Chapter 854
Chapter 854 - 840 Surprise
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11 min read
Not to mention Big Cat and Kitten, even Lu Ping’an was a bit stunned when he saw this "Light of the Rules".
According to Big Cat, this is a natural phenomenon when one makes a Rule-level breakthrough.
It was the trace of the Rules newly acquired by Kun Ba being embedded into the Big World, and at the same time, in many areas, it was the world actively heralding the privileges and formidable presence of those who possess the Rules.
"The rainbow light is colorful, looks like a compound Rule with multiple origins, quite interesting. What surprises me the most is that you, as a Sword Saint, don’t have a sharp edge, it appears you’ve already skipped the mere use of Sword Qi. Impressive, your potential isn’t exhausted, you can go even further."
Big Cat nodded affirmatively, with a bit more expectation.
Generally speaking, the color of the "Light of the Rules embedded in the world" also has some relationship with its Rule characteristics, abilities, and origins.
A single color doesn’t mean it’s bad, it often denotes purity and dominance, while multiple colors mean that it’s basically a compound Rule from multiple origins, and to reach this degree of complexity, it shows that his "Rules" are quite rare, and equally difficult to break through.
"Congratulations on your successful Advancement, the colorful rainbow light, looks like a compound Rule with multiple origins, quite interesting. What surprises me the most is that you, as a Sword Saint, don’t have a sharp edge, it appears you’ve already skipped the mere use of Sword Qi. Impressive, your potential isn’t exhausted, you can go even further."
This wasn’t a glitch, nor was Big Cat repeating himself out of boredom... it was instead Lu Ping’an smiling as he appropriated Big Cat’s assessment for himself when addressing Kun Ba, who had just advanced.
These words, clearly from a position of evaluation from above, made Kun Ba falter... Were the young man’s words accurate, did he really have such a grasp over Rule-level concepts?
Then, seeing the "Disaster Beast" obediently standing behind Lu Ping’an, he felt even more that this young man was unfathomable.
Facing Lu Ping’an’s congratulations, Kun Ba smiled and nodded in response.
"My learning has been diverse, my goals lofty, and my road had been long. I’ve always been trying to directly enter the realm of the sword, and this time, I finally succeeded. It was fortuitous, truly fortuitous."
What he didn’t know was that if the "Big Boss" behind him weren’t concerned about maintaining her image in front of outsiders, she would have rolled her eyes and rebuked Lu Ping’an for his shamelessness.
Do you even know what Rule-level is? To copy my exact words? Can’t you be a little bit more dignified?
However, she also knew that Lu Ping’an now needed some "reputation", especially in the midst of dealing or even conspiring with these High-order Professionals. For trade to take place, equal status was a prerequisite; otherwise, it could easily become a lopsided plunder... Lu Ping’an might not have enough trump cards at the moment, but camouflage could spare much unnecessary dispute and trouble.
Kun Ba had succeeded in his breakthrough, but another looked pale... just minutes before he had been beaming with joy, the resources he obtained by selling "knowledge" made him sense an astonishing progress, thinking it was only natural to save several years of hard toil once he fully digested them.
But it’s not a matter of recognizing quality, it’s despair when compared, as Kun Ba, also experiencing the Taboo Library for the first time, succeeded in crossing this threshold, even though he felt an improvement, he also felt a long way off from a breakthrough.
He had to admit, though, that if he could use this facility long-term, if the Library had more of the knowledge he needed... in this moment, the Strongman who had been hiding his identity, looked at Lu Ping’an with newfound respect and friendliness in his eyes.
"To have achieved success in my breakthrough, I owe you a great debt of gratitude, a significant cause and effect; if you ever need anything in the future, just say it."
It wasn’t surprising that Kun Ba would say such things, as he had always been quite the gentleman, the type who does not take advantage of easy gains, trouble, or causality.
But the subject of his statement was somewhat surprising.
"Me? I didn’t do anything at all."
Xia Qin was taken aback; she couldn’t accept her mentor’s heartfelt gratitude.
"No, Xia Qin, it’s what you deserve. Without you, your teacher would not have made the breakthrough so easily."
Lu Ping’an smiled mysteriously, as if he had seen through everything... and Kun Ba nodded again, his sense of the young man’s depth growing.
This time, it was not mere speculation by Lu Ping’an, as the top spender (in terms of money splurged) in the Taboo Library, he had a deep understanding of its rules and know-how.
The path of others is always that of others. It’s good to use it as a reference, material, accumulation, nutrition, but to build one’s core, one must fully assimilate it first.
Eventually, to be Rule-level is to tighten all that is one’s own and grasp the exclusive "world privileges".
The things of others will always remain theirs, but there is one situation where one can most effectively "learn by analogy".
"Perhaps by revisiting your ’path’, Master Kun could retrace the road he pioneered from another’s point of view. Although it’s not the same as living again, it must have had a similar effect to loading a save file and cultivating anew. To review the old to find the new, especially since this involved borrowing someone else’s eyes and feet to rewalk one’s past path, the gains must have been significant."
Kun Ba stroked his beard and nodded agreeably.
Meanwhile, another strongman suddenly realized, but his heart was full of regret. He had no disciples... To be more precise, most professionals found it quite difficult just to stay alive, lacking both the interest and resources to mentor a disciple.
Kun Ba himself had never anticipated that his "key to reaching the summit" would actually be found in his own disciple... After Xia Qin, with her abilities, perspectives, and after re-traversing the path of the Sword Saint to her limit, he recognized what he lacked, what overflowed, what he feared, and what was most fundamental.
This wasn’t exactly Lu Ping’an being reckless; when he was learning from Kun Ba, he had learned (through Big Cat) that Kun Ba in fact possessed rule-level combat power a long time ago, his accumulation was sufficient, and he even had some excess "perceptive obstacles"... He had learned and understood too much; when it really came time to act, the plethora of choices led to hesitation and dilatoriness, resulting in the worst possible decision.
Sometimes, those silly, dimwitted moments, blindly charging forward, can inexplicably pave a new path.
"I’m not talking about you, Chris, really, I’m not..." Suddenly realizing that he might seem impolite, as if he was implying something, Lu Ping’an hastily added a sentence in his mental speech.
Mental Perception communication is convenient and quick, but it also has the bad habit of inadvertently revealing one’s inner thoughts.
"... At least, Chris, I wasn’t referring to you before." Alright, now that he thought about it, a Contractor’s oath can’t lie, so that meant he hadn’t been referring to her.
"Don’t worry, I didn’t take it to heart. If I really took every single thing you said seriously, I’d probably be raging every day..." Chris was very calm... God knows what a fiery tempered Evil God, a Quasi-God, had undergone to become the complaisantly "good-tempered" being she is now.
"I was just curious, how confident were you really when you said earlier that he could break through... If he fails, it’s probably pointless to say anything afterward," Big Cat casually asked, she had always been surprised at where Lu Ping’an’s confidence came from, as failure would instantly be embarrassingly unbearable.
"No confidence, how would I know what exactly a rule-level needs? I just felt that he was not far off from a real rule-level, and with my final push, it should be enough. If he really fails..."
𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Speaking of this, Lu Ping’an laughed.
"... I’m not one of the Changping people; they have a mission that must be accomplished, but I don’t. Just like those rule-level strongmen who refused to come down, I only want to play a winning hand. If it really turns into a strong headwind, I’ll just make a run for it."
After isolating the influence of the Beheading Sword, Lu Ping’an was quite rational.
This place wasn’t the Ancient City, nor even human territory. Even if this hunt failed, it just meant that Changping would need to deploy more troops to guard the Abyss... This would be bad news for the Changping people, but not necessarily for the Ancient City, which was competing with them.
Lu Ping’an hadn’t sunk so low as to hope for such an event to happen, but to play a losing game recklessly was even more unrealistic for him.
"Ha, why worry about something that hasn’t happened? Now it’s as if we’ve fortunately succeeded, and we really do have an extra rule-level..."
Thinking and chatting, facing two bosses, Lu Ping’an took out some contracts.
Some were related to cooperation, others to secrecy. Now that the Taboo Library had proven it could aid even in rule-level breakthroughs, Lu Ping’an naturally had to be more cautious.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make money from rule-levels... but at this level, his "value" had once again surpassed his "strength," and if he wasn’t careful, it could become the sin of holding the jade.
Even if he died, the Courtyard, in theory, should also be destroyed, but there are always those who are unreasonable, especially among the rule-level Big Bosses, where the majority are unreasonable.
This time, Lu Ping’an didn’t pull out a Conscience Contract, because he knew it would not fool these old stagers.
A relatively equal contract of shared responsibilities, shared benefits, and mutual secrecy was enough to satisfy Lu Ping’an.
Just then, a piece of paper was sent over; it was from the "Free Scout" Lu Ping’an had left outside.
Lu Ping’an glanced at it and then waved his hand to burn it... This familiar handwriting was not suitable for Kitten and Xia Qin, who were full of anticipation, to see.
"Some good news, the Big Toad isn’t dead, she is still fighting with the resurrected Snake."
Upon hearing this, Xia Qin sighed helplessly, wondering why these old tricks were still being played at such a time.
"And the bad news?" But she also knew that if she didn’t indulge Lu Ping’an’s fun, and no one praised him, he might seem indifferent, but would actually get sulky, the most obvious sign being his passive-aggressive behavior.
"Ah, sometimes he’s so mature, yet at other times, he’s like a child who never grows up." Despite her helpless sigh, the corners of Xia Qin’s mouth still held a smile.
After all, it seemed that as long as Lu Ping’an was around, there was no truly hopeless battlefield or environment.
"Bad news?" Lu Ping’an blinked happily, seeming satisfied with Xia Qin’s flattery and the attention of the bosses.
"The bad news is that the Big Toad is about to die, unless something unexpected happens. Also, the Snake King has become two; after playing with living as long as heaven and earth, it’s a Clone technique, double the fun with two Abyss Lords, isn’t that a surprise, unexpected? Haha... Uh, why are you all looking so gloomy? That just takes the fun out of it."
— End of Chapter 854 —