Zheng Xiu knew that once Feng Bei had instantly wiped out everything above their heads, including the Immortal Lady, he had effectively cleared the level.

He had barely even encountered the Immortal Lady from start to finish.

The Immortal Lady had been forced to retreat by Zheng Xiu and had hidden inside the mountain, only to be inexplicably insta-killed by Feng Bei, who had unleashed her ultimate move.

It was all a complete twist of fate.

He could say that he’d cleared the stage now.

As long as Zheng Xiu left this place and returned to his Main Body, he would be safe.

But what about Feng Bei and the others?

Though his bond with Feng Bei wasn’t deep—they had only traveled together for a short time—Zheng Xiu couldn’t bear the thought of sacrificing them for the sake of clearing the level and ensuring the Second Lady’s survival.

’Worst case, I’ll just load a save and start over!’

’I refuse to save, dammit!’

Lines of distorted text materialized from thin air, seeming to dance as they urged him on.

Go, go, go.

You cannot turn back, nor do you need to.

This only stoked the young Young Master Zheng’s rebellious spirit, making him even more unwilling to save.

As the pounding in his chest subsided, Zheng Xiu finally noticed a towering shadow standing behind Feng Bei.

The shadow was a thousand feet tall, resembling a humanoid monster wielding a massive cleaver.

"Feng Nantian?"

Zheng Xiu was stunned. He had never imagined that Feng Nantian’s frenzied form from twenty years ago would reappear in this manner behind Feng Bei.

’No, that’s not right!’

’Feng Nantian definitely died back then.’

’No one was more certain of that than Zheng Xiu.’

’If the save file from Baili Village had overwritten reality, then the only people he’d rescued from the village back then were Feng Bei and Wei Chen.’

’There was no third person!’

’That thousand-foot shadow behind Feng Bei could not possibly be the real Feng Nantian.’

’So, this is Feng Bei’s true Path Mystic Skill?’

’Executioner?’

In the sky, the Passage was like a mirror. A massive Insect Scythe extended partway through, but it was pressed against the mirror surface, unable to emerge any further.

Red pistils surged madly from the cracks around the Insect Scythe.

Feng Bei raised her hand and swung her saber. The thousand-foot shadow behind her, like Feng Bei’s phantom double, swung its own blade in unison.

Blood began to seep from Zheng Xiu’s eyes again, but this time he couldn’t force himself to look away.

It was just too damn spectacular.

It was like a mountain in the shape of a blade, cleaving down toward the Darkness Passage.

CRASH!

The Insect Scythe was severed by Feng Bei’s single strike, dissolving into a dense black mist that nourished the red flowers.

The broken Insect Scythe slowly retracted. As it did, the "mirror Passage" leading to the Darkness began to shrink.

"Is it over?"

Zheng Xiu felt the pounding in his chest begin to fade. The whole thing felt a little absurd.

’Our whole group was on edge, we struggled for so long and thought we were in a hopeless situation, but it turned out to be a complete stomp?’

As the mirror Passage shrank, the furiously blooming red flowers receded back into the Darkness.

Feng Bei turned around. She heard Zheng Xiu’s voice, and even though she knew the young man was deaf and couldn’t hear her, she smiled and replied, "It’s over."

As she spoke, the black markings on the right side of her body slowly receded toward her right eye.

The humanoid "Executioner" figure behind her silently faded away.

Just when Zheng Xiu thought it was all over...

Feng Bei suddenly looked up, her face a mask of shock, and stared at the shrinking "mirror surface" in the night sky.

Tears suddenly streamed down the ever-calm Feng Bei’s face as if a dam had burst. As if she had lost her Human Soul, the black markings on her body flared back to life like fireworks. Feng Bei once again took on the form she so detested.

SWOOSH!

Feng Bei pushed off the stone wall and shot into the sky, becoming a tiny black dot in the night in the blink of an eye.

"Feng Bei!"

Seeing this, Zheng Xiu’s Dice spun wildly as he threw a [Taunt] at the distant Feng Bei.

Feng Bei didn’t even pause. She was about to enter the "Darkness."

"Dammit, it’s still not working!"

Twenty years ago in Baili Village, his Initial Path-level [Taunt] hadn’t had much effect on Feng Bei.

Now, twenty years later, Feng Bei was older and far more powerful, and his Masterful-level [Taunt] was still useless against her!

"SKREEE—"

Zheng Xiu panicked. With his composure shattered, the already restless "Caged Sparrow" within him could no longer be suppressed. With a piercing shriek, his chest tore open, and the Caged Sparrow burst forth.

Beside him, Yue Yan stumbled back several steps, staring at Zheng Xiu as if she’d seen a ghost.

Zheng Xiu had no time to worry about that. The Caged Sparrow had just entered him. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder blades as a single wing unfurled. Zheng Xiu beat the wing and launched himself into the night sky.

[Taunt]! [Taunt]! [Taunt]! [Taunt]!

"Work, damn you!"

The wind cut at his face like a razor’s edge, but Zheng Xiu didn’t notice, focused only on snatching Feng Bei back from the lure of the Darkness.

"Why is it always you!"

Zheng Xiu roared in frustration. After spamming [Taunt] to no effect, he saw Feng Bei before the mirror surface, blankly reaching a hand toward the "Darkness." From a hundred paces away, Zheng Xiu subconsciously hurled the Dice at her like a hidden weapon.

"Feng Bei! Come back!"

Zheng Xiu was caught in a web of conflicting thoughts, but he immediately brushed them all aside.

’What’s there to be conflicted about?’

’I’m a goddamn good-hearted businessman!’

’A great, good-hearted businessman!’

It was as if a little angel Zheng and a little demon Zheng were arguing in his mind.

But it wasn’t long before angel Zheng defeated demon Zheng.

[Do you want to save her?]

"Obviously."

[You won’t regret this?]

"Just do it."

[You are imagining what you need right now to pull her back from the Darkness.]

[Because you are too close to the Darkness, you have been tainted by the Filthy Land.]

Zheng Xiu ignored the text.

[Continue to imagine. What do you need right now to cross such a great distance and pull her back?]

[That’s right. You want to save her.]

’What do I need?’

Feng Bei had already reached her hand into the mirror surface.

"Father."

Feng Bei murmured in a daze, wanting to bring something back from the Darkness.

Zheng Xiu’s eyes were bloodshot. His mind was consumed by a single thought: pull Feng Bei out.

’Pull.’

’Pull!’

’PULL!!’

Only one thought remained in Zheng Xiu’s mind.

’Pull Feng Bei out.’

’How can I close the distance between us instantly?’

’Telekinesis?’

’Instant Teleportation?’

’No.’

Suddenly, the hazy shape of chains materialized in Zheng Xiu’s mind.

The moment that hazy thought formed, a thin black thread shot out from Zheng Xiu’s palm, heading straight for Feng Bei.

CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK—

Pitch-black metal bizarrely erupted from his palm.

The chains shot out like a black meteor across the night sky, RATTLE-RATTLE, connecting to the Dice he had thrown at Feng Bei.

[You are happy.]

[You saved her again.]

[But... is this truly the right thing to do?]

[You have your doubts.]

A deathly pale, smiling face inexplicably appeared in Zheng Xiu’s mind. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Feng Bei abruptly turned her head. She had heard the young man’s anxious voice.

A bit of clarity returned to her vacant gaze.

Feng Bei stared in shock at the young man’s appearance.

His body was covered in black markings, his fangs were bared, and a single wing flowed with shadows like liquid ink.

’Just like his father.’

’Zheng Shan.’

The two chains suddenly pulled taut, binding themselves tightly around Feng Bei’s slender waist.

"Are you... Zheng Shan?"

Zheng Xiu couldn’t hear a word she was saying. Seeing that the chains had secured her, he gave a sharp tug and flew away at high speed, distancing himself from the entrance to the Darkness.

POP!

Feng Bei’s hand was pulled from the mirror surface. With half her arm having entered the Darkness, she was yanked back by Zheng Xiu.

In mid-air, Zheng Xiu soared, with Feng Bei trailing behind like a soulless doll, motionless as the chains dragged her along.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

Zheng Xiu had completely forgotten that he now looked younger than Feng Bei, practically a kid himself. He pointed an accusatory finger at her and raged, "Didn’t you say it was over? Why the hell did you go in?"

"Are you Zheng Shan?"

Feng Bei asked dazedly.

Zheng Xiu was deaf. He continued his tirade, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You know how dangerous and strange the Darkness is, and you still let it mesmerize you?"

Feng Bei simply asked again, still in a daze, "Are you Zheng Shan?"

Zheng Xiu was deaf; he couldn’t hear what she was saying.

Feng Bei seemed to be in a stupor, ignoring whatever he was saying.

If anyone had been there to hear this one-sided conversation, they probably would have thought both of them were idiots.

CLANK-CLANK-CLANK—

Zheng Xiu finally remembered his current state and immediately shut his mouth. With a clanking sound, the chains flexibly retracted, coiling a dozen times around each of his arms until they resembled a pair of uniquely styled sleeves.

[Fitting with ’Deceitful Object: Jiazi’ has increased.]

[You are attempting to create ’Form One.’]

[Completion Rate: Unknown.]

[Please complete this as soon as possible.]

The chains wrapped around his arms were as black as ink, and a faint, ink-like flame seemed to burn along their surface.

The ends of the chains were connected to his palms, looking as though they had grown right out of his bones.

Zheng Xiu brought Feng Bei back to the ground. Yue Yan stared at him in his current state, her mouth agape in a perfect "O," so wide it looked like it could swallow anything. SSS. She had opened her mouth so wide that her dry lips split and began to bleed.

Yue Yan’s expression froze, a perfect illustration of the word "shock."

Clearly, Zheng Xiu’s display had completely surpassed her ability to comprehend or accept, and her mind had simply shut down.

’I’ll worry about explaining later,’ Zheng Xiu thought. He walked to the side, looking down at the chains and pondering what "incomplete" meant.

The other end of the chains was a blur of black, flowing light. For some reason, Zheng Xiu could faintly make out several strange symbols within the light, like Arabic numerals.

’How is that possible? That’s totally out of place with the aesthetic here.’

Zheng Xiu didn’t dwell on it. The light rapidly changed shape, as chaotic as his current state of mind.

’A Wolf Fang Club?’

Zheng Xiu tried to imagine the ridiculous image of two Wolf Fang Clubs attached to the ends of the chains.

The flowing black light gradually took the shape of a Wolf Fang Club.

’No!’

He was just picturing it for fun. The thought of himself swinging two thick Wolf Fang Clubs in the future was just too embarrassing, and he quickly erased the image from his mind.

’Two chains?’

’Hmm?’

Zheng Xiu suddenly recalled a classic weapon.

In an instant, the flowing light at the ends of the chains condensed into two savage, rugged Large Curved Sabers.

In the center of the two Curved Sabers, two blood-red orbs spun like a pair of demonic eyes.

No, they were two Dice.

As the two Curved Sabers finished forming, the two fist-sized red Dice finally stopped spinning and locked into place.

They settled on a single character—"One"!

[Please name Form One.]

Zheng Xiu quickly came up with a name.

"Purgatory."

’Cliché, but effective.’

’A real man ought to use a weapon this overwhelmingly badass!’

’Hook the monster and slice ’em up!’

’If I’d unlocked this weapon back when I was dealing with the Immortal Lady, would all this other crap even have happened?’

’Just hook ’em and slice ’em to bits.’

As Zheng Xiu imagined himself wielding two Chain Sabers, slashing and slaughtering with wild abandon, he could almost see the day his dream would come true.

His dream had never been to become the Richest Person. It was to shatter mountains with a single punch and sever rivers with a single sword. Mmm, what was that phrase again? Reign supreme for all eternity, yes, that was it.

’I, Zheng Xiu, am destined to reign supreme for all eternity! To blot out the very heavens with a single hand!’

Heroic ambition swelled in the young man’s heart. A pity he was deaf.

「As the Darkness closed.」

The night sky receded like a theater curtain being slowly drawn upward.

When it was finally gone, the sky had brightened into day.

A stream gurgled nearby, and the sunlight refracting off the water cast a dazzling, colorful light across the young man’s face.

The single wing, the vein-like markings, and the Purgatory Dual Sabers all dissipated from Zheng Xiu like black smoke.

Zheng Xiu’s forehead itched.

He turned his head.

Feng Bei’s expression was complicated.

Yue Yan wore a hostile expression.

Dou Xie was still lying face-down on the ground. He hadn’t had any lines in a while.

Yue Yan was saying something.

"Huh? What? Uh, sorry, I really can’t hear you."

Zheng Xiu pointed innocently at his own ears.