Realm Walker

With the helmet, he could stay in Night Wandering while pushing through the flute's music and jump the Musician without a problem. Earth God had already done a number on that breastplate, and he had a dozen ways to crack it with the Bloodthirsty Blade and the Yin Yang Spell Robe's array. If all that failed, he could pin down Tone Deaf, take the flute away, and strap the Silencer on his face. He had this. Earth God was an Earth Wraith with no ability to fashion an ambush, so any attempt he made to get at Tone Deaf would run him straight into Zhao Chenghuang.

Earth God caught his intentions right away. He swept Zhao Chenghuang back with one stroke, pulled the helmet off, and dropped it on the ground. The earth under it split open and swallowed it whole. A second later, the earth by Zhang Yuanqing's feet bulged and the helmet emerged. It was a neat trick that shut down any chance of the enemy snatching it out of the air.

Zhang Yuanqing scooped it up and put it on, and his head cleared immediately as he was freed from the needles piercing into his soul. He could still hear the flute's music, but it couldn't touch him now.

Without hesitation, he entered Night Wandering.

Tone Deaf saw it. His eyes narrowed, and he retreated quickly toward the safety of Zhao Chenghuang.

Earth God stamped a foot. "Up!"

The ground under Tone Deaf heaved, and a wall of dirt rose between him and Zhao Chenghuang.

Zhang Yuanqing's figure flickered back into the world right in Tone Deaf's face, both hands on the Bloodthirsty Blade, driving it into the crack that had already appeared on the breastplate. The dim barrier caved in an instant, shuddered hard, and finally scattered into motes of light. The Bloodthirsty Blade punched through the breastplate and into Tone Deaf's chest.

Immediately, the flute's mournful tune died. A Musician who couldn't fight up close and whose skills had been nullified by the iron helmet was a child in front of Zhang Yuanqing. But the breastplate still did its job physically, and the Bloodthirsty Blade came up short, not penetrating deep enough to reach the heart and punt him out of the dungeon.

Zhang Yuanqing kicked Tone Deaf over, planted a foot on his chest, and was lining up the finishing blow when he caught it out of the corner of his eye. Past the dirt wall, Sun Miaomiao flickered into being behind Earth God, her arm swinging, the surreal whip snapping out.

Amid the ghostly wail, Earth God froze, his face wrenching in pain, his pupils going loose and unfocused.

Sun Miaomiao didn't stop. Another lash cracked across Earth God's back.

He stood there, caught, his eyes empty. At the Transcendent tier, his defense was untouchable, but her whip bypassed the physical layer entirely and went for the soul.

Zhang Yuanqing's eyes narrowed violently. Without thinking, he launched the Bloodthirsty Blade at Sun Miaomiao and left Tone Deaf, making a break for Earth God to pull him out.

A shape came flying in from the side. It was Zhao Chenghuang's yin corpse, cutting him off exactly the way Corpse No. 1 had cut it off before.

With a loud bang, Zhang Yuanqing went airborne. Mid-flight, he saw Zhao Chenghuang sink his hips, both fists clenched and braced to strike.

Both fists rode a wave of force and slammed into the dazed Earth God's chest. The Earth Wraith was launched into the air, crash-landed into a pile of distant rubble, and went still. A second later, his body winked out of the dungeon. He hadn't died from Zhao Chenghuang's blow. Sun Miaomiao's whip had shredded his spirit body. He had been eliminated.

Zhang Yuanqing hit the ground at the same time, bounced straight up, went into Night Wandering, and put a long stretch of distance between himself and the other two Nocturnal Specters before he let his body show again.

He looked at Sun Miaomiao, a storm brewing across his face. "You played me?"

She stuck out the tip of her tongue and offered a sheepish little laugh. "Sorry, sorry."

"Yuanshi Tianzun. You've lost," Zhao Chenghuang said flatly. "I told you. You can't beat me."

Zhang Yuanqing took in a deep breath and swept his eyes over the two of them. "When did you two join forces? Was this your plan the whole time?"

The corners of Zhao Chenghuang's mouth curved upwards. "The second you filed reports to shave off everyone's points, I knew that nobody could outplay you when it came to the dungeon's rules. World Ablaze and his people surely thought the same. For him, the sane move was to team with you and knock the Taiyi Sect contestants out first. I sent a spirit servant to find Sun Miaomiao and had her fake an alliance with you, leveraging your need to win in order to sit right next to you. And you obliged."

Zhang Yuanqing turned to Sun Miaomiao, keeping his voice low. "So the thing about little spirit servants, your fondness for them, that was fake?"

Zhao Chenghuang answered for her. "No, she really does love the little spirit servants. That part's genuine. You saw it yourself, didn't you? Why else would you agree to work with her? As long as you wanted to win, you would never pass up the chance. Whether you trusted her or not didn't matter. That was only my first step."

Sun Miaomiao smiled. "Yuanshi Tianzun, I did ask you, twice, whether you wanted to make a deal. You turned me down both times. If you said yes, I'd have helped you take out Zhao Chenghuang for real. Did you honestly think a nice fat promise would get me to move against my own sect? I'm not stupid. What Zhao Chenghuang put on the table smelled a whole lot better than your pie in the sky."

Zhang Yuanqing didn't bother with her, and addressed Zhao Chenghuang instead. "What was your second step?"

"The second step," Zhao Chenghuang said, "was having Sun Miaomiao nudge you into an alliance with Earth God, in order to split the Five Elements Alliance contestants apart. That's when I rode in and offered World Ablaze an alliance, which he had to take for sure."

Zhang Yuanqing was quiet for a second. "So the two of you were acting the whole time, playing at being stuck in the maze. You wanted to watch us tear each other up, then pick the bones clean."

Zhao Chenghuang nodded. "I didn't count on you hiding your strength and beating Green Pine that easily though. So Sun Miaomiao had to fake me breaking her illusion to get me into the fight and save Tone Deaf. Meanwhile Tone Deaf had one more job, which was to force you to borrow Earth God's helmet."

No wonder she coasted through the whole time. She looked fierce as a tiger, but was effectively fangless.

The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. "You lent Tone Deaf that item to stop my servants and my curse object, to steer me into borrowing the helmet."

Zhao Chenghuang laughed, clearly proud of this final twist. "Earth God's defenses are too thick, and with a helmet guarding his soul on top of it all, he was nearly impossible to deal with. That's why Sun Miaomiao held back the whole time and waited for the opening."

"Smooth. Real smooth." Zhang Yuanqing sighed, and looked out at Yuan Ting. "So keeping Yuan Ting boxed up..."

Sun Miaomiao grinned. "If I didn't keep him boxed up, I'd have had to fight him, and he's so weak that I'd kill him in one lash. I couldn't let you see me pulling my punches, so I just trapped him."

She picked up a pebble and flicked it at Yuan Ting. The illusion fell apart. Yuan Ting's head came up. He looked around, and then he ran over with his yin corpse in tow, looking dumbfounded.

"Where's Earth God?" he asked.

"We took care of him," Sun Miaomiao said cheerfully. "Me and Zhao Chenghuang set the whole thing up."

She gave him the abridged version of events. Several emotions ran across Yuan Ting's face, and something seemed to click. He looked at Zhao Chenghuang.

"So that time you sent your spirit servant out was to secretly cut a deal with Miaomiao."

He was referring to the essence-draining servant. Back then, Zhao Chenghuang had spun the tale that he'd sent it out to scout the area.

Zhao Chenghuang dipped his head slightly. "The fewer people who know a plan, the better, so I didn't tell you."

Just explaining that much was more face than he owed the man.

Off to the side, Tone Deaf gaped at the lot of them, feeling like the biggest fool in the instance.

Zhao Chenghuang bent and picked up the narrow-mouthed longsword. "Everything worth saying has been said. Yuanshi Tianzun, it's time to leave the dungeon."

Sun Miaomiao held the surreal whip cocked and ready.

Just then, Yuan Ting stepped in, stalling both their attacks. "Actually, I've got one thing to say as well."

They looked at him, and Yuan Ting, faster than the eye could follow, ripped the coat off the waist of his yin corpse.

"!!!"

Both their expressions froze, their eyes going blank. Neither of them had seen it coming.

"Sorry," Yuan Ting said quietly. "Yuanshi Tianzun offered me something I couldn't turn down."

Then he threw his head back and shouted, "I'm reporting Zhao Chenghuang for peeping at a yin corpse's private parts on the grounds that it's illegal!"

Beneath the sullen clouds that framed the sky, the towering spirit warrior drew back its great bow and loosed a single shaft at Zhao Chenghuang.

Both their faces dropped in the same instant. Zhao Chenghuang had only three points. A report like that was a kill shot.

The arrow fell out of the sky and struck him. Then, something happened that nobody expected. Zhao Chenghuang stood there and took the arrow calmly, without even a flicker.

Yuan Ting's eyes went wide. "That's impossible..."

He only had three points. How was he untouched?

Then Yuan Ting saw Tone Deaf, off to the side, slowly break apart into drifting motes of light.

What just happened? Having been stuck in Sun Miaomiao's illusion the whole time, Yuan Ting had no idea how any of the pieces connected. He was both stunned and lost.

Zhang Yuanqing raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Son of a gun."

Zhao Chenghuang smiled. "Call it foresight. I meant to use the summoning function on the bone blade to eliminate Tone Deaf after I'd dealt with you and Earth God, but it turns out it was used in this instance instead. Yuanshi Tianzun, that's what you'd call the hand of fate."

The wraith bound in the bone blade had killed Tone Deaf. The moment Tone Deaf's spirit body had been engulfed by that wraith, his life had stopped being his own. The bone blade had been Zhao Chenghuang's item from start to finish. According to the rules of the Spirit Realm, an item only recognized a Walker as its owner once it went into their Inventory, and Tone Deaf had never put it in his, because it was on loan to him from Zhao Chenghuang. He had been backed into a corner, leaning on the man to survive, and would never have dared do the one thing that would make the item recognize him as the owner.

"Yuan Ting. You know what to do," Zhao Chenghuang said, his voice carrying no emotion. "This is the last chance I'm giving you."

Defeat was written all over Yuan Ting's face. He was quiet for a few seconds, then lifted his head and looked at Yuanshi Tianzun.

"Sorry. I can't help you anymore," he said quietly.

As he spoke, Sun Miaomiao swung her arm, sending her whip snaking out. Yuan Ting's face twisted with pain, while at the same time, Zhao Chenghuang's black claws shot out and punched through his chest. Yuan Ting winked out of the dungeon. He had been eliminated.

"I have the points I need. No more of your dirty tricks."

Zhao Chenghuang looked across at Yuanshi Tianzun, full of confidence. Killing Tone Deaf and Yuan Ting had brought him up to seven points. With that safety net under him, and Sun Miaomiao at his side, they could defeat Yuanshi Tianzun quickly and lock the whole thing down.

***

Up in the arena the uproar was boiling over.

The Five Elements Alliance Walkers were like fans watching their team blow the game, groaning and cursing, a wall of noise. They'd seen all of it, how both sides had schemed at each other, from Yuanshi Tianzun's deal with Yuan Ting to Zhao Chenghuang and Sun Miaomiao's plan. Even after Earth God's elimination, things had been tense. Zhao Chenghuang had played his trump card, and it was Yuanshi Tianzun's turn to hit back.

By any normal reasoning, Zhao Chenghuang, with only three points, was a dead man. Instead the layers of his setup kept unfolding, one layer under the next, and at the last possible moment, he'd killed Tone Deaf, robbed him of his points, and eaten the kill shot without flinching. There was no opening left. Both slots for the ultimate showdown were going to the Taiyi Sect.

In contrast to the Five Elements Alliance gloom, the Taiyi section was boisterous with jubilant cheer.

Elder Zhao, in his black robe, stroked his beard and smiled. "A good fighter has to be a good schemer. Chenghuang keeps his mouth shut most of the time, but his mind is a match for anyone."

Set the pants-dropping cheap shots aside, and it had been a hell of a bout. Yuanshi Tianzun really was a prodigy who'd cleared two S-rank dungeons, but it was exactly his brilliance, his strength, that elevated Zhao Chenghuang's genius into the light. As the boy's great-grandfather, Elder Zhao was well pleased.

Elder Sun was pleased as well, now that he was finally off the hook. "Miaomiao and Chenghuang worked together beautifully. It was a superb match, one that would be talked about for years."

Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang had ground Yuanshi Tianzun down and proved, through their deeds, how deep the Taiyi Sect's foundations ran. Elder Hongying too was all smiles.

Over on the Five Elements Alliance side, Elder Teddy and the other elders sat in stony silence. Only Yuanshi Tianzun was left on the field, one tree against the storm, and once he was uprooted, the whole Alliance roster would be eliminated. They had no stake in the showdown anymore.

Through the noise, from the projection, came the sound of Yuanshi Tianzun's laughter. "Do you really think you've won?"

Heads jerked up all over the arena, and the chatter trailed off as all eyes went back to the image of Yuanshi Tianzun.

***

Inside the dungeon, Zhao Chenghuang’s expression was unchanged. "Still bluffing? Between Sun Miaomiao and myself, how many exchanges do you think you can last?"

As he spoke, Sun Miaomiao's thick black energy welled up within Sun Miaomiao's eyes as the ghostly spirit behind her breathed out cold spirit-air on cue. The illusion activated, and Zhang Yuanqing found himself inside her maze again.

Zhao Chenghuang took the opportunity and snapped his fingers. The Saint-tier yin corpse, still under assault from the strange pair of shoes, broke away and lunged in with its master to kill Yuanshi Tianzun. A blow from outside would shatter the illusion, but Zhao Chenghuang was sure that the instant it broke, Yuanshi Tianzun would already be out of the tournament.

Tap-tap-tap!

Two threads of dull red light bolted out ahead of them, leaving the hin corpse behind as the shoes raced back toward their own master. They moved so quickly, blowing past Zhao Chenghuang and the corpse in the blink of an eye and landing one heavy stomp on their master.

The illusion fell apart, and Zhang Yuanqing immediately entered Night Wandering, avoiding the pincer attack from Zhao Chenghuang and his yin corpse. The instant he'd felt the maze take him, he'd ordered the red shoes to attack him on the spot.

He winked back into existence a fair distance away. "One more minute."

A minute? What was he saying? Zhao Chenghuang and Sun Miaomiao worked in tandem with the yin corpse, boxing him in from left and right.

Zhang Yuanqing activated Night Wandering again as he ran farther out, his body winking back into existence again as its duration ran out.

"How many more times can you activate Night Wandering?" Zhao Chenghuang asked, his voice hard.

Watching the two of them closely, Zhang Yuanqing said, "Time's up."

He backed away and raised his head to the heavens.

"I'm reporting Sun Miaomiao for molesting a child, on the grounds that it's illegal!"

"I'm reporting Sun Miaomiao for abusing a child, on the grounds that it's illegal!"

"I'm reporting Sun Miaomiao for abducting a child,on the grounds that it's illegal!"

"I'm reporting Sun Miaomiao for peeping at a yin corpse's private parts, on the grounds that it's illegal!"

Mid-lunge, Sun Miaomiao shuddered to a halt, the color draining out of her face. Zhao Chenghuang's eyes narrowed to slits.

Still backpedaling, Zhang Yuanqing smiled coldly. "Sun Miaomiao, I'll admit that I wanted to win, and I'll admit that you tempted me. But what made you think I'd trust you all the way, without reservations? What made you think I'd expose my back to someone I didn't know, without holding anything in reserve?

"Even if you hadn't asked me to let you hug that little goober, I'd have found a way to get you to play with him. Because that lets me report you for molesting a child. Because that allows him to put a hand on your chest, forcing you to knock me away and allowing me to report you for child abuse. Top it off with Yuan Ting's move, and I have enough to clear you out of all your points.

"Sun Miaomiao, the second you pitched the idea of an alliance to me, I already counted your points down to zero. I was never scared of you turning against me. You played me, and I played you. We’re even."

As he spoke, four arrows dropped from the sky and struck Sun Miaomiao.

【Ding! You have zero points. You have been eliminated.】

"Yuanshi Tianzun..." She ground the name out through her teeth, and then her body turned to light and came apart.

Eliminated.