The instant Lei Hu saw that face, his heart almost stopped beating.
Next, he furiously tossed Bluesea away as he vaulted up into the sky. It did not matter which direction he was going. He flew away as though his life depended on it.
Run!
Run!
Run!
The farther away he went, the better.
The only thought in his mind was to run.
The instant he saw Bai Qi, a sensation of terror which could not be restrained by his rational mind surged into every corner of his body.
The King… … returned?
The one who killed off nearly every single Irregularity within World’s End, the one who stood atop the mountain made of countless corpses, the one whose clothes remained as white as snow, unstained by the blood of slaughter, the King! He has returned!
…
At that moment, Chen Xiaolian himself was in shock.
Since entering World’s End, he had tried it several times. However, due to the absence of personal system, he could not give the War Soul any command. Be it Bai Qi or his kitty, they could not be summoned out.
But now… … how could Bai Qi suddenly appear?
Chen Xiaolian was certain that the only feelings he had earlier were fury and concern. He had not attempted to summon Bai Qi.
Additionally, after appearing, Bai Qi had never looked at Lei Hu at all. Instead, his head was raised up high, gazing toward the horizon, immobile, silent.
The parasitic plant was still quickly eroding Chen Xiaolian’s body and he could not move at all. Chen Xiaolian could only attempt to command Bai Qi using his mind. However, his actions were the equivalent of hurling a toy cow into the vast ocean. There was no response.
After a moment, a figure quickly emerged from the horizon.
Seeing the figure, Bai Qi suddenly released a howl.
“Power… … return it…”
Following the howl, Bai Qi quickly flew into the sky to meet the figure.
“Bai Qi?!”
Sister Yun reined her white horse, a look of shock overcoming her calm, ancient face. “You… … how can you be here?”
However, Bai Qi did not reply. He simply stared intently at Sister Yun. “Power… … with you… … body… … return… me…”
“What nonsense are you on about? Answer me! Why did you return? Were you killed?” Sister Yun impatiently interrupted Bai Qi. “You! Could you not speak properly anymore?”
“Don’t return… … me… … I will take… … myself…”
Bai Qi’s words were stiff and mechanical. Slowly, he raised the sword in his hand, aiming it at Sister Yun.
“You madman! What kind of madness are you up to this time?!” Sister Yun’s eyes grew cold. Seeing Bai Qi’s sword flying toward her, she brought her spear forward to meet the blade of Bai Qi’s sword.
Spear and sword clashed. Sister Yun’s face remained the same while Bai Qi was knocked down from the sky.
“Damn madman!” Sister Yun’s face darkened. However, she felt a little at ease.
Chen Xiaolian had mentioned before that the present Bai Qi was no longer the same as the Bai Qi at his prime. He was not even a match for the present her. It would appear that Chen Xiaolian’s words were true.
The moment Bai Qi landed on the ground, he instantly flipped back to his feet and charged back up at Sister Yun, who was up in the sky.
“Return… to me!”
Sister Yun gritted her teeth and the power behind her spear grew stronger by three notches. Before Bai Qi could swing his sword, he was knocked back down by Sister Yun’s spear.
However, although Sister Yun’s spear had stabbed him in the chest, it failed to pierce through. It was as though it had struck a piece of iron, only creating a muffled colliding sound.
Watching Bai Qi fall back down the ground, Sister Yun snorted and leapt down her horse.
After jumping down from the white horse, Sister Yun did not use her own strength to continue flying in the sky. Instead, she allowed gravity to pull her down and her figure crashed onto the ground.
“Power…”
“Pow your mother!”
The moment Sister Yun landed, Bai Qi had jumped back on his feet. He sent a sword stab forward.
A fist landed on Bai Qi’s face. A loud banging sound could be heard as Bai Qi was sent flying far away once more. The sword in his hand was snatched away by Sister Yun.
“Bai Qi, I did not take any power of yours.” Sister Yun lowered her head to look at the sword in her hand. With a flick of her hand, the sword was broken and it fell to the ground.
Like her Silver Dragon spear, the sword was condensed out using Bai Qi’s power. However, after losing his sword, Bai Qi did not remake another. Instead, he changed his attack mode to fists.
However, the strength of the current Bai Qi was too far apart from Sister Yun.
Every time he charged forward, he would receive a heavy punch from Sister Yun, all to his face.
However, Bai Qi was like an unstoppable machine. Every time Sister Yun knocked him down the ground, he would quickly get back up and rush her again.
Although the fight there had turned chaotic, Chen Xiaolian was in no state to worry about the fight between Bai Qi and Sister Yun.
His eyes stared at Bluesea, who was right before him. However, despite using all his strength, he was incapable of moving in the slightest.
“Mr Bluesea, you… … are you all right?!”
“Probably… … not too good.” Bluesea struggled for quite some time. However, he failed to get up. He then turned his head toward Chen Xiaolian, a rueful smile on his face. “I might be… … dying…”
“You… … what are you talking about? Mr Bluesea! Sister Yun said before, the Bug Armour has the ability to repair its host!” Chen Xiaolian gritted his teeth.
“That is correct.” Bluesea struggled hard to finally support himself with his one remaining arm. He crawled forward slightly until he was before Chen Xiaolian. Then, he slumped down beside him.
His internal organs could be seen through the open wounds on his chest. Several fine tendrils were wriggling around the wounds. However, it would appear that they have lost most of their vitality.
“Even if it possesses the ability to repair, it is not without limit. After all, this thing is just a form of reinforcement. The foundation for its reinforcement is the fleshly body of its host. If it could repair any wounds, then Hammer… … how could he have died?” Bluesea shook his head. He extended a finger and focused somewhat to form a needle at his fingertip. “You know as well, this body of mine is just that of an ordinary human. This might hurt a little, you… … bear with it.”
He forced himself to raise his finger and stab the needle into Chen Xiaolian’s body. It did not take long before he pulled it out.
“Hmm… … thankfully, the structure is not too complicated.” Bluesea forced out a smile. “Hopefully, before I die, I can complete…”
There on the tip of the needle he used to stab into Chen Xiaolian was a piece of Chen Xiaolian’s flesh. Several green strands were stuck onto the piece of flesh. The tendrils curled them up and brought them into Bluesea’s body.
“Mr Bluesea!” Chen Xiaolian’s heart was on the verge of burning up. However, he still did not know what Bluesea was up to.
“All right. For the next set of tasks, I will leave it to the Bug Armour. That Lei Hu is too strong. Not only did his attacks seriously damaged by body, it also seriously damaged the core part of the Bug Armour. Otherwise… … after my death, it could at least be of use to you.” Bluesea gasped heavily, his face growing increasingly pale. “That fellow’s plant is still inside your body. If they are not cleared…”
“But your body…” Chen Xiaolian was only halfway though his words when Bluesea interrupted him with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about me. Regardless if I do this or not, I will die for sure. The only difference is whether I die slightly earlier or slightly later.”
Bluesea’s body shook as he struggled to sit up. Then, with a smile, he said, “It is just death. Is your experience too little? Or is my experience too little? Let me think, how many times have I died? Mm… … as an Awakened, I died in Zero City. You are the one who told me about that. That is the first time. After getting refreshed into an ordinary human, I died during live training. That is the one in my memories and the second time.
“When you add them up, this… … is already my third death. I am quite used to it.
“Enough, Chen Xiaolian. I know you are not someone incapable of making the necessary resolutions. Don’t cry for me. Tell me something pleasant.”
“… … yes.” After a moment of silence, Chen Xiaolian replied softly.
“Let me think… … tell me about, the Blood Verdict. We did not have much time back then and you only briefly told me about it. I want to hear the details from you.” After considering it, Bluesea then continued with a smile, “Since you were substituting me, let me hear how you win. That will be the equivalent of me winning.”
“All right.” Looking at the calm expression on Bluesea’s face, Chen Xiaolian gently cleared his throat and said slowly, “Due to Skyblade’s departure, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild lost a personal pillar of strength. Although you bitterly tried to support the guild, it continued to slowly decline. In the end… … Mr Bluesea, your face!”
Chen Xiaolian suddenly stopped talking as he looked at Bluesea’s face in shock. Wrinkles were forming on his face at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“Ignore it, continue.” Bluesea shook his head and replied with a smile.
“… … yes.”
Chen Xiaolian began with how Qiao Yifeng contacted him, sending him to Africa to seize the Star Sand mine. He continued on about how he eventually went to Zero City, found out about the situation with Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, how he was sucked into the painting, how he met Skyblade, how he escaped, how he received Skyblade’s power, how he fought against the combatants from the Knights of Darkness Guild and Rodriar Guild.
Throughout the story, Bluesea said nothing. He only listened quietly. Occasionally, he would nod and smile.
On his face, the number of wrinkles grew and his hair turned sparse and grey.
Originally, Bluesea had the appearance of someone in his forties. Now, however, he appeared like a shaky old man.
“A truly wonderful story.”
After listening to Chen Xiaolian’s story to the end, Bluesea nodded his head, revealing a satisfied smile.
“Come, the antibodies to resist the plant within your body have been tuned.”
Extending his finger, he pressed it onto an artery on Chen Xiaolian’s neck.
Chen Xiaolian felt something warm injected into his artery. Next, it quickly flowed together with his blood, circulating throughout his whole body.
The Puppet Plant within his body had full control on the parts of his body from the neck down, having replaced all his nervous systems there. However, as the warm stream flowed, Chen Xiaolian could feel his body slowly recovering their senses.
“In about a few more minutes, you will fully recover.” Bluesea retracted his finger and gasped heavily a few times. “However, I will probably die before that. Don’t utter any nonsensical words and don’t be emotional. You know me, I don’t like listening to that kind of thing.”
“Zhao Yun has come.” Bluesea turned to look into the distance to see Sister Yun fighting off the death-defying Bai Qi. “With her here, you and Qiao Qiao should be able to return smoothly. My mission… … is more or less complete.
“Skyblade is dead, Brother Qiao has been refreshed into an ordinary human. Although his memories have been restored, he no longer possesses special powers. At present, the only one among Blade Mountain Flame Sea who could truly be considered alive is that Thunderflame.
“Yun Yan. She has had that fiery temper since her younger days… … how unexpected. After so much time has passed, she hasn’t changed one bit. She is the only one left. To hold up Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, she alone will not do. Chen Xiaolian, I would like to ask a favour from you.”
“You don’t need to say it, Mr Bluesea. I understand. As long as I am alive, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild will persist.” Chen Xiaolian was still incapable of moving. All he could do was to exert his all to nod his head.
“Thank you.” Bluesea revealed a sorrowful smile and suddenly let out a sigh. “Brother Qiao’s daughter is still unconscious. That may be for the best. She should not have to see my dying visage. When she wakes up, tell her not to cry. I hate it when others cry in front of me.”
“… I understand.”
“I am tired, Chen Xiaolian.” Bluesea could no longer hold his body up and it slowly slid down onto the sand. “However, I can be considered quite lucky. While it is a somewhat tiring life… … ... at least, it was worth... it… … worth…”
His voice gradually weakened and the wrinkles on his body increased in number. His skin lost all colour of blood, becoming pale. Eventually, all of it shrank into a small clump, immobile.
It was as though it had unleashed all its radiance, having burned everything, leaving only a handful of ashes in the end.
…