Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 1497: Chapter 812: Demon Whisperer

Countdown to return 04:00:00.

The bonfire in the village gradually dimmed, making the silver moonlight overhead even more dazzling.

Zard stared at Zhong Yu with a tiger’s gaze, waiting for the opportunity to find a way to kill with one strike.

But Zhong Yu didn’t spare him a glance; instead, he used his black eyes to stare into the deepest part of the village, as if there was a black hole there attracting all his attention.

In the darkness, Li Shentan, clad in a tuxedo, emerged with a smile from the shadows. He took off his black top hat and slightly bowed, giving everyone a bow, like the elegant entrance of a magician.

“Good evening, everyone. It has really been a long time since I’ve been here, it’s truly nostalgic,” Li Shentan’s head of silver hair seemed to shine with a layer of light under the moonlight, giving off a sense of brilliance: “When was the last time I came here? It was a thousand years ago.”

The Lian people stared at him in a daze, not knowing where he came from or his identity, but the lineage of Lian Peng and Lian Xin, the clan leaders, knew who Li Shentan was.

When they were little, playing behind the village, they would ask their mothers upon seeing the wooden sculpture: Mother, who is this person?

Then, Lian Peng’s mother would tell Lian Peng, who would then tell Lian Xin: This is the man beloved by the Lianyi Clan Leader, a very formidable figure.

However, though they knew who the wooden sculpture depicted, they did not know there was more to it.

Now, those big flower pythons that often accompanied the wooden sculpture followed behind Li Shentan, and Lian Peng immediately realized that it was the person from the sculpture who walked out!

The other side had always been in this village, never left!

During the final battle of the previous intelligent crisis, Li Shentan was still a guest in Xiuzhu State.

Back then, the Lian clan was still free-spirited and passionate, and the Naked Heart Gu could only be ingested by men voluntarily.

That year, with Lianyi Clan Leader’s excellent driving skills, she ran over Li Shentan’s face again and again, but she never could bear to truly make him eat the Naked Heart Gu, unwilling to bind his life forever.

Later, in the battle at the darkest hour, Li Shentan sacrificed himself to block millions of artificial intelligence troops.

Afterward, Li Shentan died.

The founder of Hu’s Information Agency, ‘Hu Shuo,’ who was also Li Shentan’s grandfather, personally brought the wooden sculpture and took a look at his granddaughter-in-law, Lianyi, whom he never met.

Lianyi was heartbroken, guarding the sculpture and crying for over a month, even Hu Shuo couldn’t console her, ultimately leaving with a sigh.

Lianyi spent her life guarding the wooden sculpture, never seeking another companion, but what she didn’t know was, after Li Shentan lost his body, he accompanied her through another means for her entire life.

Now, Li Shentan reappeared, as if a thousand years had left no trace on him.

Zhong Yu felt the crisis, squinting his eyes, it was an unprecedented sense of crisis, as if death was imminent.

He watched as a silver coin flipped and tumbled between the other’s fingers, feeling like his gaze was being wholly attracted.

Zhong Yu calmly asked, “I know who you are, Li Shentan. But what I am curious about is, in my perception, you have already stepped past that critical point, yet you still stand here intact, how did you do it?”

Just as there is a threshold between A-Class and demigod, the critical point of merging with the world is also a threshold.

Before crossing it, one is a demigod, after crossing it, one ascends to another realm.

Li Shentan and Yan Liuyuan are called demigods because there is no other term between demigods and gods, they can only be called demigods.

To put it as an analogy: Everyone scores a hundred points; you score a hundred because your ability is a hundred, but these two score a hundred because the paper only has a hundred points.

So even among demigods, they are different from each other.

Li Shentan looked at Zhong Yu with interest: “So, you’ve reached demigod level, which indeed surprises me. When I first noticed you, you were still only at the B-Class peak, how did you suddenly cross that threshold? Usually, after becoming a Time Traveler, awakening leads at best to the peak of B-Class, that already counts as exceptional talent, with potential to advance to demigod. But you leaped straight to demigod, even reaching the critical point, which is quite unprecedented.”

Zhong Yu laughed and said, “There are many things in this world that defy logic, just like you living for so long, does that make sense? In the past, people called you the Demon Whisperer, but now you’ve become not at all evil, does that make sense?”

“The Demon Whisperer from a thousand years ago is long dead; now Li Shentan is just Li Shentan, nothing more,” Li Shentan slowly closed his eyes: “Silence.”

He flicked the silver coin high into the air, its clear sound pierced the night like a long knife unsheathing.

In an instant, everyone in the village became dazed, even Zard was not exempt.

Hypnosis!

A thousand years later, the hypnosis art of the Demon Whisperer resurfaced in the world.

Moreover, the terrifying extent of Li Shentan’s move was far beyond imagination, even Zard, an A-Class, was not spared, and Zhong Yu’s expression sank into struggle.

Qing Zhun’s eyes alternated continuously between black and white, with expressions that were sometimes ferocious, sometimes innocent, and sometimes calm.

Li Shentan slept to preserve his will from being absorbed into the world, and only through sleep could he regroup his gradually dissipating will.

Every year he slept, Li Shentan had one opportunity to act, and now he was using this opportunity on Qing Zhun.

Previously, Qing Zhun had manifested hundreds of Scarlet Hands, suppressing over a hundred people in the village, including more than twenty A-Class Gold Corpses.

Though Qing Zhun made it seem easy, it actually drained him significantly, so he was not at his peak right now.

And when Li Shentan acted, he didn’t even give Qing Zhun a chance to retaliate.

But at this moment, Zard, who was not Li Shentan’s main target, managed to open his eyes by sheer force of will: “No, if you kill him, Xiao Yu will die too!”

Li Shentan looked at Zard in surprise, not expecting this rather eccentric lunatic to possess the potential to break free from his hypnosis.

Although his attacks were indiscriminate, not specifically targeting Zard, how many people in this world could break free from his hypnosis?

Moreover, breaking free from his hypnosis came with a cost.

Li Shentan asked with interest, “You went through all the trouble to break my hypnosis and suffered significant mental damage just to protect that Xiao Yu?”

“Yes,” Zard said, visibly exhausted: “I want to ask, what is the principle behind your hypnosis?”

Li Shentan thought for a moment and explained: “It’s been a long time since I’ve explained this. The true essence of hypnosis is to make the other party entrust their subconscious into your hands.”

Zard sincerely asked, “Can you seal Qing Zhun alone and hypnotize him forever?”

“No,” Li Shentan replied with a smile, shaking his head, “He’s a demigod-level Transcendent. Even if I possess Ren Xiaosu’s mental will, it’s impossible to hypnotize him ‘forever.’ The seal will eventually loosen.”

“So can you kill him alone?” Zard asked again.

“I’m not sure,” Li Shentan shook his head, “but I can give it a try.”

In an instant, the three souls originally pulled by the Scarlet Hands were separated again by Li Shentan’s hypnosis.

Above Huan Yu’s physical body, three silver apparitions circled and intertwined. Only Qing Zhun was struggling, while the other two silently endured.

Li Shentan murmured in realization, “So that’s it… No wonder you ascended to such a realm so quickly. I was curious before; someone so gifted, I’ve only seen one other like Qing Zhun in a thousand years, and even then, it was only possible because Yan Liuyuan blessed him with luck. Your talent is less than Qing Zhun’s; you shouldn’t be capable of this.”

Zard was taken aback: “What do you mean?”

“That sinister, wicked soul possesses extraordinary potential because it plundered the mental will of that small, pure soul,” Li Shentan sighed, “It’s like a parasite, feeding off that body’s mental will.”

This statement completely stunned Zard.

He had thought that as long as Qing Zhun continued to sleep, they could coexist peacefully. He believed that even though Qing Zhun was evil, he, like Da Yu, cared for Xiao Yu.

But now it seemed that if Qing Zhun continued to live, Xiao Yu and Da Yu would eventually be ‘consumed’ by Qing Zhun!

After Qing Zhun reached an agreement with Da Yu, he fell into a slumber. On the surface, he seemed to give his body to Xiao Yu and Da Yu, but this agreement was just a ploy to buy himself time; he aimed to ‘consume’ Xiao Yu first!

No wonder Xiao Yu’s awakening time was always shorter than Da Yu’s because Xiao Yu’s mental will was already very weak.

Da Yu was too naive, his proud arrogance could never outmatch the wicked Qing Zhun; they had all been fooled.

If the soul within was only Xiao Yu and Qing Zhun, Qing Zhun’s ultimate outcome would be merging with the world’s will, but with Da Yu, his ambition grew.

Qing Zhun hoped Da Yu would continue to grow, and when Da Yu reached a certain stage, he could complete 100% world integration by consuming Da Yu and become the second God in this world!

Zard said numbly, “But he really cares for Xiao Yu, always mentioning Xiao Yu.”

Li Shentan laughed out loud, “Aren’t there enough liars in this world? The promises of gamblers, the words of drug addicts, the speeches of politicians, the plots of schemers, none of them can be trusted. You remind me of a friend of mine, so naive it’s almost endearing.”

Zard spoke quietly, “So what should we do now…”

Li Shentan pondered for a moment before saying, “We have to try to know.”

The best solution now would be to kill Lian Hua directly, causing Huan Yu to die along with Lian Hua.

But justice is a unique shackle. Neither Li Shentan nor Zard would sacrifice Xiao Yu, Da Yu, and Lian Hua to punish an evil soul.

At this time, Huan Yu’s eyes changed back to pure black: “What a wondrous experience, as if I slept for a century. No wonder you’re a Demon Whisperer, very impressive… But why didn’t you seize the opportunity to kill me, is it because you don’t want to, or because this body can’t fully contain your terrifying mental will, so you couldn’t do it?”