Heng, Imhotep and XueYing stood in confrontation with Lionheart at a location not far away from Zheng. More precisely, only Heng was confronting Lionheart. Imhotep was injured from a surprise attack. That dark red flame was the bane of his existence. A single spark ignited a whole sandstorm and knocked him back into human form. Imhotep was lying on the ground motionless with smoke rising from his body.
Lionheart gave a laugh as he rediscovered the confidence that was lost when he fought Zheng. His flame was powerful but it seemed like a helpless child when faced against Zheng, which made him doubted this ability. The torture descended upon Imhotep during the burn brought back his confidence. He didn't know why this would happen to Imhotep, rendering him disabled but not dead.
"Oh please. Do you think an enchanted arrow can kill me? Not even the strongest person in your team was able to kill me. What do you have over him?!" Lionheart transformed into a crimson light and continuously moved. He stayed a hundred meters from Heng.
Heng held onto his silver bow. The arrow wasn't aiming directly at the crimson light but Lionheart knew that if he slowed down, an enchanted arrow would instantly pierce his body.
Heng was one of the main combatants in team China after all. His strength was within top three. He wasn't a close range fighter but still, the enlightenment over Elven energy bestowed him with a fair degree of knowledge of close combat. He knew if Lionheart approached the three of them, they would be killed without question. There was no point in contemplating. Heng drew an arrow and activated Lightning Shot. Lionheart dashed away in his light form from shock. Heng was giving off an aura more powerful than Zheng at this instant and Lionheart sensed a threat that could take his life.
Back when Heng was still under the influence of his mental obstacles, he was able to hold clone Zheng in place with Charged Shot. Clone Zheng wasn't as strong at the time, but neither was Heng. A skill that concentrated all of the user's power and faith into one shot could drive anyone running.
The confrontation was in a stalemate. However, Heng was feeling sour over the situation. Lightning Shot was powerful but gave him an equal amount of burden. He was physically strong enough to fire two shots. However, this ability did not operate on a switch where he could fire or halt at will. He was spending a large quantity of energy to remain in the ready state and his mind was tensed. He could only hold it for another minute before he had to release the arrow, and at that point, missing would mean the death for the three people here!
(What should I do? Risk it? I would do it if I am the only one here. Yet, XueLin... if she's the Guide, then she's the team's hope. I can't throw away the team for my own life. Imhotep... is also my comrade! I can't give up here!)
Heng clenched his teeth and bit through the tip of his tongue. The pain drew his mind back into place and continued under this stress. He had decided, thirty more seconds, and he would release this arrow... It was better than doing nothing and die.
(Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen.)
Heng counted the seconds. His mind and body slowly calmed down. Wavering on the border between life and death was strangely calming. The movement and path of the crimson light were reflected in his mind. Yet, its speed was too fast for him to aim. It was a speed only second to Zheng using Soru but could last much longer in usage.
Lionheart also sensed something when Heng made up his mind. He moved as fast as he could. The overall speed of the light was slower than before as both people were approaching their limits. They were waiting for that tiny change that would tip the balance of this stalemate.
"I see them, there!"
A man's voice echoed from the distance. It was ChengXiao. As soon as the two people heard the voice, the crimson light dashed right at Heng and Heng let go of his fingers.
Time seemed to have stopped as the enchanted arrow departed the bow. It was a profound sensation, like the arrow was the only moving object in this space. Within an instant, the arrow was already in front of the crimson light and passed through it when Lionheart finally saw a trace of it. The arrow then pierced through the metallic walls behind. A cloud of crimson light was annihilated in the process. Everything happened as quickly as a lightning strike.
The two remaining clouds of crimson light fused together in front of Heng and transformed into Lionheart's human form. His face was as pale as a corpse and his body was trembling. The annihilation of one part of the crimson light caused huge damage to him.
This was a high tier Vampire ability that could split the life force of the user into four parts to escape. The user would survive as long as one part remained. However, the loss of two parts also took away half his life. On the other hand, he would have been dead without this ability.
"How dare you! Die!"
Lionheart cried like a maniac, distancing himself from his handsome appearance. He grabbed Heng, who couldn't lift a finger at this point. Imhotep whipped a powerless sand snake at him but he just ignored it, while he bit on Heng's neck and sucked blood out of Heng.
Three people were running over to assist, WangXia, ChengXiao and Anck-Su-Namun. She was worried after witnessing the dark red flame and forced herself to follow the other two. She knew the biggest protection she had in this realm was her lover. An otherwise normal person's chance of survival alone was slim, even in a strong team like team China.
The three people arrived at the scene when Heng was seized by Lionheart and Imhotep was lying on the ground sending out sand. WangXia and ChengXiao panicked at the sight of him biting at Heng and rushed toward them with full speed.
However, neither person had movement acceleration ability so they could only watch while it happened. Lionheart sucked Heng for ten seconds then threw him onto the ground. He smacked off the sand coming at him then grabbed Imhotep and bit him in the same way, despite the undying body that Imhotep possessed. Ten seconds later, Imhotep was also thrown on the ground and lay there still.
"Ah! Amazing... people in team China are so strong. Even random members possess so much energy. This feeling, this energy pouring from my body... Once I absorbed every one of them, I will transcend into god!" The color of blood returned to Lionheart's face. The aura surrounding him grew in comparison to before. His power had a visible increase after draining Heng and Imhotep and he cried arrogantly.
After his excitement, he looked to XueLin who was shocked. He frowned knowing she was a weak normal human. As he was about to simply kill her, a heat wave approached him from behind. He leaped to the side and dodged the attack.
WangXia and ChengXiao became separated from Anck-Su-Namun once they ran in full speed. Then the two were growing further apart as ChengXiao was running faster than WangXia. However, the one that initiated attack was WangXia. He formed several bombs with Demon Energy when he was still a hundred meters away and forced Lionheart away.
Lionheart calmed down from his insanity. He floated in the sky and looked down at the people below with a sneer. "I'll be honest. Team China is much stronger than I imagined. No wonder you are a team that once won against team Celestial. Two random member's energy raised my strength by at least twenty percent. And I thought I could wipe you by myself in the beginning.... I look forward to absorbing your leader. He will make me into the strongest person in this realm!"
WangXia and ChengXiao ignored his cries. ChengXiao rushed over to Heng and grabbed him. He let out a sigh of relief finding out Heng was still breathing, although his breathing was very weak. The two didn't get sucked into a dried corpse and merely lost consciousness.
ChengXiao stood up, shielding the other three people behind him. Lionheart sneered again. "Loser, have you forgotten the wound I gifted you? You are not only going to break a leg this time."
"Yeah, one leg is not enough..." ChengXiao muttered. He leaped like a bird with wings spread out. His curled body glided by Lionheart at an inconceivable angle. Sharp air attacks flew toward Lionheart.
The smile on Lionheart's face never faded while the air attacks cut through his arms and body. Parts of his body transformed into sand and then recovered to human form once the air passed through. He looked undamaged using an ability similar to Imhotep's. The difference being his clothes were shredded in the process whereas Imhotep's clothes wouldn't. His did not perfectly absorb another person's powers by the look of this.
ChengXiao fell from the air after his attack. Lionheart dashed at him once he recovered. In the blink of an eye, Lionheart was already next to ChengXiao and reached out his arm. A dozen air attacks struck toward him.
"Nanto Suicho Ken - Hien Ryubu!"
Without any point of leverage in the air, ChengXiao managed to turn around. Lionheart's arms turned into sand at the next second, and ChengXiao landed on the ground without any damage.
Lionheart's mind blanked out as he looked at his hands. ChengXiao negated the majority of his attack at that instant and countered. When he realized what had happened, ChengXiao was already on the ground.
"Haha... Simply great! There are no weaklings in team China! All of you stay here and become my power!"
Greed overtook Lionheart's eyes. The ability to turn into sand nullified any damage ChengXiao could cause despite the difference in their close combat prowess. The other person utilized bombs that were powerful but bombs might not be able to damage him through his sand form. Furthermore, he hadn't even used his flame yet. There was no way he would lose against anyone not named Zheng from team China.
ChengXiao took out a pair of gloves after he glanced at the three people behind him. At the same time, Lionheart's whole body transformed into sand and swept at them in a wave, looking to drown everyone.
WangXia panicked as he pushed his speed as fast as he could. In the time that he took a few steps, a series of thumps echoed from the center of the sand and Lionheart came out flying in his human form. Wounds that cut deep into his bones covered his body, blood was pouring out from the wounds. ChengXiao leaped after him.
"Hisho Hakurei!"
ChengXiao launched himself forward spinning. Sharp air attacks cut through Lionheart and split him into pieces. The broken pieces of flesh then transformed into parts of crimson light that blinked ten meters away before fusing into his human form again.
The attack obviously damaged Lionheart by the terrible look on his face. He roared and dark red flame emerged from his body, halting ChengXiao from chasing him.
"How is it possible! How did your physical attacks damage me through the sand form? Yes, those gloves are magical items. My flame can melt the sand so your gloves can hit me." Lionheart calmed himself after his furious roar.
ChengXiao moved one hand behind and gestured WangXia to cover him, a gesture unique to the Chinese military.
There was no time for Wangxia to think since ChengXiao dashed forward again. He controlled several plasma bombs that moved with ChengXiao.
ChengXiao was below average in the team when it came to combat prowess. He was not exactly weak but he had no specialization aside from his medical techniques. Worse than Zero in long range, worse than Heng, Kampa and WangXia in mid range, worse than Zheng and YinKong in close range. Medical techniques were his irreplaceable skills.
Lionheart dashed at him in a crimson light at the same time. That speed was much faster than his sand form and ChengXiao had no way of blocking this light. Plasma bombs passed by ChengXiao then crashed into the light. The explosions covered a large area in front of him, blocking the light from advancing, while avoiding him under WangXia's control.
Lionheart backed off at his full speed as if he feared the plasma. Yet, he was not fast enough to outrun the lightning and got consumed.
Still, he managed to escape the center of explosions unlike the aliens. He was only caught by the edge of the explosion. The crimson light was smoking afterward after it escaped.
There were burnt marks on Lionheart's body once he returned to human form. The marks recovered in visible speed. However, his face looked blue.
Lionheart was feeling terrible. He always considered himself a step above everyone else, which led him to challenge Zheng despite the rumors of Zheng's strength in the realm. He believed his self-created abilities would put him on par with Zheng. Reality was ruthless and he lost. He ran from fear and it struck a blow to his mindset. That gave rise to his desire to absorb the power of everyone in team China. It was a humiliation to lose to Zheng but it was still within acceptable region. However, losing to anyone else would drive him insane.
"All of you... need to die!"
If he didn't still want to absorb WangXia and ChengXiao's powers, he would have burned them to ashes with his flame. With the plasma bombs gone and WangXia needed preparation for his next attack, Lionheart dashed at ChengXiao. There was no way for ChengXiao to back away from this attack.
Neither did he planned to back away. He leaped mid-air toward the crimson light and evaded it by a hair. He even struck it several times on his way.
"My seniors once told me no martial art is indisputably the most powerful. Every enhancement in the exchange system has its pros and unique points. Some might appear weak but correct usage could enhance its power by a hundred times. Nanto Suicho Ken seems like a garbage enhancement. However, if Zheng uses it, he can cut a hundred of you into pieces. As for me, I only have one way of utilizing this ability... through the wind. I will evade your attacks through the wind, attack you with the wind, and finish you with the wind!"
He leaped again and yelled. "Do you think I will let you get away after harming my comrades? You will not advance another step before I die!"
Lionheart paused for only a moment before he dashed toward WangXia, who had only just regained control over his bombs. At this time, ChengXiao spun in a strange posture, conjuring a stream of wind around the crimson light. The wind was moving faster and faster until it became nearly visible to the bare eyes. The crimson light was consumed by the wind. ChengXiao dropped from the air. Sweat was running down his face.
(That's god damn unlucky. I couldn't have known this dude's actually so strong... Please, don't get up again. I don't even have the strength to stand. Nanto Suicho Ken utilizes the user's body to move the wind, but this ability drained all my stamina. I want to just lie down...)
His hands were pushing against his knees and his body bent forward. This ability was more powerful than he thought. A hundred cubic meter area centered around Lionheart was shredded inside the wind. The shredded crimson light was slowly trying to fuse together. However, it was so slow. Lionheart must have been critically injured from the attack.
By the time he returned to his human form, his clothes were had become strips and flesh was missing from parts of his body. There were wounds that cut deep into his bones. He didn't wait for his body to recover as he dashed toward ChengXiao again with a roar. Fury had taken over his logical senses. Yet, several strikes of lightning pushed him back again.
"Haha. Do you see? No one in team China is easily bullied! It's a simple task to beat a little bat into the ground." ChengXiao mocked Lionheart when he saw the terrible shape Lionheart was in, despite himself being out of stamina. Seeing an enemy like this excited him.
Wounds on top of more wounds actually calmed Lionheart. He took several deep breaths then said. "It's my fault for underestimating all of you. Team China is a team that team Celestial has acknowledged. I will not make the same mistake again, and I will not restraint myself because I want to absorb your powers. If I can't do it, I will kill you. The woman over there, if you don't want to die, then become my woman. I can bring you into team Pacific... Flame Beast!"
Lionheart came down onto the floor. A cloud of flame appeared in his hands and stopped ChengXiao from approaching. ChengXiao could sense the power contained within that flame. It was a power way beyond his Nanto Suicho Ken.
Lionheart laughed. The dark red flame only made his laughter more hideous. The flame surged with a twist of his hands and enveloped a ten-meter area around him. It spun in a reverse cone shape then it leaped at the other people like a monster.
"Get down behind me!"
WangXia cried then threw his plasma bombs out. The bombs merely slowed down the flame monster. Once the plasma dissipated, it would certainly come at them again. WangXia blasted a small pit on the ground while at the same time took out a tactical nuke. "ChengXiao! Bring them all into the pit! Hurry!" The tactical nuke flowed to his front.
ChengXiao threw the other three people into the pit then just as he grabbed Anck-Su-Namun and XueLin, a huge explosion occurred, blowing him and the two women away.
WangXia controlled the tactical nuke with his complete focus. This was a weapon much more powerful than the plasma bombs and one mistake could cost their lives. This was the time to test the result of his training.
Everyone in the team had their own way of training and growth. ChengXiao discovered the wind from Nanto Suicho Ken. WangXia practiced precision control over his bombs, yet his training hadn't started for long. The explosion of the tactical nuke was draining all his energy. Veins surfaced on his body and then one vein busted, then another. He was covered in blood when the tactical nuke exploded.
The explosion surged outward and blasted the flame monster into pieces. Then it consumed the whole passageway with the brilliance of a sun. The only spots holding themselves from the explosion was a dark red flame on its own and an empty area behind WangXia. The passageway began to collapse from the explosion.
At last, the explosion subsided. The passageway was beyond recognition with many areas broken off. Looking through the cracks was a bottomless abyss.
"Ah!"
A piece of metal fell and a wail followed. The metal piece landed on ChengXiao's legs and crushed his knees. If it were off by a little more, it would have crushed his life instead.
WangXia crawled up from the shattered metals. His body was covered in tears and dark and red blood from the bleeding. He looked around, then rushed over to ChengXiao. The passageway suddenly trembled while he ran, knocking WangXia to the floor. He lost consciousness. Perhaps he hit his head on the fall or perhaps he was out of energy. The only two people still standing intact were the women.
"... Anck-Su-Namun, help me..."
A weak voice came through. It was Imhotep. The voice blew away the look of lost on Anck-Su-Namun's face. She immediately ran toward the voice but stopped in front of a broken part of the passageway.
On the other side of the passageway was a large boulder hanging by the edge. Below it was a bottomless abyss. Imhotep was grabbing Heng's arm while hanging on the boulder. The two of them could fall at any time. There was no way for Anck-Su-Namun to give them a hand since the gap between them was over four meters apart.
Imhotep turned his head around with difficulty. He saw her standing on the other side and said. "Help me, I can't turn into sand. That man drained my strength... Help me."
She looked back, undecided. A pile of flame was slowly rising behind her. Imhotep also noticed the flame and a bad feeling struck him. The moment she turned around and ran, his world fell apart.
He had never loved anyone so deeply that he abandoned all the wealth his had, his life, and even faith. This was a love that lasted thousands of years. He joined team China for her, then became aware of the movies of his world. He never believed the same endings would come to him but those endings planted a seed in his mind. And now, he finally experienced the pain that the same him in the movie felt. If he wasn't holding onto Heng, he would have let go of his hand and drop to the bottom of this abyss.
Anck-Su-Namun took off her coat as she ran and stopped after ten meters. She tore the coat into a long strip then turned around with determination. With a short path of acceleration, she leaped through the gap. As soon as she came on her feet, she threw the strip of cloth down on the boulder. "Imhotep! Catch it... I saw the movies but... stop thinking of the nonsense. I love you too!"
Imhotep's mind blanked out as he saw the cloth. She urged him again before he grabbed it and was pulled up.
The dragon blood and prototype T-virus were also given to her so the weight of two men didn't pose a difficulty. She dragged the two men up from the edge, threw Imhotep over her shoulder, grabbed Heng with the other arm, then pulled them onto the floor. She let out a sigh of relief. Imhotep finally realized what had happened. He embraced her and kissed her. Tears were forming in his eyes. "We will never part. Not in a hundred years, a thousand years, in our next lives. We will be together forever!"
The flame on the other side was growing.
This is the last release by me. I am dropping this novel and Wuxiaworld is in the process of finding another translator to take over. The arc is 4 releases from over, and the novel has 3 more arcs. Hopefully someone will pick it up.
It's been 2 years and 10 months working on the novel by myself and I am quite sad that I have to drop it. But I can't find the motivation I once had. I have always treated this as a hobby. Maybe I will work on something shorter length after a break. Thanks for everyone that supported me on the way. It's not a popular translation nor well translated and edited but I am always happy to know someone enjoyed it. Thanks GonZ for being with me since the beginning!