Xianxia Online

- Tower of Flames, Floor 19 -

The battle began with a flash.

Hui Feng, unlike the fight before, went on the offensive, proactively launching concentrated music notes of explosive Qi towards Xuan. Since there were no other contestants here, however, Xuan could use his abilities to the maximum, and not worry about his future opponents using that against him.

"Let us dance."

With a calm smile, he lifted his arm slowly, and called upon the power of Assimilating Qi. Immediately, a small black hole formed in his palm, spinning like a vortex with traces of red energy surrounding it. The singularity created a suction field for Qi and pulled in all of the crescent-shaped energy blasts Hui Feng shot at Xuan, reducing them to mere nothingness.

"What…?"

Confused at what happened due to her blindness, Hui Feng paused momentarily, but Xuan wasn't done yet. Focusing his mind onto his sword, he cleaved the air in front of him using the Scarlet Passion Sword, unleashing a powerful wave of Sword Qi towards Hui Feng.

"—!"

Sensing the attack incoming, the muse hurriedly strummed her fingers to create a defensive barrier, but it shattered like fragile glass and blew her backwards a few inches—just barely not enough to push her off the stage. Xuan hadn't held back with that attack—and against any normal person, that strike would've killed. However, Hui Feng was not only an Origin Monarch stage master, but also an exceptionally talented one at that.

"Heh… as expected of you."

Despite taking the blow head-on, she did not seem to be injured at all, and instead rather happy. The smile on her blindfolded face was gentle and innocent, like she was enjoying this duel more than anything else.

"However…" She continued, resting her fingers on the zither's strings. "… I am no longer the same useless child who needed protecting thirty years ago."

Xuan narrowed his eyes. 'Thirty years ago? You look twenty, max…'

But before he could think about it further, Hui Feng began playing a beautiful melody on the instrument, so melancholy that it threatened to bring Xuan to tears. Knowing that this was an attack, however, Xuan steeled his heart and severed his emotions—something he was a master at by now. If he let emotions get in the way of him doing things, then he would've broken down from guilt many, many years ago.

To others, Hui Feng's music would've sounded like a vividly painted story, but to Xuan, it was nothing more than cold, logical music notes. She was smart—after noticing that frontal assaults wouldn't work, she tried for a different type of attack.

Too bad the Soul was exactly what Xuan excelled at.

Completely emotionlessly, he activated Flaming Boar Eyes in an attempt to burn Hui Feng's weapon—her instrument—but to his surprise, she suddenly kicked the zither up off the ground, into the air, and towards Xuan with a graceful spin.

"Oho… interesting!"

The lasers somehow failed to penetrate the strange instrument, leaving Xuan with only two options: dodge to the side, or take the blow head-on.

He chose neither.

'Stray Cloud Path!'

Using the technique that the City Lord bestowed onto him, Xuan turned his body completely intangible for a brief millisecond, allowing the zither to fly directly through him and slam into the pillar behind him.

"Not bad," Xuan remarked. "You caught me off-guard there. But unfortunately, you're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve."

"… Hm."

Hui Feng, smiling mysteriously, suddenly opened her palm, and the zither smashed into the pillar began to wobble. Xuan, quickly spinning around, widened his eyes briefly.

"… You're kidding me."

All of a sudden, the zither snapped out of the marble and flew back towards Hui Feng, passing by Xuan on the way. Thankfully, this time he had the time to dodge, so he rolled out of the way with a deft tumble before immediately counterattacking with Sky Devil's Palm.

His logic?

If burning-hot lasers couldn't break that son of a bitch, then surely a massive 70-ton hand made of spiritual energy would be able to.

But as it would turn out, that was not the case.

Strumming a chord, Hui Feng created a 180 degrees barrier facing the sky, where the attack was coming from. Xuan's technique met the energy field with a deafening explosion, but in the end, his opponent was not hurt in the least. She was, however, slightly disoriented, judging by how she shook her head slightly.

And that was the hint that Xuan needed.

"I see… you're strong, little girl. But in the end, there is one fatal weakness you have—and that is to only rely on your hearing."

Saying this, he summoned the Blood Pills from his Space Ring with a single thought in his mind, and threw them towards Hui Feng. Using Blood Conjure, he then expanded them into orbs the size of balloons, and then—

POP!

—Blew them up.

But these weren't normal balloons—after getting popped, they turned back into their original state of blood, which meant Xuan could once again change their shape once more—and that he did.

Over and over again, at different intervals and rhythms, Xuan inflated the blood balloons and popped them, creating a zone of utter confusion for Hui Feng. Sharp, explosive noises came from all around her constantly, leaving her lost and confused. She shot notes towards the balloons in an attempt to break them, but alas, they were liquid blood—energy blasts weren't going to do anything.

Xuan, taking advantage of this, slipped around to behind Hui Feng, the popping balloons hiding the sound of his footsteps. Once there, he slowly lifted his sword, and placed it beside her neck.

"Game over."

At least, that's what should have happened.

But as soon as Xuan's blade got near Hui Feng's neck, a golden aura suddenly exploded around her, knocking both Xuan and his sword away.

"Ngh…"

He managed to stop himself just in time before flying off the stage, but as a result of the explosion, all the blood balloons turned to liquid blood again, and it would take time to restore them all—not to mention the lingering golden aura around the girl. But what really shocked Xuan about this… was the fact that he recognized those traces of energy.

"… Where did you get that artifact?" He asked, to which Hui Feng slowly stood up from her seat, and bowed.

"From you, senior."

That was all it took for him—for Zero—to finally realize who this girl was.

"… I see…"

"Do you remember now, senior? Thirty years ago, you saved me from a vile green fire that destroyed my entire town and burned my eyes. You slayed the fiend who caused the flames, and gave me this artifact for protection. I've kept it dearly since then… and even though I've never seen senior's face, I can recognize you just from your voice."

Xuan let out a deep sigh. "That fire… it was partly my fault. I gave that artifact to you out of guilt, not pity or kindness."

"Regardless of your intentions, the truth is, you saved me. And once I grew up, I learned the truth about that day. It wasn't your fault, senior. Please don't blame yourself. And since I have the lucky fate of meeting you again here… it is time I return this to you."

Xuan looked away, gaze distant. That day, the 'fiend' he'd slain was none other than He Yiren, otherwise known as Withering Flame. The two's history went way back, but to sum it up, Xuan worked together with Nine Heavens to steal something very important to him, and he ended up marking them for vengeance for life.

As He Yiren was a player, no matter how many times Zero and Nine Heavens killed him, he'd just keep coming back over and over, each time with more monstrous cultivation speed than before. He was like a rabid dog who just would not die, and before long, killing him became more of a nuisance to the two than an actual thing to do.

The time at Hui Feng's village was one of those 'nuisances'.

Xuan had just about chopped the old demon to pieces already, but being as stubborn as he was, He Yiren escaped down the mountain into the village at its base, and burned everything in his path due to losing control over his powers. Obviously, Xuan had followed and killed him in the end, but the small village had already been destroyed by the time he got there in the span of a mere few seconds.

Hui Feng had been the only survivor—and out of guilt, Xuan had given a powerful protection artifact to her, who was just a little girl at the time. The artifact was originally meant to be used to seal He Yiren instead of killing him to buy some more time until their next encounter, but in order to prevent any immediate further destruction, Xuan was forced to kill the demon instead.

As such, when Hui Feng walked towards him with the artifact—a golden bell necklace—in her hands, Xuan didn't hesitate before taking it. Since he was going to have another confrontation with Withering Flame soon—hopefully their last one—this was going to be handy in case that bastard obtained some ridiculous skill that makes him unkillable or something at the cost of his sanity. Not only that, but since it could double as a great protection artifact as well, it was useful to Xuan either way.

<Obtained Golden Buddha Bell x1.>

<Golden Buddha Bell — Artifact (Saint Grade) — A bell made by a powerful monk from long ago. Originally meant to seal even the most powerful of demons with an incredibly tough inside to withstand any attacks, the monk ended up accidentally making it very strong on the outside too (though not as much as the interior). As such, it can serve as a protector as well.>

"𝑂𝑜𝑝𝑠..."

—Yi Mushen, Talented Monk

"… Thanks," Xuan said as the item was automatically sent to his inventory.

"No, I should be thanking you, senior. And as for our duel… I concede. After all, without the artifact you gave me, I would've lost right then and there."

"…" Xuan debated on whether or not to comment on how he knew she had been holding back during the fight, but ultimately decided against it.

With a final soft smile, Hui Feng turned around and walked off the stage, taking her zither with her. Shortly after, she dissipated, having been brought back to the floor below, while the spotlight focused onto Xuan and a familiar feeling of teleportation overtook him.

'… Well. I guess doing good things does end up giving good retribution, even without the interference of the Heavenly Way.'

With those thoughts in mind, Xuan's figure faded into nothingness, as he was brought to the highest and final floor of the Tower of Flames.