Chapter 49: Cooperation

  The other party, whether looking at Long Xing or Yi Shui, had a sinister expression that made Long Xing feel extremely uncomfortable. Turning his head to glance at Yi Shui, he found her still standing in the same spot, clearly intending to join forces with him against the man before them. Turning back to look at the people on the boat, Long Xing didn't waste any words and launched a swift attack with his dagger. Long Xing's attacks had always been unpredictable, derived from the evolution of ninja techniques - after all, ninjas also had their own strengths.

  When he reappeared, he was already behind the man. With a swing of his dagger, he chopped at the man, but the man's movements were not much slower than Long Xing's. He jumped onto the shore with a leap and then looked at Long Xing with great interest.

  After seeing Long Xing's eyes, he no longer held back. With a wave of his hands, a grayish powder-like substance spread towards Long Xing.

  After knowing this person's ability, Long Xing tried to avoid his attack, flashed and appeared behind the man, then stabbed at him with a dagger.

  It seems to know the strange attack of Long Xing, and suddenly a larger puff of powder appeared behind that person. The attack of Long Xing happened to pierce into that puff of powder, and then even stranger things happened. The dagger stuck in the powder was slowly being swallowed up and disappeared bit by bit until it was gone. Then, Long Xing's hand also came into contact with the puff of powder.

  Right after that, Long Xing's fingertips were also engulfed, and just as they came into contact with the powder, Long Xing began to retract his strength. When the engulfment reached his own fingers, Long Xing forcibly pulled his arm back to avoid unnecessary harm.

  As he withdrew his arm, Long Xing jumped back in terror, staring at the man with a mixture of fear and disbelief. He then glanced at Yishui standing behind him, watching everything unfold. Clenching his fist tightly, he glared fiercely at the man. However, after clenching his fist, no one noticed that Long Xing's finger bones had miraculously regrown. This was Long Xing's latest ability - rapid recovery.

  The person opposite seemed to be gloating, looking at Long Xing with a manic gaze and laughing loudly as if he had seen something extremely funny. Then, just as the man was halfway through his laughter, he suddenly accelerated, two grayish-white lights rapidly charging towards Long Xing and Yi Shui, their speed at least three times faster than the previous slow attack.

  Long Xing appeared beside Yishui in a flash, then rolled out his special ability from his body, and started exploding next to the devourer. Afterwards, Long Xing hugged Yishui tightly and began sprinting wildly.

  Long Xing was very aware of the situation, at least he wouldn't engage in a hard fight with someone he couldn't beat. This was also something he learned from the Dark Temple last time. Impulsiveness doesn't solve anything, being able to cut down the enemy is what matters. So, as far as Long Xing was concerned, this battle basically had no chance of winning, because according to Yishui, this guy was even more powerful than the Dark Emperor.

  Yi Shui looked at Long Xing with a blushing face, somewhat at a loss, shocked by his running speed, which was even faster than a car. If she had known he could run that fast, she wouldn't have taken a taxi to get here. What's more shocking is that this guy didn't hesitate to hug her, although she knew it was for her own good, but Yi Shui still felt a little uncomfortable in her heart, as no man other than her grandfather had ever hugged her before.

  "That guy is injured, yeah looks like he was hurt pretty badly in this explosion, but you're also an Esper?" Iori said as she let Ryujin hold her, originally still a bit shy-looking, but after saying that sentence, became somewhat indifferent.

  The footsteps suddenly stopped, and Long Xing felt a bit incredulous. Should he go back to give the finishing blow or continue running? This question temporarily troubled him. Long Xing couldn't understand why this guy who could devour abilities didn't devour his own explosion. After thinking for a moment, Long Xing thought it might be a trap. In any case, this guy's ability should be among the top few in the world of ability users. After a fierce internal struggle, Long Xing decided to leave first. He couldn't afford to act impulsively, and if he dragged Yi Shui into it, it would be too much to bear. With that thought, Long Xing hugged Yi Shui tightly and retreated in another direction at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

  Actually, Long Xing didn't know that this was a great opportunity to kill the Devourer, but after his previous excitement, he simply didn't dare believe it was true, so he chose to leave temporarily. What he didn't know was that not killing the Devourer now would bring him immense trouble in the near future. Of course, these are all later events, and for now, let's not mention them.

  After leaving the previous place, Long Xing asked about the current situation all the way, and finally, even Long Xing himself didn't know how far he had run. Then, with Yishui, they stopped at a high bridge.

  He put the water on the ground, and Long Xing looked at the scenery here with some relaxation. The high bridge was built on a small hill-like place, with turbulent river water below. There were dense forests upstream of the river, and looking far away, half of New York's scenery was imprinted in his eyes. Upon closer inspection, there was actually an ancient castle under the high bridge, but this ancient castle was completely white, completely different from the previous dark temple.

  "That's a branch of the Radiant Church, and where we are is a place for the Radiant Church to worship the Goddess of Light. You can follow the forest upwards and find their shrine at the top." Yishui said calmly, looking at the ancient castle under the bridge, as if she knew everything.

  Long Xing looked at Yi Shui, slightly dazed for a moment before turning his head to look at the ancient castle again. After that, he started lowering his head and thinking about something. As for Yi Shui, she glanced at Long Xing but didn't say anything, just gazing into the distance with a somewhat vacant expression.

  Halfway, Long Xing finally lifted his head to glance at Yi Shui, and only then did he say: "Now we've made up our minds to go against the Dark Temple, but if we were to join forces with the Light Temple... uh... I mean, if we cooperate with the Light Temple, do you think it would work?" As Long Xing spoke halfway through his sentence, he saw Yi Shui's tightly furrowed brow and quickly changed "join forces" to "cooperate", otherwise, who knows, Yi Shui might abandon him and refuse to work together. Long Xing also knew that always thinking of yielding to others didn't seem like his original personality, so what exactly had caused him to change so quickly? Long Xing couldn't quite figure it out.

  Just as Long Xing was lost in thought, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of Yishui's voice: "You're afraid of the Dark Temple, so you're thinking of temporarily preserving your life and waiting for a chance to plan for the future." Yishui's words were still calm, but as soon as she spoke, they instantly dispelled the doubts in Long Xing's heart.

  Some people stared blankly at Yishui, and Long Xing suddenly got up and hugged Yishui excitedly, exclaiming: "Ahahahaha... I finally know what's going on! Haha, thank you Yishui... uh... thank you." Long Xing held Yishui in his arms as she struggled, feeling a bit embarrassed, he put her down again. Lately, he seemed to want to hold her more and more, feeling her soft and delicate skin, even her slender waist like a snake made him feel extremely comfortable, and he liked holding her like this more and more...

  Yishui looked at Longxing with a bit of pouting after he put her down, then turned her head and ignored him. However, she had a feeling that she couldn't quite grasp, like something was fluttering in front of her eyes. It seemed that she also had some good feelings towards him. Was it because he had just saved her from the powder attack by embracing her? Yishui didn't know, and she really didn't know.

  "Alright, I've decided. We'll go find the Luminary Church and cooperate with them now. If they're not willing to cooperate, then I'll fight my way through until we do." Long Xing said as he picked up Yishui once again, disregarding whether she was willing or not, and jumped off the railing of the high bridge with a single bound.

  Yi Shui was shocked to the extreme as she was held by Long Xing, she had never thought that the man she saved would be so formidable. His movements were swift and fearless, even jumping off such a high bridge. This bridge was over 100 meters above the ground of the ancient castle, yet he dared to jump down like this? It was simply too crazy!

  The dragon flew in the air, doing several consecutive flips before landing on both feet with a loud "thud". The cement bricks and other paving materials on the ground were smashed to pieces, and his feet sank into the ground by over 10 inches, creating a small pit about 1 meter wide. Yishui's mouth was left agape, big enough to fit a walnut.

  Long Xing put down Yi Shui after landing, and didn't care that she was staring at him with angry eyes on the side. Then his mouth shouted in standard English: "Hurry up and call out the high-level clergy of your church, I have something to discuss with them."

  The guards outside the Bright Hall saw that Long Xing had fallen from the sky and had even smashed a huge hole in the cement floor. Without saying a word, they turned around and ran towards the ancient castle, leaving only three guards behind. They looked at Long Xing with caution, afraid that he would attack them, which would be a disaster beyond tears.

  Soon, a leader came out from inside the ancient castle, followed by five people, including the person who had run back to report earlier.

  That man saw Long Xing, then glanced at the deep pit on the ground, and immediately showed a smile all over his face. He seemed to have seen an old friend and walked towards Long Xing with a smile: "Excuse me, sir, is there anything we can help you with?" The man's words were standard English, but he spoke fluently and smiled at Long Xing.

  Long Xing saw this guy speaking and knew that he was definitely another old fox. Without any pleasantries, he directly stated his purpose: "Recently, we've had some conflicts with the Dark Temple, and the person behind me has an unresolvable feud with them. To be honest, we're here to seek cooperation with your Light Temple. If you say no now, we can look for your Pope."

  That person's face changed upon hearing it and exclaimed: "Cooperation?"

  As promised, the second update is now available, and the third update is expected around 11:55 PM tonight.