lpffa Chapter 974 - 828: Xu Nuo
Chapter 974 - 828: Xu Nuo
The bone flute sounded; Dongguo Shou vaguely only heard a single note, then the sound seemed to drift in from far away, growing fainter and fainter, until very soon he couldn't hear anything at all, and could only keep blowing with all his strength.
He could no longer see anything before his eyes either, his consciousness was hazy, and in the end his whole body lost strength and toppled to the ground.
He wasn't the only one to fall; those people from the Sky Splitting Sword team who had just struck out to besiege him, those who had been shone on by that dim yellow light, were also all collapsing one after another at this moment, immediately stirring up no small chaos.
Because this matter was a conspiracy, they hadn't been informed in advance, so none of them knew what had just happened.
However, that stiff-faced man did not sit back and watch, he stepped out to rescue them.
The sight of Dongguo Shou collapsing out in the wilderness made Manxi, whose heart had leapt into his throat, slap his thigh and stomp his foot with a click of the tongue, then he urgently shouted, "Anyone nearby, anyone nearby at all, go save him at once, save him at all costs!"
Mo Hei hurriedly went to carry out the order.
Wei Mo's eyes were glued to the Mirror Image, his mouth following the scene as he spoke, "Down, down, he's down…" He clapped his hands with a smack. "Good, what the Blue Child said was true. Move in and take him, quickly, absolutely do not let others pick up this bargain, move in and take him."
Tao Zhi said excitedly, "My lord planned ahead; with a thousand wielding the Sky Splitting Sword sweeping through, the people in that area should all have been scared off, there shouldn't be anyone left to compete with us for it."
Even so, he didn't dare slacken his pace; knowing Dongguo Shou's Inch and Mile Divine Skills, even in flight he could have run quite far away already, so he hurried off to execute the order.
At the Nanshan Team Command Center, seeing Dongguo Shou fall in the Mirror Image, Ming Chaofeng was momentarily dazed—after all, he wasn't like Wei Mo who knew everything in advance—but he quickly reacted, turned back and barked orders: "Dongguo Shou has fallen for Wei Mo's scheme. He's carrying Tokens and the Sky Splitting Sword on him right now. Quickly check if anyone is nearby, send people to snatch them at once. Whoever can grab them will be credited with first merit!"
Not just them; the Beiju Team Command Center also scrambled into a flurry of motion.
They had thought there was no longer any hope of seizing the championship, who knew something like this would suddenly happen. As Ming Chaofeng said, once the Tokens on Dongguo Shou's person were taken, and with the Sky Splitting Sword rampaging in their hands, who said they had no hope of taking the title?
This was a chance to reverse the tide, so how could the West Ox Team sit idly by? Niu Qian swung his fist and roared, "Move!"
The Mirror Images of all Five Great Teams were fixed on the fallen Dongguo Shou, each one constantly zooming the view out to scan whether anyone was approaching in the surroundings, every Commander's heart hanging in their throat, all afraid some other side would seize the advantage first.
Wei Mo in particular had someone estimate the distance Dongguo Shou could have fled within ten breaths; discovering it was not close to his own men, he began pacing back and forth in anxiety, his heart filled with the unease that despite all his calculations he'd still missed a move.
It came back to the same point: he hadn't expected that after traveling such a long distance, Dongguo Shou would actually not be snatching Tokens.
He had meticulously planned it so that Dongguo Shou would surely collapse within ten breaths, yet who knew Dongguo Shou wouldn't even give him a single breath of opportunity; he grabbed the Sky Splitting Sword and ran, actually not snatching Tokens in the Battle of Great Pardon—what on earth was he trying to do?
Then what had all that earlier snatching and robbing been for?
Right now he was deeply worried that the elaborate scheme he'd put together would end up becoming someone else's wedding clothes; if that happened he would be so furious he'd spit blood.
"My lord." Tao Zhi called out, snapping him back to his senses; Tao Zhi pointed at the Mirror Image for him to look quickly.
Wei Mo jerked his head around, only to see a streak of white appear in the Mirror Image. It circled the mountaintop once, scanning around, then flashed down to land beside the unconscious Dongguo Shou. Everyone here recognized it; it was none other than Dongguo Shou's fluffy white big-cat mount.
Seeing this mount, Wei Mo's expression changed drastically. Knowing how fast this mount was, he blurted out in dismay, "This is bad, how could I forget this mount—this can't be a coincidence!"
Previously, when watching Dongguo Shou snatching Tokens everywhere, he had always been using his Inch and Mile Divine Skills to run all over the place, that mount never appeared by his side; now it suddenly showed up, and coupled with Dongguo Shou's abnormal behavior, Wei Mo instantly realized that between him and Dongguo Shou it was still unclear who had actually trapped whom.
The big cat lowered its head, its nose touching Dongguo Shou's cheek; seeing no response, it nudged him over, pressed its lips to Dongguo Shou's chest as if checking his physical condition, then tilted its head, flicked out its tongue to roll the bone flute off the ground into its mouth, after which it grabbed Dongguo Shou, tossed its head back, and the airborne Dongguo Shou landed on its fluffy back.
They watched as the snow-white fur on its back scattered outward like torn-down willow catkins, quickly puffing up to wrap around Dongguo Shou, cocooning him in the fur, and then the cat sprang into the air and shot off at full speed, heading toward the Extreme Abyss.
This too was a plan Dongguo Shou had arranged in advance.
It was just that something had gone wrong with the plan.
The reason Dongguo Shou hadn't worn Shi Chun's armor was not arrogance, but that he was afraid of scaring the Sky Splitting Sword into not daring to strike at him. If the Sky Splitting Sword never showed itself, how was he supposed to grab it back?
Likewise, the reason he kept those Tokens he'd snatched on him without handing them over was to stack the temptation.
Once the Sky Splitting Sword appeared from East Victory's hand, he had already prepared for the Blue Child of Zhechun Valley to make a move, and had therefore arranged for the cloud-demon big cat to be on standby to pick him up.
He had thought that no matter how badly he was poisoned, it would still be enough for him to hold out until he met up with the big cat; he had even already instructed the big cat on what to do after he was poisoned.
As for being "poisoned," this in itself wasn't frightening to him. With Xu Nuo of Zhechun Valley having made a promise, as long as he withdrew from the battle and made no more moves, the Blue Child would have to detoxify him.
Even if he fell into a coma it didn't matter; he believed the Heavenly Court Team Command Center would not stand by and let him die, and would trade his ceasing to fight for the Blue Child curing his poison.
The Command Center had no need to demand his life either, because the Tokens on him plus those at the Extreme Abyss were, with high probability, already enough to secure victory. Letting him withdraw from battle didn't matter.
This was also one of the reasons he immediately left once he snatched the Sky Splitting Sword—there was no need to risk grabbing more Tokens, and it was also to hedge against unforeseen circumstances, to fight for more breathing room for his own escape.
He just hadn't expected that with his cultivation and the Carefree Sect's Cultivation Technique, he would still have no ability to resist this poison, not even making it in time to meet the big cat.
Up in the air, the cloud-demon big cat carried him away, taking him to carry out the unfinished plan.
Dongguo Shou's plan was simple: grab back the Sky Splitting Sword, and return it to Shi Chun.
The plan also originated from Shi Chun's demand for the Sky Splitting Sword.
He personally could not care about this "face," but this time he had come out of seclusion representing the Carefree Sect. If he just turtled his way to victory, then borrowed someone else's Magical Treasure and refused to return it when asked, wouldn't that hand those waiting to mock him the perfect excuse?
What he threw away with his own hands, he had to take back with his own hands—just that simple.
The reason he didn't tell Commander Manxi about this plan was because he knew what Manxi wanted. Manxi wanted absolute security and absolute certainty of victory, and Manxi wouldn't care about the gain or loss of some Sky Splitting Sword anyway—it wasn't Manxi's in the first place.
When victory was already in the bag, to then go take risks—if something went wrong with that kind of decision, Manxi wouldn't be able to answer to his superiors, so there was no way he would approve Shi Chun's risky plan.
In the West Ox Team's Central, Niu Qian stared at the Mirror Image and barked, "Quick, find out which direction they went."
After a bout of busywork from everyone, Huang Xiu reported, "For now, it looks like they went toward the Extreme Abyss."
"Extreme Abyss, Shi Chun…" Niu Qian muttered as he stared at the Mirror Image, then suddenly spun around and roared in near-hysterics, "Demon Riders, every remaining Demon Rider—block them for me, surround, pursue, and intercept at all costs!"
Dongguo Shou had clearly stepped into the spotlight. That boulder pressing over the heads of the various Great Teams had been moved aside, and the Sky Splitting Sword was on Dongguo Shou again. As long as they could block him, they could not only take the Token from Dongguo Shou, but also seize the Sky Splitting Sword and form a strongest assault squad like East Victory had before.
Faced with a situation that had seemed hopeless, such a huge reversal suddenly appeared—how could they not fight for it?
East Victory, Beiju, Nanshan, all were urgently redeploying their forces.
The Heavenly Court Team's Central was no exception, except they were dispatching people as reinforcements.
Worried that just calling other units for support might not be enough, Manxi ran over to Mulan Jin, begging Mulan Jin to immediately order Shi Chun to lead troops to rush over and receive them.
At this moment Manxi was seething, full of fury toward Dongguo Shou—for pulling this kind of stunt at such a critical juncture. If it were anyone else, Manxi would have had their head later, but anger didn't solve the problem.
Mulan Jin really had no way to refuse this request. He was, after all, also a man of the Heavenly Court. He could only take out the Mother-child Talisman and contact Shi Chun.
By this time Shi Chun had already received Shen Moming's report and was rushing toward the shallow edge of the Extreme Abyss, preparing to receive the Token Dongguo Shou was sending.
Who knew that before he even reached the shallow zone, he received a transmission after repeated attempts from Mulan Jin, so naturally he had to ask what had happened.
After hearing what had transpired, he was a bit speechless, suspecting that those Great Teams were indeed still holding back some dirty tricks—just as he had expected.
He also somewhat suspected that Dongguo Shou might have gone to snatch the Sky Splitting Sword in order to return it to him.
Then he thought it over and felt that was unlikely. From his point of view, putting himself in Dongguo Shou's shoes—if it were him, the sword had been borrowed by Manxi, and the incident happened while acting under Manxi's orders. Any explanation owed should be Manxi's to give.
If he could just dump it on Manxi, why shoulder the blame himself?
When he previously jabbed at Dongguo Shou, he'd never expected the man would actually return the sword.
Now, looking at it this way, if they really managed to receive Dongguo Shou, the Sky Splitting Sword quite possibly would end up back in his hands.
The problem was, this "receiving" was not the same as that "receiving." Previously, when it was about meeting Dongguo Shou to pick up the Token, he'd been willing. Going now, however, would be far too dangerous; he really wasn't keen on going anymore.
Thus he sent a transmission, pressing the matter: Commander, that yellow light from East Victory that could knock Dongguo Shou flat—what is it?
Getting knocked flat just by being shone on—if he couldn't even figure out what it was, how was he supposed to dare go? It was clearly a trip to his death; even if they handed him the Sky Splitting Sword, he wouldn't dare take it.
Mulan Jin replied: It should be Zhechun Valley's peculiar poison, called "Six Extremes." It severs a person's six senses; after being poisoned, one loses consciousness and falls into a coma, though they won't die immediately. There is no antidote and no way to wake up. Blue Child has already acted twice; according to the agreement, he has at most one more shot, and in principle he won't go back on his word.
The pros and cons were laid out plainly.
In essence, it was still a suggestion that Shi Chun's side should take action.
Shi Chun, however, carefully confirmed again: Commander, I'm not some disciple of a Great Sect. If someone here gets hit by that poison, will Blue Child give us the antidote?
Mulan Jin breezily replied: The matter of Mo Shiliu is still pending investigation; Zhechun Valley will give me some sliver of face.
That was a promise.
But Shi Chun remained cautious and asked again: If we collapse from the poison, will our prior merits still count?
Mulan Jin responded with concise brevity, just a single word: Count.
Shi Chun fell silent. For this kind of mess to crop up now left him deeply torn. If they couldn't secure the Token on Dongguo Shou, whether they could take first place would once again be in doubt. If they couldn't keep it, he might not be able to comfortably hide until the battle ended.
The problem was, if they were hit by Blue Child's poison, any antidote would come only afterward. In the moment, with no ability to defend themselves, the other teams wouldn't necessarily let him live; wasn't it perfectly normal for them to casually lop his head off?
Shen Moming, who was accompanying him, asked, "Master, what's wrong?"
Shi Chun appeared to mutter to himself, "I'm wondering whether it's more suitable to have Jinliang transform into me, or to have Xiao Sheng transform into me."