Ye Chang was confident of victory with Li Ziye’s weakened state, and his mind wondered at the prospects while slowing his reaction to the foreign spiritual power coming from behind.
“Spiritual power? How in heaven did the kid break his bond?”
Ye Chang looked back in reflex, just in time to catch three red lights coming for his face.
“The kid’s trying to kill himself!” Ye Chang recognized the fireblast talismans from his many altercations with modern cultivators. It posed no threat to someone like him, but it would blast a Qi Refining cultivator to pieces. If Wang Qi died, Li Ziye would go all out.
Ye Chang changed his gestures, making his spiritual power turn into a golden radiance as it shot for Wang Qi and destroyed the fireblast talismans’ power. [He just unsealed some spiritual power from my binds? Immortal item? No, he can’t use it. Did he learn Ephemeral Tranquility Palace’s forbidden art of using 37 strands of spiritual power? Are you kidding me? It’s only good at breaking the Imperial Celestial Rift Sect’s seal art. It’s complicated as hell and you have to practice endlessly to get it.]
The fireblast talismans’ power got cut in half, but the remainder made Wang Qi’s chest tremble. He activated the talismans in his left hand, and the twofold glow pushed back Ye Chang’s spiritual power. Wang Qi felt his body relax, his spiritual power restored. The healing talisman turned into warmth as it spread its glow from his hand all over his body, filling Wang Qi with strength.
The instant Wang Qi’s legs touched the ground, he bolted. With the help of the talismans, his speed was that of a peak Qi Refining cultivator, already dozens of meters away.
“Shit!” Ye Chang huffed. [Letting the kid escape means loosing an immortal item’s trail and an ancient inheritance. To make it worse, I won’t have a hostage against Li Ziye.] He raised his arm, using a binding magical art, when a hand came from behind to press his left hand’s acupoint, making his hands raise higher and the magical art brushing past Wang Qi.
“It’s over.” Li Ziye smiled. His amiable face looked savage from all the blood. He reached out, and the Heavenly Sword case shuddered. Ye Chang felt his seal break, and his heart panicked.
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“Curses…” Ye Chang raved, thinking of nothing but escape. But he knew that by showing his back to a Heavenly Sword would give Li Ziye an easy target. Even if he escaped, the ancient cultivator base would be exposed, his fate ruined.
Despair set in, hard and fast, taking over the Nascent Soul’s mind and actions.
Li Ziye felt his aura turn violent. [He’s backed into a corner when he still has the means to fight.]
The energy he released was that of a desperate and double-edged art, to take both of them down.
“Hu-hu-hu, a-ha-ha-ha, you made me do this, punk!” Ye Chang roared, “Demonic Blood Melting Art!”
Wang Qi slumped to the ground, struggling to get up and only managing to cough blood from the injuries.
“I must have the worst luck ever, ugh. I’ve never been wounded so much in both my lives.” Wang Qi sighed, turning over and using the last trace of spiritual power to mend his body. He finally got a look around.
As the moon set for the night, the dawn’s early rays shed some light upon the village of Albion and its devastation, revealing to Wang Qi that he was on the fields west of it.
“I flew quite far.” Wang Qi thought with admiration of a high cultivator’s arts, “This was an utter disgrace. Zhen Chanzi is right for once. I need to get some fighting skills and fast… starting tomorrow. Old man!”
He used his spiritual sense on the ring, “Geezer, don’t go sleeping at your age, or you won’t wake up.”
Zhen Chanzi finally spoke in his mind, “So soon?”
Wang Qi started, “What soon?”
“You broke the seal so soon?” Zhen Chanzi sounded incredulous, “You need two weeks of hard training to grasp it. I figured you’d do it in five tops with your perception, while that Nascent Soul and Li Ziye would’ve got it in three…”
[Using mathematical models is a must for learning magical arts. Why bother learning magical arts when all you do is climb trees?]
Wang Qi whined inside, “That explosion back there blew me away along with the two defensive talismans. I must be hundreds of meters from the fight now. Going by that powerful blast, the fight must be over. Can’t you scan over the to make sure?”
Zhen Chanzi muttered, “Looking at the fallout, the two must’ve went with a life for a life. Fine, I’ll check it out.”
The jade ring grew warm, and Zhen Chanzi’s spiritual sense spread out.
“It’s mutual destruction…”
“What?” Wang Qi winced, standing in panic.
“Hey, what are you doing? Sit down and heal!”
“In your state, any shock to your insides will kill you.”
Wang Qi asked, “What’s the situation over there?”
Wang Qi stressed, “What is the situation?”
Zhen Chanzi sighed, “The ancient Nascent Soul cultivator is gone. He must’ve used Demonic Blood Melting Art or something similar to take Li Ziye down. As for the latter, his life is fading. Not even the peak me could save him.”
Wang Qi paused his steps, “I owe him big time to at least hear his will.”
Zhen Chanzi snapped, “The least you owe him is your life!”
“Now I can fulfill his final wish.”
Wang Qi felt his insides jolting with every step. Since the blast wasn’t very far, Wang Qi didn’t have to endure the pain for long.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. The Nascent Soul’s detonation ravaged the earth, turning it into dust around the crater. The faint morning light revealed a silhouette inside.
Wang Qi slipped down the edge. Since a cultivator detonation was that of spirit, no residual heat or radiation was left behind. The soil inside the crater was even softer than outside. Wang Qi forced himself through the pain, crawling over to Li Ziye and shaking him, “Hey, Senior Brother Li! Hey…”
A Golden Core’s body was tough. Li Ziye was at death’s door yet was still conscious, “You came back…”
Wang Qi nodded, thinking he couldn’t see and said, “Yeah.”
“Calling me that… means you’re set on… Immortal Alliance?”
“Don’t talk.” Wang Qi held Li Ziye’s hand, “Is there a way to open your storage bag or anything similar you have on you? There has to be some medicine…”
Li Ziye’s hand moved a bit, and Wang Qi let go. Li Ziye’s right hand strained to reach his waist, trailing a pouch, “Open it and… look for pills. The senior in the ring can… distinguish them.”
Li Ziye tried shaking his head but could only lean on the side, “My vitality is drained… recovery is… impossible.”
Wang Qi sighed, “Any last wish?”
“I wish…” Li Ziye paused, his voice fading, “Cough, will you help me?”
“Cough, I want to pursue a girl, so how could you help me with that?”
“That head disciple of Elusive Palace? I can send her a message.”
“But I’m dying.” Li Ziye sounded at ease, “What’s the point of telling her? I will only earn her pity and add to her worries…”
[The secret crush will ruin her life…]
Wang Qi sighed, “Is there anything else?”
Li Ziye said, “Thinking about it, I haven’t…cough, well, I lived an easy life, and now I’m dying out of the blue. There are still things I want, but I want to do them myself. It has no meaning if… you do them.”
“My greatest regret is… that I didn’t see enough of this world, and the supreme Dao…”
“Do you regret saving me?”
“A lot.” Li Ziye’s voice weakened, “I don’t want to die. I really don’t. If I knew I would die… I wouldn’t have saved you. But this is the result of my miscalculations…”
“Don’t joke, there’s no way you miscalculated when Myriad Arts Sect specializes in math.”
“I just couldn’t asses if I could win… couldn’t asses which was harder for me to bear, watching you get captured or dying here…”
Li Ziye said, “You don’t have to feel guilty for me. If you’re left with a trauma won’t… my rescue be in vain… ha-ha.”
Wang Qi strained to keep his voice even, “I only live to seek excitement and thrills. The same goes for cultivating.”
“You can never be happy if you feel you owe others so much.”
Li Ziye chuckled, “If you really want to do something for me, burn me a copy of the results when Hilbert’s 23 Problems are solved one day. Oh, my Senior Uncle believes he’s close to solving ‘the question of value’, aiming for Unfettered… Then…”
“I’ll burn one for you.”
Another moment of silence reigned.
“How long before sunrise?”
“I really wish I’d see the sun before I die.”
“You will. The sun is almost up.”
Wang Qi spoke as he turned to the heavy, gray sky.