Chapter 263: Chapter 263: The Devout Seraph
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"If you think that by not telling me the technique, you can blackmail me, then you are sorely mistaken," Tian Xun's gaze turned icy, leaving no doubt that if Lin Shen dared to say there was no technique, she would subject him to a thousand cuts.
"That person's corpse, you must have seen it many times by now. If there really was such a thing as a technique, could you have missed it?" Lin Shen flipped to the sketch he had drawn of his friend and handed it to Tian Xun, "Though my drawing may not be pleasant to the eye, the details should all be there. Do you think there could be any technique hidden within it?"
Tian Xun took it and looked it over, finding it indeed matched her memory, the details were all correct. With her memory, she should not be mistaken.
However, she couldn't bring herself to believe that just these movements alone could develop the Twenty-Eight Fists; it was illogical.
"At that time, I simply imitated these movements and the Base Mutation power within me naturally responded. There really isn't any technique," Lin Shen paused, then continued, "I feel that this Evolution Skill doesn't need a technique, one just needs to grasp the essence of these movements to trigger the Base Mutation power within.
It's a pity that the man's corpse was destroyed; if we could see the original carapace engravings, we might be able to sense some essence…"
Lin Shen shared his insight openly, withholding nothing.
Tian Xun remained doubtful, yet also found Lin Shen's words to carry some truth.
If there really was a technique, she couldn't have possibly missed it. It seemed there might truly be no technique.
Tian Xun pondered for a moment, then tried again. This time her movements were even more fluid, and there was a sort of momentum that was indescribable with words.
But when the final punch was thrown, there was still no appearance of Spatial Fist Power.
"You have to believe me, I wouldn't joke with my own life. How about I demonstrate it one more time?" Lin Shen hurriedly performed the sequence again.
But because he hadn't looked at the manual, after over a dozen movements, he couldn't remember the ones that followed, so he had to pick up the manual and practice while looking at it.
Indeed, when the final punch was delivered, the Spatial Fist Power was unleashed again, and this time, it seemed even stronger.
The impression of the fist left on the metal pillar was now a few fractions deeper than before.
Tian Xun watched and said nothing, then repeated the sequence herself, still to no effect.
Before Lin Shen could speak again, Tian Xun tried several more times, even deliberately imitating Lin Shen's movements, making her own look less smooth and as clumsy as Lin Shen's.
The outcome was still the same; she could not unleash the Spatial Fist Power no matter how hard she tried.
"You're playing with me, aren't you?" Tian Xun stared intensely at Lin Shen, feeling insulted in her intelligence.
She, a brilliant member of the Celestial Race, had achieved Nirvana at tenth turn in just a little over thirty years, becoming a Great Nirvana Being at the youngest age the Celestial Race had seen in centuries.
Her talent was rare even among the Powerful Cosmic Races.
If she couldn't master the Twenty-Eight Fists, while Lin Shen, who couldn't even remember the moves properly, could do so effortlessly, she was convinced that Lin Shen was hiding the true technique of the Twenty-Eight Fists, not that her talent was insufficient.
"I know you won't believe anything I say now, but there really isn't a technique. Even if you killed me, I couldn't just conjure a technique to give you," Lin Shen said helplessly.
"No need to kill you, I have my ways to make you speak the truth," Tian Xun declared, as countless pristine white light particles rose within her body.
These white light particles coalesced before her, quickly forming a Six-winged Angel holding a scepter, topped with a halo—the Blazing Angel's Base.
"This is my Life Base—the devout Blazing Angel," Tian Xun looked at Lin Shen as the Blazing Angel raised its scepter high, the gem at the top emitting a sacred halo.
Like ripples in the water, the halo spread out in waves, enveloping the entire hall within a halo of light.
"What's your name?" Tian Xun suddenly asked.
"Lin Shen," Lin Shen didn't understand the point of Tian Xun's question; he felt nothing unusual within the halo.
"Do you wish to kill me?" Tian Xun continued.
"No," Lin Shen answered cautiously.
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This answer left Tian Xun slightly startled, as if she had not expected such a response.
A flicker of surprise passed through Tian Xun's eyes before she asked again, "Do you want to sleep with me?"
"I do." Lin Shen had intended to say something else, but as the words reached his lips, they turned into a single word of affirmation.
A shock went through Lin Shen's heart as he roughly guessed what Tian Xun was up to; her devout Blazing Angel's Base actually had the ability to make people incapable of lying.
"This is bad!" Lin Shen inwardly cursed, realizing that if Tian Xun kept asking questions like this, and if she asked something truly incriminating, he would be as good as dead.
The only consolation now was that he genuinely did not wish to kill Tian Xun, which inadvertently allowed him to avoid one disaster.
This was not because Lin Shen was particularly noble or because he wanted to repay evil with kindness; it was simply because he knew he was no match for Tian Xun at the moment, so he never even thought about solving his problems by killing her.
"Does the Twenty-Eight Fists have a mantra?" Tian Xun didn't take offense to Lin Shen's earlier rude answer and posed the question she truly wanted to ask.
"No." Lin Shen replied quite straightforwardly.
This answer completely surprised Tian Xun; she could not believe that Lin Shen had managed to master Twenty-Eight Fists solely through those movements without any mantra.
Tian Xun began to doubt whether the devout Blazing Angel was malfunctioning, questioning whether her skill was effective.
"Why did you come to Giant Ring Star?" Tian Xun continued to inquire.
Though she couldn't believe a human Mutator could resist her Life Base ability, she was even more reluctant to believe that this human had so easily mastered the Twenty-Eight Fists that she herself could not.
Lin Shen knew he couldn't resist the Blazing Angel's ability and intended to keep his answers simple, while under the premise of not lying, he hoped to omit any crucial information.
But once he opened his mouth, he blurted out the entire backstory of his arrival at Giant Ring Star without the ability to omit or lie about his thoughts.
Lin Shen wanted to control his mouth, but no matter how much he resisted or struggled, he couldn't keep it shut.
From Lin Shen's resistant behavior, Tian Xun deduced that the Blazing Angel's powers had not failed him and that he was telling the truth without lying.
In fact, even without observation, Tian Xun knew that a mere Mutator could not possibly resist the power of a Blazing Angel.
"You've actually offended Catherine?" Tian Xun expressed some shock after hearing the whole story.
As the Celestial Race and Di Man Tribe were sworn enemies, Tian Xun naturally knew how terrifying that woman Catherine was.
"Is Catherine that Di Man Princess?" Lin Shen asked in return.
"Yes," Tian Xun replied.
"I didn't want to, but there was no other choice," Lin Shen said.
"Does the Six Paths Phoenix Spirit Base that your sister possesses truly have a consciousness of its own?" Tian Xun seemed interested in the Six Paths Phoenix Spirit Base.
Lin Shen didn't want to answer, but he couldn't control his mouth. Evolution Theory had already begun to operate, but his body needed time to strengthen and mutate, and he was still incapable of countering the Blazing Angel's power.
"It... does," Lin Shen replied with difficulty, his eyes filled with bloodshot streaks.
"If I were to take your sister's Six Paths Phoenix Spirit Base, what would you do?" Tian Xun continued to press.
"I would pretend to submit to you at first, and once my strength was sufficient, I would kill you to retake the Six Paths Phoenix Spirit Base," Lin Shen blurted out uncontrollably.
"Right now, do you want to kill me?" Tian Xun continued her probing.