Chapter 480: Internal Conflict! (Two-in-One)

Speaking of this, the scene from back then naturally surfaced in Huo Tong's mind.

"What about your sister? How has she been lately?"

She sat on the other side of the table, looking at the man with messy hair sitting across from her.

His face was covered in stubble, and he kept his head lowered, not even daring to look up at her.

Their eyes would meet for only a fleeting moment before he would automatically look away.

But she still saw it clearly—his eyes were brimming with inferiority and fear.

This was completely different from the Wu Xu she had met years ago.

Though the Wu Xu back then had always worried and feared this or that, he hadn't been cowardly to the bone. She remembered that deeply.

Faced with her question, Wu Xu didn't answer. He just kept his head down, shoveling rice from his bowl.

It seemed she had asked the wrong thing.

Although she didn't understand the ways of the world, that thought flashed through her mind at the time.

She tried to steer the conversation in another direction, but Wu Xu showed a complete lack of interest. About ten minutes later, he suddenly looked at his vibrating communication device, his expression instantly tensing.

After seeing the message, he stood up abruptly and said, "I'm sorry, Xiao Tong. This might be all for today."

"My wife called me home."

"But it's only been half an hour..."

Huo Tong started to speak, but suddenly stopped herself and nodded.

"I understand. You go on ahead. Bye."

"Yeah, see you next time." Wu Xu left so hurriedly that he didn't even mention paying the bill.

Actually, paying the bill was a trivial matter; back in the day, the two of them usually split the check anyway.

But Huo Tong remembered how Wu Xu used to always say before leaving, "Send me the bill, we'll split it."

Yet he didn't say it this time.

Maybe he forgot, or maybe he truly had no money.

It was at that moment Huo Tong suddenly felt that a few years was a very long time.

Long enough to change things she had thought could never change.

And now.

Thousands of years had passed.

She was speaking to someone who looked exactly like her old friend about things that had happened millennia ago.

It felt like she was recounting an event that had nothing to do with her.

"I saw him a few more times after that,"

Huo Tong said, her mood appearing somewhat downcast.

"But he truly had completely changed."

"And then later..."

"The next time I saw him, he was already on the execution ground."

"I heard the Wizard Alliance pinned a very heavy crime on him."

"The key witness was... his wife."

Yan Jing listened quietly, then suddenly spoke up.

"Why did you end up being his executioner in the end? Was it a coincidence?"

Huo Tong shook her head.

"I requested it myself."

She lifted her head and looked at Yan Jing.

Their gazes collided, as if piercing through thousands of years of time.

"If I told you that he asked for it, would you believe me?"

"I believe you."

Space Rift.

Since Wu Xu had been brought up, the group's conversation naturally expanded upon him.

The black-haired woman suddenly spoke.

"Actually, before his execution back then, Wu Xu came to see me."

"What did he say?"

The others nearby turned to look at her at the same time, somewhat curious.

"He said he wanted me to apply to be his executioner."

"There were many benefits to this. First, it would completely sever any ties between him and me."

"Second, he could give me all the soul power he had accumulated."

"Third, it would spare him some pain."

"He hoped I could strike ruthlessly, because he was very afraid of pain."

Amid the silence of the crowd, she said softly, "As you all know, he was terrified of pain."

"Only, I didn't agree to it in the end."

"He was a good person. I was worried I wouldn't be able to bring myself to strike, which would only cause him more suffering, even though his soul power was indeed very tempting." "Wu Xu... really was a good person," the man dressed in white silk spoke up.

"Actually, when I was young, I was almost killed by him."

"But he spared my life in the end."

"I told him I was my family's only son."

"So he ultimately stayed his hand."

"...I also had dealings with him," the Fat Man said.

"You know how my body is extremely light. When I was young, I could never control my power properly. I'd float into the sky from time to time and needed heavy objects to weigh me down." "But dealing with that was a huge hassle. In the end, only Wu Xu agreed to help."

"He pulled me around for two semesters."

The figure of that man simultaneously surfaced in everyone's minds. His face always carried a bit of cowardice, but as long as it was something he could do, he seemed to agree to any request.

Those bothersome troubles others couldn't understand, those heavy secrets people couldn't easily voice—he seemed able to accept them all.

"Cowardice isn't necessarily a flaw, right?"

Inside the solid ice, Bing Yao murmured.

"I'm not too clear on what happened after that," Huo Tong said.

"I killed him. I made sure he was dead, and that was the end of it."

"My only regret is that my strike wasn't ruthless enough, so he still suffered a little at the end."

Yan Jing nodded.

"I understand."

"But I don't."

Huo Tong spoke, looking at Yan Jing.

"Why did you connect me and Wu Xu together?"

Yan Jing shrugged.

"Bing Yao told me."

"No, I mean before that." Huo Tong's mind seemed much clearer than before, and she didn't let Yan Jing brush her off.

"Why did you call those humans to find me? Why did you try to incite a conflict between us? Why didn't you leave the Magma Wilderness?" "That's a secret." Yan Jing didn't answer Huo Tong. Instead, he stoked the furnace fire.

"Get ready to start refining pills. You control the fire."

Boom!

Wu Erta stumbled back violently, coughing up blood from the corner of his mouth.

He was confident that even without the power of a divine soul, he wouldn't lose to anyone opposite him. But now, with the two of them joining forces and both possessing the power of a Deity, he was suffering setback after setback.

If the fight continued, it would likely end in mutually assured destruction.

He wasn't willing to pay such a steep price, so he prepared to retreat.

"Consider yourselves lucky."

He shot a vicious glare at the young girl holding the Dragon Doll and the short-haired girl. Turning around, he strode away, vanishing from their line of sight. "Haa... haa..."

After confirming their opponent was gone, the young girl holding the Dragon Doll finally couldn't hold on anymore and collapsed onto the ground.

The dragon in the air had long since reverted to its doll form, though it was now steeped in thick bloodstains—who knew how many washes it would take to get it clean. The short-haired girl beside her wasn't faring much better. She immediately went over to her younger brothers and sisters. After checking their injuries, she activated the Crystal Stones in their hands to teleport them away. Then, she too stumbled, nearly collapsing to the ground.

The enemy had been too strong.

Terrifying, even.

If they hadn't used their trump cards, and if the opponent hadn't suddenly lost his divine soul power, only two outcomes would have awaited her and the young girl—

Death in battle, or recklessly utilizing divine soul power and degrading into divine monstrous progeny.

"We have to go."

She walked over to the young girl, hooked her hands under the girl's arms, and helped her up.

"Someone might come..."

Before her voice faded, footsteps rang out.

Their expressions changed simultaneously. Before they could leave, Yan Jing's figure appeared before them.

"Good evening, you two."

Seeing Yan Jing standing there almost entirely unscathed, their faces fell.

Both of them knew Yan Jing had just eliminated two of their siblings.

"What do you want?"

The young girl stood up and glared viciously at Yan Jing.

"To crush you."

Yan Jing spoke arrogantly, as if possessed by Cat Fourth Master.

Both their faces darkened. At their level, it was rare to hear such blunt words.

"You can't kick people when they're down!"

The young girl snapped, shielding the short-haired girl behind her.

"Why not?" Yan Jing's blunt retort left the girl speechless.

Finally, the short-haired girl gently pushed aside the girl holding the doll and sighed.

"You are very lucky, Mr. Yan."

"We yield."

Yan Jing nodded.

"My luck has indeed always been quite good."

To Yan Jing, those words hit the nail on the head. He loved it when people told him his luck was good.

The short-haired girl choked slightly. She had originally intended to goad him, to see if Yan Jing would give them a chance for a fair fight.

But she hadn't expected the other party to play his cards completely against common sense.

"Then we have no choice but to fight."

The short-haired girl spoke. The two exchanged a glance as weird energy surged around them.

Yet unexpectedly, Yan Jing spoke up at that moment.

"Attack!"

From behind him, Qi Ming and the others dashed out.

The girl holding the doll widened her eyes, so infuriated she could barely speak clearly.

"You're making them fight us?!"

"This is a good opportunity for them to practice," Yan Jing said indifferently.

"Oh, fuck you..." The girl was so angry she started cursing outright.

She had never seen someone take advantage of others to this extent.

"If you beat my teammates, I'll let you go."

Yan Jing's expression remained calm.

"You said it yourself."

The short-haired girl's eyes shifted.

Though she walked the Imperial Dao, in her view, surviving was always the most important thing.

What kind of emperor could a dead person be?

Moreover, this was the regional ranking tournament.

The burden on her shoulders was heavy. Even if she had to play dirty, she had to endure.

"A gentleman's word." Yan Jing nodded.

He didn't even look back as he walked directly away.

"I'll leave it to you, Dongchuan."

If they couldn't even finish off these two heavily wounded opponents, it wouldn't be unjust for them to be eliminated from the Dungeon. Making it this far was already decent enough.

Taking a step back, he still trusted the team.

Watching Yan Jing's retreating back, the short-haired girl's eyes flickered.

A fierce battle was about to break out.

"We won."

Watching the retreating figure, the group from the First Ring Domain breathed a collective sigh of relief.

By now, everyone was injured.

Zhou Kai and Shui Nianshuang were hurt the most. Zhou Kai's right arm was completely gone, while both of Shui Nianshuang's shoulders were entirely covered in gravel, making it hard to lift her arms. Her face was also speckled with bloody dots punctured by grit.

Xu Feng and the vice-captain hadn't sustained light injuries either. Xu Feng's right calf was riddled with gravel, while one of the vice-captain's eyes had turned a grayish-white color, and his entire body was covered in wounds.

Even Sheng Xia, in her support role, had ended up in tattered clothes despite being intentionally protected, her limbs covered in a dense cluster of small cuts. Only Wan Yicheng...

Looked to have hardly any blood on him, save for a somewhat heavy consumption of weird energy.

At this moment, everyone felt their strength sapped, but Zhou Kai stood up and marched toward Wan Yicheng, his face looking awful.

"When that guy severed my right arm just now, why didn't you make a move, Brother Wan?"

Wan Yicheng's expression remained natural, a hint of apology in his tone.

"I'm sorry, Xiao Kai. I had to protect Xiao Xia at the time. As you know, she is the only support role in our team—"

"Bullshit!!!"

Zhou Kai cut Wan Yicheng off instantly.

He truly had the worst temper in the squad. As soon as he shouted, the rest of the team recoiled in shock. Shui Nianshuang stepped forward, wanting to say something to diffuse the tension, but Zhou Kai interrupted her before she could even open her mouth.

"That person told you to lead the team, yet you harbor selfish motives. What exactly are you playing at?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about."

Wan Yicheng's face was impassive.

"I'm saying you did it on purpose!!!"

Zhou Kai's gaze was ferocious.

"You deliberately let that guy hurt the rest of us!"

"Just so you could take first place in the upcoming ranking tournament!!"

"You're still thinking about God's Candidate Ticket!"

"Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong?!"

He looked at the others around him, hoping to garner their support, but no one echoed his words. Of course, no one spoke up for Wan Yicheng either. After all, everyone could see it was the truth.

Wan Yicheng's actions just now had truly been chilling.

Hearing Zhou Kai accuse him in front of everyone, Wan Yicheng's face finally darkened.

"Nonsense!"

"I don't know why you would think of me like that, Xiao Kai, but I will say it one more time. Protecting Xiao Xia has been our team's guiding principle from start to finish. She is the core of our team. Otherwise, how do you explain why her injuries are the lightest?"

"That's because you like her!!!" Zhou Kai completely tore away all pretenses, dropping a massive bombshell.

"Fuck off, Wan Yicheng, don't be so damn shameless."

"Ever since Shui Nianshuang and I lost in the Three Domains War, there hasn't been a day where you haven't mocked us overtly and covertly."

"We know we embarrassed Yueyin, so we've kept our mouths shut. But what about you?"

"Don't you just think we're useless?!"

"Before, I called you Brother Wan out of respect for your age, but fuck you, you didn't just want me to lose an arm back there, did you! That guy's attack was aimed right at my heart. You were right there on the left, but you had absolutely no intention of acting. If the vice-captain hadn't pulled me away, I would either be dead or eliminated right now."

"Are you even human, you motherfucker?!!!"

Zhou Kai's words pierced straight to the heart, leaving everyone in dead silence.

The team's atmosphere instantly dropped to the freezing point.

A few seconds later, Wan Yicheng finally smiled.

"Xiao Kai, I think the fierce battle just now might have left you a bit confused. Tell you what, let's rest here for now."

"We can talk about everything else later, alright?"

"As for what you said about God's Candidate Ticket, that is complete nonsense. If you really want it that badly, Xiao Kai, I can ask the Lord to give God's Candidate Ticket to you after we get out."

With Wan Yicheng saying that, no matter how much dissatisfaction Zhou Kai harbored, he couldn't say anything more. He could only turn around indignantly and walk behind Xu Feng.

Wan Yicheng clapped his hands.

"Alright, rest and reorganize on the spot, but you must remain vigilant at all times. Other teams might not have encountered these ancient entities. Watch out for sneak attacks. Xiao Feng, keep scouting."

"Yeah."

Xu Feng nodded with a muffled grunt.

He didn't seem to be in high spirits either.

The team's atmosphere seemed to have completely stiffened.

Sheng Xia's face was somewhat awkward, but she still walked over to Zhou Kai, wanting to heal his wounds and say something. However, Zhou Kai fiercely swatted her hand away, refusing to communicate.

Left with no choice, she could only approach the others one by one and begin healing them.

Just as everyone was hurrying to rest and recover—

The rustling sound of vegetation echoed in the distance. The group's eyes narrowed in unison as they looked toward the source of the noise.

A familiar figure emerged from the bushes.

"Good evening, everyone."

Yan Jing!

Everyone's faces changed instantly. They never expected Yan Jing to appear at this exact moment.

Wan Yicheng's expression sank as he spoke up.

"Mr. Yan, what brings you here at a time like this?"

"To send you all packing," Yan Jing laughed.

"Like I said, I'm taking first place this time."

"I see you're all injured. This seems like a good opportunity."

Zhou Kai's face darkened, and the fury he had nowhere to vent instantly erupted.

"Motherfucker! You despicable bastard, is kicking people when they're down all you can do?! Even if we're hurt, did you really think you could beat us all by yourself?! Keep dreaming!"

Yan Jing smiled.

"I didn't say I was fighting one-on-six."

"If the rest of you don't make a move, I only need to fight Mr. Wan."

As soon as these words were spoken, subtle changes appeared on everyone's faces.

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

"He's the only one who isn't hurt. That hardly seems fair, and it's detrimental to the upcoming competition. Wouldn't you all agree?"