I twisted Zhige, and the blade tore through the nape of my neck. I redirected it, threatening to slice through the front.
[Divinity Spirit of the Jade Moon lets out a horrified cry!]
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts is tearing up!]
[Countless gods are waiting with baited breath.]
[LIU PEIJIN AND QIU FEIYU’S CONTRACT CONDITIONS HAS BEEN FULFILLED!]
[Winner: Liu Peijin
Reward: 400,000 stars and respective spiritual energy.]
Feiyu grabbed onto me and forced my hand off the hilt, his expression serious. He sheathed his sword, and his hands frantically squeezed me, like he couldn’t believe what I had just done.
I let out a pained groan, wincing at Feiyu’s touch. The pain was agonizing, though not as bad as having Feiyu pierce through my lung. A significant amount of blood was dripping from the sloppy wound.
I didn’t know why Feiyu was reacting this way when he had no issue with nearly killing me only seconds before. Was it only okay because it was in his hands? What a sadistic bastard.
But surely I wasn’t stupid enough to actually lop my head off, right? The blood flow was alarming. I was pretty sure I stayed far enough back.
Right?!
[Observers Chat]
Socrates: OMG
MGirl193: IS SHE OKAY??
Seatdiv: Peijin get back up
Aslan: Peijin you can’t die like this
Socrates: Peijin, come on. You’re not this weak.
“Cheng!” Feiyu shouted, attempting to locate him in the crowd. He pulled Zhige out and threw it to my side, ensuring I wouldn’t make another effort to slice my head off entirely. His trembling hands cupped the back of my neck, applying firm pressure. He frantically scrolled through the Azure Dragon store.
I let out a pained groan, rolling into Feiyu. He held me tightly like he was worried I’d turn into ash and vanish. I snaked my hand up, inconspicuously taking the American node out from his pocket.
Since I won the game, the warmth of spiritual energy was now flowing through me, filling me with an incredible amount of peace and strength. The blood began to slow. The pain subsided almost entirely. I looked up at Feiyu to find he was still preoccupied with the Azure Dragon Store.
I feigned a gurgle in my throat, and Feiyu let out a small but panicked sound. “Cheng!”
I redirected the spiritual energy to the wound on my neck, tightening the tiny muscles around the area to slow the blood flow until it was manageable. I had received a truly miraculous amount of spiritual energy, yet so much was immediately redirected to healing my body from the strain that Card Dealer demanded.
I slowly reached for Zhige, my fingers inching closer to the blade until I could finally feel its cold metal in my hand. The muscles in my legs tensed, prepared to launch me.
I lept up into the air with absolutely unprecedented speeds, lifting Zhige far above my head in preparation to strike.
“Qiu Feiyu, I swore I’d kill you!”
I plummeted toward the ground like a rocket, my eyes wide and locked onto Feiyu’s wide and open back.
A white figure appeared, moving so fast it was just a blur. It smashed into me, sending me hurdling into the ground
“Agh—!”
I let out the pained cry, the wound on my neck instantly opening up again. I saw the battered bodies of my party members nearby, and at once, the ribbon on Wei’s arm unwound to wrap itself around my neck. It tightened around my neck, almost making it impossible to breathe, but it helped stop the breathing.
All I could see was the flash of white hair before I felt a horrible, searing pain in my arm.
There was Song Ruoming, his face completely indifferent and calm. He grabbed his pale sword, which was so thin it resembled a sabre, and dug it straight into my tattoo, like he wanted to tear it off.
“You are one of them,” I smirked, “I was right. Where is it? Where is your tattoo?”
I tore my arm away, letting his sword rip through it before I gave it a good shake, redirecting my spiritual energy toward it to help heal it. My wounded tattoo healed abnormally fast, like it was especially adept at channeling spiritual energy. If only I had it on my neck.
Ruoming looked at me blankly. For a moment, I thought he was entirely unaffected by the fact his entire plan had been unravelled, but then I saw the small twitch beside his eye, and I smiled.
“How old are you?” I asked before Ruoming struck me again. Unlike Feiyu, whose movements I could keep up with despite struggling, Ruoming was on an entirely different level. He far surpassed me in technique, strength, and speed—if I hadn’t been fighting him, I would’ve been in awe. Luckily, I was now the one with all the spiritual energy.
All of my senses were unbelievably heightened, even without me leveling anything up. My processing speed for all my skills was remarkable. Ruoming’s movements almost looked like they were in slow motion.
“Only beings who can die keep track.” His thin sword stabbed into my side and dragged up, creating a deep gash through my entire front side. I winced, pulling back and stumbling.
I redirected my spiritual energy, slowing the bleeding but not fully closing the wound to avoid depleting my resources too quickly. Zhige, who was typically so in tune with my fighting style, hesitated with Ruoming.
“Ha! Well, aren't you just as cocky as Feiyu is?”
Blood was seeping from the wound on my front and on my neck, coating Wei’s ribbon and my hoodie a deep maroon shade. Although these injuries would usually render me out of comission, spiritual energy truly made all the difference. I was really feeling like a god now.
Polling ongoing…
- 45%
- 45%
- 10%]
Feiyu flew before me, his purple sword aiming to shatter my collarbone. I easily parried his slash, but Ruoming followed up just behind him, his saber making a series of cuts that grazed me over and over again as I matched his pace.
I could hear the roar of Amelia’s serpent behind me. Without even thinking, I lept up, and the serpent appeared beneath me perfectly, scooping me up. I held onto its whiskers, my feet dangling while I looked down.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The world around us began to blur, and the ghosts let out terrified cries. The ground warped beneath them, turning into steep dunes. Various spikes burst out from the ground, targeting Feiyu and Ruoming.
“Yue!” I looked around frantically until I spotted her standing toward the middle of the serpent’s winding body. Yang was just beside her, holding her still. Blue sparks erupted all around her from the effort of creating the illusion.
Her skin was still a sickly purple hue, but the swelling had gone down significantly, and she was no longer struggling to breathe. Thankfully, Yang and Chang’e managed to diffuse Cheng’s poison.
Hearing my cry, Yue looked around for me. She finally spotted me and gave a weak smile before flipping me off.
I could taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth. I pressed my hand against the wound on my chest and winced. I looked down at my hand to see it coated in blood.
Before I could attempt to heal the wounds again, Ruoming appeared just before me.
“Huh?”
He dug his blade into the serpent, which let out a brutal cry and instantly shook its head. Ruoming reached toward me while I dangled from its whisker.
I grabbed on tighter, looking down to see if I could survive the fall. Before I had to make the decision between falling or fighting, white robes blurred before me.
I almost let out a cry of relief at the sight of Wei.
Wei gracefully jumped from the snout of the serpent, intercepting Ruoming’s strikes. Unlike me, Wei did have thousands of years of technique and skill under his belt. He was the best match for Ruoming.
Their blades clashed loudy against one another, and Ruoming scoffed out of annoyance.
I squinted, getting a closer look at Wei. There was a small figure dressed in all black in one of his arms.
When I realized who it was, I instantly perked up. “Qijing?” I muttered under my breath in surprise.
The little girl was dangling there, struggling to pry Wei’s arm off her, but Wei held her in a vice grip. She was still clinging onto her rifle.
[Party Chat]
Peijin: We need to get the Araban node and lefe 4 Central American jungle. Amelia, get it???
I cringed at the message full of typos. I was far too panicked to send anything proper over.
[Party Chat]
Amelia: Yes!! Cover me for 5 minutes!!
Peijin: Wei, go with her, I can cover things here. Bring the kid with you.
Wei froze and turned back to look at me, doubt written all over his face. I nodded my head. Afterall, Wei was the only one in my party who was actually capable of activating the node.
The serpent vanished from beneath us, and my entire party hurdled toward the ground. I extended my arms out, grabbing the bricks of a building and dragging my hand down to slow my fall. I landed on the ground with a loud thump.
Ruoming pursued me, leaping off the buildings with his gaze razor focused on me. I gulped audibly. This guy was really scary.
I made sure both the nodes were secure in my Boundless Bag, and I held it close to me.
“Ruoming! Can’t we talk this out?” I laughed nervously, trying to put some distance between us to browse the Azure Dragon Store for something that could heal my injuries. I was really doing my best to keep my reserve of spiritual energy high.
I wove in and out of the buildings, but he slammed through the wall, sliding in front of me and forcing me to engage in a fight with him. Sweat clung to his platinum hair, and it finally looked like I was giving him a challenge.
Zhige, however, also seemed intent on challenging me.
Zhige dutifully worked with me when I blocked Ruoming’s attacks—growing in size, shifting, or adjusting its position to mitigate most of his blows. But, when it finally came for me to strike Ruoming, it hesitated, pulling back slightly so I would just miss.
I became increasingly frustrated as more and more small cuts appeared all over me. At this rate, I’d have to use even more of my spiritual energy. What a waste.
Feiyu appeared behind me. Unlike Ruoming’s blows, which were highly technical and exact, Feiyu relied on his brute strength and grit to push through.
As a combination, they were formidable.
I moved even faster, refusing to hesitate for even a moment. Even if I wasn’t as strong or lacked the technical skills, I had more spiritual energy than both of them combined, and that made me formidable.
On the next hit, my blade and Ruoming’s flew from our hands from the impact. We both stared blankly for a moment until I grabbed Ruoming’s hair, smashing his head into the ground.
Feiyu advanced, and I dodged his blade by mere millimeters. I raised my hand, and Zhige flew back into my grip. Rocks began jutting out of the walls of the building as Yue and Yang located us, and her illusion returned.
Yang leapt forward, wielding his spear—he thrust himself between Feiyu and me, and Feiyu instantly stabbed through him. Yang winced, smashing his staff down on Feiyu’s shoulder, but Feiyu tanked the hit.
Panicked welled in my chest at Yang’s injuries until I saw what looked like another dozen versions of Yang fanning out throughout the room. It was rare to see him use his Alternates skill, but it was already like he had mastered it with how well every single one of his copies moved.
Many swarmed Ruoming, blocking his range of sight. I took the opportunity to slink in behind them, now convinced that Ruoming had his own tattoo from the Major Arcana.
I glared down at Zhige. “You’re being bad. Did you know Ruoming previously?”
Zhige’s eye avoided my stare.
“Look left for yes. Look right for no. And don’t bother lying to me.”
Zhige’s eye slowly shifted toward the left.
“Then you know where his tattoo is.”
Zhige shook back and forth, disagreeing with me.
“Have I not been nice to you? I even gave you a pretty name. Look up for arms. Look down for legs. Look to the left for the chest. Look to the right for the back.”
Zhige stared straight at me.
I crossed my arms. “Do you want to go back and live with him then, huh? Am I that much worse?”
Zhige shook back and forth again.
“Then where is it?”
Zhige reluctantly looked to the right.
“His back?!” I exclaimed, looking up at Ruoming and Feiyu killing all of Yang’s alternates. “How am I gonna see that…”
I was starting to feel like a total pervert now. Everytime I had the misfortune of bumping into Ruoming, I was scouring for this stupid tattoo.
[Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts demands you remain loyal to Disciple Feiyu.]
Loyal…?
I opened the Azure Dragon Store, quickly sifting through until I found a potent enough healing elixir. If the normal ones cost 5,000 stars, this one was almost 35,000. I would have to thank my dearest Qiu Feiyu for funding this healing elixir for me.
It appeared in my hand with a flurry of blue sparks. I stared down at the glass bottle, inspecting the pink liquid inside with a small sense of awe. Thanks to the contract with Feiyu, something like this seemed so trivial now.
With the amount of spiritual energy I now held, it wouldn’t be too long until I could start calling myself the god of fate and fortune with some degree of conviction, rather than it being a complete and total lie.
Furthermore, for the first time, I held a victory against Song Ruoming and Qiu Feiyu. Although the arc was still ongoing, and it hadn’t reached its conclusion yet, the Arabian Coast was the first time we went head-to-head; and to my surprise, it somehow worked out.
I knew I was going to face a strict scolding from Yang and Wei for being entirely irrational, but I was also glad they believed in my plan. Even the first time around, when I hardly survived my puncturerd lung, they didn’t interfere like I asked.
I shivererd at the thought. My win was still a horribly fragile one. I was reminded that in the end, Feiyu and Ruoming were still stronger disciples than me, even if I walked away with a victory in the Arabian Coast.
I snuck up toward Ruoming as fast as I could, knowing I only had seconds to act before he would pick up on my presence amongst all of Yang’s alternates.
He whipped around.
I was still underestimating him. He noticed me far earlier than I expected.
I quickly darted behind him, trying to slash the fabric covering his back. Sensing what I was trying to do, Ruoming spun around, instantly parrying my hit but not before I could nick the fabric.
A sliver of his tattoo peeked through. A lonely man covered in dark, bloody robes trekking forward in a background I couldn’t make out.
The Hermit.
I pulled back, feeling entirely satisfied now.
The entire location seemed to rumble before a terrifying selection of massive beasts erupted from the ground.