Chapter 1667: Poison

The secretary said nothing more, for as they stepped onto the stairs, the summit was drawing ever closer.

Mount Lingxu was quite tall, yet even for the secretary, an ordinary person, he could cross most of the mountain in just a few steps. It was as if the formula for speed and distance had been tampered with on these stone steps leading to the peak, allowing one to reach the top in mere moments.

When the secretary knocked on the door and entered the Lingxu Ancient Temple, the coffee in the cup was still steaming hot...

At this moment,

a figure in monk’s robes sat on the gravel floor like a statue, staring blankly at the chessboard before him.

The Amber Knight did not follow the secretary inside, but waited outside the ancient temple; without Lord Lingxu's permission, no one else was allowed to enter.

"Lord Lingxu, your coffee." The secretary placed the coffee beside the chessboard.

Lord Lingxu remained staring blankly at the chessboard.

"Lord Lingxu..."

"Your coffee."

The secretary raised his voice slightly, and only then did Lord Lingxu snap out of it. He looked as if he had exhausted too much mental energy at once; his brow was filled with haggardness and fatigue, and his messy, bird's-nest hair danced in the wind, making him look not like one of the Nine Lords, but merely a disheveled, ordinary man.

"Hmm."

Lord Lingxu took the coffee and, without even looking at it, drank it all in one gulp.

After finishing the coffee, Lord Lingxu's state finally recovered slightly. He handed the empty cup back to the secretary and looked at the chessboard, seemingly prepared to fall back into deep thought. Just then, the secretary spoke again:

"Lord Lingxu, the Amber Knight is just outside the door, wishing to report something to you."

"Oh... let him in."

Lord Lingxu nodded.

The secretary tidied up the empty coffee cup and walked straight out of the ancient temple. He passed through the gate and nodded to the Amber Knight, who had been waiting for a long time, and the latter stepped inside.

As for the secretary, he did not leave immediately, but walked to the mountain climbing steps and sat down, as if beginning to admire the scenery below the mountain.

"Lord Lingxu." The Amber Knight arrived before Lord Lingxu and bowed respectfully.

"What is it?"

Lord Lingxu did not even lift his head, appearing incredibly exhausted.

The Amber Knight took a deep breath, and a strange shimmer began to emanate from the depths of his eyes... his words seemed to carry a powerful psychological suggestion:

"Lord Lingxu, have you noticed... that lately, the days are getting shorter, and the nights... are getting longer?"

……

"...Has it begun?"

"Calculating the time, it should have begun."

On the streets of the Lingxu Realm, the commander of the Deep Blue Knights, Spade J, gazed toward Mount Lingxu, as if waiting for something.

Beside him, the commander of the Raven Cyan Knights took a deep breath:

"I hope the toxin is effective."

"Don't tell me that; I'm not interested in the specifics of how you want to deal with Lord Lingxu," Spade J turned his head away. "If you fail, it has nothing to do with me... I'm just out patrolling the streets as usual."

"Do you have so little faith in us?" the Raven Cyan commander said in a low voice. "We have been preparing for this day for a long time... With the coffee supply over these past few months, his body has long since accumulated a massive amount of toxins. Coupled with Amber's [Hypnotic Gambit] to trigger it, it should at least force him into a slumber lasting several years... This is the best solution for the Lingxu Realm."

"No matter how clever your methods are, he is still Lord Lingxu," Spade J looked into his eyes. "You must not underestimate him."

"I know, but this is the maximum effort we can make," the Raven Cyan commander was silent for a moment.

"We can't just sit by and watch him push the Lingxu Realm... into the abyss, can we?"

Spade J sighed:

"I said... you shouldn't have told me these things. If you fail, I'll be dragged into it too."

"Regardless, you know now," the Raven Cyan commander patted his shoulder. "Now... we are grasshoppers on the same rope."

After saying this, the Raven Cyan knight turned and walked to the other side of the street.

Once he was completely out of sight, Spade J unhurriedly took off his monocle and began to wipe it gently... As his fingertips rubbed against it, lines of text flashed across the lens before vanishing without a trace.

"Sorry..."

"We were never grasshoppers on the same rope."

Spade J walked straight to a reflective window, looked at his reflection in the glass, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

He and his reflection simultaneously extended their right hands...

"Come on, rock, paper, scissors."

"If I lose... I will forget everything that happened in the last five minutes."

"Rock, paper..."

"Scissors."

As the words fell, Spade J signaled "paper" with his hand.

And his reflection in the window gently threw "scissors"... The next second, a flash of white light passed through the depths of Spade J's eyes.

……

"Lord Lingxu, have you noticed that the nights have been getting deeper lately?"

The Amber Knight's voice was very soft.

His words seemed to contain a certain magic capable of striking directly at the heart, and as his voice fell, Lord Lingxu's eyelids began to grow heavy, as if the night had truly arrived.

"...Is... that so?" Lord Lingxu murmured softly.

"Lord Lingxu, you seem very tired lately."

"...Hmm."

"If you're tired, rest for a while." The strange light in the Amber Knight's eyes became more pronounced; he was like someone engaged in a psychological gambit, and his enemy was gradually lowering his defenses under the influence of the toxins and his words.

"Your body is heavy, your thoughts are weighed down... in this state, it is hard for you to consider anything more."

"Why not close your eyes and sleep for a while? It won't be too late to think about those things when you wake up..."

Lord Lingxu's eyelids drooped lower and lower. The Amber Knight's voice seemed to come from the end of the world, and an unprecedented drowsiness flooded his mind. His body was undergoing some kind of change; just as the Amber Knight said, it was becoming heavier and heavier, as if filled with lead.

Until Lord Lingxu's eyes closed completely, he was like a fragile stalk of straw, and with a gentle gust of wind, he tipped forward...

Seeing this, a flash of joy appeared in the Amber Knight's eyes!

However,

a palm slammed into the gravel floor.

Sharp, jagged stones cut bloody gashes into Lord Lingxu's palm. His body, heavy as if filled with lead, was now kneeling on the ground in an extremely unyielding posture. He gasped for breath, as if using every ounce of his strength to slowly force open those eyes that had already closed...

A pair of bloodshot, struggling eyes were once again exposed to the air!

"No..."

"I cannot sleep..."

"I haven't found a way to save humanity yet... I haven't completed... my mission..."

"No matter what... I cannot sleep!!"

As the words fell, Lord Lingxu suddenly raised his palm and slammed it heavily against his own chest!!

Pfft—!!

A mouthful of scarlet blood sprayed from his mouth. At this moment, he finally regained a sliver of clarity, and his ferocious eyes locked onto the Amber Knight before him!