Chapter 2.2.2019

February 2nd, 2019.

Lower Dimension Snowfield, within the Holy Ruins mountain.

The fierce battle continued as always. Aside from the roars of the White Ghouls and White Ghoul Witches, the two humans here were eerily silent.

Neither Han Jiangxue nor Jiang Xiao had spoken for a long time.

"That's about enough." Amidst the intense fighting, a voice suddenly rang out.

Han Jiangxue thought she was hallucinating. She turned her head and saw Jiang Xiao nodding at her.

Ever since the incident at the Other Ball, Jiang Xiao had been in a bit of a slump. Han Jiangxue saw it and was anxious, but she found that there was nothing she could do to cheer Jiang Xiao up. Words of comfort and encouragement had failed to pull him out of his depression.

So, Han Jiangxue took a step back and chose to silently stay by his side.

Hearing Jiang Xiao speak again made Han Jiangxue feel much better.

Han Jiangxue: "Enough?"

Jiang Xiao raised his hand and nodded again to confirm.

*Shua*...

The Black Void Teleportation Barrier instantly expanded, and invisible star power threads tugged at the creatures within the space barrier. The Ripple Teleportation Barrier then rapidly contracted.

The two, along with eight Flame Puppets, disappeared from the small mountain in the Holy Ruins.

Hundreds of miles away, on a silent cliff, the two figures reappeared.

The Flame Puppets scattered around, diligently guarding the two.

Jiang Xiao frowned, seeming to be carefully reading something, and said, "The star technique has been upgraded to the highest quality."

"Mm." Han Jiangxue responded softly. During the long period of slaughter, she had long been prepared for this. At this point, the upgrade in quality of her star technique was nothing more than a natural outcome. "Want to test it out?"

Jiang Xiao nodded. Within his inner vision of the Star Atlas, both the Blessing Star Technique and the Decoy Star Technique had reached the Starry quality. There were no more smaller grade levels behind them, but there were some changes in the description of the star techniques.

Especially in the Starry · Decoy, Jiang Xiao seemed to see the shadow of Starry · Earth Light.

Starry · Decoy: Creates a decoy. (13)

Jiang Xiao frowned. He reached out a hand, and beside him, another Jiang Xiao appeared – a decoy Jiang Xiao with tattered clothes, covered in blood, and a solemn expression.

Han Jiangxue was slightly stunned and said, "You..."

Jiang Xiao raised a finger, making a "stop" gesture. Han Jiangxue thought about it and didn't say anything more.

Jiang Xiao looked at his inner vision of the Star Atlas again and found that the number in the parentheses after Starry · Decoy had changed to (23).

So... can I just replace you instead of summoning a third decoy?

Jiang Xiao took out a handful of White Ghoul Star Beads from his pocket and handed them over.

The decoy Jiang Xiao took them and directly absorbed them. After a dozen seconds, a Cyan Glow star technique was inlaid in the decoy Jiang Xiao's Star Atlas.

Jiang Xiao's expression was solemn as he looked at the decoy in front of him. He used the star technique again.

*Shua!*

Another decoy Jiang Xiao appeared, standing to his left, while the decoy in front of him, illuminated with the Big Dipper Star Atlas and inlaid with the Cyan Glow star technique, disappeared without a trace.

Jiang Xiao looked at his inner vision of the Star Atlas again and found that the number in the parentheses after the Decoy Star Technique was still (23).

Jiang Xiao was greatly relieved. He could freely cancel and freely summon them, making it very convenient to operate.

Although there were parentheses after this decoy, it was different from the parentheses after the Earth Light star technique. The Earth Light star technique was for Jiang Xiao to create Star Maps. Once created, they were permanent and would permanently occupy the number quota in the parentheses after Earth Light.

Star Maps could not be broken or canceled to be replaced, but decoys were different. Decoys could be canceled, die, and be summoned again.

So, three decoys with three Star Maps?

Jiang Xiao had upgraded so many star techniques and had seen the pattern.

Every star technique would probably have a "qualitative change" stage, and such qualitative changes mostly occurred in the Diamond or Platinum quality.

Obviously, the qualitative change of the Decoy was at the Diamond quality. At that time, the decoy became a "real person" who could unfold a Star Map, which was undoubtedly a qualitative change.

And after the Diamond Decoy was upgraded to a Starry Decoy, there was no qualitative change, only a quantitative change.

Jiang Xiao took out another handful of Star Beads and handed them to the newly summoned decoy in front of him.

After several absorptions, another star slot lit up in the decoy Jiang Xiao's Star Map.

*Chi!*

The next moment, Jiang Xiao took out a dagger and directly stabbed it into the decoy Jiang Xiao's heart.

Damn it, that hurts!

Jiang Xiao and the decoy Jiang Xiao had the same expression, both frowning and clenching their teeth.

Han Jiangxue subconsciously raised her hand, but forcibly stopped her action. She took two steps back, not because she was afraid, but because she was worried that her subconscious reaction would interfere with Jiang Xiao.

The scene in front of her was not pleasant. Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue, who had struggled out of the Holy Ruins, were both covered in dirt and blood.

Under the night, the flickering firelight reflected such a scene, which looked a bit heartbreaking in Han Jiangxue's eyes.

The decoy Jiang Xiao, who had no star techniques, gradually became empty-eyed, lost the light of life, and slowly fell down, stirring up layers of snow.

Jiang Xiao raised his left arm, wiped the congealed blood on the dial of his electronic watch with his right hand, and watched the seconds change little by little.

This military-green military electronic watch had been with Jiang Xiao for a long time. Qin Wangchuan had given it to him the last time he went to Jindalai to carry out a mission.

Jiang Xiao slowly squatted down, silently guarding his corpse.

"Ha..." Han Jiangxue sighed softly. This damn guy was really ruthless.

If it were anyone else, Han Jiangxue could be so numb and indifferent, but the person lying in the snow was, in a sense, Jiang Xiao himself.

Han Jiangxue simply turned around, took two steps, stood on the edge of the cliff, and looked at the endless, deep starry sky, at the dreamlike aurora on the horizon.

Gusts of wind and snow blew, and time passed second by second. Jiang Xiao squatted beside his corpse, silently staring at his watch. At the 10-minute mark, the corpse that had stained the snow red suddenly shattered, turning into specks of star power and dissipating in the cold wind.

Not only the corpse, but even the blood stained on the snow turned into star power and disappeared without a trace...

In the snow, only a human-shaped outline remained.

"Ten minutes, the same as the Diamond-level decoy, there will be no Star Beads. They will all shatter and dissipate with the corpse," Jiang Xiao said.

Han Jiangxue turned her back to Jiang Xiao and said softly, "When I proposed the idea of dropping out of school, you were still worried about me."

"Mm?" Jiang Xiao turned to look at Han Jiangxue.

Han Jiangxue's clear voice came with the cold wind, "Now it seems that the one who should be worried about is not me, but you."

"Uh..." Jiang Xiao scratched his head and sat down in the snow, thoughtfully looking at Han Jiangxue's back. He reached out and touched the human-shaped outline in the snow and said, "I just look a little miserable when I commit suicide, but actually, I'm doing pretty well."

Han Jiangxue finally turned around and looked at Jiang Xiao, "Mm?"

Jiang Xiao shrugged and said, "You're talking about the Little Chongyang thing, right?"

Han Jiangxue: "I'm talking about your performance in this stage after that incident."

Jiang Xiao grinned, waved his hand, and said, "It's much better now. I'm not lying to you. In the beginning, it did hit me. I've always thought that if I work hard, there will be results, and the heavens have rewarded me like that. This sudden failure really gave me a knife."

"But now..." Jiang Xiao shrugged, the meaning self-evident.

"I hope so." Han Jiangxue silently looked at Jiang Xiao, at his current appearance. Han Jiangxue felt inexplicably annoyed and hurriedly turned around.

Most of the anger in this world is due to one's own incompetence.

Han Jiangxue knew very well that when she was in a bad mood or in a slump, Jiang Xiao could always find a way to encourage and comfort her.

But when Jiang Xiao was in a bad mood, Han Jiangxue couldn't seem to find a way to help him.

This gave her a deep sense of powerlessness. Staying by his side, not abandoning him, was more like a last resort.

Jiang Xiao said, "I've been going too smoothly all this way, Little Jiangxue."

Han Jiangxue gently said "Mm."

Jiang Xiao continued, "From the moment I accepted failure and admitted failure, my mentality has returned to normal."

Han Jiangxue looked at the aurora on the horizon, her dark eyes flashing with strange colors: "It was her who broke the promise."

"Mm, this world doesn't revolve around me. Of course, I won't give up, I will try my best to find her," Jiang Xiao said. "Do good deeds, and don't ask about the future."

As he spoke, Jiang Xiao opened the Calamity Shadow Territory and jumped into it.

A few seconds later, Jiang Xiao came out again. Although it seemed like he didn't bring anything, the Yingying Bear was already in place in his Big Dipper Star Atlas.

Jiang Xiao took a deep breath, reached out his hand, and mobilized the Yingying Bear's majestic star power within his body.

The next moment, a small pillar of light suddenly appeared.

But... it was not a descent, but from bottom to top, rushing straight into the sky.

Jiang Xiao looked at the upward rushing pillar of light in astonishment. The holy but small pillar of light emitted a faint glow, only slightly affecting the night, unable to light up the night sky.

Han Jiangxue looked up and saw that the pillar of light continued, rushing into the clouds.

*Hua*...

The small pillar of light emitted amazing energy, and at that specific height, it suddenly spread out, dyeing the sky in this area into a holy white.

This scene was so magnificent!

So shocking!

Because Han Jiangxue had teleported Jiang Xiao to a very remote and secluded location, Jiang Xiao did not immediately cut off the connection with the pillar of light.

A few seconds later, holy light descended...

Specks of light fell like stardust rain, pouring down from the sky, like raindrops emitting light.

Unlike rain, the Blessing Light Rain fell more slowly than normal raindrops.

Under this sky dyed white, light fell like rain, nourishing all things.

Han Jiangxue subconsciously reached out her palm and watched the specks of holy light raindrops fall into her palm, merging into her body.

The body, which had been exhausted by prolonged slaughter, gradually shed its fatigue.

Strength slowly increased, scars slowly dissipated, and even the tense nerves gradually relaxed.

The holy light fell densely and slowly, nourishing her heart, silently benefiting everything.

Behind her, Jiang Xiao's voice came: "Qualitative change, it's no longer violent."

Han Jiangxue looked up at the falling raindrops and said softly, "Let's go back, let's go home."

Jiang Xiao: "Okay."