Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 141
Half an hour later, at the racetrack.
In the stands, the kings of the Land of Silence and the Kingdom of Words sat side by side in the main seats, with Liu Shui and Bo Lu, respectively, accompanying the kings of their nations.
Leading the group, the ordinary magicians from both nations sat in two rows, waiting for the start of the horse race.
Shortly after, seven horses were led in and positioned behind the starting lines of seven tracks. Each horse had a number tag hanging from it, labeled with the numbers “1” to “7”.
Meanwhile, seven riders, fully geared, waited obediently for the referee’s signal to mount their horses and start the race.
After the arrival of the horses and riders, servants passed by the ordinary magicians of both nations with trays, offering paper and pen for them to place their bets on their favored horses and riders.
From the main seat, the king of the Kingdom of Words extended an invitation to the king beside him.
“These riders and horses are the champions freshly selected from various race tracks across the civilian areas this year. You may pick one to bet on, and regardless of winning or losing, you can take it home. How could I let you return empty-handed after coming from so far away?”
Hearing this, the king of the Land of Silence laughed. “How can I tell which is good or bad from this far away? Of course, I need to have a closer look!”
“Haha, well said!”
The king of the Kingdom of Words stood up first and walked towards the area where the seven horses were located. “Let’s go, my friend. Let’s have a closer look. If you’re interested, you can even pick one to ride!”
Thus, the kings of both nations got up and walked towards the center of the racetrack.
Seeing this, the magician Liu Shui stood up abruptly and followed them, walking with an elegant gait, his robe flowing like drifting clouds.
Noticing his action, Bo Lu slightly frowned and also stood up. Just as he was about to catch up with Liu Shui, an invisible wave of sound struck, halting their steps.
The sound wasn’t singular. One was the vibration of a stringed instrument, and the other was the sound of a flute.
Liu Shui and Bo Lu exchanged glances, and each summoned their magical weapons.
However, they didn’t take any overt action, as if they already knew that from the moment the Land of Silence delegation stepped into the city, all this was destined to happen.
No matter what they did, it was too late to make a difference.
Regardless of the reasons behind the conflict or whether they could catch the “third party” causing trouble behind the scenes, explaining everything would be very difficult, and such explanations were already pointless.
Both kings were worried that the other might strike first, and to protect themselves, they could only kill the other first.
At the same time, the guards of the Kingdom of Words had already swarmed to the site, surrounding the king of the Land of Silence.
The Wind leader was the sole survivor among the Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Fire branches. He was hiding in ambush and gave the order to activate the magic circle on the racetrack, only to reveal that the seven horses transformed into countless black insects, flying towards the king of the Land of Silence.
It turned out that all the horses weren’t real but made of numerous poisonous insects through an illusion!
At the critical moment, a swath of clouds swept over like a saving grace, knocking down thousands of poisonous insects.
However, a single insect managed to slip through and entered the king’s nostril, causing him to fall to the ground, bleeding from all orifices.
The clouds gently landed, revealing Liu Shui’s figure. He quickly went to the king’s side, forced a pill into his mouth, and repeatedly chanted a spell in his ear.
After a while, the king suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, temporarily saving his life but remaining unconscious.
Seeing this scene, the delegation from the Land of Silence was naturally filled with outrage. The guards immediately drew their swords, engaging in a fierce battle with the four branches of the Kingdom of Words, bringing the killing intent to a boiling point!
The magicians’ duel was equally fierce, with poisonous insects, snakes, ants, and toxic fogs instantly enveloping the entire racetrack.
In the chaos, Bo Lu turned into a mist and appeared next to the king of the Kingdom of Words, grabbing his arm. “My king, I will take you away!”
But a stream of clouds once again elegantly arrived, blocking his path, and then Liu Shui emerged from it, saying to Bo Lu, “Hand over the antidote. I will save the king’s life, and perhaps there is still room to maneuver.”
“It’s useless now,” Bo Lu said. “You said we couldn’t track those deserters, not knowing which timeline they fled to, only able to deal with them through prohibitions. But now, they have still come.”
“Is that so? So, it really is… like the fates of these two nations, you and I, indeed, can only be archenemies,” Liu Shui said. “Then let’s just fulfill this fate.”
Upon finishing his words, Liu Shui’s body quickly transformed into a cloud and drifted to Bo Lu’s side. Bo Lu immediately set the king down and took out an object resembling a stone, hastily starting to chant a spell.
However, his spell wouldn’t launch, as if his sword had struck an unbreakable copper wall and iron barrier.
That was the Imprisonment Technique used by Liu Shui! A technique he had personally taught him!
In an instant, the cloud transformed back into water, entwining and enveloping Bo Lu’s body. Then, every stream of water touching his skin suddenly turned into a sharp blade, slicing Bo Lu’s flesh inch by inch!
The blades climbed upwards, nearing his heart, but Bo Lu finally managed to transform into a mist, dispersing to avoid the lethal blades, and reformed behind Liu Shui.
Bo Lu hadn’t expected Liu Shui to use such a deadly move against him. When he reformed his figure, he was riddled with wounds and drenched in blood.
He looked at Liu Shui. “You-You actually… You just said that if I give you the antidote, there could still be a chance for things to turn around. Maybe not necessarily—”
“Is that so?” Liu Shui turned around to look at Bo Lu, his eyes deep and immeasurable. He asked, “But even if I were willing to spare the king of the Kingdom of Words, would you truly give me the antidote, allowing me to save the king of the Land of Silence?”
Liu Shui was met with Bo Lu’s silence.
Seeing this, Liu Shui smiled bitterly and somewhat mockingly.
Then he said, “I’m tired. No matter how many times we start over, the outcome is the same. So, let’s just… follow this fate together—”
“As you wish!” Before Liu Shui could finish speaking, Bo Lu suddenly shouted these words hoarsely. In that moment, the grass beneath Liu Shui’s feet disappeared, all turning into black insects that devoured his legs, flesh and bone, clean off!
……
The racetrack had descended into chaos.
The scene was even more bloody and chaotic than Zhou Qian had anticipated.
Dressed as a food delivery boy, he thought to himself—this storyline has indeed “already happened.”
The three leaders who were killed hadn’t been revived, probably because they were meant to die on this day anyway. The only difference was that Zhou Qian, and the other players made their deaths happen slightly earlier.
Betrayal and slaughter had already occurred. Amidst the participation of numerous people, strong feelings of hatred spread and grew like weeds.
On the open ground of the racecourse, a pyramid-shaped building indeed suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Difu had arrived!
Zhou Qian sensed something, squinting in one direction. He didn’t directly see Difu but clearly heard her voice.
“Whoever you hate, come pray in the temple and curse them!”
“The gods will listen to your curses and fulfill your wishes!”
The voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible for Zhou Qian to discern Difu’s location. It was only when he sensed a familiar flash of blade light and saw a red lotus blooming in mid-air that he finally located Difu!
With Bai Zhou wielding a sword in front, and the red lotus closely pursuing from behind, Difu was finally forced to reveal her true form.
Then, Zhou Qian and He Xiaowei quickly arrived on her left, while Yin Jiujiu and Yun Xiangrong, holding weapons, flew to her right with the help of props. Difu was completely surrounded in mid-air.
“What a pity. So many people have lived, huh?”
Difu, hovering in the air, had a rare and breathtakingly beautiful appearance.
Seeing such beauty, it was hard to imagine she was born from the utmost evil in the world.
With a beautiful smile, she asked everyone, looking as innocent as a girl, “Do you really think, with just you all, you can kill me?”
“They forced you to show yourself, that’s all. As for killing you—”
Alayne stood on a red lotus, making her surroundings even redder. It seemed like she transformed into a flame that could burn everything in the world. She stared at Difu and said word by word, “I alone am enough!”
As the last word fell, the red glow around Alayne surged, almost covering the sky and blocking the sun, turning everything a dazzling red as if the whole world were left in red!
“I say the red lotus is vast and wondrous. It beautifies the heavens and the earth and can bring down disasters and evils.”
“I sing of the red lotus, in its grand illumination, reveals all evil thoughts in the world.”
“The red lotus turns into boundless karmic fire, burning away evil, vice, greed, desire…”
“As the red lotus passes, burning the heavens and the earth, everything returns to clarity and purity…”
Alayne didn’t speak, but everyone heard her voice.
It was as if her voice descended from the highest heavens to the mortal realm, while the red lotus beneath her seemed to rise from hell, carrying endless hatred back to the human world, vowing not to rest until Difu was dead!
Difu’s face initially bore a smile, as she was a god fearless of anything. Why should she care about a mere mortal, even if that mortal had the power to reach the heavens? She was born from malice.
As long as malice exists, she would never die.
Even the gods couldn’t harm her. Why would she fear Alayne?
Nothing in the world could truly kill her!
But soon, as the red lotus bloomed to its limit, the carefree smile on Difu’s face disappeared.
Her hands formed a strange seal, and she started chanting a spell, as if she sensed something was wrong and became eager to leave. But she was unable to do so.
The moment Zhou Qian noticed the sudden change in Difu’s expression, he quickly looked down at the pyramid-shaped temple—as the lotus continued to bloom, the temple was shrinking!
He Xiaowei, following by his side, couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice, “Difu’s power is really weakening!”
“Yes.” Zhou Qian exchanged glances with Bai Zhou in the distance, saying, “There’s a saying that the red lotus is made from karmic fire, capable of burning away sin. What Alayne said just now is similar. So… the way Alayne spoke of killing Difu, isn’t by literally killing her, but by absorbing the sin.”
“Absorbing sin? But with so much sin… How can her mortal body bear it?”
He Xiaowei felt a bit terrified. “Hiss… I suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. Could she become the next Difu?”
“I don’t think so.” Zhou Qian’s expression became very serious as the power of the [Magic Carpet] carrying him and He Xiaowei began to fade, and they slowly descended towards the ground.
Squinting at the situation in the sky, Zhou Qian said, “Her ending was decided the moment Amei inscribed the curse. I think…”
Without needing Zhou Qian to say more, He Xiaowei also witnessed Alayne’s ending.
The red lotus turned into karmic fire, determined to burn away all the sins of the world.
As sin incarnate, Difu was indeed enveloped by the tongues of the karmic fire, entwined, and, in an instant, turned to nothing.
At the same time, the red lotus swallowed all the sins, becoming an incarnation of sin itself.
Then, the direction of the karmic fire changed, targeting the red lotus and Alayne, who was connected to it.
The next moment, Alayne’s physical body and soul were both burned, instantly turning to ash in the air, which was then scattered by the wind and completely merged with the soil.
Suddenly, a red shadow appeared in the void.
Just when He Xiaowei thought it was Alayne resurrected, he saw that the shadow was actually Amei, who had just chased into this time and space.
Amei, dressed in red, sat in a desolate corner of the racetrack.
The moment she lifted her head, countless ashes fell.
Not a single person from Nameless Village would survive.
By then, Amei’s curse had finally been fully realized.
But for some reason, she felt a heart-wrenching pain in her chest, as if she had lost something precious forever.
And this was the price she paid for the fulfillment of her curse.
Amei had once told Difu that she was willing to give up the most precious thing for the curse to take effect.
She said this indifferently because Beilan, the person she cared for the most, had long died, and her soul couldn’t be found anywhere. She had nothing left to lose.
Now, she really didn’t know why her heart, which should fear nothing, hurt so much.
Nearby, He Xiaowei, observing Amei’s bewildered expression from a not-too-distant place, suddenly felt a bit of sadness and regret.
But quickly thinking of something, he urgently grabbed Zhou Qian’s arm, saying anxiously, “Qian’er! This is wrong! There’s a big problem! We were supposed to find the feathers! Now that Difu is dead, what… What about Xiao Qi?!”
“Difu’s human form is dead, but her true form isn’t. The karmic fire only burned the malice she absorbed, not her true form. Look there—” Zhou Qian pointed somewhere.
He Xiaowei looked where Zhou Qian pointed and saw the temple.
The pyramid-shaped temple had shrunk infinitely, and when Difu’s body was consumed by the karmic fire, all the bricks and stones on the ceiling, ground, and walls of the temple had disappeared.
The temple was gone, but something was left behind—a golden statue of Difu.
At this moment, the golden statue’s shell cracked inch by inch.
Accompanied by a cry, a bird transformed from within.
The bird, as tall as a person, was quite large.
After flapping its wings a few times, it soared into the sky.
“Not good! It’s trying to escape!” He Xiaowei exclaimed. “What’s happening? Its malice was absorbed by someone else… and its true form became free?!
“But the malice in the human world will probably continue to grow, and who knows, in a hundred years, another Difu might emerge!”
“Shit, it’s so fast! It disappeared! We can’t catch up at all. What do we do?!”
He Xiaowei’s question wasn’t Zhou Qian’s immediate concern.
He raised the bow and arrow he had prepared in advance and looked towards Bai Zhou in mid-air, who then nodded at him.
Afterward, Bai Zhou raised his left hand and drew several hand seals in the air, actually using the [Dragon Transformation] technique!
A deep blue dragon with scales suddenly replaced Bai Zhou’s body in mid-air. Due to system restrictions on the abilities of Rank God players, the dragon was much smaller than usual, but its aura wasn’t diminished.
Its long tail swung over, directly scooping up Zhou Qian and tossing him up, then swiftly slid over to catch him securely.
Zhou Qian, holding the bow and arrow in one hand and tightly hugging Bai Zhou’s dragon neck with the other, followed as the deep blue dragon leapt up, disappearing into the clouds in an instant.
Zhou Qian lay on Bai Zhou’s back to avoid the wind slicing his cheeks due to the high speed.
“Zhou Qian, are you okay? Should I slow down?”
Strangely, Bai Zhou didn’t speak, but Zhou Qian seemed to directly hear his voice.
“I’m fine. You and the little dragon are really completely different. Compared to this, its speed is like a child’s, not matching up to its dad.”
Zhou Qian joked with a smile, squinting forward, then said, “But don’t speed up for now. I’ll try to sit up and shoot.”
As he said this, Zhou Qian no longer hugged Bai Zhou but took the bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.
At the same time, to avoid falling from the dragon’s back at such high speed, Zhou Qian tightened his legs, clinging more firmly to Bai Zhou’s dragon body, leaving almost no gap between them.
The golden bird, having its malice devoured, had greatly weakened in strength, probably only retaining its fast speed.
But on Bai Zhou’s side, even though his abilities were greatly reduced, he could still transform into a dragon, and his power was astonishing. Since he usually spared no effort, if they killed the golden bird, the players would violate the fourth prohibition of “not killing birds”.
Therefore, Zhou Qian decided to shoot the golden bird’s wings, preserving its life while plucking its golden feathers.
…..
On the other side.
Even having seen Bai Zhou’s dragon form once before, and even though the dragon was much smaller this time, He Xiaowei was still stunned.
It was Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu who came over to remind him.
The two girls had just gone to collect the unlocked chains from the statue. They said to He Xiaowei, “Zhou Qian and the others have gone after the bird… To trap the bird, or to prevent another Difu from being reborn too soon, we need to lock it in a specific time and space.”
“Yes. Now the entire palace has fallen, with heavy casualties on both sides… Let’s hurry to find the ‘Key of Freedom’ with the King of the Land of Silence.”
As they were talking, He Xiaowei suddenly froze, staring in one direction.
“He Xiaowei?” Yun Xiangrong asked him. “We’re splitting up to find the King of the Land of Silence. Did you hear?”
Seeing He Xiaowei still stunned, Yin Jiujiu frowned and urged, “He Xiaowei, can you hear me? I just thought you were really reliable. Don’t—”
“Look over there—”
He Xiaowei’s gaze became serious. A faint fear of unknown dangers emerged in his heart.
The two girls turned in the direction of his gaze and encountered the scene of Bo Lu and Liu Shui in fierce combat.
The fight between the two had reached its climax, with both simultaneously reaching into the other’s chest, literally pulling out each other’s hearts.
Then they did something shockingly unified—biting into each other’s hearts as if to devour them alive.
Most astonishingly, in this situation, neither of them died!
But this wasn’t what made He Xiaowei, Yin Jiujiu, and Yun Xiangrong freeze.
What made all three of them stand still was the scene where, as Bo Lu and Liu Shui bit into each other’s hearts, the sky split open with a huge crack, and a bottomless black hole appeared on the ground.
From the direction of the three players, they could see Bo Lu, with blood at the corners of his mouth, crazily gnawing at the heart, as well as his deep eyes.
Bodies from the racetrack were flying towards them, rotating, shrinking, and eventually all flew into Bo Lu’s eyes. His dark pupils seemed like black holes, capable of swallowing everything in the universe!
<<< || Table of Contents || >>>
Kinky Translations 