Barlow took a step back, but it was obvious that this was not because of his true intention, but because of his fear of Samuel.
Being submissive in this situation made his mood worse and worse again, and he became extremely manic.
The mood of the summoning musician is originally similar to that of a wild beast, easily irritated when provoked. Except for those who are born with emotional deficiencies, few people can suppress this animal nature and control their restlessness.
The stronger you are, the harder it is.
"That damn bastard..."
He murmured lowly, grabbed a lemon and squeezed it angrily, picked up the wine glass, and drank it all in one gulp.
The musician serving the wine next to him still filled it for him without saying a word, and even handed him a new lemon by the way. Barlow drank indignantly, one drink after another.
During the long wait, Samuel stared at the wine glass in a daze, and Miller looked up at the dust on the ceiling.
After several drinks, Barlow's patience finally reached its limit, and he slapped the table angrily, shocking the entire hall into silence.
"How long will that guy wait before he comes? Will he make us wait until midnight?"
In the silence, he squeezed the lemon into a ball in his hand angrily, threw it on the ground, and reached out to grab the gin on the table.
But it came to nothing.
That bottle of gin was taken away by someone else.
The remaining wine swayed in the bottle, reflecting the light and refracting the amber water light.
"Don't be angry. The most important thing in life is to be happy."
The musician sitting next to him handed him a glass of water: "Here, drink some hot water. Are you hungry? I'll give you something to eat."
Barlow was stunned, turned his head and looked at the man beside him.
The man was looking at him too, smiling and polite.
From the beginning he sat there, silently pouring wine for Barlow, handing him lemons, smiling and listening without saying a word.
The dried lemons piled up into a hill in front of him, like an unlucky family, neatly arranged.
It was only then that Barlow felt an unbearable sourness and tingling sensation in his mouth, as well as a violent turbulence in his stomach. It's like eating dozens of raw lemons.
But, more importantly: Why didn’t I notice this guy sitting next to me for so long
Snap!
His fingers were sharpened and he tore five deep cracks on the table. He stared at Ye Qingxuan with his vertical pupils, full of anger: "Who are you?"
"I?"
The young man smiled helplessly and took off his hat. Then, his long silver hair revealed a light like metal.
"—The most clumsy burden you mentioned."
Facing his smile, Barlow's expression twitched, and a vague roar came from his throat.
Like a furious lion restraining himself.
Only now did he understand that when he was talking, Miller had a complicated expression that was hesitant to speak, and that Old God Samuel looked in a daze - because from the beginning, he had been sitting here, quietly watching himself anxious. He looked like he was holding back the laughter and watching the fun.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but grit his teeth, making a sharp friction sound:
"Ye Qingxuan, what do you mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything, I just don't want to get into trouble with you."
Ye Qingxuan piled the dried lemons in front of him one by one into a tower shape, and finally carefully inserted a small umbrella on top, and then he was done.
Facing Barlow's furious eyes, the young man lowered his eyes, just staring at the small umbrella, and said softly: "Mr. Barlow, perhaps in your opinion, the most important thing is power, so there is no power. You don’t have to take it seriously. But you need to be clear about one thing: those powers that you are proud of...are nothing in front of me."
Bang!
There was a furious roar of a lion in the void, which was shocking, and the hurricane was so fierce that it almost overturned the table. It also destroyed the pagoda of dried lemons.
"Ye Qingxuan, you! No! Want! Too! Too much!"
Barlow was already on the verge of losing control, and the furious animal nature in his body was almost absorbing the ether, condensing into a fantasy beast that chose people to devour.
"Mr. Ye, I think..." Miller stood up and wanted to smooth things over, but when he turned around, he saw Samuel motionless. After being stunned for a moment, his expression changed slightly, and he just shook his head regretfully:
"Forget it, let you go."
Barlow smiled when he saw that they would have no part in the matter. His five fingers rubbed, sharp notes burst out, and sparks almost appeared out of thin air.
"Go out and practice?"
A provocative smile appeared on his lips: "If you are a man, just do it."
"go out?"
The young man shook his head: "No, just stay here."
Barlow was stunned for a moment, then laughed angrily: "Do you think the Holy City's ban can protect you? There are locals around, so I can't do anything to you? You're too naive, I... "
"You think too much."
Ye Qingxuan interrupted him, raised his eyes, and there seemed to be quiet moonlight flowing in his pupils.
He said: "-As long as you can use the music, I lose."
Barlow was stunned, and his face twitched, as if he was furious or some kind of extremely crazy grin.
"very good."
Barlow's eyes burst into red light: "Very good!"
Before he finished speaking, the lion's roar condensed and burst out out of thin air, and an impassioned melody sounded.
A huge head of a pure white lion emerged from the void, its hair reflecting the light of metal like a sharp blade. In an instant, it had already stretched out half of its body, and its huge mouth encompassed Ye Qingxuan's half body, and suddenly closed it.
It can be seen that he held back his hand and did not want to kill Ye Qingxuan, but he also wanted to give this ignorant guy a good look!
boom!
The giant lion's jaws closed, but it was Barlow who screamed.
Immediately afterwards, the giant lion disintegrated like dust and disappeared in mid-air. The animal nature returned to Barlow's mind, and the conflict between the furious animal nature and reason made his vision darken.
A splitting headache.
"White lion, this is the signature phantom beast species of Dragonstone School, right? It can be seen that the animal nature is integrated with other parts. You are raising an iron lion in your mind? It's very creative, I like it."
Ye Qingxuan said lightly: "What a pity."
"you… "
In severe pain, Barlow reached up to cover his face, veins appearing on the back of his hands. In the gap between the fingers, the pupil has turned red, and the red pupil trembled, distinguishing Ye Qingxuan's face.
In his daze, he saw Ye Qingxuan's face as misty as mist, as if it was about to disappear.
The surroundings began to darken at some point, with only a solitary lamp illuminating the place. And just behind the lonely lamp, Ye Qingxuan's smile was mysterious.
"Illusion!"
Barlow gritted his teeth: "Your illusion... is this, "Winter Journey"?"
"Well, I took the time to learn it on the road. I use it for self-defense."
Ye Qingxuan nodded: "As you know, it comes from "Winter Journey", and the name of the movement is "Deception". The effect of "Deception" is to construct an illusion while causing the enemy's movement to lose its target and backfire on him. It’s quite useful for the summoning school.”
As if he was defenseless, the white-haired boy told his music and details in detail, and pushed the lone lamp in front of him towards Barlow:
"I can tell you: its 'fulcrum' is the light in front of you."
Amidst the subtle crackling sound of the burning lights, the faint humming of a young man could be heard.
"There was a light of fire that swayed affectionately before me. I wandered with it, I followed it closely, watching it wandering here and there, luring wanderers to come. Oh, how pitiful I was. I went to be deceived with joy. On this terrible night of ice and snow, I seem to see a warm and bright house. My beloved is inside - even if what I see is just illusion... "
"Do you think this illusion can trap me?"
Barlow gritted his teeth; "Even that bitch Rebecca, the candidate for 'Voodoo Crypt', wouldn't dare to expose her fulcrum in front of me!"
"No, it's just for the purpose of fair competition."
Ye Qingxuan spread his hands: "I have gained a good location. At the same time, you don't need to worry about the destructive phantom beasts hurting innocent people. This is also a good thing for you. What do you think?"
"—Just what I want."
Barlow grinned, revealing his sharp canine teeth, and a shadow slowly emerged behind him.
It was a huge and ferocious pitch-black organ, with countless totems of beastliness and claw marks engraved on the six-layer keyboard. The flowing notes transformed into different music theories, illustrating the war between giant beasts and dragons.
That is the iconic heritage instrument of the Dragonstone School - the whistling sound.
Barlow's eyes were red, fused with animal nature, as if burning, and had entered a stage of deep resonance.
"You will regret it, Ye Qingxuan."
He said every word: "After I tear you to pieces."
"Then you have to hurry up."
Ye Qingxuan smiled and closed his pocket watch: "We still have time to play a few rounds before dinner starts. I hope I can convince you."
…
…
Late at night, in the silent hotel lobby, there was only heavy breathing.
The musicians were silent among themselves in front of several already cold dinners. Only Barlow stared at the oil lamp in front of him like a man possessed, sweating profusely and looking pale.
"How about we eat first?"
Samuel sighed, "If you don't eat it, it will be cold. It will cost money to heat it up again. How long can that guy Barlow hold on?"
He doesn't mind eating cold food, but he does mind spending money.
And occupying the best table here will also cost a lot of money... If he had been before, he would definitely not have cared about it, but he had just spent a lot of money just to rain in Oz, and his pocket was empty.
If Ye Qingxuan hadn't asked for a treat, he would have gone to treat Miller.
"It won't be long before Barlow's energy is almost exhausted."
Miller reached out and pressed Barlow's wrist, shook his head and sighed: "I hope Ye Qingxuan can 'persuade' him. After all, are all the summoning schools such obsessive die-hards? Studying animal nature has damaged your brain... "
"At least the Dragonstone School is like this. My teacher told me that if you encounter a lunatic from the Dragonstone School, you should give him a good beating first, and only after the beating can you talk."
"...When you meet a guy from any school, your teacher will let you beat him up first!"
Just when the two of them had waited for a long time and decided to eat first, they saw Ye Qingxuan reaching out and extinguishing the light on the table. The light dimmed.
Barlow's body was shaken and he almost slid off the chair. He was covered in sweat and panting.
As if struggling out from the suffocation of the deep sea, he gasped for breath, his lips turned faintly purple, his fingers trembled, and sweat fell from his hair to his collar.
Miller reached out to check on him, but he waved him away.
"I surrender."
He panted and looked up at Ye Qingxuan. Although he was unwilling to do so, he still squeezed out a voice from between his teeth: "In the ruins, I listen to you."
Then Ye Qingxuan laughed.
"Then, happy working together."