Chapter 534

Chapter 534 Convergence

The instant their hands made contact, Qian Five felt an intense chill, as though he were gripping a corpse.

Although he had seen {Black Tortoise} many times before, this was the first time he had ever touched her. The sensation was far stranger than he had imagined.

{Black Tortoise} was like someone without body heat. Her fingers were as cold as the dead, yet possessed the softness of the living.

“With thy hand upon mine…can it truly bring about my death?” {Black Tortoise} asked.

“I’m not certain,” Qian Five replied. “But I will do everything I can. Even if it costs me my life, I will kill you.”

“You must do everything you can.” Black Tortoise nodded blankly. “Even should it take several tries, it matters not. Only that thou give it thy utmost.”

Seeing this, Celestial Horse and Celestial Tiger behind {Black Tortoise} each stepped back slowly. Since {Black Tortoise} had already taken the stage, they no longer had the right to speak.

Qian Five slowly turned his head and signaled to the two behind him. Luo Eleven and Qiu Twenty nodded, picked up their daggers from the ground, and walked toward Qian Five at an unhurried pace.

“Five ge.” Luo Eleven placed a hand on Qian Five’s shoulder. “Relax… it won’t hurt…”

“It’s fine.” Qian Five nodded calmly. “Do it.”

Luo Eleven glanced at {Black Tortoise}. She and Qian Five stood hand in hand before him, as intimate as lovers, yet the cold aura radiating from her sent a chill down the spine.

“Five ge, I’m sorry.” Luo Eleven exhaled deeply and drove the dagger in his hand straight into Qian Five’s chest.

Qi Xia and the others in the distance held their breath, as the plan seemed to unfold unexpectedly smoothly.

Qian Five felt no pain, only the chill of something cold piercing into his chest.

“No…don’t use {Affliction Dismissal}…” Qian Five gritted his teeth. “Pain hastens my death…”

Luo Eleven’s expression darkened as he nodded. “I understand.”

He closed his eyes and silently recited a few words, but when he opened them, Qian Five still showed no reaction.

“Withdraw {Affliction Dismissal}.” Qian Five said again.

“I…” Luo Eleven felt something was off. “Five ge, I’ve already retracted {Affliction Dismissal}…”

“What?” Qian Five froze slightly. “Already retracted…?”

Not only could he feel no pain, there was not even the slightest sign of impending death.

At that moment, {Black Tortoise} extended her other hand and swept aside the long hair across her chest. The three men saw a fresh wound bloom on her chest, identical to the one on Qian Five.

“So is that all?” {Black Tortoise} asked, a faint note of disappointment in her voice. “Is this truly what thou call a ‘killing’?”

A strange sense nagged at Qian Five, prompting him to glance at Qiu Twenty.

Qiu Twenty understood immediately. Without a word, he drove his dagger into Qian Five’s carotid artery.

A dull thud sounded as steel met flesh and at that same instant, a hole appeared in {Black Tortoise}’s neck as well.

“What is happening…?” Qian Five felt the first stirrings of unease. He had no {Affliction Dismissal}, yet the lethal wounds in his chest and neck were entirely painless.

Qi Xia’s expression went ashen at the sight. He stepped away from the prison gate, retreating slowly a few paces, and called out to Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin: “Qian Five has lost. Prepare yourselves, {Celestial Horse’s Hour} is about to commence."

“Lost…?” Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin both froze. “But aren’t we still trying to find a way to kill {Black Tortoise}?”

“It’s impossible,” Qi Xia said. “Not just {Black Tortoise, I doubt even Qian Five can die at this point.”

Zhou Six, hearing this, looked toward Qian Five in utter disbelief.

Qian Five reached out and shoved Luo Eleven aside, then pulled the dagger from his own chest. When he looked down, he found nothing but a pitch-black hollow where the blade had pierced him, not a single drop of blood flowed.

“How could this be?” Qian Five murmured. “Is this… {Unbreakable Spirit}…?”

He had intended to assimilate {Black Tortoise}’s body, yet for reasons unknown, his own body had instead been assimilated into {Unbreakable Spirit}.

Unwilling to accept this, Qian Five grasped the dagger embedded in his neck and dragged it sideways, tearing open a long gash across his throat.

The same jet-black hue appeared simultaneously on both Qian Five’s and Black Tortoise’s necks. At this moment, their heads looked as though they had been crudely stitched onto their bodies, unreal and grotesque.

Yet neither of them died.

“So that’s how it is…” Qian Five lowered his head, despair filling his face as he muttered to himself. “I was truly far too naïve… I imagined countless possible outcomes, but never this one…”

“Hey.” Black Tortoise called out coldly. “This strange trick of thine…how is it any different from simply hewing at me with a blade?”

“So it seems…” Qian Five shook his head in frustration. “There truly is no difference at all.”

“Huh?” Black Tortoise’s eyes filled with instant disappointment. “What is it you mean…? Surely you can still kill me?”

Only now did Qian Five fully grasp the terror of {Unbreakable Spirit}. His neck bore a wound that should have been unquestionably fatal, yet he felt absolutely nothing amiss.

Even if his head were severed now, he still would not die. But why was he unable to assimilate her body?

“Run…” Qian Five said in a low voice. “Eleven, Twenty, run as far as you can…”

“Five ge… then what about y—”

“The moment I let go, I’ll die.” Despair was written plainly across Qian Five’s face. “I’ve lost…”

With that, he turned his head toward Black Tortoise and asked with a deep frown, “It’s my life you want, isn’t it? I was the one who orchestrated this plan to kill {Celestial Horse}.”

“No.” Black Tortoise shook her head. “All three of you bore deadly intent toward {Celestial Horse}. None shall be spared.”

“You!” Qian Five knew all too well that before Black Tortoise, he possessed no bargaining chip whatsoever.

If even {Conjoined Identity Bloom} was powerless against Black Tortoise… was there truly any other way to eliminate her?

“There’s no need to beg for mercy, Five ge.” Luo Eleven gave a faint smile. “Lǎozǐ never planned on leaving anyway. Today just happens to be a good day to rest.”

He took the dagger from Qian Five’s hand and lunged at Black Tortoise once more, just as Qi Xia had done before, carving countless wounds across her body in a frenzy.

Yet Black Tortoise showed no reaction at all.

“Ever it is thus,” Black Tortoise said dully, her eyes vacant. “All of you who seek my death…bring none a flicker of true will…”

As her words fell, a vivid crimson object appeared in Black Tortoise’s hand: a living, still-beating heart.

Luo Eleven froze. Before he could say a word, Black Tortoise had already crushed the heart cleanly and decisively. 

Like a sponge saturated with water, it burst under her grip, spraying a large volume of blood. 

Luo Eleven collapsed to the ground amid his shock.

“Eleven!” Qian Five understood that although it appeared he was restraining Black Tortoise, his own situation was far more perilous. The moment he loosened his grip, he would die instantly.