Ultimate Rice System - Chapter 77 Same Person Different Mind

Tianfei did not feel the corrosion from the pages. Slowly she opened her eyes to see an turquoise mist shielding her from the pages. The pages were held in place as if time had stopped. Tianfei could see the black aura that was emanating from the page to be suppressed.

*Tap*Tap*

The sound of gentle footsteps resonated throughout the room. At the end of the hallway of bookshelves. A lone figure emanating a turquoise aura walked up to death. He was carrying a scythe behind his neck in relaxed manner. Tianfei recognized this person yet didn’t. This person was of course, Xin Fan however, the expression, the mannerism, the air released all seemed different. Death lifted up his fingers and pointed at ‘Xin Fan’. The flurry of a dozen pages shot forwards chasing it’s target like a hound.

“This feels strangely familiar.”

The turquoise aura retracted from Tianfei and returned back to the owner. ‘Xin Fan’ cloaked himself in this aura and angled his body ever so slightly as the stream of pages approached him. The pages passed through as if they never even touched him. The boy gently walked past Death and towards the injured girl. The pages that were shot curved along the end and chased down this elusive target. From the corner of his eye he saw the pages returned. He lifted up his finger letting it glow slightly. A bit of the aura was infused into the energy that was gathered.

“What was it called again? Harvest Slash?”

The ‘Xin Fan’ swiped his finger three times sending three blades of energy towards the pages heading his way. It wasn’t as grand as the previous blades. On the contrary, the blades were considerably small and didn’t seem to pack in a lot of energy. Each blade of energy cut down a few of the pages before dissipating naturally. The clash of auras seemed to cancel each other out with not a wastage of energy. The boy took out a formation plate and placed it on the ground. Tianfei recognized this, after all, she made it. Yet she still couldn’t trust herself to believe it. Everything seemed like a daze.

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Xin Kong.”

The boy gave a polite bow to the girl. Small blue particles sprinkled over the wounded leg slowly healing it. Xin Kong stared at his his hands slowly clasping it. The aura retracted some more as he did so. The aura shifted from shape to shape. Sometimes a lion, other times, a sword. A flash of black shot from behind and he lifted the scythe to cut it down. With a swing, the scythe distorted overshooting and missing the page. As it approached, he grabbed it while coating his hand in a turquoise aura. The page was in direct contact with his skin. Yet, his hand did not decompose. In fact, nothing happened.

“How does Xin Fan use that thing?”

He slid the page across the blade of the scythe slicing it in two. He gripped the scythe firmly and thrust it forwards. From the tip to the end, it vanished in the air. He grasped the air and took out an ordinary wooden branch. He waved it around in the air. A sharp crack resonated through the library as it hit the bookshelf.

“It’s no sword but it could do.”

A layer of qi slowly started to coat this stick. Over the top, there was another layer of Turquoise aura, shaped into a sword. This was Primal Essence, the so called, basis of everything. All the different forms of qi, derived from Primal essence. Matter itself, made of primal essence. Xin Kong’s primal essence glowed like a gentle flame. It seemed to have different properties to that of Chilong. Chilong could suppress groups of people simply by will. This however, didn’t seem to have that same property, at least, for now.

“A sword without a will is just a sword.”

Xin Kong’s eyes slowly turned blank as if he was in a trance. He gently waved the stick around dissecting the pages coming his way. If Xin Fan was watching, he would immediately recognize that this was the empty mind state. Death took a step forwards. Two holes opened up on the mask of pages as if to make space for eyes. The holes were pitch black, nothing could be seen behind. Death emotionlessly glided forwards slashing down with his scythe. Xin Kong gently lifted up the stick over his head blocking the scythe singlehandedly with an equal lack of emotion. Death in comparison to Xin Fan, was much taller and had the height advantage. Death tapped it’s feet on the wooden floorboards. From the gaps, pieces of parchment shot up to the boy’s stomach. Xin Kong, angled his body narrowly avoiding the pages and spun his body. A small cut appeared on the arm of Death. There was not a single flaw in his movement. Everything was done to the utmost efficiency.

“True emptiness is a void. Powerful yet meaningless.”

Xin Kong stabbed out relentlessly cutting through the sides of one of Death’s wings. There seemed to be some profound law that was beyond understanding. Xin Kong stabbed forwards piercing a dozen pages in a single go. The pages were pierced, yet there was no mark. Instead they simply scattered making way for another attack. Xin Kong stabbed forwards. The whole library erupted into a storm of paper. The sword was absolute, cutting through everything. Pages upon pages moved in to block the blade only to scattered away. There was a pause before everything stopped. The pages started to collapse as did Death. As he did so, color slowly returned back into his eyes.

“A seed of karma has been sowed.”

Pages scattered all over the floor of the library. The dark aura also seemed to disappear. In the distance, he could see a white aura also fade away. Xin Kong stretched his arms as he threw the branch to the side. The aura retracted from the branch and collected around his index finger.

“Hah…I hope Xin Fan won’t blame me for what happens next. I may have overdone it.”

Xin Kong stared worriedly at his current body. He clearly exceeded the limits that it could take. Turquoise flickered along his finger like a fading flame. A small voice spoke up from behind him.

“Umm…I don’t know who you are but thank you.”

Xin Kong turned around and looked at the girl. He gave a small pat on her head with a smile an adult would to their child.

“If you wan’t to thank anyone, thank Xin Fan. It was his choice after all.”

The turquoise flame faded into the air. Xin Kong’s eyes closed.

‘At least that new technique wasn’t useless after all.’

A line of red opened up along the side of his body. Then another at his back. Holes opened up along the side of his stomach. Xin Fan collapsed. The white robe he was wearing slowly became stained with red. Tianfei rushed over catching him before he could land.

“Xin Fan!”