638 I Almost Died

[POV: Da Wei]

“Do we really have to do this?” I asked. “I’m going to end up kicking your ass anyway.”

We were in the middle of the desert, somewhere northeast of Simpson City. It was quite far from civilization, and it was hot enough that I would have preferred sitting in a bar with a drink in hand, talking things over and discussing strategy. Unfortunately, Ru Qiu wouldn’t have any of it. He had insisted on a spar.

Ru Qiu glared at me. “If you can kick my ass, feel free to give it a try.”

“Okay, rules,” I said, keeping up the bravado while doing my best to hide my nervousness. “I won’t use my Origin Art if you don’t use your Supremacy Trait. Since you keep losing against me, I thought it was about time I gave you a handicap to make things fair. But really, do we have to do this? With Ophanim, it’s going to be an instant win for me. It’s honestly pathetic, you know? How about we just call it a tie and have a drink instead? My treat.”

“You talk too much,” Ru Qiu said with a nasty smirk.

He had clearly seen right through me.

I didn’t even have time to blink.

Ru Qiu vanished.

The next moment, a force slammed into me with enough power to send me flying backward. I gritted my teeth, relying on my defenses to accumulate reflected damage. I tried to grab his shoulder, intending to pull him into a hug and ruin his momentum.

My hand caught nothing.

I flew backward violently, the pain from his kick registering only after a full second. For something that had looked like a gentle tap, it carried an absurd amount of momentum. It was annoying that I couldn’t even tell whether he was using his Supremacy Trait or not.

“Just so you know,” Ru Qiu whispered directly into my ear, “I am using it.”

I immediately tapped into Ophanim and ducked down to my knees.

A kick tore through the space where my ribs had been a moment earlier. I saw gravity itself distort around Ru Qiu's body. His Supremacy Trait, Fallen, had to be responsible. He was outputting a level of force that I doubted I could match even if we were back in the Hollowed World.

I used Stagger on the spot.

The sand beneath us shifted violently, disturbing Ru Qiu's footing and throwing off his balance. I immediately followed with a spinning back fist, but there was nothing there.

Ru Qiu had already moved behind me with a black-flaming kick rushing toward my head.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I sidestepped, diverging from the future Ophanim had shown me. In that future, my head had cleanly separated from my shoulders. “Hey, hey! My eyes are already hurting from the strain! Dial it down, Ru Qiu!”

Ru Qiu didn't heed me.

He kept up the pressure while I barely dodged each attack by the smallest possible margin. Every movement was guided by Ophanim. Every instinct screamed at me to move before his attacks even began. If I couldn’t see the future, I would already be dead. In fact, I had already seen myself die countless times. A kick through my chest. A fist through my skull. A strike that tore my body in half. Every single one happened in a single blow.

“This is disappointing,” Ru Qiu said as he suddenly stopped.

“Disappointing?” I stared at him incredulously. “You just tried to kill me! What the hell do you mean, disappointing?”

I pointed at myself.

“Do you know how many times I just died? Do you want to fight me at my peak, or do you just want to destroy my sorry ass right now? Because there’s a pretty big difference between the two!”

I was genuinely nervous that Ru Qiu might actually jump me again. If this continued, I was going to die. My breathing had already become unstable, and my eyes were throbbing from the strain of constantly looking into the future. Everything about this freaking sucked. Even if I exerted all my power, I wasn't convinced I could touch the sleeves of his clothes.

“Fine,” Ru Qiu said. For a brief moment, I saw something in his eyes. It was the resolve to kill me. “But you have to survive this first. Don't worry. I’ll hold back.”

“Please don’t,” I said immediately. “Seriously, don’t do this. I don’t have a resurrection on me right now!”

Ru Qiu ignored my plea.

Dark flames gathered around his fist.

The flames slowly changed color, reversing from black into white while faint black edges remained around them. The aura reminded me of something born from the Martial Path, but it was different. There was an oppressive quality to it, almost as though it existed in opposition to the very nature of my Divine Qi.

My expression stiffened.

Ru Qiu raised his fist.

“Here I come.”

He disappeared.

In the next instant, he appeared directly before me, his fist driving straight toward my jaw. I saw my death in the future. The moment Ru Qiu’s fist connected, my skull was blown apart along with the rest of my body. When I returned to the present, I made a simple decision. I was going to survive, no matter what. I gritted my teeth, tilted my head backward, and used Flash Parry against his wrist. I didn’t need to block the attack. I only needed to upset its angle by the tiniest amount.

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It bought me almost no time, but almost no time was still time.

My other hand had already reached into my chest and plucked out my heart.

With the fraction of a second I had left, I cast Shield of Faith around it and hurled it away with War Smite. I needed as much distance as possible, so I threw it with enough force to snap the joints in my arm.

Ru Qiu’s fist connected, and my body died. I felt everything collapse at once, my flesh imploding into silver flames as the force of his strike erased almost everything I was. But through Ophanim, I was still watching.

I cast Blessed Regeneration on my heart.

The spell pumped every scrap of Divine Qi I could muster into it. The heart beat once, twice, and more. My body began to regenerate from it.

When I finally emerged, I was completely naked.

Ophanim took control of my body for the first few seconds, sending me underground at my maximum speed. I burrowed beneath the sand, racing through the darkness with every ounce of ferocity it could muster. I needed distance and time. Most importantly, I needed to make sure Ru Qiu couldn’t immediately finish the job.

For those few seconds, I wasn't entirely myself.

Ophanim was uploading my sense of self back into my body, restoring my memories and everything that made me me. When it finished, I immediately felt a violent urge to snap back at Ru Qiu. The sand above me was suddenly gouged away.

A massive wave of qi tore through the desert, exposing the ground beneath me. Ru Qiu appeared in front of me, laughing as he grabbed both my shoulders. “Marvelously done, Da Wei!” he exclaimed. “I thought you might actually die back there! Ha ha ha ha! Incredible!”

The urge to snap back at him vanished almost immediately. So did the rest of my energy. Yeah. No shit. I had absolutely no comeback to that. “Damn you,” I whispered, breathing heavily. “I almost died back there.”

Ru Qiu only laughed. “But you’re alive right now, no? Come, come! Let’s have a drink. My treat!”

I guessed he really enjoyed kicking my ass. I hadn’t realized he had that much frustration reserved for me. Five minutes later, we were sitting in a rather posh bar, with Ru Qiu keeping his promise about the drinks. I had already changed into a spare set of clothes.

The bartender approached.

“I’ll have iced chrysanthemum tea,” I said.

Ru Qiu raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I almost died.”

“And?”

“I’m celebrating my continued existence with something sweet.”

He laughed while the bartender went to prepare my drink. A few moments later, an iced tea was placed in front of me while Ru Qiu enjoyed his cocktail.

I took a long sip before finally asking, “So, how’s the Hollowed World doing?”

“Can’t say,” Ru Qiu replied. “I’ve been trapped here for a year. It’s your daughter’s work. Also, Alice's. I'm afraid that they are up to something reckless.”

Gu Jie. What were you thinking!? I nearly slammed my forehead against the table. “I’m surprised you aren’t angry at me,” I said. “Or is that what the sparring was about?”

Ru Qiu shrugged. “No. I just wanted to kick your ass.”

I stared at him. “Of course you did.” I took another drink before burying my face in one hand. “Gu Jie and Alice really went and trapped you here. What the hell were they thinking? What kind of ridiculous plan was this? I’m mortified just hearing about it. They’ve both lost their minds.”

Ru Qiu took another sip of his cocktail. “I have an idea.”

I looked up. “What is it?”

Ru Qiu became thoughtful.

“It better not be something stupid,” I warned him. “I’m already losing hope for those two. If you’re about to tell me something that makes them look even crazier, I might actually give up on them.”

He was silent for a moment. Then he said ominously, “They want to prove the existence of an enemy.”

I frowned. “An enemy?”

“Possibly the mastermind behind everything.”

I blinked. “Isn’t that easy? It’s the Yellow Emperor and the other guy.”

By the other guy, I meant the Supreme Void.

Ru Qiu shook his head.

“I doubt that’s the case.” His tone had changed. The joking atmosphere from earlier was gone. “Do you know why I’ve been hunting for the Origin King all this time?” he asked, conflicted and pained. "I have questions about the Supreme Beings. More importantly, I have questions about the state of affairs that led to the end of the Age of Divinity and the beginning of the Age of Supremacy.”

He stared into his drink, his fingers tightening slightly around his glass.

“At first, I was only suspicious. Then came the events surrounding the possible literal end of the universe after the summoning of the Great Beast. After that, I became more certain. There was someone responsible for all of this. A hidden existence that distorted history and designed the situation we find ourselves in today.”

My expression slowly became serious. “A mastermind behind the current Age of Supremacy?”

“I don't know,” Ru Qiu said. “That is what I intend to find out. Then I got tricked into staying here, hexed with a curse that makes me lose my sense of direction.”

I didn't have a joke ready, though that honestly sounded so in tune with my humor.

“That sounds really bad,” I remarked, thinking about how serious this actually was. Sure, having a messed-up sense of direction sounded funny on the surface, but realistically, it must have been a nightmare to deal with.

“You have no idea,” Ru Qiu said, taking another sip from his cocktail.

“No wonder you keep missing your mark,” I said, unable to help myself.

He stared at me.

I smiled. “Cheers?”

“Fuck you.”

I took another sip of my iced tea. “So, what’s stopping you from using the elevator connected to the Tower to return to the Hollowed World? Or maybe you could write letters back home.” I paused. “Ah, wait. Do you have someone back home who can act as your living compass?”

“You can do away with the sarcasm, Da Wei,” Ru Qiu said. “You should know that Earth will always be my home.”

That explained a lot.

No wonder he had never put much effort into rebuilding his life or putting down roots in the Hollowed World, despite the wealth of knowledge he possessed and the weight carried by his name. The Heavenly Demonic Cult was being rebuilt, but Ru Qiu barely interacted with them. It made me realize just how reluctant he was to form new connections. Whatever relationship he maintained with the Heavenly Demonic Cult was probably driven by nostalgia, responsibility, or some combination of the two.

I looked at him. “So, if you were given a choice to go home right now, would you do it?”

He shook his head. “No. Not until I get the Source back, master it, and return my family to me. I can only trust myself, Da Wei. So take comfort in knowing that I won’t betray you if it comes down to you or someone else dangling the promise of my family in front of me. If I can get them back, I’d rather do it myself.”

He paused.

“But I have to warn you. If it comes down to the Source or you, I will not give up the Source.”

“That’s not really what I meant,” I said. “But I get the idea. I respect your choices. As for the Source, we’ll talk about it if it’s actually standing in front of us. Something tells me we won’t be seeing it again for a very long time.”

I took another sip of my tea.

“For now, we need to plan ahead. We have to figure out how to deal with this mysterious figure, and then I need to figure out how to talk my loved ones out of whatever ridiculous plan they’ve gotten themselves into.”

Ru Qiu was silent for a moment. “There’s a bigger problem.”

I frowned. “What?”

“The elevator is gone.”

I nearly dropped my glass. “What? You should've started with that!”

“The elevator connected to the Tower was destroyed. The research group and everyone assigned to the facility were evacuated first. The facility was emptied before it happened. Then the elevator and the rest of the facility were destroyed.”

I sighed.

I could already feel my blood pressure rising.

“Gu Jie. Alice. What the hell are you two doing?”

Ru Qiu merely took another sip of his cocktail.

At this point, I wasn't even sure I wanted to know.