Chapter 1944 - Cooperation
The Hundred Blossom War Chariot was the first to enter the thunderclouds and the first to emerge, leaving the Cloudbreaker Warship far behind. The Sky Soaring Steed and the Guardian Wings soon followed, neither having sustained enough damage to slow them down.
Victory had slipped beyond the reach of both the Cloudbreaker Warship and the Skybreaker Wasp. Their downfall opened the way for the Guardian Wings and the Hundred Blossom War Chariot, which had previously shared second place, to contend for first.
Upon leaving the thunderclouds, the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot narrowly missed colliding with the Guardian Wings.
"What is your name, young man?" a voice called from within the Guardian Wings, carrying across the distance to Liu Wuxie.
"I go by Wu Xie," Liu Wuxie replied. Nothing gave him cause to regard the Guardian Wings with hostility. When their vessels had flown abreast earlier, their occupants had neither attacked nor attempted to push his divine steed aside.
"Young Master Wu, then. I'm Shang Bin, an elder of the Heavenly Rift Pavilion. Would you be willing to cooperate with us?" Shang Bin asked. He appeared to be only in his forties, with scarcely a sign of age on his face. He was also the man who had flown over Eastern Emperor City the other day and witnessed Liu Wuxie's battle against Chen Kun.
The Heavenly Rift Pavilion's purpose was plain. They wanted Liu Wuxie to help them win the tournament.
"Brother Wu, help us hold the other divine steeds back, and you have our word that we'll keep you safe," an elder at the Golden Immortal Realm offered.
Liu Wuxie had already offended the Nanmen Clan and the Divine Will Gate. Even winning first place offered him little hope of leaving alive. The Heavenly Rift Pavilion, however, occupied a different position. Neither of those forces could threaten it.
Anyone else facing Liu Wuxie's predicament would have agreed immediately. His prospects of winning appeared slim, making an alliance with the Heavenly Rift Pavilion his best option.
"Young friend, help the Hundred Blossom Manor win, and we'll offer you more than protection. You may also choose any one of our female disciples. How does that sound?" a seductive voice called from the opposite side.
The Hundred Blossom War Chariot had pulled alongside Liu Wuxie, deliberately reducing its speed to match his.
With the Guardian Wings to his left and the Hundred Blossom War Chariot to the right, Liu Wuxie found himself hemmed in between the two vessels.
Most men would have found the Hundred Blossom Manor's proposal far more enticing. Its disciples were renowned for their beauty that rivaled the fairies, and countless men dreamed of marrying one.
Taking a Hundred Blossom Manor disciple as his wife would make Liu Wuxie part of the manor. Its protection would place him beyond the Divine Will Gate's and the Nanmen Clan's reach.
Turning to the right, Liu Wuxie caught sight of an alluring woman who appeared to be in her thirties.
Behind him, the Heartless Sect's Sky Soaring Steed followed close behind but had no opportunity to join the conversation. Its occupants likely sought his cooperation as well, but the Guardian Wings and the Hundred Blossom War Chariot blocked their approach.
Liu Wuxie might have appeared unremarkable and unlikely to win, but everyone could recognize his value. He could restrain rival contestants long enough to give an ally a decisive opening. No one else had inflicted damage upon both the Skybreaker Wasp and the Cloudbreaker Warship.
With the Divine Will Gate and the Nanmen Clan eliminated from contention, the Hundred Blossom War Chariot and the Guardian Wings had an excellent chance of taking the Divine Steed Tournament. They needed only Liu Wuxie to hold back the Qilin War Chariot.
The remaining divine steeds had no realistic prospect of finishing among the top three.
"I appreciate both offers, but I don't intend to cooperate with anyone," Liu Wuxie answered, cupping his hands toward the Guardian Wings and the Hundred Blossom War Chariot. His sincerity was unmistakable. Having already earned the Divine Will Gate's and the Nanmen Clan's hostility, he wanted no additional enemies.
Fear played no part in his restraint. He simply intended to remain inconspicuous until he obtained the Asura Blade's fragment. In the past, a few holes in the Cloudbreaker Warship and the Skybreaker Wasp would never have appeased his temper. He would have reduced both vessels to wreckage.
"Think carefully, young man. If you won't work with us, we won't hold anything back during the final leg of the race," Shang Bin urged, making another effort to persuade him.
He meant those words as a statement of fact, not a threat. At the final huddle, everyone would stand as rivals. Conflict would become unavoidable, and injuries would inevitably follow.
The Hundred Blossom Manor held the same position. Should Liu Wuxie reject its offer, he would become an opponent.
"Then we'll let our abilities decide," Liu Wuxie replied. He urged the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot onward, and it streaked away like a meteor.
Shang Bin and the Hundred Blossom Manor's elder exchanged a glance with wry smiles. Rejection by a mere Spirit Immortal provoked no hostility from either of them. The Heavenly Rift Pavilion and the Hundred Blossom Manor both belonged to the orthodox factions and enjoyed respectable reputations.
Spatial pressure remained at roughly thirty times its normal level. Liu Wuxie calculated that reaching the finish line would require about an hour. Most of the course already lay behind them, and thus far, only a few cracks marred the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot.
The Hundred Blossom War Chariot accelerated. The Sky Soaring Steed and the Guardian Wings followed, arranging themselves in a triangular formation around Liu Wuxie.
His refusal had placed him firmly among their rivals, just as they had warned. They now had no choice but to force him off the Divine Rainbow Road.
Unlike the Divine Will Gate and the Nanmen Clan, however, they made no attempts to conceal their intentions or launch a surprise attack. Instead, they openly maneuvered to drive him beyond the course.
The Twin-Winged Battle Chariot darted up, down, and from side to side, weaving between the two vessels as Liu Wuxie searched for an opening to break their encirclement.
The spectators below could see the entire struggle. Peculiar expressions appeared on the faces of Golden Immortals and Divine Immortals alike.
They had witnessed the Heavenly Rift Pavilion's and the Hundred Blossom Manor's invitations. All had expected Liu Wuxie to accept, only for his refusal to overturn their assumptions.
"That brat has a real problem now. How can he escape with those three divine steeds surrounding him?"
Their concern was well founded. The Guardian Wings steadily forced Liu Wuxie to the right, while the Hundred Blossom War Chariot blocked his path ahead and the Sky Soaring Steed closed in from behind. To avoid a collision, he had no choice but to veer even farther to the right.
If they kept this up, he would eventually leave the Divine Rainbow Road without the three vessels having to take any further action.
Whenever the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot dropped, the Guardian Wings descended with it. Whenever Liu Wuxie climbed, the Hundred Blossom War Chariot rose to intercept him.
None of the three had attacked, giving Liu Wuxie no grounds to strike back. He had, after all, just declared that everyone should rely on their own abilities in the Divine Steed Tournament.
The Qilin War Chariot passed the Cloudbreaker Warship and the Skybreaker Wasp, advancing until it drew up behind the Sky Soaring Steed.
"Elder, they've begun fighting one another!"
Prolonged flight had drained the energy reserves of many divine steeds, causing their speed to steadily decline. Some were already on the verge of running out entirely.
Crimson Demon Lightning had ravaged the Cloudbreaker Warship. Now it could not keep pace even with ordinary divine steeds, leaving the Divine Will Gate's members howling in fury.
"Help them force the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot off the Divine Rainbow Road," the senior elder commanded grimly. He had just contacted the manor lord. Liu Wuxie's arrival had overturned their arrangements, and they needed to eliminate him before he produced another unforeseen disruption.
The Qilin War Chariot responded immediately. Thunderous rumbling echoed from within its body as a net launched toward Liu Wuxie's divine steed.
Three surrounding vessels had already left Liu Wuxie little room to maneuver. The Qilin War Chariot's intervention narrowed his options even further.
Surprise swept through the gathering. "Look! Now the Qilin War Chariot is attacking him too!" Until this moment, the Qilin War Chariot had not attacked a single contestant. No one had anticipated that it would choose the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot as its first target.
"Divine Steed Manor must have realized how unpredictable the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot is. That's why they want him out. Once he's gone, the Qilin War Chariot will hold an overwhelming advantage for the rest of the course."
The manor's reasoning was clear to everyone. Its concern was not that Liu Wuxie would win through sheer ability. It feared whatever unexpected disruption he might introduce next, which would undo its plans.
Overhead, the net spread opened and descended. If it caught the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot, the vessel would plunge straight to the ground.
"Damn it all!" Liu Wuxie cursed, fury mounting as his thoughts raced. The descending net covered a radius of nearly a hundred meters around him.
Under such dense spatial pressure, his chariot would need at least three breaths to travel a hundred meters. The net would fall on him in two.
As soon as the Qilin War Chariot attacked, the Guardian Wings, the Hundred Blossom War Chariot, and the Sky Soaring Steed scattered to avoid being caught in the assault, clearing a path for the approaching net.
"I'll have to take the risk," Liu Wuxie murmured, resolve flashing in his eyes.
His next move stunned the onlookers. The Twin-Winged Battle Chariot pitched toward the ground, diving so that he could continue the race along the surface. He needed to fall faster than the net. Merely keeping pace would allow it to catch him when he reached the ground.
Special materials formed the Qilin War Chariot's net, making it exceptionally difficult to tear. Evasion was Liu Wuxie's only option.
The Twin-Winged Battle Chariot dropped like a meteorite. Meanwhile, the other divine steeds continued forward, steadily pulling away. In only half a breath, the distance between them grew from a few meters to dozens of meters.
By the time Liu Wuxie landed, the others would be hundreds of meters ahead. Recovering that lost ground would be exceedingly difficult.
Spectators sighed as they watched his descent. "What a pity. In the end, even he lost to the Qilin War Chariot." Nevertheless, Liu Wuxie had already shown them countless miracles.
"Why be surprised? Divine Steed Manor was never going to let him win. Now that he's out, they'll turn on the Guardian Wings and the Hundred Blossom War Chariot. Those two are the Qilin War Chariot's greatest rivals now," voices remarked as discussion spread through the crowd below.
Liu Wuxie kept drawing his hands through the air, yet the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot fell at roughly the same speed as the net. After descending about five to six hundred meters, he could make out the ground clearly.
"Divine Mobility Runes, condense!" Liu Wuxie called.
Only two hundred meters remained when the exceptionally rare Divine Mobility Rune formed before him. He had incorporated the mysteries of the celestial forge runes into it, producing a rune hundreds of times more refined than any he had inscribed in the past.
"Fuse!" Liu Wuxie commanded. The Divine Mobility Runes swiftly streamed into the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot. Brilliant light erupted from its body, forcing many spectators to squeeze their eyes shut.