Chapter 127: Yu Xians Three Layers of Defense

Chapter 127: Yu Xian's Three Layers of Defense

With the processing power of Super Brain, Yu Xian was fully capable of acting with absolute maturity and cold rationality. Yet, he chose to reject that path. After all, he was only seventeen, in no rush to grow old before his time.

For now, he preferred to do whatever he pleased. Even when Super Brain calculated that an action would be futile, he was more than willing to dive in anyway, just to experience what that futility felt like.

If a person went too long without tasting disappointment, the moment it finally struck them, the roaring wave of frustration could completely drown their sanity. Suffering itself was not something to glorify. But for a supernatural being, a necessary amount of hardship was the ultimate whetstone for the soul—the medicine that cured blind arrogance, the yardstick that reined in an increasingly unchecked ego.

The more power one amassed, the more vital the cultivation of the mind would become. When a person reached a point where no one could stop them from doing whatever they wanted, the only person that could restrain them was themself.

Once someone became powerful enough, reason no longer held much weight. Strength became the highest authority, and every person around them, every situation they encountered, had to be judged right or wrong by a strong heart and mind.

It was like an emperor who held military power in his hands. He had to distinguish loyalty from treachery, weigh advantages against disadvantages, and decide life and death with a single thought. If he made the wrong judgment, the consequences would be unimaginable. At best, he would kill the innocent by mistake. At worst, rivers of blood would flow. He could even harm others and himself, ultimately bringing about his own miserable end.

Yu Lie supported Yu Xian going to college precisely because he wanted Yu Xian to experience more, learn more, and understand more. Ideally, Yu Xian would be able to see himself clearly, see the world clearly, and perhaps even reach a higher level, gaining insight into different states of thought and mind.

After showing off the mutated Scrap Eating Serpent, Yu Xian, at Zhang Shou's strong insistence, opened Qilin's internal real-time live streaming app and set the broadcast settings to public view. The reason he used Qilin's internal app was that civilian communication apps received no signal on the Red Planet. Only Qilin's internal app could communicate across such an immense distance.

He created a hand-shaped bubble to hold his phone, then waved at the screen. "Zhang Shou, can you see me?"

Zhang Shou replied in the chat.

Death Medic: I can see you. You're really on the Red Planet. Show us the surroundings.

At that moment, several more night owls joined in.

Great Beauty: What's going on? Are you on a mission?

Seventeen: You again, kid? Where did you sneak off to tonight?

Stock God: A disgrace to tigers. +1

Fae: Stock God, isn't your time zone a little too far off?

Trivia: The hard shell shown on screen belongs to the Red Planet's Scrap Eating Serpent. Its strength is at the lower Bug rank, but you must not underestimate it. Its teeth are extremely sharp and can easily bite through steel, so be sure to avoid getting bitten in any vital spot.

Number One: Salted Fish, are you livestreaming? Did you run into some kind of problem?

Yu Xian had not expected so many people to be awake in the middle of the night, so he had no choice but to explain the situation briefly.

Afterward, he controlled the hand-shaped bubble to toss away the shell and continued moving downward. Before he knew it, what was supposed to be an app for work had somehow turned into a livestreaming one. More and more people were watching him explore the Red Planet in the middle of the night.

Fae: Little Salted Fish, how are you breathing on the Red Planet? Isn't the air there super thin?

Yu Xian caught Fae's query. Without looking away from the shaft below, he answered, "I've got two spatial bubbles lodged in my nose. They connect directly to bubbles on the Blue Planet, transmitting its air right to me."

He tilted his head and used the phone to show the bubbles inside his nostrils.

Seventeen: Spatial ability users have it good. So much freedom.

Trivia: Spatial ability users have it good. So much freedom. +1

Piggy: Spatial ability users have it good. So much freedom. +1

Drunkard: Spatial ability users have it good. So much freedom. +1

Fat Cat: Alright, cut it out.

Yu Xian watched the chat and did not feel bored at all. Before he knew it, he had descended to a depth of two thousand meters.

He looked toward the tunnel the eyeball bubble had entered earlier. In the darkness, a lump of sludge-like substance lurked on the ceiling of the tunnel. After thinking for a moment, he turned on his phone's flashlight, switched it to super-bright mode, and shone the light over.

When the light hit the sludge-like substance, black smoke rose from it. It shrank backward at incredible speed, as if it were extremely afraid of strong light.

Trivia: That's a Gu Master's Shadow Gu. [1]It's usually refined from a Gu Master's shadow. Even if the Gu Master dies, it will loyally carry out their final order. In dark environments, a Shadow Gu's offensive power is extremely strong, even exceeding Dragon rank. Physical defenses are useless against it. However, its weakness is also very obvious. It fears strong light.

Number One: Salted Fish, be careful. Shadow Gu are really dangerous. I once had my arm cut by one.

Yu Xian glanced at his phone, and his eyes widened in disbelief. Gong Qian's defense was absurdly strong. Even Deimos had been unable to break through it and had to use poison against her. He had not expected this tiny Shadow Gu to be able to injure her.

Fortunately, the Shadow Gu's weakness was very obvious. All he had to do was shine light on it.

Yu Xian took more than a dozen spare phones out of his spatial ring, turned on all their flashlights, and aimed them at the Shadow Gu. Under the threat of the intense light, the Shadow Gu could only retreat frantically. It kept shifting its shape as it searched for an angle to attack from, but no matter which direction it extended in, the light would catch it, forcing it to shrink back.

Suddenly, a huge tentacle attacked Yu Xian from the tunnel behind the Shadow Gu. Because of the attack's blinding speed, Yu Xian had no time to react at all. The tentacle instantly slammed into a dragon scale.

The tunnel shuddered from the impact of the clash. Before the dust in the surroundings could even settle, the Shadow Gu latched onto the tentacle's shadow and blitzed toward Yu Xian.

It shifted from a sludge-like form into a blade, its long black edge bending in an arc and stabbing one of the dragon scales. The Cloak of Deception on the scale's surface rippled violently, almost failing to block the attack.

The Dragon Shield core had absorbed the giant serpent's divine power of deceit, which had naturally spread onto the dragon scales as well. As a result, Yu Xian's defense now comprised three layers of protection: the Cloak of Deception on the dragon scales, the dragon scales themselves, and the Cloak of Deception on his body.

Only by breaking through the Cloak of Deception on the surface of the dragon scales, the dragon scales themselves, and finally the Cloak of Deception on Yu Xian could an attack reach Yu Xian. That sense of security was simply off the charts.

If he had only the dragon scales, their purely physical defense would not be able to stop the Shadow Gu, given its ability to ignore physical defenses. But the Cloak of Deception just so happened to counter the Shadow Gu's attacks.

Yu Xian only realized what had happened after all the attacks were over. He broke out into a cold sweat. "Holy crap! There's another monster!"

His phone had faithfully recorded the entire scene. Everyone was silent. The attack had been terrifyingly powerful, and everyone watching it knew deep down that they probably could not have blocked it.

Even Gong Qian felt a chill run through her spine when she saw the Shadow Gu's attacks. If she had been in Yu Xian's place, it would have probably pierced her heart in one blow and killed her on the spot.

Once everyone came back to their senses, they stared at the screen in absolute amazement. Is this guy really only ranked thirty-third? Isn't his defense a little too strong?

At that moment, Trivia's thumbs flew across his phone screen.

Trivia: Salted Fish, run! That tentacle is part of a Blightstone Gu Insect, and wherever there are Blightstone Gu Insects, there will definitely be Molten Spirit Gu Insects. That tentacle is almost half a meter thick. By a conservative estimate, there are no fewer than a hundred thousand Molten Spirit Gu Insects!

His message had just appeared on Yu Xian's screen when the tentacle suddenly trembled. The next instant, countless tiny red dots lit up at the end of the tunnel. A dense chittering rang out. In the blink of an eye, the tiny red dots turned into a crimson flood, surging from the other end of the tunnel like flowing lava.

Yu Xian immediately turned and ran. He was indeed very confident in his defenses, but the Molten Spirit Gu Insects were rushing toward him with such ferocity that he felt no need to use them just to prove that confidence.

After escaping the tunnel, he was just about to fly upward when the other tunnels above him also spewed out massive numbers of Molten Spirit Gu Insects. They looked like countless streams of lava pouring down. Left with no choice, he could only fly downward.

Yu Xian could teleport away at any given second. However, according to the fine tradition of the Huaxia people, since he had already come this far, there was absolutely no way in hell he was going to tuck his tail and run. Besides, things were still far from the point where he needed to retreat. So, he planned to struggle a little longer.

1. A Gu Master (蛊师, Gǔ Shī) is someone who raises, refines, and controls 蛊 (Gǔ)—mystical poisons, parasites, insects, or cursed creatures from Chinese folklore and fantasy. In many stories, gu can be used for poisoning, assassination, tracking, mind control, or combat. ☜