Absolute Choice

The poker card, “Three of Hearts” caused everyone’s breathing to stagnate, but wonder rose once again in their hearts. Why was Hisith willing to waste two precious Underworld Poker consecutively to “torture” Tu Dahei?

With Hisith’s strength, he could have easily set up a Psionic Barrier around Tu Dahei’s body, protecting him from receiving any injuries from the afterwinds of an attack. But why did Hisith want to let Tu Dahei experience pain, even at the cost of wasting his Underworld Poker? If the first “Eight of Hearts” was enough to let the game proceed, then a second “Three of Hearts” looked like it was purely to abuse Tu Dahei.

Could Hisith and Tu Dahei have some grudge, and this so-called game was purely a form of revenge and torture?

The seated Lingcun suddenly thought of something, his eyes flashing as though he figured it out.

“No, revenge and torture would not make Hisith feel pleasure. Only interesting toys and games can make Hisith feel happy. Maybe I have been misled from the beginning. It is very likely that Hisith doesn’t want to ‘destroy’ Shi Xiaobai, but to ‘accelerate’ the ripening of the fruit. He wants his beloved toy to mature faster. Only then, will he be able to enjoy more interesting games. He has seen immense ‘fun’ in Shi Xiaobai, so he wants to personally dig out the ‘fun’!”

The luster in Lingcun’s eyes brightened, but soon, his eyebrows frowned slightly.

“If Hisith’s goal is to make Shi Xiaobai grow rapidly through ‘torture’, then it means he sees the possibility for Shi Xiaobai to be able to have ‘destruction before establishment’. However, even if Shi Xiaobai is a Psionic Ability cultivation genius, he would not be able to reach the ‘Familiarized Proficiency’ realm in 72 rounds of ‘destruction’. Yet, he is attempting to do so. It can’t be that he has seen the chances of success in Shi Xiaobai’s body, right?”

“Could it be that he has discovered some secret on Shi Xiaobai? That secret gives Shi Xiaobai the possibility of having ‘destruction before establishment’?”

Lingcun felt like he was nearing the truth, but he was missing the most critical piece of information. That information was hidden at an undetectable depth, so if he wanted to grasp the information, he needed to infer the true reason for Hisith to do these series of strange actions.

“Silly Ye, use all your strength with the Ye Family Fist. Remember to open up a distance.”

After making up his mind, Lingcun tugged at Ye Jiaquan, who was about to walk to the platform, and said those words.

“Ah?”

Ye Jiaquan’s eyes looked vacant, but after looking into Lingcun’s resolute eyes for a few seconds, he nodded and said. “Me will follow what you said.”

…

…

As he was being healed by the “Three of Hearts”, Shi Xiaobai quickly recovered from his injuries. After he stood up, a puzzled look flashed in his eyes. After having his shield shattered thrice, Shi Xiaobai began to realize that something was wrong with the shield he had propped up. Every time he used the Psionic Power, he would feel a strange obstruction.

If the Psionic Power that surged out was described like water flow, then the obstruction was like a rock that was blocking the water flow when it reached the end of the pipe. It could only squeeze out through cracks.

“Is this the Psionic Ability control that perverse instructor mentioned?”

Shi Xiaobai clenched his fists tightly as a faint smile involuntarily appeared on his face. “This is the realistic feeling of power!”

Ye Jiaquan, who had just finished walking down from the stairs, noticed Shi Xiaobai was smiling. After a momentary daze, he could not help but reveal an honest smile.

“Dahei does not seem depressed at all. That’s great.” Ye Jiaquan thought in his mind. He scratched his head and said, “Me was told by Lingcun not to hold back. Although Me does not know what his plans are, but Me knows that Lingcun is always right, so Me will follow what he said.”

“However, Me will not hurt you. Prop your Psionic Shield further away. Although the shield is harder the closer it is to your body, the defensive effects might not be the best. Psionic Charge and Psionic Blast have a certain amount of penetrating power. Me thinks that the best distance for a shield is beyond the limits of the afterwinds.

Shi Xiaobai was surprised hearing this. He could not help but ask, “What are Psionic Charge and Psionic Blast?”

“Ah?” Ye Jiaquan was stunned momentarily. He scratched his head again as he patiently said, “Most psionic offensive skills are formed or derived from the five basic combat skills or combinations. The five basic offensive skills are Psionic Charge, Psionic Blast, Psionic Wavelet, Psionic Slash and Psionic Penetration. Just now, Song Nan used a variation of Psionic Penetration, while Hua Pengju used Psionic Blast.”

Shi Xiaobai recalled Song Nan’s sharp white beam that penetrated the shield and Hua Pengju’s white fireworks that bloomed the moment his shoulder was hit. Immediately, he understood the meaning of Psionic Penetration and Psionic Blast.

At this moment, someone in the seats shouted, “Are the two of you catching up on old times? Do you know that there is a bunch of people waiting behind?”

Shi Xiaobai turned his head and realized it was the youth with dyed hair. This rascal was truly like a ghost that lingered on.

“Come on, Steel Wall Shaking Powerful Ox, let This King witness your punch!”

Shi Xiaobai stretched out his right hand and propped up a white shield about a meter away from him. It was still as broken and transparent.

“Alright!”

Ye Jiaquan nodded his head heavily as he slowly bent his body. His fists were placed in front of his chest. Immediately, a powerful stance rose up. His honest expression disappeared and his tiny eyes burned with flaring beams.

“The psionic offensive skill Me uses is Me’s Ye family’s special fist technique—Ye Family Fist!”

The Ye family had a fist technique known as Ye Family Fist (Ye Jiaquan), and similarly had a son whose name was Ye Jiaquan.

“Ha!”

With a loud roar, Ye Jiaquan punched out!

This punch infused all the glory of his family!

Shi Xiaobai’s pupils constricted slightly. This punch seemed to combine into the dozens of punches that happened at the back of the steel building in his memory. The white glow around the fist, the waves that surged out like ripples was both familiar and unfamiliar. It was as though the secret behind the Ye Family Fist finally revealed a tip of the iceberg.

“This King understands!”

Shi Xiaobai managed to finally see the true face of this white glow. It was spinning Psionic Power! No, it was not only spinning. The Psionic Power had a regular spiraling pattern in the form of wavelets!

Ye Jiaquan’s fist stopped one meter in front of the shield, but the white spiraling beam of light continued on forward, smashing into the broken white shield. The white shield exploded immediately as fist wind blew up Shi Xiaobai’s clothes and hair violently.

Ye Jiaquan had used all his strength, but his fist had stopped one meter in front of the shield; hence, what hit the shield was just Ye Jiaquan’s afterwind.

The shield shattered, but Shi Xiaobai was not in great pain. Instead he fell into an intriguing state of comprehension. The fist from before was constantly replayed in his brain. The white spiraling beam, the Psionic Power in the shape of ripples all seemed to tell him something in his mind.

“Phew!”

Shi Xiaobai took a deep breath and stretched out his right hand. Another broken white shield appeared in front of him.

Suddenly, dense ripples began to appear on the broken shield, like circular wavelets that could be seen on a water surface.

Someone in the seats suddenly exclaimed.

“Wavelet Shield!?”

“How can that be possible? Isn’t it an E Class defensive skill? How can having only Psionic Ability control at ‘Grasped Basics’ be able to produce Wavelet Shield?”

“That… How did this bumpkin do it?”

“…”

The white shield still looked thin and nearly transparent. It looked wretched, but ring after ring of ripples indicated that it was a “Wavelet Shield”, an E Class defensive skill. Any offensive skill, defensive skill or movement technique above F Class required “Familiarized Proficiency” level of Psionic Ability control. However, from the thickness and level of perfection of the shield, Shi Xiaobai’s Psionic Ability control was clearly at the “Grasped Basics” level. What was going on?

Everyone fell into deep thought, even Hisith was not spared.

Shi Xiaobai looked at the undulating ripples on the shield as his eyes began to burn. A smile appeared on his lips.

“This is power!”

With this thought in mind, Shi Xiaobai’s desire in his heart intensified. He turned around to realize that Hisith was in a daze. He spoke loudly, urging him, “Hurry up and announce the next one. This King is unable to endure the thirst!”