One Man, One Nation
Gongsun Chu stared at the stone wall as though he could see all the way through to the depths of the bronze palace.
“You sure seem confident,” remarked Ming Feizhen, seemingly unbothered in the slightest about his predicament. “You not afraid Tianhu will find your wife?”
Tianhu may not have gone through the bronze palace when he found the underground palace, but this place wasn’t exactly tough to find if he just patiently went back the way he entered to search considering it wasn’t far away.
“I’ll close the door to the bronze palace after I kill the two of you.”
Ming Feizhen bobbed his head. “You reckon you can give Tianhu the slip?”
“Nothing in life is guaranteed. It’s just a matter of trying or not.”
Ming Feizhen didn’t think Gongsun Chu was going to try something risky from the latter’s tone, but he didn’t bother questioning further. “Since you activated the contraption, nobody will be able to enter for a good while, which gives you time to prepare a plan to kill everyone who comes in,” said Ming Feizhen, then shaking his head. “But you can’t,” Ming Feizhen asserted, locking eyes with Gongsun Chen, “because I won’t let you.”
“… What do you have to say this time?”
Ming Feizhen drew a circle up in the air and self-righteously declared, “As your successor, I’ve called dibs on all of your belongings! You’re not taking a single thing from me!”
Ignoring Gongsun Chu’s death stare, Ming Feizhen then said to Huang Yuzao, “Uncle Huang, if you will,” then strolled over to the wall.
On the surface, it appeared as though Ming Feizhen left his fate in Huang Yuzao’s hands. However, Gongsun Chu recognised what Ming Feizhen was plotting based on the latter’s position – he was still counting on Tianhu.
Gongsun Chu spent the conversation window recalibrating the scarce true qi he had left, avoiding the damaged meridians to power himself. It went without saying that casting his Enlightenment whilst attacking would take a toll on him, but there was absolutely no way he was going to give Ming Feizhen a chance to bring Tianhu back. No chance in hell. As soon as he was ready, he thrust towards Huang Yuzao’s neck. This time, though, he wasn’t going to stop until it went out the other side.
All of a sudden, Huang Yuzao inhaled, locked his fingers together and stabbed straight at the tip of Gongsun Chu’s wooden sword. The shockwave that the crash caused, and the qi that came from Huang Yuzao’s finger, shot through the sword shot and straight back through Gongsun Chu’s body, giving him a big jolt. Gongsun Chu yanked his sword back and hastily suppressed the qi that was imbued with properties that countered his Drought Demons qi.
“You were hiding that last ounce of strength?”
“This old one… put himself through hell this month to fight you.”
The magic behind Huang Yuzao’s hidden spurt of internal energy derived from a notorious pill named “unknown pill”. Ming Feizhen didn’t forget to abuse his authority to feed the pill to his unconscious teacher. While the pill couldn’t heal his permanent internal injuries or restore his internal energy, it empowered him to develop new internal energy via his usual discipline. From there, Huang Yuzao completed the first level in the two weeks’ time he had to develop the tiny ounce of internal energy that just saved their lives.
Never giving up even when all hope seemed lost was an ironic common denominator between Huang Yuzao and Gongsun Chu.
Gongsun Chu: My junior is getting more and more adorable to me.
The Principle of Six Swordplay competition was over, and Gongsun Chu wasn’t going to contest the result. Howbeit, he destroyed Huang Yuzao’s comprehension of swordplay, demonstrated they were still on different levels despite both having reached Divine Realm and proved that, based on technique alone, he was vastly superior. When it came down to it, Huang Yuzao’s win wasn’t really a win. Huang Yuzao saved them, but it only delayed the end result.
In the next three turns, Gongsun Chu damaged Huang Yuzao as if he used a steel sword. However, Gongsun Chu was left heaving harder than he expected.
Before Gongsun Chu could move on, the walls rumbled violently. The traps hadn’t ended, yet Tianhu had already started tearing down the walls. Based on the rumbling sounds, not even Gongsun Chu could be sure if the wall would hold up for another ten blows.
“Monster,” Gongsun Chu cursed under his breath, then swung his sword in an arc, lopping off two of Huang Yuzao’s fingers.
Huang Yuzao’s garments were dyed crimson before he could scream, except the blood came from Gongsun Chu’s mouth as a consequence of pushing his body beyond its physical limit. That being said, the flame that lit the fuse was Huang Yuzao’s “Grand Undertaking” discipline’s true qi from the clash prior. This was only the beginning of forcing his body to utilise more internal energy than it could naturally handle. Not even the unorthodox Drought Demons could get around the law of nature.
One more… I just need one more strike to…
No matter how much internal energy Gongsun Chu tried to muster up, his body just wouldn’t grant it to him. Frankly, Huang Yuzao wasn’t doing well, either; he had lost two fingers, was injured more than Gongsun Chu and couldn’t squeeze out even a drop of internal energy due to how weakened he was.
Huang Yuzao dropped to the ground. The only thing he was now capable of was counting down his last moments, yet the spirit in his eyes burned as hot as ever. “… You’re not a despicable person. You don’t fear death, covet glory or material wealth… You love your wife. You don’t hurt the innocent. You know what happiness is. You have self-awareness, so you should know… even if you kill His Majesty and exterminate every official, the dynasty of old won’t return. Even if you start a new rule, it won’t be the same Daxia. What is it that you’re after in the end for you to be so stubborn?”
Though his head was down, Gongsun Chu tightened his grip on his sword. “… I’m going to turn this world around. I want to see birds fly into the sky and fish dive into the ocean. I want this world to return to the way it should be.”
Despite how challenging it was just to get air into his lungs, Gongsun Chu felt everything was moving slow and everything was clear. Every crack in the rocks was vivid; every footstep from Hong Jiu’s group’s footsteps from far, far away sounded as clear as though he were there with them. He could hear that Tianhu was three blows away from breaking through the wall.
“I am after the restoration of Daxia.”
Huang Yuzao vigorously raised his head. “Daxia is gone! Open your eyes!”
Gongsun Chu erected his posture as straight as a brush. “I’m right here!” he roared. When he closed his eyes and opened them once again, there were the people crying and laughing from a century ago. Regardless of if they had been forgotten or not, all of them once lived, and he could prove it.
He was alive.
He was able to stand on his own.
He was a nation.
“Daxia is not gone!”
Gongsun Chu’s red energy enveloped his sword and body. His senses were more heightened than ever in his life, and Tianhu was still two blows away from getting through. Gongsun Chu was familiar with the portent. He was on the cusp of attaining power on par with a miracle again. With his current red energy, he could take two heads as long as he wanted to. He was on the cusp of entering Divine R-
Some tiny green object, a piece of ordinary jade, came into Gongsun Chu’s field of vision all of a sudden. Akin to a big block of ice being thrown into a pool of water, all of his emotions burst. “Love is Pain” erased the red Enlightenment and reminded him of an excruciating pain he had forgotten about.
The person who threw the wrench – or piece of jade, in this case – into Gongsun Chu’s plan had already lost all his combat skills, yet Gongsun Chu didn’t notice him. By the time Gongsun Chu noticed him, he already had his other hand on Gongsun Chu’s chest. Gongsun Chu caught a glimpse of Ming Feizhen’s emotionless face.
“Your mom is gone!”
Boom! A blood bomb exploded right up against Gongsun Chu, blasting him into a dark passage. Nothing was left. It was as if he never existed.
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