Chapter 164 Breakthrough Plan 2

Whether I harbor hostility towards Lu Youxun is of paramount importance to him. It's easy to imagine that if hostility were to arise in my heart, even if it were only the slightest hint, barely perceptible to myself, it would be utterly catastrophic for Lu Youxun, who has lost his fighting ability.

Even I have to carefully consider, weigh the pros and cons, and question my own conscience.

Finally, I gave my answer.

"No."

Lu Youxun asked in surprise, "Why?"

“I don’t want to be bound by positions of power, nor do I care what position you hold; I only care about who you are. So far, you haven’t done anything bad to me, and you’ve even helped me. I can’t possibly consider you an enemy,” I said frankly. “Of course, if you do anything to the people around me, I will definitely not let you off the hook, but that’s another matter.”

“I admit that I do have secrets I don’t want you to know, but you do too, right? The forces behind you are coveting Mazao with unknown motives, something unrelated to the Soul Disorder. And you yourself are the one closest to their target. Have they really not given you any instructions? Don’t tell me ‘no,’ I won’t believe you.”

Now it was Lu Youxun's turn to be stumped by my question.

"this……"

“If you dare lay a hand on Asaho, I’ll kill you,” I said.

Mazao watched me silently.

Zhu Shi seemed to have already heard some information from her grandfather. She did not show any surprise, but calmly asked, "Zhuang Cheng, although I support you, do you really mean that you have no hostility towards Lu Chan?"

“I won’t judge him as friend or foe based on things he didn’t do,” I said. “At least until that, he was still on our side. And I think it’s pretty much an open secret that there’s someone suspicious among our allies…”

"That last sentence was probably your true feeling," Zhu Shi retorted.

Lu Youxun first sighed, then raised his hands in surrender and said, "Alright, I understand... I will cooperate with your idea."

In other words, he was prepared to trust me and risk his life.

This certainly couldn't be solely based on trust in me; the most significant factor was the will to avenge the Humanitarian Division.

"But didn't you fail last time when you tried to connect with Zhuang Cheng's spirit?" Zhu Shi questioned.

"That's because I was frightened by his mental state, so the connection was interrupted. As long as he is willing to accept my spell, I can reconnect normally."

Lu Youxun replied, then turned to me and said, "But I have another problem. As I mentioned before, even for me, using divination to visualize the secret outpost of the Humanitarian Bureau requires a great deal of luck; normally, it will inevitably fail. I might need to try for several days, or even more than ten days, and if I'm unlucky, I might not succeed even after several dozen days..."

"I understand. The important part is what comes next."

I didn't look at Ma Zao beside me, but stared straight at Lu Youxun and said, "Suppose, I mean suppose... I'm in a state of very strong and special 'luck' that specifically attracts strange events to me. This 'luck' can easily propel me to chase after strange things, as well as the people and forces associated with them... Do you think this would be helpful for what you're going to do next?"

"Is this one of your secrets as well?" Lu Youxun glanced at me thoughtfully. "Suppose that there really is such an unreasonable misfortune befalling you now, and you can really use my illusion as a clue to teleport yourself to the secret base of the Humanitarian Department... then my part might actually succeed today."

“The Humanitarian Affairs Bureau must have more than one secret base in the country. I wonder if my brother is at the secret base that Lu Chan saw through his illusions,” Zhu Shi pondered.

“You can be quite optimistic about this matter,” Lu Youxun said. “What I saw in my vision is most likely the secret outpost that Ying Lingyun was in charge of within the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau. And if it was indeed Ying Lingyun who orchestrated Chenlong’s abduction of Zhu Chang’an, then Zhu Chang’an was very likely taken to that place.”

As he spoke, he stood up and walked towards the reception room, saying, "I need to prepare for the divination first, and also write a report to my superiors to request support."

"Support?" Zhu Shi asked.

“This time we can roughly pinpoint the location of the Humanitarian Division’s secret outpost, and we must prepare for a surprise attack beforehand. The enemy’s expected combat strength includes at least one Grand Completion level expert, so we can’t rely entirely on Zhuang Cheng alone. I need to request support from my superiors from Wu Chang, a Grand Completion level expert,” Lu Youxun said.

Not only Zhu Shi, but even I was amazed by his courage.

He's actually going to launch this operation with the premise of successfully tracking down his target. A Great Completion level Wu Chang shouldn't be a force that can be mobilized so easily. It seems he's not only risking his own life, but also his credibility within Luo Shan.

"Who are you inviting?" Zhu Shi asked.

"Sharpshooter".

After saying this, Lu Youxun walked out of the reception room.

Zhu Shi, on the other hand, wore a very solemn expression.

I've heard the name "Divine Sharpshooter" before. I think he was a teammate of Lu Youxun and Chenlong who later left due to differences in their ideals.

Is that actually a Great Completion Stage Impermanence?

That makes sense. In the past, Lu Youxun was even able to summon "himself at the Great Completion level" under Chenlong's enhancement, as well as a large number of other "possibility clones" with diverse abilities. If the other person is just an ordinary Completion-level Impermanence, then he is practically useless to Lu Youxun and Chenlong.

But judging from Zhu Shi's expression, that divine spear seemed to be more than just a Great Completion level Impermanence.

"Zhuang Cheng, be careful of that sharpshooter," Zhu Shi suddenly warned.

"Is there a problem with the sharpshooter?" I asked.

"I only heard it secondhand. I heard that the sharpshooter has a terrible personality, is arrogant and stubborn, a violent person, and also an extreme superhuman." She said, "The reason why Lu Chan and Chen Long parted ways with him in the past was because of the conflict between worldlyism and superhumanism. I didn't expect Lu Chan to be in contact with the sharpshooter again now... No, that seems to make sense. Lu Chan has now become a superhuman, so he can actually talk to that sharpshooter..."

"Is the sharpshooter a confidant of that Great Impermanence?" I asked.

"Well... wait, you don't actually want to fight him, do you?" Zhu Shi asked in surprise.

"If the other party insists on fighting me no matter what..." I said seriously.

"Could it be that my grandfather said something strange to you behind your back? I'll have to complain to him about it later..." she grumbled, then continued, "Most of the Great Completion level Impermanences are confidants of some Great Impermanence, and Divine Spear should be one of them. However, there are only rumors that Luo Shan works secretly for some Great Impermanence, but no one knows exactly who it is. I suppose the Great Impermanence behind him must be a deep and scheming schemer."

According to Mr. Zhu's theory, if I were to clash with the sharpshooter in the future, even if I were to win, it would be best not to kill him.

However, since the sharpshooter might be coming as a supporter this time, it would seem rather impolite of me to be here pondering whether to fight or kill.

Despite my thoughts, I couldn't help but ask about the sharpshooter's other information: "Just how strong is he?"

"The combat power of a Great Completion level cultivator is not something that a lowly Wuchang like me can accurately assess," Zhu Shi said helplessly. "Based on what I've heard in the past, if Chenlong, whom you fought before, had invincible defensive power, then the Divine Spear can be said to have invincible offensive power."

"You can probably tell from the name 'Divine Spear' that this person is skilled with the spear. It is said that he has a special ability called 'Infallible Hit and Penetration,' and just as the name suggests, once his spear is thrown, it will definitely hit the target, and once it hits the target, it will definitely pierce through it."

“It sounds a bit like Gungnir from Norse mythology,” I said.

The effect of this superpower is both incredibly simple and incredibly absurd.

"Absolute accuracy" and "absolute penetration"—either one of these attributes is powerful enough, but the combination of the two is simply beyond words.

The last time I saw a similar ability was in a cheat program for video games.

A moment later, Lu You arrived, dressed as an ancient Taoist priest, with a faint mist rising from his body.

"You actually took a special bath?" Zhu Shi asked.

I've heard that many clergy members bathe and fast before participating in important ceremonies, so Lu Youxun must have done something similar. Although it's too late to start fasting now, bathing can still be done quickly. It seems there are bathing facilities in this office.

“Communicating heart to heart isn’t just about Zhuang Cheng not being hostile to me; I also need to be hostile to Zhuang Cheng. To prevent unnecessary distractions, we must first purify our minds,” Lu Youxun replied.

"Oh... so you think you're hostile towards Senior Brother Zhuang..." Zhu Shi glanced at him sideways.

Lu Youxun said calmly, "Don't misunderstand. Hostility is common between people. Even among very close friends, there may be hidden dislike and discrimination in the details that the person involved is unaware of. I just want to minimize the possibility of an accident."

"Should I take a shower too?" I asked.

“No, you don’t need to. Bathing and purifying the mind is a ritual, not just a simple bath. Trying to do it at the last minute might just cause you to have all sorts of wild thoughts.” Lu Youxun shook his head first, then said, “Everything is ready, shall we begin now?”

"Okay." I stepped forward.

He held a pair of white jade counting rods in his left hand, and extended his right hand toward me.

I extended my right hand and shook hands with him.

(End of this chapter)