“So be it. I kind of guessed this was going to happen. It’s like when you play a single-player mission in StarCraft and they give you three units at the start—a marine, a vulture, and a battlecruiser—you know you’re going to have to use all three.” Lu Mingfei took a deep breath. “Do you really think your micro is good enough to win with just the marine?”
He wrapped the cable around Nono’s wrist, tying a tight knot. After a moment of thought, he patted her face—this was a bit of a cheap shot, but it might be the last one he’d get away with.
“Senior Sister… this time, I really think I’ve done my part… but you just won’t open your eyes to see me.” He let go of the cable, watching Nono rise like an ascending angel while he sank into the dark depths, pulled down by the lead weights on his belt.
“Noglues!” he said—the second Yanling, exchanged with his life.
Unmatched power erupted within him, making him feel ecstatic. He extended his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.
Lu Mingze had been right—power was like holding something in your hand, able to crush it at will.
The glow below suddenly dimmed, as if something had restricted the Dragon King’s power, preventing him from unleashing the flames that could melt any metal. The Dragon King thrashed about violently, but could not break free from the constraints of that force.
“Alright then, let’s compare strength,” Lu Mingfei bit his lip, “Luckily, I’ve got a weapon, and you don’t!”
He pulled down the ancient box from his back, running his hand over its exterior.
“Since it’s a special dragon-slaying sword, it must have the virtue of a martial arts master… Don’t let me down!” Lu Mingfei grabbed both sides of the box and pulled it open with force.
Lu Mingfei was so anxious that he wanted to jump, but he had no feet to jump in the water: “Damn it! So many cool secrets have been used, but there is not a single one left to make me stronger, and I have to sign a contract. This kind of service is not humane at all! Who can pull open such a heavy box?”
The water was turbulent and something huge was approaching at high speed.
“Alas.” Lu Mingze sighed from somewhere, “There is a hidden place on the top of the box that can be turned.”
“On top of the box? Is there a more reliable instruction manual?” Lu Mingfei kept chattering at the fastest speed while groping around on top of the box.
Lu Mingfei actually felt a groove!
The descending box opened with a high-pitched dragon’s roar. Seven blades emerged like a fan. Their forms could be found among the famous swords of various countries: the heavy sabers, the curved-blade Atlantean long swords, the elegant straight swords, and the dangerous wrist-daggers…
These weapons did not look like they had been forged two thousand years ago; they were so new, the edges shimmering with a chilling light, as if the molten steel used to create them was still boiling hot.
The surfaces of the swords were embossed with intricate and profound patterns, and their true power came from those patterns.
The seven blades trembled violently at the same time, as if seven living dragons were roaring. The vibrations lasted for a moment, and three dark golden streaks of light burst forth from the box, spiraling upward, moving much faster than a Dragon King’s strike.
Three weapons rotated around Lu Mingfei: the Atlantean long sword, the straight sword, and a small, sharp blade that looked like a short knife worn by Japanese samurai, known as a “wakizashi.”
“Damn it! How come Fury wasn’t summoned?!” The voice of the little devil cursed in Lu Mingfei’s mind. “That’s a bit of a problem!”
Their forms can be found among the famous blades of various countries: the heavy sabers, curved blades, elegant straight swords, and dangerous wrist-daggers… But they are more majestic, more exquisite, and more brutal than any that have appeared in human history.
These weapons do not look like they were forged two thousand years ago; they are so new, the edges shimmering with a flowing light, making it feel as if the molten steel used to create them is still boiling hot.
The surfaces of the swords are embossed with intricate and profound patterns; their true power comes from those patterns. Lu Mingfei slowly clenched his fist; he didn’t even know why he was doing this, but he instinctively felt that it would summon the weapons. He catched one, then he noticed the heartbeat.
It wasn’t an illusion. The vibration coming from the blade wasn’t just a metallic hum; it felt like a heartbeat.
The golden glow on the blade’s surface began to flow, faster and faster, the vibration growing more powerful. Lu Mingfei almost suspected he wasn’t holding a blade but a dragon!
He was stunned. The world seemed to change in his ears. An overwhelming sensation—it felt as though every sound in this vast domain entered his mind and reverberated repeatedly. The friction of the water, the heartbeat of a fish, the faint rise of bubbles—what was silent like death suddenly became as boisterous as a stage filled with gongs and drums.
“‘Kamaitachi’?” He understood—at the moment he drew the blade, ‘Kamaitachi’ was released.
But he couldn’t pinpoint the Dragon King’s exact location. He had somehow “stolen” this ability, but he didn’t know how to use it. The tidal wave of sound was driving him crazy; all the information was nothing but a chaotic mess to him.
“You picked the wrong blade; you shouldn’t have used ‘Greed.’” Lu Mingze’s voice dispelled the noise in his mind.
“Easy for you to say! What was I supposed to do when I couldn’t pull it out?” Lu Mingfei shouted at the devil broker, whose location he had no idea of.
“There’s no time to switch, the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ is already sealed. Focus, you can master ‘Kamaitachi,’” Lu Mingze said. “Concentrate!”
“How can I concentrate? I’m about to die!”
“No, you won’t die, Lu Mingfei… you can do this,” Lu Mingze’s voice echoed in the void, “Just think about why you need to do it.”
Everything fell silent—Lu Mingze’s voice, the noise brought by ‘Kamaitachi,’ all vanished. Lu Mingfei floated in a soundless void.
“Hey, Lu Mingze? Can you explain it clearly?” Lu Mingfei tried asking.
This time, no one answered.
“This after-sales service is really terrible, isn’t it?” Lu Mingfei muttered.
A reason to do this? Well, the reason was simple—just to look a bit cool in front of someone he cared about, even if that person didn’t have much to do with him.
But that was the reason.
Is it enough? Is it?
But this is my life—just that little bit of reason. Like a gardener who isn’t very capable, who’s only managed to grow a single flower, and that flower is in someone else’s garden on Mars. But you’d still guard it with a telescope, wouldn’t you? Because you’ve got nothing else, so to you, it’s precious, even if it’s as far away as Mars is from Earth.