Chapter 130: Meeting Situ Li Again

Chaoter 131: Meeting Situ Li Again

Lothe’s expression grew serious.

It wasn’t simply copying their techniques. It was learning how they fought—and using that knowledge to anticipate their next moves.

He lowered his gaze to the Spirit Papers tucked inside his sleeve.

He couldn’t keep fighting as usual.

Every technique they revealed gave the guardian more information. Every movement, every reaction, every formation became another pattern it could study.

The guardian attacked again.

Lothe stepped aside.

It adjusted.

He dodged once more.

It followed.

It’s learning too quickly.

Then Lothe noticed something.

The guardian wasn’t attacking randomly. It was deliberately pushing them to use their strongest techniques, forcing them to repeat familiar patterns.

It wanted more data.

Lothe’s lips curved slightly.

"So that’s your game."

Adrian blocked another strike. "What?"

"Stop using your strongest techniques."

Adrian frowned. "You’re serious?"

"Yes."

Nyren immediately understood. "The more techniques we show it, the more accurately it can predict us."

Lothe nodded. "We need to give it information that isn’t useful."

Adrian grinned.

"Now that sounds like something I can work with."

He raised both hands. Metal Qi surged, and dozens of weapons appeared around him.

The guardian shifted into a defensive stance, recognizing the formation.

Adrian sent the weapons forward.

Swords, spears, discs, daggers, and chains attacked at once.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The guardian rapidly shifted between defensive configurations: shield, armor, spatial barrier, and ice reinforcement. It blocked almost everything.

Then Adrian abruptly stopped controlling his weapons.

They hovered in place.

The guardian paused, its three rotating rings spinning as it assessed the sudden change.

Adrian smiled. "Confused?"

The weapons collapsed into small metallic spheres.

The guardian shifted into an anti-projectile stance.

"Wrong answer."

The spheres fell harmlessly to the floor.

Lothe’s eyes flashed.

That was exactly what they needed.

The guardian had reacted to a false threat.

Lothe reached into his sleeve and selected three different Spirit Papers. His fingers moved quickly, inscribing unfamiliar patterns across their surfaces.

[False Echo Rune].

[Pattern Veil Rune].

[Resonance Split Rune].

These weren’t offensive Runes. They were designed to distort perception and interfere with how energy was interpreted.

Lothe flicked the first Talisman.

WHOOSH!

The False Echo Rune attached itself to the guardian.

Nothing appeared to happen.

But the guardian’s scan revealed several false traces of Lothe’s Qi throughout the chamber: one behind it, two above, and three near Adrian.

The guardian reacted instantly, striking at one of the false signatures.

Its attack hit empty air.

It paused.

Lothe smiled faintly.

"Good."

The second Talisman flew.

The Pattern Veil Rune struck the guardian’s chest. Its energy network flickered.

The guardian could still observe them, but the patterns it recorded no longer matched their actual movements.

Then came the third Talisman.

The Resonance Split Rune struck the guardian’s chest.

VMMMM!

Its three energy networks separated.

Metal.

Ice.

Void.

Instead of working together, each began responding independently.

The guardian staggered.

Adrian’s eyes widened. "What did you do?"

"Simple. I gave it too much information," Lothe replied. "Now it can’t tell which information matters."

The guardian roared. Its Metal Qi surged. Its Ice Qi responded. Its Spatial Qi followed.

The three energies collided inside its body.

KRRRRRRR!

Cracks spread across its armor.

But the guardian began adapting again. Its energy networks shifted, attempting to synchronize.

Lothe’s eyes narrowed.

Already?

The guardian raised its arm. Metal formed along its forearm, ice coated the blade, and space warped around its edge.

A combined attack.

Lothe’s expression turned serious.

"It learned from the disruption."

The guardian vanished.

BOOM!

It reappeared directly before Lothe, its blade descending.

Lothe didn’t dodge.

A thin Talisman appeared between them.

CLANG!

The blade struck it and stopped.

Lothe’s eyes gleamed.

[Vector Reversal Rune].

The Rune activated.

The guardian’s accumulated force abruptly changed direction. Its own attack veered sideways.

BOOOOM!

The guardian crashed into the wall.

Before it could recover, Adrian’s metallic weapons attacked from three directions. Nyren spread Ice Qi across the floor, slowing the guardian’s movements.

Lothe threw another Talisman.

[Qi Severance Rune].

It struck the guardian’s chest.

Its three energy networks disconnected.

For one precious moment, the guardian couldn’t coordinate them.

Adrian’s largest metallic spear shot forward and pierced its core. Nyren’s sword followed, freezing the damaged energy network solid. Lothe’s Talisman prevented the three systems from reconnecting.

Cracks spread across the guardian’s body.

Its three eyes flickered.

Metal.

Ice.

Void.

Then—

CRACK!

The entire construct shattered.

Metal fragments scattered across the floor. Ice crystals dissolved into mist, and the spatial distortions collapsed.

Silence returned to the chamber.

Adrian lowered his hands. Nyren slowly sheathed her sword.

Lothe walked toward the shattered remains and activated [Inspect] again.

[Adaptive Combat Guardian — Destroyed]

[Adaptive Data Integrity: 63%]

[Combat Data Acquired:]

• Metal Combat Model

• Ice Combat Model

• Spatial Combat Model

[Adaptive Development: Incomplete]

[Reason for Failure:]

• Insufficient processing time

• Conflicting combat data

• False information injected

• Pattern prediction failure

Lothe studied the report.

So the guardian wasn’t omniscient. The Palace needed time—and reliable information—to adapt.

Give it conflicting data quickly enough, and its own prediction system could become a weakness.

Adrian walked over. "So we beat it because we confused it?"

"Partially," Lothe said, looking down at the remains. "We exploited the gap between observation and adaptation."

Nyren glanced toward the walls. "Can the Palace adapt to that too?"

"Eventually."

Lothe’s expression turned solemn.

"But not immediately."

The Palace trembled.

THUMP.

All three looked up.

The walls began moving. Stone slid against stone as a massive doorway emerged from the darkness.

Beyond it, a staircase descended into the depths.

Adrian frowned. "Another trial?"

Lothe activated [Qi Sight]. His expression changed.

"No."

"What is it?" Nyren asked.

"The Palace isn’t creating another test."

Lothe stared into the passage for some time before responding.

"It’s opening a route."

Nyren looked at him. "A route to where?"

Lothe didn’t answer. Something else had entered his perception. A familiar presence—powerful and approaching rapidly.

His expression turned cold.

Adrian noticed. "What happened?"

Lothe slowly turned toward the corridor behind them.

A figure emerged from the darkness.

Grey robes. A calm expression. Measured footsteps.

Situ Li.

He stopped several meters away. His gaze moved from Adrian to Nyren, then settled on Lothe.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Found you."

The atmosphere changed instantly.

Adrian’s metallic weapons rose around him. Nyren’s hand moved to her sword.

Lothe remained still, his mind already racing.

How did he find us?

Situ Li glanced at the shattered guardian, then at the newly opened passage.

His smile deepened.

"It seems you’ve already discovered something interesting."

Lothe’s eyes narrowed.

The Palace had been adapting to them.

Now Situ Li had found them.

Somehow, Lothe had the feeling these two developments were connected.​