Chapter 629: Unlucky Tang Chi (Two-in-One)

Hearing Tiger's words, the frail woman felt a bit bewildered.

She had no idea how she had just helped him.

As far as she was concerned, she had simply come back to vent.

Now that she had let out her frustrations, it was time to leave.

With that thought, the frail woman actually turned and walked away.

It seemed she had come all this way just to deliver that single strike.

Tsst.

A golden thread sprouted from Tiger's fingertip.

Once it emerged, the thread began to unravel, splitting into two solitary, fine filaments.

One pointed in the direction the woman had just left, while the other pointed at Tang Chi on the distant wall.

The two threads were tightly entwined. Unlike naturally spun yarn, however, they looked forcibly twisted together.

Tiger pinched one end, and the two strands naturally separated.

Before he could make his next move, his nose suddenly tickled, and he sneezed.

As he pitched forward with the sneeze, a heavy punch whistled through the empty air right above him.

Tang Chi's figure materialized overhead.

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

Missing his first strike, he didn't hesitate. He violently flipped his body in midair, clasped his hands together, and smashed down with brutal force.

This strike could not possibly miss.

He was absolutely confident.

He had already crossed into the timeframe one second in the future.

From that temporal vantage, it was impossible for his opponent to predict an attack coming from a second ahead.

And yet...

Thud.

Tang Chi's fists slammed into the ground.

Tiger hadn't regained his balance after sneezing and stumbled forward several steps, "luckily" dodging the blow.

Tang Chi's pupils contracted.

He never expected that even after advancing a second in time, his opponent would still read him.

How was this possible?!

Was the other party also well-versed in the dao of time?

He refused to believe it.

This opponent was clearly walking the Fate pathway.

But even using Fate, if someone didn't understand the dao of time, how could they predict a destiny one second in the future?

He couldn't wrap his head around it.

But a golden thread drifted down in front of his eyes, stripping him of any further time to think.

His eyes twitched, and he immediately pulled back. His figure blurred at extreme speed, trying to escape the golden threads' encirclement. But when he glanced back, he was shocked to find that countless golden strands had silently manifested behind him as well.

Those threads wove and tangled in midair, ultimately forming a massive net that locked him firmly in place.

When did this happen...

The golden silk sank into Tang Chi's neck, but he didn't seem to feel it; he just stared blankly at Tiger.

In Tang Chi's mind, there was always an internal hierarchy of importance for everything.

On that list, many things ranked higher than the current mutation in Old Sin City.

But right now, figuring out how his opponent had predicted an event a second into the future was more important than his own life or death.

He looked at Tiger, his gaze expressing only one thing, a single question:

"How did you do it?"

Tiger looked back. Seeming to read Tang Chi's mind, he nodded.

"It's actually not that hard."

"Because Fate, by its very nature, extends across spans of time."

"I didn't predict your next split-second move from this exact second. Instead, from this second, I saw through everything you would do for the next ten or even twenty minutes. So, regardless of how much you advance or delay time, as long as you don't step beyond the scope of my prediction, it's all pointless. Consider this answer a parting gift for our duel."

As his voice fell, the threads danced in Tiger's palm; he was about to strike the killing blow.

But Tang Chi raised his eyes and looked at him.

Now that his confusion was resolved, the next most important thing was winning.

"You and that old man are friends, right?"

Tang Chi's words made Tiger pause.

Tang Chi moved his palm, and an extra pocket of space materialized right where the Old Man had vanished earlier.

"I could tell that your relationship with him isn't ordinary."

"If... and I mean if, you make a move now, he'll die too."

There was no mockery in Tang Chi's tone. He was telling the truth.

Although it was a despicable tactic, Tang Chi simply didn't care.

"Heh..."

A soft chuckle rang out.

Tiger tugged at the corner of his mouth and looked at the slightly shocked Tang Chi.

"What makes you think you have any say over the Old Man's life or death?"

"Why..."

Before Tang Chi could finish, a fist of wind punched straight through that chaotic, distorted invisible space.

Like a water balloon bursting violently, the Old Man's figure appeared out of thin air.

He was covered in blood. His white beard looked as if it had been dipped in crimson ink, and deep, bone-baring gashes littered his arms and legs. But...

He was the only one who walked out.

That alone was enough to reveal the outcome of the duel that had just taken place in another time dimension.

The Old Man had won.

Pfft.

Tang Chi spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, staring in disbelief at Old Master Liu, whose eyes were still burning with vigor.

"That's impossible."

He muttered the words, madness bleeding into his gaze.

He could feel that his future self had been destroyed. Its source and weird energy had vanished along with it.

Although his future self wasn't as strong as his main body, it still shouldn't have been something a Ninth Tier could dismantle.

No matter how monstrous the Ninth Tier standing before him was, he was still just a Ninth Tier.

A monstrous Ninth Tier might be able to defeat an ordinary Tenth Tier, or perhaps even an outstanding one.

But... it was absolutely impossible for one to defeat him.

"What kind of trick did you use?!"

He stared at Old Master Liu.

However, unlike Tiger, Old Master Liu wasn't about to indulge him.

He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and planted his hands on his hips.

"You want to hear the truth or a lie?"

Tang Chi's hands clenched involuntarily, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

Finally, he squeezed a few words through his teeth:

"The truth, obviously..."

"Want the truth, huh..." Old Master Liu nodded.

"Fine, then I'll reluctantly tell you."

"The truth is..."

Old Master Liu tilted his chin up proudly.

"I, Old Master Liu, am the Minhu Martial Saint! My martial prowess is unmatched under heaven!"

"..."

The sheer arrogance of those words sent another surge of blood rushing up Tang Chi's throat, and he almost vomited blood again.

He swept his bloodshot eyes over Tiger and the Old Man, then gritted his teeth. On his chest, the Badge pinned to his pocket suddenly erupted with intense, blinding light. A split second later, his figure began to turn translucent, on the verge of vanishing completely.

"Huzi! Do it!"

Seeing this, the Old Man immediately roared.

Though he acted relaxed, he actually knew full well how terrifying Tang Chi's potential was.

If they really let Tang Chi live until Advent Day, he would very likely become a massive problem for them.

Tiger moved in an instant. Weird energy surged in his palms, and the countless golden threads rapidly tightened. The massive golden net transformed into a meat grinder, driving straight toward Tang Chi's body.

But it was still too slow.

The phantom-like figure seemed to have already stepped out of this time dimension. The golden silk sank into him without meeting any physical resistance. Tiger's expression changed; he could already feel his threads of Fate losing their target.

"Damn it, where do you think you're going?!"

The Old Man pulled his body back, his right foot stomping down hard like a ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree taking root. He twisted his torso, channeled power through his spine, and shockingly, bursts of weird energy entirely different from before erupted from his palms.

In the next instant, a terrifying force materialized in the air, surging toward the distant region of Wanli.

Wherever it passed, space was thoroughly torn apart, leaving massive pitch-black rifts spanning the sky.

Tiger also took action. Although the vast majority of his golden threads had lost their target, he had planted a single golden line of Fate inside Tang Chi from the very beginning.

Flicking his palm, a Dice materialized in front of him.

Clack, clack.

The Dice hit the ground and finally settled on a number.

2.

Looking at the number, Tiger frowned. He didn't seem very satisfied with it.

But there was nothing else he could do. He could only let the Dice vanish from its spot, chasing down the golden thread.

Outside Old Sin City.

The crowd waited with bated breath.

At this moment, even the slightest movement was enough to catch everyone's attention.

There weren't many monstrous geniuses left inside the city. If the slaughter continued, the entities who had already stepped on others to reach the pinnacle would soon encounter each other, inevitably sparking yet another terrifying clash.

Soon, the crowd spotted a figure walking out of the main gates.

It was a frail-looking young woman wearing coarse clothes, her expression somewhat strange.

"Who is that? Is she a genius?"

Someone who didn't recognize the frail woman asked out loud.

"No, she isn't." A knowledgeable person immediately denied it.

"This is a Divine Envoy from the Path of Steel. She likely came to participate in this mutation to make a name for herself."

"The Path of Steel? That place can still produce Divine Envoys?"

"Rumor has it she's a one-in-a-million genius. It's a pity... With the descent of this great era, an existence that would have left her mark on history in the past is now forced to exit early. Who knows who she ran into."

"Just ask and we'll find out."

Since no one else was coming out anyway, a few busybodies crowded around and directly asked the frail woman who she had faced.

At first, she refused to speak.

But the crowd was in high spirits and kept badgering her.

"Come on, tell us. There's no shame in losing to those monstrous geniuses."

"Yeah! Didn't you come here to make a name for yourself? Being defeated by one of those terrifying entities is also a way of getting famous."

"Most worldly disputes are like this—if someone wins, someone else has to lose. If you obsess over temporary victories and defeats, you'll never amount to anything great." With everyone chattering at once, the frail woman finally couldn't handle the pressure.

She finally whispered, "I lost to someone from Minhu."

"From where?!"

Her voice was far too soft, barely louder than a mosquito's hum, so the surrounding Ninth and Tenth Tier experts didn't quite catch it.

"Someone from Minhu!"

Her face flushed red. Finally losing her temper, she glared angrily at the people around her.

"Minhu! Minhu!!! Are you satisfied now?!"

She looked at the crowd, the blush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.

She expected them to burst into laughter and mock her, but to her surprise, everyone looked entirely unsurprised upon hearing this.

"Oh, it's him..."

"If it's him, then it's not strange at all."

"Yeah, don't feel discouraged. Even that Exiled Immortal lost to him, so what does your defeat matter?"

"Exactly. You can consider it losing to the same person who defeated the Exiled Immortal. Just brag about it like that when you get back, and your reputation won't be bad at all."

Hearing their words, the woman's eyes went wide.

Why did it sound like...

...the person she lost to was actually incredibly powerful?

Even that Exiled Immortal was defeated...

The image of Old Master Liu surfaced in her mind, and she suddenly felt a lot better about herself.

Suddenly, someone nearby spoke up.

"Was the guy you lost to named Luo Sheng?"

The crowd erupted into laughter. Who else could it be but Luo Sheng?

Could a tiny place like Minhu possibly produce two Tenth Tier experts?

But the frail woman was stunned.

She remembered that the old man didn't go by that name.

It seemed... it seemed his name was Liu Fu.

Crap.

She had mistaken him for someone else.

Her face flushed even redder. She decided not to say another word, lest the news that she had lost to some unknown nobody spread.

But before she could walk far, something sudden happened.

The crowd began surging toward the entrance of Old Sin City.

The frail woman was taken aback. Turning around, she saw that the deputy train conductor had come out.

That deputy train conductor had lost too?!

A vague sense of anticipation and a strange, wondrous feeling welled up inside her, and she edged closer.

"Tang Chi... It's Tang Chi..."

Amidst the restless crowd, someone recognized that the person walking out was indeed Tang Chi.

"Even Tang Chi lost... But to who..."

Someone muttered, unable to help but sigh that the world really was turning upside down.

"Yeah, he's the strongest expert the Train has ever seen, and even he lost..."

But unexpectedly, facing everyone's lamentations, Tang Chi's expression remained perfectly calm.

"Me, lose?"

"The Train just had an emergency and needed to recall me. That's all."

As he spoke, weird energy surged around him. The abundant energy instantly sent tremors through heaven and earth, and a phantom of a train echoed in the air above, thoroughly shocking the crowd to their cores.

Indeed, whether in terms of vitality or weird energy, Tang Chi appeared completely full of vigor. He didn't look like someone who had lost or been defeated.

For a moment, everyone bought it.

"What a pity. We won't get to see this deputy train conductor unleash his true power."

"Yeah. I really wanted to see a showdown between the trump card of a First Level Domain and those newly risen powerhouses."

But before the crowd could discuss it any further, a pitch-black rift shot over from the distance, expanding in their field of vision at a terrifying speed.

"What is..."

Everyone's pupils trembled.

But the most shocked of all was Tang Chi in the center. He shifted his body, desperately trying to flee, but to his dismay, a terrifying blast of wind from a fist crashed down right where he was standing.

The monstrous force slammed into him, making him spew out a massive mouthful of blood. Nearly half of his arm had completely vanished.

"I figured it out! That kid is walking the dao of time! The secret lands recorded that when facing an opponent from the time pathway, you must be able to cross through time and strike their figure outside the dimension of time!"

The Old Man stood with his hands on his hips, thoroughly smug.

"Good thing I did my homework on almost all the pathways."

Beside him, Tiger couldn't help but cast an admiring glance.

Crossing through time to strike down an enemy's figure outside the time dimension.

It was easy to say, but to actually do it...

Before the crowd could react to what had just happened, something else appeared.

Suddenly, a golden Dice materialized above Tang Chi's head.

2.

As the Dice settled, countless golden threads cascaded down, sinking straight into Tang Chi's body.

"If it had rolled a 3, he would have died without a doubt."

Tiger shook his head.

"He isn't fated to die."

"Hard to say."

Yan Jing flicked his wrist, and a photograph appeared in his palm.

The person in the photograph was unmistakably Tang Chi.

"To kill or not to kill, that is the question."

Yan Jing's expression was dead serious, yet his tone was casual, as if he were simply discussing whether or not to slaughter a chicken for dinner guests tonight.