Free Web NovelChapter 1176: Chapter 1176: On a Knife’s Edge
Clang! A clear screech of metal on metal rang out from above the battlefield. Just as Golden Phoenix Feather blanked out for a moment and glanced toward Long Jin, Shitang Longsi seized the chance, lunging in with a sudden assault and cleaving down at the feathers on her back.
"Damn it! Are these monsters’ bodies all made of rebar and iron bones or what?!" Shitang Longsi, who had once split open a deep chasm with a single strike that pinned Long Taichu beneath a mountain when he first entered the Dragon Realm, looked at the fine, narrow line of blood his long blade had left on Golden Phoenix Feather’s back and couldn’t help complaining out loud.
Stabbed in the back, Golden Phoenix Feather flared into a rage and spun around to counterattack, but from the ruins where he’d been kicked, Long Jin ignored his own injuries and shouted, "Forget them, hurry and stop the one who went into the attic!"
Only then did Golden Phoenix Feather snap out of it. She turned and charged for the building, but by then Bai Ze and Ye, who had chased up close behind, were already blocking her path. With Shitang Longsi eyeing her like a tiger stalking its prey on top of that, surrounded by the three of them, Golden Phoenix Feather could forget about breaking through.
At this moment, with no one to keep him in check, Ivan spent a bit of effort and broke open the restriction leading down to the basement. Heart pounding with excitement, he couldn’t be bothered to worry about any ambush below and jumped straight down. The spacious basement was divided into three dark rooms. Ivan strode forward and kicked open one door—empty. Then he kicked open the second—still empty. Backing out, impatient to the extreme, he smashed open the third door.
"Hahahahaha!"
Inside the third room, there were two large beds, one empty, and on the other lay Pei Yan. Enemies meet, eyes blaze red! Ivan looked at Pei Yan, breathing steadily, sunk in deep sleep, drew his own Divine Artifact Staff, the bladed end extending out, aimed it at Pei Yan’s chest, then leapt high, throwing his head back in a howl: "Pei Yan! Prepare to die!"
That roar vented all the resentment and grief he’d bottled up these past days. It passed through the ground and reached the surface. For a moment, everyone fighting inside and outside the Array halted. Long Jin, clutching his chest, wanting to rejoin the fray, heard it and stumbled to the ground, eyes filled with despair. Golden Phoenix Feather, surrounded within the battle circle, wore an expression of shock and confusion, curiously staring toward the attic, waiting for a definitive answer.
Not only him—Blood Shasa’s Children of Origin, and Fafnir and the others, who were locked in fierce combat with the arriving reinforcements on the periphery, all turned their gazes toward the attic. In that instant, time seemed to stretch endlessly long.
"Something’s off!" staring at the attic, which had fallen silent after that roar, Bai Ze and Nero exchanged a look and spoke in unison. Even if Ivan had lost himself in the thrill of killing his nemesis, after this long, there should’ve been some sort of reaction!
Boom! Just as the two were about to go in and see what was going on, a dull thud came from underground. Then, as the ground trembled violently, the attic above collapsed. Amid the shower of shattered debris, a figure burst up through the earth and shot high into the sky.
"Ivan!" Nero, who had been watching the attic’s movements the whole time, immediately recognized that the blood‑soaked figure was the very comrade who’d just gone inside. He flew up and caught him before he could fall. Looking at Ivan’s upper body and face, flayed into a bloody mess by tens of thousands of fine threads, Nero froze in disbelief and couldn’t help blurting, "What happened in there?!"
"H-he... he... he opened... his... eyes... urgh...!" Supported by Nero, Ivan forced out the words in broken fragments, then could no longer hold back his injuries and vomited a mouthful of blood.
"What did you say? You’re saying Pei Yan woke up?" Nero didn’t even care that he’d been splashed with blood. Hearing that disjointed sentence, he pressed for confirmation.
Ivan didn’t speak again. Focusing on stabilizing his injuries, he nodded in answer. Remembering the scene in the basement just now still left him shaken. Right when he’d leapt up to drive the staff into Pei Yan’s heart, Pei Yan, who had been lying motionless on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes. Those eyes, full of mockery and killing intent, fixed on him so hard that the staff almost slipped right out of Ivan’s hand!
Even so, Ivan was at least a Child of Origin. With the arrow already notched, there was no pulling back now. At this point, how could he retreat! Betting on the chance that Pei Yan had just finished his contract fusion and his body hadn’t fully recovered yet, Ivan gritted his teeth, gripped the staff with both hands, and threw himself forward.
What came next left him utterly stunned!
Beaten! A whole string of blows! Blows from who‑knows‑where! Pei Yan was clearly lying right in front of him, not moving a muscle, watching him with that mocking gaze, not even releasing the slightest ripple of source energy! Yet Ivan just couldn’t drive the staff down. His entire body was actually suspended over Pei Yan’s bed, pummeled back and forth by some mysterious force. He couldn’t advance, couldn’t retreat, could only watch his own blood pour from his wounds, drip‑drip‑dripping onto the bed. Only when Pei Yan extended a single finger toward him did a huge force flick him away, finally freeing him and blasting him up to the surface.
"So we failed?" Bai Ze looked at the sorry state Ivan was in, shut his eyes in unwillingness, and sighed.
"Pei Yan! He’s still alive! He’s coming out!" Golden Phoenix Feather’s cheer lit Long Jin’s hope anew. He looked up, and sure enough, a familiar figure emerged from the ruins.
"Is this fate? Is it really that man proposes, but heaven disposes?!" Staring at Pei Yan, who looked dopey as he lounged against a broken column, recalling all the scheming and hardship they’d gone through only to fall short at the final step, Shitang Longsi slowly let his tightly raised long blade drop, a wave of powerlessness surging up in his chest.
"Idiot!"
Bai Ze cursed in a low growl: "You all call Pei Yan your lifelong enemy, yet even now you can’t tell real from fake? Take a good look at the person in front of you—is he Pei Yan?"
"What?" At Bai Ze’s words, not only the Blood Shasa crowd, but even Long Jin and the rest all showed shock on their faces, then turned their eyes to that person again. It was Pei Yan, wasn’t it? The looks, the aura, even the unique circulation of Primordial Qi in his body were exactly the same!
Hmm? No, that’s not right! Everyone present was a dragon‑among‑men. Once Bai Ze pointed it out, a closer look quickly revealed the flaw. In every aspect this person was extremely similar to Pei Yan, but in terms of bearing and demeanor, there was a bit more laziness, a bit more simple‑honest dullness. Compared to Pei Yan’s earlier playful yet sly air in battle, with its ruthless decisiveness, the difference was obvious.
By now, Long Jin and Golden Phoenix Feather had already guessed who this person actually was, and the weight in Long Jin’s heart finally lifted. Now that the two of them shared life and death, if he was still alive, that meant Pei Yan himself was also fine.
"Little Tiger, I told you—your method of hiding your aura still isn’t up to snuff. It’s barely enough to fool an idiot like Ivan who just wants me dead as fast as possible. Run into someone who actually knows what they’re looking at, and they poke through you with one glance, right?" That familiar voice came from within the shattered ruins, and a figure slowly emerged from the broken entrance of the tunnel.
