Volume Two: A Life of Banditry - Chapter Sixty-Eight: Mutual Destruction?

“Your flames are unusual,” Qin Si remarked, stroking his chin. He paid no heed to Zi Yan’s attack. The Fire Origin Spirit Pearl blazed with light, and a thick shield of Void Infernal Flame sprang up before him.

Boom!

The purple flames collided with the Void Infernal Flame, unleashing a dazzling golden radiance. Its power was immense: wherever its beams swept, fine cracks split open in space.

Countless golden rays flashed across the Divine Realm, leaving its space scarred and torn. Yet the cracks carved by that light healed almost instantly.

The golden energy released by the collision hurled Zi Yan backward. He stared at the Fire Origin Spirit Pearl in Qin Si’s hand, bewilderment in his eyes.

“The Fire Origin Spirit Pearl…”

“What overwhelming power…” Qin Shuang, Li Yang, and Duan Shuai watched in stunned silence.

“The golden energy unleashed when those two flames collided was already stronger than a God King’s attack,” Duan Shuai said, swallowing hard.

“I’d heard of Zi Yan before,” Li Yang added. “All I knew was that his purple flames were formidable, on a par with the Void Infernal Flame. But at the God King level, no one would waste the little Void Infernal Flame they have inside them on an attack—unless they come from the Western Extremity Flame Mountain.”

“Whatever else you’ve got, use it,” Qin Si said, retreating a little as he studied Zi Yan with an amused smile. “I’m going to beat you until you admit defeat.”

“Hmph. All you can do is talk.” Zi Yan gave a cold snort. He stretched out both arms as the purple flames around him grew denser, then closed his eyes and began murmuring an incantation.

The flames gathered tighter and tighter around him. To the naked eye, Zi Yan had vanished, leaving only a mass of deep purple fire.

“Divide!”

The fire abruptly split in two, forming a pair of identical flames. Then each split again—two became four, four became eight—until at last they stopped.

The purple flames faded, revealing nine identical Ziyans hovering in the air.

“Don’t bother looking for the original. All nine are my true body, and all nine are my clones. Even our strength is exactly the same,” they said in unison.

“Zi Yan’s grown stronger again. He can split into eight clones now—which makes nine God Kings, counting himself,” Duan Tianlang exclaimed, marveling at the figures in the air.

“Exactly. If Brother Zi Yan hadn’t refused to swear absolute loyalty to the Heavenly One Water Pavilion, some people wouldn’t be able to throw their weight around,” Gao Qi said, glancing pointedly at Ye Qianhong.

“Hmph.” Ye Qianhong ignored him and focused on the contest between Zi Yan and Qin Si.

“Alliance Leader Qin, I said my wager was my life,” all nine Ziyans said calmly. “You still haven’t said what you’ll stake. That puts me at a disadvantage.”

“If I lose, how about I hand you the Purple Profound Alliance?” Qin Si said with a playful grin.

Zi Yan’s expression changed at once. If Qin Si gave him the Purple Profound Alliance, his Purple Mist Heaven would suddenly rival the ten great bandit powers. Then he would be the one to wage war against the Heavenly One Water Pavilion.

Qin Si had only meant it as a joke. Even facing nine identical Ziyans, he had never thought he could lose. As long as his opponent wasn’t a Heavenly Venerable, he was confident no one could defeat him.

But Zi Yan did the unexpected. He smiled and answered with a single word:

“Agreed.”

“Any of you interested in sparring with the three of us?” Li Yang stretched his arms and spoke casually. “Just watching is dull. A one-on-one fight would be much more fun. Or, if you’d rather gang up on me, I won’t object.”

Qin Shuang was game. He was a fighter at heart. Duan Shuai, on the other hand, was miserable. If you want to fight, he thought, then fight—but why drag me into it? Yet with matters at this point, he had no chance to think it over or back out. He forced a smile and wiggled his little finger at the other side in a taunting gesture.

Ye Qianhong was burning with fury, longing to charge over and tear Duan Shuai to pieces. But he knew his own limits. In a straight fight, he had no chance against Duan Shuai, who had comprehended the law of time stop. And what good would it do to push his own time acceleration to its utmost?

“Heh, Boss Ye, they’ve challenged us. What do you say—should the three of us take them on?” Gao Qi sneered. He was certain Ye Qianhong wouldn’t dare fight them head-on.

“Hmph. We’re fighting. I won’t tolerate an insult like this.” Duan Tianlang skipped the verbal sparring and teleported straight to Duan Shuai. “Sect Master Duan, allow me to test your skills.”

“So you’re not coming after me,” Li Yang said, looking at Duan Tianlang with some disappointment.

Qin Shuang smiled as he watched the two fights unfold. “Well, that works out nicely. We can relax.”

“Stop!”

All nine Ziyans surrounding Qin Si spoke at once. In the next instant, the space around him came to a complete standstill. Even the Origin Spirit Pearl, which had been spinning, froze in place.

“Time stop? How is that possible?” The most astonished were not Qin Shuang and Li Yang, nor Duan Shuai and Duan Tianlang in the midst of their fight. It was Ye Qianhong and Gao Qi.

“Nine clones…and every one of them can use time stop!” Ye Qianhong said in disbelief. “Nine God Kings who’ve comprehended the law of time stop, on top of those special purple flames…” He could hardly bear to finish the thought. Zi Yan now had the strength to take on dozens of ordinary God Kings by himself.

“I never realized Zi Yan was this powerful. No wonder he refused to swear absolute loyalty to the Heavenly One Water Pavilion…” Gao Qi murmured.

“Then try my Purple Flame Purgatory!” all nine Ziyans cried in unison. In an instant, countless purple flames surged toward Qin Si and engulfed him.

“I’d like to see what’s so special about your flames,” Qin Si said.

For him, time stop was no threat at all. Trusting in the Fire Origin Spirit Pearl’s protection of his soul, he had made this bold decision.

Sss, sss…

The purple flames wrapped around Qin Si’s body and began to sear him, as if they had found an outlet.

“Damn it! They can burn the soul directly!” Qin Si was startled. The Fire Origin Spirit Pearl protected him, but the purple flames still scorched his soul with searing pain.

“Break!”

At Qin Si’s command, all the purple flames around him vanished at once, as if they had never existed.

“I told you he’d be fine,” Li Yang said, watching at his leisure.

Qin Shuang wiped the sweat from his face. “You really know how to keep your cool.”

The nine Ziyans were stunned. Then they said, “I never expected Alliance Leader Qin to possess such formidable powers—to break even the law of time stop.”

“Didn’t you hear about my battle with the Heartless One? Or did the Heavenly One Water Pavilion keep it from you?” Qin Si asked with a tilt of his head and a smile.

“I heard about it, but it’s hard to believe some things until you’ve seen them with your own eyes,” Zi Yan replied. “It seems the rumors were true, after all.”

“Then it’s my turn to attack,” Qin Si said with a faint smile. He raised both hands, and countless spatial fissures shot toward the nine Ziyans.

“Hmph. Do you think I’ll just wait around and let you trap me with such a feeble trick?” Zi Yan scoffed and prepared to teleport away. But the moment the thought crossed his mind, he saw spatial fissures surrounding him in every direction. They filled the space above, below, and all around him.

The fissures resembled flashes of lightning, flickering in and out. None remained stable for long.

All nine Ziyans frowned. If the fissures had been stable, they might have been easier to dodge. As things stood, they could only use their divine senses to keep constant watch over the disturbances in the space around them.

“I could turn the space you occupy into a void of utter annihilation at any moment,” Qin Si’s voice sounded beside Zi Yan’s ear. “You’ve lost.”

Zi Yan only smiled. “Is that so? You, Alliance Leader Qin, can break the law of time stop. But I refuse to believe you can break these spatial fissures as well.”

“Stop!”

All nine Ziyans spoke at nearly the same instant. The flickering spatial fissures froze in place. Though the pause lasted only a moment, all nine Ziyans managed to escape the vast field of cracks.

“Stop!”

The nine Ziyans spoke again. Qin Si could break time stop, but for now it remained their best way to attack. They had only just used it, and all nine were already beside him.

“Die!”

All nine Ziyans shouted together, raising their fists and swinging at Qin Si’s head.

Whoosh!

Just as the nine Ziyans closed in, a vast expanse of black space suddenly appeared before them.

“Impossible!”

But before they could say anything more, all nine had plunged into the spatial rift—a place whose terror was the stuff of nightmares.

“Big Brother has disappeared too…” Qin Shuang suddenly realized that Qin Si had vanished as well.

“Don’t bother looking,” Li Yang said softly as Qin Shuang searched around. “He’s fine.”

“Did they perish together?” Ye Qianhong’s eyes widened, and there was a trace of excitement in his voice.

***

“Brother Yuchi, what do you think of our strategy against the Purple Profound Alliance?” In the secret meeting room of the Eight Great Divine Clans, all eight Sacred Emperors had gathered. Zhou Tian kept urging Yuchi Zhengfeng on. The Purple Profound Alliance currently threatened only Thunder Punishment City and the Western Extremity Flame Mountain, so they naturally needed to rally their allies.

“Hmph. That Qin Si makes my blood boil just thinking about him. He’s got some ability, but he’s far too arrogant,” Yuchi Zhengfeng said irritably. “Fine. We’ll use this turn of events to tear the Purple Profound Alliance apart and leave it in ruins.”

“Leave the Purple Profound Alliance alone.”

Suddenly, a hoarse, elderly voice rang through the secret meeting room of the Eight Great Divine Clans.

To be continued.