Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Chapter 608 - 585: Imprisoning Energy? No Honor in Battle! (Double - )

The baby-faced man seemed unsurprised by the result, and beneath the mask, a cold sneer appeared on his face. The nail clipper clicked and took a piece of skin the size of a fingernail from Li Guishen’s forehead.

The nail clipper seemed like a child’s plaything, but it ignored defenses.

Although breaking some skin doesn’t take a life, the pain can truly feel like it’s killing someone.

Li Guishen’s expression changed, and he grimaced in pain. Then, to the baby-faced man’s incredulous gaze, he grinned with a nostalgic smile:

"It’s been a long time since I’ve felt pain. Good, a bit more, I need to get used to this kind of pain again!"

Li Guishen said seriously, and simultaneously moved his face toward the nail clipper.

Feng Mu’s eyes flickered behind his glasses, a cloud of doubt suddenly rising in his heart:

"Does that nail clipper really hurt so much? Why does the master need to get used to pain? What kind of person would desire pain? Hmm... Could it be that the master is a masochist?!!"

This absurd thought had just formed when Feng Mu forcibly suppressed it. He always felt there was a deeper meaning in the master’s words, but for the moment, he couldn’t fathom the mystery.

The face beneath the baby face’s mask suddenly froze and turned color, but still, disbelief prompted another clip on Li Guishen.

The first attack of the nail clipper felt equivalent to the pain of being flayed alive; the second attack doubled the pain, and continued attacks would further compound the agony.

In the baby face’s memory, he’d never encountered anyone who could endure it more than three times.

Not just people; even many monsters in the Hidden Sect couldn’t bear it, their heads feeling like they would explode from the pain.

Li Guishen grimaced in pain again, veins bulging on his forehead, his clouded old eyes tearing from the agony, yet his wrinkled lips slowly curled upward.

Was he smiling?!!

The baby-faced man was momentarily stunned, raising his hand to clip a third time.

Li Guishen reached out, his bony hand grasping the baby’s robust exoskeleton arm, then rasped:

"I’m old, I can’t handle such pain, need to take it slow, add it bit by bit, that’s enough for today."

The baby-faced man couldn’t quite understand what Li Guishen was saying; he only felt his hand being pried open increment by increment, and the nail clipper being taken away.

Then, he felt a spinning sensation, and Li Guishen imitated the movements of his young disciple Feng Mu, serving a meal to the remaining disciples.

He felt as if entangled in invisible mud, helplessly flying toward the stone table, his sliding trajectory considerably more graceful than his two previous companions’.

"Yay! It’s our turn!"

Gong Qi, Wang Yu, and Hong Ya exchanged glances, immediately rushing over with delighted smiles.

After finishing all this, Li Guishen lifted his hand to wipe the grime from the corners of his eyes, scanning every disciple in the courtyard, deeply embedding each of their smiling faces in his heart.

Finally, he looked at Feng Mu, his gaze immensely complex, containing seventy percent gratification, twenty percent admiration, and an indiscernible one percent of... pain?!!

Feng Mu returned the gaze, his face habitually showing a gentle smile.

Inexplicably, his heart skipped a beat, a chilling sensation climbing up his spine to the back of his neck, only to dissipate swiftly.

Feng Mu couldn’t comprehend Li Guishen’s gaze, feeling that those murky old eyes were like whirlpools. The only thing that comforted him was that his master didn’t bear a glaring malicious mark.

Feng Mu took a deep breath, lowering his voice to ask:

"Is this ’midnight snack’ not to your liking, Master?"

Li Guishen parted his lips, his hoarse laughter rough as sandpaper:

"You have your senior brothers and sisters in your heart, I’m very pleased. I’m just getting old, can’t handle eating a midnight snack at night, it makes me weary. I need to go back to my room and sleep."

Feng Mu nodded, about to say something.

Yet Li Guishen gave him no opportunity to speak, already turning away, the commandeered nail clipper twirling in his fingers, the blade still carrying a layer of skin flakes.

Li Guishen walked into the room, then suddenly turned back to glance—

The courtyard was filled with merriment, the disciples, who seemed like children to him, were gathered around the "midnight snack," vying and jesting.

Li Guishen let out a strange "hoho" laugh, the sound hoarse as a crow’s caw, eerier in the night wind than crying:

"If it’s your junior brother’s heartfelt offering, as senior brothers and sisters you mustn’t let it go to waste, eat it all up, don’t let any go to waste!"

BANG—

As the door closed, the last whispered sentence was trapped inside the room:

"The meat eaten needs to be... remembered and repaid later..."

For some reason, Feng Mu always felt that something was off with his master, making him uneasy, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.

Could it be that the master has sensed my ambition to bring prestige to his name?!!

"Junior brother, come quickly, join us for a midnight snack!"

Hong Ya’s crisp voice interrupted Feng Mu’s suspicions.

As expected, Senior Sister Hong Ya always cared about him the most, constantly thinking of saving a portion for him, even though the midnight snack was originally his request.

Feng Mu pulled his thoughts together and glanced into the courtyard.

Senior Sister Liu Xie had already finished eating and was absentmindedly kicking dirt into a pit, her eyes occasionally darting around.

She was both protecting the juniors from being ’eaten’ by ’takeout’ and looking for an opportunity to help them with another bite.

Zhao Zhixin and Yuan Xidi were fiercely battling with the White Mask wielding a long spear.

Yuan Xidi’s punches were fierce and wild, his assault like a mad dog, sending sparks flying from the opponent’s armor;

Zhao Zhixin moved like a phantom, extraordinarily slippery, always able to strike from tricky angles, targeting weak joints and energy lines.

One attacked from the left and the right, the other from the front and back, one offensive, the other defensive; despite fighting for food, their cooperation was seamless.

It was like taking turns with their chopsticks; Senior Sister probably wouldn’t get a chance at this table.

At this moment, Yuan Xidi grabbed the spear and, in the heat of battle, laughed wildly:

"White Mask, hahaha, you’re from the Hidden Sect, I’ve been looking at you with disgust for a long time in the Hidden Sect, junior brother knows my mind."

Zhao Zhixin also sneered; he and Yuan Xidi were external consultants for the Investigation Corps and had met White Mask several times in the Hidden Sect.

As he laughed, he took out an ugly pig-face mask and wore it menacingly:

"I hear that every time you wear masks, it’s considered a legitimate extra meal. I’ve envied you for a long time, coincidentally, I have a mask too; take a look, isn’t it much more attractive than yours?"

Yuan Xidi’s eyes lit up, and he quickly put on his Hyena mask, instantly feeling that this takeout had added a special flavor and significance.

It seemed to give this ’takeout’ vs ’extra meal’ showdown a more fated sense of ceremony.

On the other side, Hong Ya, Gong Qi, and Wang Yu were jointly assaulting Doll Face, whose mask was shattered by their combined efforts at the first moment.

In terms of individual strength, the exoskeleton-equipped Doll Face should have been above any one of them.

However, the seamless cooperation of the three, Hong Ya, Gong Qi, and Wang Yu, managed to suppress him to a desperate state.

Sixth Brother Wang Yu led the attack, with his left hand’s Iron Fan opening and closing like lightning.

Each page of the fan was a poisoned blade, able to shoot out like a hidden weapon and turn into melee arms, its moves unpredictable and forcing Doll Face to pay full attention.

Gong Qi assisted from the side, like a slippery snake, his movements mysteriously quick to the extreme.

He never clashed head-on with Doll Face, always cutting in from the flank or rear when Wang Yu attracted the direct fire.

His arms were flexible and boneless, leveraging force against force, conquering the strong with the soft.

His timing was incredibly precise, always interrupting Doll Face at critical moments when gathering strength to counter, frustratingly tripping him up.

The two, one firm, one soft, cooperated flawlessly, leaving White Mask struggling to cope, gradually falling behind.

Hong Ya lay somewhere in between them, like a fox crouching in the grass.

Her figure was small and nimble, sometimes feigning frontal attacks to draw Doll Face’s attention, sometimes darting to the side or behind, with an array of weapons in hand.

Sometimes it was poisoned needles, sharp scissors, odd-shaped daggers, homemade acid bottles, and even several venomous spiders she raised.

Like a warrior, like an assassin, like an archer, yet like a mage with a treasure chest?

Doll Face had experienced countless battles, but he had never fought one so frustrating, making him want to vomit blood.

No martial ethics!

No martial ethics, ah ah ah——