Chapter 425: One Move Decides the Realm

The king’s gesture was unmistakably deliberate. He was clearly only a phantom, and yet for that split second, he seemed to possess awareness, almost as if he had chosen to look.

That glance nearly pierced two hundred years of time.

Down below, a man and a tiger were locked in a vicious fight. He Lingchuan did not have the leisure to look up. If their eyes met, he would have probably felt the kind of chill that crawled all the way down your spine.

The King of Yuān’s gaze seemed to carry weight, as well as meaning.

However, the anomaly on the battlements lasted only an instant, gone as quickly as a white horse flashing past a crack in the wall. The very next moment, the King of Yuān still slit his own throat, and history continued down its original track. Nothing changed.

In the real fight, Uncle Da retreated the moment his vision was obstructed.

It was pure battle instinct, honed over endless years, and in that critical moment, it saved his life. Because the instant He Lingchuan lifted his blade and flared moonlight into the tiger’s eyes, he followed with a vicious, razor-edged diagonal cleave!

He had been on defense for a long time. He had been storing that strike for a long time. When he finally released it, it came down like a river of stars pouring from the heavens. There was no concealment, no restraint.

If Uncle Da had not pulled back, it would have been forced to test whether its neck was harder than Fleeting Life was sharp.

Even so, while it avoided the blade itself, the saber qi that came with it, which was nearly a third of a meter long, still raked across its chest.

Hiss.

A deep gash tore open with a sound like leather being ripped apart.

The monster clans loved body-refinement. Uncle Da had tempered itself until its hide was like steel and its bones like iron; that was how it could bully opponents head-on without fear.

But against Fleeting Life, it still paid the price.

He Lingchuan finally seized the initiative. He unleashed “Swallow’s Cleave,” his offense flowing in an unbroken chain.

For a brief stretch, he actually suppressed Uncle Da.

He also knew he could not keep this tempo forever; he knew that he needed to finish this quickly if he wanted to win. So he rolled with the momentum, using a forward tumble to shift his position.

The tiger whirled after him, shadowing him.

But when it launched into another pounce, it suddenly stumbled.

Its four paws would not obey, as if invisible shackles had locked it firmly in place.

It thrashed its head and lashed its tail, struggling and failing.

If it had looked down, it would have seen why.

Its shadow had overlapped with the shadow of a nearby tree.

He Lingchuan did not waste an opening like that. He shot forward in a single stride with Fleeting Life aimed straight for the tiger’s throat.

Uncle Da threw its head back and spat a mouthful of crushed ice. The ice caught the wind and instantly formed a deep, watery-blue shield, ringed by rotating blue runes, snapping into place beneath the blade’s path.

A crisp clang rang, and the shield shattered. At that same moment, the runes detonated outward. More than ten of them rode the blast wave straight toward He Lingchuan’s face, fast as arrows loosed from a bow.

He Lingchuan had been wary the whole time. He could not leave his life entirely to Fushan Yue’s ability to restrain the tiger. Without hesitation, he raised his shield to cover his face.

Pff, pff, pff.

It sounded like a whole hail of hidden weapons struck his shield.

How deadly were those runes? You only had to look at where the others landed. The ground around He Lingchuan was peppered with shallow craters, and a small tree behind him was cut clean in two at the waist.

It was like being swept by machine-gun fire.

One rune shot into the shadow of the tree where Fushan Yue was hiding. The paths of the runes were hard to predict, and they were indiscriminate. The rune that shot toward the shadow caused a low, involuntary cry. “Ah!”

Uncle Da’s ears caught everything. It snapped its head around and roared, “Fushan Yue, so it really is you!”

It clearly understood Fushan Yue’s Shadow-Controlling Spell. Its long tail whipped hard, flinging dirt, mud, and torn grass roots into the shadow. That was not just a bout of anger; it was a proper attack, with all the projectiles loaded with origin energy.

It even spat another spray of ice. Each shard was a short, shuttle-shaped spike, spear-tipped and viciously lethal.

This time, Fushan Yue took it head-on.

He Lingchuan was fighting Uncle Da with such difficulty, partly because the tiger’s raw offense was overwhelming, but also because the origin energy on its body heavily suppressed a lone cultivator like him.

For one thing, the mirror’s bewitchment spell was almost useless against it, and the shield’s reflected damage was diminished as well.

At that moment, the last rune slammed into He Lingchuan’s shield.

He did not know whether to call it his terrible luck or Uncle Da’s good fortune, but this rune was the strongest and the most straightforward.

It exploded!

BOOM!

He Lingchuan, shield and all, was blasted nearly ten meters away.

The small tree that had been hiding Fushan Yue also snapped. Its upper canopy bent backward, hanging by only half a connection to the trunk.

And unfortunately, Uncle Da’s shadow was still intersecting with the canopy’s shadow.

If the canopy toppled fully, the tiger would be freed.

What kind of dogshit luck is this?

Fushan Yue cursed under his breath.

Creak, creak.

The canopy slowly continued to tilt.

At this moment, Uncle Da was only one meter from the edge of that shadow...

Half a meter...

A handspan...

Almost free.

The tiger went berserk, leaping and wrenching again and again. Fushan Yue was forcing it in place with everything he had; it was already all he could do just to hold the restraint. He could not spare a finger for anything else.

He could not even maintain his Shadow-Escaping Technique anymore. His true body appeared, and he, too, was pinned, unable to move.

This was the purest possible instance of being stuck astride a tiger and unable to get off.

Not far away, He Lingchuan rolled up to his feet, took one look, and laughed. “I ask you to do one thing, and you still can’t manage it?”

Fushan Yue ground out two words through his teeth. “Then you do it!”

“Fine, I’ll do it.” He Lingchuan pulled something from his storage ring and hurled it toward Uncle Da’s head. “Change for me!”

The little tree finally collapsed flat.

Its shadow slid off Uncle Da.

Uncle Da had been waiting for that moment. It sprang straight at Fushan Yue.

At that moment, they were less than seven meters apart. One bound and the tiger would be on him.

But at that same instant, the thing He Lingchuan had thrown reached the tiger’s head, and with his command—

BANG!

It expanded.

The golden-armored copper man, which had been gathering dust inside the storage ring for far too long, finally saw daylight again.

It came down like a falling mountain, slamming into Uncle Da with crushing force.

The earth jolted, and dust erupted everywhere.

Fushan Yue reflexively turned his face aside and raised an arm to shield himself from the grit blasting toward him.

Uncle Da was still half a beat too slow and thus was unable to escape.

The golden-armored copper man did not stop at sitting on its back. It planted both hands, clamped down from above, and forced the tiger’s head toward the ground.

Uncle Da clawed wildly, raking up soil and grass roots in showers, but it could not reach the enemy on its back.

The construct’s mass was terrifying, and it was pressing down with full force. Uncle Da felt as if a whole mountain had been dropped onto its spine; from the waist down, it could not move at all.

It felt like its backbone was being crushed apart.

Before, He Lingchuan had used the walnut boat to suppress the ghost ape. This was the same trick, just with a different tool.

The golden-armored copper man did not weigh as much as the walnut boat, but Uncle Da’s strength was not on the ghost ape’s level either.

Uncle Da bellowed, “Stay here! Stay!”

It’s at death’s door, and it’s shouting “stay”?

He Lingchuan blinked, then followed its gaze only to see Fushan Yue’s back disappearing at full speed.

He even tossed over his shoulder a completely irresponsible line, “I’ll leave things here to you!”

“...”

He Lingchuan could tell he was racing straight back to camp.

With Uncle Da held here and the Chiyan men harvesting caravan lives elsewhere, the camp defenses had to be thin.

For Fushan Yue, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to land the finishing blow!

As the eldest prince vanished like smoke, Uncle Da let out a long roar, summoning all its men to rush back and protect their master. Then it forced itself to twist half around and shouted urgently at He Lingchuan, “Whatever he’s paying you, the State of Chiyan will pay ten times!”

“It’s not really about money.” If he let this tiger return to the mountain[1], how was he ever supposed to catch it again?

“Save my young lord, and you’ll be the State of Chiyan’s benefactor! Anything you wish, we can grant!”

“Wouldn’t it be the same if Fushan Yue becomes king?” Whether it was Fushan Yue or Fushan Ji on the throne, if He Lingchuan dared to demand too much, neither of them would give it to him.

Power was truth, and promises were not.

So Uncle Da’s offer did not move him at all.

Uncle Da, however, misunderstood badly. “It’s different! It’s different! The prince is too arrogant, too warlike! His Majesty dislikes him!”

“A father seriously doesn’t prefer a son who can fight?” He Lingchuan shook his head and walked closer, preparing to take the tiger’s head in a single stroke. There was no sense in letting things drag on.

Uncle Da probably thought He Lingchuan had not noticed the thin layer of ice quietly creeping across the ground.

It was already spreading toward the golden-armored copper man’s feet.

If it could immobilize the construct, the tiger might still break free.

He Lingchuan was not going to give it that chance.

But before he could close in, a long howl rose from the direction of the camp, soaring straight into the clouds, the sound full of wild, ecstatic joy.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He recognized it at once. It was Fushan Yue’s howl. It was half a whistle, and half a laugh, madness and triumph tangled together. “Hahahahahaha! Fushan Ji is dead! Let’s see who still dares to stop me now!”

He was fast. He Lingchuan loosened a breath he had not realized that he had been holding.

Uncle Da, on the other hand, froze, then went slack like a deflated bladder. It stopped struggling entirely.

With its young lord already dead, what was the point of fighting anymore?

Barely a dozen breaths later, Fushan Yue’s figure reappeared at a run.

Seeing that He Lingchuan still had not killed Uncle Da, he let out a long breath of relief and said, “Good, good! Let it go. It won’t attack us anymore.”

“You’re sure?” He Lingchuan kept his tone cautious. It was easy to let a tiger go, but catching it again would be another matter entirely.

“Of course.” Fushan Yue reached behind him and yanked out a blood-soaked head. He dangled it in front of Uncle Da and grinned like a bastard. “Now I’m its only young lord.”

To Uncle Da, that smile looked like a wolf’s, one that was fat on stolen lamb.

The head belonged to a teenage boy. He was not just roughly the same age as Fushan Yue; there was even a three or four-tenths resemblance in the face.

His eyes were closed, expression peaceful, but his skin had turned deathly pale from blood loss.

He Lingchuan had never seen anyone who could behead his own brother and still smile so bright and carefree, as if nothing weighed on him at all.

Uncle Da saw it too and finally gave up.

Time had moved on. Of the Chiyan ruler’s bloodline, only this single seedling remained. What reason did it have to strike at Fushan Yue now?

Only after He Lingchuan sensed the tiger’s spirit and posture sink into resignation did he recall the golden-armored copper man.

Uncle Da turned slowly to face Fushan Yue.

“Want to avenge Fushan Ji? With just you? You’re not qualified!” Fushan Yue looked down at it from above, sneering. “You’re nothing but a king’s attendant. How dare you put on airs with me? You failed at protecting Fushan Ji. If you don’t come over to my side, you’ll go back, and Father will have you executed.”

Uncle Da’s ears drooped backward until they nearly flattened to its skull. Still, it lowered itself to the ground and rumbled, “Greetings, Young Lord.”

The tide had turned. There was no fighting it now.

He Lingchuan stared at the head in Fushan Yue’s hand and could not help but marvel at the man’s sheer luck. “So it really went that smoothly. You just took his head.”

1. This is actually a common saying that carries the meaning of breeding calamity for the future. ☜