Chapter 89: Turning a Genius Into a Good-For-NothingTranslator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Fang Ning cowered in the safety of the System s.p.a.ce, his face a look of horror as he watched a green ray of light flash before his eyes, which was followed by the flash of a red ray of light. The two rays of light converged together into a swirl before it struck the ground beneath them!
A moment later, Fang Ning heard low groans coming from where the ground was struck; he saw the big pool of blood on the ground before the two Greater Rats appeared out of thin air. They proceeded to explode into bits and pieces, a guaranteed death for both.
At the same time, the yellow dog and black dog that had been lying on the ground opened their eyes suddenly, before white gas emitted from their bodies. The ropes bound around them snapped rapidly and for a moment, n.o.body moved.
Without including the time to witness the aftermath, the entire battle lasted around three to five seconds before it ended.
In such a short time, Fang Ning was dumbfounded as he watched the entire thing play out before his eyes. He thought to himself, ‘Sir System’s genius battle tactics can no longer be understood by an idiot like me!’
The difference in battle power between the both of them was akin to that of a professor and a grade school student. The only way Fang Ning could understand what had just happened was to turn around and read the System Notifications.
[The System was a.s.saulted by the Greater Rat Demon Bai s.h.i.+xin.
Bai s.h.i.+xin used the Sound of Confusion in an attempt to inhibit the System.
The System is immune to inhibition.
Bai s.h.i.+xin consumed lifeforce to use the Ultimate a.s.sa.s.sination Technique “Ten Step Kill”. Effect “Sure-strike” triggered! Effect “Crit” triggered! Effect “Single Strike Escape” triggered!
The System activated Special Skill “Low Level Absolute Defense”.
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s attack failed.
The System consumed one Aggro Bar and one Morality Bar, Esoteric Skill “Flame Dragon’s Roar to the Heavens” activated.
The System consumed one Aggro Bar and one Morality Bar, Esoteric Skill “Wind Dragon’s a.s.sault” activated.
Morality boost effect activated, temporarily evolved into Combined Esoteric Skill, “Wind and Flame Dragons Double a.s.sault”!
The System attacked Bai s.h.i.+xin.
Bai s.h.i.+xin suffered an attack of the Yang Attribute and was inhibited by the Dragon Force. Suffered critical damage from Morality and Combined Esoteric Skill attack!
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s escape failed.
Bai s.h.i.+xin suffered damage of seventeen thousand points.
Bai s.h.i.+xin activated Pa.s.sive Ultimate a.s.sa.s.sination Technique, “Damage Transfer.” Transfer target, Earthly Hound “Big Yellow”, “Black Second-in-Command”.
Morality Shelter for Allies activated, “Damage Transfer” ability failed, one Morality Bar consumed.
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s subst.i.tute puppet activated, damage delegated.
Two of Bai s.h.i.+xin’s subst.i.tute puppets have died, Bai s.h.i.+xin suffered a final damage of 4000 points.
Bai s.h.i.+xin suffered a Dragon Force a.s.sault and a Morality a.s.sault, internal injuries worsening…
Bai s.h.i.+xin consumed lifeforce to use the Ultimate a.s.sa.s.sination Technique, “Escape of a Thousand Miles.
Bai s.h.i.+xin has fled.
The System obtained twenty thousand experience points.]
The System s.p.a.ce.
Fang Ning’s face betrayed his flurry of emotions, “Sir System, your battle power is still as powerful as always, but how did the enemy successfully flee this time around? All you got was a bit of experience points, nothing else.”
The System answered, “No worries, the Greater Rat Demons have weak defense so they have a lot of abilities that involve finding a scapegoat, so I wasn’t able to kill it in a single blow. However, I did land a few blows on the true body; it not only suffered a Double Dragon attack which caused its Eight Meridians to rupture, it’s also suffering from continuous damage from the Dragon Force and Morality. I’ll give it two days max. I believe we’ll be receiving Notifications on its death after, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to get any loot.”
Hearing this, Fang Ning could not help but feel relieved. Other than the fact that they didn’t make its head roll, that ambus.h.i.+ng fellow was as good as dead.
However, Fang Ning couldn’t help but retort just in case the System let things get to its head, “There’s no guarantee that its going to die. We live in such a huge world, who knows for sure that it doesn’t have a way of saving itself?”
“Even if it managed to survive, it would still become a failed cultivator. It might be able to relinquish the Morality from its body, but my Flame Attribute Dragon Series Martial Arts have been cultivated to its skill cap, and it was mixed with Wind Attribute too. These two Dragon Forces will continuously attack its vital channels, so it won’t be able to recover.
“Unless it went to look for that Bodhisattva Spirit King, n.o.body else would be able to help it recover at this stage. The Bodhisattva Spirit King is our acquaintance so I’m sure he can recognize our aura; without our permission, I’m sure he won’t help it.”
“All right, such a powerful genius has been reduced to a mere good-for-nothing by you, Sir System. But I think you still need to continue practicing, since that fellow managed to escape, we must strengthen our methods of restraint against these weird abilities.”
“There’s a way we can do that. Since we have those two demon dogs, I’m sure they can be used to chase after escaping enemies. I don’t think it’ll work this time since they’re already so weak; they’ll need to rest and recuperate for quite a while before they can be of any use to us.”
While the System continued speaking to its host, it moved Fang Ning’s body to face the pair of demon dogs.
The demon dogs who could move but didn’t dare to at first, immediately started moving upon seeing Fang Ning’s arrival.
The black dog barked twice before it stood up. It shook its body and head to stretch itself out in an attempt to show off its physique to its new owner, and even wanted to step forward to say a few courteous words.
The yellow dog by the side remained quiet. It made no move to stand up and instead flipped its body over so that its stomach was facing the sky. Its pale stomach was exposed and it looked at Vigilante A with a smile on its face.
The black dog was stunned, “Yellow Boss, you’re lacking dignity by doing that…”
“What’s dignity? Is it edible? Why aren’t you copying me?”
The black dog then obediently laid down on its back to expose its pale stomach as well.
A System Notification read, [The System has saved Earthly Hounds “Big Yellow” and “Black Second-in-Command”, they have decided to pledge allegiance to the System. They fulfill the System’s minimum requirements by a landslide, the System has decided to accept them as Followers. The System currently has three Followers, the limit of Followers is three.]
With that, Vigilante A started his journey back home with a yellow dog on his left side and a black dog on his right side.
Vigilante A may not have managed to farm any great monsters, but he at least managed to earn some experience points and also nab himself a pair of extremely high quality demon dog Followers. Although the pair seemed to be quite far from fully regaining their full power, but the System was quite satisfied with the reward this time round as it did not mention cutting Fang Ning’s Internet connection at all.
…
In a deep underground cave somewhere, it was dark and damp as the sound of water drops echoed throughout the darkness.
Bai s.h.i.+xin leaned against a mud wall, seemingly on the brink of death.
He had used an a.s.sa.s.sin’s technique of escaping to flee all the way here. When he finally felt that Vigilante A would not be catching up to him any time soon, he decided to deal with his injuries.
He murmured to himself, “Master Bai, please appear to heal my wounds. The true members of the Bai family should have a way of relinquis.h.i.+ng the body of Morality. That son of yours was originally going to marry somebody from the Qiao family, so I’m sure you’re quite familiar with Morality.”
A moment later, another voice echoed through the empty underground cave. The voice bared a similarity to s.h.i.+xin’s own, but it was a tad bit gloomier.
“Master Bai” spoke with an upbeat and mocking tone, “Haha, who would’ve thought that a self-proclaimed genius of the Greater Rat Clan would suffer such terrible injuries? If I don’t help you, you won’t survive more than two days.
“That Vigilante A really lives up to his reputation; he really has helped me exact my revenge! One move was enough to bring a demon like you to the brink of death. It was just as I expected, that d*mned old b*stard didn’t dare to attack him because he was worried that he would suffer a terrible defeat.
“I’m quite curious, though. With your intelligence, you could have just killed that pair of demon dogs and be done with that old b*stard’s task. Why make things so troublesome?”
“Haha, how can someone like you see through my plan? Killing that pair of weak demon dogs would be as easy as ABC, but what good would that bring me? Are you saying the Earthly Hound Clan won’t make their descent again? Are you saying that they won’t learn to descend into humans like us? If that happened, finding them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“My method isn’t wrong, but my Damage Transfer failed. If it had succeeded, not only would I be as good as new, Vigilante A would have personally killed that pair of n.o.ble dog demons which would make him the sworn enemy of the Earthly Hound Clan, thus giving the Greater Rat Clan one more ally to go against him.
“In the end, my loss can only be blamed on the loss of the Truth Department’s information network, which caused me to lack information. I had no idea Vigilante A possessed a Morality Cultivation Base that could even protect others. He saved that pair of demon dogs and ruined my detailed plan.”
“Master Bai” then said, “Hmph, you cunning demon. You even wanted to convert a powerhouse enemy into your clan’s ally. Sadly, you suffered a complete defeat and even brought yourself onto death’s door!”
“So what? I included this in my calculations, which was why I prepared that pair of subst.i.tute puppets. They allowed me to escape in the end.”
“What a waste, truly. Your subst.i.tute puppets couldn’t completely absorb all the damage, and you almost got beaten to death. Then did you calculate whether or not I would help you? I’ll have you know that if I don’t help you relinquish your body of Morality, your death is guaranteed! Morality acts very fast and it is the bane of the demons’ existence. You won’t be able to find anyone else that can help you within two days.
Bai s.h.i.+xin laughed, “You’ll help me for sure because you still owe me a huge debt. If I hadn’t purposely told Young Master Cang the true reason behind his mother’s death, that useless son of yours would only be able to cry to save the situation; in the end, Young Master Cang would probably do what I did, burying his consciousness in the deep recesses of his mind. He would never be able to betray the Elder Ancestor, and there’s no need to even mention letting your son use the spirit-protecting treasure. Your wife is long dead and Bai Ruocang is your only son, so the debt of grat.i.tude you owe me is quite big.”
“Master Bai” was quiet for a while before he spoke, tone reluctant, “All right, I’ll help you on the account of the debt I owe you, and the fact that you’ve never eaten any humans.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin immediately relaxed, “Eating humans is a surefire way of gaining power quickly, but it’s but another scheme set against us by the Elder Ancestor. With my innate ability of cultivation, my cultivation speed is far better than most of my peers so I won’t do something so unnecessary.
“The main characters of this world are still you humans, so eating humans in aid of cultivation will stain us with extreme resentment. In the end, that would only stop us from achieving the peak of cultivation. Now that we’re talking about this, I also have to thank Vigilante A for forcing Mr and Mrs s.h.i.+ping to their early deaths. That couple were the only people that could expose me for not having eaten humans before.”
The pair no longer spoke after that. After a long while, Bai s.h.i.+xin felt something gradually recede from within his body and he relaxed significantly.
However, another aura was still causing him great pain. Sometimes it felt like a knife cutting through his flesh, while other times it felt like he was being burned alive. It was terribly painful but because of his st.u.r.diness, he did not utter a sound.
“Master Bai” spoke up then, “I’ve relinquished your body of Morality, but your Eight Extraordinary Meridians have all snapped, and there’s also two dragon auras of different attributes repeatedly attacking your vital channels. It’ll be a living h.e.l.l for you as you’ll suffer from pain beyond your imaginations! There’s nothing I can do about that.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin answered, “There’s no need for you to worry, I know just who to go to for help but I won’t do that. Locating that useless fellow will take a lot of effort, and I’m sure he’ll only help me on the condition that I allow myself to be enlightened. Being crippled like this isn’t all that bad and I’m not afraid of a little pain; this is also a good time for me to cultivate G.o.d’s Law. Besides, being a disabled person brings its own set of advantages. At least I won’t have to personally endanger myself in the future anymore, and I also don’t have to worry about being found out by Elder Ancestor…”
“Haha, you better think it through. You were once a genius, but are now a good-for-nothing. In our human novels, people like these live terribly miserable lives…”
“…”