Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Nie Ting remained quiet for a long time, holding the half magical stone in his hand. He was trying to resist the urge to crush the stone, and then crush Lu Shu.
The world must be a joke if Lu Shu was honest about saying that the half stone was all he got. Nie Ting stuffed the stone into Shi Xuejin’s hands and said calmly, “Store it.”
Shi Xuejin was dumbstruck.
Neither of you are sane!
Nie Ting suddenly turned to Lu Shu and demanded, “Do you have invisible storage equipment?”
He certainly would not buy Lu Shu’s explanation. Every piece of information of his pointed to the fact that Lu Shu was a true miser.
However the reality was, there was indeed nothing hidden in Lu Shu’s pockets. Actually, out of the respect to his subordinate comrade, Nie Ting did not search Lu Shu’s body even when he was unconscious.
But the question was, where was his divine water? Even if he could condense it into wearable armor, it would be nonsense to claim that Nie Ting had failed to notice its existence throughout the entire flight.
Besides, Nie Ting saw broken spears inside the fortress with his own eyes. There were at least 12 broken spear heads. Thus, how did Lu Shu enter the place with a bundle of spears? That was definitely not mentioned in the intelligence report!
Therefore, Nie Ting was suspicious that those lost magical stones were still in Lu Shu’s possession. He had no intention to confiscate them, yet he was simply curious.
Lu Shu shook his head in denial. “Nope. What is invisible storage equipment?”
Nie Ting stared into Lu Shu’s eyes, emotionless. Then, Lu Shu suddenly gave a slap to his own forehead. “Oh yea, I brought Liu Xiu back.”
Having said that, Lu Shu took out Liu Xiu’s corpse which he had obtained from the Seal of Lands and placed it carefully in front of Nie Ting.
Nie Ting was dumbfounded. And here you are, insisting that you do not have invisible storage equipment?! Can you please put in more effort in embellishing your lie, please? Do you purposely want to piss me off?!
“From Nie Ting’s distress, +666!”
Nie Ting saluted to Liu Xiu and walked out with a darkened expression. “Tell him that I will ask someone to bury Liu Xiu.”
It was Nie Ting’s real concern that he might not be able to hold his urge of beating Lu Shu up if he were to stay any longer.
As a matter of fact, the 12 spears had already reminded Nie Ting that there must have been missed details in the Beimang remains. On their way back, he recalled all the reports related to Lu Shu and the quantity of items surrendered by this young man. The 12 spears were almost identical to those in the Beimang remains, meaning Lu Shu had had invisible storage equipment since then.
Therefore, the answer was apparent… The Seal of Lands was in Lu Shu’s hands.
Actually Nie Ting did not mind. Instead, he was happy, for it saved him the trouble of getting invisible storage equipment for Lu Shu himself. It was a must-have for the Heavenly King in charge of foreign affairs.
Due to the rarity of invisible storage equipment, even a rich and large organization like the Heavenly Network could not ensure that each and every Heavenly King could be equipped with that precious item.
Now, Lu Shu must be rewarded duly for him to assume the new responsibility. But since he already had it, the trouble could be saved.
Soon, a group came to bury Liu Xiu. Everyone of them solemnly saluted to Liu Xiu before they carried him away. Lu Shu watched from the side, speechless. He thought Liu Xiu was worthy of their respect.
Lu Shu articulated, “That time, Liu Xiu boosted his combat abilities temporarily by exhausting his vitality. Before he died, he killed NINE Class C’s of the Collection of Gods, which bought me precious time. Without him, I would not have been able to kill Takashima Tairatsu.”
Shi Xuejin listened from the side without a word. Earlier, Lu Shu refused to answer Nie Ting’s questions seriously, which caused the truth of the battle to remain a mystery.
But now, unexpectedly, Lu Shu had spoken about it himself.
Shi Xuejin remembered the nine words he wrote for Lu Shu. “A heart of gold, and a fist of iron”. At the moment, there were traces of grief glimmering in Lu Shu’s eyes as he narrated his act of murder.
Shi Xuejin was shocked that Lu Shu had really killed Takashima. How did he overcome their huge gap in abilities? Nie Ting once told Shi Xuejin that Lu Shu was probably upping his level during the battle, and he might even create Heavenly Visions when he reached Class B, though this could only span a 3 kilometer radius, unlike Class A’s who could cover a 10 kilometer radius.
Even so, it was still enough to earn Shi Xuejin’s astonishment. He himself was traversing a road untraveled, valiantly hacking through thorns and thistles.
Similarly, Lu Shu had chosen another untraveled road, and he had surpassed Shi Xuejin in terms of his progress.
But Shi Xuejin held no grudges for that. There were countless ways to success in this world, and he only had to focus on the one he chose.
Shi Xuejin smiled. “Why are you willing to tell the truth now?”
“If I don’t, Liu Xiu’s heroic act would remain unknown. It is only justice that the name Takashima Tairatsu appears in the most prominent military credit carved on Liu Xiu’s tombstone.”
If he did not reveal the truth to the world, who would know Liu Xiu’s extraordinary courage and spirit in that moment of time?
His fearlessness, even when sandwiched between more than ten elites and a pseudo-Class A, deserved to be remembered.
In comparison, Lu Shu felt that his own personal interest in hiding the matter was insignificant.
Shi Xuejin was relieved that Nie Ting’s hard work finally paid off, though it would have been even better if Liu Xiu were still alive. Many warriors lived in depressed lives on foreign lands, shouldering immense risks all the time for the protection of their country. It was Shi Xuejin’s sincere hope that they could return home safely.
Some might criticize him for being a hypocrite. After all, it was he who had sent them out. Why didn’t he call them back if he was seriously concerned about their personal safety?
However, like Taniguchi Bunndai once said, there were some things in the world that must be done.
Shi Xuejin watched in silence as Liu Xiu’s coffin was carried away. He suddenly uttered, “I know it may sound a bit abrupt, but it is time to let you know. The Ninth Heavenly King’s position has always remained vacant.”
Lu Shu went quiet. He had not seen it coming. But suddenly, everything started to make sense. Nie Ting had assigned him important missions on multiple occasions, intelligence agents lurking deep inside the Collection of Gods worked solely for him and his gut feeling also told him that his trip to Japan actually meant more than it seemed.
It turned out that Nie Ting’s expectations for him were actually the role of a Heavenly King.
“Why me?” Lu Shu asked.
“Liu Xiu never asked us why it was him,” replied Shi Xuejin calmly.
“The higher the position, the greater the responsibility. I think I am not competent for this job yet.” Lu Shu rejected.
To him, the prestigious position meant much more than an international reputation, it was more of a heavy responsibility over the lives of tens of thousands of his comrades, including Liu Xiu.
Every act of his would determine the life and death of many “Liu Xiu’s”, and there would be numerous “Liu Xiu’s” willing to sacrifice themselves for his vision.
That was beyond what the current Lu Shu could take on. Thus, he rejected the offer.
