Chapter 253: Lin Xin’s secret
Long Haochen put a Great Recovery Pill in his own mouth, and lowered his head after chewing it slightly, pulling the veil covering Cai’er’s face and letting the pill’s liquid flow into Cai’er’s mouth.
Cai’er’s lips truly felt soft, but at this moment, how could Long Haochen have the leisure to realize that?
Kissed by Long Haochen’s lips and feeling his familiar breath, Cai’er’s body trembled slightly.
Some reaction! Long Haochen loosened his breath, very carefully using his spiritual energy to let the liquid pill spread into Cai’er’s body.
Tightly hugging her, Long Haochen let out glistening teardrops from his eyes, and his body couldn’t resist from shivering.
“Cai’er, which ones of your senses have you lost this time?”
Perhaps was this because of the Great Spiritual Recovery Pill, but Cai’er seemed to feel Long Haochen’s kind intentions this time, and her finger slightly moved.
Quickly, a great change appeared on Long Haochen’s face.
“Sense of smell, sense of vision, sense of hearing, and, sense of taste?”
Out of the six senses 1, she actually lost four of them?
Cai’er formerly told Long Haochen a simple explanation on the functioning of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara. The more of its formidable offensive power she would want to bring out, the greater the price. The fact she lost four senses already meant that she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara close to its peak power.
If… If the enemy was just a little stronger, and if she had activated the last two paths of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara, then she could very possibly never have recovered from it.
One month would be needed to recover from the loss of one sense, unless she had a spiritual stove that would prevent her from losing one of her six senses at any time. Having launched her spiritual stove third activation, she needed two more months to recover her second sense, and these numbers overlayed.
For the loss of three senses, four more months would be needed. It meant that just to recover her hearing, her sight and her taste, she’d need seven months! And if she kept using the Spiritual Stove of Samsara during this period of time, she’d need eight 2 more months just to recover the last sense.
If she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara’s fifth activation, which is also the last one, then all of her six senses would forever be lost, leaving her as a zombie in one breath. Of course, if she came to use that move, the killing power coming out from it would be just like what the Scion of Samsara relied on to heavily wound the Demon God Emperor of that time.
And furthermore, over the next seven months, Cai’er senses wouldn’t be coming back one after another, but she would have to wait seven months first before recovering it all at once. The formidable destructive power came with the incomparably terrifying backlash of the Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
In the midst of his sharp pain, Cai’er seemed to be unaware of how she should try to console him, when suddenly, he lifted up his head to look afar.
On the opposite mountain, a hoard of Grand Fiends were coming out from the other side of the mountain, mounted on Nightmare Devil Horses and headed in their direction.
From the looks of it, they were a total of roughly thirty riders, though their strength was at the moment unknown.
Long Haochen gently put Cai’er on the side, before slowly standing up, looking at Li Xin and Han Daosi, “The two of you, guard the cave. Leave everything else to me.”
Seeing Long Haochen’s expression, Li Xin couldn’t help but feel blank. Within the two Demon Hunt Squads, she was the one that knew Long Haochen for the longest time, but aside from his kindhearted side, she had never seen any other expression of such intensity.
The current Long Haochen had very red eyes, and from his body came a biting cold killing intent, with unstable light essence being released from it. These sharp eyes seemed to be currently filled with blood-thirst and nothing else.
The serious wound Cai’er received from using the Spiritual Stove of Samsara caused Long Haochen to completely explode. He needed to vent his anger, to use the enemy’s blood to wash this wrath exploding from his heart.
Li Xin and Han Daosi didn’t say anything, immediately returning to the cave’s entrance to guard it, and Long Haochen took of the Holy Spirit Armor on his body.
At this very moment, Long Haochen had a sudden cool feeling coming out from the Pendant of Eternal Melody on his chest, as if calming down the pain and the wrath coming out of him. At this very moment, Long Haochen found out with astonishment that it was as if the surroundings were filled with some bizarre energy. This energy seemed to spread into the Eternal Melody, before disappearing noiselessly.
What is it? With his senses being sharper than ordinary people, Long Haochen followed the direction of this energy, finding out to his astonishment that this energy originated from the deceased Grand Fiends as well as their mounts.
Soul energy, this is soul energy!
Long Haochen’s brain came to this judgment almost immediately. The Pendant of Eternal Melody was replenishing the Tower of Eternal Rest using the soul of the deceased.
This knowledge seemed to flow out naturally from Long Haochen’s brain. When he would enter in the Tower of Eternity again, his future training would need a massive amount of soul energy to be carried out. Although the Tower of Eternal was already filled with massive energy, if he only kept consuming it, it would sooner or later be completely exhausted. And as the owner of the Pendant of Eternal Melody, which in itself is the entrance to the Tower of Eternity, he was the one to collect this soul energy. As such, every corpse that died recently, regardless of the race to which it belongs, would have its soul taken by the Pendant of Eternal Melody.
As the Scion of Light, Long Haochen felt unwell from having to bear this sort of feeling. But he had no other choice, because the Eternal Melody was already such a complete part of him that he was unable to get rid of. Furthermore, this was something he couldn’t rashly reveal to others. Only to his father or his teacher could he possibly reveal this secret.
After thinking of this solution, Long Haochen couldn’t help but furrow his brows. At that time, he wouldn’t give it any further thoughts, and rapidly removing the outer part of his armor, Long Haochen tore a part of his martial attire, hooking Cai’er’s back to his own, before putting on his Holy Spirit Armor that could change shape according to its owner. That was to say, Cai’er was now completely linked with his own body.
Long Haochen knew that the current Cai’er wasn’t capable of hearing, so he pulled Cai’er’s arms around his neck, before using a piece of cloth to secure her tightly. Afterwards, he wrote the following words on her palm, “Starting from now on, until you recover thoroughly, I will never let you leave my side and will carry you along with me in battle. I won’t abandon you neither will I separate from you.”
Cai’er’s forehead was leaned against Long Haochen’s neck, as two clear drops of tears slowly fell down.
Today was the first time she used the Spiritual Stove of Samsara to such an extent. After unleashing it for the third time, killing the Fiend Lord, it was as if she returned to the terrifying cavern where she was put during the most terrible period of her life.
Almost being broken by helplessness and loneliness, further adding the weak state of her body, Cai’er seemed to be sensing that death had come for her. The only thing that caused her to keep hope was her wish that Long Haochen would make it back alive.
He came back, he made it back in the end. In this desolate place, Cai’er felt helpless. There was no voice, no taste, no sight, no smell, and in the midst of the pain, he came back.
When this familiar smell appeared in Cai’er’s perception, she immediately trembled upon realization. The hope she had deep inside became an inferno, about to burst out from her.
When Long Haochen kissed her lips, giving her the Great Recovery Spiritual Pill, the feeling she received from the warmth this pill together with Long Haochen’s familiar breath brought her, pulled her back from her memories of those days she was forced into cultivating the Spiritual Stove of Samsara.
And at this very moment, right after she felt those words Long Haochen had written on her palm, those feelings finally disappeared from Cai’er’s heart, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of happiness.
I’m such a fool. As long as I have him, even if the whole world abandons me, I am still not alone anymore.
There is a single reason that could lead a woman to be willing to selflessly pay any price for a man, and that reason is love.
Feeling Cai’er pressed against his back, her legs surrounding his waist, Long Haochen felt his pain lighten from the soft feeling he had. However, when he lifted up his head, looking at the Fiend Cavalry quickly approaching, this feeling of need to vent his anger appeared once again in his heart.
It’s those bastards, it’s them. It’s those demons who caused my Cai’er to need seven more months before recovering her normal state.
In the midst of a buzzing sound, Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light appeared in Long Haochen’s hand, and with a flash of light, the Holy Spirit Sword appeared in his left hand. His body flashed, landing on Haoyue’s back, and the Light Elemental Fairy Yating stayed loyal to the end, still releasing a Spiritual Gathering Halo to help him recover his spiritual energy.
Able to recover twenty units of his spiritual energy per second, Long Haochen had already recovered close to half of his spiritual energy over this little period of time.
The enemies were drawing closer and closer, and inside of the cave, Li Xin opened her eyes wide, glowering at Lin Xin.
“Are you nothing more but crap? Don’t tell me you cannot even put a single Fireball Technique to use? Do you know how much of his life force Yi Jun exhausted to confine that Fiend Commander. If not for Haochen’s prompt arrival, we would all be dead here today. Are you really a mage of the fifth step? You are clearly not fit to be called a Demon Hunter.”
It wasn’t surprising that Li Xin was so furious. She clearly saw the previous situation inside of the cavern, and was on her way to return as fast as possible. But at the last instant, Lin Xin only released a Defying Ring of Fire, thoroughly angering that resolute and upright Retribution Knight.
As everyone else was staking everything and going all out, but Lin Xin was the only one that didn’t launch any attack at all. Considering his level of cultivation, if he had launched a powerful spell of fire magic at that time, maybe he would have wounded that Fiend Commander seriously.
Lin Xin’s face was somewhat blank, listening to Li Xin’s indignant speech without saying a word.
“Why don’t you speak back!? Are you a man or not? With such powerful controlling power, and as a mage of the fifth step, why can’t you unleash a single offensive spell? I’m really regretting that I didn’t stop Haochen at that time.”
“Enough, Li Xin.” Han Yu stood before him with difficulty, and Wang Yuanyuan, Sima Xian as well as Chen Ying’er gathered at his side.
“Li Xin, you should know that Lin Xin is an alchemist. Why do you think we managed to hold out for so much longer than Dian Yan, to resist for such a long time? It was because we took the pills Lin Xin offered us. Lin Xin cannot attack, but if not for him, we wouldn’t have lasted long enough for Haochen to get back. Lin Xin is an important part of our 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad. His investment is clear to all of us, and he is a part our team cannot part with. Everyone has his own weaknesses, so why shouldn’t it be the same for him?”
Li Xin furiously replied, “Yes, everyone has weaknesses, but attacking is a mage’s duty. As a extremely destructive fire element mage, how can he be unable to launch a single fireball, why is that? I am just hoping for him to give me a clear explanation for that. If one day, Haochen cannot withstand the enemy’s attacks and finally has to rely on his attacks to dispose of the enemy, what will happen? Why does he have to be so strong if he isn’t able to increase your strength to such an extent? I don’t wish for my little brother to give up all hope upon seeing him.”
“Alright, I will tell you.” Lin Xin yelled back in response.
Taking a rapid step forward, he arrived at Han Yu’s side. His body was trembling violently, and his original pale face became totally flushed.
“I am a mage that cannot attack, one that cannot do it at all. You are all right, my situation is completely different from Sima’s. He is unable to learn healing magic, but it’s not as if I was unable to learn. As long as I was willing, I could learn to use fire element magic without bounds, but I didn’t learn it. I couldn’t bring myself to learn it.”
Coming to a pause, Lin Xin was already soaked in tears.
“At those time, my mother was an even greater genius of the Mage Temple than me. At the time she was thirty, she already broke through from the sixth step to the seventh step, acclaimed as the greatest genius of her generation. My father was an expert at using offensive magic, and he spent his whole life studying the most powerful fire spell, but one day, he made a mistake. His mistake caused his own body to burn with in a massive fire, and at that time, my mother happened to bring me to see him. And to protect me, mother used her own body to block that terrifying exploding force, meeting with a violent death along with my father. Although I was only five years-old that year, I will never be able to forget that terrible explosion of fire. If not for offensive magic, how would I have lost my mother? If not for offensive magic, I would still have a blessed family.”
“I cannot learn offensive magic, and will never step across it in my life. I don’t wish to see my companions or relatives die by my own hands, because of my magic. From that day onwards, no mater how my grandfather tried to force me, I never agreed to learn any offensive magic, up until now. But I’m not crap, I am using everything I can to help my team. If one day, this situation really arises, then I will definitely be the first of everyone to die, and I will use my corpse to prove everything I just said!”
Done with his words, Lin Xin was silently crying, and Han Yu let out a sigh, lightly patting his shoulder, telling Li Xin, “I can comprehend your state of mind, but did you really have to let his scars come out of his heart? If not for some extraordinary reason of this kind, why would he be unable to learn offensive spells? It wasn’t because we didn’t care about these matters that we have never asked him until now, but because we chose to trust our companions. Lin Xin will forever remain a part of our Demon Hunt Squad.”
1. reminder: there are six senses in Chinese fantasy, try to get used to it
2. 2^0= 1 month, 2^1 = 2 months, 2^2 = 4 months, 2^3 = 8 months, so I think it should follow this pattern. In other words, let n be the number of senses lost, then, 2^n is the number of months required to recover the nth sense.
