Chapter 86

 The heavy stone door was pushed open, emitting a dull, low sound.

Pei Xi panted as he entered the new palace. He turned left and right to confirm that Kyle and Lu Qi had followed.

After losing Zhao Mei, they lost the technique for clearing the maze. They kept triggering punishments from the maze. The previous palace had even taken Roy. Now only the three of them remained.

Pei Xi smashed his fist against the stone wall. He closed his eyes in pain, trying to recall clues from the strange dreams. But the image that appeared most often in his mind was still that gentle and quiet face.

So this was the painful price of trust. If there were a next time, he would not leave Zhao Mei alone to think. He would not give Zhao Mei the chance to sacrifice himself without permission!

In the end, it was still because he was not strong enough. Because of his weakness, Roy had also been trapped. Who would he lose next?

“Pei Xi, Pei Xi, look at the ground!”

Pei Xi turned his head. He saw Lu Qi seemingly reaching to pull him back. Her eyes, usually full of laughter, carried panic. Then he watched helplessly as Lu Qi suddenly vanished, her whole body falling into a crack that suddenly opened in the ground.

He knelt on the floor, reaching toward the fractured black abyss. His body suddenly lost balance and fell, the ground beneath him had also collapsed.

In the infinitely light fall, Pei Xi subconsciously closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself landing unharmed on a white surface.

The youth staggered up from the ground. He anxiously looked around, trying to find his companions, only to meet a pair of gloomy golden eyes.

“Sykes?”

“You?”

Two voices sounded at the same time, both carrying a trace of incomprehensible surprise and subtle hostility. Both watched each other warily and said nothing more.

Pei Xi secretly observed the mysterious space he had fallen into. Compared to the palaces they had entered before, this one was even taller. As far as the eye could see, there was only white floor and gray stone walls, extremely empty. There was one large door directly opposite him, behind Sykes.

The door was engraved with a painting: the God of Hope raising the divine sword, with countless people cheering behind him.

Pei Xi endured Sykes’s extremely strong presence and took a few steps forward. He discovered a line of text at the very bottom of the painting.

“Only the merciful, urgh!”

An extremely powerful impact struck him. Pei Xi barely dodged. Before his body could recover, from the corner of his eye he saw Sykes already appear at his side, his face cold.

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“Only the merciful strong may grasp the hilt of hope’s sword.”

A cold, emotionless voice recited.

“What the hell is this place?”

Another voice grumbled discontentedly, then suddenly asked loudly.

“White-clothed girl opposite, do you know?”

Bai Muqing’s empty white pupils stared straight ahead. She ignored the youth across from her. Her gaze did not fall on her at all, like falling snow, quietly contemplating the divine revelation.

“You are ignoring me?”

“Why not look at me? Because you know you cannot defeat me?”

Sela grinned and suddenly closed in. Bai Muqing almost retreated in disgust.

“You should not be here, true heretic.”

“Those who blaspheme the divine should not step foot here, much less appear before me.”

“Hahahaha, the one truly blaspheming the divine is someone else!”

“Guess if she is here right now?”

Halfway through her words, Sela suddenly attacked. The silver light of her small knife pressed toward Bai Muqing’s cold face. Unexpectedly, the other vanished in the blink of an eye.

The golden-haired girl showed a puzzled expression. Then a voice came from behind. She immediately turned her head.

“I have experienced your ability.”

As long as she did not use her ability to harm Sela, her power would not be nullified by Sela.

“I cannot hurt you, but you cannot hurt me either.”

Bai Muqing said coldly.

“Then what now? This room clearly requires killing the opponent to get out!”

Sela’s tone grew even higher. Excitement flashed in her red eyes. She gripped the knife harder, throwing one small knife toward Bai Muqing. Seeing the other dodge again, Sela’s hands suddenly produced two more small knives.

✧✧✧✧✧

The system had not lied to her. Southeast was the direction closest to the divine sword.

Because she had already smelled the scent of Dragon Bone. Her palm felt faintly hot. That was the Dragon Bone she had ordered the Order of Sacred Conduct to bury inside the God of Hope statue, the palm-sized piece taken from that shadow aberrant realm.

In the manga spoiler, behind Pei Xi drawing the sword stood the exact same statue as in Sieg Square. So she had guessed the divine sword’s location was probably there too.

Unfortunately, Wende reported no unusual findings about that statue. But it did not matter. Knowing that place would be where Pei Xi drew the sword and became the inheritor of the God of Hope was enough for her to make arrangements. The self-made golden sword was meant to guard against accidents when she drew the sword, for example, if the divine sword was not very willing to be drawn by her or something like that.

The divine sword itself was not important. What mattered was the sacred identity represented by the moment of drawing it. Ye Zheng only needed that layer of identity.

And that piece of Dragon Bone was not only for increasing her own power at a critical moment, but also for marking the location.

Now it seemed she was fortunate to have left Dragon Bone for herself. The closer she got to that place, the more obvious the aura of Dragon Bone became, and the clearer her path grew.

This maze was truly too strange. It did not feel like an aberrant realm at all, yet she had indeed entered the aberrant realm following the members of the Cloud Soarers team.

Logically speaking, the statue from Sieg Square should not appear in this alien space of an aberrant realm, but it had appeared anyway.

Ye Zheng pondered as she moved with quick steps. No matter what mysteries this aberrant realm hid, she only needed to reach that place ahead of everyone else.

“Almost there, hm?”

Ye Zheng pushed open yet another new door. As she walked, before she could observe the new environment, her foot suddenly stepped into empty air. She only had time to leave a puzzled “hm?” sound in the palace.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on the cold floor. Just as she was about to climb up, a fairly familiar voice came from above her head, carrying a lazy smile.

“Finally someone came. I thought I was trapped in this place forever!”

Ye Zheng stood up, patted the dust off her light armor, her gaze carrying a barely noticeable scrutiny while the corners of her mouth curved into a smile. “Yinkong?”

The silver-haired youth widened his eyes, stared at the other person for a long while, then exclaimed in pleasant surprise as though recognizing an old friend. “Oh, you are that Zhao Mei from the Cloud Soarers team!”

“Ever since that shadow aberrant realm, we have not seen each other again.”

Yinkong had his right hand in his pocket. He spoke very familiarly. “Knowing you are here, Bai Muqing will definitely be very happy haha.”

Ye Zheng, however, calmly restrained her smile and asked, “I do not seem to be very familiar with Miss Muqing.”

“In that last aberrant realm, I saw that Muqing seemed to have quite a good impression of you. She never speaks so nicely to a boy she just met.”

“If you are curious, you can ask Miss Muqing yourself. Talking behind someone’s back is rude.”

Yinkong raised his hand helplessly. “Alright alright. Actually that Bai Muqing finally agreed to let my 【Fate Cards】 serve her, but when she tested it, she drew someone else’s destiny card.”

“I was really curious and guessed everyone around Bai Muqing. Until now, I suddenly realized you fit quite well, Zhao Mei.”

Yinkong said with a relaxed and playful smile, but his pupils were fixed tightly on the black-haired, green-eyed youth.

He saw the youth chuckle and ask curiously, “What kind of card? To think it would make you associate it with someone you have only met a few times.”

“Hm, roughly a person in black clothes and black hair raising the God of Hope’s divine sword.”

Yinkong gestured. As the youth opposite listened to his words, his reserved and quiet face grew more and more surprised. His green eyes trembled, as though something had occurred to him. His expression hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.

Yinkong stopped smiling. He straightened his body and approached the youth who seemed to know something. “You know something?”

The youth shook his head. “Do not speak of others’ secrets behind their backs, Yinkong. No matter what Bai Muqing is thinking or what I have thought of, I have no obligation to tell you.”

Hearing Zhao Mei’s words, Yinkong’s face, which usually carried a lazy smile, completely lost expression for the first time. A flash of coldness appeared on his face, but it quickly returned to an easy smile.

“Alright.”

He patted the youth’s shoulder. “Don't make me sound like some privacy-obsessed creep. I am just curious.”

“I heard you have always been so curious about Pei Xi and the others, sometimes to the point of rudeness. Is this time the same?”

Yinkong pursed his lips. His right hand went back into his pocket. “Alright, I will reflect on myself. I have not pestered the Cloud Soarers team for a long time, have I?”

The silver-haired youth thought playfully. From Zhao Mei’s words, it seemed the secret he was guarding was about his teammate Pei Xi.

During the second stage of the Ability Competition, he had indeed been particularly curious about Pei Xi and the Cloud Soarers team, especially Pei Xi. The fate on him was very interesting, so he often took advantage of competition opportunities to observe Pei Xi and his teammates.

Bai Muqing was unwilling to reveal whose destiny card it was. Yinkong had to list several candidates himself. The most likely were Pei Xi and Ye Zheng.

He had once prophesied for Ye Zheng “a world-destroying flood.” That fate was already terrifying enough, it could not bear another card.

The long hair in the card looked too much like Ye Zheng’s, but cards were not necessarily realistic. In terms of the uniqueness of fate, the destiny represented by that card should belong to Pei Xi.

If it did not belong to Pei Xi, that would be bad.

Originally Yinkong had been holding onto a slim hope. Until now, encountering this youth, for some reason, the moment he saw him in this palace, a strong premonition surged in his heart.

“Forgive me. We people who deal with fate and the future tend to lose clarity in our minds easily.”

Yinkong smiled. His hand anxiously reached into his right pants pocket again.

“No matter. I am not your teammate. The one you should most ask forgiveness from is Bai Muqing.”

The youth nodded. His gaze subtly swept over Yinkong’s right pocket.

Yinkong choked. He was telling the truth. Sometimes he also felt his mind needed to clear up. After that strange premonition passed, he rationally judged that the possibility of the youth before him being the sword-drawer in the card was very small.

“You know? Predicting fate has a price. The price is working for fate.”

Yinkong’s arm draped over the youth’s shoulder. The two stood very close, almost side by side.

“They all call me the prophet, but I prefer to call myself”

“Fate’s street sweeper.”

Yinkong turned his head. Along with his gaze, the muzzle of a gun also turned.

The right hand that had draped over the youth’s shoulder had at some point gripped a gun, pressing it against the youth’s throat.

“Sorry. Even if there is only one in ten thousand possibility, you still have to make way for fate.”

Yinkong tilted his head, looking at the youth’s face so close. Unexpectedly calm. He was lowering his green eyes, lashes slowly fluttering.

Yinkong’s heart suddenly pounded violently. The sudden loss of control made his scalp tingle. All of this prompted him to immediately pull the trigger!

The expected explosive sound did not come. Everything was completely silent. Even those green eyes looking at him lightly were so calm.

Yinkong looked at the ground. Several bullets were already lying in a puddle of water, they had been unloaded at some point.

He felt his right pocket again and touched a trace of water.

“You are too clumsy as fate’s street sweeper. Prophet suits you better.”

Yinkong felt something pressed against his chest. He looked down. A black gun muzzle pointed straight at his heart.

Water ability, skilled with guns, the answer he should have thought of most!

“Ye”

Bang!

【Action points deducted: 300!】

Ye Zheng had no time to pay attention to the system’s broadcast. She lightly wiped the blood off herself, stepped over the prophet’s corpse, and walked toward the dust-sealed grand door.

“Only the merciful strong may grasp the hilt of hope’s sword.”

Only now did she see this sentence. She laughed once in amusement.

Immediately after, Ye Zheng pushed hard. Behind the door, the massive statue hung its eyes, compassionately yet majestically watching the first comer.

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Authors Note

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Caught a seasonal cold. Head is very foggy, so updates are slow, everyone take care of your health.