When Elysia and Shigure Kira entered Eden's residence, they found Eden already waiting in the recording studio, wearing headphones at the moment, seemingly not noticing the two entering.
Elysia suddenly felt the urge to tease her friend. She placed her index finger to her lips and made a gentle "shh" gesture to Shigure Kira.
Then she quietly approached Eden before greeting: "Hi ♪~"
However, unexpectedly, after hearing her greeting, Eden didn't turn around.
"My dear Eden, did you miss me?"
Elysia raised her voice, but Eden still didn't turn around.
"Miss Eden's noise-canceling headphones work very well. You won't get her attention like this."
At this moment, Shigure Kira approached Eden and reached out to remove the headphones from her head. Only then did Eden turn around.
"Oh, it's Kira, and... my dear Faded Fairy."
Hearing Eden's words, Elysia's expression froze for a moment, but she quickly adjusted.
"Mm... long time no see, my dear Eden ♪~"
"Not that long though?" Eden smiled, then asked: "How do you have time to come here?"
Before Elysia could answer, Shigure Kira responded first: "Miss Eden, I brought her here for an evaluation. I feel I've made tremendous progress during this time. The current me... is frighteningly strong!"
Hearing Shigure Kira's reply, Eden's originally elegant smile paused slightly—though Elysia didn't notice.
"In that case, let me see your progress..."
Eden sighed quietly, then retrieved another pair of noise-canceling headphones and handed them to Elysia.
Looking at the headphones Eden handed over, Elysia accepted them with confusion.
She didn't understand why she needed to wear noise-canceling headphones when listening to Shigure Kira's singing. Could her voice actually be a sonic weapon?
But even if she was puzzled, she couldn't show it.
Elysia knew well that her current persona was Lucius impersonating herself as the "Faded Fairy." Before extracting information about Lucius from Eden, she couldn't expose her identity.
So she imitated Eden, putting the headphones on her head and trying to figure them out.
Soon she discovered these headphones not only had extremely strong noise-canceling functions but also sound amplification capabilities.
Elysia understood—these headphones were meant to amplify the singing voice so she could hear Shigure Kira's voice more clearly, right?
So Elysia adjusted them, turning the amplification mode to maximum.
"Very good, this way I can hear clearly, right?"
At this moment, Eden had long since put on her noise-canceling headphones with the noise-canceling function turned to maximum, standing ready. Therefore, she didn't hear Elysia's voice.
So both Elysia and Eden stared intently at Shigure Kira gripping the microphone, hearts uneasy.
Only one was anticipating, while the other was horrified.
Finally, under their gazes, Shigure Kira gripped the microphone tightly, compressed all her learning achievements from this period into her chest, then roared them out as song.
"La! La!! La!!!—"
"BOOM!!!"
Eden saw the noise-canceling headphones the "Faded Fairy" beside her was wearing burst with violent electric light, then exploded.
At the same time, Elysia's body went rigid, falling straight backward.
"Thud!"
Looking at Elysia lying on the ground with spirals in her eyes and a little ghost floating from her mouth, Eden and Shigure Kira froze.
Then Shigure Kira burst out with a groundhog-like scream.
"Lucius!—Don't die!"
Before the murderous sonic attack poured into her brain and shattered her consciousness, Elysia suddenly thought of a question.
Eating meals meant final meals, listening to music meant murderous sonic attacks—this Lucius fellow, is this how he lives daily?
Worthy of being someone who could be her boss—truly... unbelievably strong!
...
Lucius was unaware of Elysia's experiences in the Far East, because after sensing the ominous aura, he had fled the Far East overnight.
At this moment, he had long since arrived at the Shenzhou continent across the sea.
Shenzhou District, Chongqing City.
At a martial arts arena called Taixu Martial Arts Hall, a heated sparring match was taking place.
On the arena's perimeter, a gray-haired girl in simple martial arts attire wearing black-framed glasses was staring intently at the people above.
The girl's name was "Hua," the daughter of this martial hall's master.
The honest-looking middle-aged man on stage was her father, and trading blows evenly with her father was a rather frail-looking gray-haired girl.
Before taking the stage, Hua had learned her name from the conversation between her and her father.
—Lixue, from Lu region.
Standing in snow at the gate like Confucius's disciple—a good name indeed.
Although fighting Father to a standstill on stage, she actually wasn't here to challenge the hall, but rather... to find the so-called legendary "divine martial arts."
After conversing with Father, somehow the topic turned to martial arts sparring, and then they began fighting on the arena.
The two fought inseparably on the arena, but Hua was somewhat distracted.
She watched as Lixue fell one move short and had Father's hand at her throat.
So she withdrew her stance and cupped her fists in salute to Hua's father.
"I have lost. Master's martial skills are truly profound. The Cun Xin Fist technique lives up to its reputation."
However, although Hua's father won, he couldn't hide the shock on his face and couldn't help sighing.
"For a young lady at your age to have such martial skill—truly a heaven-sent prodigy. Compared to you, I've merely wasted vast amounts of time..."
Originally he'd just been curious after hearing she'd also practiced martial arts since childhood, but after one fight he discovered this girl's martial arts were extremely advanced—able to fight evenly with him after he'd practiced for decades.
Such talent could be called a once-in-a-century martial arts prodigy.
But hearing Hua's father's praise, Lixue showed little joy, even some disappointment.
"Master, I've heard from nearby people that your martial hall has been passed down for hundreds of years, and your family's martial arts are even older. Do you really not have those kinds of miraculous martial arts that can let you fly through the sky?"
Although a top STEM student, Lixue had always been searching for immortal traces in various deep mountains and forests.
She'd always believed this world definitely wasn't as peaceful as what she could see.
Lixue held a secret in her heart—she had seen terrifying dragon-like creatures as a child, capable of breathing thunder and flames.
Over these years of constant investigation, she'd discovered even more anomalies. But it seemed some mysterious organization had erased all these things. Each time she arrived, only vague traces remained.
She suspected that in the darker side of the world she couldn't touch, there must be an inner world where all kinds of incredible supernatural powers existed.
Hua's father didn't know Lixue's thoughts, only thinking this child was another chuunibyou with cultivation novels on the brain.
In recent years, with the explosive popularity of cultivation novels and similar works, quite a few people fantasizing about supernatural powers existing in this world had come to his martial hall seeking some peerless martial arts.
Some even had cultivation settings on the brain—after practicing fake moves for a few days, they believed they'd achieved supreme martial bodies and confidently came to challenge the hall, only to naturally be beaten out.
This girl before him was probably a similar case.
Thinking of this, Hua's father's eyes carried some pity. Using the tone of someone experienced, he said: "Little lady, although your martial arts are strong, superstitious thinking won't do. This world is materialistic—how could such unscientific things as martial arts in novels possibly exist?"
"But Master, I heard from others that your martial arts were passed down by immortals?"
Hearing this, Hua's father lowered his voice and said quietly: "That's all marketing. If I don't promote my family's martial arts as mysterious, how will anyone come to learn?"
Hearing Hua's father's words, Lixue froze, then sighed.
After saluting Hua's father again, she chose to take her leave.
Watching Lixue depart, while helping Father clean up the arena, Hua asked curiously: "Dad, are there really no immortals and divine martial arts in this world?"
"Little Hua, how did you also start believing these cultivation and martial arts novels? Our family has run this martial hall for so long—wouldn't you know if there were any miraculous martial arts?"
While cleaning up, Hua's father said earnestly: "Also, during this period you should stop practicing martial arts first and focus on your studies. Try to get into a good school."
"Stop practicing martial arts? Why?"
Hua couldn't believe it. Under Father's supervision, she'd never stopped practicing martial arts all these years—training in the heat of summer and cold of winter, never missing a single day.
Hua's father sighed, his back somewhat desolate.
"Because the era has long since changed... Now is no longer the era where personal martial prowess could determine courage and fierceness."
"Decades of bitter martial arts training can't match a single bullet fired from a gun. Long-trained muscles also can't possibly block bullets."
"Moreover, now is an era of laws. The end of martial arts... is the detention center and prison!"
Speaking of this, Hua's father patted Hua's shoulder and said earnestly:
"So treat martial arts as mere exercise for strengthening the body. Don't be like that child just now, truly believing there's some divine martial art that can move mountains and fill seas after practicing it."
"Those are all fictional from novels. Would we not know after running a martial hall for hundreds of years whether such things exist in reality?"
After finishing cleanup, Father left the arena sighing, his voice carrying from afar.
"Little Hua, remember—martial arts have no future. Study hard and get into a good university—that's the proper path!"
Watching Father leave, Hua felt confused.
She raised her hand. A feather glowing with faint light floated in her palm.
"If immortals don't exist in this world."
"Then what is this thing in my mind calling itself the Crimson Immortal and saying it will teach me divine martial arts?"
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