r18novel Chapter 171 Is it too late to go home now?
Chapter 171 Is it too late to go home now?
Let's put the First Emperor's matter aside for now, since that's indeed a long way off.
Lu Mingfei temporarily suppressed his mischievous thoughts.
It is currently the 48th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin in Gu Nan's region. The famous "old king" (King Zhaoxiang of Qin) seems to be in very good health due to his recent military successes. He is also in high spirits and has a ruddy complexion. It is estimated that he will live for another ten years without any problem.
A short while later, Lu Mingfei's thoughts were pulled back to reality by a dull thud.
Smoke and dust rose into the sky from somewhere in the mountains and forests, accompanied by a low, unwilling roar of a dragon.
Ultimately, Xia Mi, not at her peak, couldn't withstand the relentless and relentless bombardment from Gu Nan, a half-step Golden Core cultivator. Exhausted, she was defeated.
Lu Mingfei put down his teacup, and with a few nimble movements, he leaped to the edge of the dragon-shaped crater that had been smashed open, and looked down.
At the bottom of the pit, Xia Mi was stuck in the mud in a sorry state.
Her body was in a terrible state; large areas of her dark blue dragon scales were cracked and peeled off, revealing her skin underneath, which was red from the shock, and scalding dragon blood was constantly seeping out from the gaps in her scales and wounds.
Few of those jagged and imposing bone spurs were intact; most were broken.
She was breathing heavily, each breath pulling at her wound and causing her brow to furrow.
"how?"
Lu Mingfei squatted by the pit, his tone revealing little concern, more like an examiner asking a candidate about their combat experience: "How did it feel to fight against such an inhuman martial arts monster?"
"Cough... What a monster..."
Xia Mi coughed twice, her voice hoarse, filled with exhaustion and a hint of... lingering fear.
She understood what "internal strength" was; she had learned from Lu Mingfei and practiced with Gu Nan for a period of time and knew its power.
However, personally experiencing Gu Nan's attack, which involved compressing internal energy to a certain critical point and causing a qualitative change, still exceeded her expectations.
It wasn't just immense strength; it was an extremely concentrated and penetrating destructive force that could easily pierce through her dragon scales' natural defenses.
Although she was a first-generation species with extremely strong regenerative abilities, she couldn't withstand being beaten like that.
The scariest thing is that this guy can keep getting stronger, and we haven't seen the limit yet.
Unfortunately, her physiological structure is ultimately different from that of a real human, and her progress in cultivating internal energy is slow, which also means that she previously lacked an intuitive understanding of the peak form of this power.
Just as Xia Mi was panting and making her own assessment, Gu Nan nimbly swept over from the other side and landed on the edge of the pit.
She was in much better shape than Xia Mi, although she was still somewhat disheveled.
Her practical outfit was torn and charred, with several rips and claw marks. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and there were beads of sweat on her temples. Sunlight streamed through the trees and shone on her face like diamonds.
However, he was not seriously injured. Although his breathing was rapid, he was able to calm down quickly.
Lu Mingfei turned to look at Gu Nan, clicked his tongue, and began to scold: "Look at you, you have no sense of restraint, you don't know how to be gentle with women at all, you beat such a beautiful girl... uh, beautiful girl, into this state."
Upon hearing this, Gu Nan raised his handsome eyebrows, somewhat indignant: "Why should I show mercy to a beautiful woman? Am I any less handsome than her? Besides, it's not like I can completely crush her. Didn't you see how dangerous her counterattack was? If I had held back even slightly, I would have been the one lying in the pit!"
She paused, then pointed to Xia Mi, who was trying to pull herself out of the pit, and said, "Besides, take a closer look. Is she seriously injured? It's just superficial wounds! You know how resilient dragons are."
As if to prove her point, she jumped into the pit and pulled the still somewhat weak Xia Mi out, pointing to the wounds on Xia Mi's body that were visibly stopping bleeding and scabbing over:
"Look, it's already starting to scab over! By tonight you won't even be able to find the scar."
Lu Mingfei had also realized that although Xia Mi appeared to be in a miserable state, the dragon's powerful vitality and self-healing ability were rapidly taking effect.
He didn't respond to Gu Nan's words, but he felt that Xia Mi's current appearance, covered in scales and armor and stained with blood, looked a bit... well, subtle.
After all, dragon scales are, in a way, equivalent to her skin...
The visual impact is striking, especially considering her complicated and tangled relationship with Chu Zihang.
Although Senior Brother Chu's attitude is still quite clear, it seems that Xia Mi has not yet "succeeded".
But faced with her offensive, Lu Mingfei was unsure how long he could hold out. In any case, if it were Lu Mingfei himself, he estimated he wouldn't last more than a week.
And what about Susie's side?
Lu Mingfei had just talked to Lao Wang a while ago, saying that it was possible for her to join the group, but it would be difficult for her to get into the core.
Moreover, her family wants her to finish her studies first...
Ah, family, feelings...
Troublesome matters.
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of those chaotic thoughts. He couldn't blame Lao Lu for not putting in enough effort; the relationship was just too complicated.
He hasn't had a direct conflict with those deeply entrenched mixed-race families in China yet, but he's only managed to get some scraps of information about the upheaval that led to the disbandment of the special task force ten years ago. It's said that it was filled with infighting among various families, and the escalating conflicts eventually led to internal strife and disintegration.
It sounds simple, but the filth inside is probably far beyond imagination.
"Okay, okay,"
Lu Mingfei stopped looking at them and turned around to take out two sets of clean clothes from his personal space.
His space has become like a mobile suitcase for the team, fully equipped with all kinds of supplies for clothing, food, housing, and transportation. I estimate that even a regular supermarket wouldn't have everything he has.
He casually tossed it to the two people by the pit, saying, "Go over there and tidy up, get some rest. We have important business to attend to tonight."
Before long, Xia Mi and Gu Nan, having changed into clean clothes, sat back down at the tea table under the old pine tree.
Xia Mi changed into a cool little dress, while Gu Nan remained in his smart trousers. Apart from looking slightly tired, neither of them showed any signs of the mess they had just made from the fierce battle.
The fairy had already set up an ancient zither at some point. With her delicate hands, she gently stroked it, and the clear and melodious sound of the zither flowed through the mountains and forests, carrying a power to soothe people's hearts.
Little Green was busy boiling water and pouring tea for her dear lady, her movements were skillful.
"The scenery here is really nice,"
Xia Mi took a deep breath of the fresh, cool air in the mountain forest, her delicate nose twitching slightly as if trying to distinguish the various natural scents within.
Soil, grass, mountain springs, and the faint fragrance of flowers in the distance.
"You can come often in the future."
Although she knew about this world from Lu Mingfei and Gu Nan's descriptions, this was the first time Lu Mingfei had personally brought her across time and space.
A strange sense of familiarity and nostalgia welled up in my heart. There was no industrial pollution in the air, no tension and undercurrents that were everywhere in the mixed-race world, only pure, ancient tranquility and vitality.
This inevitably reminded her of the past, of that time...
Eh?
It seems like there's nothing particularly memorable about it?
Xia Mi suddenly thought of something.
As the Dragon King, she spent most of her long life in slumber. When she occasionally awoke, she would quickly face pursuit and battle, and then fall back into slumber.
After his father, Nidhogg the Black King, "fell," this feeling of displacement and uncertainty intensified.
Like now, living in a relatively safe era, surrounded by companions, and without the devastating pressure of my father's impending return...
This feeling of "peace of mind" was completely foreign to her and Fenrir, and even made her feel a little unreal and disoriented.
She even had an impulse.
Otherwise, we might as well stay in this world forever with Fenrir.
Avoiding the fate that is destined to be faced, avoiding the father who will eventually return, let's spend a long and peaceful time amidst these mountains and rivers...
As she was lost in thought, the quiet little girl next to her raised her notebook again and leaned close to Xia Mi, her beautiful eyes filled with curiosity:
[Did you just use some kind of transformation technique? I sometimes get those things growing on my body too.]
?
Xia Mi was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening.
She was talking about... dragon scales?
Xia Mi's heart stirred slightly. She raised her arm, and with a thought, a layer of fine, metallic dragon scales quietly appeared on her fair skin, arranged neatly, like exquisite armor.
"Is that so?"
She asked softly, while carefully observing Erii's expression and reaction.
Erii leaned closer to look, then nodded vigorously, buried her head in her notebook and wrote rapidly before holding it up:
Yes, but I have white scales on my body.
White scales?
Xia Mi's doubts deepened.
Based on her perception and judgment of bloodlines, Erii's bloodline purity and origin, though special, were not high enough to cause her to actively display dragon-like characteristics. Moreover, her mental state and bloodline stability seemed quite good, and she was not on the verge of losing control.
Why do scales grow on their own?
But the key is—the white scales.
This confirmed her previous suspicions.
Erii is indeed a descendant of the White King.
As far as she knew, her father, the Black King Nidhogg, had killed the White King in the far north after an ancient betrayal and war, devoured his bones and blood, and reclaimed all the power he had once given her.
In particular, the spiritual power that his brothers were not particularly good at, but that the White King was extremely proficient in.
How could the White King possibly have any direct descendants?
Could it be that during that decisive battle, the White King secretly left behind a "seed" for resurrection?
But that doesn't make sense.
Given his father's abilities and his fear of the White King, how could he have been completely unaware if there really was a "seed" left behind?
Or perhaps the way this "seed" was preserved was beyond the father's expectations?
Forget it, I can’t figure it out.
This involves ancient secrets and the king's schemes, which are far beyond what she can figure out in a short time.
Xia Mi decided to put her questions aside for the time being and find an opportunity to tell Lu Mingfei about it later.
As the "mini-father" who once held all of her father's power, the fact that her descendants are so numerous in Japan suggests that there must be some schemes they are unaware of.
Looking at Erii's innocent and curious face, and thinking about the huge secrets that might be hidden in her and in Japan, Natsumi suddenly felt a complicated emotion.
She now regrets going to Japan with Lu Mingfei and getting involved in all this trouble.
I'll stay home obediently, live a seemingly ordinary office worker's life, and occasionally catch a few mixed-race people to vent my anger.
Or perhaps it would be wonderful to live in seclusion in this safe Qin Dynasty world.
The music of the zither is melodious, and the aroma of tea wafts through the air.
Distant mountains are shrouded in mist, while nearby pines form a canopy.