Chapter 43: The Demigod’s Dilemma: A Punching Bag’s Fate

“Hahaha, hahahaha, HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”

‘This is my power! This is my body, hahahahaha! It’s marvelous!’

Qingfeng Immortal reveled in the unprecedented surge of spiritual energy coursing through his body, a power born anew from his nirvanic rebirth. His senses and perception were sharper than ever before, far beyond the ordinary.

He was almost certain of it.

At this moment, he had truly become an immortal, the first demigod in the history of Blue Star, destined to be etched into the annals of time! All his previous anxieties and fears had completely vanished.

With the power of a demigod, what was there to fear?

After familiarizing himself with his new body, Qingfeng Immortal’s gaze fell upon the exquisite young woman not far away. He had worried about her having some sinister plot, but now it seemed entirely unnecessary.

Indeed, before absolute power, all schemes were but fleeting clouds.

As Qingfeng Immortal steadily approached Lin Ling, his heart swelled with even greater excitement. If, on the very day he ascended to godhood, he could also claim such a beautiful maiden, his life would be utterly perfect!

In the next moment,

Qingfeng Immortal manipulated his azure spiritual energy, elevating himself to the same height as Lin Ling. Gazing at her flawless face, now so close, he couldn’t help but reach out, intending to caress her radiant features.

Yet, at that very instant,

Under Qingfeng Immortal’s bewildered gaze, a faint, ‘satisfied’ smile blossomed on the silver-haired girl’s exquisite face. Without a perceptible movement, she raised her hand and lightly flicked his forehead.

“?!”

“Hm??”

‘What… what is this for?’

Qingfeng Immortal was utterly perplexed as he watched Lin Ling’s finger, devoid of any spiritual energy, flick towards his forehead. What was she trying to do? Was she attempting to counterattack with such a soft, feeble tap?

Truly, this was the talk of a fool…

“?!!!”

However,

“Boom!!!”

Amidst an earth-shattering roar (the sound carrying far in this spiritual energy-rich environment),

The searing pain from his forehead instantly robbed Qingfeng Immortal of all thought. He shot backward thousands of meters like a wild horse unbridled, devouring a ton of lunar dust before his body was violently embedded into a distant earthen slope!

“??”

How… how could this be? Am I not a demigod? How could I be sent flying?!

Randomly struck and sent flying, Qingfeng Immortal was utterly dumbfounded.

On the other side,

Lin Ling silently observed the scene.

With that single strike, she had roughly gauged the necessary force.

She retracted her finger.

The girl clenched her fists.

****

Snapping back to reality, Qingfeng Immortal was instantly enraged. He refused to believe Lin Ling was stronger than him, attributing his recent defeat solely to his unfamiliarity with demigod powers and his own carelessness.

Torrential azure spiritual energy erupted from Qingfeng Immortal’s body, instantly pulverizing all the rocks covering him into dust.

‘Since you are so ungrateful, don’t blame me for being impolite!’

In Qingfeng Immortal’s inherited memories, there were indeed some beings who specialized in cultivating their physical bodies to achieve immense strength. Some top-tier behemoths even surpassed their peers in physical resilience, even rivaling higher-ranked existences. Qingfeng Immortal now categorized Lin Ling as one such being.

‘If her physical body is so powerful, then I shall contend with her soul! Your Saint-tier soul power can never defeat my demigod soul!’

As he pondered this, a cruel smile crept onto Qingfeng Immortal’s face.

He glared fiercely forward.

Then—

“?!!!”

The girl before him abruptly vanished, reappearing directly in front of him. In an instant, Qingfeng Immortal’s pupils violently constricted, his face a mask of utter horror! The confidence he had just begun to build shattered into pieces. A powerful sense of crisis surged through his very being.

“?!!”

“Eh?!

What?! When?! This… this is impossible! How did she evade my sens—”

However,

Before Qingfeng Immortal could even comprehend what had happened, Lin Ling’s punch, completely devoid of spiritual energy, slammed directly into his unprotected chest.

It seemed like an ordinary punch, yet the power it contained far exceeded Qingfeng Immortal’s imagination.

In the split second he was struck, he seemed to see the vibrant spider lilies blooming by the Sanzu River. His seemingly indestructible body was nothing but a joke before this punch. His skin, organs, bones, and cells were instantly obliterated, with no time to spiritualize or even register the pain.

Qingfeng Immortal’s entire body was smashed onto the lunar surface with overwhelming force. As the ground violently trembled, a crater nearly a thousand meters in diameter was imprinted upon the Moon.

This was one of the reasons Lin Ling had brought Qingfeng Immortal to the Moon; Blue Star’s surface could not withstand such a commotion.

Coming back to his senses, Qingfeng Immortal immediately felt a heart-wrenching pain radiating from every part of his body. At this moment, he regretted his senses becoming so powerful, as the agony was now unbearable. However, thanks to his formidable healing ability, the pain quickly subsided.

Staring at his mangled body, Qingfeng Immortal felt a profound terror. What kind of creature was he fighting?

He had clearly reached the Eighth Tier.

According to Black and White Ball, he should have been invincible! But… but why… why was this happening?!

Struggling to stand, Qingfeng Immortal roared in his mind, questioning everything.

‘Hey! What exactly is going on?! This isn’t what you said!”

But,

No matter how frantically he called out internally, the Black and White Ball, usually so responsive, remained utterly silent.

“?!”

There was no time to ponder why Black and White Ball wasn’t responding.

Qingfeng Immortal’s only thought now was how to survive!

Feeling the oppressive killing intent radiating from the silver-haired girl in mid-air, Qingfeng Immortal truly felt his end was near. But he couldn’t accept it. If she wanted to kill him, why not do it directly? Why give him this power first?

As if perceiving Qingfeng Immortal’s thoughts, Lin Ling’s words echoed in his mind.

“I merely wanted you to be a bit more durable. And to conduct an experiment, of course.”

“Eh??”

He had no time to be shocked by how she knew his thoughts, or how she transmitted her consciousness directly into his mind. What truly made Qingfeng Immortal despair was that she was treating him as a mere punching bag?!

Or rather,

A test subject?!

His dignity utterly humiliated, Qingfeng Immortal clenched his fists tightly upon sensing the thick killing intent in her tone.

She wanted to kill him?!

How could he simply wait for death?!

‘I’ll fight you to the death, ahhhhhh!!’

Azure light burst from Qingfeng Immortal’s eyes as endless azure spiritual energy converged in his hands. He planned to use this highest-purity spiritual wave cannon to reclaim some semblance of dignity.

However,

The silver-haired girl simply needed a punching bag to vent her frustrations.

A punching bag could not fight back.

“???”

‘Eh?!!’

In a flash, Qingfeng Immortal horrifyingly discovered that his arms had lost all sensation, dissolving into specks of green light. The spiritual energy he had painstakingly accumulated instantly spiraled out of control, surging back into his body.

In the next second, Lin Ling’s fist rapidly grew larger in Qingfeng Immortal’s vision.

Then,

His consciousness simply faded.

Azure spiritual energy once again converged, healing Qingfeng Immortal’s shattered body. As his body recovered, his consciousness gradually returned.

But the moment he came to his senses,

Another punch struck his abdomen…

The intense pain caused Qingfeng Immortal to lose consciousness once more. Then, due to his self-healing ability, his broken body quickly mended, and he reawakened.

“You possess life-attribute spiritual energy. That’s truly excellent.”

Hearing that demonic whisper in his mind, Qingfeng Immortal could no longer muster even a shred of resistance. At the same time, he began to regret possessing this vitality that he had once been so proud of.

In his terror,

Qingfeng Immortal frantically pleaded with the ‘Doraemon’ within him: “Hey! What… what should I do now?! You said before that obtaining a few more Star Origins would be enough to deal with that silver-haired girl, didn’t you? What’s going on now?! I’m already at the demigod tier! Why am I still… Hey!”

“Hey, answer me! Answ—”

Suddenly, Qingfeng Immortal realized a grave problem.

Ever since he met the silver-haired girl, the Black and White Ball within him hadn’t given him a single hint, as if it had fallen into an eerie silence.

‘This???

This… how could this be?!’

In that instant, a thought inexplicably popped into Qingfeng Immortal’s mind: he, it seemed, had been deceived, exploited?!

No sooner had the thought formed,

Qingfeng Immortal’s vision went black, and his consciousness scattered.

Then,

Under the healing power of his life-attribute spiritual energy, he reawakened.

The moment he opened his eyes,

A flurry of punches, like a raging storm, assailed him once more.

He fell unconscious again.

…

…

The continuous pummeling and incessant regeneration seemed to form a death loop.

Lin Ling relentlessly smashed the man’s head with her fists.

There was no sympathy in Lin Ling’s eyes.

In Lin Ling’s view, this green-haired man had destroyed the home she and Xi Yue had painstakingly built, injured Wangzai and Little Pangolin, and even tried to kill Little White. More importantly, according to Little White, Xi Yue seemed to have perished again because of him. Although she wasn’t yet clear on how Xi Yue had revived.

Her pent-up anger desperately needed an outlet. However, considering Qingfeng Immortal’s strength, even if Lin Ling didn’t use spiritual energy and simply relied on her body’s normal capabilities, this green-haired man wouldn’t be able to withstand a single punch.

Killing him outright would be too easy for this fellow. So, Lin Ling chose to help him increase his strength first, instructing Little White to give him the Water Star Origin and Life Star Origin. Even if he couldn’t truly reach the Eighth Tier, wouldn’t it be enough if he attained a portion of its abilities?

Things like spiritual energy, vitality, physical strength, and perception.

Durable and capable of feeling sufficient pain—that was enough.

****

As the spiritual energy within him neared exhaustion,

Qingfeng Immortal could no longer sustain his body’s regeneration.

He became a bloody, repulsive mass of flesh.

His mind, meanwhile, was on the verge of collapse. He could only instinctively emit piercing groans, seemingly begging for mercy.

Gradually calming down, Lin Ling stopped punching.

She once again fixed her gaze on Qingfeng Immortal.

‘Where did this guy even come from?’

Lin Ling was actually a little curious about him. When she had previously used her wide-area perception to scan Blue Star, there were definitely no humans with such powerful spiritual energy, let alone those who could reach the Seventh Tier. Furthermore, how did this guy find her? She thought she had concealed herself flawlessly.

And… why did Xi Yue fight him?

Many questions left Lin Ling utterly bewildered.

‘Well, nothing will remain hidden under soul-searching.’

After a sigh,

Lin Ling slowly closed her eyes, and silver-white spiritual energy surged into Qingfeng Immortal’s body.

****

Moments later,

Lin Ling withdrew her spiritual energy, having largely grasped the situation.

Except for the matter concerning Xi Yue; after all, this guy had inexplicably fought Xi Yue, and Xi Yue’s disappearance didn’t seem to be related to him…

His memories of that battle had a blank period, and Lin Ling wasn’t sure what had happened then. She would need to check for survivors nearby or satellite records once she returned.

As Lin Ling pondered, Little White floated lightly onto her shoulder, a soft, adorable loli voice pulling Lin Ling back to reality.

“Master, what shall we do with this fellow?”

“Hm?

This guy, huh…

“Enmm, I suppose we’ll take him back to feed Wangzai…”