69: Chapter 69 I'd rather die than buy...?

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng grabbed his longsword and turned to leave, walking toward the alley entrance as if fleeing. His pace was definitely more than twice as fast as when he had arrived. His left hand, missing three fingers, clenched and unclenched, and finally, he disappeared at the end of the alley without looking back.

Su Bai watched his retreating figure and sighed, "He left so quickly." Kyubey jumped from the steps back onto Su Bai's shoulder, its red glass eyes following the gray shadow for quite a while.

[Su Bai, just now, when he was blocking the RPG, his sword intent instinctively jumped from the second stage to the third stage.]

"I saw it."

[That is to say, with a mana pool of only level 19, you forced back the full-power outburst of a ninth-stage Sword Saint who had suppressed himself to the second stage—and you even forced him to use third-stage reactions just to barely survive!]

"...Are you helping me with a post-battle summary?"

[I am helping you organize material for bragging; Lin Xiao will likely be in desperate need of it.]

Su Bai was silent for a fraction of a second, then bent down to pick up the fried rice, which had already gone completely cold.

"It's alright. A Sword Saint is indeed better at fighting than someone in logistics. Director He Jin collapsed directly during the first round of the barrage, but he was actually able to block it all."

As he walked, he unwrapped his disposable chopsticks and added nonchalantly, "I really am a genius! And I didn't make a fool of myself this time; I attacked in my original form, haha."

That night.

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng returned to the temporary hotel where he was staying. The moment the door closed, he felt as if his entire body had collapsed, leaning against the door panel and slowly sliding down to sit on the floor.

The longsword slipped weakly from his hand, hitting the floor with a "clang." He looked down at his hands; both were shaking uncontrollably! His left hand was shaking because of the shockwave from the last round of grenades at close range, but his right hand was absolutely not. His right hand was shaking because he had used a sword his entire life, cleaved seas, and slaughtered dragons, and this was the first time in a sparring match that he had been forced to forcibly break his suppressed realm!!!

He had agreed to suppress himself to the second stage, but his sword qi had instinctively jumped to the third stage. A ninth-stage Sword Saint who had once reached the pinnacle of his craft had suppressed his realm to fight a second-stage apprentice, and he had been forced to display power beyond his suppression... and he had still f*cking lost!!

"...How is that possible."

He spat out these four words in a hoarse voice to the empty room. It wasn't anger; it was thorough confusion—pure, undisguised confusion, as if he were having an absurd nightmare!!

How did those guns, RPGs, mortars, and grenades all appear at the same time?! What kind of unfathomable operation happened during Time Stop?! He had no idea. He only knew that the moment his vision returned, he was greeted by a lethal firepower net composed of twelve intersecting barrages!!

And the opponent hadn't even transformed yet!!!

If a Magical Girl has this kind of earth-shattering combat power in her normal state without transforming, then what about after transforming!!!

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng buried his face deep into his trembling hands and sighed, "...Have I really grown old?"

The radiator clicked and clattered, and the engine sound of a magic motorcycle outside the window came from afar, approached, and faded away. He sat for a long time, until his knees were completely numb, and then he suddenly raised his head, his gaze locked firmly onto the holographic terminal at the head of the bed.

He opened the webpage, searched for the Jinghai Cardmaker Association official store, and went to the Kyubey Card pre-order page.

A pink background, Kyubey smiling, and a screenshot of Su Bai transforming into a Magical Girl during the Monthly Exam—a black-gray dress, deep gray boots, a diamond-shaped time shield, and deep purple eyes calmly staring straight ahead.

Below it was a line of extremely eye-catching gold-stamped characters:

[Final Evaluation: SSS Grade, embodiment of the Law of Time, soul gem is indestructible, invincible among the same rank.]

Invincible among the same rank!

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng stared intently at these four words. He had just personally experienced with his own flesh and blood just how terrifying the value of these four words was. He tremblingly extended his left hand, his index finger hovering above that pink button.

"...I'm just looking. Looking doesn't cost money."

"I only have seventh-stage combat power now. The success rate of the Heroic Spirit Awakening Card is only 37%. If I lose the gamble, I'll become a vegetable. But this card... the price is merely turning into a little girl."

"It's just a sex change. That kid is still a man now... which means it's possible to change back. What's wrong with that? Right, I'm just looking..."

"No one will know! Anonymous order! Shipping via encrypted channel! Once it arrives, I'll hide it directly in the interlayer of my wheelchair!!"

By the end, he didn't even know who he was frantically explaining himself to—the radiator, probably the radiator. His fingertip was only one centimeter away from the button!!

Bang!!!

The door was violently kicked open from the outside!!

"Master!!!"

Chu Yin strode into the room, her military boots thumping loudly on the floor. The strand of dark red hair on her forehead was almost bristling with anger, but deep within those usually cold and ruthless eyes, there was a flash of some extremely suppressed, fanatical light at this moment, and her cheeks were even flushed with a suspicious redness!

"It makes me so mad!! That Su Bai!! The damn magical girl card he created is simply corrupting public morals!! A grown man turning into a little girl wearing a puffy skirt, and it's even that top-tier... cough, I mean, that extremely perverted and nasty style with dark-patterned lace edges, absolute territory, and deep gray boots!! How can anyone actually buy this trash!!!"

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's finger froze in mid-air instantly. How could he have known that his female physical cultivator apprentice, who appeared straighter than steel and talked about swordsman honor all day long, was actually a hardcore, deeply obsessed otaku in secret? The moment she saw that stunning card face in the camp earlier, Chu Yin had almost drooled.

To hide the crazy desire in her heart to immediately put on a puffy skirt and shout "transformation," she could only force herself to put on this appearance of deep detestation to save face!

The old Sword Saint, using the extreme muscle reaction speed of a ninth-stage Sword Saint, moved his finger five centimeters away from the button within a single frame to pretend he was scrolling the screen. He coughed and asked, "...What's wrong?"

"Master, you tell me!!!"

Chu Yin sat on the bed and slapped her thigh in anger, the veins on the back of her hand popping out, while in her heart, she was drooling crazily over that pair of perfect boots. "Where is the warrior's honor! Where is the swordsman's dignity! Even if I die, I must never wear that kind of thing! I told those people in the camp, and they actually all laughed at me for being an old fogey—that's complete bullsh*t!!!"

She slapped the edge of the bed again, and enduring the heartache of her heart bleeding, she let out a roar that was completely against her true feelings: "Only an idiot with water in their brain would buy that kind of card!!!"

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng's index finger twitched violently and imperceptibly at the edge of the holographic screen.

"You're right."

His voice was as heavy as a mountain and as steady as an old dog: "Your master also thinks that kind of thing—"

With a "snap," he turned off the screen, the aftershock of his palm wind echoing domineeringly in the room for at least three seconds: "It's simply unwatchable."

Chu Yin's eyes suddenly burst with fanatical light, and she said passionately, "Master is truly a kindred spirit!!!"

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng gave an expressionless "hmm." When Chu Yin questioned what he was looking at just now, he lied without changing his expression or blinking: "Wheelchair accessories, a mana-driven shock-absorbing pad. My back hasn't been good lately."

After finally managing to send away this deadly tsundere apprentice, and after the sound of the door closing settled, Sword Saint Lu Changsheng stared fixedly at that door for a long, long time. His left hand still felt the aftershock of the grenade blast, and his right hand was the humiliating evidence of having almost clicked "Pre-order Now." The tip of his index finger even still held the static touch of the holographic screen.

Two images in his mind began to overlap crazily and repeatedly.

In the alley under the moonlight, a second-stage apprentice stood in place without even moving. Time Stop, twelve guns, an RPG, mortars, grenades—he himself had been blasted into a sorry state and instinctively jumped from the second stage to the third stage!

Three years ago at the Canglan Strait, he held his sword with one hand, his Sea-Severing Sword Intent splitting ten thousand acres of blue waves with a single strike—how high-spirited he had been!

The two images overlapped fiercely, and the insurmountable chasm between them was called "Time."

"...F*ck."

He let out the second swear word of the night to the empty room. After repeatedly opening the page and then forcibly closing it three times, he finally opened QQ as if resigned to his fate and clicked on the dialog box marked "Old Hag."

[Anonymous User]: [That apprentice of yours.]

[Li Qingyue]: [?]

[Anonymous User]: [Extremely perverted!]

[Li Qingyue]: [I know.]

[Anonymous User]: [Do you know what he did?!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Time Stop, and then?]

[Anonymous User]: [After Time Stop, he f*cking pulled out twelve guns!!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Oh.]

[Anonymous User]: [Then RPGs and mortars! And grenades! Two whole Time Stops! I suppressed myself to the second stage and was forced to break into the third stage by him!!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Hmm.]

[Anonymous User]: [He even said he didn't transform at all! After transforming, there's some damn anti-ship missile!!]

[Li Qingyue]: [That is the first I've heard of it.]

[Anonymous User]: [Li Qingyue.]

[Li Qingyue]: [Hmm.]

[Anonymous User]: [Did you f*cking know from the beginning that I would lose?!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Of course.]

[Anonymous User]: [Then why did you let me go and get bombed?!]

[Li Qingyue]: [You needed to see with your own eyes what it means that the times have changed.]

The other side fell into a deathly silence, for a long time.

[Anonymous User]: [That card... is there really no side effect?]

[Li Qingyue]: [Didn't you say you wouldn't buy it even if you died?]

[Anonymous User]: [I'm just asking!!!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Oh.]

[Anonymous User]: [Don't reply to me with one word! It's scary!]

[Li Qingyue]: [Consider it yourself, no rush.]

Sword Saint Lu Changsheng closed the dialog box and threw his phone hard onto the bed. He leaned back against the back of his wheelchair and looked up at the crack in the ceiling. The radiator was still clicking, as if mocking him.

At the same time, in a dormitory three kilometers away, Su Bai was heating up his fried rice for the third time, with Kyubey squatting on top of the microwave.

[That Sword Saint's causality fluctuation oscillated violently three times just now, which is exactly the same as Director He Jin's breakdown pattern last time.]

"Can't hold on anymore?"

[Almost, but after the last oscillation, the fluctuation was forcibly suppressed back down; it seems to have been interrupted by some external force.]

Su Bai opened QQ and sent a message to Li Qingyue.

[Su Bai]: [Master, what state is Senior Lu in now?]

[Li Qingyue]: [Staring blankly at his shopping cart, doubting life.]

[Su Bai]: [Will he buy it?]

[Li Qingyue]: [Hard to say, he has a female apprentice.]

[Su Bai]: [A female apprentice?]

[Li Qingyue]: [She went to see him tonight; she probably went to unplug his internet.]

Su Bai was silent for a beat, then leaned back slowly against the chair, letting out a long sigh that was somewhere between sympathy and extreme anticipation.

"Every stubborn old senior indeed has an even more stubborn female apprentice behind them."

The streetlights outside the window went out. Deep in the night, the holographic screen of a small hotel was repeatedly lighting up and turning off like a will-o'-the-wisp in the darkness, along with a pair of aged, stubborn hands that were always one centimeter away from the pink button.