Chapter Sixty-Three: Devotion

“Dead?!” Bai Lian, who had been watching anxiously from the side, finally let out a sigh of relief as the puppet collapsed at last. Wang Chao, on the other hand, stood ashen-faced, his eyes wide in utter disbelief.

“He’s... just dead like that?” Wang Chao, having just forced Bai Lian back with a blade, retreated several steps, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before him.

Naturally, Wang Chao hadn’t noticed the series of subtle tactics Yue Qi had employed against the soulless puppet, such as the concealed use of poison. Pressed hard by Bai Lian, Wang Chao had no time to observe the puppet’s abnormalities.

Yue Qi smiled at Bai Lian, though he himself was at the point of complete exhaustion. Staggering, he walked over to Bai Lian and gently touched her cheek.

“As long as you’re safe.” Bai Lian held Yue Qi’s hand, smiling, but then her gaze turned cold as she looked toward Wang Chao not far away. “What should we do with this man?”

Yue Qi turned to look at Wang Chao as well. By this point, Wang Chao had recovered from his initial shock, but he still couldn’t believe Yue Qi had killed the soulless puppet so easily. When he had acquired the puppet at the Qingzhou auction, it was said to be as powerful as an early-stage cultivator! No matter how he looked at Yue Qi, he couldn’t believe he possessed such strength.

“What should we do?” Yue Qi sneered, sword in hand, and slowly walked toward Wang Chao. Wang Chao suddenly felt as though his body could no longer move, his breath growing labored, as if he might suffocate at any moment.

“Ah!” Wang Chao roared in fury, quickly retreating two steps. He knew escape was impossible now—he could only fight for his life.

“You want me dead? I’ll drag you two filthy lovers down with me!” Wang Chao screamed in rage, pulling out several scrolls and spirit stones.

“Hm?” Yue Qi was a bit surprised. The mental pressure he’d exerted on Wang Chao should have been overwhelming, yet Wang Chao had broken free so easily.

“Probably because I’m too exhausted...” Yue Qi thought. His spiritual power was indeed nearly depleted; even though he’d used spirit stones to recover his energy, the strength of his mind had yet to return.

“Take us down with you? With just those first- and second-level scrolls in your hand?” Yue Qi had no intention of letting Wang Chao die so simply. He wanted to break him, to shatter his spirit, and then throw him to the zombies, watching as he was torn to pieces by the ravenous horde.

“No! I can kill you! I must kill you!” Wang Chao howled madly, hurling scroll after scroll—but they were all first-level, not even a second-level among them. Yue Qi realized he’d overestimated Wang Chao; the soulless puppet had probably been his trump card all along.

What effect could first-level spells possibly have on Yue Qi? The answer soon became clear. He stood protectively before Bai Lian, sword planted in the ground, as colored orbs began to float around him—wind, thunder, water, fire, earth. The five elements, interrelated and mutually reinforcing, responded to his powerful perception. Each time Wang Chao threw a scroll, Yue Qi instantly discerned the spell’s nature and countered it with a matching first-level spell of the opposing element.

“No! No!” Wang Chao kept shouting, desperately throwing scrolls at Yue Qi, hoping for a lucky hit. But even if one landed, what difference would it make? Yue Qi’s protective artifact rendered these spells useless; they couldn’t even scratch his defenses.

The pile of scrolls in Wang Chao's hands grew thinner, and he flung them with reckless abandon, to the point that even Yue Qi felt a pang at the waste. There were so many scrolls that Yue Qi, matching their number with his own spells, felt his energy beginning to wane. Wang Chao’s spirit stones dwindled as well, until only a single high-grade one remained.

Wang Chao stopped throwing scrolls, left with just two. Realizing these last ones couldn’t harm Yue Qi either, he gave up.

Noticing this, Yue Qi began to approach, step by step, unleashing a fresh surge of mental power. This time, Wang Chao seemed to crumble entirely, his eyes turning vacant, though his hands still clutched those last scrolls as if they were his final hope.

Without a word, Yue Qi watched as Wang Chao collapsed to his knees, blankly staring at everything before him. Yet, if one looked closely, Wang Chao’s eyes brimmed with terror, his pupils dilating as Yue Qi drew closer.

“Had you known it would come to this, why do it in the first place?” Yue Qi remarked absently, feeling no pity. Someone like Wang Chao might have thrived in the apocalypse, but he’d had the misfortune to cross Yue Qi—and worse still, to provoke him. Yue Qi was a good man, but not a kind one. An immortal who had ascended long ago had once said, “If others do not wrong me, I will not wrong them; should they wrong me, I will repay them a hundredfold.” Such was Yue Qi’s creed. Had Wang Chao left him alone, perhaps Yue Qi might even have joined him in ruling Qingzhou. But since Wang Chao had provoked him, Yue Qi would make sure he could neither live nor die in peace.

Step by step, Yue Qi approached Wang Chao, ready to finish things. Brutal as Wang Chao was, he had united the survivors of Qingzhou and held back the zombies, which was something of a good deed at least. Yue Qi decided to end it swiftly, with a single stroke.

Just then, Wang Chao, kneeling on the ground, flashed a cold glint in his eyes and gripped the last two scrolls tightly.

“Go to hell!” Wang Chao had deceived both Yue Qi and Bai Lian! His lengthy performance had been a ploy to make Yue Qi drop his guard for this final, fatal strike.

“Hmph!” Yue Qi snorted in disdain. What harm could first-level scrolls do to him? Even if he made no defense, they wouldn’t so much as injure him.

But Yue Qi was gravely mistaken. Wang Chao still had two scrolls: the first was indeed a simple fire-controlling spell, which caught Yue Qi’s attention entirely. But behind it was another scroll Yue Qi hadn’t noticed. As it activated, the high-grade spirit stone in Wang Chao’s hand suddenly dimmed, as if all its energy had been drained in an instant.

“True Samadhi Fire!” Wang Chao screamed, and the unleashed scroll shot toward Yue Qi like a meteor falling from the heavens—True Samadhi Fire, a third-level spell! Wang Chao’s final trump card was a third-level spell scroll.

“Brother Qi! Watch out!” Bai Lian’s anguished scream echoed, but she was too far behind Yue Qi to help in time.

The might of True Samadhi Fire was not something Yue Qi could withstand. Even if he wore his own protective armor and Bai Lian’s as well, it would be hopeless against such a spell.

True Samadhi Fire was a single-target spell, but Wang Chao had chosen to use it on Yue Qi. He knew that if Yue Qi died, Bai Lian—though skilled—would be helpless against him. The two of them were fairly matched, and if he needed to escape, she surely couldn’t stop him. Once back in his stronghold, would he really have to fear their harassment?

A fist-sized ball of flame rapidly expanded in Yue Qi’s vision, the searing heat threatening to ignite his whole body even from several meters away. Yue Qi knew—there was no escape.

“Is this the end?” was Yue Qi’s first thought. “Lian’er, Yunsheng, Second Brother... Father’s task to find Eldest Sister and Fifth Brother is still unfinished... But am I going to die now?”

Such thoughts flashed through his mind as the fireball reached him.

“No!” Bai Lian ran toward Yue Qi, unable to watch him die like this. If Yue Qi died, she would rather join him in death.

Yue Qi shut his eyes, awaiting death’s arrival. In this moment, his mind was utterly calm, and it seemed his mental power underwent a qualitative transformation.

“Huh? What’s happening?” Yue Qi stood unmoving, but the fireball never struck him.

“Did it miss?” Yue Qi wondered, but quickly dismissed the possibility. With Wang Chao’s determination, could he really have missed so easily?

Yue Qi cautiously opened his eyes—and saw a smiling face gazing at him. Behind him, roaring flames burned furiously, threatening to consume him in the next instant.

“Hong Ye? Hong Ye!” Yue Qi stared in disbelief. It was Hong Ye! At the final moment, Hong Ye had rushed out and saved his life.

“Savior, my debt to you is repaid,” Hong Ye said softly, and in the next moment, the flames engulfed his entire body, leaving not even ashes behind.

“Hong Ye!” Yue Qi shouted, his mind blank with shock. He had never imagined that, in this critical moment, his savior would be this ordinary man he’d never even spared a thought for.

What had he ever given Hong Ye? Only a minuscule opportunity, a chance for him to avenge his own enemy. Yet Hong Ye had regarded him as a benefactor, determined to repay the debt even at the cost of his life. And what had Yue Qi done in return? He had scarcely looked at the man. But today, when he himself faced death, it was Hong Ye—a man he’d only known for a few days—who gave his life to save him.

“Wang Chao! I’ll kill you!” Yue Qi roared, yanking his sword from the earth. Harnessing the wind, he dashed through the still-smoldering flames toward Wang Chao.

“Die!” Yue Qi kicked Wang Chao over, stabbing his sword again and again into Wang Chao’s chest, until the last spark of life faded from Wang Chao’s eyes, leaving behind only shock and bitterness...