassed about.
[elden ring] @ [Genshin Impact]: Brother, lend me some power, I need it urgently.
[Genshin Impact]: Huh? What's the rush? Sent it to you.
[elden ring]: Contending with the Two Fingers for mind control, I was careless.
[clash of clans]: Look at you, remember the warning 'Carelessness leads to eating essence porridge.' Don't be careless next time.
[Genshin Impact]:???
[Genshin Impact]: Careful now, if you upload content that's seriously illegal or violating rules, the Chat Group will be banned.
[Genshin Impact]: I remember a certain senior named Chen in a Chat Group who, for this reason, ended up unfinished... cough, the Chat Group was banned.
[clash of clans]: Hiss, almost forgot, thanks for the reminder, speak carefully... Tarnished Xia Yu didn't know that after he left, the Chat Group started another round of discussion. Having received the power of Demon God Xia Yu, his soul and spirit instantly surged.
Although the authority regarding souls couldn't be used in this world for the time being, general power had no restrictions.
Feeling the surging power within him, Xia Yu took a deep breath, directly transformed his soul into a blade, and stabbed it into Darryl's soul.
"Heh... heh!"
Instantly, Darryl, who was pinned under Xia Yu's foot, had his eyes bulge and his veins pop.
Soul pain is a hundred times more intense than physical pain. Darryl, with his soul pierced, couldn't even let out a scream, only able to make gasping sounds from his throat like air leaking out.
On the other side, Xia Yu didn't care about Darryl's pain. It's medical treatment; it's normal for it to hurt a bit.
After stabbing into the other's soul, Xia Yu crudely gouged out the part of the soul engraved with the Secret Script. He had to do this; that part of the Secret Script was already deeply embedded, and just scraping off a thin layer would be completely useless.
The moment the script-soul separated from the main soul, Xia Yu hurriedly wrapped up the script-soul and pulled it out of Darryl's body, then stuffed this part of the script-soul into a Red Envelope to study later when he had time.
Looking at Darryl, who was missing a piece of his soul, Xia Yu funneled some soul energy into him to let him recover slowly.
Missing a bit of soul is no big deal; it only leaves behind insignificant side effects like amnesia, forgetfulness, decreased intelligence, and so on.
But on second thought, it didn't really matter if Hound Knight Darryl had these side effects. Since the required stats for the Bloodhound's Fang include an intelligence requirement of 0, it meant Darryl was already a brainless warrior.
Losing this part of the controlled soul might even lead to an increase in strength. After all, the aggressive fear the tough, the tough fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who don't value their lives.
"Whew, I'm exhausted." Xia Yu released his foot from Darryl and theatrically wiped his forehead, which didn't have a single drop of sweat.
Looking at Xia Yu's spirited eyes and his sweatless forehead, Blaidd really couldn't bring himself to say "hard work" against his conscience.
After glancing at the unconscious Darryl, Blaidd decided to skip the topic of whether Xia Yu was actually tired.
"So, Darryl's control has been lifted?"
"You could say that." Xia Yu stood up and kicked the unconscious Darryl. "The control Secret Script the Two Fingers left on him has been removed by me. Who exactly is the master you and he serve? Why was his mind controlled by the Two Fingers?"
Blaidd fell silent at this question. Because Ranni was destined to walk the dark path of an Empyrean, her safety was paramount and could not be revealed to others lightly.
However... Blaidd cast a subtle glance at Xia Yu, who was still meddling with Darryl.
The man before him seemed trustworthy.
"The master I serve is Ranni the Lunar Princess. She is of the Carian Royal Family..."