Era of Mist

He raised his gun and aimed at Shi Tiexin’s back.

"Kid, you should’ve just kept your head down. Did you have to court death?" He squeezed the trigger, and Death Fire muttered to himself, "The Hongshun Society sends its regards."

BANG!

With the crack of a gunshot, Shi Tiexin wavered on his bike. Just as Death Fire was about to celebrate, he saw that Shi Tiexin had already regained his balance, not toppling over from the hit.

’Did I miss?’

’Damn it!’

Since he’d already opened fire, Death Fire no longer held back. He gritted his teeth and fired several more shots. But ahead of him, Shi Tiexin started weaving erratically, dodging left and right, making him a difficult target.

Handguns were already the most inaccurate of firearms. On top of that, both of them were riding at high speeds, and Death Fire could only aim with one hand. His next three shots went wide, flying off to who knows where.

"Bastard!"

While Death Fire struggled to aim from behind, Shi Tiexin’s expression up ahead was as cold as iron.

’Perhaps someone from a peaceful era really couldn’t adapt so quickly, couldn’t immediately switch to the mindset of these chaotic times. He’d never imagined someone would openly try to assassinate him with a gun during a race like this.’

He’d been hit.

The very first shot had hit him.

But the bullet hadn’t been a clean hit. It had struck the Black Venerable’s chassis, ricocheted, lost momentum, and then slammed into his shoulder. As luck would have it, he was wearing his high-quality protective suit today. The armor on the shoulder was particularly thick and durable, and its curved plating deflected the bullet a second time.

The fibrous layer had shattered. His shoulder stung with a fiery pain, and blood was seeping through. But ultimately, it was just a graze, not a puncture or a tear.

Watching Death Fire in his rearview mirror, Shi Tiexin’s resolve to kill hardened. He maneuvered the bike expertly. The heavy Black Venerable moved like a rabbit dodging a hunter’s arrows, nimbly swerving left and right. POP! POP! POP! The gunshots continued as bullets zipped past him, some close, some far.

CRACK! SMASH! The stray bullets shattered the windshields of parked cars, the display windows of shops, and even hit pedestrians on the sidewalk. Screams and shouts erupted into chaos. Death Fire kept firing and kept missing, growing more and more frustrated, until suddenly—CLICK. He was out of bullets.

"Damn it!"

’Bullets, bullets, where are my bullets... Ah, here’s another magazine. Now watch me perform the incredible feat of reloading one-handed while riding a motorcycle—’

WHOOSH. The motorcycle ahead slammed on its brakes. Its weight, nearly a thousand pounds, seemed to vanish as it decelerated abruptly, like a ghost.

Death Fire glanced down, and by the time he looked up again, Shi Tiexin was right on top of him.

He saw a face—an expressionless face that sent a chill down his spine.

He wanted to sweat, to speak, to attack, to flee. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind in that instant, but his body couldn’t keep up with his thoughts.

Then, he saw a large boot swing through the air and slam into his side.

Their speed: nearly seventy miles per hour.

With a bloodcurdling scream, Death Fire was thrown sideways from his bike. THUD! He smashed into a lamppost on the side of the road. The post groaned and bent slightly, but Death Fire himself was bent in half like a snapped twig. His torso had ruptured, spraying blood everywhere. His head was now next to his heels.

SCREECH. The heavy motorcycle slid to a halt beside Death Fire’s body. Shi Tiexin swung a leg over and dismounted.

He looked down at the mangled corpse on the ground, at the ugly rictus of death with its eyes rolled back and mouth agape. Shi Tiexin’s heart was a tempest of fiery rage and glacial ice.

’This world line really is different from my original self’s, from Champion Scholar Stone’s. There are no rules here, only violence. I don’t know what this guy’s motive was, what reason he had to attack me. But now he’s dead, and I’m alive. That’s the only result that matters.’

’That’s the only thing this world line respects.’

He looked down, bent over, and pried the handgun from Death Fire’s grasp, then picked up the dropped magazine. As he did, the block of consciousness in his mind seemed to shed a few fragments, and a sudden intuition for firearms flooded him.

He instinctively ejected the empty magazine, slapped the new one in with a solid CLICK, engaged the safety, and tucked the weapon into the back of his waistband.

Several more motorcycles sped up from behind and roared past. The riders saw Shi Tiexin on the roadside and the shattered remains of Death Fire, but they gave no sign of acknowledgment, simply gunning their engines and hurtling forward.

The race was still on. The outcome was far from decided.

’After this fiasco with Death Fire, any pretense of fairness in this race is gone. Can a race without fairness still grant the Celestial Golden Light?’

Shi Tiexin didn’t know.

But he still swung his leg over the bike, twisted the throttle, and once again shot forward with unwavering determination.

Back at the starting line, things had descended into chaos.

The men from the Savior Sect had caused a disruption at the camera feed, preventing those at the starting line from seeing what was happening. But the next checkpoint camera wasn’t far away, and it had perfectly captured Death Fire drawing his gun, firing, and then being killed by Shi Tiexin in retaliation.

Rowdy D let out a roar and charged forward, leading his men to surround Death Fire’s crew. Caught off guard, they tried to flee, only to be cut off by a well-prepared Ah Fei. They had no idea their boss would go so far, to be so ruthless as to openly try to kill the Black Venerable. With their leader’s fate uncertain, the panicked underlings put up no real resistance and were quickly subdued.

The chaos erupted and then slowly subsided. Just as the dust was settling, someone pointed at the screen and yelled, "Look! The Black Venerable is catching up again!"

Everyone looked. On the long straightaway leaving the city, Shi Tiexin was riding at full throttle. He was once again overtaking one rider after another, fighting his way into third place. In the blink of an eye, he passed Tokyo Wolf to take second and was rapidly closing in on Lady Pe.

"Damn, the Black Venerable is a total badass."

Watching Shi Tiexin fly across the screen, the onlookers were filled with awe. Along the way, he’d stopped once to save a life and a second time to take one, falling to the back of the pack again and again, only to repeatedly claw his way back to the front. Such skill, such a style, such a man... He was truly worthy of his title, ’Venerable,’ and truly earned their deepest admiration.

The only question now was whether the Black Venerable could actually take first place and clinch a flawless victory.

It seemed like a question that didn’t even need to be asked.

"Look, they’re about to enter the mountains!"

"Lady Pe is about to get caught."

"The Black Venerable is incredible!"

Amid the crowd’s exclamations, Shi Tiexin rapidly closed in on Lady Pe. Hearing the report in her earpiece, Lady Pe felt a surge of anxiety. She couldn’t resist glancing back. That distinctive headlight had already left Tokyo Wolf in the dust and was now bearing down on her at high speed.

Her younger sister’s voice came through the earpiece: "Sis, slow down! You’re going too fast, it’s too dangerous. Besides, what’s the point of speeding up? That guy’s too strong; you can’t beat his top speed anyway."

But Lady Pe gritted her teeth. "No way! I will never give up!"