Chapter Twenty-Five: I Force You To Lose

  Toward Ke pū tuōng yī shēng guì zài dì shàng, liǎng háng qīng lèi duó jiàn ér chū, shēng shēng de luò zài jiān shí de tǔ dì shàng. Chǎng wài suǒ yǒu rén dōu jìng mò le, zhī dào zhè kě lián de hái zi zhī chí bù néng duō jiǔ. Shū ruò tīng zhe bù jiàn duàn de chōu qì shēng, yī guān yán mì de wēi xiào jiān yě yǒu le xiē dé yì de wèi dào.

  The entire venue was silent, so quiet that the sound of Xiangke's tears falling to the ground could be heard. It was just a faint sound of tears dropping, but to Yunhai Fan, it was like a thousand-pound weight heavily hitting her heart. Her heart ached repeatedly, and she only clenched her fists tightly, the cracking sound of her pale finger joints startling Yin Xu beside her.

  He looked deeply at Yun Haiyan, wanting to speak but stopping himself, and in the end didn't say anything.

  After a long while, Xiang Ke's sobbing gradually subsided. Suddenly, she struggled to get up and opened her mouth, her voice not loud but clear: "Who said Xiao Fan was hiding from me and accumulating spiritual power by herself? Who said she didn't teach me because she was afraid I would surpass her?"

  As he spoke, a brilliant light burst forth from the palm of his hand, and after several refractions, the intense beam of light suddenly dazzled Yunhai Fan's eyes. The powerful aura that broke through all obstacles heavily slammed into the ice coffin wall, causing the thick bricks to emit a dull thud, and the wall seemed to shake under the impact. For a moment, everyone suspected that they had seen things wrongly.

  Shu Ruo hadn't expected that Xiang Ke, on the verge of collapse, would actually manage to upgrade a level. She hugged her shoulders and activated her spiritual power to maintain the already partially collapsed wall.

  "As you said, my brother and I were never close, but he still took care of me for so long, what more could I ask for?"

  Xiang Ke shouted loudly in the ice coffin, facing an invisible opponent. Shu Ruo was stunned, as if she had been suddenly disrupted by someone who didn't know how to continue dancing.

  Ling's energy condensed and expanded throughout his body, impacting the seemingly unbreakable ice coffin. In the narrow space of the ice coffin, the wind and clouds changed suddenly, and the rising spiritual energy seemed to be a storm stirred up by Ling, crashing against the walls like waves. Shu Ruo's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he quickened his pace in maintaining the wall.

  "Xiao Fan originally wanted to share what she knew with me, but I refused." Xiang Ke retracted his aura and only moved his fingertips, causing the paper man infused with spiritual energy to spiral along the wall. "She's just my friend, she doesn't have an obligation to share everything with me, she only needs to let me know what she's willing to tell me. If she doesn't want to, I don't want it either."

  Shu Ruo suddenly made her move, and the swirling ice energy could no longer block her instantaneous explosion. As her voice gradually fell, the wall suddenly burst forth, and from the layers of rising dust and ice shards, a slender jade hand suddenly stretched out and grasped Shu Ruo's throat. In that instant, Shu Ruo suddenly felt as if all her strength had been sealed away, and the feeling of being powerless was incredibly terrible.

  "Either you surrender; or I'll force you to surrender."

  Ke's hand grasped her neck, while his other hand stopped her from gathering spiritual energy.

  "I admit defeat." Shu Ruo felt an overwhelming force from Xiang Ke and spat out the three words with difficulty.

  He Kaiyi pushed her away and walked out of the trial field with a steady pace.

  Ice magic, I know. You can quietly think that if I really collapse, it won't just be a matter of losing. I will lose my will and become your vassal. You can't control me, but you can use potions to change my appearance, at critical moments, let me die for you.

  Nowadays, curses are really getting out of hand.

  She raised her head and looked into the distance. The words Xiang Zi had said to her still lingered in her ears.

  Got it, I'll do it. Brother.

  "Are you okay? Didn't get hurt?"

  "No." Kai raised his hand, a bright smile on his face, "I was pretty cool just now, wasn't I?"

  "Of course." Yun Hai Fan's eyebrows and eyes were also curved.

  There was already enough trust between them, as if nothing could intervene between them. The two sat down in a corner, selecting the puppets on stage, completely ignoring the unfavorable glances of An Su's entourage. Hearing the sudden excitement of the crowd behind her, Yun Hai Fan knew that An Su had arrived.

  "She stood up and said: 'I'm going on stage.'"

  "Are you going on stage with just one puppet?" Xiang Ke said with some concern.

  Yun Hai Fan looked at the puppet in his hand: "How is this possible?"

  Her hand tapped lightly on the puppet's back, and Ke immediately understood: "Indeed, only you could think of such a clever trick to make your opponent underestimate you."

  "It's too much praise. I don't have the ability to burst out instantly like you do when facing someone as ruthless as Shu Rou." Yun Hai Fan waved his hand with the puppet, "I never fight unprepared battles."

  When Yun Haiyan and her puppet appeared in front of everyone, the whole scene burst into laughter. Even An Su couldn't help but be stunned: "Even if you're eager to lose, there's no need to bring that rag doll on stage, right?"

  "Are you going to lose to this cute doll and be embarrassed? If you win, can you regain some face?"

  Most likely aware of Yunhai Fan, An Su didn't respond to her. Instead, she took out an exquisite bow, its bright red lacquer gleaming in the sunlight as if flames were blazing. An Su drew her bow, and a fiery arrow shot towards Yunhai Fan without warning. Both Yunhai Fan and his puppet dodged simultaneously, and the flame crashed into the wall of the trial grounds, producing a dull thud.

  Yun Hai Fan quickly retreated to the back, leaving only a puppet standing in the center of the field. The field, which had been invaded by fierce flames, emitted a strong smell of smoke everywhere, and Yun Hai Fan sniffed it without being bothered.

  "You're quick to hide." Ansu said with disdain.

  The audience had already begun to cheer for An Su, and the consequences of that one arrow were truly unthinkable. Yun Hai Fan gazed at the charred wall from a distance, seemingly muttering to himself: "If you want to deal with me, then deal with me, why take it out on the wall?" As he spoke, Yun Hai Fan hid his left hand behind his back; although he had dodged in time earlier, his left arm had still been scorched by the flames, and a strange aura was faintly emanating from it.

  An Su ignored Yun Hai Fan's pretentiousness, she had already drawn her injured left arm back, and concentrated her energy, aiming at the target again with an arrow. Yun Hai Fan summoned a puppet, the fire arrow grazed past the puppet and shot straight at Yun Hai Fan. Yun Hai Fan's right hand suddenly came out, opening up a spiritual power barrier, forcibly blocking the arrow. The arrow's light and the barrier rubbed against each other, producing a dazzling white light. Suddenly, there was a loud "Boom", Yun Hai Fan was knocked back by a powerful force, heavily crashing onto the ground.

  His already burnt left arm was further injured, the sharp gravel scraping against his skin and causing fresh blood to trickle down his arm. Yun Haiyan looked at the dirty wound and thought that if this continued, he would definitely get tetanus. Since he had used his left hand to block the massive impact, it was likely that his bones were also damaged...