Pleasant days always passed quickly.
For the past several days, Lin Yi had seemed completely focused on enjoying himself.
This wasn't his first visit to the Luofu, but previously he had never had the time to wander around.
This time, however, he visited nearly every famous landmark on the ship.
The remaining days were spent drifting between Changletian, the Alchemy Commission, and the Scalegorge Waterscape.
Among those places—
He visited the Waterscape the most.
Incoming Call – Herta
Incoming Call – Herta
Incoming Call – Herta
Three calls.
Lin Yi finally answered.
The moment the connection opened—
"—Herta profanity #—!"
"I'm drowning in work here, while you're leisurely sightseeing on the Luofu. Having fun?"
"And the Remembrance Prism you asked for is gone!"
Her tone was furious.
Though her insults could still use improvement.
"If you've got nothing better to do, hurry up and go deal with the IPC!"
"Finish it quickly and get back here to help!"
"Come on, Herta," Lin Yi replied calmly.
"I really was busy with serious work."
"I finished it yesterday."
"I can leave anytime now."
"Oh, by the way," Herta suddenly said.
"One of my puppets went missing."
"That wasn't you, right?"
"This time it really wasn't me."
"So last time it was you."
Oh no.
Lin Yi had just started thinking of a lie when—
The call disconnected.
Herta didn't actually care about losing one or two puppets.
The problem was—
One kept disappearing every few days.
Lin Yi had indeed taken a few.
The dozen Herta puppets she kept at Shenxiao Space Station had been dismantled by him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't reassemble them.
So he quietly took a few replacements and pretended nothing had happened.
"Ah… the price of asking favors."
Lin Yi sighed.
Then he turned to Tingyun.
"I'll be leaving tomorrow."
"Thank you for accompanying me these past days."
He opened his hand.
Three watch hands lay in his palm.
"I assume you've already discovered what that watch does."
"These are the original components."
"Consider them repayment for all the expenses lately."
The pocket watch had appeared in Tingyun's possession more than ten days ago.
Though the watch hands were missing.
Lin Yi hadn't asked what happened.
Once a gift was given—
It belonged to the recipient.
What they did with it was their business.
Still, even though Lin Yi had long lost any sense of money—
He knew he had spent quite a lot this month.
Tingyun was both familiar and likable.
So he created another set of watch hands yesterday as compensation.
They were basically useless to him anyway.
He didn't even bother keeping backups.
Lin Yi glanced around with a faint smile.
For the past month, powerful life energy had constantly followed them.
The watchers changed every day.
They often tried to disguise themselves as coincidences.
But to Lin Yi—
Such obvious life signatures were impossible to hide.
They had followed him for about twenty days.
And today—
Their numbers had finally decreased.
So… they're ready to act.
"Miss Tingyun," Lin Yi said casually.
"Call for reinforcements."
Fight personally?
What a joke.
He was a scholar, not a fighter.
Not that he couldn't fight—
But if a Genius Society member was attacked on Xianzhou territory and had to handle it himself…
That would make the Cloud Knights look incompetent.
A faint flash of light passed through Lin Yi's eyes.
Soft luminescence flickered within them.
Yet he did nothing.
Borisin wolf soldiers…
Interesting.
Previously, Lin Yi actually hadn't known what these creatures were.
But when there was no danger—
He tended to enjoy surprises.
Especially after the Laplace Demon Matrix System was completed.
Life needed a bit of unpredictability.
Knowing everything in advance would be boring.
"What?"
Tingyun froze.
"I'll call immediately!"
"Did you discover something, young master?"
Lin Yi tilted his head slightly.
"Oh? They're fast."
"It's nothing serious."
"We've just been surrounded by Borisin wolf soldiers."
"About… hmm…"
"Maybe a few minutes."
He paused.
"No."
"One minute."
From his omniscient perspective—
The wolf soldiers tore off their disguises and sprinted toward them at full speed.
Their velocity exceeded the normal limits of Borisin physiology.
These were not ordinary soldiers.
They were Pathstriders.
And the aura they emitted carried the power of Destruction.
"Abundance aura… combined with Destruction Path energy…"
Lin Yi murmured.
"How amusing."
"What?!"
Tingyun's eyes widened.
"Abominations infiltrated the Xianzhou?!"
"Young master, how many are there?"
"Perhaps we should retreat first."
"Your identity is far too important to risk here."
Lin Yi shrugged.
"We can't retreat."
"We're surrounded."
"But there aren't many."
"Only 137 of them."
Tingyun barely suppressed the urge to complain.
What do you mean "only"?
They had three Cloud Knights nearby.
Even counting hidden guards—
That was only a few dozen soldiers.
The truth was—
Those three Cloud Knights were only present because Lin Yi needed someone to carry his shopping bags earlier.
Otherwise he would have chased them away for being too conspicuous.
The hidden guards weren't numerous either.
Too many would be impossible to hide.
After all—
Nobody expected enemies bold enough to infiltrate the heart of the Xianzhou.
Yet somehow—
They succeeded.
"Reinforcements will take time to arrive," Tingyun said.
"What should we do?"
Despite hearing they were surrounded by hundreds of abominations—
She didn't panic.
There were still dozens of Cloud Knights nearby.
Individually, most Cloud Knights weren't stronger than Borisin warriors.
The blessings of their respective Paths differed.
The modern Xianzhou deliberately restrained their own bodies to avoid becoming monsters like the followers of Yaoshi.
Their Abundance blessing mainly granted longevity and regeneration.
Borisin, meanwhile, were born and raised in constant warfare.
But when the Cloud Knights formed battle formations—
The situation reversed.
Dozens of soldiers fighting as one could withstand far stronger enemies.
And this was still the Xianzhou.
Reinforcements would arrive quickly.
Besides—
The person standing beside her was a genius.
Surely he had some method prepared.
Lin Yi smiled.
"What else can we do?"
"We wait."
"I'm a scholar."
"I'm not good at fighting."
"Unless Miss Tingyun suddenly reveals hidden martial arts and wipes out these abominations in three moves."
"Please don't joke like that," Tingyun said pitifully.
"I'm merely a weak woman."
"I can't even tie up a chicken."
"How could I fight such monsters?"
"Would you really watch me get torn apart?"
They had spent many days together.
Joking like this was normal.
Lin Yi was about to reply—
When his expression suddenly froze.
Before his brain could react—
His body failed to keep up.
One of the three Cloud Knights who had accompanied them for the past month suddenly raised his sword.
Not against the enemies.
Against Lin Yi.
The other two Cloud Knights stared in shock.
The approaching Borisin soldiers were equally stunned.
The traitor thrust his blade toward Lin Yi's back.
The gemstone at Lin Yi's neck exploded with light.
An amber shield unfolded instantly.
But—
With a thunderous crash—
The shield shattered.
It didn't slow the blade even slightly.
The vine bracelet on Lin Yi's wrist reacted.
It spread wildly to protect him—
But the moment it touched the blade—
The vines withered instantly.
Then—
The sword ignored space.
Ignored phase barriers.
It pierced straight through Lin Yi's chest.
Then swept upward.
One strike.
Decapitation.
Blood sprayed across Tingyun and the two remaining Cloud Knights.
Lin Yi's body collapsed to the ground.
The attacking Cloud Knight also fell—
His body dissolving into flame.
The fire shot away into the distance.
Leaving behind a mocking voice.
"Didn't expect that, did you…"
"Genius."