Chapter 54: Uncovering

Should I follow him? On second thought, it seems that it would be a bit rash to follow him so quickly. However, this person seemed to be very confident, and after signaling to me, he walked straight in a certain direction. Although his pace was not fast, he seemed to be sure that I would follow him.

I had already made up my mind three days ago. I had nothing to lose in this village, so the slight hesitation I had just thought about quickly disappeared, and I quickly walked out of the courtyard and followed his footsteps.

He didn’t seem to like talking, and I couldn’t think of anything to say either, so we walked in silence, and the atmosphere was a bit strange.

The reason for the strangeness was that I clearly felt very familiar with him, but it seemed that a cold silver mask had created a distance, making me occasionally feel a little dazed and thinking that this feeling of familiarity was an illusion.

We walked along like this, and coincidentally, he also led me to the small open space surrounded by the so-called entrance.

However, it is easy to understand that in this circular village, the only place where you can avoid people’s attention is here.

When we reached the center of the clearing, the man finally stopped and stared at the sky, lost in thought.

Since I’m here, I might as well stay. I didn’t believe he would call me out for no reason, so I waited silently, wondering what this person was up to.

But I didn’t expect that after staring at the sky for a while, he suddenly turned around and, without any warning, started to move his feet and make hand gestures… What was this? At that moment, I was stunned for a second and immediately recognized that this was the fire-starting technique of the Five Elements spell.

He wants to kill me? This was my immediate reaction… But the next moment, I dared not be negligent, and I did not care about any taboos. I also began to step on the steps, and you used the fire-starting technique, so I used the rain-making technique.

It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that I can summon the wind and rain, at least the Taoist priests nowadays, I don’t know about Jenny’s level, but I don’t think many of them can achieve the maximum effect of this spell! Maybe they can’t even achieve one-tenth of the effect, but it is more than enough to deal with the fire-summoning technique!

Thinking back, the truth of borrowing the east wind during the Three Kingdoms period really happened. It was a realm that people yearned for. At that time, most of the top strategists had inherited the Taoist tradition. The few techniques in the mountain-character vein were indeed full of the “military” technique, but the modern era of hot weapons completely made it decline.

I dare not think too much. Speaking of the art of summoning the wind and rain, it is even more difficult than the art of lighting a fire. When the master led us to attack the Miao village in Heiyan, we needed a large-scale summoning of the wind and rain, and we also used the power of many people. Even if I used a small amount of power, I had to be faster.

Thinking about this, I concentrated my mind, the pace of my footwork began to quicken, and I began to chant the incantation. The more complex the magic, the more difficult it is to perform, because it requires many things to be done at the same time, and each thing must be done with full concentration. Distracting oneself with three things at once is already a very high level of Taoist spiritual technique.

I was able to do this before, but I was destined to be slow. However, after so many years of practice… I can now perform them at the same time, and my speed has also improved.

Back then, even when using the Thunder Technique, I had to finish the first step first, and then proceed with the hand gestures and incantations.

However, what shocked me was that the person not far from me seemed to be doing the same thing, using three methods at the same time… It seems that it is not very difficult.

I couldn’t observe too closely because the ability to focus on three things at once was basically my limit. I could barely keep from collapsing when I had to divert even a little bit of my attention to observe the situation of others. But I knew that this was a cruel battle, and I had to compete with this person for time.

I began to cast my spell with all my heart. When the air around this place became increasingly hot, I was already shocked by the speed of this person’s spell casting, because it was much faster than when I first used the fire-drawing spell.

Fortunately, as the air here gradually became hotter, gusts of wind began to blow in the small clearing. Although the wind was not strong, it was quite powerful to spin in this clearing, with a slight whistling sound.

At the same time, dark clouds began to gather in the sky. They were different from the kind of clouds that caused thunder and lightning. These were pure rain clouds… not the kind of rain and wind that accompanied thunder and lightning. The strength of the rain and wind was too weak to have any effect on the fire-summoning technique. The special technique of summoning rain and wind could concentrate the power of rain and wind in a small area.

It seems that I was still one step ahead. I felt a little relieved. At this moment, the hand gestures had already been completed, and all that remained was the final steps and the incantation… So, in this situation, my mind also loosened up a little.

Because just now, an unintentional thought flashed through my mind. Compared to the first time I used the fire-starting technique… the first time I used this technique, was it at the Ghost Market? That time… I suddenly felt a little dazed, and found myself in a state of shock that I didn’t dare to think about.

The spell continued, and the heat in the air had reached a critical point. This critical point left me in no doubt that even without the trickery of the fire-inducing talisman from that year, I could still conjure up flames out of thin air… And the rain, which was fighting against it, was also poised to go, clearly and distinctly fighting against this heat. This inexplicable battle of wits divided this open space into a strange space where water and fire coexisted.

The steps had already been taken, and I was about to finish reciting the final incantation, complete the spell, and then finally engage in a fierce confrontation, when the mysterious man across from me, who had been very quiet, suddenly shouted, “Enough, stop the spell!”

I was a little taken aback. Anyone with a basic knowledge of magic knows that forcibly interrupting a spell will backfire on you, unless you use a special technique to end it. But what did he mean? He attacked me inexplicably, and then inexplicably asked me to end the spell… What did that mean?

But the person across from me seemed to be sincere. After shouting, he took the initiative to start the process of withdrawing the spell… You know that this is clearly…

But the next moment, I also began to withdraw the spell without hesitation. Before he suddenly asked me to withdraw the spell, I was a little shocked and overlooked some details, but now I have completely remembered it. I am familiar with this voice, and I should not forget that man—Lin Chen!

That night, the night that Irene ended her life, the man who broke into the Yueyan Miao Village alone and insisted on taking Irene’s body away… That day, at the ghost market, the man who carried Irene’s soul… That one, the man who sighed, “That’s it, I’m lost, I’m going down the mountain sadly, and I’m humming unconsciously…” And, the man who fought me in the ghost market and said he would definitely win.

Memories came flooding back, and I couldn’t believe it was him. But how could I have thought it was him in this place?

Compared to casting spells, the process of withdrawing is much faster, and it can’t be said to be completely without effect. After the withdrawal was complete, I stood silently for a long time to calm the surging breath in my body, and Lin Chen, who was facing me, was the same!

The heat of the air was gone, the wind had stopped howling, and the low clouds that had gathered over the clearing had gradually dispersed, and the moon was once again bright.

The black-clad man standing in front of me, who had already confirmed his identity, didn’t seem to want to hide anything anymore. After calming down, he reached out and removed the mask from his face.

With a loud clatter, the mask was thrown to the ground, making a light sound. The familiar yet slightly unfamiliar face of Lin Chen appeared before my eyes again. His deep facial features were still carved like a knife, but his eyes were no longer the fierce and proud eyes of the past. Instead, they were filled with a certain vicissitudes of life, which is why this man looked unfamiliar.

I was silent and didn’t know what to say. My thoughts were in a mess, and many questions came to mind, but I couldn’t figure them out for a while.

Lin Chen, however, looked at me and smiled. This smile was reminiscent of the proud man of the past. He said to me, “Just now, I lost again, didn’t I?”

I was silent. I had already forgotten that game, but I didn’t want him to be so persistent.

However, he didn’t seem to want an answer from me, and just crossed his arms, looked at the sky again with an uncertain expression, and said in a tone that I couldn’t understand, “Chen Chengyi, I really want to win you once.”