Chapter 96 - Phantylia, Have You Ever Had Your Head Smashed by Obsidian?

"An entire infinite world? Little friend Fu Zhu, what do you mean by that?"

After hearing Fu Zhu's words, Jing Yuan vaguely felt he had just brushed against something truly extraordinary.

Fu Zhu clapped his hands, casually concealing the Nether Portal again with blocks, and explained to Jing Yuan without looking back.

"Literally. This portal can lead to a world called Hell, an extremely perilous and endlessly vast world."

"Oh?"

Jing Yuan cast another curious glance towards the location of the Nether Portal, but unfortunately, Fu Zhu had already buried it under blocks.

If time permitted, he really would have wanted to take a look inside and see just how perilous a world named 'Hell' could be.

"Right, Jing..."

Fu Zhu was about to ask Jing Yuan something about Phantylia when, in the next second, Aha's laughter echoed in his mind.

"Haha, amazing! Little fellow, you've created something incredible! Just by peering through that portal, Aha can feel the aura of destruction and death overflowing from the other side! Oh, my dear friend, you're about to make big news!!"

Fu Zhu couldn't help but frown. The fact that Aha, this god of Elation, had popped up again meant something must have happened nearby that piqued His interest. And His mention of the portal implied that the appearance of the Nether Portal might lead to some unforeseen events.

"What do you mean? What do you mean I'm about to make big news?"

Fu Zhu felt it was absolutely necessary to get things clear. If the Nether Portal was going to cause him trouble, he would have to dismantle it. It was just one way to deal with Phantylia; he wasn't short of other methods.

Hearing Fu Zhu's question, Aha's voice, trying hard to suppress laughter, rang out again.

"Ahahaha, guess who the biggest newsmonger in the entire universe is?"

"The Aeon of Remembrance, Fuli?"

The only being Fu Zhu could think of related to 'newsmonger' was Fuli, the Aeon.

"Correct! Aha will reward you by keeping it a secret for a little while. Hehehe, that newsmonger has always been dedicated to collecting all the memories of the universe to reshape the world in the future. Guess, would the appearance of an unknown world drive Her mad? Every single flower and blade of grass in that 'Hell' you speak of is a memory that has never appeared in this universe. If She and Her little underlings find out about this, they'll definitely go crazy!!"

"Hehe, the more She wants to know about Hell, the more Aha won't tell Her. I wonder if that icy fellow will get worked up from anger?"

Hearing this, Fu Zhu felt a bit of a headache. He hadn't expected that Hell, a world even Steve found somewhat repulsive, would be so popular in this universe. It seemed it might genuinely become a hot tourist spot in the future.

However, while Fuli's attention on Hell would undoubtedly bring him some trouble, it was also an opportunity.

Perhaps he could use this to obtain the blessing of [Remembrance]. Each Path could provide him with various miraculous effects, and he was equally curious about what kind of buff the Path of [Remembrance] would grant him.

More importantly, the system had previously indicated that if he wanted to unlock Creative Mode, he had to gather the power of all Paths. Therefore, obtaining the Path of [Remembrance] was a must.

And now Aha would help him temporarily delay [Remembrance]'s discovery of Hell, so he could completely deal with Phantylia's matter before considering obtaining the Path of [Remembrance].

"Little friend Fu Zhu? Fu Zhu?"

Jing Yuan's call snapped Fu Zhu out of his thoughts. He quickly turned to Jing Yuan and subconsciously asked.

"What's wrong?"

Jing Yuan frowned, looking Fu Zhu up and down with his arms crossed, then stepped forward and grabbed Fu Zhu's wrist.

"Pardon my rudeness."

Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes, using his own power to carefully inspect Fu Zhu from head to toe. Fortunately, he didn't find anything unusual.

Apart from the multiple Path powers on Fu Zhu, which surprised him a little, there was indeed nothing abnormal about Fu Zhu. This made him sigh in relief.

"Jing Yuan?"

Fu Zhu looked somewhat puzzled at Jing Yuan, whose hand was on his wrist. The posture was a bit like an old traditional Chinese doctor taking a pulse, but he didn't understand why Jing Yuan was suddenly doing this.

Jing Yuan released Fu Zhu's wrist and explained with a relaxed expression, "A moment ago, you suddenly called out to me and then fell silent. I thought Phantylia had previously planted something in you, and calling my name triggered some kind of restriction she had placed in your body. But now it seems I was overthinking it."

After hearing Jing Yuan's explanation, Fu Zhu couldn't help but shake his head with a smile, "No, I just got distracted by suddenly thinking of something else. It has nothing to do with Phantylia."

It was best not to tell Jing Yuan about Aha and Fuli, lest Jing Yuan lose focus at this critical juncture. They just needed to concentrate on dealing with Phantylia.

Seeing Fu Zhu say this, and given that he indeed hadn't found anything abnormal on Fu Zhu, Jing Yuan didn't press further about why Fu Zhu had been distracted.

Although his opponent was Phantylia, one of the Lords of Annihilation, he was confident that any restriction she placed on Fu Zhu wouldn't escape his notice. Since his inspection showed nothing, then there was nothing.

"Then let's get back to what we were talking about. What did you call me for just now?"

Fu Zhu nodded, but didn't explain immediately. Instead, he beckoned Jing Yuan out of the wooden hut.

"Let's go outside first."

Fu Zhu led Jing Yuan to an empty space outside the wooden hut, then placed the Enchanting Table and bookshelves in a specific arrangement.

Seeing this, Jing Yuan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"I didn't expect little friend Fu Zhu to possess such a divine ability. But why do you carry so many bookshelves with you?"

Fu Zhu, while stuffing books into the Enchanting Table, half-jokingly said to Jing Yuan, "Isn't there an old saying on the Luofu? 'Knowledge is power.' I can obtain certain specific powers through these books, and this is related to what I want to discuss with you."

"Oh?"

Jing Yuan's interest was immediately piqued. His eyes were fixed on the Enchanting Table Fu Zhu was operating. His intuition told him that this Enchanting Table, surrounded by so many bookshelves, was definitely key to Fu Zhu obtaining that 'certain power' he spoke of.

"What I want to ask you is, what species is Phantylia?"

Faced with a formidable enemy like a Lord of Annihilation, Fu Zhu had to exhaust every possible means to strengthen himself. The progress with his SlashBlades was very slow. Although he had already built a portal to Hell, Phantylia could return at any moment, so he naturally couldn't go to Hell to gather materials for stronger SlashBlades. Thus, he could only rely on vanilla methods to enhance himself.

And in vanilla Minecraft, apart from Redstone technology, the strongest offensive means was enchanting.

Among them, the enchantments that most directly increased Steve's damage were Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, and Smite.

Fu Zhu was now asking Jing Yuan about Phantylia's species precisely to apply a targeted enchantment and maximize his damage output.

Hearing Fu Zhu ask this, Jing Yuan crossed his arms and couldn't help but ponder, trying his best to search his mind for information related to Phantylia.

"The Lords of Annihilation are all very mysterious, and there's very little information about them. Most people only know their titles. However, it just so happens that I do know what species Phantylia's true form belongs to."

"What is it?"

"Suiyang. A type of being that feeds on the emotions of intelligent life forms, somewhat similar to ghosts. Can you understand?"

Fu Zhu's eyes involuntarily widened, and even his tone carried a hint of excitement.

"You mean, her true form just so happens to be a species similar to ghosts?"

Jing Yuan nodded, glanced sideways, and saw the irrepressible smile on Fu Zhu's lips. He couldn't help but chuckle along.

"Looking at your expression, little friend Fu Zhu, is there some good news?"

"Mm, it counts as good news, but I'm not sure if it will take effect yet."

The Smite enchantment could inflict a massive amount of additional damage to undead-type creatures. According to Jing Yuan's description, Phantylia's Suiyang species had a high probability of being classified as undead.

However, this was merely a guess. After all, in MC, creatures like Ghasts, which appeared to be undead, were surprisingly not affected by Smite.

So, Fu Zhu still had some doubts whether the Suiyang species could truly benefit from the damage boost of Smite. But if they were indeed countered by the Smite enchantment...

Fu Zhu dared not imagine how much damage he could deal to Phantylia with a fully stacked SlashBlade combo plus a Level 5 Smite enchantment in one slash.

Jing Yuan, standing to the side, was very curious about the "good news" Fu Zhu mentioned, but since Fu Zhu wouldn't elaborate, and it concerned his secrets, Jing Yuan couldn't press him. He could only change the subject.

"Hmm, calculating the time, Phantylia shouldn't be delayed much longer by the tasks you gave her. She should be back soon. I also need to maintain some distance from her, otherwise it will affect your plan. Is there anything else you need my assistance with, Fu Zhu?"

Fu Zhu thought for a moment. The main reason he called Jing Yuan over was to have an extra trump card. MC-related operations still had to be handled by him.

"Hmm, there is one thing I need your help with."

"Feel free to ask."

"If Phantylia enters that portal later, I'll need you to destroy the portal on this side."

Jing Yuan was taken aback by this. Fu Zhu had built the Nether Portal himself; he should know better than anyone how to destroy it. Such a task should logically be done by Fu Zhu himself for greater efficiency. Why assign it to him?

Fu Zhu saw Jing Yuan's expression and guessed what he was thinking, then explained.

"This portal is two-way. I need to follow Phantylia into Hell and destroy the portal on the other side. Otherwise, Phantylia can return through the portal on that side."

Upon hearing Fu Zhu's arrangement, Jing Yuan immediately shook his head and rejected the plan.

"No, it's too dangerous for you, little friend Fu Zhu, to face a Lord of Annihilation alone. Let me go to the other side to destroy the portal. After all, this is fundamentally a Luofu matter. The Astral Express has already helped so much, Jing Yuan is deeply grateful. We absolutely cannot let you risk your lives any further!"

Looking at Jing Yuan's serious expression, Fu Zhu just raised an eyebrow with a relaxed smile. "Won't I be facing Phantylia alone here on this deserted island later anyway? What's there to worry about?"

"This is different!"

Although Fu Zhu would later be alone with Phantylia on this deserted island, it was still within the confines of the Luofu. Jing Yuan was confident he could protect Fu Zhu from Phantylia's grasp. But in another world, the situation would be entirely different.

If Fu Zhu asked him to destroy the portal on this side, he would inevitably be unable to go to the other side to assist Fu Zhu. During that time, Fu Zhu could very well meet with an accident.

Fu Zhu, however, just chuckled lightly. If he hadn't unlocked Survival Mode, he definitely wouldn't have adopted such an aggressive plan.

But now, he was Steve in Survival Mode; life was the cheapest commodity for him.

"Jing Yuan, I understand the situation in Hell better than you do, so I have to be the one to go. You don't need to argue with me. Do you think I'm the kind of person who would sacrifice myself for outsiders?"

You are!

Jing Yuan silently added in his heart, then looked at Fu Zhu with a somewhat complicated expression before finally sighing. He raised his hands and gave Fu Zhu a deep bow with clasped fists.

This surprised Fu Zhu somewhat. Jing Yuan was a General of the Luofu, one of the Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance, yet he was performing such a grand salute to him!

"No matter what, please prioritize your own safety, Fu Zhu. The Luofu will forever owe you and the Astral Express an unrepayable debt of gratitude!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the Divination Commission.

Fu Xuan had received Welt's message early on. After activating the Matrix of Prescience, she waited for Welt and the others to bring over the captured Kafka.

Although keeping the Matrix of Prescience continuously active consumed a significant amount of energy, fortunately, Welt and his group did not keep her waiting long.

In just a few minutes, Welt, March 7th, and Xing, escorting Kafka along with a team of reinforcing Cloud Knights, appeared in Fu Xuan's line of sight.

Seeing them return safely, Fu Xuan also felt relieved. She walked over and nodded to them.

"Thank you for your hard work. Leave the subsequent interrogation to me. If any of you are interested in the Stellaron Hunter's motives, you may stay and observe the interrogation process."

Welt naturally wouldn't refuse Fu Xuan's suggestion. They were very curious as to why the Stellaron Hunters would go out of their way to come to Jarilo-VI to inform them that a Stellaron was about to explode on the Luofu.

However, Welt naturally wouldn't state this reason aloud, opting for a different phrasing.

"Hmm, we'll stay then. The Astral Express is also curious about the Stellaron Hunter's objectives."

"Very well."

Fu Xuan nodded and gestured for the Cloud Knights to escort Kafka to the center of the Matrix of Prescience, preparing to use it to uncover the Stellaron Hunter's motives.

But just as Welt and the other two were preparing to observe, March 7th's phone rang inopportunely.

Seeing everyone look at her, March 7th chuckled sheepishly, scratching her head. She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone, intending to switch it to silent mode.

However, as she was about to silence the ringer, she subconsciously glanced at the message. Seeing it was from Fu Zhu, she couldn't resist tapping it open to read the content.

[Fu Zhu: March, help me bring the Iron Golem to this location. I need its help.]

[Fu Zhu: [Location]]

After reading Fu Zhu's message, March 7th quickly called out to Welt and Xing.

"Uncle Yang, Xing, it's a message from Fu Zhu."

"Hmm?"

Welt and Xing, hearing it was from Fu Zhu, both leaned over to March 7th's side to read the message.

Xing just glanced at it and couldn't help but ask with some bewilderment, "Old Bro actually needs the Iron Golem to help him? Wasn't he just going to cut down a tree?"

Welt also found it quite strange. Although he still didn't know exactly what level Fu Zhu's strength was at, it was definitely not low. For someone like him to actually need the Iron Golem to come and support him?

This clearly indicated that something had happened on his end that he couldn't handle alone.

Just as Welt was still speculating about what might have happened to Fu Zhu, Xing and March 7th were already getting restless. They both looked at Welt and said in unison.

"Uncle Yang, let's go to Fu Zhu's side!"

Although they were very curious about the Stellaron Hunter's affairs, compared to Fu Zhu, they were more inclined to help Fu Zhu first.

Welt didn't hesitate much either. He turned directly to Fu Xuan, who was about to begin interrogating Kafka, and said, "Lady Diviner, we'll have to skip observing the interrogation. We need to go support our comrade. We'll ask you about the Stellaron Hunter's matters later."

Fu Xuan was a bit surprised that Welt's group changed their minds so quickly. She couldn't help but ask, "Is something wrong on Fu Zhu's end?"

"Yes, we're not yet clear what happened to him, but we've decided to go check on him first."

"Alright, then you should go. Leave things here to me."

"Okay, then we'll entrust this to you, Lady Diviner."

After bidding farewell to Fu Xuan, Welt and the others quickly left the Divination Commission, planning to return to the guesthouse first to pick up the Iron Golem before rejoining Fu Zhu.

Kafka, who had been escorted into the Matrix of Prescience, was also somewhat surprised that Welt's group had left so abruptly. Even if the script had been largely rewritten, some plot points should still roughly align with what Elio foresaw.

But now, they had actually left her without a second thought?!

It seemed the deviation in the plot was quite significant. She couldn't stay in the Divination Commission any longer.

On the deserted island in Scalegorge Waterscape, after seeing Jing Yuan off, Fu Zhu waited alone outside the wooden hut for Phantylia's arrival.

Not long after, Phantylia, riding the same cargo starskiff from before, returned. This time, she also brought the items Fu Zhu had previously asked her to procure.

As soon as Phantylia jumped off the starskiff, Fu Zhu approached with a smile.

"Miss Tingyun, thank you for your trouble."

Phantylia, who was initially a bit resentful about Fu Zhu constantly ordering her around, now had to force a relaxed expression.

"Not at all. It is this humble girl's honor to be of service to Mr. Fu. Would Mr. Fu like to inspect these goods?"

Fu Zhu, however, waved his hand dismissively. "No need. I trust Miss Tingyun's judgment. Just have someone unload the goods."

Phantylia nodded and turned to instruct the pilot to unload all the items.

Fu Zhu stood aside, watching the pilot unload. Once everything was unloaded, he told the pilot he could leave.

Phantylia, standing nearby, was slightly puzzled by Fu Zhu's apparent haste in sending the pilot away.

Fu Zhu, noticing Phantylia looking at him, smiled very naturally and winked at her.

"I don't wish for anyone to disturb our time together."

Phantylia also narrowed her eyes, a charming smile on her face as she nodded lightly.

"The same goes for me, Mr. Fu~"

Just then, a loud clap of thunder echoed in the sky. Dark, oppressive clouds blotted out the original sunlight in a matter of breaths. The surroundings instantly dimmed, and large raindrops began to fall.

Fu Zhu tilted his head up to look at the storm clouds, where lightning flashed intermittently, then turned to Phantylia with a half-smile.

"Miss Tingyun, it's about to rain. Why don't you come inside with me to take shelter?"

"Alright."

The two, each harboring their own ulterior motives, exchanged a smile and walked into the hut side by side.

Once inside, Fu Zhu immediately grabbed Phantylia's arm, pulled her, and pushed her against the wall.

Suddenly grabbed by Fu Zhu, Phantylia was startled. She subconsciously wanted to resist, but found that her strength was no match for Fu Zhu's. She was pressed directly against the wall.

A chill instantly ran down Phantylia's spine. Just as she thought Fu Zhu had seen through her identity, she looked up and met Fu Zhu's somewhat amorous gaze.

Fu Zhu's right hand was propped against the wall by Phantylia's face, a standard 'kabedon' pose.

"Miss Tingyun, I've waited for this moment for a very long time."

A cold smile also tugged at the corners of Phantylia's lips. She had also waited for this moment for a very long time!

"I don't understand what Mr. Fu is saying~ Perhaps... you could be a little clearer?"

Phantylia quietly began to gather power in her right palm, slowly raising it towards Fu Zhu's chest, preparing to deliver a fatal blow and then possess him.

Fu Zhu naturally noticed Phantylia's subtle movements. He不动声色 (bù dòng shēng sè - without batting an eyelid / calmly) gripped a water bucket and a lava bucket, one in each hand.

"Clearer? Of course. For example... should I perhaps not call you Tingyun, but address you as... Phantylia?"

Phantylia, who had been maintaining a charming facade, widened her eyes when she heard her name uttered by Fu Zhu.

How did he know her identity?!

And he knew her identity yet still dared to be alone with her? Could it be that this wooden hut... was a trap?!

And at that very moment, Fu Zhu decisively raised his right hand and poured the lava bucket directly onto Phantylia's head. In an instant, her entire body was engulfed in raging flames.

The sudden, intense burning sensation made Phantylia let out a muffled grunt.

Normally, she wouldn't fear this level of pain, but the body she was currently using, specifically designed to impersonate Tingyun, granted her senses that Suiyang typically did not possess.

Before Phantylia could even react and escape the lava, the water bucket in Fu Zhu's left hand followed suit.

"Let me share a fun fact with you, Phantylia. Water plus lava equals obsidian!"

PS: a three-in-one chapter