Chapter 2387: Outcome
Han Li and Wen Xinfeng were both rather perplexed about why Bi Ying had agreed so readily to Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation"s request, but they didn"t raise any objections and stood off to the side in silence.
The Buddha Bone Monarch also remained silent as he glanced at Han Li"s duo with his fiery green eyes.
A smile appeared on Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation"s face upon hearing Bi Ying agree to his request, and he lowered his head to focus on the game at hand again, then placed another stone on the board after a prolonged period of thought.
Bi Ying also began to focus on the game upon seeing this.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the board in an intrigued manner, but after just a short while, he quickly shook his own head in a resigned manner.
His skills in the game of Go were quite average, but he was still able to identify that this game was astonis.h.i.+ngly complex and definitely not one that he could make sense of.
Bi Ying and this Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation were definitely the best Go players he had ever seen; it was no wonder that both of them were confident enough to decide the outcome of their match through a game of Go.
With that in mind, Han Li"s gaze strayed over to Wen Xinfeng, upon which he discovered that she was also appraising the board, but her brows were slightly furrowed, and it seemed that she was able to better understand the current game situation better than he did.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li"s face upon seeing this.
Each move made by Bi Ying and Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation would be punctuated by a long pause, and in the blink of an eye, close to an hour had pa.s.sed by.
All of a sudden, a burst of loud rumbling rang out in the distance, and the two light barriers encompa.s.sing the first mountain from the right were destroyed, and two people emerged before flying one after another toward the mountain where Han Li and the others were situated.
After identifying the two figures flying toward them, Wen Xinfeng"s expression changed slightly as she remarked, "It seems like Fellow Daoist Lei has been defeated."
Han Li also cast his gaze toward that direction to find that the silver-armored man"s suit of armor was currently riddled with holes, and half of his body had been reduced to a mangled ma.s.s of flesh and blood.
There were also several inky-black ghostly heads biting onto his exposed flesh, and his face was very pale.
The person that was pursuing him was a beautiful young woman who appeared to be 17 years of age.
She was wearing a resplendent purple robe, but was surrounded by hundreds of ghostly heads and had gusts of Yin winds surging around her.
After just a few flashes, the two of them arrived in the air above the mountain where Han Li and the others were situated, and they were also rather taken aback by the sight that greeted them down below.
However, the silver-armored man immediately returned to his senses before descending from above, while the young woman only followed suit after a brief hesitation.
At the same time, the ghostly heads around her vanished as if they were nothing more than illusions.
"Are you alright, Brother Lei?" Bi Ying asked.
"I"m fine, Brother Bi; thanks for your concern. However, the outcome of my battle was a disappointing one. I"ve already done everything in my power, but this woman"s abilities were too much for me to handle, so I was forced to flee," the silver-armored man replied with a wry smile.
"It"s alright, Fellow Daoist Han and Fairy Wen have already won their battles. The 10 Monarchs of the Netherworld all possess different levels of power anyway, so I never expected us to win all five matches; you should prioritize on recovering from your injuries," Bi Ying said in a warm voice, seemingly not very disappointed by the silver-armored man"s defeat.
"Fellow Daoist Han and Fairy Wen have already defeated their opponents? That"s a pleasant surprise. In that case, I can rest a.s.sured," the silver-armored man said as he cast a surprised glance toward Han Li and Wen Xinfeng, then took a seat nearby with his legs crossed.
Soon, arcs of silver lightning emerged to completely inundate his entire body.
Meanwhile, Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation exchanged a few words with the young woman to learn about what had transpired during her battle, following which his smile became slightly more p.r.o.nounced.
"Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation, your side has earned a victory as well, but according to our prior agreement, these two must also remain on this mountain and are forbidden from disrupting the final battle," Bi Ying said.
"Of course. By the way, I forgot to tell you this earlier, but the one battling on the final mountain is the Seven Orifices Monarch, who ranks in the top three among our 10 monarchs; his powers are far superior even to my own. If his opponent is unable to defeat him, then there"s a very good chance that they"ll be killed rather than simply defeated," Heavenly Monarch Reincarnation said with a smile.
Bi Ying"s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but it then quickly returned to normal as he said, "Is this Seven Orifices Monarch really that powerful? I"m not convinced. Fellow Daoist Xue Sha can rank among the top 10 most powerful beings in our realm, so perhaps it"s your fellow daoist who will be slain instead."
"Is that so? In that case, let"s wait and see," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation chuckled.
Thus, the two of them began to focus on the game again.
Time quickly pa.s.sed by, and a day and a night pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.
Even Han Li was beginning to wonder what was happening with the final battle, and what was even more exasperating to him was that there was still no sign of a conclusion being reached in Bi Ying and Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation"s game.
Each move that was made by the two of them was taking several times longer than before, and just as Han Li thought that the wait would continue, Bi Ying"s expressions changed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the final mountain.
Han Li"s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he also swept his spiritual sense toward that direction.
As a result, he was greeted by the sight of a human-scorpion hybrid monster flying out after destroying the two light barriers above the mountain.
The monster"s upper body belonged to a young man, while its lower body was that of a giant reddish-black scorpion.
It was holding a strange rippling black sword in one hand, and a shriveled up head that was several times smaller than a normal human head in its other hand.
The eyes of the head were tightly shut, and its face was filled with incredulity, as if its owner were still unable to believe that he had been defeated even in the moment directly preceding his decapitation.
Even though the head had been mummified, Han Li was still able to immediately identify it as belonging to Xue Sha.
This vastly renowned powerful being of the Blood Sky Continent had been slain in battle by his opponent.
At this point, Bi Ying and the others had also identified the head, and their expressions darkened significantly upon seeing this.
The monster appeared expressionlessly above everyone after just a few flashes, but he displayed no intention of descending from above.
"Hehe, looks like the Seven Orifices Monarch secured the victory in the end. Having said that, your companion must"ve also been extremely powerful to have lasted so long," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation chuckled.
"I didn"t think that Fellow Daoist Xue Sha would actually be killed, but it seems that we"ve still secured the ultimate victory," Bi Ying said in an expressionless manner.
"Indeed, even though the Seven Orifices Monarch won his battle, there"s already no point in continuing in our game; we concede a three to two defeat in this match," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation replied in a calm voice.
Bi Ying"s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Then according to our agreement..."
"We"ll only take 40% of this small world"s resources and leave the rest to you. If you"re still not satisfied with that, we can repeat this match over and over again until one side can gain a crus.h.i.+ng victory," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation said.
"There"s no need for that; our trade guild is already extremely pleased with 60% of this small world"s resources. However, the death of Fellow Daoist Xue Sha is a heavy loss for us," Bi Ying replied.
"At our level, everyone has a few life-saving measures set up. He came to partic.i.p.ate in this match, so I"m sure he made preparations in advance, and it"s hard to say whether he actually perished," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation said in a nonchalant manner, making no mention of Netherworld Monarch Menace"s demise.
"I certainly hope so. It"s a pity that I wasn"t able to actually spar with you, Fellow Daoist; I hope we"ll get another opportunity in the future," Bi Ying replied with a nod.
"I"m actually more interested to face Fellow Daoist Han someday. The fact that Netherworld Monarch Menace wasn"t even able to get away from him indicates that his powers most likely aren"t inferior to those of the Seven Orifices Monarch," Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation said as he cast a meaningful gaze toward Han Li.
"You"re far too kind, Fellow Daoist; I was very fortunate in my battle," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.
Netherworld Monarch Reincarnation didn"t have any intention of staying any longer, and he rose to his feet as he said, "Seeing as the outcome has been decided, we"ll be leaving now, and we"ll arrange to vacate the required territory in this small world right away."
Bi Ying and the others naturally made no effort to keep him, and thus, the four Netherworld Monarchs flew toward the white bone mountain in the distance.
The four monarchs flew into the mountain, and the black Qi up ahead immediately began to retreat.
"Looks like those Netherworld Monarchs are planning to keep their promise. In that case, I won"t have to use the backup measures I prepared. Fellow Daoist Xue Sha has already perished; it would be truly unfortunate if another fellow daoist were to meet their demise here," Bi Ying sighed as he also rose to his feet.
"Brother Bi, has Fellow Daoist Xue Sha really perished? With his powerful Blood Dao abilities, surely he"d at least be able to ensure self-preservation. I"ve heard of a rumor that Fellow Daoist Xue Sha cultivated an extremely fearsome clone that’s identical to him in appearance and also possesses comparable powers," Wen Xinfeng said in a concerned manner.