Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Nothing at all?
Then how had Shen Huaizhou summoned the wraith soldiers?!
Tang Yuanxiao was not someone who could keep his curiosity in check. He wanted to ask more, but seeing Xie Qingling concentrating on the arena and clearly unwilling to say anything further, he closed his mouth awkwardly.
There was no wind anywhere, yet the wraith soldiers’ cloaks rustled. Their bodies, formed from black vapor, were like wisps of smoke, yet seemed solid too: half there and half not, drifting and swaying.
That dark mass of wraith soldiers, with its sinister aura and layered ghostly figures, made Wang Haiyang’s scalp prickle.
It was not the wraith soldiers themselves that frightened him. He remembered when Xie Qingling had summoned one last time, then killed with a single strike and left the whole arena silent.
This time, there were more of them. They were larger, and looked more terrifying.
No. He had to attack, even if he had to force himself.
Wang Haiyang gritted his teeth and urged his sheep toward Shen Huaizhou.
Shen Huaizhou, however, remained motionless, apparently with no intention of dodging.
Was he… too confident?
Confident that, protected by the wraith soldiers, this attack could have no effect on him?
Or was it a trap?
Many thoughts flashed through Wang Haiyang’s mind. Involuntarily, he pulled on the reins, stopping the sheep’s charge.
When something was out of the ordinary, there had to be something wrong.
Frowning, Wang Haiyang’s gaze swept back and forth, studying Shen Huaizhou. He could not decide.
As a competitor with limited actual combat ability, he had survived this long entirely because he was cautious and steady enough. Otherwise, he would have been eliminated long ago.
Especially facing wraith soldiers he had already seen once, he did not dare rush in.
The brutal scene of Xie Qingling releasing a wraith soldier, then killing the Medical Department’s competitor with one strike, remained vivid before him. The competitors below had discussed her unfathomable divine ability afterward. But in the end, they had worked out nothing and could only give up.
The only certainty was that if he had the misfortune to meet Xie Qingling, he must be cautious, cautious, and cautious again. She excelled at unconventional rush attacks. Her methods were strange and ever-changing, impossible to fathom. She had won twice, yet no one could explain exactly how.
If asked whom Wang Haiyang feared most in this arena, the answer would certainly be Xie Qingling, who killed with one strike.
And her battle with Yang Baduan just now, so oppressive and uncanny, had impressed her strength on him even more deeply. It also strengthened his resolve to regard her as his foremost opponent. He had even begun secretly praying that he would not meet her in the final.
Yet just after avoiding Xie Qingling, he had run into Shen Huaizhou, who had the same sort of wraith soldiers.
This man used the same methods as Xie Qingling! His wraith soldiers might even be stronger than hers!
At that realization, Wang Haiyang’s face changed dramatically. Cold sweat broke out on his hands and feet, and his body almost went limp.
He had not even worked out how to handle Xie Qingling. What about Shen Huaizhou?
He had watched Shen Huaizhou’s match too.
The man used a silver spear. His ability was Spear Soul. Wang Haiyang knew all that.
But when he noticed that Shen Huaizhou had not brought that silver spear into the arena, sudden panic struck him.
How could someone enter a fight without bringing a weapon?
Unless the weapon was unnecessary.
Or that silver spear was not his real weapon at all.
The possibility he had never considered threw Wang Haiyang into disarray. He shouted, “Shen Huaizhou, where’s your spear?”
Shen Huaizhou looked a little frustrated. “I didn’t expect… you to find out. The spear isn’t my specialty. Spear Soul was fake. This ability is the real one.”
Just as he thought!
Shen Huaizhou’s ability was not Spear Soul at all!
His ability was much like Xie Qingling’s.
The two came and went together, ate and drank together, and had trained under the same teacher. There was nothing impossible about them having the same divine ability.
Wang Haiyang was truly panicking now.
He could almost see Xie Qingling coming through the air, holding that pair of pure-white blades, then piercing his heart with a single strike.
In the previous round, when she fought the Medical Department’s competitor, no one had seen how she moved after releasing the wraith soldier. The next moment, she was behind her opponent, killing with one strike.
Could Shen Huaizhou turn invisible too?
Wang Haiyang instinctively looked behind him, on high alert –
Fortunately, Shen Huaizhou had not appeared.
He felt no discomfort in his body either.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the sheep beneath him suddenly went berserk.
Pitch-black darkness covered its eyes. It could see nothing.
Deprived of sight, the sheep was no longer docile. Its keen instinct for danger sent it rampaging around the arena.
“Stop! Stop!” Wang Haiyang shouted anxiously.
But animals could not control their panic well. Once frightened, they would cast aside any command a human gave.
Run! Run now! Run somewhere safe!
The sheep tore madly around the arena.
Jostled on its back, Wang Haiyang almost vomited stomach acid. He had become utterly unable to control where he was going.
The sheep that should have helped him had become a burden instead.
With no choice, he abandoned his mount and went on foot, lest he be thrown out of the arena.
At the same time, Shen Huaizhou ordered the wraith soldiers to move.
They rose into the air together and flew straight toward Wang Haiyang, like a flock of hunting eagles.
Left, right, above – every direction was crowded with dark figures.
Dodge? Where could he dodge?
He had relied too heavily on the sheep. Without his mount, running on his own two legs left him exhausted. Facing the wraith soldiers flying at him from across the sky, he could only flee.
As he ran, he turned the plum blossom branch in his hand.
Falling blossoms shot outward –
They struck the wraith soldiers, but passed straight through their bodies, having no effect at all.
How could that be?
Were these wraith soldiers really so strong?
Wang Haiyang’s face changed dramatically in fright.
No. He could not let them catch him.
If they caught him, he was finished!
So he abandoned any attempt to fight back and ran for his life, his steps growing more and more frantic.
As soon as the sheep regained its sight, he would have his mount again and could easily escape the wraith soldiers’ pursuit.
With a thought, he tried to reestablish his connection with the sheep and summon it back to his side.
That attempt nearly made him spit blood.
Because Shen Huaizhou had usurped his place and was actually riding his sheep!
And the sheep was obedient, letting him ride without resisting.
That damned sheep! Had going blind left it unable even to recognize its owner’s presence?!
Wang Haiyang was stunned.
He could not understand what was happening.
Shen Huaizhou patted the sheep’s head and said quietly, “Go! Attack him!”
The sheep now recognized Shen Huaizhou as its owner.
It was lost in the dream he had woven for it. Hearing its beloved, respected owner’s command, it immediately raised its forehooves and began charging toward Wang Haiyang with a clatter.
Wang Haiyang could only run.
In his eyes, Shen Huaizhou was chasing him, his sheep was chasing him, and the wraith soldiers were chasing him too.
Every one was like a wronged spirit demanding his life.
After fleeing awkwardly for a while, Wang Haiyang was gasping for breath. Before even having a proper fight, he had worn himself out.
The spectators looked on with mixed feelings.
They had been waiting for an exciting battle. Instead, it was like children playing house. After entering the arena, Wang Haiyang and Shen Huaizhou ran around, one fleeing and the other pursuing, but did not exchange blows.
What exactly were they doing?
Were they going to fight or not?
Tang Yuanxiao watched, dumbfounded. After being astonished for a while, he could no longer contain his curiosity. “What exactly is Shen Huaizhou’s ability? Why is it so uncanny?” he asked Xie Qingling.
“Keep watching and you’ll know,” she said vaguely.
Was it really uncanny?
Actually, it was only Flowers in a Mirror, Moon on the Water.
This use of Flowers in a Mirror, Moon on the Water had hypnotized not only Wang Haiyang, but everyone present, making them see the same scene he saw.
In truth, it was only an illusion. All fake.
The wraith soldiers had no attacking power at all. If Wang Haiyang had been less timid and a little more reckless, he would have discovered that they could not attack people. They were merely things to frighten him, paper tigers that could not withstand a fight – in fact, he had almost discovered that just now.
If Xie Qingling had found that the plum petals could not hurt the illusions, she would have tried fighting them to test what was real. After all, if so many wraith soldiers were too strong to be hurt by blades or spears, that would make no sense. But Wang Haiyang had only grown more frightened and kept running.
People really did think differently, Xie Qingling thought.
Still, against an unprepared enemy, an illusionist was very well suited to dirty tricks.
If the setting was suitable enough and the plan sufficiently careful and logical, this was the result – defeating the enemy without a fight.
After about five or six circuits of the arena, Wang Haiyang was soaked in sweat and gasping with exhaustion. “I… I surrender. Stop chasing me.”
He had used up too much energy. His back ached and his legs were weak. He had no energy left to flee, much less fight.
Wang Haiyang chose to surrender.
Qi Tiansheng did not enter the arena. The rules had not said surrender was allowed, so he simply pretended not to hear.
Shen Huaizhou glanced at Wang Haiyang without replying, wary of a trick. He merely drew a throwing knife from his sleeve and sent it flying.
One blade to the throat.
He had learned that from Xie Qingling.
The human body always had a few fatal weak points. With practice, they were easy to hit.
Wang Haiyang fell.
Shen Huaizhou won the match.
When Qi Tiansheng entered to announce the result, he looked utterly speechless.
Today’s match was even more absurd and baffling than the one Xie Qingling had ended with a single killing strike. The Sheep Prince had barely fought back, and Shen Huaizhou had barely attacked. They had merely put on a chase, as though they had come to perform a comedy.
He truly did not understand how people from Future City fought.
After one more match, the second round ended.
From the nineteen winners, with Yang Baduan added, ten further winners had been selected.
Those ten would compete in the final round.
They would fight in pairs. The winners would earn the opportunity for a second blessing.
Success or failure would be decided tomorrow.
The next day, Tang Yuanxiao came to watch again.
This time, he even squeezed between Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou as though perfectly at home.
Both newcomers he had brought were eliminated, so there was no need for him to attend today. But to see for himself what was going on with these two menaces, he not only had to come, he had to sit where the view was best. He decided that today, he would get a perfectly clear, careful look at everything once and for all.
Whether they could receive a second blessing depended entirely on today’s final. The Directors attended again.
Fu Zihua and the others sat on the dais, waiting for the matches to begin.
After entering the arena, Qi Tiansheng did not immediately announce the two opponents’ names as before. Instead, he called out, “Everyone, after all these days of matches, I believe you have a certain understanding of your own level and your opponents’.”
“After discussion, in order to balance the competitors’ fighting strength, we’ve added a temporary rule for this match.”