I'm not a drama god

Amidst a wave of pain coursing through his body, Li Laide struggled to open his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a pristine white ceiling. Staring at the familiar overhead, he was momentarily lost in a daze… At the same time, a voice sounded from the side:

"you're awake?"

Lee Ryder turned his head and saw Mo Jiao sitting on the edge of the bed, peeling an apple and laughing.

"Fourth Uncle..." Li Laide tried to get up from the bed, but a sharp pain shot through his chest, forcing him to stop. His face was deathly pale.

"Your injury isn't fully healed yet, so don't move around too much." Mo Jiao immediately helped him sit up slowly and gently.

After a moment, Lee Ryder finally remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness. He looked down at his chest. Through his collar, he could see a clear, cracked, scarlet handprint, branded onto his body. It was burning with pain, as if it had not only been imprinted on his skin but had also been deeply etched into his broken bones.

That slap... was way too brutal.

"How long was I unconscious?" Li Ride asked, rubbing his temples.

Mo Jiao thought for a moment, "About half a month."

"?"

Lee Laide was stunned.

Was he really beaten unconscious for half a month?

Recalling the scenes of that great battle, Li Laide felt a strong sense of powerlessness... After reaching the eighth rank, he thought the gap between himself and his master would narrow, but unexpectedly, the disparity in their strength remained no different from nine years ago.

If Chen Ling hadn't gone easy on him, he probably wouldn't have lasted even five seconds as an eighth-level Thief God.

Although Li Lai was disappointed, the anger, frustration, and resentment he had felt earlier had been largely dissipated during the battle, leaving him with an unprecedented calm. Facing the vast difference in strength between himself and Chen Ling, he felt no intense anxiety about improvement, only objective and composed reflection…

How can I become as powerful as him?

In Li Lai De's mind, Chen Ling's words from the ancestral hall resurfaced.

Red Star's Wish Power...

Lee Laider clenched his fists again.

He took a deep breath, forced his still-recovering body off the bed, limped to put on his shoes, and prepared to go outside.

"Where are you going?" Mo Jiao immediately stopped him. "Your injury hasn't healed yet, it's best not to move around unnecessarily."

"I... still have some things to do."

"What's wrong? Is it in such a hurry?"

"……Um."

Lee Ryder paused for a moment, then said, "I need to become stronger as quickly as possible."

When Mo Jiao saw the resolute determination flash in those deep blue eyes, he sighed silently in his heart... Sometimes, this guy is just like his master; once he's made up his mind to do something, no one can stop him.

“Then take this.” Mo Jiao pulled out a pair of canes from somewhere and handed them to Li Lai De. “Be careful when you walk. If your bones break again, it will be very difficult to treat.”

When Lee Ryder saw the pair of extremely simple canes, his lips twitched slightly, but after hesitating for a moment, he still obediently took them... He wasn't a cataclysmic disaster, and didn't have such abnormal recovery abilities; he could only recuperate slowly.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing."

As if remembering something, Mo Jiao pulled a CD from his pocket.

“Your master left a week ago… Before he left, he asked me to give this to you.”

When Li Laid saw the disc, his gaze sharpened slightly.

……

A few minutes later.

As the disc unfolded, Lilaide, leaning on his cane, returned once again to the center of the prison.

Compared to his previous elegance and composure, this time he was covered in bandages and leaning on a pair of simple crutches, looking utterly disheveled and lacking any of the aura of the King of Fire Usurper.

So much so that even the members of the Crimson Heaven Cult were momentarily stunned when they saw him appear...

Then, bursts of mocking laughter and whispers echoed from deep within the prison.

Li Laid's deep blue eyes remained completely unmoved. He calmly focused his gaze on the nearest member of the Crimson Heaven Cult, then raised his hands...

At this moment, in Li Laid's perception, the Red Star's will power, which seemed to drift and swirl like smoke, became exceptionally clear.

Lee Laider was stunned.

As if realizing something, he suddenly looked down at his chest.

"This is……"

Beneath the branded handprint, deep within those shattered bones, some residual, faint traces of the Crimson Star's will power have already seeped into the marrow...

Li Laid could clearly feel this power of the Crimson Star at all times. Perhaps it was because of this strange coexistence for half a month that their aura was not only no longer unfamiliar to Li Laid, but even quite familiar, as if it were a part of his own body.

original……

Was that battle for this?

Li Laid sensed that extremely subtle wisp of Crimson Star's power from afar, and his deep blue eyes shone with an unprecedented light!

The next second, his hand suddenly clenched!

Theft—!

Pfft!

The Crimson Heaven Cultist's chest was once again stained with blood, and a beating heart appeared out of thin air in Li Laid's palm... At the same time, a wisp of Crimson Star's power also drifted into Li Laid's body.

The moment Li Laide actively absorbed the first trace of Crimson Star's power, an indescribable and profound feeling rose within him. The Heavenly Path leading to the Divine Path Star actually deviated slightly, pointing towards a completely new possibility.

This is...

Is it the power of Akahoshi's will?

Lee Ryder couldn't help but smile, the power of the Crimson Star's Wish made him tremble with excitement.

He suddenly turned his head to look at the hundreds of Jiangtian cultists in the prison, as if he were looking at an extremely sumptuous feast, his eyes revealing an unprecedented desire!

Under this crazy and eerie gaze, all the Jiangtian cultists inexplicably got goosebumps.

Li Laid simply threw away the crutches he was using.

He limped slowly toward the terrified crowd, his bandages and coat projected onto the dark wall by the torchlight, like a gradually expanding demon.

"One day, I will become as strong as you, or even surpass you..."

"Master."

……

hum-

The roar of the steam whistle echoed through the sky.

On the frozen sea, a ship slowly moves forward on the iceberg-strewn surface. At the very front of the deck, a figure in a brown coat stands alone, squinting at the horizon in the distance.

At the confluence of the sea and the sky, the outline of a colossal sword, towering between heaven and earth, slowly emerges.

A biting wind brushed against Chen Ling's cheeks, and a rare look of worry and tension appeared in her red eyes.

"Are you sure?" Chen Ling asked in a deep voice.

"You...you really found Jian Changsheng's whereabouts?"