Dusk cast long shadows across a party traveling through the wilderness.
“Dammit, roadblocks everywhere all the way here.” A tall, thin Fractsidus member wiped down his spear, his voice dripping with impatience.
“Hey, Jiyan, did you take us the wrong way?
Not a single soul in sight, but plenty of roadblocks.” “No.” Jiyan uttered the two words stiffly, then continued marching straight ahead without another word.
His icy demeanor deeply annoyed the tall man, who opened his mouth to curse before forcing himself to hold back.
Why bother getting worked up over a puppet?
It wasn’t worth it.
The tall man looked around at their surroundings to pass the boredom of the journey.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on something, and he blurted out, pointing straight ahead.
“Look over there!
Someone!
Finally, a person!” The others followed his finger and indeed saw a man dressed in white casual clothes.
The man leapt down from a treetop, landing steadily.
He reached out with an open hand, and a blade materialized into his palm out of thin air.
He let out a light laugh.
“I’ve been waiting for you all for a long time!” “It’s a Resonator!
Open fire!” With a roar of artillery, countless explosive shells poured out without restraint.
Yet as the shells reached within a meter of You Luoming, they all halted in a bizarre fashion, hovering suspended in midair.
[Time Stop!] Drawing the Commando of Conviction, You Luoming casually swatted away the shells before him and stepped forward.
The frozen shells instantly regained their kinetic energy, detonating behind him in blinding flashes of fire.
The howling wind rustled You Luoming’s clothes, a faint smile gracing his face.
Time Stop really was convenient.
Suddenly, the smile on You Luoming’s face froze.
His eyes cut through the crowd of Fractsidus members and locked onto Jiyan in an instant.
Right now, Jiyan looked in an utterly wretched state.
The armor on his left shoulder had been violently sheared open by a blunt force, revealing a wound beneath a crust of clotted blood that cut deep to the bone.
His clothes hung in tattered rags, exposing severe fire burns across his entire body.
The moment You Luoming laid eyes on Jiyan, a shock ran through him—*How is he even alive with injuries like that?* He met Jiyan’s dark purple eyes.
They were hollow, unfocused, and completely devoid of emotion.
“Jiyan, get up there!
Kill that Resonator!” Seeing that artillery shells couldn’t hurt You Luoming, the tall member hurriedly shoved the rest of the crew in front of himself and ordered Jiyan to strike.
At his command, Jiyan brandished his spear and sprinted toward You Luoming with swift footsteps.
The violence of the movement tore open the scabbed wounds on Jiyan’s body, causing crimson blood to seep out once more.
As the spear thrust forward, You Luoming swung his blade to parry, only to feel an impact through his arms that was weaker than a single punch from the Crownless back in the Gorges of Spirits.
[Event Convene “When the Night Unspools” and “Absolute Pulsation” are now unlocked.] A prompt lit up in the corner of his vision, but You Luoming didn’t care about the tiny text right now.
He felt a surge of rage erupt from the depths of his heart.
That was Jiyan!
The character who had fought alongside him in the Tower of Adversity ever since the game launched—and he had been battered into this state!
Who did this?
Scar?
Against Jiyan at peak strength, You Luoming would have had a ninety percent chance of winning, to say nothing of a severely wounded Jiyan.
“Jiyan, you’re going to fight even when you’re hurt like this?” Jiyan said nothing, simply thrusting his spear relentlessly.
The faint phantom of an azure dragon hovered around the shaft, each swing accompanied by a resounding dragon’s roar, full of momentum.
Afraid of accidentally hurting Jiyan, You Luoming didn’t dare strike back with full force.
He could only give ground repeatedly, blocking with his blade only when dodging became impossible.
“Pfft!” Overexertion aggravated his internal injuries, causing Jiyan to cough up a large mouthful of blood, though his movements didn’t slow in the slightest.
“Jiyan, I’m here to help Jinzhou!
I’m an ally!” No matter how You Luoming shouted, Jiyan’s expression and movements didn’t alter at all.
Every strike was fierce and lethal, the tip of his spear aiming straight for You Luoming’s vital spots.
“Hahaha, it’s useless!
Jiyan belongs to us now!” Not far away, the tall member laughed wildly, raising his cannon to aim at You Luoming.
“Today, either you die or he perishes!
What do you say?
Do you dare lay a lethal hand on Jiyan?” You Luoming swept his blade to parry the sweeping spear, tapping his feet to dodge a cannonball flying toward him.
Looking at Jiyan, whose wounds kept breaking open until he was practically drenched in blood, You Luoming activated his [Sensor].
Sure enough, just like when he had scanned Mortefi, a high-frequency Whispering Core had been planted inside Jiyan—and Jiyan’s core was far denser than Mortefi’s.
In the distance, the Fractsidus Craftsmen pulled back to open up space.
The tall member fired several rounds in succession, but You Luoming nimbly dodged every single one, driving the man into a fit of humiliated rage.
“Useless Jiyan!
Supposed to be a general, yet you can’t even take down one guy after all this time!” Observing You Luoming, who only defended without attacking under Jiyan’s spear, a malicious scheme suddenly took root in the tall man’s mind.
“You’re real good at dodging, huh?
Let’s see you dodge this!” The tall member swiveled his cannon, aiming directly at Jiyan, and pulled the trigger.
A shell of immense power blasted forth.
You Luoming instinctively moved to dodge, only to realize the trajectory would hit Jiyan directly, forcing him to twist his body around mid-motion.
With one hand holding his blade to block Jiyan’s spear, he caught the incoming cannonball firmly with his other hand, triggered Time Stop, and flung the about-to-explode projectile away.
*Boom!* The shell detonated nearby, the deafening sound causing his ears to ring violently.
“Ha!
It really works!” Seeing this, the tall member looked as if he had been shot full of adrenaline, realizing he had found You Luoming’s weakness.
He motioned for everyone to reload quickly while shouting at Jiyan, “Jiyan, stand right there and don’t move!
Everyone, fire at Jiyan!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Jiyan stood rooted to the spot, motionless.
Endless artillery fire poured wildly toward him.
“Cowards!” You Luoming stood in front of Jiyan, intercepting the shells with Time Stop.
The fury in his eyes practically burned into tangible flames as he glared viciously at the Fractsidus members firing from a distance.
“I was so focused on handling Jiyan that I forgot to clear out you small fry first, didn’t I?” Relying on Time Stop, You Luoming swung the Commando of Conviction to deflect all the incoming shells while rapidly closing the distance to the Fractsidus members.
How could the tall member just stand by and watch You Luoming approach?
He decisively barked orders: “Scatter!
Don’t fire in a straight line, or that weird ability of his will freeze all our attacks!” At his command, the Fractsidus members quickly spread out in a fan shape, opening fire on Jiyan from multiple angles.
If You Luoming approached any single Fractsidus member, the area of his Time Stop wouldn’t be able to protect Jiyan.
His mastery over Time Stop wasn’t high enough yet, restricting his field to a three-meter radius around himself.
In Jiyan’s current low-health state, taking even a single shell would mean certain death.
Faced with the Fractsidus artillery barrage, You Luoming had no choice but to retreat.
He panted heavily as the strain of using Time Stop for an extended period weighed heavier and heavier on him.
Yet the more perilous the situation grew, the calmer his mind became.
His brain worked at high speed, analyzing how to break the deadlock.
He possessed the combat capabilities of the Rover, leaving him with virtually no melee weaknesses.
However, when kitted out and pulled around by ranged enemies like this, breaking through proved difficult.
If it were the Rover facing this situation, they would probably have no choice but to fall back with Jiyan to a safe location first.
But You Luoming was different.
You Luoming had cheats!
Opening his panel, he navigated to [Convene].
Currently, [Convene] featured four pools: Jiyan’s Character Convene, Jiyan’s Weapon Convene, Standard Character Convene, and Standard Weapon Convene.
Glancing at the upper right corner of the panel—20 Radiant Tides and 1,800 Astrites—and then looking back at the blood-soaked Jiyan standing dazed in place, You Luoming prayed in his heart: *Jiyan, oh Jiyan, I won’t ask for a gold from your banner, just bless me with a four-star ranged character!
Chixia, Aalto, Mortefi—anyone will do!*