Chapter 164: The Strongest and the Weakest

Seeing Lin QiYe's actions, Cao Yuan took a deep breath and slowly moved his hand away from the hilt of his sword…

The headless man, after bisecting Li Shaoguang, did not continue attacking Lin QiYe and Cao Yuan. Instead, he quietly stood still, his body slightly turned toward the direction where the two were standing, dragging his exaggeratedly shaped beheading sword as if deep in thought.

At the same time, a deep blackness spread from Lin QiYe's body, enveloping Cao Yuan as well. In this darkness, Lin QiYe consciously blocked their heartbeats from being transmitted, preventing any sound from reaching the outside.

It seemed that, after confirming no sound had been made, the headless man turned his body, dragging the beheading sword with him as he slowly moved forward again.

Just as the headless man's figure grew further and further away, Lin QiYe was about to let out a sigh of relief when, suddenly, the space around them shifted again.

The environment around them changed repeatedly, and by the time everything settled, the corridor ahead had turned into a dorm room, and the headless man had completely disappeared.

Lin QiYe retracted his Darkest Forbidden Ruins and released Cao Yuan's arm.

Seeing that the danger had passed, Cao Yuan let out a long sigh of relief…

"Li Shaoguang…" he began.

"Don't worry, he's not dead." Lin QiYe seemed to know what Cao Yuan was about to say and smiled as he spoke.

"Not dead?" Cao Yuan froze. "But he was clearly cut in half by that guy…"

"It was an illusion," Lin QiYe shook his head. "Just as the sword was about to strike Li Shaoguang, my spiritual sense detected the presence of two people appearing suddenly. They instantly moved Li Shaoguang out of the way and replaced him with a nearly identical replica of his body, which was then bisected."

"If I'm not mistaken, these are the tactics of the instructors."

Cao Yuan seemed to understand something. "You mean, the bodies we saw earlier in the cafeteria, and the female corpse in the corridor just now, were all fake?"

"Exactly. At first, I didn't notice it either, but if it weren't for the exchange just now, I wouldn't have realized this."

Cao Yuan sighed in relief, but the image of Li Shaoguang being instantly bisected flashed in his mind again, and he furrowed his brows slightly.

"That mysterious one's speed is too fast, and his strikes are incredibly sharp. In a direct confrontation, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"That's true, but his weaknesses are also very obvious."

"Sound?" After witnessing the previous scene, Cao Yuan also noticed the anomaly with the "mysterious" figure. It seemed that it only attacked objects that made sounds within its range.

Li Shaoguang was bisected because he spoke in front of it.

"Yes, but I wouldn't call that a weakness. It's more like… a trigger mechanism?" Lin QiYe pondered for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps its speed isn't that fast on its own, but it can keenly detect sound sources nearby and then move at nearly teleportation speed toward them…"

"No, that doesn't explain why its strike speed is so fast."

Lin QiYe seemed to have realized something, and his expression grew serious.

"What are you thinking?"

"Could it be… that as long as there is sound nearby, its speed gets enhanced? Or perhaps the louder the sound, the faster it moves?" Lin QiYe frowned. "If that's the case, this mysterious one is extremely dangerous. If it were just dropped in a corner of a modern city, it could cause terrifying casualties."

"A nightclub assassin, a KTV madman?"

"… That's the idea." Lin QiYe continued, "If that's the case, then its weakness is quite obvious. If we use some kind of Forbidden Object or intentionally reduce the noise when moving, even a Pool-level cultivator might be able to kill it."

"Anyway, if my guess is correct, this is a mysterious one that can be incredibly powerful at times, but also ridiculously weak at others."

"Then why didn't we just kill it earlier?"

"Because I only thought of this possibility now."

"…"

Lin QiYe shrugged. "I'm not a god, I can't think of everything in such a short time."

"So, what now?"

"We'll search slowly. If my deduction is correct, then this mysterious one can't still have spatial powers, which means there's likely a second mysterious one at the level of a River Realm cultivator."

"Got it."

Outside Building Three.

Bai Li Pangpang hurriedly ran to the door, panting heavily. He reached out and knocked on the glass door.

"Hey? Anyone there~"

He waited for a long time but heard no response. Finally, gritting his teeth, he pushed on the door. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.

Bai Li Pangpang took a couple of steps back, pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket, and hummed a little tune.

"Such a small trick, thinking you can stop me?"

He gripped the chalk and drew a medium-sized circle on the glass door. As soon as the powder connected at the ends, the center of the glass door began to ripple, and the glass in the circle disappeared completely.

Bai Li Pangpang easily slipped through the circular opening and entered Building Three.

"Molly! I'm here to rescue you!" Bai Li Pangpang said confidently. He took a step forward, but the space around him shifted immediately.

To Bai Li Pangpang's shock, the environment around him rapidly changed. The stairs ahead disappeared and were replaced by a simple storage room.

"What the hell? Is this Inception?" Bai Li Pangpang muttered to himself, looking around before choosing a direction to move forward.

After passing through several dorm rooms and corridors, Bai Li Pangpang became completely lost in this chaotic spatial maze. Though the building wasn't very large, it felt like no matter how he walked, he couldn't reach the end.

Bai Li Pangpang scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and shouted loudly:

"Molly!!

QiYe!!!

Cao Yuan!!!!

Where are you～～～"

His voice echoed through the maze of rooms, and as he listened to his echo growing fainter, he sighed helplessly…

Next—Next—Next!!

Just then, a faint dragging sound came from afar.

Bai Li Pangpang turned to look in the direction of the sound. A low gasp escaped him as the dragging noise grew louder, followed by the sound of doors opening and closing…

"Something's not right."

Bai Li Pangpang muttered to himself. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out the [One Turns to Three Thousand] sword from his pocket and tightly gripped it, then placed the [True Sight Eye] on his nose.

The dragging sound came closer and closer, seemingly just one room away. Bai Li Pangpang stood warily, his brows furrowed slightly…

At that moment, two figures suddenly emerged from the other side of the wall. One of them grabbed Bai Li Pangpang's wrist.

Bai Li Pangpang was about to shout when a hand quickly covered his mouth.

"Don't speak, come with me!" Molly glanced warily at the door behind her and whispered.