Chapter 153 Psychic Energy Pathways and Embracing the Elixir <TOC> Chapter 154 Mercury
Translator: SumTLMan
After the turmoil of the Blue Blood Gang, the entire Orissa jurisdiction was severely damaged. But the reason humans were able to survive in the dangerous wasteland was their tenacious vitality.
Those civilians who had been implanted with enslavement seeds had the psychic energy marks in their brains removed by Li Mei.
Thanks to her meticulous control of psychic energy, the vast majority of civilians only experienced memory decline and impaired judgment. Only a few people, who had been implanted with enslavement seeds too brutally, developed intellectual disabilities directly.
Li Mu assigned them all to the Naga Farm, which had been razed by the Blue Blood Gang. Although the buildings in the Naga Farm had been destroyed, the Blue Blood Gang did not completely burn the cotton in the fields. With some rescue efforts, there should still be a meager harvest.
The farm had abundant water sources and very fertile land, thanks to the persistent investment of the former farm owner.
The nearby farm owners and settlements all coveted this piece of land. But as a security officer, Li Mu could make decisions in the entire Orissa jurisdiction while bypassing the Pancaya Council.
Li Mu rode his horse through the cotton fields of the farm.
Several scorch marks were visible in the neatly arranged cotton fields. Earlier, the Blue Blood Gang’s marauders had thrown several torches into the cotton fields, but fortunately, the cotton was not fully mature and had a high water content, preventing the fire from spreading.
The civilians were busy in the cotton fields, cleaning up the buildings left behind by the fire and building houses with tin, wood, and straw.
The most urgent task was to repair the outer fence to defend against swamp wolves sneaking into the settlement to prey on people.
A few intellectually disabled people were sitting on the ground playing with mud, making cheerful babbling sounds.
Li Mu’s precondition for allocating this land to them was that they take care of these mentally disabled people.
The busy civilians saw Li Mu on his horse and immediately knelt down respectfully, kissing the path where his horse had passed, and loudly praising the security officer’s kindness.
He could have sold all the slaves, which would have been a fortune that most people could not ignore.
Li Mu simply circled the farm, making sure no one dared to encroach on it, and then left.
The horse galloped in small steps across the wilderness, and even so, its speed was still astonishingly fast, bringing up a gust of wind.
Suddenly, Li Mu instantly grabbed the Blade of Annihilation hanging on the saddle, his right arm turning pitch black, with layers of psychic energy scales emerging.
The sharp blade light burst like thunder.
“Bang!”
A loud noise, and sparks erupted.
Li Mu felt an almost irresistible force transmitted through the Blade of Annihilation.
“Hum!”
The blade trembled violently, and he retreated several steps along with his horse. With each step, the ground shook incessantly, with broken stones and weeds flying wildly like scattered flowers.
If it weren’t for the horse’s strong physique and the implanted holy relic of the Beast of Darkness, it would have been directly killed by the shock at this moment.
“Who is it?!”
This was the first thought that came to his mind. Immediately, he decisively activated the holy relic Shock.
The longsword trembled violently, emitting a mournful howl.
The enemy’s strength exceeded his expectations; if he was hesitant, he might have been killed directly.
Dao Li was in mental communication with him, letting out a long neigh, ignoring the soreness of his muscles and bones, and accelerated violently to distance himself from the attacker.
Only by charging on horseback could he maximize his lethality.
A figure shot out from the waist-high withered grass, holding an iron spear and stabbing directly.
His burst was so swift that a blast sounded in the air, actually catching up with the fully accelerating Dao Li.
Li Mu circulated the Divine Eye technique, staring intently at the attacker’s shoulders and waist.
The spear attack utilized the waist’s strength, so staring at the spearhead was useless; as long as the opponent shook it, it would dazzle his eyes.
The man rushed forward, leaped up, twisted his waist, and thrust the spear.
The spearhead pierced through the air, and a circle of white airwaves exploded along the spearhead, causing the surrounding weeds to be uprooted by the force.
Li Mu held the sword with both hands and diagonally parried the spearhead.
“Bang!”
With a sound like a bell, the spear in the air was like a coiled snake, ready to change its attack at any time.
Under normal circumstances, Li Mu’s sword would have allowed the spear to rebound like a taut bow, and as long as the opponent slightly shook it, it would definitely pierce a hole in his body.
However, with Shock activated, the terrifying vibrations instantly dissipated the strength on the spear. The sturdy spear shook like a noodle, making it impossible for the opponent to grasp.
Li Mu instantly activated his psychic energy, stimulating the holy relic on the Blade of Annihilation.
Terrifying psychic energy surged, and the Blade of Annihilation instantly spewed out an incredibly hot flame of annihilation, turning into a fire dragon.
“Dragon of the Blazing Sun!”
This happened almost in an instant, and the opponent had no time to react, being hit squarely by the Dragon of the Blazing Sun.
The black fire dragon contained a terrifying destructive force and power, dragging the opponent along the ground, leaving a charred trench several meters long.
The air expanded and exploded under the high temperature, emitting a thunderous roar. The flames of annihilation burned fiercely, trapping the opponent like a black sun, and would not extinguish until the psychic energy was exhausted.
“Boom!”
A spearhead broke through the annihilation flame, followed by a dragon-like explosion, scattering the black sun formed by the annihilation flame.
Li Mu’s pupils shrank; this was definitely not something a fourth-level power could achieve.
Only now did he see the opponent’s face clearly. He had the standard appearance of a Xia person, and from his appearance, he seemed to be in his fifties, although his actual age should be much older.
His face was weather-beaten, with extremely sharp eyes, and his short gray hair was like a hedgehog’s, standing on end. He was tall, close to two meters, with well-developed muscles, like tightly coiled ropes wrapped around his body.
“You’re quite impressive, indeed worthy of practicing the Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield.”
He showed Li Mu a smile that was definitely not friendly.
“You can call me Yuan Tong. Zhang Jiedu sent me a letter of introduction, saying that there was a young man who was very talented and qualified to inherit the Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield, so he asked me to come and have a look.”
Enhancer-type awakeners held a high status in the Xia Empire, and the Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield, as one of the strongest energy techniques in the empire, was passed down very carefully. It required first being assessed by a Jiedu for eligibility, then recommended and tested by another Jiedu.
Such tests were usually very strict and dangerous. Both the recommender and the tester were responsible for the inheritor. If any betrayal or leakage of the inheritance occurred, the two Jiedus would be responsible for cleaning up the mess.
“Since you’ve already passed the test of the Book of Heroes and obtained the holy relic Shock, the test will be much simpler. We just need to see if your strength is sufficient, so as not to tarnish the reputation of this energy technique.”
Yuan Tong sighed. Among the Seven Demon Calamities, the other calamities occasionally appeared, and there were even prodigies like Li Mei who inherited multiple Demon Calamity holy relics.
He hadn’t expected that Li Mu, a Xia person who had come from another land, would inherit the Shock, which even he had missed back in the day.
Shock was truly the most suitable holy relic for enhancer-type awakeners.
When Li Mu took the first sneak attack from him, he was already qualified. Yuan Tong wanted to test his limit, so he pursued with another attack.
He was ready to withdraw this attack at any time, but he didn’t expect to suffer a small loss under the Shock.
The annihilation flame seemed to be incredibly powerful, but it couldn’t break through the defense of the Dragon Roar Golden Bell Shield. Instead, Shock made his scalp tingle.
Chapter 153 Psychic Energy Pathways and Embracing the Elixir <TOC> Chapter 154 Mercury