Returning to the Surface

"Fighting?" His gaze swept across the opposing sides. Ye Jian walked over, found a rock, sat down, and asked. "Of course we're fighting! Definitely fighting," Amugulang blurted out right away. He then suggested, "How about we team up? Snow Lotus and Deep Sea joined together—unrivaled under heaven! We'll gang up and slaughter him first, then head inside to butcher whichever one survives between the King and the First-Generation Starlight. In the end, everything will be ours." "Oh, what a fantastic idea." Ye Jian looked thoughtful for a moment, then glanced up at him. "But if the survivor is Han Qingyu, and we gang up to off him... what do we do when that old bastard comes looking for us?" That old bastard, of course, was Chen Buer. Amugulang froze, stunned. "What, did that thought never cross your mind before?" Ye Jian asked. "...Mm." Amugulang pondered for a moment, then let go of the saber in his grip, more or less deciding not to go. Smiling, Ye Jian stood up, turned around, and took a step forward. "Sorry, but you can't leave either," Shu You said coldly, glancing sideways at him. "Tch, aren't you worried I might change my mind and team up with this blockhead?!" Ye Jian said threateningly. "Speaking of which, the money I won betting in the City of Iniquity back then—I never got around to collecting it from you, and you still haven't paid me." That was two years ago, in the battle that established the Azure Dragon Gang. The City of Iniquity had opened betting pools, and Ye Jian had gotten someone to place a massive wager on his behalf. That bet had never been settled. Shu You frowned in thought, realized what he was talking about, and glanced at Ye Jian, but kept his mouth shut. "Are you paying or not? Say something," Ye Jian pressed. "...No. Your case counts as insider information," Shu You murmured softly. The payout was simply too massive. Because he had previously poured a tremendous amount of resources into backing Han Qingyu's fleet, even if Shu You were willing to pay, he couldn't afford it right now. In truth, he was originally someone who took his losses in stride—like when Han Qingyu had extorted passage fare from him, and he had paid up. Yet over the past year or so, Mr. Shu You had gradually begun to change. Because his transformation wasn't yet complete, even as he spoke with a cold demeanor, there was still a trace of awkwardness in Shu You's eyes. Ye Jian: "..." "Chop him! You've gotta chop him down!" Amugulang earnestly urged Ye Jian from behind. Ye Jian glanced at him, turned back to Shu You, and said, "We'll table that matter for later. I really am just going to take a look. Besides, if I told you that, just like you, I actually came here to back that kid up, would you believe me? Someone entrusted me with this." "I believe you," Shu You replied briskly. "Then I'll..." Ye Jian gestured in the direction he intended to go. "Stay right here." So he didn't believe him after all. Ye Jian gave a helpless look, saying gloomily, "I really just want to peek in, and besides, I have business to take care of." As he spoke, he pulled a source energy apparatus from the pack on his back. Its design was novel—one neither Shu You nor Amugulang had ever seen before. Ye Jian lifted it to show them, saying, "Tenth-Generation apparatus, Ne's latest creation. Even I haven't gotten to use one yet... Someone stole it and had me secretly slip it to Han Qingyu and the others." Before Ye Jian's voice had even faded— *Boom!* A saber slashed out from behind as Amugulang struck, and the supers beside him attacked Ye Jian simultaneously. A Tenth-Generation apparatus! Amugulang wanted it. With it, at this critical juncture of looming total crisis, Deep Sea's martial prowess could rise an entire tier overall. *Clang!* Ye Jian drew his saber and parried the blow. The clash of peak supers leveled the entire grove of trees, sending dirt and rock flying. Ye Jian turned sideways and swiftly shouted to Shu You, "Team up, team up!" Then Amugulang also hollered at Shu You, "Team up, team up! Snow Lotus! Is there anything more disgusting than Snow Lotus in this world? Let's take him down together and split the loot!" Shu You looked at him, then glanced over at Ye Jian... Silent, he retreated. Backing away a good distance, he found a rock, sat down, watched them, and said, "Go ahead and fight." *** Over two hours had passed. The journalists, onlookers, and the faction of Azure council members had all long since been driven back outside the city. With no regard for the expenditure of source energy, the ground across nearly the entire city had been excavated at targeted points. They discovered numerous passages—beneath the surface lay another entire city—yet they still hadn't found Han Qingyu. The top combat powers searching through the subterranean city were having no better luck. Han Qingyu, He Tangtang, and Alphonse seemed to have vanished together. "Did you motherfuckers really never date, never have a woman like you?!" As the leader currently remaining on the surface, Uncle Shiliang understood Wen Jifei. Rushing about left and right, he roared in frustration. The current situation was that Major Qing had taken He Tangtang, the two of them chasing down Alphonse. Even though word was that Major Qing held the upper hand, what if... what if something went wrong? Nobody knew what was happening down below! Center of the subterranean city. Han Qingyu lay collapsed, and Alphonse lay collapsed as well. Not far away, the colossal life source energy extraction device had ground to a halt. Its walls were covered in spiderweb cracks, looking as though it could shatter completely at any moment. *Chak! Chak! Chak!* Alphonse wasn't dead yet, but he was close. Staggering over, He Tangtang used the small column sword to deliver an extra stab into his remaining arm and both legs. *Chak!* Finally, he stabbed through his only remaining kidney as well. Having done all this, He Tangtang collapsed to the ground, crawled with great difficulty over to Han Qingyu, and gave him a nudge. "Qingzi, are you okay? Wake up, wake up... What do I do now?" Uncle Tangtang, usually so coarse and gruff, now had a tremor in his voice, thick with immense worry. He was actually the youngest member of the squad. "You..." Han Qingyu's eyes slowly cracked open. Having just awakened from a strained bout of self-repair, flashbacks of that final clash replayed in his mind... Just moments ago. The instant their final blades clashed and they both hit the ground. Both of them had reached the absolute limit of physical exhaustion. Han Qingyu stood, bracing his saber against Alphonse's, when suddenly, behind Alphonse, He Tangtang burrowed out from the dirt. "Die!" He Tangtang only shouted after driving the blade home. Because he had seen how brutally Qingzi was fighting, and because Rusty Sister and the others weren't here, Tangtang hadn't obeyed Han Qingyu's instructions. He had dug his way through the ground to get here. He stabbed Alphonse from behind with the column sword. It struck true, piercing clean through and destroying one of Alphonse's kidneys. Gripping the sword with both hands, He Tangtang froze in shock. "Run!" Han Qingyu barked frantically at him. Because Alphonse wasn't dead yet, and he still possessed the strength to kill He Tangtang. In truth, by this point, there was no way He Tangtang could have escaped. Han Qingyu's shout was futile. Yet even reduced to such a state, Alphonse still clung desperately to life. Thus, he didn't unleash a final death eruption, and so He Tangtang didn't die either... Before collapsing, Alphonse had slowly turned his head back, looking at He Tangtang, and said: "Give it back to me." "Give back your fucking mother's head!" He Tangtang cursed, and then his entire body abruptly froze. Unlike Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, and the others, who had inherited the will of a Yanxiu during childhood in an unconscious state, at this moment, He Tangtang distinctly felt something enter his body in an extremely weakened condition. Perhaps this was because Alphonse's Yanxiu was truly unique. *** "Let's get back first before discussing this," Han Qingyu said. Hearing He Tangtang explain his situation in detail, he too felt somewhat at a loss, still in the process of recovering his strength. Reaching for his saber, he sheathed it on his back. Han Qingyu struggled to reach out and patted He Tangtang's shoulder, leaving behind several bloody streaks. Then he pushed himself to his feet, staggered over, seized Alphonse by the collar from the ground, and dragged him toward the back of the life source energy extraction device. Wearing a look of anxiety and confusion, He Tangtang followed along. *** "Uncle Shiliang! Uncle Shiliang!" Lubi Azha came sprinting over at full tilt, pointing breathlessly behind him. "Outside, under the church—there's movement!" "What?!" Xu Shiliang spun around, his eyes widening. "There's movement! It sounds like someone is slashing upward against the ground!" "...Let's go!" Uncle Shiliang sprinted a short distance, then abruptly halted and looked back. What if it was Alphonse? What if the battle was actually still raging?! he realized. "Send some people down to inform Second Lieutenant Wen and the others!" "Everyone else, follow me!" Amidst the fierce roar of source energy apparatuses, the surging crowd converged at the church entrance. Not long after, Wen Jifei, the Little Prince, Rusty Sister, Wu Xu, and the others received word and finally rushed to the scene as well. "Spread out! Spread out! Are you all looking to die?!" At that moment, around the church surrounded by over ten thousand people, just as Wu Xu and the others arrived, Xu Shiliang was leading his men in shouting loudly, forcing the fighters and bystanders to fall back. The crowd gradually retreated beneath his bellows. Suddenly, a sharp *shhh-t!* rang out. It was the sound of a blade slicing through, tearing open the earth and dirt, mingling with the cleaving of concrete and marble. Xu Shiliang froze and turned his head. *Boom!* Amidst flying dirt and stone, the ground caved in. The stone steps before the church entrance collapsed inward, tumbling down into the gaping crater blasted open from below. *Clack, clack!* The sound of combat boots treading on stone slabs—one step, then another. They were here. Before the eyes of everyone gathered: Bathed in blood, Han Qingyu dragged the dying Alphonse, slowly walking up into the open.