Chapter 144
Chapter 144: Quarrel
High above the sky.
Liu Ruyan stood at the very front of the giant sword, her white robe long since soaked through with cold sweat.
Behind the flying sword.
Luo Kun and Shadow poured every last ounce of their strength into saving Iron Bull.
"Bite down and hold on!"
Shadow's 10 fingers flew across the air, endless threads of shadow extending from her fingertips.
They wove through and stitched across Iron Bull's severed right shoulder, forcibly clamping down on the arteries that were spraying blood.
Luo Kun stood at his side, steadying Iron Bull's massive frame with his Psychokinesis.
"Iron Bull, how are you feeling?!"
Luo Kun asked.
"Huff...huff..."
"Vice-captain...Shadow..."
"I'm feeling a lot better..."
"The blood's stopped too, and I can't feel any pain at all..."
Iron Bull forced a smile, reaching for his chest with his remaining left hand, wanting to give it a thump to prove he was fine.
But when he raised his head, he saw that Luo Kun and Shadow's expressions had not improved at all.
If anything, they had turned to horror.
Luo Kun's hands were trembling beyond his control.
And Shadow had stopped the threads in her hands, letting out a quiet sigh.
"What's wrong...Vice-captain? Shadow? Why do you both look like that?"
Iron Bull blanked for a moment, instinctively raising his left hand to touch his own face.
"Don't touch it!"
Luo Kun squeezed his eyes shut in anguish.
But it was already too late.
Iron Bull's left hand made contact with his own cheek.
Rough and withered, covered in wrinkles.
Shadow watched Iron Bull's face rapidly aging before her eyes.
"That is...Time Poison."
"Physical stitching and stanching of blood cannot suppress the flow of the time law at all."
"Even if it's only a single lingering ember..."
Amid the howling wind of the sword's flight.
Iron Bull's originally jet-black short hair was turning ash-white and brittle from the roots outward.
30 years old...
40 years old...
50 years old...
In less than 5 minutes, Iron Bull had gone from a robust young man in his 20s...
To a withered elder tottering on the edge of death!
Iron Bull stared blankly at his wrinkle-covered left hand.
And finally felt that hollowed-out weakness deep within his very soul.
Then, amid the whistling cold wind of the high altitude.
This single-minded, simple-hearted man let out a desolate, booming laugh.
"Hahahahaha..."
He laughed with great effort, yet the aging of his lungs sent him into a violent coughing fit.
"Cough, cough...so that's how it is..."
"I was wondering why I couldn't feel any pain at all..."
"Turns out, I've aged so much I've nearly lost my sense of pain too..."
Iron Bull looked at Luo Kun and Shadow with calm eyes.
Hearing those words, all 3 of them had no answer.
Not because they didn't want to respond.
But because faced with this irreversible dead end, there was simply nothing to say.
It was at that moment that Iron Bull struggled to push himself upright from the sword's surface.
"Vice-captain, Shadow, and Captain Liu..."
"I've been dumb my whole life. Even my ability is a dumb one that can only take hits."
"Now that I've become a useless wreck, I'll only drag down your speed."
"While I still have one last breath left in me..."
"Throw me off!"
Iron Bull dug his remaining left hand into the edge of the flying sword with all his strength.
"Let me use these old bones to block that monster for you!"
"Even if it's only 1 second I can buy..."
"That's one more sliver of hope for you to stay alive!"
Upon hearing these words...
"Shut the hell up!!! I refuse!!!"
Luo Kun grabbed Iron Bull in both arms and roared.
"You stay right where you are! There has to be a way! There absolutely has to be a way!"
He pointed toward the back, shouting incoherently.
"Iron Bull, listen to me!"
"From what I observed just now, even though that imposter looks like No Words Needed!"
"The Tribulation Flame it threw out is definitely a fake too!"
"The color is paler than the real thing, and it burns more slowly!"
"As long as we find the Iron Wall Squad from the Second Base!"
"They have a top-tier support ability user in their team!"
"And Vice-Chief Zhao is there to hold the line too!"
"Maybe we can find a way to dispel that counterfeit Tribulation Flame!"
"You hold on just a little longer! I'm begging you!!!"
Luo Kun's voice had taken on the edge of tears.
Just a few minutes ago, the sight of Liu Ruyan raising an ice wall and abandoning Liu Feng had already driven a spike of guilt and torment through Luo Kun's conscience.
If he now had to watch Iron Bull leap off to his death just to cover their escape...
Luo Kun, as vice-captain, would suffer a complete psychological collapse!
He could not accept being that kind of person!
Beside him, Shadow watched the anguished Luo Kun with a complex expression.
She spoke in a cold, flat voice.
"Iron Bull, jumping off now is just throwing your life away."
"You won't be able to stop it."
"Rather than jumping off and being turned into a Scarecrow, you're better off staying on the sword..."
"And burning to ash when you die."
"That way, at least that Scarecrow won't be able to convert your corpse."
Shadow's words were cutting.
Even inhumane.
But Iron Bull listened to the end, then looked at Shadow and smiled weakly.
"I might be dumb, but I'm not stupid."
"Shadow, I know..."
"You're deliberately making it sound this harsh because you don't want me to go and throw my life away..."
"But..."
Iron Bull raised his head and looked back toward the wheat field behind the flying sword.
"I really don't have any time left..."
"And...they're already here."
"What?!"
Luo Kun and Shadow spun around at once.
Liu Ruyan, who had been focused entirely on piloting the flying sword, suddenly felt a chill crawl up her spine!
She looked back, and down at the golden wheat field that should have been left dozens of kilometers behind!
She watched as the waves of wheat below parted to either side!
Wind!
An ominous wind, it had arrived!
Hum!
Within that ominous wind, a blurred streak of shadow was tearing across the ground at zero altitude!
"That's..."
Luo Kun's eyes went wide. When he made out the shredded combat uniform on that blurred form.
His whole body froze.
It was Liu Feng!
He had been turned into a Scarecrow!
"It's here."
Iron Bull said softly.
The next second.
The Liu Feng Scarecrow had already closed in directly beneath the giant sword!
Both its hands transformed into countless Straw Binding tendrils, shooting toward the 4 people atop the sword!
"Watch out!"
Luo Kun bellowed. His Psychokinesis barrier snapped open in an instant!
Shadow transformed into a streak of darkness and threw herself in front of Iron Bull!
Liu Ruyan's expression remained composed as she formed hand seals to reduce the flying sword's speed...
And it was precisely because of that reduction that Liu Feng got what it came for!
In the instant the tendrils were about to wrap around the sword.
A withered silhouette vaulted upward!
"Iron Bull!!!"
Luo Kun's scream tore through the night sky.
Iron Bull had leaped off the sword.
He used his final strength and hurled himself directly into those tendrils.
Thwack!
Countless Straw Binding tendrils punched straight through his body.
But he smiled.
He spread his arms wide and seized those tendrils in a death grip.
"Go..."
His voice had already grown very faint.
"I'll...I'll buy...some time for you..."
"Iron Bull!!!"
Luo Kun threw himself over the sword's edge, arm outstretched to grab him.
But it was too far.
Too far.
Iron Bull's figure grew smaller and smaller, farther and farther away.
He held those tendrils in his arms and fell toward that golden wheat field.
Fell toward that army of Scarecrows.
Fell toward death.
In the last instant of the fall.
Iron Bull grinned.
If there was one final regret, it was probably never getting to confess to Liu Ruyan.
But...
He raised his head and watched the blue light above suddenly accelerate away into the night sky...
Even if he had confessed, it wouldn't have made any difference, would it?
"Heh."
Iron Bull's expression turned solemn again. He looked toward the Liu Feng Scarecrow charging in from the front.
"Old rival, let me play with you for a while!"
BOOM!!!
He detonated all of his qi and blood!
Unleashed every last ounce of his power!
And slammed into the one who had once been a teammate, and a rival all the same!
Yet his resistance lasted less than a second.
The next instant, countless Scarecrows swarmed from every direction...
Burying him beneath those golden waves of wheat.
......
"Iron Bull!!!"
Luo Kun dropped to his knees on the sword, his fist slamming down against the blade.
Shadow closed her eyes, unable to watch.
Liu Ruyan bit down on her lip until blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
But she did not stop.
She pushed the flying sword at a frantic pace.
Faster and faster.
Farther and farther.
More than 10 times faster than before!
Luo Kun was caught completely off guard and nearly sent flying off the blade.
He gripped the sword's edge with everything he had and looked toward the front.
Liu Ruyan stood at the sword's prow, both hands weaving through seals, her black hair whipping wildly in the wind.
That beautiful, cold face held not a single trace of expression.
Luo Kun stared in disbelief...
This woman...
She hadn't even been using her full strength when she fled just now!
"Liu Ruyan! You—"
Luo Kun wanted to demand answers, but the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back.
He knew that right now they were still in the air, still running for their lives. Now was absolutely not the time to cause a falling out!
He could only grind his back molars to dust, his fists clenching until they turned white.
10 minutes.
A full 10 minutes.
The flying sword swept over the golden wheat waves, and finally descended slowly into a relatively open area.
Thud!
Liu Ruyan retracted the sword and landed. The Frost Sword Case was slung across her back once more.
Her face was deathly pale, her forehead drenched in cold sweat.
But she said nothing.
She simply leaned against the sword case, breathing in great heaving gasps.
Luo Kun dropped down from the sword.
He stared at Liu Ruyan. He stared for a full 10 seconds.
Then!
"Liu Ruyan."
His voice was ice cold.
"While Iron Bull was still on the sword, why weren't you flying at full speed?!"
"And when Iron Bull jumped off to die covering for us..."
"Why didn't you say a single word? Not even one?!"
"Even a word to make him stay!"
Liu Ruyan leaned against the sword case, not even lifting her eyelids.
"Say what?"
She gave a cold laugh.
"Say 'Iron Bull, safe travels'? Or 'I'll miss you forever'?"
"Vice-captain Luo, how old are you to still be this naive?"
"What use is any of that nonsense?"
"Would it make that Scarecrow let us go? Or would it bring Iron Bull back from the dead?!"
"You—"
Luo Kun's breathing seized as that bloodless reply hit him like a blow.
"Then what about Liu Feng?! He was still alive back then!"
"Why did you raise that ice wall at that exact moment and cut off his path to survival?!"
Luo Kun screamed at the top of his lungs: "Are you really this desperate to throw away your own teammates?!"
"In your eyes, have you ever once regarded us as human beings?!"
"Have you ever once regarded us as teammates?!"
Faced with Luo Kun's furious interrogation, Liu Ruyan finally raised her head slowly.
Those beautiful phoenix eyes held not one trace of guilt or emotional fluctuation.
Only cold.
Cold as 10,000-year unmelting black ice.
"Teammates?"
Liu Ruyan straightened up and smoothed out her disheveled white robe.
"Of course they count as teammates."
"Otherwise, do you think someone with your indecisive character..."
"Would still be standing here with all your limbs intact, yelling at me?"
Luo Kun froze. He was hit so squarely by that retort that he couldn't produce a single sound.
Liu Ruyan paid no mind to his stunned silence. She patted the sword case on her back.
"Open your eyes wide and look at this."
Luo Kun instinctively dropped his gaze to the sword case.
He saw that the surface of that S-Grade spirit instrument was now overlaid with a layer of scorched black!
Cracks covered the entire outer shell!
And through the semi-transparent blade surface, Luo Kun could see clearly.
Inside the sword case, those blades forged from black ice were shattering one after another.
The original 108 exceptional flying swords.
Now, only a sparse 80-odd remained.
"Do you see it?"
Liu Ruyan's every word was a blade aimed straight at his heart.
"Just from that brief attempt to use the Sword Emperor Domain to help Iron Bull extinguish the flame."
"This S-Grade spirit instrument that has followed me for 5 years was already bitten down hard by the lingering embers of that Tribulation Flame."
"If I hadn't retracted it fast enough."
"This treasure would very likely have been reduced to a pile of black charcoal entirely."
Liu Ruyan laughed coldly and pressed forward on Luo Kun.
"And yet...that bought Iron Bull only a few more minutes of barely clinging to life."
"This losing transaction, Vice-captain Luo, do you think it was worth it?"
Luo Kun opened his mouth. Not half a word came out.
"Do you have any concept of what that Tribulation Flame actually is?"
Liu Ruyan continued to close in, step by step.
"I know you do."
"It is a flame that can burn even time itself!"
"Even if it's a bootleg version! It's still only a weakened variant!"
"The moment even a single spark touches you, death is certain! No deity can save you! There is no conventional method that can extinguish it!"
"Iron Bull's death was sealed from the instant he was burned!"
"Since his death was already certain, and at any moment the spreading Tribulation Flame could drag the entire team down with him to die together..."
"Then why could he not—in the time before he was fully dead—be put to his final remaining use."
"To go and block that single fatal blow for us?"
"That is what it means to make the most of every resource."
Luo Kun's pupils trembled.
He realized with a grim clarity that he could completely understand every cold-blooded word Liu Ruyan had just said.
Because from the perspective of pure tactics and the maximization of outcomes.
What Liu Ruyan had done was indeed the only optimal Solution to breaking the deadlock.
Iron Bull was going to die regardless—better to let him die with meaning.
Liu Feng was going to die regardless—better to use an ice wall to entirely sever the risk of him dragging others into the fire.
But understanding was one thing.
A person who could look their comrades-in-arms straight in the eye, calculating them like chips on a board, without a single flush of the cheek or a twitch of conscience...
Was her heart truly made of flesh?
Bunny-Bunny