What if your Honkai Star Rail was like this?

Chapter 371: Chapter 371: Animated Short: A Flash (Fake)

”Trailblazer, what do you think of my plan? Is there anything that can be improved or supplemented?”

Perhaps because she had just hallucinated Stelle as an old acquaintance for a split second, Jingliu treated her with great care. Even for such ”commercial secrets,” she revealed everything without any hesitation, eagerly waiting for her reply.

”I... I think... it’s very imaginative,” Stelle said somewhat tactfully. ”It’s just a bit... costly in terms of people... ahaha, what I mean is, Old Jing has already been mortgaged out, so it’s a bit expensive.”

Jingliu shrugged helplessly: ”There is no such thing in the world as getting returns with zero investment. For the sake of my career, I can only let Jing Yuan keep offering up his own body.”

”Make Jing Yuan suffer a little, I’ll collect the credit points. Once I earn enough money, I’ll hire him as my employee again. By then, he’ll have to thank me.”

Whoosh—!

At this moment, a sharp sound of breaking wind came from afar. A formation blade wrapped in golden lightning, carrying an unstoppable momentum, stabbed fiercely right between Jingliu and Stelle.

Stelle: Eh...?

Bang!

The next second, a figure descended from the sky. It was Jing Yuan. The moment he arrived, he looked at Stelle and said, ”Miss Stelle, I’ve come to save you!”

Stelle pointed at herself, looking utterly confused: ”Me?”

W-Wait a minute, Old Jing, isn’t there some personal grudge mixed in here...

Whoosh—

Almost at the same time, Jingliu and Jing Yuan both made their moves. Two streams of gentle force patted Stelle’s body, sending her to a safe distance away from the central battlefield.

”Heh...”

Seeing Jing Yuan arrive, Jingliu’s expression remained unchanged. She simply said calmly: ”You came.”

Clang—!

Jing Yuan drew the formation blade with one hand and pointed it straight at Jingliu without hesitation: ”I came.”

Crackling—!

Boundless cold air spread and condensed from Jingliu’s hands, eventually forming a giant sword even larger than herself. ”You shouldn’t have come.”

Jing Yuan: ”But I still came.”

”Damnable Heliobus, you actually dared to possess my respected swordsmanship teacher and even bewitched her into committing such a monstrous mistake. For the Luofu and for my Master, I must defeat you. Really.” Jing Yuan looked at Jingliu’s indifferent eyes and said seriously.

At this moment, the possessing greedy Heliobus: Me?

No... what does this have to do with me? None of those plans just now were my idea?!

Jing Yuan naturally knew he was talking nonsense, but after all, when a disciple fights their master, one still needs a proper justification. Otherwise, tomorrow’s Luofu Daily headline would be ”Former Divine Foresight General slays respected swordsmanship teacher — is this the annihilation of humanity or the corruption of morality?”

In truth, he had wanted to fight Jingliu for a very long time. However, hundreds of years ago his strength was still shallow and he simply couldn’t win. Later, after becoming the Cloud Knight General, his strength had improved, but Jingliu was no longer around.

This time, he had finally found the opportunity.

Jing Yuan’s eyes were resolute: ”Damnable Heliobus, before we start fighting, let me ask you one question — where is the money I loaned out?”

Jingliu raised an eyebrow: ”Money? What money?”

Jing Yuan: ”The money from selling me to the Dragon Master after you froze me against my will. I must get that money back, otherwise I won’t be able to repay the debt.”

Jingliu said righteously: ”That’s the money I loaned out. What does it have to do with you?”

Jing Yuan’s forehead veins bulged, but his voice remained relatively gentle: ”But wasn’t it mortgaged using me?”

Upon hearing this, Jingliu actually looked somewhat surprised: ”But aren’t you the one who ran out by yourself now? You’re not mortgaged anymore.”

Jing Yuan: ”Nonsense. You also know I ran out by myself? I signed the contract — if I don’t repay the money, I’ll still be taken back! Pay me back!”

Jingliu: ”I’m the one who loaned the money, why should I pay it back?”

Jing Yuan: ”...”

It was time to fight.

”In that case, Jingliu... oh no, damnable Heliobus, I really must drive you out of my Master’s body.”

Seeing that Jingliu had no intention of repaying the money at all, Jing Yuan’s expression immediately sank. Whether it was taking a beating or acting as a nanny, he could endure it for old times’ sake.

But this one thing — he could not!

Jing Yuan raised his formation blade and slashed over: ”Hah—!”

”Impregnable Fortress.”

Jingliu was neither hurried nor slow. She slowly spread her arms. In an instant, cold air condensed into an ice shield that firmly protected her inside.

”Heaven-Freezing Myriad Phenomena!”

Jingliu truly lived up to her former title as the Sword Champion of the Luofu. Her skill chaining fully displayed her wheelchair-style flair. The moment the shield opened, the next second she summoned a massive ice orb and smashed it down at Jing Yuan’s head.

She had used this very move before to freeze Jing Yuan and sell him to the Dragon Master. Clearly, Jingliu intended to repeat her old trick.

”Heh, Master, did you think I would be defeated by the same trick a second time?”

Facing the enormous ice orb coming straight at him, Jing Yuan showed no panic at all, because he knew that while this move looked grandiose, the only thing he needed to care about was the attached ”Freeze effect.”

As for the so-called ”high-amount Ice element damage”? It didn’t matter. His divine body had already been tempered thousands of times. A mere ice orb was nothing to speak of.

Boom—!

The ice orb smashed heavily onto Jing Yuan, kicking up a sky full of icy mist. The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, making even the onlookers shiver.

”Oh no, such a huge ice orb smashed down — can Old Jing’s body take it? Don’t let his toughness bar break again...” Stelle narrowed her eyes, somewhat worried as she searched for Jing Yuan’s figure within the icy mist.

...Found him! In the center of the icy mist! But he wouldn’t be directly frozen into an ice sculpture, right?

”Master, your moves aren’t fast enough! And not ruthless enough!”

Under Stelle’s worried gaze, the figure in the center of the icy mist moved! Jing Yuan casually waved his hand and dispersed the icy mist. Looking at his condition, he was completely unharmed!

How did he do that? Was this still the zero-resistance Old Jing she knew?!

”...You actually resisted my Freeze effect?” Seeing this scene, Jingliu’s beautiful eyes beneath her eyepatch narrowed imperceptibly: ”How did you do it?”

This was truly beyond her expectations. Logically speaking, even an ice-element slime from another world would fall into a Frozen state after taking this hit. That was a creature with 100% Ice Resistance, yet how did a zero-resistance Jing Yuan manage it?

As Jing Yuan’s Master, Jingliu might not be clear about his strengths or weaknesses, but she had a firm grasp of his weak points and naturally understood how fatal his former zero-resistance weakness was.

How could this be?

”How did you do it?”

Hearing this, Jing Yuan simply smiled calmly, then spread his arms and said confidently: ”Because I am the sun!”

”Next, allow this disciple to repay your teaching grace with this move — a brutal beating!”