However, seeing the look in Evans's eyes, the man in the black trench coat suddenly changed his tone.
"Don't be in such a hurry. The road home isn't easy to walk."
He smiled and lightly tapped the Qinggang longsword beneath his feet, which hummed as if it possessed a consciousness of its own.
Immediately after, the handsome face of the man turned solemn.
The meter-long Qinggang suddenly shuddered in the void, and the high-frequency roar of infrasound instantly surged.
The green halo burning on the blade expanded violently, causing the surrounding air to warp with visible distortion.
"What are you doing?"
Evans took a step back, his hair standing on end. Meanwhile, Ren Yi had finally managed to gift the Sword-man two seeds, intending to show him something "spectacular."
Why two seeds? To be safe, Ren Yi had given one to the Sword-man and one to the sword beneath his feet at the same time.
However, the two seeds followed one after another. After the first one merged into the blue-steel longsword, the second one failed and flew back.
Hmm?
A similar situation had actually happened with Evans before.
Back then, after Ren Yi planted a seed in Evans, his attempt to plant one in S-099 failed.
This meant that the two parties were actually a single entity.
Wait, how do you even cast an illusion on a sword?
Regardless, the seed Ren Yi planted didn't seem to have any effect.
The Sword-man kept his left hand behind his back while pressing his right index and middle fingers together, making a light, sweeping motion toward the entrance of the passage they had just emerged from.
Hand up. Sword down.
A massive crescent of green light, looking like a falling moon, shot out at an extreme speed!
Boom—!
The seemingly solid rock wall exploded the moment it came into contact with the green sword qi.
Ren Yi extended his perception and saw that a sword mark now spanned the entire entrance of the original passage.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting a cold, green light.
And the aftershock of this strike did not stop. The green sword light, carrying a destructive gale like a rampaging azure dragon, tore back through the passage they had come from, grinding everything in its path!
Every inch of the passage shattered and collapsed. Whether it was the remaining Red Tide or the hard rock walls, everything was reduced to dust under this single strike.
In just a single breath, the passage behind them was completely physically erased, reduced to a field of ruins.
The man in the black trench coat withdrew his fingers with a flourish. Looking at the wary Evans, he returned to his annoying, grinning self.
"Done."
"Don't be so tense; I was just giving you a little scare."
"'Pops' gave instructions. As soon as you came through, I was to destroy this path completely."
"From now on, the 'People of the Abyss' no longer have any distinguished guests to receive."
He patted the flying sword. His expression was smiling, but a flash of cold killing intent crossed his eyes.
"If any more sightless things try to sneak in from this place later... no matter who it is, treat them as an enemy and kill them on sight."
In Evans's arms, a certain wooden crucifix trembled slightly.
Ren Yi, shrunk down in Evans's hand, felt a ripple in his heart.
It was "Pops" again.
Evans had told him before that "Pops" wasn't some warm, blood-related title.
He was the leader of the "People of the Abyss," and even the entire Deep Abyss.
But what startled Ren Yi was that, based on the Sword-man's words, this Pops seemed to have determined long ago that Evans would definitely return.
He had even calculated the timing for destroying the passage perfectly.
This sense of control, bordering on clairvoyance, made Ren Yi feel a deep wariness toward this "Pops" he had yet to meet.
"Fine, stop putting on a show and lead the way." Evans's expression soured after the Sword-man said he was just "scaring" him.
He coldly interrupted the man's self-indulgent display.
"Coming right up!"
The man in the black trench coat laughed loudly, leaped into the air, and landed with a stylish, steady foot on the blade of Qinggang.
His black trench coat whipped in the gale. Combined with the flickering green sword light, he truly possessed an indescribable, otherworldly aura.
High-spirited, he formed a sword seal with his fingers, maneuvering the flying sword to trace elegant, zig-zagging arcs in the void.
Then, with a shwoosh...
Leaving a long green trail behind, he shot out at a terrifying speed, instantly vanishing into the darkness at the end of the passage.
The passage fell into a deathly silence.
Ren Yi stared at the empty space ahead, his mind momentarily suffering from CPU overload.
...Wait, why did he just run off by himself?
Ren Yi hesitated. After a quick brainstorm that yielded no results, he eventually sent a query through their internal private channel via the mental link:
【Why did he leave first? Is he going to call for backup?】
Then he noticed Evans's face was turning a bit dark. After seeing Ren Yi's message, Evans's mouth twitched.
In the next second, Evans took a deep breath, centered his qi in his dantian, and shouted.
"Hey! Where the hell did you go?"
His voice echoed through the passage ahead several times.
After a series of hollow echoes—"where did you go—", "go—", "o—"...
Shwoosh! Another sharp sound of breaking air.
The blue-steel longsword, carrying a blinding green light and catching the wind, flew back with extreme style and flair.
The flying sword made a cool drift and hovered in front of the two of them.
The man in the black trench coat stood on the sword with one hand behind his back, his posture still arrogant.
For some reason, though, his eyes were darting toward the ceiling, as if he absolutely didn't dare to make eye contact with Evans.
"Ahem..." The Sword-man cleared his throat in a clumsy attempt to cover up.
"Sorry about that. I'm used to speeding on the sword and stepped on the gas a bit too hard... I forgot you for a second."
"I'll fly slowly. You just follow me on the ground."
Evans swept a dark look at him and said, "It's still so far. Since you can fly, why don't you take me with you?"
Hearing this, the Sword-man immediately steered the sword in an awkward circle in mid-air.
"Huh? How could I, a Sword Immortal, let you mere mortals stand upon my flying sword?"
Evans rolled his eyes.
"Is it because there's not enough room for two on that sword, and you're afraid that if you take me, you'll accidentally overload it and crash to your death in mid-air?"
Having his sore spot poked, the man in the black trench coat wobbled violently, nearly falling off the sword.
He turned around and glared at Evans, his face flushing red.
"Nonsense! How could I, this Immortal Sword—ptui! How could my, this Sword Immortal's flying sword, not have room for two?"
"I just can't bear to! I can't bear the thought, you understand?"
Evans let out a cold snort, not even bothering to acknowledge him.
Ren Yi, hiding in the shadows, silently watched the interaction between the two.
Confirmed.
Thanks to the file from earlier, he understood exactly what was going on.
The guy up there in the trench coat acting all cool was just a glass cannon who could drop dead at any moment.
Never mind accidentally falling off the sword—if he stayed in the cold wind for too long, he might literally perform a comedy sketch called "Sword Immortal Dies Tragically from a Common Cold."
Hmm... though it seemed this "Sword Immortal" had just accidentally slipped up and exposed himself.
Rate on N.U.
