The beasts were horribly large, and they were much stronger than the ones we encountered at the previous nodes. Their eyes skimmed past all the ghosts and instantly locked on us. Some charged instantly; others let out vicious roars with their spit flying everywhere and their expressions manic.

  Wei and Amelia must have located the Arabian node. Given the sudden burst of mobs we were facing, the Arabian node was evidently the one that controlled the citadel’s mob settings, including their strength, appearance, frequency, and aggression.

  “Yang! Yue!” I shouted, grabbing onto both of them. “Let’s go! They have the node!”

  All of Yang’s various forms turned to me, and I awkwardly looked at all of them, not able to decipher which one was Yang, before I turned to Yue.

  “That one,” she said, pointing to one of the carbon copies.

  A row of beasts lunged at me, and I instinctively raised Zhige to slice through it. But, the monster was surprisingly powerful—I held onto Zhige with both hands and strained before slicing it apart and turning it to ash.

  How high did those two set the mob strength?!

  I began sprinting through the narrow streets, the two of them following suit as I heard Ruoming and Feiyu chase after us. I grabbed my Boundless Bag and pulled it to my front, quickly sifting through it. There was so much junk in it now that it was hard to find anything.

  I grabbed the Mediterannean and American nodes, and I quickly connected the puzzle pieces at their respective sides. Then, I opened the American node with a quick tap.

  [AMERICAN NODE]

  [Location: Ferris Wheel RN2938 — Gondola #19]

  [Description: The American node controls the citadel’s spatial presence. Use the node’s artifact to toggle these settings regardless of the user's current location.

  Alter Layout: [No]

  Trap Frequency: 1/10

  Location Size: 10/10

  Location Firewall: 1/10]

  Owner: Liu Peijin

  Set Location Size: 1/10

  At once, the entire map shrunk, until the Central American forest was clearly visible. Wei and Amelia were waiting for us across the border, waving at us frantically. Beasts were rapidly approaching behind them.

  Wei repeatedly looked over his shoulder to make sure they didn’t get too close, but his growing panic was apparent. Qijing still hung from Wei’s arms, having given up a long time ago and now lying there limply.

  I could hear Feiyu and Ruoming just behind us. Cheng and Yuan reappeared, Yuan protecting Cheng from the overwhelming number of beasts. In the shrunken Arabian Coast, hundreds of ghosts and beasts were pressed right up against each other.

  The beasts were salivating, driven by the desire to consume premium disciples who were just in front of them. Their ravaged growls and screams echoed all over.

  Our feet thumped against the ground, and behind us, we could hear the quickening pace of Ruoming and Feiyu over the stampede of beasts. None of us had ever run faster until our feet finally crossed over the border.

  Set Location Firewall: 10/10

  Set Location Size: 3/10

  The ground at the border divide split apart, and the wall erupted out from it. I grabbed onto Yue and Yang, pulling them both under me to defend them from the flying debris and earthquake. Once it settled, I let go of both of them, shakily kneeling on the ground and panting.

  Wei was hunched over, two obvious figures protected under the sleeves of his robe. He pulled them back, revealing the two small children.

  Amelia was shakily holding onto the Arabian node, trembling like a leaf when she adjusted its settings. The mobs all disappeared in an instant, and I let out a sigh of relief. Amelia turned her attention to Qijing, her expression unreadable.

  Thankfully, my entire party was present and even Qijing didn’t have a single scratch on her. I fell backward on the damp soil and burst out laughing, my hands covering my face. My feet kicked up and down in the soil, sending the jungle’s moss flying all over in large clumps.

  “Oh my god,” I sighed, letting my hands fall to my side. I looked up at the forest canoby, feeling horribly serene for the first time. “We did it.”

  It had been so long since I’d been able to revel in such a victory. Well, not that I could really call it a victory, but for a moment, I didn’t feel like I was playing catch up with Feiyu.

  Beside me, Yue let out a small sound, and it almost sounded like a burp. I turned to her in annoyance, but then she gagged and brought her hand to her mouth.

  Yue hurled all over the ground beside me.

  I let out a startled shout and scrambled onto my hands and knees, looking at the viscous yellow pile in complete disgust.

  “Are you trying to vomit all over me?”

  Yue wiped the drool hanging from her lips, her eyes teary and her hair sticking to the sweat on her forehead. She plopped down beside me, legs straight out. “That stupid kid!” She cried loudly, pounding her fists against the ground.“Peijin, you didn’t tell me he was a god damn poison user!”

  “How was I supposed to know?” I instantly defended myself, my nostrils flaring at her accusation.

  “Don’t you know everything? I seriously thought he was going to kill me this time, Peijin.”

  “Does it look like I knew he was a poison user?”

  “I was absolutely kicking his ass, right?” Yue continued, ignoring me entirely. “And then he pretended to retreat, but then he must have thrown something at me. It felt like a tiny sting, so obviously I ignorerd it, but a few seconds later, poof. I couldn’t see anything, my throat started closing up, and I really thought it was over.”

  She got up and crawled toward me, placing her hands on both my shoulders. I shivered, disgusting and trying to swat her off, but her grip held firm. She started shaking me back and forth.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “And do you know the worst part, Peijin?”

  Her eyes were wide and crazy. A chill travelled up my spine. “What?”

  “I thought I was dying, and I thought about you. My last thought was almost, ‘Peijin is going to be so mad at me.’ Can you believe that? You’ve brainwashed me. I’ve gone crazy. Totally crazy.” Yue now shouted at me, shaking me as hard as she could. My head bounced back and forth, and I became terribly dizzy.

  “You are batshit crazy,” I shouted back, kicking her off. “And, you’re still purple—go get fixed!”

  Yang appeared behind her and pried her lingering fingers off me, dragging her through the dirt before looking at me. “Cheng is really dangerous. If it wasn’t for Chang’e, I really think Yue would have died. And given her current state, she must still be affected.”

  Yue pouted dramatically before a puff of blue appeared before her. She pulled out a virtual mirror she must have previously purchased and examined her appearance. “I look horrible,” she whined. “My eyebags are even bigger than Peijin’s now.”

  Immediately, the Azure Dragon Store popped up, and she wriggled out of Yang’s grip. Her hand began swiping through the store, purchasing as many beautification skills she could find. Her skin complexion instantly brightened, her hair sorted itself, and her eyes became lively once more.

  I scrunched my nose. “You’re too young to be worried about that stuff.”

  “I just don’t want to be an ugly old hag like you.”

  I practically teleported in front of her. My grin was far too wide. “Did I hear that right? Should you be talking to your elders like that, Yue?”

  She shivered. “Never mind… scary old hag.”

  I brought a fist up and hit the top of her head lightly. She brought her hand up and rubbed the spot.

  I turned to look up at Yang and give him a soft smile. Exhaustion was etched deeply all over his face and eyes. “Are you alright?”

  “No.”

  I snorted, rolling my eyes. “Well, you did a damn good job.”

  “I thought I was going to die from a heart attack,” he confessed, looking down at Yue. We really need a good healer. I appreciate Cheng’s work infinitely more now. I figured we could get by without one, but having a good healer makes all the difference.”

  I cocked my head. “What makes you think you can’t be one?”

  Yang’s eyes narrowed. “Are you just trying to make me carry more weight?”

  “I’m just very selective with new members. I don’t think there’s a single thing we can’t do.”

  “Speaking of new members,” Wei interjected.

  All our heads snapped toward him. He was holding onto Qijing like she was a kitten—his hands were under her arms, holding her a few feet into the air before him. Qijing was kicking furiously, her head tucked in tight to keep a hold of her rifle.

  “What do I do with the girl?”

  Amelia looked up from the ground, eyeing Qijing suspiciously. Picking up on Amelia’s stare, I gave a little smile, picking up Amelia and launching her into the air.

  “First, I need to celebrate this girl. How brilliant you are!” I exclaimed, nuzzling my nose against Amelia’s soft cheek. Her face flushed pink out of pride until she remembered that she was supposed to be mad at me, and she pressed her hand firmly against my cheek to push me away. I let out a light laugh, putting her back down on the ground and rubbing her head.

  “Can you hand me the Arabian node?” I asked, smiling at her.

  She apprehensively placed it in my hand, and I pulled the other two nodes from my bag to connect them all. Now, we had more than half the nodes. This was looking more like a cake walk with every single node we collected.

  But, the one in the throne room and next to the heart were the most important for us to bring this arc home.

  I placed the nodes back in my bag and secured it. I headed over to Wei, bumping his shoulder playfully before I looked at Qijing. To me, Qijing felt more imaginary than any of my characters.

  I still couldn’t wrap my mind around her existence.

  “You’re a good shot,” I said, meeting her large black eyes. I grabbed her gun and pulled it out of her grip, and Qijing let out an infuriated shout. “But it's rude to fire at your friends. I’m really hurt, honestly.”

  “Take me back to Feiyu!” She cried out furiously, her face twisting. Her hands reached out, like she wanted to grab onto me and pummel me. It looked like she was ready to burst into tears at any moment.

  Earlier, Qijing had been so shy and timid. When I first approached her, it felt like I was reaching out the back of my hand to a stray animal. But now caught in my party’s trap, she was completely wild.

  Her jaw trembled, and she furrowed her brow. “You tricked me.”

  “How did I trick you? There’s not a scratch on you. Wei-shushu here did such a good job protecting you.”

  “I trusted you.”

  “Enough to fire a kill shot at me?”

  Qijing went silent, glaring at me. “I could’ve made the shot.”

  “I believe you. I’m not going to test it.”

  I chewed my lower lip and looked over my shoulder toward Yang for help. Afterall, I did just kidnap the poor girl, and I wasn’t really sure what kind of reaction I was expecting out of her.

  Yang rolled his eyes and walked up, taking the gun from my hand. He examined it thoroughly, even looking through the gunsight.

  “This is a very big gun for a kid,” he said, looking down at Qijing with what almost looked like pity. “You’re very impressive, Qijing. Who taught you how to shoot?”

  Qijing refused to answer out of protest.

  Yang’s eyes remained glued on the gun. “They must be incredibly skilled. So, it certainly couldn’t have been Feiyu…”

  “Yes it was!” Qijing immediately interjected.

  Yang smiled. “Wow, really? I was totally mistaken. Feiyu must be incredible, then. How does he even know how to shoot something like this?”

  “My Gege is good at everything.”

  I stiffened. “Gege.” For Qijing to call Feiyu such an adoring term for older brothers… it set my blood on fire.

  “Feiyu is your Gege?” I asked her.

  “Yes, and he’s the best one ever.”

  “Did Feiyu tell you I was his Jiejie?” I asked with a cheeky grin, trying to mask the anger behind my expression.

  Qijing’s face twisted in horror. My grin widened.

  “Don’t you hear Feiyu refer to me as his Jiejie all the time? That means you should listen to me, too.”

  “Then why did Feiyu try to kill you?”

  I looked away. “Feiyu told me you were very shy, but you’re very talkative.”

  “Because I’m very angry.”

  “I’m always angry. That makes two of us.”

  I booped her nose, instantly agitating her. She clawed at me furiously, but I only let out a light laugh, ruffling the top of her head before lifting her into my arms and placing her on the ground. I took the gun back from Yang and handed it back to her.

  She instantly aimed it straight at me and fired. With the tip of my finger, I pushed the barrel out of the way, and the bullet went flying into the jungle before smashing through a tree.

  A wide smile spread across my face. I kneeled down to look straight into her eyes. With Qijing’s hand still on the trigger, I grabbed the tip of the gun and pointed it straight against my temple.

  “Peijin!” Wei shouted, instantly moving toward me. I lifted a hand to stop him in his tracks.

  I continued smiling at Qijing. “Next time, aim here.”

  Qijing’s finger trembled on the trigger, her eye twitching furiously before she pulled the gun away.

  I stood up, dusting the mud from my knees. “That won’t kill me so easily anymore. You can thank your Gege for that. He did me a big favor.” I ruffled the top of her head and pulled her until she was standing just before me. I looked up at Wei.

  “Both of us have the most spiritual energy here, Wei. We should focus on getting more like what Ruoming attempted to pull off.”

  “It’s easier for me because I’m a cultivator,” Wei said. “You’ll need to rely on worshippers until you get enough spiritual energy to prove yourself.”

  “I have a lot already,” I grumbled.

  Wei raised a brow, and I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

  I felt the soft fabric of Wei’s ribbon beneath my fingertips and was instantly reminded of my earlier wound. Thanks to the elixir, it was now healed over. Wei’s ribbon unravelled and comfortably wrapped around Wei’s arm again. At once, its brilliant white color was restored.

  “Ah!” Yang exclaimed suddenly. “Don’t do something that rash again!”

  “Do what?”

  “Slash your own neck. Are you kidding? I could hardly diffuse poison. There was no way I could have fixed that.”

  “Don’t worry. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to die.”

  “‘Pretty sure.’ Like that makes me feel much better.”

  Without warning, Wei stepped forward and grabbed my arm, pulling my sleeve all the way up past my elbow. He inspected my tattoo curiously.