Death... and me

Chapter 4060: Lucky Day

"Xixie!" Hoblio finally called her out, too. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"

Xixie turned to her brother. "Hoblio..." Then, she tried to calm down. What was done was done. No point dwelling on that problem anymore. Above all, she did get the first hit, even if it was in a ridiculous way. "I guess I’m into the next test."

Hoblio sighed in relief. "Seems like you aren’t feeling any pain then."

Xixie nodded, noticing her other brother in the crowd, looking at her. He still refused to come forward from the looks of it. Then, she turned her head up, noticing that Kentucky and Rean were looking in that direction. Only then did she see it. The test was still ongoing, and the projections showed many different angles of that arena.

"Wait, am I the only one who has passed?" Xixie couldn’t help but ask.

To which Rean answered. "What do you want? It hasn’t even been five minutes since you returned here to the Main Hall."

"Five minutes?!" Xixie thought she had been unconscious for much longer than that. Well, she would have been if Kentucky hadn’t used his Light Element to wake her up. "I see..."

She returned her focus to the projections. "Still, none of them are moving."

Rean nodded. "The princesses saw what Zanbril did to you, and they don’t have Kentucky or me to heal them. Well, to be more specific, the advisors probably have some pills, treasures, or other things that could be used to save their princesses."

"However, if the advisors come out of their formations to use those things on their princesses, they will break the rules that say the advisors can’t do that. Obviously, the collars will kill their princesses straight away, and no life-saving method will bring them back. I checked it when I saw the other princesses dying earlier. Those collars erase the soul completely."

Rean then turned to look at her. "The only reason nothing happened to you after Kentucky left his formation was simply that the test was already over for you. That slap meant you passed the test, so the formation didn’t activate. If those princesses want to be saved by their advisors, they had better make sure they have at least passed the test by hitting Zanbril first."

Hoblio understood what Rean meant. "There is no way Zanbril won’t be ready for someone using that method again. If they try to sacrifice themselves, they likely will just die."

"Exactly," Rean agreed with Hoblio. "Thus, all the princesses haven’t made a move yet. Zanbril showed he can easily kill them, and he will not hold back one bit. Of course, there is no way this test can stay like this forever. The advisors can’t use Divine Sense, but the princesses definitely can. The princesses are probably having a very heated discussion about how to proceed."

Xixie remembered how she was there a moment ago, and how she would definitely be having those conversations as well. Of course, she was still feeling the embarrassment of being seen naked, but at least that conversation was helping her focus her mind elsewhere. "Will they attack together?"

Rean thought for a moment. "Well, there are several ways of going at it. Zanbril made it very clear he won’t attack until someone attacks him first. If I were them, I would use that advantage to the maximum."

"How?" Hoblio asked back.

"Well, I’m a formations master, so why not make a formation to simply pin Zanbril down?" Rean spoke of his own idea. "Of course, Zanbril might attack you anyway. After all, the fact is that you would be making that formation to take him on, so it is kind of a first move. It depends on whether he would see it that way or not."

"If not a formation, then what?" Xixie was still curious.

"That. The other kind of formation." Rean pointed at the holographic projections.

The princesses began to position themselves in a battle formation. Then, their energies began to circulate within that formation quite beautifully. No doubt the formation they were using was of a very high level. It wasn’t the same kind of formations as the ones Rean built with materials, obviously. It was just the way you fought together, like an echelon formation, arrow formation, and such. It’s just that in the cultivation world, you could take it to another level where everyone’s energies were used together in specific ways.

Zanbril saw that and immediately shot forward, going after one of the princesses. That princess was terrified and ran away without thinking twice. Sure enough, Zanbril didn’t wait for them to get used to that formation. He considered it as them making the first move, so he attacked.

"Don’t!" One of the princesses exclaimed.

Too bad, it was too late.

*Puft!*

Zanbril’s lance pierced the princess’s body, and this time, he made sure to pay attention to everything. If she tried to retaliate somehow, he would easily deal with it.

Then, he threw that princess’s body away and shot after the next. Every second he waited was a second that those princesses got used to that formation, and their energies got more dangerous.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse. Zanbril attacked someone, and that princess fled. The ideal situation was that none of the princesses left their positions, but who would wait to die just like that?

Nonetheless, they were all princesses from big powers. They had talent, or at least had the right conditions to grow up. By the time Zanbril finished the fifth princess, the rest began to attack him back, making use of the formation to make up for the power difference.

The battle lasted another thirty-five minutes, and only then were another four hits landed on Zanbril’s body. However, by then, another eleven princesses lost their lives, and five got injuries of various degrees.

This shouldn’t have taken this long. From what Rean could see, that formation was indeed perfect for that situation. The person who brought it up during the princesses’ discussion clearly knew what she was doing. The problem was that there were only four slots remaining. If you focused only on your task, you would have to let others have better chances of landing the hit.

So, even though the formation was perfect, all the princesses had terrible teamwork. They all wanted to get ahead of the other. Zanbril made the most of those flaws to take many down.

Of course, he was also injured, but he didn’t care. He could bear it with his higher cultivation and strength. Finally, the survivors returned to the Main Hall, and the five princesses were chosen.

Rean looked at Havira, who was sighing. Her princess, Lufua, didn’t die, but she did not land a hit either. Lufua was out of the contest.

Kentucky looked at her, noticing the same thing. ’Are we leaving now that Havira’s princess is out?’

Rean shrugged. ’That’s up to you. The next test is likely the last, and you are Xixie’s only remaining advisor. If you think it is not worth it, then we might as well leave.’

’Hum...’ Kentucky pondered a bit. ’Oh well, let’s just say today is Xixie’s lucky day. I’m also curious about what the last test will be about.’

At that moment, Zanbril came into the crowd, stopping in front of Xixie and Kentucky. They obviously left the biggest impression on him. "What you did was impressive, but also ridiculous. If you had missed that hit, Kentucky wouldn’t have been able to come out to save you."

Xixie sighed, pointing at Kentucky. "If I didn’t attack, he would have broken the rules on purpose to have me killed."

"Hahaha!" Zanbril laughed. "Indeed, that was the funniest part of this entire gathering."

Zanbril turned to Kentucky. "Did everything until now play according to your plans?"

Kentucky pondered a bit. "Hum... pretty much. There was a thing I didn’t understand, though."

"Which is?" Zanbril was curious.

Kentucky’s hand landed on Xixie’s head again. "When she hit you back, it was supposed to be a punch on the chest. Yet, she slapped you on the face. I didn’t expect her to be holding such a grudge. Oh well, a hit is a hit, right?"

Immediately, the hall went silent.

As for Xixie, she wanted to die again. One must wonder if Xixie would really be thinking today was her lucky day.