Chapter 127: Chapter 127: The Common Enemy of Men

When Lin Shen and Xu Tiange saw the newcomer, they both realized they had guessed wrong.

The arrival wasn’t the strikingly beautiful Ouyang Yudu, but an ordinary-looking Tu Xiaodao with a scar across his face.

Xu Tiange lowered his voice and leaned into Lin Shen’s ear, “Shen, this Tu Xiaodao is not simple. I heard from my old man that Tu Xiaodao comes from some base at sea. You know the situation out at sea; the Base Variant Creatures there are even fiercer than on land. Any family that can establish a base at sea is no ordinary family.”

“Are you Lin Shen?” When Tu Xiaodao saw Lin Shen, he sized him up and down, his voice unusually hoarse.

“I am Lin Shen. May I know what business you have with me?” Lin Shen also sized up Tu Xiaodao. The man seemed unremarkable, but there seemed to be an aggression about him that was hard for an ordinary person to match.

“I heard you’ve mastered ‘Talent Theory’. I’ve come to ask for guidance.” Tu Xiaodao drew the knife from his waist. It was short, only the length of a dagger, but it was quite wide, as broad as a palm, and seemed to have been polished from Dark Point Crystal.

“I think you are mistaken, I haven’t mastered ‘Talent Theory’,” Lin Shen explained.

Tu Xiaodao raised an eyebrow and said, “Now everyone knows that you’ve mastered ‘Talent Theory’. By saying this, are you looking down on me, Tu Xiaodao?”

“If everyone says you’re a woman, does that make you one?” Lin Shen asked indifferently in return.

Tu Xiaodao paused for a moment, “But Goddess Consort Bai said that you…”

“Did Goddess Consort Bai say I had mastered ‘Talent Theory’?” Lin Shen interrupted him directly.

Tu Xiaodao paused again, then frowned and said, “The Goddess Consort indeed never said you mastered ‘Talent Theory,’ but everyone knows that only someone who has mastered ‘Talent Theory’ is qualified to become a candidate for the Goddess Consort. Since the Goddess Consort has recognized you, you must have mastered it.”

“Even if I haven’t mastered ‘Talent Theory,’ and even if I had, cannot I refuse to instruct you? If you’re so eager to challenge someone who has mastered ‘Talent Theory’, why don’t you find Ouyang Yudu? Are you unaware that Ouyang Yudu has mastered ‘Talent Theory’, or are you just bullying the weak and fearing the strong, not daring to challenge Ouyang Yudu?” Lin Shen said with a sneer.

Tu Xiaodao was left speechless by this tirade and finally spoke, “I will naturally find Ouyang Yudu, but I want to ask for your guidance as well. It’s pointless to talk so much, just draw your sword and let me see what makes someone who has mastered ‘Talent Theory’ different.”

“You say you want to ask for guidance, then for a knife fight, why don’t you just compare heights directly? I’m certainly not shorter than you are. You could just forfeit now; it’d save us the trouble of fighting,” Lin Shen taunted calmly.

Tu Xiaodao had not expected that in seeking a contest with Lin Shen, he would be bombarded with verbal attacks before they even started fighting. He was not good with words and clearly no match for Lin Shen.

“You say a fight over what?” Tu Xiaodao asked, frowning.

“I’ll say it again, I haven’t mastered ‘Talent Theory’, and I’m only at the Steel Level. If you want to fight, it’s up to you how you come at me, but I’ll definitely call for help right away,” Lin Shen said.

“I can fight without using my Base Mutation powers, and I can keep my strength and speed within the Steel Level range,” Tu Xiaodao immediately blurted out, clearly having thought this through before coming.

Seeing that Tu Xiaodao was determined to fight him, Lin Shen realized that this stalemate was getting them nowhere.

“How about this, I don’t know ‘Talent Theory’, and I’m not good at fighting either, let’s compete in something else,” Lin Shen finally suggested.

“Compete in what? The only thing I can do is fight, I can’t do anything else,” Tu Xiaodao worried that Lin Shen would want to compare whose stature was taller.

“I will do an action, and if you can replicate it, then you win. I do indeed have a copy of ‘Talent Theory’ that Goddess Consort Bai gave me. I haven’t mastered it, but I can give it to you,” Lin Shen said, pulling out the ‘Talent Theory’ book given to him by the Goddess Consort.

“I have ‘Talent Theory’. If I win, I don’t need you to give me anything. I just want you to let me see the true ‘Talent Theory’,” Tu Xiaodao stubbornly said.

“Why are you so persistently narrow-minded?” Lin Shen said, exasperated.

Tu Xiaodao took out some things from his backpack and continued speaking to Lin Shen, “If you win, I don’t have much else to offer. This is all the Base Mutation Fluid from the Mutated Crystal Base creatures I collected recently on Realm King Planet. It’s of no use to me anymore, but it should still be very valuable to you. If you win, it’s yours; if you lose, you can still pick a bag.”

As Lin Shen looked at the several large bags of Base Mutation Fluid, his original plan to lose to Tu Xiaodao and to throw the hot potato, “Talent Theory,” out the window, completely vanished without a trace.

It was mainly because he had listened to Tu Xiaodao’s words, knowing that “Talent Theory” really couldn’t be considered a secret technique, and the Bai Family must have given it to many people; giving away “Talent Theory” wouldn’t be useful either.

“So much Base Mutation Fluid from Mutated Crystal Base Creatures… that should almost be enough to get my Base Mutation rate to a hundred percent, right?” Lin Shen pondered in his mind.

“What do you say?” Tu Xiaodao revealed a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth; he could see that Lin Shen was tempted.

But Tu Xiaodao didn’t think he would lose. The hardness and flexibility of a Crystal Base Level body were far beyond what a Steel Level body could compare with.

He really couldn’t think of any movements that Lin Shen could do which he couldn’t.

In Tu Xiaodao’s opinion, Lin Shen suggesting such a contest meant that he wanted to lose to him and send him away.

The reason he brought out so much Base Mutation Fluid was to tempt Lin Shen, so that after winning him, he could see the real “Talent Theory.”

“You, I like you… Not for the Base Mutation Fluid… I just want to exchange some pointers with you…” Lin Shen said with a smile.

“Alright, you go first,” said Tu Xiaodao, indifferent, as long as Lin Shen was willing to compete.

“Then I shall embarrass myself,” Lin Shen had decided that if someone was delivering the Mutated Base Mutation Fluid he needed, there was no reason not to accept it.

“Shen, don’t fall for it. He’s at the Crystal Base Level. His body’s flexibility is much better. He can definitely do the general poses,” Xu Tiange warned from the side.

Although he knew that Lin Shen was no ordinary man, he was, after all, only at Steel Level. What movements could a Steel Level perform that a Crystal Base couldn’t?

The more Xu Tiange thought about it, the more he believed there was only one possibility, to take an unconventional approach.

For instance, eating something disgusting like Miten commune, making Tu Xiaodao nauseous and unable to stomach it, then he could win.

Or to take decisive action, to cut oneself off with a knife directly. Tu Xiaodao, no matter how ruthless, surely couldn’t bring himself to do that, and in that way, one could also win.

But precious as the Base Mutation Fluid was, it wasn’t worth going to such lengths.

Beyond that, Xu Tiange couldn’t think how Lin Shen was going to beat Tu Xiaodao.

“Got it,” Lin Shen said lightly, and then, leading Tu Xiaodao to a courtyard, pointed to the stone table there and said, “Place your stakes there. If you win, just take them; if you lose, just leave on your own.”

Without another word, Tu Xiaodao placed several large bags of Base Mutation Fluid on the stone table. He wasn’t worried about Lin Shen coveting his Base Mutation Fluid.

If Lin Shen dared to rob after losing, Tu Xiaodao would make him regret cheating.

Only after Tu Xiaodao had set down all the Base Mutation Fluid did Lin Shen walk to the open space in the courtyard. Then he turned to Tu Xiaodao and said, “Watch carefully; I’ll only do it once. It’s all or nothing. If you lose, don’t whine like a woman. Just leave.”

“Okay,” Tu Xiaodao said with certainty, arms folded as he stood aside. He wanted to see what kind of trick Lin Shen would pull.