Superhumans of the Dome City-Chapter 1421 - 23: The Plot Revealed, the Dagger Unveiled (Part 2)
"Played a trick, deserves punishment," Qin Ming said.
"No tricks," Qin Qianbai retorted, "It’s using the environment. I broke the killing intent of the blade."
"If this blade had no killing intent, how would you break it?"
Qin Qianbai hadn’t thought of an answer yet, when the next blade arrived. This time it was a short knife, slashing straight down, simple and unremarkable. Indeed, it was an attack without killing intent, and even devoid of battle intent, as simple as swinging a hammer to crack a walnut. Yet Qin Qianbai felt like she was that walnut, inevitably facing a dire fate whether she blocked with a staff or a hand.
In desperation, she thrust the staff into the ground, using it to vault herself into the air like a flag. Qin Ming’s downward slash barely missed her, while Qin Qianbai used the rebound to spring towards the side yard, rolling several times in the snow. She flipped and jumped up, not having time to brush off the snow from her hair, when she saw two blade lights following her closely. This time, Qin Qianbai couldn’t imagine what it was; she felt advancing would lead to defeat, retreating would lead to defeat, confronting would lead to defeat, and escaping would lead to defeat — as if the sky and earth enclosed her in an inescapable net, wherever she went, she couldn’t escape these two blade lights.
"Oh...!"
No way to retreat, no plan to employ, defeat seemed imminent, the girl inhaled deeply, suddenly quickening her movements. She defended backward with the long staff against the short knife, her left foot stepping hard on the ground causing a faint tremor, her shout burst into a tangible airwave, she unleashed three moves simultaneously, intending to overwhelm Qin Ming’s blade with sheer quantity!
Qin Ming stood unwavering amidst the tremors, his long knife easily splitting the airwave, the short knife bypassing the staff to point at Qin Qianbai’s heart from behind. Qin Qianbai cried out and collapsed in the snow. Qin Ming leisurely retracted his blade and commented, "Wrong sequence."
A muffled voice came from the snow, "How was it wrong?"
"The second blade should have been broken with a multitude of moves, because your strength was still sufficient at that time. But you chose to dodge first, leaving you powerless to handle the third blade, no matter how many moves you attempted, they’re just the last gasp of a spent force, easily broken," Qin Ming said, "Little Qian, remember this well. In real battles, you can’t dodge too many times, because although dodging doesn’t deplete physical strength, it drains mental focus. Lose focus, and after dodging, defeat is inevitable."
Qin Qianbai crawled up with snow on her bamboo hat, desperately brushing off the snowflakes. She raised her head defiantly, "Uncle Ming, I think it’s not necessarily true. If I could have managed one more move, I might have been able to block it."
"But you didn’t," Qin Ming turned his head.
Qin Qianbai puffed her cheeks, "Next time I’ll definitely make more moves!"
"Practice more," Qin Ming smiled.
Qin Qianbai saw the long staff bounce from the ground and quickly reached out to catch it. As she grabbed the weapon, Qin Ming had already vanished, leaving only two wooden knives in the snow. She jumped in frustration, thinking Uncle Ming was petty, winning yet still unforgiving in words. She quickly quelled that thought, unwillingness to admit defeat had to be accepted, whatever the winner says is right.
She picked up both knives and trotted back to store the weapons. The morning’s spar quickly faded from her mind as a usual matter, after all, victory and defeat are part of martial life, Uncle Ming’s recovery was the real good thing. Happily, she ran out of the snow, into the house, deciding to eat two more buns this morning.
She didn’t know what Qin Ming was thinking, nor did she notice the person standing on the rooftop all along. Gongsun Ce quietly stood in the snow, the little sparrow that previously tossed the pebble now perched on his arm, blinking it transformed into a gray snake of lies.
"Though the final outcome can’t be changed... I still hope you can change your mind," Gongsun Ce said softly.
Last night, he had asked Qin Qianbai about the entire ordeal, and in the original world, this never happened. By rights, Gongsun Ce shouldn’t have engaged in unnecessary actions, yet he still hoped these two would interact more, maybe then the outcome would be different...
But why should the outcome be different? Wasn’t he supposed to ensure the consistency of the ending?
Gongsun Ce sighed, gazing towards Qin Ming’s distant direction, gloomily following behind. The Silent King hovered at his side, eyes filled with a deep-seated anger.
"It’s been nearly a day and you’re still lingering like a ghost... I can tell you’re very angry, but please consider others’ feelings, alright?" Gongsun Ce said, "That’s my mentor. Can I just watch you lead my mentor astray?"
"I’m thoroughly disappointed in you," said the Silent King, "You had a chance to change Yan Qi’s past, yet you chose to let him repeat the same mistake. You don’t care for your mentor, you’re practically a machine of the Fan Ding Realm!"
"Then you tell me, what should I do?" Gongsun Ce retorted, "Join you in fanning the flames, say Yan Qi is great and you’re brilliant, we burn this world to ashes together! Then what? Everyone dies and my mentor gets happy? The real him would slap me out of there without hesitation!"
"So you’ve taken on work as a Fan Ding Realm associate, outdoing the actual machines," the Silent King sneered, "Fine, continue forward, embrace your choice."
She vanished from Gongsun Ce’s sight, leaving behind a cryptic message. Gongsun Ce ignored the riddles of the kings, unable to guess anything without sufficient information. Deep down, Gongsun Ce was torn about his own choice, letting history follow the correct path is his task, yet realizing the crucial point, the choice made him feel anxious.
The final key point is Qin Ming, the snow-covered night that influences Qin Qianbai’s life...
Wanting to do versus what needs to be done, isn’t he also caught in a dilemma?
Gongsun Ce took a deep breath, took out the rabbit pointer, and encouraged himself.
"Hang in there," he whispered, "No need to do anything. Just seeing the end is enough, seeing the end is fine."
He faintly heard the laughter of King Pingdeng in the snowstorm, unable to discern if it was approval or mockery.
Throughout the day, Gongsun Ce followed Qin Ming closely as he wandered the city, pondering the blue-clad youth’s journey. Passing taverns, boxing clubs, bustling streets, and studious academies, watching him converse with acquaintances, observe him sitting in contemplation under the cypress, stroking the long knife in the moonlight.
He asked many about their future plans, listened to their responses, nodding quietly, answering vaguely when questioned in return that he still needs to think. Thus, he watched all the way, asked all the way, until nightfall, starlight and moonlight adorned the path home.
On his way back to Duke Wu Mansion, he encountered Yan Qi, still drunk, reeking of alcohol, seemingly not yet sober from last night’s drinking. Qin Ming pulled out the liquor gourd, returning it to him: "Your gourd, took it last time because it won first."
"Keep it," Yan Qi waved, "I don’t want it."
He laughed heartily, "Don’t want it... don’t want it!"
The two brushed past each other, heading in different directions. Qin Ming pocketed the gourd, feeling a bit downcast.
"Sigh," he rarely sighed, "Practiced so many techniques, what’s the use if you’re unhappy."
At this moment, the time was 23:30, slowly he walked back to Duke Wu Mansion, standing in the empty courtyard, gazing at the pure white moon.
The snow gradually lightened, seemingly about to cease, Gongsun Ce felt increasingly suffocated. Glancing at the watch, he repeatedly scanned Divine Capital City with telekinesis, hoping to catch any crisis.
23:56, Situ Yi watched a play at the academy.
23:57, Liu Zhongwu turned off the lights and went to bed.
23:58, Yan Qi fell in the street, sleeping groggily.
23:59, the snow stopped.
In the final minute of 1997, Qin Ming gazed at the distant moon, slowly drawing the dual knives from his waist. The blade bodies of the long and short knives were dim yellow, like the beautiful sky at dusk drawing near. He pointed the long knife towards the night sky, piercing the last snowflake falling from above.
"No," Qin Ming said.
The rabbit pointer in Gongsun Ce’s hand suddenly started to jump, its amplitude nearly frenzied. At this moment, the historical pointer, almost aligned with "+", suddenly halted, then abruptly reversed, forcing to the "-"’s extremity with irresistible force!
He sharply raised his head, his eyes reflecting the no longer pure white moon. In the instant before Qin Ming spoke, a speck of black appeared in the moon’s center.
That black rapidly expanded and stretched, in an instant engulfing the moon entirely. In the deep black night sky, no trace of light remained!
