AZI: Burial of a Selfish Lunatic

Inside a tent—

"Well?"

Having transferred her data over to an SSR rarity combat body, Tian Cheng replies—

"Does feel better."

"I see."

Heaving a sigh, Long Hua can't help but feel a bit sour—in not being able to acquire the Nu Luo Battle Armor, despite having done over 400 pulls.

Notable items gained from these pulls—other than the combat body, are two railguns and two Machina Frame Spirit Armaments.

Other than that, the total combat body count has reached 105, to which, Long Hua thought—

(…Kind of concerning if that Tai Xuan Emperor decides to pull a backstab right now. Ai, whatever, I'll deal with the matter when I get there. Still, if I were her, I'd only make my move—after we get out of this world.)

Detecting the sound of footsteps approaching their direction, Long Hua turns his head towards the tent's entrance, while remaining seated.

And upon Tian Cheng opening the sealed entrance, Long Hua sees—

"…"

"…"

"…"

(Well, well, this is quite…?)

Nuo'er, who is in her military uniform aside, the person beside her is a bit—

"…Is this what people call an image change?"

Asking this, Long Hua is rather glad that he is in a combat body at this time—for if he were here with his main body, he'd probably be unable to control his own laughter.

"…"

A red jacket with a golden dragon pattern on the shoulders and back.

Wrapping around the person's neck are two golden chains, which are ran through a storage ring.

Beneath the flamboyant jacket, the individual is wearing a purple dress shirt with a pair of short black pants—that reaches pass their kneecaps.

Completing the thuggish attire are tall black boots and white gloves.

"Well? What do you think Long-shao?"

Getting out of the tent with Tian Cheng, Long Hua turns to Nuo'er, and asks—

"What do you want me to say? Actually, were you the one to have prepared this outfit for the little girl?"

Maybe Long Hua should have expected Nuo'er's tastes in fashion to be on the rougher side of things—with her being dressed in a military uniform most of the time.

"I'm quite proud of it."

"…Well, I guess, it's fine? Sometimes a change in appearance can lead to unexpected results."

"…"

Averting her face, Yao Ying looks like she is on the verge of shedding tears, and towards the former's embarrassment, Long Hua heaves a sigh, and takes out a pair of round-framed sunglasses.

"…"

Examining the sunglasses for a brief instance, Long Hua unfolds them, and places them onto Yao Ying's face.

Placing a hand to her chin, Nuo'er remarks—

"Oh? With those on her face, she does appear a bit more imposing."

"It's because it hides her embarrassment well."

Clearing her throat, Nuo'er turns to Long Hua, and informs the latter that—

"Bai Wen and the others are waiting."

Shrugging his shoulders, Long Hua follows Nuo'er.

And as soon as they were away from people's sights, Nuo'er tears open a rift, and heads inside.

...…

As everyone emerges on the opposite side of the rift, Long Hua sees a large table situated in the middle of the forest.

To keep this area hidden from the eyes of others, a magic array has been set up—to redirect those that just so happen to be headed this way.

"Lao Long, come here."

Seated around the table were Bai Wen, Wu Xiao, Yun You, Zhen Qing Huai, and Zhen Rong.

"…?"

"Uh?"

"…"

The five's reaction upon seeing Yao Ying's current appearance—

"Pfff."

"Hahahaha!"

"I-I assume…- Th-This is Nuo'er's doing? Hahaha!"

"…"

Openly laughed at by the first three, while the latter two tried to suppress their laughter, Yao Ying felt the urge to just bury herself in a hole.

"C'mon, get over the embarrassment. If you yourself don't think you're suited to dress this way, others will just keep looking at you funny."

Pulling Yao Ying along, while remarking as such, Nuo'er leads her over to a seat.

Momentarily, Long Hua and Tian Cheng seated themselves.

On top of the table are vessels filled with either wine or tea.

Turning to Long Hua, Bai Wen asks—

"So, what exactly happened?"

"…"

Having been partially informed of the situation beforehand, Zhen Qing Huai can't help but direct a curious gleam at Long Hua.

The fact that Long Hua was able to injury an Immortal realm practitioner badly, if the former was out in the Everlasting Spirit Realm right now, Zhen Qing Huai wouldn't hesitate to invest her resources onto them.

"Hmm. Where to start?"

Contemplating for a bit, Long Hua decides to begin at the point where he met up with Yao Ying.

...…

"Tian She Zi? Hmm."

Sipping a cup of wine, Bai Wen asks—

"You managed to deal with the remnant will fully?"

Picking up a cup of wine, Long Hua replies—

"For the most part, it's been dealt with."

Setting her cup down, Wu Xiao opens up the next topic, being—

"Problem now is, you're dealing with the Ling Yuan family."

Glancing at Wu Xiao, Long Hua replies—

"If they're sending in two Immortal realm practitioners, so be it. However, I really don't think that they'll be able to—with how imperfect this world is."

Shrugging his shoulders, Yun You remarks—

"They'll most likely replace one of the Immortal realm practitioners with a bunch of lower realm clansmen. Those old fogeys, they aren't too keen on letting each other perform a miniature harvest after all."

"Oh?"

Recalling his conversation with Wu Xiao, Long Hua downs the remainder of his wine, and asks—

"Interior power struggles between the various bloodline branches, it's already fierce enough to make them lose sight of the bigger picture?"