The seeds of joyful emotion, in Lu Sheng's vision, resembled flickering flames scattered throughout the darkness. Suddenly, a spark of fire flickered out without a sound.
'It's coming.'
Sheng's eyes flickered. He stared intently in that direction without hesitation. This time again, the chosen one was a martial arts powerhouse who had reached level 12. Sheng noticed the rapid fluctuations in the emotions emanating from him—a surge of anger was growing rapidly.
Sheng stared intently, his body silently closing in on the target. Regrettably, he hadn't been chosen by the figure on the fifth level. But he refused to believe his conspicuous behavior wouldn't draw the other's attention.
Sure enough, as Sheng approached the chosen level 12 warrior, suddenly, a colossal mental force, vastly surpassing his own, locked onto him. His body tensed, then relaxed just as quickly.
Without specialized attack techniques, killing an opponent purely through mental force was no easy feat. Unless the disparity in mental power between combatants reached an extreme level. Clearly, this figure lurking in the shadows, though belonging to the fifth level and possessing slightly stronger mental power than Sheng, wasn't powerful enough to annihilate him solely through mental force. At most, this attack served as a mere display of intimidation.
Sheng, naturally, wasn't intimidated by this. He stood his ground fearlessly, confronting the other. His composure immediately piqued the other's interest. The cold, eerie spiritual force began to shift.
'Is it coming for me?'
Lu Sheng took a deep breath, understanding that the real show was about to begin. This was his chance to decipher the opponent's methods and prove whether he was worthy of facing them head-on.
'Boom!'
The moment that icy psychic force touched Lu Sheng, countless images flashed through his mind. Every single one stirred feelings of frustration, irritation, anger, and rage.
There was a scene of his sister, Lu Qinghe, mocking him with cold, cutting remarks when he was a high school loser. There was the scene of him being beaten and robbed by thugs outside school on his way home. There was the feeling he had when he first saw the evidence of the crimes committed by the Lian family's father and son, and the scene of him being hunted down by the Martial Saint's men after killing both of them.
Lu Sheng, who had fought his way through life since childhood, saw countless scenes of his past anger and rage replay before him in that instant. A flame of fury ignited deep within his heart, rapidly surging to unprecedented heights.
This flame twisted and coalesced into a formless humanoid figure, its gender indistinguishable, its features blurred. Its mouth twisted into a high, sneering curve, as if delivering the world's most scathing mockery and provocation toward Lu Sheng. This form held no specific identity, resembling a composite of every person Lu Sheng had ever hated or resented. In that instant, Lu Sheng felt an overwhelming urge to charge forward and kill it without hesitation.
Yet... He held back.
"Huuu."
With that exhalation, the rage burning within his chest seemed to dissipate entirely. As a master of the Four Emotions, expelling this unwarranted, trash-like fury from his body was as easy for him as eating and drinking.
'Is that all you've got?'
Lu Sheng channeled his mental energy to send the calmest, most scornful mockery to the figure standing on the fifth level.
'Is that it?'
The rage in the void flared once more, but this time it originated from the other side. Sheng could almost see the opponent stomping his foot in frustration. He decided to pour fuel on the fire. With a slight probe of his psychic energy, he absorbed and neutralized all the rage within the chosen level 12 powerhouse.
"Huh?!"
The moment the unwarranted fury vanished entirely, the chosen level 12 powerhouse's eyes cleared instantly. Like someone waking from a dream, he gasped for breath several times.
"What just happened to me?"
Not only did it fail to deal with Sheng, but the prey that was practically caught flew away. The creature instantly grew even more furious. Yet its ability to toy with a level 12 powerhouse at will had no effect whatsoever on Lu Sheng. Helpless, it could only retreat grudgingly.
'Seems he's not that impressive after all. Or am I just too awesome?' Sheng silently pondered, feeling the traces of the other's departure.
This invisible clash yielded significant insights for him, deepening his understanding of the Dao of Emotions.
During the journey ahead, that entity sneaked back several times. But each time, Lu Sheng disrupted it, leaving it empty-handed. It was skilled at harnessing anger, and clearly possessed a temperament prone to rage.
Then the group halted.
"Another one gone..."
The two guides looked utterly grim, while the rest of the group was shocked and terrified. What they didn't know was that these disappearances had started half a day earlier. If not for Lu Sheng, the group would have lost even more members by now.
"Everyone, halt and rest here. We'll wait for Sir Haiji Dao to come and assist us!" the guide announced loudly.
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Let's rewind time to the present.
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"Damn, this is way too weird. Where the hell did those vanished people go?"
Saya sat on the ground, his face slightly pale, speaking in a low voice to Lu Sheng and Tang Dun.
Tang Dun's expression wasn't much better, though his face was completely covered in black rock fragments, making it hard to tell.
Sheng, however, seemed quite relaxed. He had already uncovered some information about their opponent. Though it was a level 13 Beast he'd never fought before, with his current strength, even if he couldn't defeat it, escaping unscathed should be manageable. He offered a faint reassurance to Saya.
"Wait. Wait for the level 13 powerhouse from the base."
"We have no choice but to wait," Saya muttered gloomily. He buried his hands in his hair and scratched fiercely, looking visibly restless.
Everyone remained quietly in place, waiting under the guide's orders. No one spoke, the atmosphere thick with tension.
Sheng kept a close watch on that creature's movements. After the group halted, the creature remained undeterred, making several more attempts. Each time, Sheng blocked it, enraging the creature into a furious howl. After the third attempt, the creature seemed to finally give up and vanished without reappearing.
Just then, good news arrived from the guide.
"Sir Haiji Dao will arrive within half a cosmic day at most!"
This news struck everyone like a shot of adrenaline, causing many to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Saya included. Half a day. The recruits began silently counting down the time. With every passing second, the gloom hovering over the convoy seemed to lift a fraction, and everyone's expressions brightened a little more. Finally, the half cosmic day slipped away unnoticed.
As the final second ticked away, many instinctively lifted their heads. Suddenly, someone leapt to their feet, pointing in one direction and shouting in surprise, "They're here! Someone's coming!"
At that very moment, the middle-aged guide, setting down her communicator, spoke with a grim expression: "Sir Haiji Dao has been delayed. He'll need another half-day."
"Huh?"
Everyone froze upon hearing this news. Then who was approaching now?
Instantly, a wave of dread washed over the group. All eyes turned sharply toward the distant figure approaching, every body tensing.
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Translation notes by dhoo
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the fifth level
See the analogy proposed in chapter #544. Levels 5 to 1 are: the entity with strong psychic abilities, Lu Sheng, the two guides, the other level 12s with psychic abilites, the rest of the group.
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Lian family
连家 (trad. 連家)
Characters from earlier arcs on planet Azure: Lian Jibei (the family head) and Lian Ye (his son) commited various crimes.
https://logging10000yearsintothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/Lian_Jibei[1]
[1] https://logging10000yearsintothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/Lian_Jibei