Chapter 143: Bewitching Butterfly (2)

Su Chen activated his footwork technique. He looked like he was about to collapse under the pressure, but in reality everything was under his control.

Su Chen was still busy fighting the two of them when he suddenly felt his vision darken. He felt as though he was about to pass out for no reason.

He had just blocked the silver-armored youth’s steel spear and was about to dodge the Dark Extermination Sword when this bout of dizziness slowed him down. In a moment of crisis, Su Chen forcefully pushed past the dizziness and twisted his body in midair. The edge of the sword brushed past his waist, and blood gushed out.

The sword only cut open a superficial wound, which burst open and formed a vicious wound. It was just a negligible scratch at first, but now Su Chen had sustained minor injury.

Su Chen retreated. He glanced at Jin Ling’er, only to see a bright smile on her face, her eyes concealing a brilliant light. He barely met her gaze before he felt the dizziness wash over him even more powerfully.

He knew the situation was not good, so he lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. Even so, that smile haunted his thoughts, and it even seemed as if there were faint laughter echoing in his ears, affecting his state of mind and his ability to interpret his surroundings.

Illusion Techniques!

Unlike Li, Jin Ling’er’s illusion techniques could even penetrate into a person’s heart. They excelled at attacking a person’s consciousness.

Seeing the vicious wound on Su Chen’s stomach, Jin Ling’er laughed, “He recovered quite rapidly. What a pity…... let’s try again.”

As she spoke, she turned around and floated into the air, her colorful clothing scattering the sunlight into blurred rays of colored light. At a glance, she resembled a colorful butterfly.

Jin Ling’er waved her hands. Wind formed around them, carrying a perfume-like smell, before she sent a gust to enshroud Su Chen.

Everyone who knew her would yell when they saw this. Jin Ling’er had even used her Jade Dew Fragrance!

The words “Bewitching Butterfly”, just like “Poisonous Centipede”, had two main implications. The word “bewitching” indicated the might of her illusion techniques and her ability to control the consciousnesses of others. The word “butterfly” referred to the Jade Dew Fragrance.

Although Jin Ling’er looked like she was being careless, in reality she had already taken out her trump cards.

The Jade Dew Fragrance floated on the breeze toward Su Chen.

Su Chen did not know what this fragrance was for, but that wasn’t necessary to know it would not be easy to deal with.

His hands struck out as thunder rumbled, shaking up the fragrant wind and keeping it at bay.

However, against all of his expectations, this attack wasn’t aimed at him. It had tricked him into making a move, but the silver-armored youth and Pan Yue simultaneously took in a deep breath. Immediately, their vigor returned to them.

The silver-armored youth stabbed his spear toward Su Chen. This strike was like a dragon shaking its tail, carrying with it a frightening momentum.

Su Chen swung his blade to block the spear. The violent power of the spear denied any attempt from Su Chen at blocking it, as it knocked the blade aside and stabbed Su Chen, piercing his defensive barrier. Pan Yue’s Dark Extermination Sword also came flying in at this moment, its speed faster than before. Su Chen could not dodge it. He was left with only one option, which was to activate the Soul Eye which he had been preparing for a while now.

He originally planned to ambush Jin Ling’er with it. Although he looked like he was giving his full attention to this fight, he was calmly looking for an opportunity to deal with Jin Ling’er. However, he was forced by Pan Yue to use the Soul Eye prematurely.

Pan Yue’s pause allowed Su Chen to speed past him, narrowly dodging their combined attack.

Su Chen was quite shocked. So that perfume isn’t poisonous, it just raises one’s combat abilities.

Had known this was the case, he wouldn’t have tried to avoid it. Rather, he would have taken a deep breath and let his body take in as much as he could.

No, that’s not right. Things definitely weren’t as simple as that.

If that were the case, wouldn’t the Jade Dew Fragrance only be effective against those who weren’t prepared for it, and those who were prepared for it could react appropriately?

That meant......

Su Chen glanced at Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth. The two became even more filled with vigor.

Thinking it over, he began to put the pieces together.

It was highly likely that this Jade Dew Fragrance also had the ability to affect one’s consciousness. If he had tried to breathe it in, assuming it was beneficial, he would have handed himself on a golden platter to his enemy.

He glanced at Jin Ling’er again, who was gently floating down from midair.

She was not disappointed by Su Chen’s reaction to her Jade Dew Fragrance. She blew out a gust of air with her mouth instead.

The fragrant wind swept toward Su Chen, causing more illusory images to appear in front of his eyes. Everywhere he looked, he saw endless copies of Pan Yue and the silver armored youth charging at him. He was unable to tell which ones were real and which ones were fake.

This Jade Dew Fragrance was neither poison nor medicine. It was a Bloodline Origin Skill which could be controlled by those with the bloodline after being released. Not only could it bore into a person’s consciousness and vitalize their combat ability, it could also apply illusions of varying shapes and sizes. It had an incredible variety of applications. Jin Ling’er was still young and couldn’t draw out its full potential. Otherwise, the entire battlefield would be under the influence of her illusions. It would be next to impossible to distinguish between truth and illusion. The power of such a skill could be easily imagined.

Even if she couldn’t draw out its full potential, Su Chen still found it hard to deal with.

He gazed at Jin Ling’er, then suddenly said, “I met Poison Centipede Kong Zhen. His poison was very powerful.”

Jin Ling’er was taken aback. She had no idea why Su Chen would suddenly bring this up.

Su Chen continued. “But he was defeated. I also encountered a guy who was very proficient in battling at night, not at all hampered by the darkness, but he was also defeated. I also met an exam candidate skilled in the usage of chilling attacks. His Origin Skills could even neutralize all other Origin Skills, yet he was also defeated. They all were defeated because although their Origin Skills were indeed powerful, they were not invincible. They all had their own limitations.”

Jin Ling’er’s expression became slightly more serious. She watched Su Chen as he continued, “Your illusion techniques are powerful enough to let you control someone and use them as you please. According to reason, if you were able to control an expert, you would be invincible. But you didn’t, did you? When you mentioned Ji Hanyan, you said no one would be stupid enough to provoke that crazy woman. That can only mean one thing: you can’t control her. It doesn’t stop there either - you can’t even control existences like Zhang Sheng’an or Zhong Ding. Is that where the limitation of your Origin Skill lies? You cannot control those who are more powerful than you?”

A look of disdain flashed across Jin Ling’er’s face. “Is this the discovery you made after battling me? So what, it’s still enough to deal with you.”

“No, that’s not how it is!” Upon receiving Jin Ling’er’s confirmation, Su Chen shook his head. “Control via illusion techniques doesn’t depend on the target’s strength, but on their willpower!”

Jin Ling’er revealed a shocked expression.

Su Chen laughed. “It seems like my intuition was correct.”

“So what? How does knowing this help you in any way?” Jin Ling’er waved her arms, sending the fragrant wind into motion again. The illusions formed, concealing the attacks of Pan Yue and the silver-armored youth.

Su Chen went all-out to defend himself, but he continued to speak. “I’m not done talking yet. When you came, you only brought one person, but now you are controlling two people to deal with me. If your Origin Skill was that powerful, why didn’t you bring more people to control? It’s already been two days. If you wanted to, you could easily have controlled a few more people to do your bidding. But you didn’t; instead, you only had one person with you. What does this mean? And earlier, you sent those two people to test me out before controlling Pan Yue. If you aren’t stupid, why didn’t you make the four of them attack me simultaneously? In addition, those two are still lying on the ground. You only have to wake them up and have them attack me simultaneously to make it a five-on-one fight. There’s no way I could possibly win. So why haven’t you done so?”

Jin Ling’er’s expression finally changed.

Su Chen laughed. “That’s because it consumes too much energy, right? You can control more targets, but every additional person you control increases the burden on you. You have only kept one person by your side, and only during battle will you temporarily add another one, maybe two. Thus, I have no need to go all-out with you. As long as I maintain my conviction, you cannot control me. And as long as I endure in battle, even if I can’t defeat you, I can at least tire you out until you collapse. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Dammit!” Jin Ling’er began to panic.

Su Chen had hit the nail on the head. This was Jin Ling’er’s greatest weakness. Although her control Origin Skill was very powerful and could cause others to do her bidding without question, she could not control those with a powerful will, and she could not control too many targets at once. Every second she controlled someone’s consciousness, her Origin Energy was being drained, and if the target’s will was attempting to resist, that consumption would greatly increase. If not for these drawbacks, she would be absolutely invincible - as long as she controlled Ji Hanyan, Zhong Ding, and Zhang Sheng’an, who could defeat her?

Su Chen had seen right through the weakness of her Origin Skill from the very beginning.

All he had to do was endure. He would let her exhaust her energy, and he would win.

There was one other thing he could do besides enduring, which was to taunt his opponent.

He said in a low voice, “Pan Yue, are you still asleep? Do you really want to be this woman’s puppet for the rest of your life?”

Pan Yue’s eyes became unfocused for a moment. The resistance of his will became stronger.

“Shoot.” Jin Ling’er was shocked. She strengthened her control over Pan Yue, causing her energy consumption to skyrocket.

You two useless bastards, how come you still haven’t taken care of him? Jin Ling’er cursed in rage.

At this moment, Su Chen focused all his attention on escaping, activating the Snaking Mist Steps to its limit. He didn’t even bother counterattacking, instead choosing to delay as much as he could.

Jin Ling’er’s expression turned uglier. “Bastard, do you think this tactic alone is enough to deal with me? Even without illusion techniques, the Bewitching Butterfly Jin Clan is not so easy to provoke.”

A sword appeared in her hand as she shot toward Su Chen like a plume of smoke. She stabbed out, her strikes raining down like a blizzard.

The three bloodline experts attacked together. The spear wind and sword images generated a frightening turbulent flow.

When faced with the spear and sword waves, Su Chen could only retreat.

As he retreated, he pulled out all kinds of random items from his ring and slammed them toward his opponents. These included his cooking and eating utensils, such as a pot and ladle, as well as some beast hides and bones he had obtained after killing Vicious Beasts. There were even a few strange vials, beakers, and wine jugs.

Upon seeing such a scene, Jin Ling’er laughed. “You’ve run out of tactics, haven’t you? Look at your sorry figure, you’re just throwing garbage at me now!”

The three continued their onslaught amidst Jin Ling’er’s maniacal laughter.

She flew into the air like a butterfly, scattering a hazy light through the air. One had to admit that even without her Bloodline illusion techniques, Jin Ling’er still possessed quite formidable combat prowess. With two people supporting her both sides, numerous Bloodline Origin Skills exploded forth. No matter what Su Chen did, he was unable to block it all.

However, at that precise moment, Jin Ling’er saw a strange smile appear on Su Chen’s face.

When she saw that smile, she knew something was wrong.

An intense sensation of danger washed over her, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She instinctively retreated a few steps.

Su Chen retrieved his hand, then made a gesture like a lotus flower opening.

That was…... an explosion?

Fear appeared in Jin Ling’er’s eyes.

All she could do was add a defensive barrier to herself as fast as she could.

BOOM!

A giant explosion blossomed at her feet, like a red lotus opening, tossing Jin Ling’er into the air.