Chapter 725: If You Didn't Hate Me, Wouldn't It Be Far Too Boring?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 725: If You Didn't Hate Me, Wouldn't It Be Far Too Boring?
"What kind of trick is this now?"
The people from the Wizard Academy were genuinely terrified when they saw the Book in the Box in Millian’s hand. They half-expected that little witch named "Yang Yuehan" to crawl out of it at any moment!
But instead, a tiny, petite figure suddenly emerged.
Only after confirming that her appearance was distinctly different from the figure in their memories did they finally relax.
However, that relief lasted only a heartbeat. The translucent, incorporeal little creature transformed into a ritual; in the blink of an eye, the ritual’s framework was complete.
Even under the suppression of the Main World Great Weakening Spell, this summoning ritual—paired with the Reverse Summoning Spell—deployed with incredible speed.
Accompanied by the blinding light unique to summoning spells and the distortion of the surrounding space, a figure gradually began to manifest.
When this figure finally appeared before them, everyone—especially those from the Wizard Academy—felt their breath hitch in their throats!
Yang Yunhan, who had been captured by the Wizard Academy, stared with wide, disbelieving eyes. His pupils were filled with shock and an irrepressible, suffocating emotion. It was a jealousy born from the fact that he had never won against her since birth, an inferiority complex carved into his very bones.
"What a coincidence... it seems everyone is here?"
At this moment, the slightly playful voice did nothing to alleviate the oppressive atmosphere.
After appearing, I instinctively scanned the area. With the power of my Five Senses Body Cultivation, I didn't even need to look; I could clearly perceive the presence of everyone on the field through my other sensory channels.
With a wave of my hand, Yulan, who was still in her Mimicry Soul state, drifted toward me. With that single movement, she materialized into a physical body and leaped happily into my arms.
"Hehe~ Sister Xiao Han~ the experiment was a success!" Yulan said joyfully.
The "experiment" Yulan referred to was an idea I’d had a long time ago: using the unique properties of the Fool's Dream to achieve beyond-visual-range strikes.
Yulan’s appearance didn't rely on the Book in the Box in Millian’s hand, nor had she been hiding inside it beforehand.
This was a "delivery" performed by using the special relationship between the Fool's Dream and the Enlightenment Meditation Art. By discarding the bodies that bound their original dream essence and using my soul's dreamscape as a medium, I had projected her here.
The Book in the Box merely served as an "anchor." This anchor could be anything; I am still defining the boundaries of what qualifies, but it is certainly much broader than the spatial markers used in standard teleportation.
A Fool's Dream in a Mimicry Soul state inherits the "characteristics" of both souls and dreams, allowing them to be delivered through the dreamscape.
Furthermore, a Mimicry Soul is a viable vessel for my Clone Skill, making it simple to engrave a summoning ritual for the Reverse Summoning Spell onto a Fool's Dream.
Once I arrived, I used the Reincarnation Spell to quickly reshape a body for Yulan, using her original physical materials as the base.
Since the Fool's Dream are creatures of dream essence, a physical body in the material world is inherently meaningless to them. Thus, using the Reincarnation Spell to swap bodies is far easier for them than for true living beings.
"Sister Xiao Han?! Is it you? Is it really you?"
"Sister Xiao Han really didn't die!"
My appearance caused the witches to cry out in excitement, their words overlapping. Their shock was so profound that language could barely express the upheaval in their hearts.
"Impossible! Yang Yuehan is dead! You can't possibly be her!" At that moment, a completely different outcry erupted from the Wizard Academy’s side.
"You're a fake! Even a Holy Angel's resurrection failed! You are not Yang Yuehan!"
Compared to the shock and joy of the Witch Academy, the Wizard Academy was bordering on hysterical.
Although these people hadn't participated in the hunt or the ambush—and some weren't even aware of their academy's plan to assassinate Yang Yuehan—the fall of a genius always brought a certain type of person a deep, internal sense of satisfaction.
"Sister Xiao Han."
Millian no longer looked pressured. She wasn't even as surprised as the other students, as if she had expected this outcome all along.
However, the suppressed joy in the depths of her eyes couldn't escape my Heart Sense.
Millian stepped forward and handed me the Book in the Box.
"Mhm, thank you~"
I took the book and gave a soft word of thanks.
After all, that really had been an experiment. This Book in the Box had been given to Millian by Sister Bai. Its purpose was a final safeguard; if the experiment had failed, I would have used the book as an anchor to teleport here anyway.
I had come here for one reason: to fulfill the promise I made earlier.
I admit that promise was given a bit rashly, and I didn't want to waste any more time here. Not long ago, I had been immersed in the study of my newly awakened Body Cultivation Totem.
Rather than running over here myself to watch where they were taking Yang Yunhan, it was better to have someone keep an eye on things for me.
However, as I looked toward the Wizard Academy group again, I noticed their "state" with some surprise.
The Luck surrounding them was almost impossible to ignore, swirling like a vortex and drawing more people into its influence.
Under the deduction of my Qi Observation Art, my gaze eventually locked onto a crystal ball held by one of the wizards.
Was that a Luck Alchemist item?
No, according to my Ley Line Identification Art, it appeared to be a Wizard Tool.
I had seen many items shaped by Luck. The "Ninglan's Heart" in Ninglan New City was a Transcendent item. Qiu Ruxin’s pendant also involved the interference of Luck and was a Transcendent item.
There was even the witch Teryx, who called herself a Luck Alchemist; she had refined the phantom of my Luck Seed into a Luck Coin, which fell under the category of alchemy items.
Seeing a Luck crystal ball now wasn't particularly shocking.
The fact that these wizards possessed such a thing suggested many things, but I couldn't be bothered to delve into the deeper meaning.
As I stepped forward, the pressure I radiated intensified. My life level might not have been as deep as theirs yet, but my momentum and reputation were enough to make them hesitate to strike.
"You! Don't come any closer!"
"Is this all you've got? Your blustering is pathetic. Weren't you just shouting that I wasn't Yang Yuehan?"
"Do you really think we don't dare to attack you?!"
"Attack? You? Or are you relying on that Luck crystal ball in your hand?" I said disdainfully.
I wasn't entirely sure of the crystal ball's specific effects yet. Its information seemed to have been erased from the Ley Lines; the Ley Line Identification Art only showed objective data from the moment of erasure to its current use, which was a bit tedious to parse.
It seemed the promotion of the Knowledge Seeds had made other Transcendent academies realize how to counter Ley Line Identification.
However, in the time it took to walk toward them, I used my Qi Observation Art to grasp the general effect of the Wizard Tool. It could gather Luck to bless them; fighting them would likely feel stifling and frustrating.
But that wasn't enough to stop me. As long as the gap in combat power was large enough, the advantage of a Luck blessing had its limits.
After all, what they held was merely a Luck Wizard Tool, not a true Child of Destiny.
"I'll give you a chance to attack me. Do you actually dare to do it?"
My tone was incredibly flippant, sounding like a blatant provocation to their ears.
Ultimately, these were people who had never witnessed my strength firsthand. Whether it was my Domain or my other methods, they had only seen them through rumors or live streams.
Unable to endure such humiliation, they let out angry roars and charged at me, relying on their superior numbers.
"You actually dare~"
I watched them rush me, feeling a mix of surprise and delight. If these people were too well-behaved, I wouldn't have an excuse to deal with them.
But now... they were the ones who struck first!
After all... I had my eye on that Luck Wizard Tool.
While Wizard Tools generally couldn't be used by anyone other than wizards, it was still an object strongly tied to Luck. I happened to know Sister Teryx, and I was sure that Luck Alchemist would be very interested in this.
If possible, I wanted to ask her for some materials regarding Luck Alchemy in exchange.
My growing interest in Luck was mainly related to the Reverse Summoning Spell.
Back then, the Reverse Summoning Spell had displayed a "characteristic" where it used Luck threads from other worlds as a medium to trigger its effects.
So, I was wondering if the derivatives of the Reverse Summoning Spell might exist in a field related to Luck.
If I could, I wanted to take the Luck Alchemy materials and this idea to Teacher Ji Niang. It had been a while since I’d visited her; it was only natural to bring a gift, right?
Facing the various methods of dozens of wizards, I remained calm and unhurried. I didn't even deploy my Domain immediately, as that would be bullying them too much.
Liliana had already proven the power of a Domain; even those at the teaching assistant level couldn't resist it, and these wizards were merely senior students who hadn't reached that level yet.
Though, I think the teaching assistants at the Wizard Academy were called... Wizard Tower Floor Lords?
Wizard apprentices who served the Transcendent wizards who were Tower Lords were essentially the same as the teaching assistants at the Witch Academy.
One could only say that because of the structure of the Wizard Towers, there was very little "bloat" among the Floor Lords—at least, far less than among the Witch Academy's teaching assistants.
The Transcendent Witches were simply too indulgent toward their assistants.
Now, facing these eerie wizardries without the restrictions of contracts or power networks, I could only say that dealing with them was... effortless!
The range of effects in my spellbooks was vast. My past accumulations, combined with the gifts and exchanges from many Witch Sisters, had made my collection of spellbooks exceptionally rich.
I didn't need high-consumption spellbooks; most of mine cost less than a hundred units of energy.
Furthermore, using the spellbooks as a platform and the spells as prototypes for derivation, the effects I could achieve increased exponentially.
Lest anyone forget, the research into these spellbook derivatives had never stopped for a single moment within the Tree of Great Knowledge!
In terms of versatility and eeriness, I was far more terrifying than any wizard.
In the very first clash, they couldn't even touch the hem of my clothes.
However, I didn't let my guard down. The fact that I held such a massive advantage was inseparable from my Body Cultivation strength, but these wizards, bolstered by Luck, had displayed power that slightly exceeded my expectations.
If I didn't have the sensory perception of a body cultivator, if I didn't have my vast array of spells and derivatives, and if I didn't have the information analysis and coordination provided by the Tree of Great Knowledge, the pressure they exerted would have been immense.
The feeling even faintly reminded me of my first battle with Tan Han.
It was the helplessness of being pushed toward failure by Luck, unable to resist. But now... I possessed too many powers beyond that scope to break such a predetermined fate.
They had simply picked the wrong opponent.
Moreover, I had the Qi Observation Art. By observing from the perspective of Luck, I could directly deduce the fastest and most convenient way to shatter the Luck they had gathered.
This battle could no longer be described as anything other than cheating.
I didn't want to waste any more time on this fight.
"Minor characters, leave the stage. Meaningless struggling only makes you look more pathetic. You simply chose the wrong target."
As I spoke, I walked toward Yang Yunhan. He was my goal for this trip—my only goal.
"You! Are you a person or a ghost?!" Seeing me approach, Yang Yunhan backed away instinctively until he tripped over debris from the battle and fell onto his backside.
"I am neither a person nor a ghost. To be precise, I should be considered... a little witch." I stopped a short distance in front of him.
"Are you going to take me to the Witch Academy?" After forcing himself to calm down, Yang Yunhan questioned me resentfully.
The successive blows had left his inner grievances with no outlet. Even though he was terrified of me, he instinctively treated me as his final punching bag.
This psychology also reflected that, deep down, he felt I wouldn't care about his words—at most, I’d return some insults. Because I had almost never hit him growing up. If it were anyone else... they might have slapped him across the face.
But I wouldn't. In the past, I would have only used my status as his older brother to give him a lesson he’d never forget.
Even after witnessing those Transcendent methods, he felt it wasn't impossible that those people might kill him...
But I wouldn't.
"Do you already have another choice in mind?" I countered his question with one of my own.
Yang Yunhan fell silent, but that brief silence was followed by an even louder outburst.
At this moment, he was like a rebellious teenager... though, calculating his age... he actually was one.
"Yes! I made my choice long ago! I'm going to the Wizard Academy! I scored over seven hundred points! I have the right to choose for myself! I'm not being valued just because I'm your brother!"
In his outburst, he completely ignored the fact that his so-called "choice" was a decision made in the last few dozen seconds.
"Go to... the Wizard Academy? Seven hundred points?" I chuckled softly, not caring much.
I could understand Yang Yunhan’s obsession with his score, his desire for free choice, and his rebellion... but rebellion comes with a price.
If he still had a complete family and parents who loved him, they would bear the cost of his rebellion for him. But now he had nothing, so he had to carry it himself.
I used the Ley Line Identification Art to sift through images of Yang Yunhan’s past, looking for exactly why he had chosen the Wizard Academy.
I didn't hide my actions. The images of the past began to manifest one after another. I searched for a long time but couldn't find when he had made the decision. Instead, I found the words he had spoken earlier. I even saw Shopkeeper Xia Li being driven away in anger...
I hadn't expected Shopkeeper Xia Li to come, bringing her signature red velvet cake.
It was a public execution. The images were so cringeworthy that no one could bear to look... his words, cheering at the news of his sister's death, echoed through the area.
"Originally, I was a bit hesitant about whether to take you to the Witch Academy. But now I realize that wasting time on that question was far too foolish."
"You hate me, don't you?" My gaze met Yang Yunhan’s eyes, making him look away, unable to face me.
But after glancing away, he seemed to find a trace of inexplicable courage—or perhaps it was just a final bout of hysteria.
"I do! Of course I hate you! It's all because of you! Do you have any idea what my life has been like because of you?!"
"You're as childish as ever." I stepped closer and looked down at him.
Once certain words are spoken, the bond is completely severed. Certain words require one to take responsibility.
In that moment, I seemed to let go of something. It was as if... the last shred of responsibility had vanished. A dangerous arc curved at the corner of my lips.
"But that's fine. It's better that you hate me. Otherwise... taking you to the Witch Academy wouldn't be any fun at all, would it?"