"I've been looking for you for a long time," said Ling Lan coldly, "I think you should already be aware of the current condition of this body."
"Seeking me out just for this?" The Transcendent Cold personality figured out why he had been brought out and could not help but scorn, "This kind of little problem, and he already can't take it? That's too disgraceful."
Due to the effects of the aphrodisiac, even though Luo Lang's face had been punched till it was black and blue, it was still flushed an eye-catching rosy pink. However, his eyes now were clear, as if not at all affected by the chaotic desire within his body. Sure enough, the Transcendent Cold personality possessed the ability to detach himself from all seven emotions and six desires, and was thus able to be so serene in the face of disaster.
However, Ling Lan was beginning to get a vague sense that something was not right. She began to think back on how when each personality had appeared, those personalities had not lost control due to the aphrodisiac — they had not lost their minds and behaved wildly. Even when that mindless Bestial Instinct personality had appeared, what he had displayed had only been the basic instinct of a wild beast and nothing else ...
Could it be that as long as another personality took charge, the effects of the aphrodisiac would actually be contained? In that case, why would Luo Lang suffer the ravaging of the aphrodisiac every time after he conquered those personalities? Ling Lan was rather perplexed.All these doubts merely flashed through her mind — Ling Lan did not have the time to ruminate on them. Now, the most important thing was still helping Luo Lang to conquer this Transcendent Cold personality so that Luo Lang could fully overcome the effects of the aphrodisiac.
Ling Lan did not think that the aphrodisiac of this future world would be so strong, lasting over the course of an entire night. Every time they had switched alter egos, she had seen Luo Lang's agonised expression of forced tolerance in between. This made Ling Lan rather worried about Luo Lang's body. She wondered whether it was too much for him and had harmed the very foundations of his body ... she hoped that it was truly as Instructor Number One had said, that there would be no negative aftereffects!
Ling Lan suppressed the worry in her heart and began to negotiate with the Transcendent Cold personality. "Speak. What would make you willing to submit to the primary identity?"
It would be best if they could avoid a fight — whenever Ling Lan encountered a rational personality that could communicate, she would not resort to violence right away, instead going into negotiation mode first. Ling Lan herself was afraid that Luo Lang's body would not be able to withstand all this pummelling.
"Submit? He's not worthy enough yet," Transcendent Cold responded icily.
"Yet? Which means that it's possible in the future? Does this mean that you actually think well of him?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.
"He is our primary identity. Once he has become stronger than us, we will naturally submit to him," Transcendent Cold replied evenly. This was the truth. Luo Lang's innate talent was out of his control only because the primary identity was too weak, so the secondary personalities could not be blamed for running wild."Why don't you all try submitting now? This is actually beneficial for you all as well," suggested Ling Lan.
Transcendent Cold shook his head bleakly and refused, saying, "We have our pride. We only submit to the strong. If the primary identity never finds a way to be stronger than us, he will forever be unable to control us. This is the price he must pay. There are no shortcuts."
"Is that so?" Ling Lan shot back with a half-smile. The reality before them now proved that shortcuts did exist — they just had not been discovered yet before this.
Ling Lan's rebuttal made Transcendent Cold's breath choke. He fell silent for several seconds before opening his mouth to say, "Of course, it's not really that they don't exist. If there is a boss who gains the willing acknowledgement of all of the secondary personalities, we can listen to that boss's orders and recognise the primary identity as our main host."
The Transcendent Cold personality stared coolly at Ling Lan and continued, "It seems that you have discovered this shortcut. Those subdued secondary personalities were most likely conquered by the primary identity in this way. If you defeat me, I too will be willing to submit to you. At that time, you can ask me to submit to the primary identity. I will be willing to obey."
"So that's how it is." Only now did Ling Lan truly understand. Instructor Number One had suggested this method, not for her to seek out the Transcendent Cold personality, but for her to subdue each and every one of these alter egos to help Luo Lang gain complete control.
"Who knows how many alter egos are left ... Do I have to keep fighting till the last one to end this?" Ling Lan muttered to herself, chuckling wryly internally. If luck would have it, she might just have to spend days here — this was truly an onerous task. That's why she had said that being a boss was not so easy ...
"No need. As long as you defeat me, the other secondary personalities will acknowledge you too. Because I am the strongest one among all the alter egos." Transcendent Cold heard Ling Lan's mutters, and replied. Even though his tone was exceedingly cool and level, Ling Lan could still hear the pride and confidence of Transcendent Cold from his words.
That aside, Transcendent Cold's words had also explained why Instructor Number One had said that she must seek out the Transcendent Cold personality. It looked like Luo Lang did not need him specifically to overcome the crisis of the aphrodisiac — rather, Ling Lan needed to defeat the other so Luo Lang could truly master his innate talent.
This so-called chance was just Instructor Number One's excuse to get her to act. No wonder as time passed, Luo Lang's resistance to the aphrodisiac had seemed to get stronger and stronger. Unlike at the start when he had almost lost his reason, he had always been able to successfully activate his innate talent, holding on till the emergence of the next alter ego. In fact, as he had been fighting, the aphrodisiac was already being diffused. It was as the Transcendent Cold personality had said at the start — the aphrodisiac within Luo Lang's body was just a trivial matter, because the drug was already nearing its end, and the effects were no longer that strong.
At this thought, the tension in Ling Lan's heart eased. Since the aphrodisiac was no longer an issue, as long as she defeated this personality before her now and completed the task of letting Luo Lang freely control his innate talent, she would have achieved a rousing success.
"Fine. Let me try then and see how strong exactly is this Transcendent Cold personality." Ling Lan calmly stretched out her right hand, signalling for the Transcendent Cold personality to make his move.
This was the stance a superior used against an inferior — with regards to this, the Transcendent Cold personality did not feel offended or underestimated. This was because the moment he came out, he had sensed the horrifying strength hidden deeply within Ling Lan's body. He knew very well that this person before his eyes was not that opponent he had met that first time he had emerged. This opponent was much stronger, but that did not mean that he had no chance of winning.
A mocking smile appeared on the lips of the Transcendent Cold personality. With a spring of his feet, his figure suddenly disappeared, and in the next second, his fist had arrived before Ling Lan's face. This speed of his had clearly broken past Luo Lang's original speed, hitting Luo Lang's physical limits ...
"Good!" Ling Lan yelled out in approval. Her head tilted to one side, evading the punch, and her palm struck back without any hesitation, aiming for the only opening in this attack of Luo Lang's, the only fatal weakness —— his chest!
Ling Lan thought that Transcendent Cold would choose to evade, because if this palm strike landed, based on the strength differential between Luo Lang and her, Luo Lang was certain to be heavily injured. Someone proficient in combat would not be so idiotic as to welcome death ...
However, Transcendent Cold's actions shocked Ling Lan — the other did not dodge, charging forwards fearlessly instead.
"F*ck, a lunatic!" Ling Lan had not expected the other's actions, and since the other was charging forwards intentionally, Ling Lan's palm made contact with Luo Lang's chest in the blink of an eye.
There was already no time to change moves — Ling Lan could only pull back the powerful internal energy behind her palm. Thus, despite striking Luo Lang's chest, as there was no internal energy behind it, her palm did not harm Luo Lang. But right then, there was a sudden twist — Luo Lang's other long readied fist with three layers of One-Inch Punch struck out in a diagonal attack at Ling Lan's lower side.
Stuck in the tail-end of her move, Ling Lan had no possibility of evading. Still, who was Ling Lan? The reflexes of one at the optimal peak of Qi-Jin was incomparable to that of one at early stage Qi-Jin. Ling Lan's other hand swept down into a block and the two forces collided. Powerful forces erupted between the two of them.
A 'boom' of collision, and the two were thrown back uncontrollably. They each stumbled back several paces before finding their footing again.
Even Ling Lan, due to insufficient preparation and a hasty block, now felt heated blood roiling in her chest, a surge of copper-sweet stench pushing at the back of her throat. It should be said that the heartless scheming of Transcendent Cold, in tandem with the three layers of One-Inch Punch he used, had given Ling Lan a bitter taste of trouble.
"Actually daring to use Luo Lang's life to trap me ..." Ling Lan's eyes turned bleak and cold, freezing air beginning to emit from her body. At this moment, Ling Lan's wrath had been piqued.
She found that this Transcendent Cold personality before her was truly without all seven emotions and six desires, only retaining endless cold rationality. For the sake of victory, he had even factored Ling Lan's brotherly affection for Luo Lang into his calculations ... From the start, he had known that his attack would be fruitless, but he also knew that Ling Lan cared for his body very much and would not really want to hurt him, and this was his chance. Frankly, he had almost succeeded. However, Ling Lan was just too strong — despite falling into his trap, she had still managed to withstand his attack by relying on her own superior strength.
"If your heart had not had any reluctance, my plan would not have succeeded," said the Transcendent Cold personality, "Hence, this is not my fault."
At these words, Ling Lan almost spewed out a mouthful of blood. So she was the only one to blame for taking this hit? But thinking about it, what the Transcendent Cold personality was saying was not wrong either — if she had not been reluctant to harm Luo Lang, the other would not have been able to trap her.
"How bloody despicable. Are you not at all worried I would just go through with it for real and kill you?" asked Ling Lan sullenly.
"If that happened, then it would be my mistake. Death would be well deserved." The Transcendent Cold personality's expression was indifferent. In his mind, if his carefully thought-out plan had not succeeded, death would be a proper price to pay — there was nothing to argue about there.
Facing this emotionless Transcendent Cold personality who only knew how to scheme, unafraid of death and impervious to flattery and petty tricks, Ling Lan felt somewhat like her hands were tied. Hells, this personality was just too troublesome to handle — did she really have to fight with lethal means?
It had to be said that the Transcendent Cold personality had indeed latched onto Ling Lan's vital point. Ling Lan could not bear to harm Luo Lang — even though Luo Lang currently looked rather battered, his entire face a swathe of black and blue, his body swollen red and bruised with no patch of unmarked skin, all of these injuries were only skin-deep. Luo Lang would only need to lie in a healing pod for one to two hours, and he would be back to normal. However, if Ling Lan had really been ruthless and injured Luo Lang grievously, Luo Lang may just have to return to the Military Medical Research Centre and would not have been able to be discharged for 10 days to half a month ... and this was why Ling Lan was now caught in a dilemma.
"Boss, dawn is breaking. Should I create an illusion of you and Luo Lang coming out from the villa this morning to come spar at the combat hall?" Right then, Little Four, who could delay no longer, piped up with an alert within Ling Lan's mindspace.
An idea sparked in Ling Lan's mind at these words. Yes, by creating this illusion, she would have a reason to send Luo Lang back to the Military Medical Research Centre to trouble Li Shiyu again ...
She could say that, as they had fought, Luo Lang's old wounds had flared up again. As his primary physician, Li Shiyu would need to take responsibility for this.
