Chapter 1048: Damn Boaster

Hiss.

A Time-Space Gap ripped open before Gao Yang’s double. The fantastical scintillating colors inside seemed like the starry night drawn by a particular artist.

Huai Wei had used the same skill in the past. It looked like a phone booth and worked on a single target, like a bear trap of space and time. This gap created by Gao Yang’s double would last around ten seconds. In theory, it would be able to “eat” as much as it was fed.

It didn’t hunt prey actively, however, but only waited patiently. Whether any prey fell in or not, it would close when its time was up.

That left the real Gao Yang doing the hunting.

Gao Yang used Flash Shadow immediately after activating Spirit Domain, appearing right behind Puppet Zhong He. With his tripled speed and Flash Shadow teleporting him, Zhong He didn’t stand a chance. In his vision, Gao Yang was still where he was—his lingering afterimage.

In reality, Gao Yang was already weaving among the enemies like a ghost.

He kicked Zhong He into the gap, then dashed to Nomad and grabbed the man’s elbow, hurling him in the same direction. With a powerful leap, Gao Yang slammed into Amon’s side, sending her flying toward the Time-Space Gap. Utilizing the counterforce, he lunged at Jing Ke and seized the bone blade protruding from his palm, throwing him toward the gap.

One move connected to the next seamlessly and at impressive speed, taking less than two seconds—it was six seconds in Gao Yang’s subjective time.

When the puppets realized it, they were already off the ground and launched toward the gap torn open in space and time, and they couldn’t stop flying.

Gao Yang continued moving. With the Spirit Domain surrounding him, he teleported to the other puppets.

His double was on the move as well. After creating the gap, he had quickly caught up with Gao Yang and conjured a portal.

Gao Yang had replicated the Talent from Wandering Tune before setting out tonight. Originally, he had meant to use the Talent to quickly approach and rescue the hostages—one of the backup plans should their original plan fail. It became of use now unexpectedly.

Hum

. A giant circular portal appeared above the road, right at the center of the battlefield. The other side of the portal was adjacent to the Time-Space Gap.

Then Gao Yang and his double rushed at high speed with the Spirit Domain around them. From a bird’s eye view, they would look like two men jumping and teleporting within a ten-meter wide gray-blue sphere rolling toward the enemies and devouring them.

Those the greedy sphere rolled over and devoured all ended up launched toward the portal at the center of the road no matter what state they had been in.

In a matter of five seconds—fifteen seconds for Gao Yang and his double—they managed to cast all the corpse puppets into the portal, and the portal threw them up right into the Time-Space Gap.

Satisfied, the gap closed and vanished.

Silence settled upon the street block.

Gao Yang and his double returned to the center of the road, standing shoulder to shoulder. They were both pale, their chest heaving. Although they had been on the move for less than seven seconds, the energy it took was tremendous.

Gao Yang took out the energy replenishment Dr. Jia had prepared for him—it would quickly recover twenty to thirty percent of his energy, but only once every twenty-four hours. Repeated use would not only fail but also compound exhaustion.

Gao Yang injected two-thirds of the medicine into his arm. Then he tossed the syringe to his double.

“I don’t need it,” said his double.

“You do,” said Gao Yang. “You’ll have to save me.”

His double injected himself. Then he scanned around and observed, “The living puppets have gone into hiding.”

“Yeah.”

Gao Yang wasn’t surprised.

Liao Liao, Ke Yo, and Gregor might not have realized what Gao Yang was up to at first, but three seconds should be enough for them to figure it out.

Gao Yang never intended to throw the living puppets into the gap anyway given there was a chance they would be lost in it forever.

Moreover, the Lonesome Emperor’s brand was clearly visible on the living puppets—the eye embedded on their forehead. It was easier to damage.

Living puppets, retaining autonomy and the ability to make decisions, would naturally realize that they weren’t his match and go into hiding, not letting Gao Yang catch them.

The corpse puppets weren’t so smart. And Qilin had been otherwise occupied by Qing Ling and couldn’t focus fully on manipulating them, thus allowing Gao Yang and his double to quickly dispatch them.

Gao Yang glanced at his double. “Come on. The fight’s only just begun.”

...

Qilin continued his silent standoff with Qing Ling. Neither side was in a rush to make another attack.

Just when he used Brain Formatting to keep Qing Ling at bay, things went wrong on the other battlefield.

He could sense his connection to Zhong He, Nomad, Amon, and Jing Ke becoming incredibly weak, making it almost impossible for him to keep controlling them. It was fortunate that Zhong He’s Phantom had been stored in Qilin’s body when the corpse puppets were dispatched. Nevertheless, Qilin had lost his access to Keen Hearing, Rules of Jianghu, Arm Strength, and Bone Growth.

Qilin didn’t even have to see through the eyes of the corpse puppets to guess that they had been trapped in an Absolute Barrier or a Time-Space Gap. Or it could be a rule-based domain.

Whatever the case, it didn’t stop Qilin from making the optimal decision—retrieving all the Talents of the corpse puppets now.

With the living puppets, Qilin commanded them to go into hiding, keeping them from Gao Yang. Then once the living puppets were well hidden, QIlin took their Talents as well.

Standing with his cane, Qilin circulated his energy and integrated the complex gallery of Talents in his body, allowing their energy to quickly roam his energy pathway.

When he looked up once more, two Gao Yangs were standing by Qing Ling. The three stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes blazing and expressions serious.

“Done?” Qig Ling’s gaze remained fixed on Qilin as she talked to Gao Yang.

“The corpse puppets will be trapped for a few minutes. Liao Liao, Gregor, and Ke Yo are in hiding.” Gao Yang gave a concise update, seeing a shadow armor emerging over Qilin as he focused.

He added, “It seems that most of the puppets’ Talents are with Qilin.”

Qing Ling quickly went over the puppets’ Talents in her head. She thought of something: “Rain River is being controlled, too. Qilin just used Plasticine.”

Realization dawned on Gao Yang. “Seems like she’s acquired God of Water.”

Qing Ling nodded. “My Limitless Evolution just reached level 4.”

She wasn’t trying to boast, but letting Gao Yang know his partner’s new-found power so that he could better strategize.

Gao Yang perked up.

Now the odds are better!

Some time ago, Gao Yang had made the decision to give the Rune Circuits to multiple people. Originally, Qing Ling had gotten the Element Rune Circuit, and Heavenly Dog the Time-Space Rune Circuit to figure out if the Rune Circuits would push Talents outside the top twelve to level 8.

That turned out to be a bust.

Thus, Gao Yang adjusted his strategy and tried if the Rune Circuits could be used as bait to lure in new Talents.

For example, Qilin might have lured Puppeteer because he had been carrying the Summon Rune Circuit with him, while Gao Shou had acquired Absolute Defense because he had been wearing the Guard Rune Circuit for years.

The allocation of Talents to awakeners was a complex interaction of multiple factors that were difficult to make sense of; Gao Yang believed the hypothesis was worth testing.

Therefore, Gao Yang had given Qing Ling the Buff Rune Circuit and Heavenly Dog the Element Rune Circuit, trying their luck in acquiring Limitless Evolution and Elemental.

Qing Ling was lucky, and she fulfilled Gao Yang’s expectations.

“My Time-Space Spirit just reached level 7.” Gao Yang revealed his upgrade to Qing Ling as well; it was already obvious in what he had done, though.

Why are you boasting?!

Qing Ling fumed. “I’m not blind.”

Gao Yang smiled and took a step forward. “Let’s go.”

Qing Ling swung her long blades. “Strategy.”