Li Jun looked at the spear in his hand, his eyes brighter than they’d ever been in his life. His mind was clear as he felt a blockage in his mind was removed. Maybe it was in his mind, but he felt his breathing was more regular, the air was fresher, and the world was more colorful than usual.
He glanced at Fang Lijuan, “I guess I should thank you.”
“Impossible. I should have won,” argued Fang Lijuan.
“But you didn’t.”
“It’s unfair,” yelled Fang Lijuan. “The only reason you’re so powerful is because of him. It’s not fair.”
“And without the Invisible Talisman, you would never have today’s achievement,” countered Li Jun. “You would only be a medicare member from the Divine Dao League restricted by your bloodline. Luck and destiny manifest in different ways.”
Fang Lijuan did not know how to answer; she looked at her old and decrepit hand, thinking about her life from the moment she was born–she thought of the burden of reviving the Divine Dao League. She remembered how her fate would have been a tool for marriage if she did not display enough talent.
Fang Lijuan remembered how she had to put away her pride and dignity to deal with someone as lowly as Long Aotian. Her decision turned out to be correct since she found the Invisible Talisman, which changed the direction of her fate.
“Can you spare me? I…don’t want to die.”
“No one wants to die,” replied Li Jun. “Now, hold your end of the contract.”
“Are there no rooms for discussions?”
“No, so please don’t force me to make you experience a fate worse than death.”
Fang Lijuan opened her mouth but did not say anything. She wanted to plead for her life and even offered to become his woman. However, she knew with this man’s display of Willpower, he would not accept such an offer.
More importantly, she still had some pride; she did not want to gravel before her enemy, begging for her life. Nevertheless, she did not want to die.
Fang Lijuan told him about the information she had gathered regarding the War Talisman. Although it was not the exact location, with the Dao Opening Sect’s information-gathering capabilities, he should find its location after searching for a while.
Then, she placed her hand above her heart to take out the Invisible Talisman.
‘I don’t want my journey to end here.’ Fang Lijuan was unwilling, and until the end, she thought of any possibility of escaping.
“Hurry up,” demanded Li Jun with impatience. Suddenly, Fang Lijuan’s old eyes brightened, and she yelled: “Heavenly Dao, I want to change sides; I want to join the devil’s side.”
Bang!
Li Jun’s spear hit a golden barrier that easily nullified his attack. Then, he sensed the unique power of Heavenly Dao that controls the game.
[Player Fang Lijuan wishes to switch their allegiance? Please confirm yes or no.]
“Yes, but take me away from this place.”
“Do you know what you’re doing? By becoming a traitor, you’ll forfeit your right to prove the Dao,” said Wang Wei.
“Maybe in the Myriad Emperor World, but the Endless Void is vast, with many opportunities,” replied Fang Lijuan with a sneer.
“What about your Divine Dao League? Do you know the fat they’ll suffer once your betrayal is known?”
Fang Lijuan gritted her teeth but did not answer; this method was the only way to survive.
[The Switch is part of the rules and accepted.]
Fang Lijuan turned into a white light before disappearing.
“Danmit,” cursed Li Jun. “What about the contract?”
Two things descended from the sky into his hand as soon as he said these words.
“World Source and Merit? That’s the price for breaking the contract?” Immediately he sensed something wrong. “Why is Heavenly Dao willing to go this far from one Fang Lijuan?”
“That’s a good question,” said Wang Wei as he looked at the horizon.
“If I knew this would happen, I would have killed her quickly.”
“Don’t blame yourself. At least we learned one more important game rule,” comforted Yan Liling.
“What do we do with her troops?” asked Tie Gang. “Should we kill them?”
“Do we have enough food and supplies to sustain them?”
“It’s not a problem to feed them with the Good Fortune Seeds. The only issue is the spiritual herbs to refine the Enegery Recuperating Pills they need after each battle. Why do you ask?”
“I have a feeling they might become useful as cannon fodder very soon,” explained Wang Wei.
“I’ll find a way, logistic-wise, to sustain them.”
“And I’ll go place the fear of the heavens on them to surrender,” said Li Jun before walking toward them.
Wrath Territory, Inside a castle:
Wrath suddenly opened her deep red eyes that contained multiple rings. She stood up from her cultivation retreat with no clothes on; she had the habit of cultivating completely naked since it felt more liberating.
A white hanfu appeared on her well-defined and developed body. Adding her beautiful light pink hair in the form of one braid, her beauty could give Xu Shi and Su Ya a run for their money. And in terms of aura, she only lost to Wu Hong because she had not seen the pinnacle of the Dao, standing above trillions upon trillions of living creatures.
She walked out of the room, calculating something.
“A defector?” her eyes lit up. “Such a person would make the plan go more smoothly.” Wrath hoped for a defector but never planned for one, given how much humans hated devils; this kind of intergenerational hatred has been ingrained in the human’s blood and soul.
She waved her hand to manifest a mirror that reflected all seven territories. The mirror reflected humans and devils in the shape of black and white dots. The black dots were disappearing at an alarming rate, but she did not care about this. Wrath only cares about the disappearance of the white spots.
“Not enough bloodshed,” she commented. “But there is still time.”
She controlled the mirror to reflect something else. “The defector is in my territory? Excellent.”
Wrath prepared to leave her castle for the first time since this game started. She could have dealt a significant blow to the Myriad Emperor World, given her power. Besides Di Tian and Wang Wei, and the anomaly Yi Lianchang, she was confident in easily slaughtering all the other Heaven Chosens–even the Ultimate Kings.
However, Wrath knew doing this would ruin the overall plan. Furthermore, if she did this, the Myriad Emperor World’s Heavenly Dao would overthrow the game board by removing the restraint on Wang Wei and Di Tian, allowing them to hunt her down. So, she must be careful and not affect the balance. After giving her subordinates a few orders, she flew in one direction.
Fang Lijuan suddenly appeared far from the castle, inside a forest that is about 15 days of nonstop marching.
“Saved?” she muttered after looking around. “I don’t have much time. I need to stabilize my injury before acting quickly.” She plans to contact the Divine Dao League members and have them leave or hide as soon as possible. She hoped to save as many people as possible, or at the very least, the Fang Clan.
Simultaneously, Fang Lijuan feared the League would abandon her and label her a traitor to survive this ordeal. The Divine Dao League is too poor, which reduces other factions’ incentive to eliminate them for their resources.
As such, if they remove all connections with her, offer the Fang Clan as a sacrifice, and swear an oath to hunt her down, they might survive this ordeal.
‘I can worry about these things after I stabilize my injury.’ Fang Lijuan headed to a mountain nearby to create a safe place to heal.
A few dozen meters outside the forest was a troop of soldiers, and their leader was Tong Ruobing. They had just one a victory a few days ago and were on their way to the next city, but her troops took camp in this forest to find more food and possible demonic animals.
‘Something is going on,’ thought Tong Ruobing as she felt relentless. She calculated what the issue was and discovered her Qi Luck Dragon was agitated.
“A Fortunate Encounter? And it seems to be a good one.”
She crafted a Luck Calculating Talisman before connecting it to her Qi Luck Dragon. “The forest?” Tong Ruobing did not hesitate to follow the direction where she discovered a recently made formation. Although the person tried to hide it, this level was not enough to hide from a rune expert like herself. After taking a moment to break the formation, Tong Ruobing headed inside, where she saw an older woman looking at her while on guard.
It took her a moment, but she soon realized who this person was.
“Fang Lijuan?”
“Tong Ruobing!”
“Haha, my luck is truly booming,” said Tong Ruobing with her cute and innocent face.
“We do not have any animosity. Given my state, you don’t have to be hostile.”
“Animosity? We are competitors destined to kill each other. Anyway, don’t waste your breath: You’ve been on my killing list for a while now.”
“Why?”
“What do you think?”
“The Invisble Talisman.”
“Exactly. I’ve been thinking of ways to increase my strength, and the best method is to absorb some of the 12 Ancestral Talismans.” Tong Ruobing is connected to the Origin Talisman, so it would benefit her immensely to absorb the other Ancestral Talismans.
As such, after seeing the clash between Di Tian and Wang Wei, she placed Fang Lijuan on her hunting list.
“I’m sure we could nego–”
Tong Ruobing waved his hand to manifest numerous runes and instantly sealed her. And with Fang Lijuan’s current state, she could not resist.
“It would be a shame to kill you. I’ll have the Invisible Talisman absorb all your powers and Dao, making it in a better shape for me to use.”
She then refined Fang Lijuan’s powers and fused them into the Invisible Talisman. And once she finished, one more Heaven Chosen had fallen.
“With this Talisman, I should be able to break the 4-Leaf Barrier and maybe even reach 5-Leaf. But it’s not enough,” muttered Tong Ruobing.
