Chapter 237: Chapter 234 [The Crazy Sterling]
Chapter 234: [The Madness of John Sterling]
As John Sterling coughed up blood, the black aura around his body suddenly began to dissipate in a frenzy. But with a great roar, he shot up from the ground and headed towards the collapsing pyramid.
The Son of the Sun, who had been sitting on the ground, also suddenly regained his senses. Seeing John Sterling, he yelled out, "Stop him!!! There must be something crucial on the pyramid!"
As he spoke, the old man also took to the air, his body shining with the radiance of the midday sun! With the omnipresent, invisible constraint in the air gone, the Son of the Sun’s power was no longer bound. He burst forth with all his might, rocketing upwards like a fiery rocket!
In midair, John Sterling was rapidly approaching the pyramid when suddenly, his gaze intensified. He saw the plump old man outpace him in flight and block his path directly in front!
John Sterling’s entire body seemed as though it could no longer contain the crazily surging black aura. Even as it was ebbing away, it appeared to grow more violent, especially evident in his pallid complexion where it looked as if black aura were twisting beneath his skin!
"Get out of my way!" John Sterling growled.
"Kid! Whatever your plan is, hurry up!" The Son of the Sun ignored John Sterling and turned to shout back towards the pyramid.
With a deep breath, John Sterling’s eyes and facial muscles twisted. "I told you... get out of my way!!!"
With a roar, a sharp and piercing soundwave ensued. The black aura suddenly exploded ferociously, rushing towards the Son of the Sun like a raging torrent. The old man let out a muffled grunt as his body blazed with red light, rapidly forming a blazing Flame Qi around himself. Then, under the onslaught of the black aura, he ferociously held his ground.
The black aura clung to the Son of the Sun, madly eroding the old man’s power. The Son of the Sun exerted his full power, maintaining his Flame Qi while staunchly blocking the black aura, not yielding an inch.
Above the pyramid, Vanel saw Chen Nuo leap out from behind a pile of rubble, then watched as he jumped towards the broken pillar below—the altar’s exact location!
With the pillar’s collapse, the altar had completely lost its original shape. The platform where Professor once attempted to sacrifice the Gray Cat, Black, was smashed to smithereens; the blood-filled grooves on the ground were also shattered. Just beneath the altar, in the spot where it had collapsed, was a pitch-black hole.
Chen Nuo ran to the edge of this hole, glanced down and upon seeing something, his face suddenly changed. Without hesitation, he leaped down!
By the time Vanel arrived, Chen Nuo had already jumped into the hole. Vanel was about to follow when he heard a shout from below.
"Vanel! Don’t come down!! Get back!!"
Below the hole, underneath the channels where the blood from the previous altar had flowed, was a funnel-shaped pit. Chen Nuo, upon seeing Professor attempting to sacrifice Black, had realized there must be something beneath the altar!
Now that the suppressing force had abruptly vanished and his antennae were destroyed, Chen Nuo’s abilities completely recovered. As he jumped down, he quickly extended his spiritual power, forming a dense Mentality Cocoon around his body, securely enveloping himself within.
The moment he landed in the pit, however, he immediately felt as if he were in an extremely viscous environment, as though he were in a quagmire. The surrounding power, which seemed to condense as if it were a physical entity, pressed from all directions against the Mentality Cocoon Chen Nuo had created.
Moreover, Chen Nuo distinctly felt numerous small tendrils quickly forming from every direction and converging towards him. Although they were all blocked by the Mentality Cocoon, these tendrils stubbornly clung to it, madly compressing, kneading, and tearing...
Furthermore, these tentacles even carried an eroding sensation! Within Chen Nuo’s consciousness, it was as if he "heard" countless sharp, mournful howls, as if while the tentacles were emitting wails, they were desperately trying to squeeze into his Mentality Cocoon!
Instantly, Chen Nuo felt as if his brain was being stabbed by numerous needles, a pain so intense it felt like his head would burst, making him momentarily disoriented! He almost lost control of his Mentality Cocoon!
Although the momentary disorientation quickly passed, it still made Chen Nuo shudder!
His spiritual power had grown immensely strong after encountering the Mother in RB, progressing to rival a Controller!! Such immense spiritual power, and yet it almost caused him to lose his composure!?
When Chen Nuo came to his senses, he let out a loud roar to stop Vanel.
His own spiritual power was so great that it almost instantaneously collapsed. Vanel, not being of the Mentality Series but rather of the Body Technique Department, had much weaker spiritual power than Chen Nuo. If he were to jump down, the intense Spiritual Storm here would likely crush him instantly!
Within the funnel, Chen Nuo could feel the powerful Spiritual Storm around him, containing countless different emotions and telekinetic forces: hate, anger, despair, sorrow...
Countless different emotions were furiously tearing at Chen Nuo’s spiritual will. He forcibly clenched his teeth to suppress his nearly frenzied consciousness, using his immense spiritual power to firmly control his own awareness.
Then, he suddenly noticed an unusual situation.
The insane onrush of the Spiritual Storm didn’t seem to stem from a single entity but rather from countless different spiritual consciousnesses intertwined together, a multitude of fine individual beings entangled and intermixed!
Moreover, these consciousnesses didn’t seem to be attacking him specifically, but rather...
They seemed to be running away!
At the bottom of the funnel, there was faintly a powerful presence emitting a strong attractive force like a magnet, furiously pulling these numerous, fine spiritual consciousnesses back in!
But these numerous fine consciousnesses were frantically scrambling outwards—the reason they attacked him was that he happened to be blocking their escape path!
And there were some that desperately clung to his spiritual consciousness, as if grabbing him as a lifeline, desperately holding onto him to resist the suction coming from deep within the funnel!
Chen Nuo suddenly took a deep breath, forcibly contracted his Mentality Cocoon around his body to make it much smaller, and then ducked his head to dive deeper into the funnel!
"Hey!! Harvey!!" Vanel stood above the hole, calling out softly a few times, but there was no response from below.
A few seconds later, Vanel suddenly felt a shiver run through his body as a strong, eerie chill rose up from the hole!
Vanel quickly stepped back several paces. This chill was not on the physical level; it was the kind that penetrated deep into the soul! He felt that if he didn’t back away, if he continued to stand by the hole, his very soul might freeze stiff!
BOOM!!
A black fog suddenly erupted from the hole, madly shooting towards the sky! It gushed upwards, soaring into the heavens, and then dispersed in all directions. Vanel jumped back, ignoring the pain of his back smashing against the jagged rocks on the ground. He rolled and crawled away, watching as the hole turned into a fountain from which countless black mists swirled out, rising to the sky before also dispersing.
A few seconds later... the mouth of the hole returned to calm!
Crouching behind the rocks, Vanel continued to shout loudly, "Harvey!! Are you down there?"
No answer.
Vanel panicked and shouted again, "Davarishi!!!"
Finally, that familiar voice with its infuriating tone drifted up.
"Vanel, just for calling me Davarishi, I’ll treat you to the best vodka if we make it out alive! Damn... Didn’t I tell you to back off!"
Chen Nuo leaped out of the hole in a single bound!
Looking at Chen Nuo now, one could see that he was originally wrapped in an invisible and colorless Mentality Cocoon. But now, the Mentality Cocoon was dotted with dense black lines, which quickly dissipated...
Chen Nuo had already taken off his outer jacket, but it was wrapped around his hands, as if he was holding something tightly in his arms.
"What are you holding? What’s down there?"
Vanel ran a few steps toward Chen Nuo, but as he approached, he suddenly gasped, "Why are you as cold as ice?!"
After approaching Chen Nuo, Vanel discovered that this guy seemed to be emitting a chill all over his body. Just drawing near to him made Vanel feel as if he was in the midst of a blizzard in Siberia!
However, upon closer inspection, Vanel immediately realized that the coldness did not come from Chen Nuo himself but instead from the object he was holding in his hands.
Chen Nuo’s face had already turned somewhat pale, his lips a bit purple from the cold, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he spoke quickly, "Let’s get out of here fast!"
The fierce battle between the Son of the Sun and John Sterling had reached a fever pitch!
The portly old man was truly desperate. He churned with Flame Qi, blocking John Sterling repeatedly with frenzied resolve as John Sterling’s black aura slammed into him over and over again. The old man’s Flame Qi was nearly expended, yet he still refused to retreat.
"Son of the Sun! You’re not my match! Even without the suppression of power, you’re still not my match!"
"I know! From the two days of chase in the rainforest, I knew I couldn’t beat you." The Son of the Sun gritted his teeth, his Flame Qi almost completely gone. "But I can still hold you off for a while!"
"You are... doing something foolish!!" John Sterling’s expression twisted. He yelled, a resolute flicker in his eyes!
This time he didn’t control the black aura to strike, but instead twisted his body and charged forward, rushing up!
The Son of the Sun was taken aback. John Sterling charged right up to his face and, with a loud BANG, his Flame Qi was directly shattered, and the two collided head-on!
The Son of the Sun fell toward the ground but, while in mid-air, still twisted his waist and hooked John Sterling’s ankle forcefully with one hand.
John Sterling was about to fly to the pyramid, but when the portly old man grabbed his ankle, his body jerked suddenly, and the two fell to the ground together.
Just as John Sterling was about to struggle, the old man simply gave up his other powers and punched John Sterling right in the eye socket.
John Sterling groaned in pain, retaliating with a kick to the old man’s abdomen. Both top-notch experts slammed onto the ground, scrambling and fighting wildly like street thugs.
With a THUD, the Son of the Sun was sent flying again!
John Sterling’s body suddenly trembled, and he spat out another mouthful of blood right where he stood. His eyes filled with spiteful venom. "Too late! Too late!! You’ve taken it out!!"
With that, the man turned and lunged towards the Son of the Sun. "I’ll kill you!!!!!"
The Son of the Sun got up from the ground but turned tail and ran. "I’m not fighting anymore! I give up! I won’t stop you!!!"
Just then, a booming RUMBLE, as if from beneath the earth, echoed around!
[There’s one more Chapter.
Splitting Chapters isn’t me being fickle. Whether I release one update or split it into two, the total word count I release daily remains the same. Some people complain that the Chapters are too short. They want me to split them into two updates, with each part being six or seven thousand words—I’m sorry, I don’t have that kind of ability, nor can I write that much every day.
Word count doesn’t just fall from the sky; it’s not like I can write more just because you want more. Every single word has to be typed out. My daily productivity is what it is.
Previously, I preferred single, large Chapter updates because I felt it provided a more coherent reading experience. So, even though people would always say, ’Other authors release two Chapters, while you only release one,’ it was useless no matter how much I explained that my word count was actually higher. I got tired of explaining, so I just let it be.
I was criticized for so long, but I remained stubborn and refused to split them!
The reason I’m splitting Chapters now isn’t because I’ve compromised.
It’s because someone told me that by splitting Chapters, readers who watch ads to get free currency can benefit. So, I graciously followed the good advice.
The Chapters are split for the benefit of these readers.
That’s all.]