242 Chapter 241: Rules of Engagemen (1/2)

Shortly after Song Ting Yu fled, I had to go around waking up the students who were caught in her illusion. Clapping my hands and allowing my frosty qi to flood the area, I basically froze them out of the illusion the lady had woven.

Fortunately, Song Ting Yu was no longer around, and the illusion she cast on my schoolmates and classmates was not on the same level as the complex technique she had used to try and ensnare me, so it was pretty simple to break.

”…what happened?”

”I don't know.”

”Huh? Why are we here?”

I didn't want to go through the trouble of explaining, so I merely stayed silent and put on a fake smile, pretending that I didn't know anything.

Unfortunately, that didn't work.

”Fei Wu! Are you all right?! I'm here to help you!”

Zhu Jiao appeared, bounding over. He skidded to a stop and looked around, almost as confused as the students around us.

”Eh? Where is that woman?” he stopped to peer at me. ”And you…are no longer caught in an illusion?”

”I was never caught in an illusion,” I replied, trying to mask my irritation. For some reason, Zhu Jiao looked disappointed.

”That's not supposed to happen. Then how am I supposed to save you?”

”What makes you think I need saving?” I retorted, annoyed. ”I can take care of myself.”

”Uh, right.” Zhu Jiao forced a laugh, realizing how stupid his statement sounded. ”Of course you can. Sorry about that.”

The bastard clearly treated everyone as needing him to save them. He was obviously suffering from protagonist syndrome, where the protagonist had to go around saving all the other side characters, whose role was to solely exist to be rescued by him.

”Fei Wu! What happened?!”

Tong Xue and Lian Rou joined us, having distanced themselves earlier to stay out of the range of Song Ting Yu's charm technique. Now that she had flown off, they thought it was safe to approach me. They had clearly seen the panicked manner in which Song Ting Yu left, and were naturally curious as to what had transpired.

I grimaced as I recalled the illusion that Song Ting Yu tried to trap me inside. Other than the idiotic storyline about toxic relationships and me being cast in the ridiculous role of a rich, powerful and handsome CEO, the illusion almost seemed real. Thankfully Song Ting Yu sucked at writing a romance story, or I would have fallen for it if it was even the least bit realistic.

There were still some remnants of the seed she had tried to implant in my mind, but using Heaven and Earth Formula, I could easily erase them. Also, thanks to my own experience in writing stories (though admittedly I sucked and could only rip off other people's stories), I was somewhat able to differentiate reality from fiction.

Even so, I recognized what a formidable opponent Song Ting Yu was.

”What a terrifying woman!”

I shook my head as I reviewed the scenes that I had seen. Song Ting Yu's charm technique had enchanted my soul and almost enslaved my mind. If I had allowed that to happen, then I would have her figure imprinted deeply within my heart for the rest of my life. Song Ting Yu would then be able to exploit that and control my emotions however she wanted.

What a bitch.

Frowning, I realized what a despicable human being she was. Thinking seriously about this, I was sure that Song Ting Yu used this power regularly. That was why the Martial Arts Alliance always sent her off on diplomatic missions. So she had been screwing people over for Heavens knew how many years. If she succeeded in rendering every single of them so infatuated with her, I was sure they would start killing each other in order to possess her.

…then again, the horrible story she came up with for her illusion was just unbelievable. Only a fool would believe himself to be a rich, powerful CEO who believed that indulging in toxic relationships, domestic abuse and delusions was a great idea.

”Are you all right?” Tong Xue stared at me in concern. ”What did that woman do to you? You don't look so good.”

”Considering what she would have done if I hadn't broken her illusion, I think I got off pretty lightly,” I replied flippantly.

Lian Rou frowned. ”Really? You still look pretty pale.”

”Do you need me to chase down that woman to erase whatever lingering effects she left on you?” Zhu Jiao asked enthusiastically, but I was under the impression that he was more excited about the prospect of adding a new member to his harem after conquering her.

Raising my hands to stall him, I shook my head. ”No need. She tried to enchant my mind and enslave me with her charm. But she failed and gave up. That's why she left. Don't worry, whatever she intended to do to me didn't work.”

Obviously, at that time, I was completely unaware that Song Ting Yu had left because my attempt to rewrite her romance narrative had caused her charm to be reflected back onto her. Instead, she ended up having me deeply imprinted into her mind, so she had hastily withdrawn before she could fall deeper into the effects.

”Song Ting Yu will be back,” Tong Xue warned gravely. ”She's a representative from the Martial Arts Alliance and the only daughter of Song Yu. I don't understand why she left this time, but I'm sure she'll be back to haunt us,”

I shrugged casually. ”We'll deal with her when she returns. No point needlessly worrying over it until then.”

”True.” Zhu Jiao nodded and grinned. He cracked his knuckles as he glanced into the distance – which happened to be the wrong direction if he was trying to track down where Song Ting Yu had fled to. ”We'll be ready for her then.”

”Will you really be all right?” Lian Rou asked in concern. ”I know you managed to fight her off this time, but she's pretty formidable. She might come up with a countermeasure for your defenses when she returns.”

”I'll upgrade my defenses then,” I assured her. I realized how effective my Snow Aegis was. Even so, I wasn't going to underestimate her, but there was little point in upgrading my Spirit Shield. Instead, I should focus on my innate spiritual defense.

”Hah! This is Fei Wu we're talking about here!” Tong Xue threw an arm over my shoulders, almost weighing me down. ”He'll figure something out!”

”If he doesn't, I'll just help him!” Zhu Jiao added, being the typical protagonist who had to save everybody.

”Let's hope it doesn't come to that,” I muttered under my breath.

*

Well…obviously I couldn't just copy Spirit Realm and went back to forging Terminator Profound Bombs. I mean Sunburst bombs. You know what I mean.

Especially with Tang Qi Hong dead and all that, so it made no sense for me to teach her the forging methods while I inscribed the Spirit Diagrams. She was no longer around to assist me, so I had to do it alone.

Honestly, this was too heavy a burden to entrust to anyone but Sect Leader Zi Shou De himself, and I didn't want to burden Lian Rou with this. She would become a target for abduction or assassination like me.

So for now I kept the assembly methods to myself and focused on other things. Such as the upcoming mission.

”Hmm, so we'll be heading to Sen Lin Forest again,” I murmured as I reviewed the mission details. That was actually vaguer than it sounded. Sen Lin Forest was so vast that it was practically a country on its own. The real question was precisely which part of Sen Lin Forest we were heading to this time.

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”…the Toxic Marshes.”

I frowned when I caught sight of the name of the specific area we were assigned to. The Toxic Marshes were notorious for the insane number of venomous demonic creatures inhabiting them. Some of which were gigantic bugs, and I hated bugs with a blinding passion.

”…this sucks.”

If this was the case, then we were going to need a lot of antidotes and preparations. I didn't need them because Heaven and Earth Formula rendered me immune to all poisons and venoms, but obviously the same couldn't be said about my teammates.

Speaking of which, who were my teammates supposed to be?

I didn't know. The system didn't reveal their identities. It only showed that three people had signed up so far, out of the ten available slots. Including me that would be four. There was space for six more.

Should I ask Zhu Jiao to join us? Nah…the guy had been obnoxious lately, thinking he was some sort of hero in a xianxia story and feeling the compulsive need to save everyone. I would never hear the end of it if he rescued us.

Not to mention, even if he didn't come along, I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up out of the blue while we were all in danger, and haul our sorry asses out of the fire anyway. The fucking plot seemed to revolve around him.

”…I guess I'll find out on the day itself.”

Shaking my head, I studied the request on my smartphone and wondered out loud.

”Why they're sending us to the Toxic Marshes in the first place? That's like, the worst place ever for a mission.”

Then I realized why when I read further on.

”…the Black Venom Cult.”

The higher-ups wanted to send us students to eliminate an uprising demonic sect. Recently, new demonic sects had been springing to life all over the Great Zhou Empire. With the Imperial Guard stretched across the borders, and the Martial Arts Alliance greatly weakened after their abortive attempt to invade Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, the demonic martial artists were seizing the chance to strike out for glory and resources, raiding towns and plundering vulnerable villages, as well as kidnapping women and draining the men of their qi.

The Black Venom Cult in particular had its headquarters stationed in the Toxic Marshes. Which was fitting, now that I thought about it, given how most of their techniques focused on poison. No doubt they relied on the venomous creatures living in the Toxic Marshes to craft their weapons and tools of trade.

They were also the perfect enemy for me, given how I was completely immune to poison. I would love to see the looks on their faces when they stabbed me with say, a poison dagger, and I just shrugged it off. Those shocked expressions would be priceless.

Unfortunately, the nature of the mission meant that I was reluctant to ask Tong Xue and Lian Rou to come along for the mission. I would be worried about them, especially since they didn't share my resistance to poison. If Lian Rou was the same character from the original Spirit Realm, she would possess some knowledge of poisons and antidotes, which would mitigate the dangers she would face, but she wasn't the same character despite sharing the same name and serving the same role as her namesake (as Tang Qi Hong's best friend).

On the other hand, I wasn't worried about getting Zhu Jiao involved becase the bastard's plot armor was as thick as an encyclopedia. The fucker could get stung by a Thousand Venom Centipede and shrug it off because he would conveniently and coincidentally come across the antidote he needed, or his master Qi Lin would help him suppress the poison until he concocted the antidote he needed. More likely, though, he would be the one doing the saving and searching for an antidote to help all the girls (it was always a girl – the guys will die instantly, true to xianxia novels' form) who were poisoned. And get praised for it while gaining additional harem members.

All the more reason not to involve that guy…

Well, I was being selfish, of course. If I was thinking about my teammates' benefit and welfare, I should put aside my grudge and recruit Zhu Jiao at all costs. It was the ethical thing to do, plus it would save lives.

Sighing heavily, I picked up my smartphone and called Zhu Jiao.

”Hey, Fei Wu!”