Seeing that Yu Xian had no intention of leaving, however, Mai Zi explained helplessly, "Because I'm a healer. I have the ability to heal millions of people in one breath, which is why I'm on the Sky-Mending Leaderboard."
"What about mosquitoes, then?" Yu Xian pressed.
Mai Zi was truly broken by Yu Xian's badgering. He shot Yu Xian a speechless look and answered, "Fine! I've killed them, all right? Not only have I killed mosquitoes, I've even killed cockroaches!"
"Well, there you go," Yu Xian said with a grin.
Then he went right back to summoning, placing his summoned beasts in front of Mai Zi.
Knowing Mai Zi's martyr complex was acting up again, Yu Xian simply explained, "These summoned beasts are just mass-produced creations made from my energy, and they have no self-awareness. So they're just like mosquitoes and cockroaches. No objections now, right?"
"..."
Only then did Mai Zi realize what Yu Xian had been getting at earlier—he had set a trap all along.
After that, both fell silent as they withstood the Nether Armor King's attacks. In truth, Yu Xian was relieving only an infinitesimally tiny fraction of the burden. The summoned beasts were hardly different from sheets of paper, shattering upon the slightest contact with the Nether Armor King's blade qi.
In the end, Mai Zi still bore the brunt of the damage himself.
...
Time ticked away.
The Nether Armor King's attacks were ceaseless, as though it would never rest or stop until Mai Zi was dead.
Suddenly, Yu Xian noticed Mai Zi's legs trembling, the clothes on his back already soaked with sweat.
"Can you still hold out?"
Yu Xian felt a chill watching this; far too many arcs of blade qi were cleaving into Mai Zi. If those attacks had landed on him, not even ten thousand lives would have been enough to survive.
"It's getting tough."
Sweat beaded on Mai Zi's forehead as he forced out a reply through gritted teeth.
He wasn't just standing there doing nothing. Even as he endured the attacks, he was fighting back, redirecting the damage absorbed into his body back out.
If he weren't releasing the damage he soaked up, he would have exploded long ago.
Even so, the pressure remained immense. It felt as though a second's delay would spell his doom. And if he died, with no one left to pin down the Nether Armor King, countless more would surely perish.
Hearing the strain in Mai Zi's voice, Yu Xian immediately summoned several Silver Mirror Ghost Kings, which swiftly shifted into his own likeness.
The summoned beasts multiplied exponentially!
Sadly, it was still of no use. Not one among the swelling ranks could withstand a single blade strike from the Nether Armor King.
At this moment, a sense of powerlessness welled up inside Yu Xian. He hated tragedies; he loved everything kind and beautiful. Having confirmed that Mai Zi was a genuinely good person—a rare gem—he could not bear to see him die.
Yet his strength was simply too limited. Beyond offering an insignificant, negligible speck of help, he was completely powerless.
"I heard that if you die in this world, you return to your original world. Is that true?" Mai Zi frowned, suddenly asking.
Yu Xian nodded. "Yeah, it's true. This world is basically a massive online game. If you reach max level and shatter the void, you can take all your power out with you. But if you die, you lose everything."
"That's good, then. After arriving in this world out of nowhere, so much time has passed without me realizing... I've even forgotten what my mom looks like."
"Honestly, the first time I learned that dying here would send me back, I felt the urge. So... if it's true... that's wonderful."
Mai Zi exhaled a long breath, suddenly giving up on resisting the blade qi.
He turned back toward Yu Xian, a broad smile spreading across his face. "Run. I... probably can't hold out much longer."
"No, don't give up! Let's run together!" Yu Xian hadn't expected Mai Zi to buckle so abruptly.
Mai Zi chuckled. "Can't run. Don't you feel it? The big one's coming."
Just then, a beam of purple blade qi as thick as the labyrinth corridor manifested. Purple radiance flooded the entire space. Even looking at it with the naked eye, its sharpness was enough to sting and slice at one's vision.
Yu Xian opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly felt himself grabbed. In the next instant, he was hurtling out through the Nether Fiend Energy.
No.
Mai Zi had thrown him out.
"Mai Zi!!!"
Yu Xian shouted at the top of his lungs. Even though they had only just met, he felt a pang of sorrow. Someone so good should have shattered the void!
Suddenly, the surroundings shook violently.
Mai Zi slowly dissolved within the light. Yet his death triggered no explosion. Instead, the colossal life force inside him erupted. Radiating outward from where he stood, moss and vines surged wildly across the labyrinth. Without a single seed, the entire corridor bloomed into a lush, vibrant garden.
"Nether Armor King!"
Sitting on the grass, Yu Xian ground his teeth.
Some people remained familiar strangers even after a lifetime of acquaintance. But with others, a few words were all it took to know you could be friends.
Of course, anyone without friends probably couldn't understand Yu Xian's current frustration.
Mai Zi had merely quit the game, so Yu Xian wasn't utterly heartbroken, but he was profoundly pissed off. Good people shouldn't get the short end of the stick; they didn't deserve an end like this.
Still, right now he genuinely had no way to deal with the Nether Armor King, so he scrambled to his feet and ran.
A Silver Mirror Ghost King's life was a life too. Better not to die if it could be helped.
...
In a certain world, on Earth.
A small city in Tianchao.
Dawn was breaking. Mai Zi lay asleep in bed when his awareness abruptly snapped back. He sat bolt upright, staring at the familiar bedroom. Countless dust-covered memories surged to dominance.
In contrast, his memories of the Zhen Realm began to fade.
"I... think I had a very, very long dream," Mai Zi murmured, scratching the back of his head.
For reasons he couldn't explain, a sudden urge to cry welled up within him. Just then, a cool morning breeze drifted in, gently caressing his face. A deep tremor shook his heart, and tears finally spilled over.
"Mai Zi, don't make me call you every single—"
His mother shoved the door open, scolding him fiercely, but trailed off the moment she saw him sitting on the bed in tears.
Her stern expression instantly morphed into concern. She rushed over. "What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Do we need to go to the hospital?"
Seeing his mother, Mai Zi felt the strange, inexplicable emotions in his chest surge even more tumultuously. He shook his head, wanting to say he was fine, but the moment he opened his mouth, he burst into loud sobs.
He was only a fifteen-year-old boy. The weight of these emotions was far too heavy—so heavy that he didn't even know how to express them.
Yet even as he wept, he knew these were tears of joy.
A golden millet dream.
At last, he had reclaimed his reality, returned to the side of the mother he had longed for day and night...
Chapter 546