Hearing Cheng Shi's words, Chun nodded solemnly and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Cheng Shi blinked. "Wait — you're just leaving?"
Chun paused mid-step, turned back with a slightly puzzled look. "Didn't you tell
to go handle my own affairs?"
"..."
'Great. The mont the revenge talk ends, she's seven years old again.'
Cheng Shi rolled his eyes and pointed irritably toward the chaotic Grand Tribunal central camp up on Boro Highlands.
"You threw the whole situation into chaos, forced us down from the highland, wasted a ton of my ntal energy — and now you're just walking away?
So you get all the benefits for free."
"I followed you down here. You chose the direction."
"I—" Cheng Shi's voice hitched. Fighting the urge to abandon the alliance on the spot, he exhaled heavily. "Don't make
trash-talk my own ally. Compensation. Hand over the compensation first. Show
your sincerity."
The instant the words left his mouth, he added: "Not daggers. Put those scrap-tal daggers away!"
Chun obediently put back the dagger she'd just drawn, then said with a troubled expression:
"Besides the items I use for tracking and assassinating that rat, I don't have anything left."
"Yes, you do." Cheng Shi jabbed a finger at Chun's head. "I've taken an interest in this Decay curse.
Honestly, I've been studying the nature of oathbreaking curses lately — treating them as another form of divine blessing.
Deconstructing these blessings gives
inspiration about the nature of faith-based power. As for how I deconstruct them — that's a secret. I won't be sharing it.
Oathbreaking curses are rare. I can only collect them slowly.
Today I've run into one. You have no choice, Chun. Hand over the curse — consider it the sincerity price for our alliance.
Otherwise... no deal."
The words didn't just stun Chun. Even the History School's Vice President Sun was floored.
Sun Miao stared at Cheng Shi in disbelief, her normally blank face filled — for the first ti — with uncontainable shock. Her fingers flew across the keys: "Curses cannot be deconstructed."
The certainty in her voice made Cheng Shi's gaze sharpen with amusent.
"You're only a Silence follower. No matter how close to Folly you get, you can't speak for Folly.
How would you know curses can't be deconstructed?"
"I—" Sun Miao typed a few characters, then quietly withdrew her hands.
She went silent.
But Chun ignited. The Crown of Thorns's expression twisted further. She rushed to Cheng Shi, gripped his shoulders, wanted to say sothing but couldn't find the words — just kept nodding, red-eyed, nodding again and again.
Decay's curse had wasted too many of her opportunities. Without that oathbreaking leash, her hunt for Lin Xi would have gone far more smoothly.
Cheng Shi's demand wasn't a taking — it was a gift.
He was gifting her liberation.
Chun wasn't stupid. She wasn't actually seven. She could feel Cheng Shi's goodwill, and she knew it didn't stem from sympathy — it ca from Hong Lin, a fellow mber of the Prosperity camp.
It was because of Hong Lin that Cheng Shi gave her this chance.
She was overjoyed — and yet quietly heartbroken.
Because she knew she owed too much, and could no longer bring anything to Prosperity.
But she might still bring sothing to this "generous" Fate Weaver. With that thought, Chun withdrew her hands and clenched the banner hidden behind her back.
In truth, the chip Cheng Shi wanted wasn't about the present. If Lin Xi truly intended to do sothing under Oblivion's orders, Chun would be the most reliable ally — bar none.
So even just to stabilize this trial-bound alliance, he had to extend goodwill first. After all, this could be a fight to the death.
Under the other two's watchful eyes, Cheng Shi once again activated the power of Decay's Faded authority. With a light swipe over Chun's head, he stripped away every last trace of the curse that had tornted her for countless days and nights.
"!!!"
Surprise. Shock. Awe.
Chun had never imagined she could one day shed her forr "employer's" "gift." This dream-like scene made her montarily anxious — was it real?
It seed so! Because the instant Decay left her body, the Prosperity power she held — no longer suppressed — surged forward like a tidal wave. In the blink of an eye, the bald "man" standing before them regrew a full head of lustrous black hair. Looking at her now, there was sothing almost—
Never mind. She still looked masculine. Like a man with long hair.
Chun had rugged features. That was why losing her hair alone was enough for people to mistake her for male. But her appearance needed no apologies — just like her experiences, it was not for outsiders to judge.
She was simply persisting in what she believed mattered. Like millions of lost players in this ga, she'd found a psychological anchor to survive — and an excuse to convince herself.
Even witnessing it firsthand, Sun Miao could barely believe it. Her blazing eyes locked onto Cheng Shi's arm. Sensing the purest essence of Decay, she typed with undisguised desire:
"Is this the result of your curse research?
Deconstructing curse power into personal strength?
This taste of Decay is so rich — how many Decay curses have you deconstructed?
Does it work on other curses?
Truth? Folly? ...Or Silence?"
While listing the gods, Sun Miao paused noticeably. Then she resud typing smoothly:
"I'm very interested in this deconstruction thod. I'll trade any history or intelligence you want. Any amount. What do you say, Cheng Shi?"
"Not interested." Cheng Shi snorted and flatly refused the trade. "What I want, you don't have. And what you want... I don't have either."
Sun Miao assud Cheng Shi was brushing her off. She didn't realize those words were his one piece of genuine truth.
"Deconstructing curses" was complete nonsense. All he'd used was the authority Decay had granted him. As for other gods' curses...
Don't even dream about it. Unless They Themselves were willing, who would dare risk provoking a deity to shoulder soone else's divine wrath?
But from Chun and Sun Miao's perspective, Cheng Shi had just shouldered Decay's fury on the Crown of Thorns's behalf. How he'd converted that fury into protection — that was the question Sun Miao cared about most.
"Chun still bears another curse. Why not take that one too?"
"..."
'Can I? Do you think I'm so kind of magic gourd that sucks up anything I call by na?'
Fortunately, Cheng Shi had already prepared his defense. He scoffed and refused: "I told you — this thod only works on oathbreaking curses. The Oblivion curse was planted by soone else; it's not from Chun's oathbreaking. Useless to .
Don't ask again. This kind of secret will never be shared."
Sun Miao clearly hadn't given up, but she knew not to push right now. She decisively went quiet and started scheming other approaches.
Chun gazed gratefully at Cheng Shi. Feeling Prosperity's power circulate through her without obstruction, she barely resisted the urge to find Lin Xi for another fight to the death right this second.
Naturally, Cheng Shi wasn't going to manage her schedule. He reiterated that he'd only act when the ti was right. What Chun did before that point — what she was doing, whether she lived or died — was none of his concern.
Chun understood. She expressed her thanks once more, gritted her teeth, left behind the few Prosperity healing potions she still carried, and departed.
Looking at those all-too-familiar potions — so many he couldn't even store them — Cheng Shi shook his head with a smile.
'So Big Cat made the sa call. She's been secretly helping Chun too.'
Watching Chun disappear in a blaze of energy, Sun Miao typed thoughtfully:
"She hasn't got long. The banner gave her power but also obliterated her vitality.
She didn't have to go this far. But she was too impatient.
Though I understand her impatience. In this era where Favored Ones open their arms to embrace faith fusion, earning a second god's gaze is extraordinarily difficult..."
The Mi Master sighed at length. But Cheng Shi's expression went peculiar.
'Difficult...'
'Mm. True. Deliberately suppressing my own power to avoid exposing a third and fourth faith is indeed quite difficult. Even more so than obtaining a second faith.'
But these thoughts stayed safely in Cheng Shi's head. He didn't dare voice them. Instead, he pointed at Boro Highlands once more and said with a straight face:
"Now that Chun showed up here, it ans Lin Xi has bought himself ti too.
The central camp was thrown into total chaos. He can't not know — yet he still hasn't appeared. So tell , Vice President Sun — what exactly is this Chosen with, shall we say, questionable hair quality up to?"
'Questionable hair quality...'
'You just restored Chun's hair and now you're imdiately throwing shade at a Decay follower?'
Sun Miao gave Cheng Shi an expressionless glance, said nothing, and silently added a note to her ntal file: Master of Passive Aggression!
'This man is exceptionally skilled at throwing shade. Rivals The Prisoner himself.'
...
Reviews
All reviews (0)