Chapter 69: Meeting Ji Ke, First Confrontation
When Li Su successfully entered, the first thing he saw was a landscape covered in Polluted Entities.
That massive, high-level slime Polluted Entity had an excited look in its eyes, as if it had finally captured its prey.
His gaze turned cold as ice. Under the pressure of his Deterrence ability, thousands of Polluted Entities trembled in fear, their faces twisted with terror!
The swift and powerful battle ended quickly. Beneath the corpse of that Polluted Entity, he looked toward the Guide lying at death’s door within a crevice in the ground.
He felt his stereotypical perception of Guides undergo a world-shaking transformation in that moment.
They had joined forces to break the pool, yet only he had been transported in.
Not lingering any longer, Li Su quickly began searching for the space-time rift. He released his mental power to its fullest, racing against the clock.
When he finally located the rift, he happened to see Chi Wan confronting that giant slime Polluted Entity.
One Sentinel had already collapsed, unable to get up. Her small, thin frame stood fearless as she protected another Sentinel behind her while sprinting toward the space-time rift.
Before entering, Li Su could never have imagined it.
This entire space was being held together by two Guides.
Suppressing the thoughts in his heart, he quickly joined the fray.
The moment the space-time rift was successfully shattered, the dimension twisted, and everyone appeared back outside.
Seeing the heavily injured Kui An, Chi Wan’s face turned pale.
“Sister Kui An!”
Kui An was quickly sent into a treatment pod.
Chi Wan followed all the way, her face filled with anxiety. She hadn’t followed for long before her arm was grabbed.
“You have injuries on your own body as well.”
Hearing Shen Yu’s words, Chi Wan looked down at the wound on her leg.
This injury was nothing compared to Kui An’s.
Just as she was about to speak, her body was pulled over by Shi Ye.
Silently, he sat her down on his lap. He gently rolled up her pant leg, revealing the wound with its flesh turned outward, and then tenderly placed her lower leg into the treatment device.
The words of gratitude had just left Chi Wan’s mouth when she felt a blinding light.
She turned her head to look.
As the black fog dissipated, two massive space-time rifts appeared on the level ground.
This sight shocked all the Sentinels in the vicinity.
“What’s going on? Didn’t they say the real space-time rift would appear after all the decoys were eliminated? Why are there two?”
“Which of these two rifts actually leads to the Sea of Lost Souls?”
“How strange. This is the first time I’ve encountered such a situation.”
Amidst the sounds of discussion, Li Su was the first to speak:
“Quiet, everyone. I’ll go investigate.”
He walked toward one of the rifts as he spoke.
However, he was unable to enter.
Seeing this, Cang Lin also stepped forward to try. He tried both of them in turn.
Similarly, he could not enter.
A Guide volunteered:
“Let me try!”
She walked toward the space-time rift.
Still, she could not enter.
Chi Wan’s heart began to race.
She stared blankly at that space-time rift, feeling as if a force were urging her to go inside.
Her brow furrowed tightly as the System’s voice rang out frantically in her mind:
[Host, this space-time rift is wrong! I can sense the aura of that rogue system!]
[I suspect they have sensed your existence. This space-time rift must have been tampered with by that rogue system!]
[I detected that they haven’t arrived in this world yet. What’s in the rift should be a mirror image—it can’t take your life. It’s here to test your strength!]
[That rogue system is too treacherous; I can’t beat it. Host, just in case they have some bizarre tricks up their sleeve, don’t go. If we can’t find the Sea of Lost Souls, so be it. Protecting yourself is the most important thing!]
Chi Wan’s mind was in a muddle. A mix of fear and unfamiliar, unknown emotions occupied her thoughts.
Li Su and the others were still talking.
Everyone was extremely confused by this instance of the space-time rift.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Shi Ye’s voice pulled Chi Wan’s thoughts back.
She met the sharp black eyes beside her. Shen Yu was also crouching in front of her, his face full of concern.
She pursed her lips and shook her head.
However, a thought suddenly sprouted in her mind.
She wanted to go in.
She didn’t want to simply keep running. If this was a trap set for her, then she wanted to see exactly what kind of existences that rogue system and Ji Ke—the ones who had stolen everything from her—really were.
They wanted to test her strength, and she wanted to know theirs as well.
Chi Wan stood up and walked resolutely toward that space-time rift.
Under the watchful gaze of everyone, her voice rang out clear and bright:
“Let me try.”
The light from the space-time rift reflected off her small face, making her look too beautiful to be real.
She stood before the rift and reached out her hand. In the next second, she was sucked directly into one of them!
This scene left everyone in shock.
Li Su and the others exchanged glances, their expressions varied.
…
After a bout of intense dizziness, Chi Wan appeared in a world of pure white.
She looked around; there was nothing.
White—only an endless white.
She took a step forward. Her combat boots made echoing thuds in the white space.
The sound reverberated continuously.
Following that, a phoenix’s cry drifted from afar!
The cry was high-pitched and melodious!
That single sound seemed to strike Chi Wan’s soul. Her eyes instantly grew warm, and tears surged out uncontrollably!
She looked up. In her sight, that beautiful and dazzling silver phoenix, as majestic as a deity, was noble and eye-catching.
It spiraled toward her!
Even though it was only a phantom image, it was impossible to look away.
It was her Spirit Body, the Phoenix.
No—to be precise, it was the Spirit Body that had already been stolen from her.
Chi Wan’s small face was calm and grave as she stared straight at the slowly descending phoenix.
Atop the phoenix sat a woman in a white dress. She was beautiful, with long, smooth, and flowing silver hair.
However, the moment she saw Chi Wan, a flash of undisguised malice still appeared in her eyes.
“Chi Wan, you’ve returned, haven’t you?”
Ji Ke stepped off the phoenix. Her phantom body walked step by step toward Chi Wan, who was standing still.
Her gaze swept over Chi Wan’s long, curly silver hair with its blue-purple sheen, and she shook her head with a smile:
“Truly beautiful. Even though I’ve tried everything to bleach my hair silver, I could never replicate that unique blue-purple luster of yours.”
As she spoke, her gaze locked onto Chi Wan’s eyes, which were watching her calmly. Her tone shifted.
She spoke with an air of leisurely satisfaction:
“But fortunately, everything else of yours is already mine~”
Translator’s Note:
Oh wow, the plot thickens! We finally get a glimpse of the antagonist, Ji Ke. It turns out she’s literally using Chi Wan’s stolen Spirit Body as a mount. The description of Chi Wan’s natural silver hair with the blue-purple sheen compared to Ji Ke’s “bleached” look is such a classic “original vs. fake” trope.
Key Terms:
- Deterrence (震懾 – Zhènshè): Li Su’s powerful ability that can paralyze or frighten enemies with sheer mental pressure.
- Rogue System (野路子系統 – Yělùzi xìtǒng): Literally “wild path system,” referring to an unauthorized or illegal system used by the antagonist.
- Sea of Lost Souls (遺失之海 – Yíshī zhī hǎi): The ultimate destination or mystery they are trying to reach.
Stay tuned for the next chapter to see how Chi Wan handles this “mirror” confrontation!
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