Above The Sky
Chapter 1155: 169: The Technique of Deception and the Two Testing Each Other (4000, 1/2)

Chapter 1155: Chapter 169: The Technique of Deception and the Two Testing Each Other (4000, 1/2)

Ian squinted his eyes, observing the Great Prince before him with extreme seriousness.

Carlos maintained a relaxed posture. He slightly bowed his head to Ian and spread his arms, revealing his developed chest muscles, as if saying Ian was welcome to look all he wanted, however he wished to observe.

Indeed, this Grand Prince of the Empire was admittedly someone who acted quite freely and casually, contrary to his appearance.

When Ian arrived at the embassy entrance from the Ashlight Manor on the fourth level of World Tree City, Carlos was already waiting at the door. He greeted the young man with a hearty laugh, and the enthusiastic hug unquestionably surprised even the Prophet a little – not the kind of friend like Yisen Gard or Anfa, meeting this warmly for the first time was either treacherous or deceptive!

And after that, Carlos indeed showed his extraordinary speed. In just an instant, the Great Prince, who had been at the entrance, was right in front of Ian, matching his self-description of moving like light… But this speed was not without signs.

Carlos’s high-speed movement would cause considerable source quality fluctuation; the longer the distance, the greater the fluctuation.

Indeed. Carlos could use his origin quality to suppress changes in the surrounding air, or rather, move like true light – but such movement was absolutely limited to the area around his own body, even his clothes nearby would already be very strained.

Taking a glass of juice from the counter and placing it on the table without any fluctuation… Could such a thing happen?

No.

Of course not.

Ian looked at the table, a common Canaan Moore style tea table, its four legs carved into butterflies just emerging from cocoons, and the tabletop was a crystal-clear complex butterfly wing, light flitting back and forth within these wings, appearing to the eye as a dazzling river of scales, as radiant as true butterfly scales.

And the purple peach juice was placed there, motionless.

Light… motionless, the juice absolutely still…

The young man was somewhat dazed, seeing through Carlos’s method: “It’s an illusion.”

He raised his head, speaking softly but confidently: “The juice was here from the start. Prince Carlos, you haven’t moved at all, you’ve been sitting on the sofa all along, just straightened your body a bit – the juice has been on the table from the start, you’ve deceived my vision with the most exquisite light illusion and possibly used sublimation skills prepared long ago to seal the juice’s aroma.”

“You have been dominating the topic continuously, directing my thoughts along with your narrative, which deprived me of the time to thoroughly observe the bottle on the table and the juice concealed within the light. The action of using high-speed movement to greet me made me instinctively assume you’d adopt the same method to fetch the juice.”

Saying so, he laughed: “You used light to obscure vision, suppressed the diffusion of aroma with minimal source quality. Your Highness, you’ve been misleading and deceiving since we met, it was a meticulously planned trap to make my instinct and intuition deceive myself, believing I had the correct answer.”

“But in fact, you never moved.”

Pa. Pa. Pa.

Crown Prince Carlos regarded Ian with a look of pleasant surprise, clapping his hands vigorously, as if celebrating the most exciting news: “Yes! Exactly!”

“Ian, as expected of you… You’ve actually seen through this. You must know, my little trick of deception, when first unveiled, could fool even a typical Fourth Energy Level, yet you, as a Second Energy Level, managed to notice!”

“You’re too kind.”

Ian remained composed, humbly stating: “Your Highness certainly didn’t use your full strength against me… Also deliberately chose a butterfly wing table with plenty of light refraction, which easily led me to the correct answer.”

“In truth, without resorting to Spirit Energy, I indeed wouldn’t have noticed the flawless light deception.”

“Haha, don’t be modest, while combat demands a moment of hesitation and distraction, if it were a battle, you’d discern it in an instant.”

Carlos shook the wine bottle in his hand, then took a drink, speaking candidly: “Moreover, you rascal, the subtext of your words is that as long as you activate Prophet Psychic, no one in this world can deceive you? It’s not entirely wrong, the Prophet could easily see through this little trick.”

“However. Little Prophet, you still made a mistake.”

“Ian, did you see it?”

Thus speaking, the Prince’s left hand grasped vaguely in the air, and the purple peach juice originally on the table floated midair, descending before Ian: “Take a good look.”

Ian slightly furrowed his brow, accepting the purple peach juice, then his body stiffened slightly.

“This isn’t purple peach…”

At the moment Ian received the juice, the original purple color swiftly faded, transforming into a tender pink!

The young man stared at the cup in his hand in astonishment: “Peach juice?”

Raising his head, Ian almost gasped: “This drastically reduces the juice’s price to one-ninth of the original!”

“Why care about the price? I find peach juice tastier, and it doesn’t turn the tongue purple.”

Carlos shook his head, showing a standard eight-tooth smile: “You discerning the first point was enough to surprise me, and though the second point seemed like my withdrawal of origin quality turned purple peach back to peach, actually, I felt your origin quality connect with mine the moment it touched the glass – that was no coincidence.”