The golden cicada sheds its shell—disappearing right under everyone's watchful eyes.
Cheng Shi went all out this ti. During his retreat, he swapped faiths with Shadow Cheng Shi, snapped his fingers to teleport himself back to an alley he'd passed earlier, and had Shadow Cheng Shi activate Chaos Acting to blend into the crowd as an ordinary passerby.
The reason for such caution was that he'd recognized the force that had erased the Sinner Redemption mark—it was Herobos's Oblivion power!
In the previous Corruption trial, Herobos had used this exact technique to dispel Golis's Grudge the mont it was summoned, catching him completely off guard.
So the instant he sensed danger, Cheng Shi bolted—and chose to split from The Prisoner.
This wasn't just about saving himself. It was about saving The Prisoner too.
As long as the chattering Torchbearer wasn't with him, the man shouldn't beco Herobos's target.
He had to admit, an Oblivion Envoy executing his Benefactor's will this relentlessly was truly a headache.
He didn't know why Mo Shu hadn't summoned Herobos imdiately, but running forever wouldn't solve anything. Cheng Shi was already thinking about whether there was a way to end this once and for all—to rid himself of this threat permanently.
The simplest thod was obviously to kill Herobos. But a god—even a re Servant God—how could a mortal possibly kill one?
But what if the one killing Him wasn't a mortal?
Cheng Shi's brow rose as a plan took shape. He suddenly felt he might be able to gamble big in this trial.
Big enough to drag a god off His pedestal!
While one side was scheming against an Envoy, the other side's Prisoner was already frantic.
He'd watched his brother-in-law vanish right beside him. His first instinct was that Mo Shu's group was genuinely dangerous, and his brother-in-law was using this thod to separate from him!
It never even occurred to him that Cheng Shi might have disappeared just to ditch him.
After all, in his own eyes, he wasn't unlucky at all.
Of course, The Prisoner's worry over Cheng Shi went beyond so absurd "brother-in-law" title. He genuinely believed Cheng Shi held the key to the Torchbearers' plan.
Yu Xi was Deceit's Envoy, and among all the players present, the only one connected to Deceit was Cheng Shi. Factor in Cheng Shi's past assistance to the Torchbearers and his reactions—The Prisoner was convinced the link between the Torchbearers and Yu Xi almost certainly ran through this man. He couldn't let him fall into danger.
Call it loyalty, appreciation for Cheng Shi, belief in the torch-passing cause, a declaration of his own will, a desire to outdo the Scavenger—it was a bizarre cocktail of all these things stirred together.
So after searching for Cheng Shi in vain, he wrestled with himself briefly and decided to find soone else.
The Torchbearers' Fire Seeker—Ji Yue.
He would team up with Ji Yue to protect Cheng Shi. Not only would this push Cheng Shi toward the torch, it might also create an opportunity to uncover the Deceit Servant God, Yu Xi.
But Ji Yue wasn't easy to find either.
As a Purgatory Bishop, she knew she'd stirred up trouble. She'd slipped away silently, moving from the open into the shadows, and begun her low-profile investigation of ascension thods within the town.
Perhaps because everything revolved around the statue at the town center, on the first night—under the cover of darkness—several figures converged on the Fool-Hunting Statue from different directions.
The first to appear in the moonlight was a local.
Red-faced and reeking of alcohol, he crawled before the statue, mumbled a string of incoherent words, then promptly passed out face-down on the ground.
He didn't wake until an hour or so later, when the mountain night winds chilled him enough to shiver his way ho.
Not long after, the second figure appeared.
A hooded, cloaked silhouette landed atop the statue's head, waved a hand across the stone—but the statue showed no reaction.
After a mont of surprise, the figure decisively erased their own presence.
More ti passed before the third figure crept forward. This one moved far more lightly. The shadow circled the statue again and again, touching and examining its surface, even tracing various markings. But after pausing a mont, they too ca up empty.
However, this person didn't leave. After confirming no one else was around, they tore open the void above and unleashed the ancient battlefield's torrent of blades and swords onto the statue in a full-force deluge!
Yes—this was Ji Yue.
When Truth's thods couldn't decode sothing, it was ti for a different angle: try War.
War was always blunt, but in the wreckage it left behind, there were always useful fragnts to find.
Ji Yue understood this deeply—hence her decisive strike.
What she hadn't expected was that the tidal wave of weapons never reached the statue. They lost all montum midair and shattered in front of it.
Countless weapons clattered to the ground—yet eerily, they made no sound at all.
Seeing this, Ji Yue's pupils shrank. She imdiately realized soone else was hiding nearby, and it could only be the Chosen of Silence—universally acknowledged as the second unluckiest person alive.
Ji Yue's face hardened. She promptly withdrew her attack and spoke in a cold voice: "Co out!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a bald head hopped down from the billowing cloak behind the statue. Who else could it be but The Prisoner?
The mont he landed, The Prisoner held a finger to his lips, then pointed toward an alley, gesturing for Ji Yue to take cover with him.
Ji Yue sensed no hostility. After a mont's deliberation, she followed.
The instant they entered the alley, The Prisoner whirled around and whispered conspiratorially:
"I knew you'd all show up here. Good thing I was smart enough to hide nearby early—otherwise, where would I have found you?"
"Found ? Who's looking for ?"
Ji Yue blinked, then frowned: "The Fate Weaver? Did he send you to find ?"
The Prisoner pouted: "Why is the Fate Weaver all you see? Can't I look for you on my own? He's the outsider—I'm the one who's actually on your side!"
"You?"
Ji Yue laughed in spite of herself, giving him a once-over:
"Sorry, but your lane is way too... specialized. I can't squeeze in."
"If he's changed his mind, tell him to co find
himself. Otherwise, I'm not getting involved in your squabble."
"..."
If not for wanting to make a good first impression on his new colleague, The Prisoner would've snapped long ago. Now, seeing Ji Yue turn to leave, he had no choice but to play his trump card:
"The spark may die, but the torch never goes out!"
The mont those words rang out, Ji Yue—mid-turn—thrust her spear backward in a single fluid motion. Her gaze was piercing as frost, as if she intended to pin The Prisoner to the Redi Core night right then and there.
She recognized the Torchbearers' code phrase—but the problem was, she knew every single Torchbearer. The Prisoner's na wasn't among them.
So her first instinct was to imagine a scenario where soone had tortured the information out of a Torchbearer and was now using it to expose her identity. She struck imdiately, prepared to strangle the security leak in its cradle.
The blow packed serious force—enough that even The Prisoner had to take it seriously. He tilted his head, clamping the spearhead between his neck and shoulder, and uttered four more words:
"God Creation Plan!"
"!!??"
Ji Yue's eyes flew wide with shock. Her forward thrust lost all power as she stared at The Prisoner, completely stunned.
She was floored. The God Creation Plan was currently known to only a handful of Torchbearers. The fact that he could say those four words ant his identity was far more significant than a re informant or leaker.
So who had told him everything? And what was this Chosen of Silence's relationship with the Torchbearers?
Could he be so hidden card Qin Xin had kept secret?
The Prisoner read the confusion on Ji Yue's face. He removed the spear from his shoulder, straightened his expression with utmost gravity, and declared in a tone of absolute solemnity:
"You guessed right. I am the man behind Qin Xin!"
"...?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)