Chapter 190 The Desire to Win and to Protect
"What the hell..." Qiao Jiajin's lips trembled slightly. "You people are fucking crazy..."
Xiao Xiao burst into laughter. "Thug, we can die anytime, but what about you?"
Qiao Jiajin didn't answer. Instead, he turned his head toward Zhang Shan. "Buff lou... that rock looks like at most two hundred kilograms—That’s all it took to knock you out?"
Zhang Shan lay motionless beneath the boulder.
"Damn it... don’t tell me you’re dead..." Qiao Jiajin let out a bitter chuckle and flexed his limbs again. "I’m in a real bind now."
Just as he finished speaking, a fist crashed into his face.
Qiao Jiajin's head snapped to the side as he coughed a few times.
"Thug, didn’t you always want me to admit defeat?" Xiao Xiao sneered. "Well, here’s the same deal for you. If you surrender now, I’ll let you live."
"Oh? So, you’re saying you’re not afraid to die either?"
"There’s nothing scary about death..." Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "What scares me is {losing}."
Xiao Xiao’s expression darkened. She backhanded Qiao Jiajin across the face. "Stop pretending to be profound." Grabbing his shoulder, she attempted to shove him off the bridge, only to find the weight of the stone on him was immense, like deeply rooted tree trunks keeping him firmly grounded.
"With such heavy rocks on you, haven’t your limbs given out?" Xiao Xiao sneered.
"Thanks to you, my arms and legs are still in one piece," Qiao Jiajin replied casually. "And you? How’s that right leg holding up?"
"You—!" Xiao Xiao instinctively touched her broken leg, her face twisting with fury. Enraged, she raised a fist and struck Qiao Jiajin's arm with all her strength.
Qiao Jiajin's arm, half-buried in the rock, throbbed painfully as Xiao Xiao's blow sent waves of sharp pain rippling through him, accompanied by an intensified pulling sensation. He felt as though his arm might just rip off entirely.
"Still acting tough?" Xiao Xiao barked coldly. "Today, I’ll break all four of your limbs and see how tough you are then!"
Hearing this, Qiao Jiajin let out a resigned chuckle, turning his gaze toward Zhang Shan. "Buff lou... what do you think we should do now?"
Lying motionless on the ground, Zhang Shan finally began to stir, his eyes slowly fluttering open. A wave of agony coursed through his body, as if his internal organs had been pulverized.
"Cough..." Zhang Shan spewed a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"Well well… good morning…" Qiao Jiajin grinned.
"Am I... dead?" Zhang Shan croaked, his voice barely audible as he coughed again.
"Pretty sure you are," Qiao Jiajin replied with a nod. "You're now a departed soul."
Zhang Shan painfully turned his head to take in the scene on the bridge. Li Xiangling was nowhere to be seen, and Qiao Jiajin looked like he was at the brink of collapse.
"Are we... losing?" Zhang Shan asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.
Xiao Xiao limped over and delivered a harsh kick to Zhang Shan's head.
"Did you really think you could win?!" she snapped. "After this fight, Qi Xia will belong to {Judgment’s Domain}."
Xiao Xiao bent down, attempting to push Zhang Shan off the edge as well, but the boulder weighing him down were even heavier than those on Qiao Jiajin. For now, he remained immovable.
Qiao Jiajin slowly raised his head. "Buff mui... what kind of nonsense are you spouting? You said you’d take him, but you never said you'd turn him into one of your lunatics..."
"If he doesn’t agree, then every time we see him, we’ll kill him," Xiao Xiao retorted sharply, her voice chilling. "Again and again, until he submits."
Qiao Jiajin’s expression turned frigid, and a deafening buzz filled his ears.
"The last time, I wasn’t there to protect Nine zai," Qiao Jiajin murmured, his voice weighed down by regret. "He followed the wrong person, trusted the wrong people... and in the end, not even his body was claimed after he died." Slowly, he raised his head, as though arriving at an unshakable resolve. "But this time, I’m here... and I won’t let the same thing happen again."
Zhang Shan coughed a few times, a wry smile crossing his battered face. "Looks like... we really are losing this one, huh?"
Their gazes sharpened, carrying a shared determination that hadn’t been there before.
"Surnamed Qiao," Zhang Shan rasped, "do you want to raise hell with me?"
A colossal bell’s toll reverberated from the distance, the sound so immense it felt as though it were ringing right beside them.
Qiao Jiajin paused, his mind briefly consumed by the echoing resonance. Then, with a slow exhale, he shed his facade. His expression turned utterly still, like the surface of a lifeless pond. "Raise hell...? Nothing would please me more."
Another thunderous bell toll resounded through the skies, no less overwhelming than the previous one.
Chu Tianqiu and Xiao Nian were making their way toward the display screen in the plaza.
"Tianqiu… it’s too dangerous to expose yourself like that," Xu Liunian said, her face etched with concern.
"No harm," Chu Tianqiu replied with a faint shake of his head. "Thanks to you, even if {Judgment’s Domain} catches wind of me now, they’ll assume I’m an impostor."
Xu Liunian lowered her gaze in silence for a moment before asking, "But are they really going to be okay? That Zhang Shan..."
"Xiao Nian, you’ve only just returned, so you don’t know Zhang Shan well," Chu Tianqiu said, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.
"I know he’s a {Reverberatee}, but so what?" Xu Liunian asked anxiously. "He’s up against three {Reverberatees}. One against three—there’s no way he can come out ahead."
"I stumbled across Zhang Shan about a year ago," Chu Tianqiu explained. "His power is extraordinarily formidable... Even though it only lasts for a short duration, it’s enough to secure him victory in countless battles. I believe that even among {Reverberatees}, there are distinct grades."
"Grades among {Reverberatees}?" Xu Liunian asked, puzzled. "Our abilities seem to have various drawbacks—how can there possibly be grades?"
Chu Tianqiu paused for a moment before saying, "Xiao Nian, let me take you somewhere. When you witness Zhang Shan’s {Reverberation} with your own eyes, you’ll understand how extraordinary he is."
"You mean..." Xu Liunian pondered for a moment. "Is the distinctiveness of Zhang Shan's {Reverberation} already implied by its name?"
As the two spoke, they reached the plaza, where a massive screen loomed before them, crowned by a copper bell suspended above it.
Chu Tianqiu spotted an old, weathered bench and settled onto it with a casual grace. He gestured to Xu Liunian, beckoning her over. "Come, sit."
Still feeling uneasy, Xu Liunian obeyed, taking her place beside him. Though she was willing to give her life for Chu Tianqiu, she couldn't shake the sense that she had never truly reached his heart.
What did this ever-smiling man ponder each day?
Chu Tianqiu’s wistful eyes turned skyward before he reached into his coat and retrieved a fragile, yellowed scrap of paper. It looked as though it had been carelessly torn from a notebook many years ago.
On the slip, a solitary sentence was scrawled: "I must ensure Qi Xia never obtains his {Reverberation}."
From his left pocket, Chu Tianqiu retrieved another slip of paper. Though the handwriting matched, the content stood in stark contrast: "I must ensure Qi Xia obtains his {Reverberation}."
Chu Tianqiu stared at the two conflicting notes, aware they both came from his own hand. Yet, he couldn’t discern which one was the lie.
If the answers were entirely contradictory, one had to be false.
Had he lied to himself?
Chu Tianqiu lifted his gaze slightly, noticing the bronze bell beginning to sway.
"Cover your ears, Xiao Nian." He carefully folded the notes and tucked them away, pressing his hands tightly over his ears. Following his lead, Xu Liunian mimicked the gesture.
The deafening toll of the bell erupted directly in front of them, the soundwaves spiraling across the plaza before shooting skyward. The resonance was so immense, it felt as though it could shake the soul right out of one’s body.
Xu Liunian and Chu Tianqiu squeezed their eyes shut, unable to withstand the overwhelming force of the sound. They waited, trembling, for the reverberations to dissipate on their own.
Moments later, they cautiously opened their eyes and glanced at the enormous screen ahead.
A luminous line of text flashed into view:
"I hear the reverberation of {Heaven Level Invigoration}!"
"{Heaven Level Invigoration}…" Xu Liunian's face was marked with astonishment as she stared at the screen. It was the first time she'd seen a {Reverberation} with a three-word name—and the first time she'd heard such an earth-shaking toll.
"What kind of ability does he have…?" she asked.
"He…" Chu Tianqiu began, but his words faltered as he noticed the enormous bell swinging violently once more. "What…?!"
"Qui—Quick! Cover your ears!" he shouted urgently.