"The little devil you've been trading with should be too busy to bother you for a while," Zoran spoke first.
"Lu Mingze..." Lu Mingfei murmured as realization dawned on him. No wonder that kid hadn't shown up lately.
"How does it feel to make a deal with a devil?" Zoran watched him.
"Not great." Lu Mingfei shuddered. He had already made one deal with Lu Mingze, and it had cost him a quarter of his life. Dealing with a devil always required a price, and Lu Mingze's prices were high.
He didn't bother asking how Zoran knew all this; after all, this was the being who could forcibly put Lu Mingze into solitary confinement.
"You've seemed very melancholy lately."
"Huh? Was I that obvious?" Lu Mingfei scratched his head, his eyes downcast, looking utterly listless.
"More than obvious. If sadness were a Yanling, your domain would have been active non-stop," Zoran chuckled. "Is it because of the engagement between Caesar Gattuso and Chen Motong?"
"Man, so everyone knows." Lu Mingfei spread his hands helplessly, slumped against the side of the bed like a pile of wet mud.
It felt as though everyone in the world knew his mind – what he was thinking, who his crush was. Everything about him seemed written across his face like a blank sheet of paper that anyone could read with a single glance.
Caesar Gattuso, the elite A-grade hybrid, heir to the Gattuso family, a natural-born leader, handsome and wealthy. And, of course, the official boyfriend of the girl Lu Mingfei secretly loved.
And Chen Motong, NoNo, was the beautiful senior sister who had rescued Lu Mingfei from his gloom, and the current object of his unrequited affection.
"You can't win against Caesar, especially as a romantic rival," Zoran said mercilessly.
"Are you here just to tell me to face reality?" Lu Mingfei pouted.
"Do you think there is anything about you that is superior to him?" Zoran asked.
"Superior..." Lu Mingfei fell into deep thought. After a long silence, he shook his head.
He never felt like he was someone who could even be associated with the word 'superior.' Even killing the King of Bronze and Fire had been Lu Mingze's doing. That power didn't belong to him. At the end of the day, he was just a loser.
A loser should stay quietly in the corner, waiting for the fire to burn out and curl into a charred little stick, eventually being stepped on and crushed into dust by the great and noble figures of the world.
"I know you're trying to give me a pep talk, but I already know the truth. I'm just a piece of trash, and you can't polish a turd," Lu Mingfei muttered, resorting to his usual self-deprecating banter.
Hearing this, Zoran shook his head.
"Even mud can be used to build a wall. Not all mud is destined to lie in the muck. It only needs a fire to scorch it into something hard."
"Easier said than done. Where is there a fire that can turn mud like me into a brick?" Lu Mingfei sighed. "Turning me into ash is more like it."
Lu Mingze was gone; he didn't even have the chance to make a deal with a devil anymore.
Zoran stood before Lu Mingfei and slowly reached out his hand.
"The devil was chased away by a demon, so a new opportunity for a deal sits before you, Lu Mingfei," he said calmly.
"A demon who values promises and credit doesn't look for loopholes, nor does he require a contract. And the price is extremely low."
In Zoran's extended hand, a wisp of flame burned brightly, illuminating Lu Mingfei's face.
Lu Mingfei's shock was visible to the naked eye. He had seen Chu Zihang use a Yanling, the high-risk Yanling known as King's Blaze, which signified temperatures hot enough to melt steel.
But the flame dancing in Zoran's palm had no temperature. It simply floated there, quiet and exquisite. Yet, from that flame, Lu Mingfei sensed a terrifying presence.
His focus sharpened, and a pair of vertical pupils flickered before his eyes like an illusion. This flame almost scorched his very gaze.
"Why help me? What do I have that's worth it?" Lu Mingfei curled into a ball, hugging his knees.
"I told you, this is a trade, a deal with a demon," Zoran said unhurriedly. "Besides, you're quite the sweet-talker, aren't you?"
"This power..." Zoran paused, a memory of Shendu cutting the Demon Chi down smaller and smaller flashing through his mind. "It is strong."
"Compared to this, the Yanling King's Blaze is like a firefly next to the sun and moon. And the cost is but one thing."
"What cost?" Lu Mingfei looked up.
He wasn't a fool; he had seen enough anime and read enough novels to know that greater power usually demanded a greater price. If Zoran's description was accurate and this power far exceeded King's Blaze, then the cost might be even more terrifying than a quarter of his life.
"Is it one of those ultimate moves you can only use once in a lifetime? The kind where you drop dead immediately after using it?"
"No," Zoran said firmly. "It requires no life force, nor is it a one-time use. This is a bestowed, constant power. The only price is your faith."
"Faith..." Lu Mingfei weighed the word.
He felt like he was in an anime, or like he was walking down the street and was suddenly chosen by a legendary master who pulled out a stack of secret manuals and asked which one he wanted to learn. And here he was, sniffing his nose and clutching a lollipop, picking the Buddha's Palm.
"Is it some Outer God from another dimension?!" Lu Mingfei jolted.
"You could interpret it that way, but it is no 'Evil God'," Zoran nodded slowly.
"I was joking. How could there really be things from outside the world? That only happens in anime." Lu Mingfei slowly reached out to touch the wisp of flame.
The little devil he traded with had vanished, only for a demon to jump out and offer a deal. Was he just born with a physique that made him easy to sell?
His gaze sank into the fire. Could a pile of mud, scorched by fire, truly become a hard brick? He was curious about the answer himself.
"It seems you have made your choice," Zoran's lips curled upward.
"Sure, why not. It's not like I lose anything by trying. Just faith? I had 'faith' in Rei Ayanami back in high school, but Evangelion never fell from the sky for me to pilot." Lu Mingfei's mouth ran wild with nonsense.
Regardless, Lu Mingze was gone. Perhaps before long, the entire world of superpowers would drift away from him. And he could never truly go back to the way things were in that small southern city.
If at a time like this, a guy claiming to be a demon jumped out and asked, 'Boy, do you crave power? Power even stronger than your invincible Senior Chu's King's Blaze?', and the price was merely some ethereal 'faith'... well, he'd be doing a disservice to his years of watching anime if he didn't give it a shot.
He reached out and grabbed the flame.
The moment his fingers touched it, he suddenly, passively understood what it was.
Fire Demon Chi.
That was the true name of the fire's essence.
This wisp of Fire Demon Chi instantly hacked into his entire system. A surge of flames swept through him and then vanished from sight.
He patted himself down. Nothing seemed to have happened.
"That's... it?" he asked, puzzled.
He thought there'd be some kind of "marrow-cleansing" transformation like in martial arts novels, opening his meridians and making him invincible across the lands.
"What Yanling is this?" Lu Mingfei asked. If it was a Yanling, he'd usually have to chant Dragon Script.
"This 'Yanling' has no name," Zoran said in a mysterious tone. "When you use it, you only need to call out the name of the power's master."
"I get it!" Lu Mingfei opened his hands, his flair for the dramatic surfacing. "Pray to the heavens—no, to the 'god,' and get a response, right?"
"So, what name should I call? 'Mr. Demon'?" Lu Mingfei gestured wildly.
"Shendu," Zoran said simply.
"Shendu?" Lu Mingfei repeated the name in a soft whisper.
The moment the name left his lips, a powerful torrent of fire swept through his entire body.
His expression turned to one of absolute shock. He looked mechanically toward Zoran and said in disbelief:
"Professor... you were serious?"
"What else would I be?" Zoran laughed.
"I thought you were kidding with me!"
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