Chapter 361: Ch 361 : Giving it your all is the greatest form of respect
Su Yuan stared at the modified Xiangling-turned-mechanical construct in front of him, his mind racing with thoughts...
If it was true that both "Cloud Retainer" and Dottore had taken part in Xiangling’s transformation—
Then should he and his team praise Xiangling or belittle her?
Should they go all out to defeat her, or deliberately hold back and pretend to lose?
However, Xiangling didn’t give Su Yuan the time or chance to consider.
She charged forward and launched a fierce attack at him!
At the same time, "Cloud Retainer" released a heavy wave of eerie power, suppressing the actions of everyone present—except Su Yuan and Xiangling...
"Cloud Retainer, what is the meaning of this?"
Dottore furrowed his brows slightly and spoke:
"Although the relationship between you and me isn’t exactly close..."
"But technically speaking, I should still count as your ally, your teammate..."
"And yet you’re suppressing even me—just what are you trying to do?"
"It’s simple. I just want to see, between the mechanically modified Xiangling and Su Yuan—who will emerge victorious."
"Cloud Retainer" spoke to Dottore, then turned to look in Su Yuan’s direction:
"Su Yuan, I promise you — you and Xiangling will have a fair duel. I guarantee that no one will interfere!"
"Of course, you must not attempt to let someone else control your body to unleash power that doesn’t belong to you..."
"If you do that, it would be a violation — and I will step in to stop it!"
Hearing Cloud Retainer’s words and watching her actions, Su Yuan could now be almost certain — this mechanical construct of Xiangling was transformed by Cloud Retainer herself!
Otherwise, why would she care so much?
Su Yuan had originally planned to have Tartaglia take over his body and fight, but now that Cloud Retainer had made things so clear, wouldn’t that mean he’d have to fight Xiangling using only his own strength?
However, Su Yuan quickly calmed down.
Perhaps only someone like Dottore, with extremely in-depth understanding of eerie powers, could fuse the immunity to elemental energy into mechanical constructs...
If it was only Cloud Retainer’s doing, then this modified Xiangling might not possess immunity to elemental energy...
Su Yuan knew very well — if that was the case, then he might still stand a chance.
So, facing the attacking Xiangling, Su Yuan quickly dodged and gathered Geo elemental energy in his hands, launching a counterattack toward Xiangling!
His Geo strike hit successfully with a loud bang, and Xiangling staggered several steps back from the sheer force of the impact...
Seeing the situation unfold, Su Yuan realized — just as he had suspected — this Xiangling was completely incapable of resisting elemental attacks!
In other words, there was now little doubt left: this mechanical construct of Xiangling had indeed been created by Cloud Retainer herself!
So... what should he do now? Should he intentionally lose to this Xiangling construct?
But what if Cloud Retainer believed that a true test of her mechanical prowess required a life-or-death battle between him and Xiangling — and that he had to die at Xiangling’s hands to prove her mechanical artistry?
In the following moments, as Xiangling pressed forward with her attacks, Su Yuan merely defended himself, never striking back...
While defending, he called out, "Ahhh, this Xiangling construct is just too powerful! I’m completely overwhelmed! All I can do is passively defend myself..."
"Adeptus Cloud Retainer, I surrender, I surrender — can we stop fighting now?"
"Su Yuan... are you mocking me?"
"Are you looking down on me? Looking down on my mechanical creation?!"
At that moment, Cloud Retainer dropped the act entirely and openly admitted that the Xiangling construct was her own work:
"Use your full power! Show me — what level is my mechanical creation truly at?!"
Su Yuan’s expression turned bitter.
What was he supposed to do now?
Even when he deliberately held back and played defense, Cloud Retainer had seen right through it...
If he purposefully let himself lose to the Xiangling construct, she would surely see through that too...
Was his acting really that bad?
But soon, another possibility occurred to Su Yuan...
In many novels, manga, dramas, and movies, experienced warriors in a duel often wished for their opponent to go all-out — because giving it your all was the greatest form of respect between equals...
On the contrary, if he didn’t give it his all and intentionally held back, perhaps — in the eyes of the other party — it might actually be seen as a form of insult...
Could it be that the situation between him, Xiangling, and Cloud Retainer was exactly like that?
If he deliberately went easy and pretended to lose to Xiangling, wouldn’t that be an even greater insult to Cloud Retainer?
She might feel that a victory obtained in such a way was nothing but pity or charity — which would only deepen her belief that her mechanical skills were lacking, and cause her will to waver even more...
Now that he thought about it, Cloud Retainer was a millennia-old Adeptus — after experiencing so much, how could she be so easily defeated in spirit just because of a single loss in mechanical arts?
If her craftsmanship was strong enough to make her opponent go all out, wouldn’t that in itself be the greatest affirmation?
Could it be that the reason Cloud Retainer had fallen under eerie corruption in the first place... was because Dottore hadn’t even used his full strength, and had effortlessly crushed her in the field of mechanica?
Was that what truly shattered her confidence and led to her descent?
Thinking of that, Su Yuan’s hesitation and doubts all vanished.
He looked toward Xiangling, not far ahead — his eyes burning with the fire of battle.
If that’s how it is, then there’s nothing more to think about.
It’s time to fight Xiangling with everything he has!
He had always fought against eerie forces, and even now, he wasn’t sure how much destructive power his Geo element truly held...
And as Cloud Retainer saw Su Yuan’s aura transform completely — his entire body radiating fighting spirit — the corners of her lips curled slightly into a faint smile.
"Come on then, Xiangling — let’s both go all out and have a proper fight!!"
In the next moment, Su Yuan channeled the Geo element within his body, forming a shield of stone armor around him!
This move — he had modeled it after Zhongli’s Jade Shield.
Then Su Yuan gathered Geo energy around both of his fists, forming a pair of solid gauntlets made entirely of elemental force — preparing to take Xiangling on in close combat, in a brutal, fist-to-fist showdown!
As Su Yuan was fully engaged in a fierce brawl with Xiangling, deep within his mind, Tartaglia asked the little boy in confusion:
"Hey, little bro — aren’t there three souls currently sharing Su Yuan’s body?"
"There’s you, there’s me... and then there’s Director Hu."
"But... why do I feel like I haven’t heard Director Hu say anything in a long time?"
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