Neither Are You

Some might assume that once sorcerers like Truth Sorcerers are stripped of their ability to drive sorcery spirits and sorcery power, their combat prowess would naturally pale in comparison to body sorcerers who had forged their physical form and honed their martial skills. This perception held true in other realms, and had even been accurate in the ancient realm of Senluo, but it did not apply to the Senluo wasteland of the past two centuries—even the Ascetic Cult could flourish across the wastes, which showed just how brutal the pressure of survival on the Senluo wasteland truly was. Yaxiu and the others had hardly enjoyed smooth sailing as they traveled by day. The roads between settlements were infested with Strangling Green creatures... Strangling Green creatures took many forms. Different races exhibited drastically different mutations once overtaken by the Strangling Green: humans typically turned into grotesque beasts sprouting rotting wings; orcs rotted away until they resembled piles of sludge; goblins paradoxically grew tall and statuesque with three heads and six arms; and fishmen sprouted clusters of mouthparts capable of launching ranged acoustic attacks... And if a sorcerer was overtaken, the result was a host of unknown aberrations. The terrifying part was that the Strangling Green creatures never attacked Yaxiu and his companions. Even though Yaxiu and the others displayed no sorcerer might whatsoever, the creatures only dared to spy on them from afar; even when they halted to rest, not a single monster dared venture within half a pace. Yet along the way, when they came upon a small merchant caravan being ambushed by Strangling Green creatures, the monsters scattered the moment they saw Yaxiu's group approaching, giving them no opportunity to cut loose. Strangling Green creatures were not only intelligent, but also possessed heightened senses that allowed them to keenly identify powerful sorcerers. While this kept them from assaulting major cults, it did not mean they hesitated to prey upon stragglers. Every town Yaxiu and his companions passed through organized daytime patrols along its perimeter, yet even so, Strangling Green creatures would seize upon gaps between patrols to rush inside and hunt. It was only because the four of them ranked among the pinnacle of Senluo's powerhouses that they could even manage this journey; otherwise, tracking down the Silver Lantern aside, merely traveling would have been a monumental trial. To the weak, the Strangling Green creatures were without question the "Green Calamity." In such an environment, surface dwellers were compelled from birth to master the skills needed to fight Strangling Green creatures, and this was doubly true in the Calamitous Fire Cult, which was steeped in rigid discipline and revered hardship. Because the secret poison of the Illusion Mirror Dragon had weakened Weise's soul, it in turn crippled her physical constitution—the soul and body were interdependent, and a decline in either would diminish the other's strength—leaving her no choice but to rely heavily on combat technique to protect herself. Compound that with her deep, pervasive insecurity, and Weise had never slackened her hand-to-hand combat training even after ascending to Sanctuary. Following the Four Pillar Cult's destruction of numerous cults, she had managed to obtain their sacred texts, somehow mastering over twenty sorcery factions even amidst the severed lineages of Senluo's knowledge. Her greatest weakness had originally been her frail constitution, but after transmuting her blood with Silver Dragon Blood, that weakness was gone. *Clang!* Her chain-wrapped gauntlet knocked Yaxiu's blade aside from an angle, and Weise thrust her palm toward his jaw—a strike that, if it landed, would shatter his bone and tear through his neck! Yaxiu dodged backward to open up space, but Weise closed in relentlessly. Making a split-second decision, he discarded the Sword of Honeyed Words and Belly Dagger to engage her in close-quarters grappling! He had the Gold-rank fist and claw faction shared by the Witch, so who was afraid of whom?! Yet after several rounds of intense clashes, Yaxiu began to regret tossing his weapon aside—he was distinctly outmatched. The Kill-All-Crows Cult's "Dance of Crow Slaughter," the Calamitous Fire Temple's "Calamity Kill," the Whirling Light Cult's "Whirling Strike," the Mist Extinction Cult's "Mist Erosion"... Weise had woven the physical martial techniques of various cults into a style of her own. Not a single one of Yaxiu's counterattacks escaped her anticipation. Her assault was relentless as a storm, pressing down until Yaxiu could scarcely draw breath. He felt like a Fishcleaver Dragon whose every secret had been laid bare, every movement reduced to playing along with the Silver Lantern's exquisite choreography. Were it not for the instincts granted by his Gold-rank sorcery, which allowed him to barely ward off lethal strikes, the Silver Lantern would have beaten him into the ground long ago. Yaxiu snatched a glance to the side, only to see Watcher trading blows with the other Silver Lantern. Twin swords spun into an impenetrable web, granting him a slight edge, though a victor would not be decided anytime soon. Right now, he could not use sorcery power, Igola and the others were nowhere to be found, this hall was sealed shut, and their planned ambush had failed to take effect... *If I lose...* Weise keenly sensed that the flow of Yaxiu's movement had shifted, but it was futile. Her Silver Dragon Blood body was vastly superior to his, and her combat skill was— *Slash!* Her knifehand pierced through Yaxiu's shoulder, yet Yaxiu neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, he lunged forward, locking his arms around Weise like a vise. He tore off his mask, revealing a calm expression—and a flash of white teeth. "Ugh!" Weise let out a muffled grunt, realizing she couldn't break free from Yaxiu's crushing embrace. She snapped her right foot into his shin at point-blank range, driving excruciating pain into his leg despite the lack of leverage. But even as Yaxiu tumbled to the floor, he refused to loosen his grip; sinking his teeth in with vicious force, he tore savagely into Weise's neck! Agonizing pain spread through her body like poison, yet Weise's eyes burned brighter and brighter. Flicking her fox mask up with her tongue, she too bared her teeth and clamped down onto Yaxiu's throat! Entwined on the floor, the two rolled together as intimately as lovers, yet their jaws bit down with enough fury to crush each other's windpipes! Just as this contest of teeth and wills was about to reach its conclusion, a sudden force hauled them both backward, tearing them apart in an instant. Watcher had Yaxiu by the scruff, while Youlan held Weise. Somewhere in the middle of it all, the two duplicates had forged a silent understanding to pull their respective halves back from the brink. Wiping the blood from his mouth, Yaxiu rose to his feet. "I was an inch from tearing her throat out." Weise adjusted her mask, her voice dripping with languid mockery. "Were you trying to lick my neck, Yaxiu Heath?" The four squared off, and then surged into battle once more! Only this time, Yaxiu charged toward Youlan, while Weise engaged Watcher! An injury to the throat would inevitably hamper combat effectiveness. Yaxiu's strategy was naturally to let the stronger Watcher dispatch the Silver Lantern as quickly as possible while he intercepted the other; Weise, on the other hand, wanted to see just what Yaxiu's Fate Twin was made of. Yet the moment they crossed paths, Yaxiu felt the stark contrast between the two Silver Lanterns. Compared to Weise's savage lethality, Youlan fought with effortless ease, excelling at deflecting force and turning momentum against him. Her movements were not rapid, yet she unfailingly sent Yaxiu sprawling while landing strikes of her own. Though none of the blows were fatal, within a dozen seconds Yaxiu had taken hits to the back of his head, his spine, the small of his back, his buttocks, and even his cheek. If battling the real Silver Lantern had been a life-and-death struggle against a wild beast, fighting this phantom Silver Lantern felt like a child being toyed with by an adult! Taking a kick to the rear, Yaxiu managed to right his balance in time, but he felt profoundly humiliated, any naive illusions thoroughly shattered. He had assumed that someone like the Silver Lantern would surely manifest a Fate Twin of the opposite disposition here. Who could have guessed that her other half, despite the slight variations, possessed the exact same wretched temperament? Truly birds of a feather! Weise, however, was having an equally frustrating time. Skilled as she was at infighting, Watcher's twin blades gave her no opening to close in. The Truth Sorcerer was thoroughly irked: Why was Yaxiu's other half stronger than the original, while hers had seen her combat prowess drop simply because she treated everything as play? Still, a stronger, calmer, faultless Yaxiu... Weise suddenly spoke up: "Do you have a name?" Watcher paid her no heed, his twin swords striking in rhythmic alternation and giving Weise scarcely any room to breathe. Yet she still managed to find intervals within the web of blades to carry out her diplomacy: "If Yaxiu dies, you will be the only Yaxiu Heath. Everything he owns will belong to you. You won't be his twin or his other half anymore—you will be the true him. "You can pursue your dreams freely and weave your own destiny, rather than existing as a 'false Yaxiu' or lingering as 'another Yaxiu.' You can become your own person. "How does my proposal sound?" Weise twisted sideways to slip past a sword tip. "Of course, you might worry that it will turn into a two-on-one... In that case, when we gang up on Yaxiu, you're free to pick either of us to stab in the back. Either way, only two people will walk out of this hall. "No need to answer," Weise said, retreating rapidly to pull clear of Watcher's sword range. "I'm going to kill Yaxiu right now. You only need to let your actions decide who survives." Weise hadn't lowered her voice, so Yaxiu naturally heard her proposition. Yet he didn't look over, keeping his eyes fixed intently on Youlan. As if echoing Weise's proposal, Youlan's assault abruptly grew fierce. Yaxiu's left arm was already in rough shape after being injured by Weise, and under this escalating pressure he was completely overwhelmed, leaving him no choice but to throw caution to the wind and attempt another grapple on Youlan. Youlan seemed to have anticipated his move from the start. Rather than evade his hold, her arms wound around his wrists like water snakes. Sweeping her left foot forward, she tripped Yaxiu and pinned him ruthlessly beneath her! Lowering her head close against Yaxiu, her fox mask pressed practically against his face, she looked down at him with aloof, indifferent pupils. From beneath the mask came a soft whisper, at once gentle and cruel: "Look at me. Don't be afraid. It will all be over soon." *Thud! Thud! Thud!* Yaxiu heard Weise's footsteps approaching from the side. His entire body pulled taut, his heart pounding violently, yet surprisingly he felt neither rage nor fear; only an icy chill began to seep into his eyes— *Clang!* The world spun around him, and Yaxiu found himself dangling in Watcher's grip once again. Weise held both hands up in front of Youlan, a clean sword slash carved into her arm, blood soaking through her sleeve. "What a pity," Weise said coldly, uttering words Yaxiu couldn't decipher. "Neither are you."