"I should be safe here. At least I don’t have to worry about Fan Fengfei finding me." Li Yao glanced around and sighed in relief.
He sank straight to the ground to rest.
The bloodline awakening had already left him severely drained due to insufficient resources.
And now, after that mad dash, his spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak.
If he didn’t rest now, he would surely cause himself real harm.
But he couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face.
He’d finally escaped.
’I thought it was a heaven-sent opportunity, but who knew she had ulterior motives.’
’I have to be more careful about who and what I trust in the future.’ Li Yao knew he had been too naive.
He’d actually fallen for that old "pie in the sky" routine.
"No need to wait for the future. You can solve that problem today," a voice spoke from beside him.
At the same moment, a powerful gust of wind howled toward him.
He didn’t even have time to react before his head took a massive blow. The immense force sent him flying, tumbling for over ten meters.
He tried to struggle up, but he had no strength. His mind was a chaotic mess, completely unable to control his body.
Qi Suian was astonished to see Li Yao was still alive.
’His head didn’t explode from that punch? That’s just unnatural.’
’The Dragon Whale Bloodline, and at a level that traces back to a True Dragon or a Divine Whale.’
’No wonder he survived a punch from the Tai Sui God.’
’His physical durability is truly terrifying.’ From this alone, Qi Suian could tell how frighteningly powerful Li Yao would become if he lived to realize his full potential.
His base physique stats weren’t high, but he possessed various abilities that reduced damage and enhanced his defenses.
Otherwise, if his physique stats were high, he wouldn’t have been unable to react.
’I was just going to kill him, but now I see it’s necessary to extract the Dragon Whale Bloodline from his body.’
Qi Suian was very keen to study the principles behind bloodlines, to understand how one species could possess the lineage of another.
The Tai Sui God closed the distance to Li Yao’s side with extreme speed.
In less than a second, Li Yao had gone from being unable to get up to struggling to raise the upper half of his body.
’His recovery speed is also far beyond normal.’
"No wonder protagonists can always punch above their weight and kill stronger opponents. It’d be embarrassing to go out without some kind of cheat," Qi Suian muttered, and immediately began to draw blood.
Qi Suian had plenty of them himself.
It was just a brawl between lucky, cheating geniuses, and you had to be at least one of the three to compete.
However, after drawing one vial and having the Tai sui God analyze it, Qi Suian discovered something was wrong.
’Why is this just regular blood?’
’Try a different spot—the brain, the heart, the bone marrow.’ Having identified the problem, Qi Suian decisively changed his target.
The term "bloodline" contains the word "blood," so his first thought was naturally the blood itself.
He’d never had a bloodline himself; he was just a perfectly ordinary, low-potential human.
So he had no idea how bloodlines worked. Having captured his target, his first instinct was naturally to check the blood.
The AI quickly began to extract samples according to Qi Suian’s instructions.
After multiple attempts, it finally found an unusual liquid substance in the brainstem.
It possessed a sort of Extraordinary, domineering aura... Although it was strange to use such a word to describe a liquid, that was indeed how Qi Suian perceived it.
"Take the entire brain," Qi Suian decided after a moment’s thought.
Simply extracting this liquid substance—the source of the Dragon Whale Bloodline—risked rendering it inert.
Now that he had found its natural container, it was best to take the whole package.
The Tai Sui God immediately produced a sterile nutrient pod, reached in, and dug out the entire brain.
Having one’s brain dug out was a sure death, so to keep the brain viable, it had to be stored properly.
Brain extraction wasn’t hard, especially when one could afford to violently shatter the skull.
The nerves were carefully severed, and the brain was placed in the nutrient pod while still viable.
It even thoughtfully connected each nerve to a corresponding electronic device, simulating the illusion that the body was still alive.
As for Li Yao’s consciousness, it was naturally forced into a state of hibernation.
Though he was now just a brain in a pod, his state was not much different from being asleep.
Once the delicate procedure was complete, the device was stored in the Subspace Pocket.
"Too bad Li Yao isn’t dead yet. The protagonist’s halo hasn’t arrived," Qi Suian noted with a hint of regret.
Still, he didn’t think his opponent could stir up any trouble.
He was just a brain, and one that Qi Suian had under tight control.
With inferior strength and a weaker protagonist halo, he had no capacity for resistance.
’Time to loot the body. He’s a protagonist, after all. Maybe he has something good on him.’
’Even if I don’t find anything good, I can still toss the body into the Melting Furnace for fuel.’
[Sect Leader of the Dragon Whale Sect detected approaching at high speed. Evacuate immediately!]
Before Qi Suian could even begin, the AI displayed this warning.
And without waiting for Qi Suian to confirm, the Tai Sui God was already moving.
A colossal Divine Will Dragon Whale came crashing down. If the Tai Sui God hadn’t been fast enough...
...both it and Qi Suian would have been turned into pulp.
After they dodged, however, the Divine Will Dragon Whale simply hovered in midair, not crashing into the ground.
It hovered just a finger’s breadth from Li Yao’s body.
"You’ve done well. Very well!" Fan Fengfei arrived to the sight of Li Yao’s hollowed-out skull, her rage boiling over.
All her plans, ruined by some nobody.
With Li Yao’s death, everything would be ruined.
Fan Fengfei’s dream of becoming a living Divine Being was now impossible.
Of course, she had countermeasures in place. She had detected Li Yao the moment he left Longjing City.
That was why she had immediately given up on killing Qi Suian, rushing instead to retrieve Li Yao.
In the end, however, she was a step too slow. By the time she arrived, she found Li Yao’s brainless body.
If Li Yao’s protagonist halo had been stronger than Qi Suian’s, Fan Fengfei wouldn’t have arrived a step too late.
"Don’t be so hasty. He’s not dead. He’s still alive," Qi Suian said, beginning to restore Li Yao’s body.
’Dead just because he’s missing a brain?’
’A normal person would be, yes. But for me, that’s not necessarily the case.’
As long as the body remained viable, the presence of a brain wasn’t important.
Fan Fengfei’s expression grew even colder as she watched Qi Suian’s actions.
She could indeed sense that the life force in Li Yao’s body, which had been about to fade into nothing, was beginning to recover.
Even without a brain, he was still ’alive.’
"They say Bi Gan could live without a heart, so it’s perfectly normal for this one to live without a brain."
"You just need to find a sacred relic for him that can regenerate flesh. Growing a brain back will be no problem."
"As for the side effects, well, he’ll turn into an idiot, but I’m sure you won’t mind that," Qi Suian said, tossing out the Ring of Unwavering Loyalty.
He kept a firm grip on Li Yao’s body, however.
From her reaction, it was clear that the sacred relic and Li Yao were equally important to her.
If Qi Suian wanted to get out of this alive, there was only one path forward.
He had to stabilize the situation.
He couldn’t hand over Li Yao just yet. He had been ’revived,’ but he wasn’t completely ’alive.’
Fan Fengfei coldly caught the Ring of Unwavering Loyalty, her expression unchanged.
"He lives, you live." Four words spat from her mouth.
Qi Suian knew perfectly well that he couldn’t defeat an enraged Fan Fengfei. With Li Yao no longer a burden to her, even escaping would be difficult.
The speed of his Wind Master Aviation System and miniature elemental particle accelerator was no match for her Divine Will Dragon Whale.
He’d make it a hundred meters at most before she pulverized him.
"Wrong. He lives only if *I* live."
"If I die, he dies too," Qi Suian said with a smirk, pulling out the boy’s brain.
"Look, the brain’s still alive. The body is gone, but the original part is right here."
"If you kill me, the brain is gone."
"Of course, there’s always the chance you could loot it from my inventory after you kill me," Qi Suian said, his voice laced with malice.
This sent another surge of rage through Fan Fengfei, and she lunged to snatch the nutrient pod from Qi Suian’s hands.
But Qi Suian was prepared. The moment he finished his display, he tucked it back into his Subspace Pocket, just a hair faster than she was.
At the same time, he yanked up Li Yao’s body to use as a shield.
This forced Fan Fengfei to retract her attack.
Otherwise, her attack would have landed on Li Yao, not Qi Suian.
Qi Suian and the Tai Sui God had struggled to react. It wasn’t a defense at all, but a pre-emptive maneuver based on anticipation.
That’s the only reason it looked like they could keep up with her attack.
"Leave this area. In half an hour... no, fifteen minutes, you can come back." Qi Suian had been about to say half an hour, but that was too long; she would most likely never agree to a time she felt was unreasonable.
So he cut the time in half.
"Impossible. You must..." Fan Fengfei refused without hesitation.
Qi Suian heard the first few words and cut her off. "There is nothing I ’must’ do. Either you listen to me, or all your plans come to nothing."
’At this point, I have to be the one setting the terms, and I have to be tough.’
’Otherwise, if I show any weakness, I’ll never be able to leave once Fan Fengfei gets what she wants.’
"I am already being very sincere. I was going to say half an hour, now I only ask for fifteen," Qi Suian’s tone grew cold. "My life is cheap. To be buried with the Dragon Whale Sect’s prized disciple... I wouldn’t be at a loss."
"But you are the Sect Leader of the Dragon Whale Sect. If your plan fails, your future will be affected as well."
"I’m just asking for a way out. Why must you haggle over the details with me?" Qi Suian said.
Listening to Qi Suian, Fan Fengfei wished she could smash him into a pulp and ferment him into a fine paste. He was making himself sound so reasonable while making her carry all the blame.
"Fine!" In the end, she forced out the single word, agreeing to Qi Suian’s demand.
As for Li Yao’s brain, Fan Fengfei didn’t mention it. She knew Qi Suian wouldn’t give it to her; it would be meaningless to ask.