Yes, I did all of this!

Just as Huangyi unleashed his katana, its sword energy sweeping across the entire street, Cangyi also swung his sword in the next instant.

He unleashed all his power, and the pale lightning blasted towards the poisonous vine. The moment it struck the vine, it exploded into even more sword energy, engulfing the vine within. The sharp aura emanating from it seemed to tear the air apart.

—Huang Yi's sword aura swept past all the strange men, and also swept over Duanmu Mo and Xi Ri who were fighting.

However, neither of them suffered any harm, nor did the other strange individuals.

But after the sword energy passed by, their movements began to stiffen, their twisted bodies began to shatter, revealing the passersby among them.

Looking at Cangyi's side, her figure was obscured by the poisonous vines torn apart by a large amount of sword energy. After a while, her appearance was finally revealed.

"Hmm... I see. So this is your strength?"

Purple blood oozed out, and the poisonous vine was now covered in wounds, but its injuries were gradually healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Poison Vine remained standing in place, looking at Azure Wing before her, thorns extending from her hand.

Just as she was about to continue her attack, a white arc of electricity suddenly flashed around her body. Her figure, which had been standing steadily just moments before, suddenly seemed to have suffered a severe blow, and she knelt on the ground, her body crackling with electricity.

"Cough cough... This level is nothing special."

As Cangyi continued to sheath his sword, preparing to execute an iaido move, Du Man laughed without fear: "I've already confirmed your strength, Cangyi! Your power is nothing more than this!"

She raised her hand, snapped her fingers, and grinned maliciously: "My goal has been achieved, Cangyi, you are no longer a threat to me!"

boom!

As she finished speaking, the demonic puppet burst forth from the ground, carrying away the poisonous vines.

Seeing this, Duanmu Mo also withdrew and distanced himself from Xi Ri. Looking in the direction the poisonous vines had left, he grumbled, "They talk such nice things, but they just ran away, didn't they?"

He took out the Black Mist Gun and pulled the trigger just before the magical girl was about to attack, letting the black mist engulf him.

Chapter 88: Persuasion

"Hmm..."

Unaware of his surroundings, Cangyi only felt himself being carried away by Duanmu Mo, and then instantly disappearing into the distance.

After a long time, Duanmu Mo put her down and removed her mask.

Cangyi lay motionless on the ground, letting Duanmu Mo do this to her, and then her eyes met his face.

—Duanmu Mo squatted down in front of her, smiling as he looked at Cangyi:

"You don't even have the strength to break free. It seems you were just bluffing."

The inappropriate words were uttered, but Cangyi simply closed his eyes and said, "I have no interest in arguing with you, Neville."

...In fact, she did have some strength left; Cangyi wasn't so weak as to not even have enough energy to leave. The reason she didn't break free was twofold: firstly, it would waste more energy, and secondly, she believed that Duanmu Mo was unlikely to do anything to harm her.

"Is that so?" Duanmu Mo stroked his chin. "But I really want to inform you—respected Miss Cangyi, your future training program for language weaving will have to be temporarily suspended."

Upon hearing this, Cangyi immediately opened his eyes: "What do you mean?"

"Don't you understand? If you hadn't been bothering Yu Zhi every day, you would have been able to conserve more of your fighting strength and wouldn't have been in such a sorry state during the battle." Duanmu Mo's words were flippant:

"Although Poison Vine has been given a makeover, to put it another way, she is essentially a low-level cadre in a hero drama who has been fought over and over again without any new ideas. It is really embarrassing for the people of the future that you were unable to gain the upper hand against her."

Cangyi stood up, his eyes turning cold: "What do you know..."

"You're completely being stubborn now, Cangyi... no, I should say, Yuzhi of the future."

Until Duanmu Mo said the next sentence:

"—Although they look like adults, their minds are much more immature compared to Yuzhi now. Cangyi, aren't you worried... that you'll kill them again?"

Cangyi froze on the spot. Duanmu Mo's words had clearly struck a nerve with her, a weakness she couldn't face directly.

His body trembled, but Duanmu Mo didn't stop talking; he even put on airs and spoke in an irritating tone:

"Waaaaah, I'm so sorry, Aunt Katsuragi. I couldn't save you. I could only watch helplessly as you turned into a monster and was forced to fight you with my sword. And Senior Natsumi, what happened to you? Were you pierced by the poisonous vines or killed by the demonic puppet? Anyway, I'm so sorry for watching you die."

Clutching his chest in sorrow, Duanmu Mo pondered for a moment, then said, "Let me think... Oh right, there should also be your parents—Mom and Dad, how could you be dead? I regret it so much..."

"--Shut up!"

Unable to tolerate his taboo being mocked in such a tone, Cangyi suddenly turned around, drew his sword, and slashed at Duanmu Mo.

—She missed. Only after her anger overwhelmed her reason did she realize the truth: Duanmu Mo had grasped Cangyi's katana in his human form.

The sharp blade, crackling with electricity, cut a clear gash in Duanmu Mo's palm, blood trickling down the blade, but it couldn't go any further.

"Nice knife!"

Duanmu Mo maintained a relaxed smile on his face: "However, I can't sense any resolve from your blade."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly yanked the katana out of Cangyi's hand and threw it to the ground.

"You're now at a disadvantage, which finally gives me an opportunity."

Duanmu Mo pushed her back, and Cangyi staggered back a few steps. Her foot seemed to hit something, and she sat down on it.

It was a dusty sofa—only then did Cangyi realize where he was: he was in an abandoned market, or more precisely, a furniture store.

He grabbed a chair and sat down, then took out a blank card, thought for a moment, and threw it at Cangyi.

"Although I'm not sure if it will work for you, I'll still give you one. It'll make it easier to confirm your location."

As the card was placed on his shoulder and merged into his body, Cangyi frowned, but said nothing, only staring coldly at Duanmu Mo.

"Preparations are complete, let's get down to business." It was clear that Cang Yi was genuinely angry at what he said, but Duanmu Mo remained calm, revealing a mysterious smile: "I'm here to cooperate with you."

"..." Cangyi's face darkened: "I will not stand with anyone, let alone with you. None of the people you have worked with have had a good ending."

...That seems to be true. When Duanmu Mo fought Xi Ri for the first time, she temporarily cooperated with her enemy, but before the battle was over, she betrayed him.

This is information he did indeed record online, in addition to the fact that Du Mang was a victim who had Duanmu Mo show the new card before heading to the deep mountains...

As for Du Mang herself, needless to say, Duanmu Mo believes she's probably been driven to desperation. As for who...

— Recalling his collaborators, Duanmu Mo curled his lips, feeling not ashamed, but rather smug.

“Yes, but I think you definitely need to do it, whether you like it or not, for the future of Yuzhi.”

"I don't want to talk to you."

Seeing her indifferent attitude, like a child throwing a tantrum, Duanmu Mo continued to tease, "Oh, are you angry? Want to go cry to your parents? Oh~ I forgot they might be dead."

Upon hearing this, Cangyi's pupils contracted, and he abruptly stood up, unleashing lightning from his palm towards Duanmu Mo: "I won't allow you to talk about them!"

He raised his hand and took Cangyi's hand in his own, while Duanmu Mo himself was also completely struck by lightning.

His body trembled, and his hair stood on end, but even so, Duanmu Mo's face showed no sign of pain.

"Hmm... This kind of electricity, enjoying an electric shock massage every now and then wouldn't be a bad choice."

Holding Cangyi's hand tightly, preventing her from pulling away, Duanmu Mo said with a smile:

"Are you upset? Do you want to go and cry to Mrs. Katsuragi? Oh, by the way, she seems to have died before you arrived. Her death was horrific; she was devoured by the baby in her womb, which is the demon puppet. She didn't even have a complete corpse."

"Shut up, shut up..."

Cangyi trembled as he glared hatefully at Duanmu Mo.

But under Duanmu Mo's gaze, her eyes reddened and gradually became moist.

Seeing this, Duanmu Mo released his grip and smiled slightly.

"As expected, my guess was confirmed—in the future, Yuzhi, you are ultimately just a child who has not yet emerged from the world before reincarnation."

Cangyi took a step back, covered his eyes, and said in a low voice, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Duanmu Mo stopped saying hurtful things, lest he appear to be bullying a child... Although it was indeed hard to associate Cangyi's appearance with a child.

"—Those trapped in the nightmares of the past cannot look forward. If you can't even see a brand new future, how can you change it?" Duanmu Mo decided to get down to business:

“Cangyi, you are indeed from the future, but the side effect of this time travel has also robbed you of your future. For me, the language of this world, and others, time will always pass, but what you are facing is an endless cycle that you cannot stop even if you want to.”

This time travel method is far inferior to the one used by the Knights' Pavilion. It has high requirements and a lot of side effects. However, considering that this effect is only a byproduct, Duanmu Mo did not say much. But if he had a choice, Cangyi probably would not have used this method.

"..."

Cangyi sat down on the sofa behind him, and after a long silence, said in a low voice, "Now that we already know, what's the point of continuing to talk about it?"

"Didn't I say I wanted to cooperate with you?" Duanmu Mo said with a smile.

"Listen to my instructions. Let's work together to take down the poisonous vine. If you can help me collect cards while you're at it, that would be even better. Of course, I only want high-quality ones. In return, I'll teach you some ways to change the future... or rather, some ideas, to help you get your rigid mind working again. That way, even if you fail, you can try again in the next cycle."

He leaned forward: "—So? A perfectly advantageous option, are you satisfied now?"

Duanmu Mo was already confident of victory. He had always been curious about the future and had been trying to keep track of Cangyi's actions since he realized her identity. Du Man's behavior gave him just the right opportunity.

If Cangyi's weakness is exposed even slightly, Duanmu Mo will relentlessly pursue her and never let her go.

"..." Time passed slowly, and Cang Yi remained silent. Duanmu Mo was not in a hurry either, watching Cang Yi's silence with a smile.

"...What should I do?"

After a long while, she lowered her hand and said in a low voice.

Although what he said to Duanmu Mo was just advice to her.

So in order to change the course of the future, she could only keep telling herself not to take these words to heart.

"Rest well, conserve your energy, fight when it's time to fight, and rest when it's time to rest. It's that simple." Duanmu Mo immediately revealed a bright smile and extended his hand to her: "So, we're officially cooperating?"

Cangyi didn't take an answer; he simply picked up the mask from the ground and put it on: "...If things continue like this, we won't be able to save anyone."

“Even if you’re busy every minute and every second, it’s useless if you don’t use it in the right place.” Duanmu Mo raised his hand, pulled off her mask, and flicked it onto her forehead.

"..."

Without saying a word, Cangyi, having regained some strength, put on his mask, a flash of lightning on his body, and disappeared from the spot.

. . . . . .

Chapter 89: Disagreement

boom!

Having just finalized a cooperation agreement with Cangyi, Duanmu Mo, in his monstrous form, kicked open the warehouse door and arrived before Du Man, who was silently waiting there.

"Yo~ Employer, long time no see. Are you going surfing in your swimsuit?" Duanmu Mo teased, looking at her clothes that exposed a lot of skin. "Not only have you changed your clothes, but you've also got a tattoo. Pretty fashionable, huh?"

Sizzle—

Before he could finish speaking, a vine suddenly lashed out at him.