The castle keep.
A cloud goose flew in from the horizon, flapping its wings straight towards Qingyun Mountain. It soared over courtyards and pavilions, and was easily caught by a hand in an exquisite small pavilion by the cliff edge, on the second-floor lookout.
As the light twisted, the cloud goose transformed into a meticulously cut paper goose, lifelike.
The owner of the hand read the message delivered by the cloud goose, then walked to the lookout, overlooking the city's scenery.
"How is grandfather's condition?"
Ashina Genichiro, grandson of the Sword Saint Ashina Isshin.
It had been several days since their last meeting by the reeds. Seeing an old acquaintance again, Chun Hei, from the bird's-eye view, felt a surge of excitement.
"Lord Isshin he..."
His gaze slowly lifted, passing over Genichiro to Emma behind him. "It's a miracle he can still hold onto his life."
Emma?
Seeing the woman responding to Genichiro, Chun Hei was slightly taken aback. He had thought Emma, as the Fire Keeper, would only be waiting for him in the dilapidated temple, serving only the player.
It seemed he had overthought it.
Emma's NPC definition was complex. As a physician of the Ashina clan, her role for Wolf was perhaps more of a mission assigned from above. She should be under the Sword Saint's command.
"Is that so."
Genichiro pondered for a moment, then walked directly to the other side. "Your Highness, I say this one more time."
He raised the dark gold curved katana in his hand. "Pledge the Immortal Contract with me."
The Divine Heir pushed the dark gold curved katana outwards, refusing. "I cannot, Lord Genichiro."
"Even after being defeated once—"
He turned around and said sternly, "You must risk your life to save your lord. That is my duty as a protector."
Hearing the Divine Heir's words, Chun Hei recalled the scene three years ago in the burning Buddha hall, where the Divine Heir had pledged the contract with Wolf's corpse, feeling deeply moved.
Genichiro, who was only concerned with the greater good, clearly did not meet the Divine Heir's criteria for pledging the contract. Moreover, the Divine Heir had explicitly stated that he did not wish to change anyone else's fate.
In other words, besides Wolf, he did not wish to pledge the Immortal Contract with anyone else.
For immortality was a blasphemy against others' lives, especially when powerful individuals attained it, making it even more terrifying.
*Step—!*
As he was thinking, Wolf, who had been watching from the side, made a shining entrance.
"I have come to greet my master." Wolf's eyes were firm and resolute.
"Is this me? What timely arrival!"
Even from a bird's-eye view, Chun Hei felt a sense of shared experience.
Wolf slowly turned, his eyes filled with hostility towards Genichiro. "Please wait a moment, I will handle this troublesome matter."
Here lies a subtle detail.
Back in the reeds, when Wolf drew his sword to face the menacing Genichiro, he fumbled for the hilt on the second attempt.
This time, having undergone countless battles, Wolf instantly gripped the sword hilt and drew his three-foot-six-inch purple ziqing sword.
*Zheng!!*
Genichiro also drew his sword, looking at Wolf thoughtfully. "So that's how it is..."
"It seems I cannot keep the Dragon Heritage in my grasp unless I take your life here."
Well, well, well!
"What a lofty declaration."
With his consciousness returned to Wolf's body, Chun Hei mockingly said, "He only gives the power of the Dragon Heritage to those who risk their lives to protect their lord. You just demand it!"
"You're shameless!"
Saying this, Chun Hei charged forward with his sword.
At the same time,
A powerful drumbeat began, instantly heating up the atmosphere.
"I didn't expect to have the chance to meet again..."
Genichiro held his five-foot dark gold katana and rushed towards Chun Hei, who was completely unfazed, holding his sword with one hand and slashing diagonally.
*Qiang!!*
*Dang dang dang—!!*
*Qiang qiang qiang qiang qiang—!!!!*
The crisp sound of metal striking metal, intertwined with the sonorous drumbeats, made the lookout hall feel like a grand concert, lively and stirring!
Blinding sparks flashed like fleeting fireworks, shining brilliantly for a moment before quickly extinguishing.
In just two minutes, the two exchanged dozens of blows, both sustaining injuries to varying degrees. Judging solely by their health bars, Chun Hei was at a slight disadvantage.
The audience in the live stream was thoroughly entertained by the top-tier visual and auditory experience.
Having practiced Ashina-style swordsmanship, Chun Hei, combined with his comprehension of the Sword's Heart Enlightenment, reduced the enemy's posture with every strike.
And Genichiro was no longer the mere "scum" with a significantly higher three-dimensional status than the player back then. He now felt more like a master who had experienced battles and received tutelage from the Sword Saint.
If one were to pinpoint his specialty, Chun Hei couldn't immediately recall.
But if one were to say he was weak, Genichiro at his peak was truly not weak.
Whether in offense or defense, even the small tricks that Chun Hei had used successfully before were useless against Genichiro.
Such a person is generally called—an all-rounder!
Yes,
All-rounder!
Genichiro had no weaknesses, and consequently, no particular strengths. Chun Hei could deflect every move he made.
At least, that was the case for now. After all, bosses always had second phases, and Genichiro, as an early-stage boss, must have some notable aspects.
*Puchi!*
【Noob】
The first exchange ended in Wolf's death.
Genichiro wasn't overwhelmingly strong, but he could force a fifty-fifty situation.
Then, with his seasoned experience, he defeated Chun Hei. Chun Hei wasn't without his attempts to attack; even when he used his most favored technique, Floating Passage, Genichiro easily neutralized it.
"Continue. I don't have much of a clue yet. Genichiro recovers his posture too quickly when disengaged. I, on the other hand, am the one being executed."
Chun Hei didn't gain much information from the first encounter; he died because Genichiro filled his posture bar first, leading to an execution.
If their roles were reversed, it would be Genichiro lying on the ground.
Therefore, at this moment, Chun Hei began to focus on the details of posture bar increase.
*Qiang qiang qiang—!!*
*Dang dang dang—!!*
*Qiang qiang dang qiang qiang qiang—!!*
Chun Hei tried his best to recall the sound of metal striking metal in his mind, diverting some of his attention during the battle to the rate of posture bar increase and decrease.
It was as if a dense fog in his mind was about to break, revealing a sliver of clarity, but it always fell short of the final crucial moment.
*Puchi!!*
【Noob】
Another identical death. It seemed he was close, and Genichiro also appeared to be in a bad state, only having half his health bar left.
But only Chun Hei, who was in the thick of it, knew that this remaining half health bar contained a moment of staggered combat.
And this stagger could only be achieved by focusing on the posture bar.
Either his attack frequency was fast enough to prevent Genichiro from disengaging, maintaining a steady rate of posture bar depletion until it was maxed out.
Or, when he parried, his posture bar depletion needed to be slower than Genichiro's, but he couldn't just dodge; if he dodged, Genichiro would also seize the opportunity to disengage, resetting all the posture accumulated from the previous fight.
It was truly unsolvable.
Thus, in this situation where a hair's breadth made a thousand-mile difference, Chun Hei was defeated more than twenty times in a row.
This was the first time since the Phantom Butterfly that his death count had exceeded twenty.
Each time, the difference in health bars didn't seem significant, but to the viewers, Chun Hei was constantly being suppressed by Genichiro.
It was incredibly frustrating.
At the most critical moments, he was just a little short of maxing out the opponent's posture bar, only for his own posture bar to be maxed out first.
Chun Hei was being utterly dominated by Genichiro at his peak, to the point where even the viewers felt sympathy.
'So pathetic!!'
'Genichiro, fight back!!'
'I opened the live stream and saw that this game had no difficulty. Every crooked bullet point was filled with "no-hit speedrun." I couldn't sleep horizontally or vertically. After examining it half the night, I finally saw the words from the comments: each frame wrote one word: 【Noob】!'
'Contemporary great writer, I won't watch if your name isn't on Diary of a Madman!'
'You guys are truly talented!'
.......
Just as the viewers in the live stream were pouring out jokes due to Chun Hei's brutal defeat, Chun Hei, bathed in blood, suddenly shouted, "I understand!!"
"I've enlightened!!"
......