After setting up the illusion and soundproofing arrays, Su Luo finally answered Li Siyi's question.
"I can kind of tell."
"Is it that obvious?" Li Siyi touched her face, feeling like it looked the same as usual.
"Tell me about it."
"Do you know what Little Yu is doing right now?"
"Uh, no."
"She's in the middle of a breakthrough."
"Oh."
So that's what it was, but what does that have to do with you?
Su Luo suddenly remembered, "By the way, weren't you trying to break through earlier too?"
"I failed."
"Ah, too eager, huh?"
"Yeah." Li Siyi smiled helplessly, "Am I useless?"
Su Luo could see that Li Siyi was feeling quite down about it.
It was probably due to the pressure from those around her.
Lin Xuan, of course, was improving his cultivation at an astonishing speed.
Now even Little Yu had surpassed her, and by a wide margin.
This must be hard for her, a former prodigy who had always been far ahead of everyone else.
"What's the difference between being useful or useless? Look at me, I'm useless too."
Li Siyi shook her head, "I know you're strong too. It's just me who's fallen behind."
Well, Su Luo had a feeling that after all this time, Li Siyi might have already noticed that his strength wasn't ordinary.
"Let me tell you a story then. Once upon a time... Dou Qi, Level Three..."
"Don't bully the young for being poor!"
Li Siyi: "..."
"While I appreciate the effort to comfort me, isn't this the wrong kind of story?"
"But the point is the same. Who knows what tomorrow holds for today's failures?"
"Do you think I got to where I am without failing?"
Li Siyi looked at Su Luo, knowing he had experienced dozens of failures to get to this point.
The journey must have been filled with unimaginable hardships.
"I don't think so." Li Siyi suddenly felt that her own struggles were nothing compared to Su Luo's, as if a weight had been lifted.
"Right? Don't be too hard on yourself."
"Although the problem isn't solved, I feel much better now."
It was really great to be able to talk to Su Luo here, to have met Su Luo was truly a blessing.
Li Siyi suddenly hugged Su Luo.
Su Luo let her.
Outside, Wan Xibo was growing impatient, "Hey, hey, hey, don't you think they've been talking for too long?"
"Maybe they're arguing."
"There's no movement though."
"The sky above isn't going to wait for us."
"Let's wait a bit longer," Lin Xuan said.
After a long while.
Su Luo finally spoke, "Alright, it's about time. Why do they keep paying attention to us?"
"Oh, they wanted me to use a beauty trap on you."
Li Siyi revealed their plan.
Su Luo was speechless. Lin Xuan, how could you come up with such a plan? Wouldn't it be better to just focus on studying the array?
It was your quick thinking that gave them the idea to break the array in the first place.
Can't you put your mind to more important things?
"So, what pose should I use to seduce you?"
"Since it's come to this, there's only one thing to do."
You're all counting on me, huh? Then let's not waste any more time.
Su Luo stomped the ground, generating an array that spread out beneath his feet.
Just setting up the array caused a huge commotion, shaking the ground.
Wan Xibo exclaimed excitedly, "They're finally making a move!"
Elder Yan: "There's actually a solution like this!"
Cui Baiquan: "Is that Su Luo?"
In no time, the so-called Immortal-Slaying Array began to collapse. The energy from the giant sword above started to condense, forming a pure spirit stone.
This spirit stone contained most of the array's energy, with an extremely high purity of spiritual energy.
It would be perfect for aiding cultivation, and even better as the core of a spirit-gathering array.
The spirit stone floated toward Su Luo.
Su Luo tossed the spirit stone to Li Siyi.
"With this, your problem is solved. But I won't always be here to help you. The road ahead is still yours to walk alone."
"I..." Li Siyi felt like crying.
But Su Luo didn't give her the time.
Suddenly, Su Luo's illusion barrier shattered.
Su Luo was sent flying, landing awkwardly next to Cui Baiquan. He shouted at Li Siyi, "You broke your promise!"
With the array broken, the Tianmo Sect members quickly launched a sneak attack.
The battle erupted instantly.
Cui Baiquan asked curiously, "What promise did she break?"
"That despicable Li Siyi tricked me, saying she'd kiss me if I broke the array. Damn it, I finally broke it, and then she ambushed me! I was fooled!"
Finally? You just stomped your foot, and it didn't even take a quarter of an hour. That's 'finally'?
And, buddy, was a kiss all you wanted?
Cui Baiquan looked at Su Luo with an incredulous expression, not knowing how to respond.
Su Luo, seeing their expressions, knew what they were thinking and retorted, "You don't understand. It's about fulfilling a childhood dream. How despicable, Li Siyi. Even our Tianmo Sect wouldn't stoop so low."
Cui Baiquan was speechless. How had the prestige of the Tianmo Sect fallen to the point where it was inferior to a mere liar?
Su Luo, why don't you share some of this stupidity with me?
"Alright, alright, a kiss, right? I'll give it to you. Don't say I broke my promise!"
Hearing Su Luo slander her like this, Li Siyi was furious. She stepped toward Su Luo, sword in hand.
Su Luo was stunned. Wait, she's actually going to kiss me? I was just joking!
Even the people fighting around them stopped to watch.
This was juicy.
Li Siyi decisively hooked her arm around Su Luo's neck, pulled him close, and kissed him.
She closed her eyes.
She wished time could stop at this moment.
But she knew it couldn't.
After a moment, Li Siyi lightly bit Su Luo's lip, then drew a bit of her own blood, pretending to have bitten his lip.
She pushed Su Luo away forcefully.
Li Siyi spat the blood on the ground as if it were something filthy, her eyes cold as she raised her sword again. "There, I've kept my promise. From now on, it's life or death between us."
Su Luo responded in kind, "Hmph, nothing you do matters anymore. My heart is dead to you. Thank you for making it clear that there's no future for us."
As Su Luo and Li Siyi began their battle, the others resumed their fights as well.
Lin Xuan was holding his own against Cui Baiquan and Shan Gui, not struggling much.
Wan Xibo was facing off against Liang Shuanghua.
Even though they had been discussing things amicably earlier, now it was a fight to the death.
Su Luo and Li Siyi's battle was intense, but neither was seriously hurt.
Soon enough, Li Siyi pretended to be defeated.
This caught Su Luo off guard. He hadn't even used much strength.
Lying on the ground, Li Siyi thought to herself, "Acting is something I learned from you."
This time, she was satisfied.
Su Luo then began the final act.
"Lin Xuan, it's your turn now."
By this point, Lin Xuan had been fighting Cui Baiquan and Shan Gui for a while, and both sides were starting to use their trump cards.
With Su Luo joining the fray, it became a three-on-one battle against Lin Xuan.