Chapter 147 - 146: Unable to Withstand a Single Blow

Chapter 147: Chapter 146: Unable to Withstand a Single Blow

’She’s a clever one, knows how to ride my coattails and climb the ladder.’

Li Ye instantly identified her demonic artifact—the whip. A perfectly good whip, which she’d turned into an S&M tool. She was a special kind of talent, that one.

"What’s her name?" Li Ye asked.

"Fiona."

Elsa’s eyes kept darting toward the gold in front of Li Ye. Gold Coins were hard currency, so she couldn’t understand why His Eminence had so much raw gold before him.

’Is this a gift from someone?’

’Wouldn’t it be better to just give Gold Coins?’

"Elsa, issue a notice to suppress all news of the Whip of Desire throughout the kingdom. We need to prevent public panic," Li Ye ordered. Since he knew Demon Qi grew through influence, he would cut off its path to power at the root. This was the advantage of holding power.

"Yes, Your Eminence," Elsa said. "But what about Fiona? Should we join forces with the Forbidden Mages to hunt her down?"

"No need. I will handle it myself." A calm and confident smile appeared on Li Ye’s face; he clearly wasn’t worried about Fiona at all. "Elsa, from now on, your group will focus on searching for the Angel Fragments. The Purifying Cloth has absorbed the filth from your bodies. There are no maidens in this world purer than you."

’What is the definition of purity?’

’To be pure and flawless!’

’But as long as people in this world eat, drink, and excrete, they inevitably produce metabolic waste. No one can be truly pure and flawless.’

’If you were looking for one truly pure person in this world, it would have to be me.’

’The Demon Qi was constantly transforming my body. And when I hold my demonic artifact, I don’t need to eat or drink, so I produce no metabolic waste at all.’

’Flawless and undefiled.’

’How could even the purest maiden possibly have a body purer than mine?’

This was something Li Ye had realized when the Divine Power had suddenly tried to possess him.

The idea that only a pure maiden could find the Angel’s Heart was probably a misunderstanding on Floyd’s part, just like how his divination could only see that Li Ye carried both hope and disaster.

He probably only saw the word "pure" and assumed that only a pure maiden could find the Angel’s Heart.

But what the Angel’s Heart was truly looking for was probably a pure *person* like him.

Only a body transformed by Demon Qi, Spiritual Power, or Divine Power could meet the conditions for Michael to grow again...

Purity was a prerequisite for Michael’s possession, and it was nothing but a trap.

So, theoretically, anyone could find the Angel’s Heart, but only a pure person could be possessed by it. That could be him, it could be Fiona, and it could even be the Skeleton Monarch...

"Your Eminence, are we really the purest people in the world?" Elsa asked, overjoyed.

’Carrying around used toilet paper... there’s no one sloppier than you lot.’

Li Ye complained internally but gave them a confident smile. "Of course. Once you’ve cursed all the foul words out, your hearts become clean.

Elsa, you all have broken free from the shackles society placed upon you, so your minds are already pure. Now you are constantly using the Purifying Cloth to wipe away your physical filth. You have truly become the purest people, from the inside out."

"Yes!" Elsa’s eyes lit up, and she nodded emphatically. "I’ll go tell Elise and the others the good news right away."

Elsa departed cheerfully.

Li Ye mulled over Floyd’s Divination results.

’The outsiders are just me and Fiona.’

’In that case, a native corrupted by Demon Qi probably doesn’t count as an outsider. So, I can be sure that the Skeleton Monarch is one of the other sources of Demon Qi.’

’What about the last source of Demon Qi?’

There were no clues, so Li Ye decided not to dwell on it. He’d just take things one step at a time and deal with it when he encountered it.

’It hasn’t dared to show itself yet, so it must be some coward who likes to hide in the shadows. Nothing to worry about.’

Afterward, Li Ye bid farewell to Angus and the others, asking them to help conceal his whereabouts.

The Twelve Saintesses had served their purpose. Continuing to travel with them would just be a burden. It was far more convenient and efficient to act alone, and he would be a smaller target.

Besides, he and Fiona were both from Earth. When they met, there would surely be many things to discuss. Whether they ended up as allies or enemies, many of those things were not suitable for others to hear.

However, Fiona hadn’t exposed his identity yet. Either she was an idiot, or she was still holding out hope for a truce.

After all, if Fiona was determined to reveal their true origins, even if most people wouldn’t believe her, it would still cause a certain amount of trouble for Li Ye.

...

Fiona’s route was easy to predict.

Starting from Jade City, she traveled due west, putting distance between herself, Cedar City, and the Skeleton Monarch.

’What a coward, not daring to meet anyone face-to-face.’

...

After obtaining Michael’s Divine Power, Li Ye was incredibly fast. In just two short days, he found Fiona’s trail.

At that moment, Fiona had just finished her "personal show" in a place called Storm City.

The central plaza of the city was in a state of utter chaos.

The City Lord and the city’s other nobles were all hanging from flagpoles, unconscious and in tattered clothes.

Their bodies were covered in whip marks, like flogged prisoners. But just as Elsa had reported, every unconscious person had a blissful, sweet smile on their face.

Below the flagpoles, the ground was soaked.

It was unclear if it was sweat or... drops of ecstasy.

The common folk in the city plaza were also lying scattered all over the ground.

Their clothes were relatively intact, but each of their faces bore at least one whip mark. And just as Elsa had said, despite being lashed, none of them looked to be in much pain.

...

"When the whip came down, I thought I was going to die. But who knew that getting struck would feel like ascending to heaven?"

"I know! In that moment, it felt like my soul left my body. There’s no feeling more wonderful than that."

"If I could enjoy a flogging like that again, I’d willingly become a puppet of the Desire Celestial Demon, sink into hell, and let her command me..."

"The Desire Celestial Demon’s figure is absolutely incredible! I’m going to make all my servants wear clothes like that. If possible, I’ll even attach a tail to their backsides..."

"You lewd bitch, how could you make sounds like that just now? So shameless..."

...

Li Ye hadn’t even gotten close to Storm City.

Yet the events unfolding within and the various conversations had already reached his ears.

"Li Ye, that enchantress seems to have mastered a Charm Technique. Be careful of her whip," the toilet paper roll reminded him.

"I know." Li Ye’s perception remained locked onto the fleeing Fiona.

Sources of Demon Qi could sense each other at close range. Fiona was fairly alert; the moment she sensed him, she chose to flee.

But unfortunately for her, she was too slow. At best, her speed was equivalent to the peak of Foundation Establishment.

Even without his Divine Power, Li Ye could have completely crushed her. If she didn’t have any special Derived Skills, she was doomed.

"Dammit, how is he so fast?" Fiona was frantic, constantly looking back over her shoulder. "Is he some old monster who’s survived five worlds?"

BANG!

She slammed headfirst into an ice wall that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

Caught off guard, she smashed a hole through the ice wall and passed through it.

But immediately after, a second ice wall greeted her.

Rubbing her bruised forehead, Fiona saw another ice wall appear and lashed out with her whip. The wall shattered on impact.

Seeing yet another ice wall blocking her path, Fiona’s face filled with despair. "Dammit, how is his Magic’s casting range so long? Isn’t he supposed to be an Easterner?"

With Michael’s Divine Power, Li Ye could cast Magic freely within his range of perception, but the power of the Magic depended on the abundance of Magic Elements in the area.

Fiona was currently at a lake, where there was an abundance of the Water Element. As long as Li Ye wished it, he could create an unlimited number of ice walls.

...

Like Li Ye, Fiona possessed a body transformed by Demon Qi.

She also didn’t need to chant when casting Magic, but her casting speed couldn’t compare to Li Ye’s. It was faster for her to break the ice walls with her whip.

Even when the Little Leather Whip urged her to turn back and fight Li Ye head-on, she couldn’t muster a shred of courage and only thought of escaping.

But in the end, it was too late.

As she shattered the tenth ice wall, a sky-blotting torrent of toilet paper blocked her path and moved to entangle her.

"Damned toilet paper."

Fiona swung her whip, trying to shred the toilet paper coiling toward her.

But the soft toilet paper was now harder than steel cables. The force of her whip, strong enough to shatter boulders, couldn’t even tear off a single shred of it...

She summoned the Fire Element, attempting to burn the toilet paper away.

But the supposedly flammable toilet paper passed through the raging wall of fire completely unscathed.

And all this time, aside from the toilet paper, she hadn’t even seen a shadow of Aragon.

That was what was truly despair-inducing.

She had once thought her whip was long enough, capable of striking enemies hundreds of meters away. But this sky-obscuring toilet paper... it had to be tens of thousands of meters long!

"Fury, is this what you call a ’head-on fight’?" Fiona glanced around at the churning sea of toilet paper. She kept swinging her whip, cocooning herself within its range. "If I make it back, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to face toilet paper again for the rest of my life. It’s already given me psychological trauma..."

"This is all your fault. If you had spread my name far and wide like Aragon did for his, he’d be the one trapped in a web of whip-shadows right now!" the whip retorted, exasperated.

It was using all its strength, pitting its Demon Qi against the toilet paper’s, but the more it fought, the more hopeless it became. The toilet paper’s Demon Qi was completely overwhelming, and it could clearly feel its own power weakening bit by bit.

"Aragon, I surrender! As long as you let me go back alive, I’m willing to be your servant!" Fiona ignored the whip and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Worse than even a Little Demon," the toilet paper roll snorted.

"Lord Ling, spare it for now. Don’t devour its Demon Qi yet," Li Ye said.

"Why?" the toilet paper roll asked, displeased. "It’s a great source of nourishment for me."

"I need to use it against the Skeleton King. It won’t be too late to devour it after we take him down," Li Ye said. "The Skeleton Monarch’s reputation is known to all.

Besides, that thing has killed two-thirds of the people on the continent; who knows how much Demon Qi it has accumulated. If you were at your peak, you naturally wouldn’t need to fear it. But right now, every bit of help counts. It pays to be careful." ℯ𝓵.

"..." The toilet paper roll was silent for a moment before sighing. "Fine, I’ll listen to you. I never thought I’d fall so low that even a measly White Bone Spirit could push me around. Sigh, this world is just too small. When will my fame finally echo throughout the entire universe?"

As it spoke, the toilet paper roll broke through the whip’s defenses. It wrapped around Fiona in layer after layer, bundling her up like a mummy until only her eyes and mouth were visible...