Chapter 81: Recognizing the Master
Poof!
The sickening sound of cold steel tearing through flesh echoed across the canyon at the exact same moment. Both fighters dropped heavily to their knees in the dust, each bearing an identical, fatal wound through their chest as blood pumped freely from their torn flesh.
Chen Feng painstakingly wiped the warm red smear from his trembling lips. Staring across at Lin Huai, whose spiritual energy had run completely dry and who could no longer lift a finger, a cruel, gloating smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.
“Lin Huai… in the end, I’m still the one who came out on top!”
Lin Huai lay collapsed on her side in a widening pool of crimson. Her breathing came in shallow, ragged gasps, her voice laced with the heavy reek of iron: “One against three… I didn’t lose out… And that coffin? You will never lay a hand on it!”
Master Cloud Cliff walked slowly across the clearing. The pristine hem of his Daoist robe dipped straight into the blood pooling on the rocks, but he paid it no heed. He simply crouched down, his calm, ancient eyes resting quietly on Lin Huai’s pale face.
“Young fellow Daoist, there was never any personal enmity between us,” he said softly. “Everything that came to pass today is simply because your treasure was far too precious, and your cultivation was too shallow to protect it.”
He gave a slight, resigned sigh. “Such are the harsh laws of this world. The Dao of Heaven shows no favor; it treats all living things like straw dogs. Gods, ghosts, and immortals look down on mortals as nothing more than ants. Tell me, do you not wish to tear down and rewrite these rules?”
He leaned in slightly. “Surrender that coffin to me. I swear I will guide your adoptive father’s wandering soul safely to the afterlife. I will unlock the true power of that vessel, reach the end of the road in your place, and rewrite the laws of heaven and earth forever!”
Lin Huai looked up through blood-matted hair, her eyes burning with pure, unyielding frost. She parted her lips and forced out three venomous words:
“Keep… dreaming, bastard!”
Perched above, Old Demon of Xiangxi jumped down from his high rock. Without a word, he flicked a Boundary-Breaking Talisman through the air.
Rip!
The talisman flared, and Lin Huai’s personal inventory space burst wide open, spilling its contents across the sand.
A neat stack of unused paper charms, a miniature astral greatsword, a few dozen Yang energy crystals, a handful of Yin energy crystals, and several Guiyuan restoration pills rolled into the dirt. Aside from these basic essentials, not a single crate, blueprint, or piece of heavy gear was present.
Old Demon’s voice sounded like it had been shredded by decades of heavy smoking—scratchy, hollow, and dark: “Little girl, I truly didn’t expect you to walk into this valley with the sole purpose of throwing your life away. You didn’t keep a single spare supply on your person.”
Lin Huai shifted her gaze upward, catching a glimpse of Old Demon’s features through the tangled bangs covering his forehead. To her surprise, his face was unexpectedly handsome and refined. The look in his shadowed eyes held no malice—only a strange trace of genuine respect.
He was likely impressed by her sheer nerve to march alone into certain death.
Lin Huai let her heavy eyelids slip shut, enduring the blinding agony in her chest as she quietly tracked the fading warmth of her own pulse. “My belongings… I’d rather scatter them to the wind… than let scum like you enjoy a single copper…”
Chen Feng had already swallowed a Guiyuan pill, regaining enough strength to stop his bleeding. He pushed himself to his feet with shaking hands, leaning hard against his bronze sword.
“The coffin is too large to fit in a player’s basic backpack,” Chen Feng sneered, breathing heavily. “This dungeon requires six-person teams. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out—her entire vault must be in the hands of her squad mates!”
His eyes burned with greedy ambition. “All we have to do is track down her teammates, slaughter them where they stand, and the coffin will be ours! We can strip their entire guild clean in one go!”
Master Cloud Cliff’s brow pulled together in a deep frown. “The Ghost Mother’s Lair covers an immense expanse of desert. With tens of thousands of drivers from ten sectors clashing all at once, how do you expect to pick her teammates out from the crowd?”
Nearby, Dragon Crossing the River had also swallowed a healing pill. His severe rib wound had clotted, restoring most of his physical power. Rising from the dust with wild, bloodthirsty rage in his eyes, he snarled:
“Then we butcher every single driver from Zone 444! Leave not one of them breathing!”
Before the words had even settled, the violent thunder of distant combat erupted along the mouth of the valley!
The deafening roar of heavy machine guns and artillery fire merged into an unbroken wall of concussive noise, tearing through the dusty haze.
An instant later, a colossal emerald casket tore across the sky from the far end of the canyon. Moving like a flying mountain, it slammed violently into Master Cloud Cliff’s translucent green barrier!
BOOM!
The massive impact sent violent shockwaves rippling across the entire dome, causing the ground beneath their feet to shudder.
Failing to shatter the barrier on its first pass, the green jade coffin drifted backward through the air, gathering momentum like a living beast before hurling itself forward to strike the barrier once more! It moved with furious, undeniable purpose—as though it had answered a direct call from its master and was determined to crush the cage to splinters!
Master Cloud Cliff sprang to his feet, complete shock washing over his usually detached face. He stared up at the soaring jade casket, his voice trembling: “The coffin… it has recognized its master?!”
Old Demon of Xiangxi was equally stunned. He slowly exhaled a thick ring of white smoke, casting a look of pure contempt toward Chen Feng behind him.
“Either the little girl triggered a hidden summoning art,” Old Demon muttered coldly, “or the vessel sensed its master’s dying breath and rushed here on its own to save her. It seems some people’s understanding of this treasure… is laughably pathetic. At the very least, we never witnessed anything like this in our past life.”
Panic washed over Chen Feng’s face as he stumbled backward, his voice cracking: “How is this possible?! How could a dumb object recognize a master?! Why… why did it never come to save me like that?!”
BANG!
BANG!
Even as the outer jade casing chipped and cracked under the violent force, the emerald coffin rammed into the glowing dome again and again without a second of hesitation!
Watching the light flicker, Old Demon turned to Master Cloud Cliff and urged, “Cloud Cliff, drop the barrier. Consider it a show of goodwill for our future partner.”
Master Cloud Cliff swallowed hard, fighting down the violent churn of blood in his chest as a thin trail of crimson leaked past his lips. “Hold for just a moment longer. I want to see how many unknown arts this divine vessel truly holds!”
CRACK!
After three more devastating, bone-jarring collisions, Master Cloud Cliff finally coughed up a thick mouthful of blood. His spiritual reserves gave out completely, and he could no longer hold the spell together.
The translucent green dome shattered into thousands of glowing fragments, dissolving into the dry desert wind!
With the barrier destroyed, the jade coffin descended smoothly through the air, hovering directly over Lin Huai’s battered frame. The massive stone lid slid open on its own, and a powerful, gentle pull of Yin energy enveloped her body. Slowly, Lin Huai floated up from the pool of blood, drifting safely into the cool interior of the casket.
Seeing his prize slip away before his very eyes, Chen Feng went mad with desperation. He whipped out a submachine gun and emptied the entire magazine straight at her rising form!
Clatter-clatter-clatter!
Yet the radiant Yin energy shield cast by the coffin wrapped around her like solid iron. The mundane lead bullets flattened against the barrier and bounced harmlessly into the sand.
Grinding his teeth, Chen Feng raised his bronze sword once more. “A Level 5 vehicle barrier cannot withstand the direct strike of a high-tier mystical artifact!”
Master Cloud Cliff swallowed several recovery pills, taking a moment to stabilize his damaged meridians. He looked over, his tone frigid and warning: “Chen Feng, stand down. You have no right to control that vessel. It does not belong to you.”
Old Demon of Xiangxi narrowed his hollow eyes, his voice dripping with murderous intent: “The girl is the true master of that coffin. Only in her hands will its power reach the pinnacle. Chen Feng, if you don’t wish to die by my hand right now, do not dare lift that blade against her again!”
Chen Feng burned with helpless fury, but he knew he was completely outmatched by the two powerhouses. With his jaw clenched tight, he reluctantly lowered his sword.
Behind them, however, Dragon Crossing the River had quietly gripped his massive war axe, his muscles coiling as he prepared to swing the heavy artifact straight at the open casket.
Pfft!
Out of nowhere, an armor-piercing mithril round ripped through the air with a piercing whine!
The bullet tore clean through Dragon Crossing the River’s forehead, drilling straight through his skull and out the back of his head, leaving a hollow, smoking hole.
His eyes remained wide with shock as his massive body went limp, toppling backward into the dust like a felled tree.
Watching the hulking fighter drop dead in an instant, Chen Feng whipped his head around toward the canyon entrance in sheer terror.
Charging through the billowing dust at the valley mouth, a heavily armored Sabertooth vehicle adorned with flashing tactical beacons was tearing through the wreckage of the perimeter guards, speeding straight for them.
Prone atop the armored roof was a heavily geared soldier, his cold, steady eye already locked behind the crosshairs of a heavy sniper rifle—aimed directly between Chen Feng’s eyebrows.
At the edge of life and death, Chen Feng jerked his bronze sword up in sheer instinct!
CLANG!
Sparks erupted as the heavy mithril bullet—imbued with devastating kinetic force—slammed into the flat of the bronze blade, knocking the sword aside with an ear-shattering ring!
Having missed the kill shot, Dragon Emerging from the Sea didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second. His finger squeezed the trigger again, firing a rapid second and third round without pause!
The following bullets bypassed the deflected sword completely, punching cleanly through Chen Feng’s shoulder and kneecap!
Crunch!
Blood sprayed across the sand as Chen Feng let out a blood-curdling shriek, collapsing onto his shattered knee in agony.
Behind them, the emerald jade coffin gently lowered Lin Huai onto its soft interior lining.
With a deep, resonant BOOM, the massive stone lid sealed completely shut. The shimmering Yin energy barrier pulled back, settling flush against the polished stone, coursing with a quiet, breathing light.
