One by one, the Cloud Knights felt their skin crawling with goosebumps. Pei Guang's storytelling might not be top-tier, but the plot and thes he was expressing truly resonated.
And was it rely a story? Maybe they would've seen it as such if any old storyteller had spun the tale. But this was soone who had saved the Xianzhou—soone who slew a Lord Ravager and delivered that head for display at the ship's prow.
If he said it, well, they were inclined to believe.
So, one side was willing to talk, and the other was willing to listen.
During his storytelling, Kafka—who'd just finished sealing Blade's second batch of mories—joined them. Though she ca in late, she understood enough to follow the plot and appreciate what it ant.
In hardly any ti, while Kafka was still finalizing the seal, Pei Guang wrapped up the entire JoJo Part 1 through Part 6 storyline. As he spoke, he occasionally assud different "JoJo poses," demonstrating them as he talked.
That was when they all recalled how Pei Guang had said the initial stance in the dance was a "JoJo pose." At first, it seed random. But now, realizing its significance, the Cloud Knights no longer found it odd—almost like it glowed with purpose.
And this dance starting from a JoJo pose? They could only imagine the kind of aning it held. Especially recalling Pei Guang's ntion of "spreading your wings" earlier, they pictured an entirely different world—a place where people fought for goodness.
Humans are natural daydrears; if you simply showed them a bunch of odd poses, so might find it weird. But hearing it from Pei Guang—allowing them to imagine it themselves—instantly elevated it in their minds.
When all was said and done, the squad captain who'd been listening intently turned to Pei Guang. "You told us these stories and taught us this dance so we could pass sothing called 'New Treasure Island' and the 'JoJo' tale on through the Luofu, didn't you?"
Pei Guang just shrugged. "Not really. You wanted to learn, I happened to know it, so I taught you. As for spreading it, that's up to you."
Seeing the leader of the Cloud Knights stand at attention, he declared to Pei Guang,
"Benefactor, I understand now. I'll uphold your Golden Spirit!"
Through Pei Guang's tale, this Cloud Knight leader ca to a realization: Golden Spirit wasn't about fighting enemies in so gentlemanly fashion, nor was it about pursuing personal gain. It was about battling for humanity's most beautiful, noble, and exalted ideals.
In his mont of pride, though, he also gleaned another lesson from the story: one doesn't necessarily have to play fair with the enemy—if victory serves the greatest cause, that's all that matters.
Extending this logic just a bit, he concluded that fighting Abundance worshippers wasn't about overthinking moral quandaries—rely ensuring their defeat was enough if it was for the highest and noblest intention. Dead enemies were good enemies, so to speak.
Feeling fresh enthusiasm, the squad leader spoke up confidently:
"Benefactor, thank you. I finally understand the aning behind these poses. Through your dance, I've felt an unyielding will. Now I know the mindset I need to dance with, and how to empower my comrades. Dancing doesn't an we're helpless. We can still kill these Abominations of Abundance mid-dance!"
While the leader was caught up in his newfound inspiration, Pei Guang was left scratching his head.
Stelle noticed his confusion. "What's wrong? You look puzzled."
Pei Guang shrugged. "Ah, NPC logic. We players have to at least pretend to follow so rules, but an NPC just 'gets it' in an instant. Must be nice—beats all that grinding we do."
That comnt drew a silent stare from Kafka and March 7th. From their perspective, Pei Guang was the least "logical" one around—and yet he was making fun of others?
In any case, Kafka saw no point in making a fuss. She just wanted to finish sealing Blade's corruption and leave Xianzhou as quickly as possible. Once off this ship, she wouldn't risk further entanglent with Pei Guang.
And so, while Pei Guang and the Cloud Knights revved up the excitent with their new dance mania, Kafka focused fully on sealing Blade's condition.
Eventually, her sealing ritual for Blade ca to an end, and he began to awaken.
Just as Blade regained consciousness, he seed about to speak—but caught sight of Kafka signaling him to stay silent. He quietly obeyed and, following Kafka's guidance, slowly sat up.
Almost instinctively, his mind flashed with images of Dan Heng—and that ridiculous pink bunny. But before the unpleasant mories could fully resurface, Blade looked down at his sword.
Yes, it was the sa sword he'd had when he went after the puppet, but now, holding it in his hands, he felt a new kind of confidence—a confidence that maybe he could face Dan Heng head-on.
But just as that confidence surged, a chilling, intense gaze swept over him. Tracing it back, Blade realized it was coming from three people outside the window: Pei Guang, Stelle, and March 7th, arranged in a neat triangular formation and staring in his direction.
Sensing Blade's attention, Pei Guang tapped his device to play music.
At the first strains of an "Ayi ya, Ayi ya" style lody, Blade felt as if words were manifesting in the air around him, suffocating the atmosphere.
And with the beat of the music, the Cloud Knights behind them struck a variety of dramatic poses, leveling an array of stances in Blade's direction. So of them even leapt into the air.
"Lightwings, deploy!!!"
The newly awakened Blade watched as the Cloud Knights spread their arms, bent one knee, weapons in hand, hopping about in syncopated movents.
It might have been acceptable if they were all on the sa beat, but each Cloud Knight moved at a different tempo and used slightly different steps. Over thirty knights swirling together, creating not beauty, but pure visual confusion.
Worse, he noticed that several Cloud Knights practicing these odd dance moves were moving faster and faster—yes, the "acceleration jump." Under Pei Guang's guidance, a few particularly talented knights, those who trusted him deeply, had mastered it.
Leaping on one leg, their bodies bent like shrimp in motion, these Cloud Knights were moving almost like wraiths. Especially their captain—he wasn't just able to jump while accelerating, but also swing his weapon mid-jump. Because he progressed the fastest, Pei Guang had kindly bestowed an oversized spatula effect on his weapon.
Why a spatula? Because nobody wanted to use it, and Pei Guang didn't want it himself. Spotting the squad leader as a decent candidate, he simply passed it along.
As a player, Pei Guang only cared about fun; items he didn't need could be handed off to an NPC if it made him happy.
And indeed, the squad leader proved himself worthy. With each jump, spatula in hand, he envisioned soon testing his new skill on the Abomination of Abundance.
Blade, anwhile, continued staring blankly at this entire scene.
Kafka, who was about to employ her ability to soothe him, noticed that he acted before she could.
The newly conscious Blade silently glanced at the bed in the corner, walked over, lay down, and closed his eyes.
Without opening them, he mumbled to Kafka, "Close the window."
Kafka complied softly, "Alright~."
She took a quick reading of Blade's ntal state, surprised to find that despite witnessing such a bizarre display, he wasn't descending into the mania or rampage she might have expected. Instead, he seed strangely calm.
But as for Blade himself, he rely felt like he'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed—otherwise, how could he possibly have dreamt about Dan Heng controlling a pink bunny or these Cloud Knights striking such embarrassing poses in so unholy dance?
At the mont, he concluded that everything was a dream.
He also wanted to ask Jing Yuan just what, exactly, had happened to the Xianzhou: had they really been attacked by a Lord Ravager? Or maybe an Elation Emanator? Surely, not even an Elation Emanator could make Cloud Knights wholeheartedly dance this sort of routine. What was that supposed to be?!
From outside, Kafka noted that Blade's mood had abruptly shifted—calmness giving way to rage. Yet it wasn't the unstoppable fury of Mara-struck; it was just plain anger.
And she couldn't bla him. Anyone who had faced a pink bunny's humiliation, only to awaken and see a bunch of Cloud Knights dancing around could've easily lost their mind… had they not the ans to fight back.
As for Blade, even though he was brimming with rage, the weapon he now held—sporting a brand-new spoon effect—gave him an odd sense of confidence.
So glimr of hope in an otherwise insane world.
Taking one look at the spoon, Blade felt a sudden, bold idea form. Stelle had managed to poke the Aeon Qlipoth with a similar power. Perhaps he, too, could harness this newfound effect to exact his revenge…
Not on Dan Heng—Blade did bear responsibility for the past, after all. No, his target was the Emanator of Abundance…
He admitted he was no match for either Dan Heng or that Emanator yet. But having tasted the agony of "social death," he was determined to return the favor—one day, in full.
This was a pain far worse than dying countless tis. But precisely because he had endured this pain, Blade now knew how to make his enemies experience it too.
Thinking about this, he smiled: he now had a new goal.
Aside from his ultimate objective, he now sought revenge. If the body couldn't be killed, then he would kill the spirit!
"There are five people, two of whom are socially dead! Dan Heng, you're one of them!"
Outside the room, Kafka listened to Blade's laughter and fell completely silent. Just a day ago, Blade had still been a serious man, one haunted by nightmares. And now…
With these thoughts in mind, she glanced at Pei Guang, then turned and looked sympathetically at Stelle. Seeing Stelle's posture, movents, and aura, she knew—Stelle was never going back to the way she was.
But this wasn't a bad thing. At the very least, the nearly predetermined fate that had lood over them had been punched into several gaping holes. This gave Kafka more confidence in her own future and destiny.
anwhile, as Blade embraced his sudden thoughts and determination, so people still had no idea what was about to happen, while others had already sent him the coordinates of a certain Abundance Emanator.
Whether Blade would act on this information was entirely up to him. But honestly, who could resist the sheer joy of seeing a regular person stab an Abundance Emanator in the butt?
An Abundance Emanator getting stabbed in the rear with a spoon, and then having the entire incident spread across the interstellar network? It was the kind of cody that hadn't existed in the past. These days, it wasn't exactly rare, but even those accustod to fine dining wouldn't mind indulging in a bit of dessert.
And so, on this very night, the Abundance Emanator who had once invaded the Luofu, faced an unexpected shift of fate.
As the Xianzhou experienced sudden upheaval, the divine weapon in the hands of the Arbiter-General transford into a spoon. Just as the Emanator prepared to flee and go into hiding, he found that his subordinates had gained a few… unexpected new faces.
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