Chapter 630: Confrontation

As Wu Shayu pointed toward the sky, the sky suddenly turned black.

Or rather, it wasn't that the sky had darkened, but that all directions had turned completely black. The feeling it gave one was that the sky had been dyed with ink, and then—it collapsed downward.

The sky had collapsed!

So there was no more light in this world!

The surroundings suddenly became so dark that one could not see one's own fingers; the darkness was to such a degree that it made one doubt if one's own eyes had gone blind.

Weise even felt his body falling, just like that sensation of suddenly dropping into an abyss while in a dream.

That was perhaps just an illusion—everything around him had turned into a single color, and he had also lost his sense of direction.

Besides sight, what he was quickly deprived of as well were hearing and smell.

Just before, he had still been situated in front of the noisy altar. Although Wu Shayu's intimidation had made everyone temporarily lose their voices, with so many people gathered together, they were not truly silent.

With these trained ears of Weise's, he could hear the various sounds of each person: heavy breathing, the chattering of teeth grinding, the thumping of heartbeats, the unconscious rustling of clothing and accessories...

Now, these sounds had all vanished, the Silence as pure as the darkness before his eyes.

And the scents reaching his nose, including the faint smell of body sweat from those people, the lingering stench of blood on the arena, the sweet fragrance emitted by the fruits and flowers among the offerings, and that thick, damp smell of Yingze... had all vanished as well.

Everything, every piece of evidence that could prove the existence of others had vanished, and the evidence proving his own existence had vanished too. This made him feel, in an instant, abandoned by the world.

Could it be that he was no longer in the Human World, and had been dragged by Wangliang into Yingyuan?

Or perhaps, everyone had been dragged into another world together.

If it were Wangliang making a move, then anything would be possible, right?

Being deprived of one's senses is enough to drive one mad.

Although Weise was still calm for now, if time dragged on, he would certainly be affected.

He could already imagine, if it were other manor lords, they would probably be either shrieking or trembling in fear by now, right?

Just as his heart was gradually sinking into an unfathomable abyss, a faint light appeared before his eyes.

A thin silver line appeared before him.

That line was perhaps not bright, at most slightly silvery. But in such darkness, it was as bright as the sun, filled with an aura of hope. It made one unconsciously want to reach out and grab it.

Especially since the silver line was not straight, but dancing in the air, drifting over and swinging back, elusive. It was like Drifting white hair, or like the trajectory of a silver firefly wandering in the air.

Seeing a small, moving thing and being unable to resist the urge to catch it in one's hand—surely he wasn't the only person in the world with this habit, right?

Just as he unconsciously reached out to Touch that silver line, another silver line drifted before his eyes.

In a certain moment, it was as if someone had opened a box of fireflies; silver light filled the sky and drifted over, one after another. Each one danced before his eyes, at a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow—as if meant to be carefully caught yet not impossible to track—seemingly saying, "Come catch me, come catch me."

A thought flashed through Weise's mind:

He should catch one.

It was not that he was playing with a childlike heart, but a rational judgment.

Because he had thought of a keyword: "Chess Game."

Wangliang was intending to drag them into a game, right?

That is to say, it did not intend for them to die at the start, but rather to toy with them like a cat catching a mouse, or to set up a stage for them to act handsome or ugly, to dress up and entertain.

Therefore, this darkness was merely the prologue; at the start, it should always provide a little hope.

The silver line before him was that hope.

Thinking of this, Weise steadied his mind and reached out his hand to grab—

He caught one.

After catching it, he immediately pulled hard, and the line went taut instantly.

There was something to this!

This line was very resistant to pulling; he had used quite a bit of force, and such a thin line held up completely.

Moreover, one tug did not move it.

There was something at the other end of the line!

It seemed that the line led to the finish, tied to some marker. One only needed to walk forward along the line to be able to...

Wait?

Perhaps it was because he had pulled too hard, but the end of that line actually moved slightly.

Could it be that the thing it was tied to wasn't secure and had been pulled down by him?

This feeling... was it a living thing?

Could it be...

Before he could think calmly, he heard Wu Shayu's voice coming from overhead:

"Everyone, you have all caught your lines by now, haven't you? I imagine you would certainly go to catch them."

"Do you feel that the line can be pulled?"

"That is only natural, because every line is being pulled by two people, one pulling each end. Now, whichever way the line is pulled is whichever side is exerting more force."

"Heh heh, some have already guessed it; this is the rule. Heh heh, this isn't asking you to play tug-of-war; the rule is—the two people holding the same line are a pair. Only one person from the same pair can survive."

Weise shuddered slightly, his mood turning terrible.

The worst guess had been confirmed.

"Let me clarify, this doesn't count as the official game yet. This is just a preliminary round. Lord Wangliang feels there are too many of you, which is annoying to look at, so a preliminary round was specifically held to eliminate half the people. Perhaps more than half. When the competition ends, the winners will see the exit and enter the real Chess Game, while the losers will be dead, not to mention that those who haven't decided a winner will both remain in the darkness forever. In the days without an exit, perhaps you will kill each other out of hunger, just to eat the other's corpse. By then, you will regret it immensely, wishing you had fought to the death at the time so at least one could have lived. Hahaha..."

Following a strange laugh, Wu Shayu's voice gradually sank away, and the surroundings returned to darkness and Silence.

Weise pulled on that line, as if seeing the person at the other end who was destined to fight him to the death, his hand trembling slightly.

He was afraid.

He was not afraid of killing, nor was he afraid that the other party was stronger than him, but he was afraid that the person at the other end was actually one of his own, forcing him to kill a familiar face he saw every day in order to survive.

This kind of cruel elimination would stir up the darkest memories from the deepest parts of his mind.

Waiting for one's opponent in the darkness, no matter who it is, whether kin or friend, one must kill them to survive; such rules might be cruel and rare for others, but for him, they were all too familiar.

From childhood to adulthood, this was how he had always done things.

The screening at the Yama Shop had always been this cruel, never lacking in deaths, and it mostly unfolded among children of the same batch. Yet, children of the same batch ate, lived, and trained together, spending every waking moment in each other's company—how could there not be feelings?

Weise had been forced to kill partners who had been eating at the same table as him just the day before more than once.

Was it painful?

The first time he killed, it was extremely painful, but later he gradually became numb. In the end, when he and his companions killed the instructor who had taught them almost like a father during their final assessment, he did not hesitate.

The other children from his batch who survived all became excellent and standard killers, accustomed to killing and debauchery, even reconciling with their past selves. But Weise did not; he always hated those days.

If he wanted to reconcile, he could have done it, but then he would be enjoying a life of luxury at the Yama Shop right now, instead of having staked everything to leave the Yama Shop.

Later, he finally lived a peaceful life that did not involve living hand-to-mouth. He felt very comfortable.

Even if he were made to fight or risk his life now, he would not resist; he was never afraid of fighting, as long as the blades were pointed outward and not at his own people.

But today, the scenes of the past seemed to return before his eyes. Those silver threads were just grabbed at random in the darkness; who knew who was on the other side?

Perhaps there were no friends or family of his among them, but as long as they were people he was familiar with, even the young man who guarded Wu Shayu, Weise did not want to fight him to the death.

Thinking this in his heart, he told himself again to be calm. In fact, the probability was not that high.

Their main force was not here, only a few experts holding the field. Even among the group that came to perform the Sacrifice together, most were just manor slave owners, whose deaths would not be a pity at all.

If they were not his own people, then kill them; the rules were such, and being unable to resist, he would comply as he had before. Even now, he did not care about killing.

Thinking this, he slowly squatted down in the darkness.

At the same time, his breathing became as light as if it were unheard, and even his heartbeat slowed down.

This was his basic skill as a killer: the "lurking" state.

Restraining all sense of presence, lurking in the Shadow, waiting for the prey to come to the door, and delivering a thunderous, fatal blow—this was something he had done countless times.

His longest record was seven days and six nights. He lurked in a mud pit, waited for the target on the evening of the seventh day, erupted with one sword strike, and killed that long-renowned old Knight-Errant.

In terms of strength, that person was stronger than him. But if a killer could only kill those weaker than himself, what difference was there between him and a bandit robbing on the road?

This was also the reason why he was not worried about the strength of the person opposite him. Although he was only a Sword Student and there were many Sword Guests here, almost all of them were stronger than him in a head-on fight. But if it came to killing, he would not lose.

The darkness was his stage, and also his hunting ground.

He was quietly waiting for his prey, just like before.

At the foot of Wangliang Mountain, there was still another team lying in wait.

These people were the team from the Sunrise base camp, gathering hundreds of Sword Guests, with four Sword Heroes openly holding the line; it was the largest and most powerful team.

If these people appeared on the Altar as a faction, those manor owners would immediately have to hold their tongues. Even the Turtle Bandits would have to ponder about calling for reinforcements immediately.

However, according to the plan, they were just waiting at the foot of the mountain, awaiting orders before rushing up the mountain to join the battlefield as a reserve force. Just as the Turtle Bandits also left experts at the base camp to hold the line.

So they waited, and waited, and waited, until it was dark.

It was truly dark!

They watched with their own eyes as a huge cover, resembling a black egg, rose out of thin air, instantly shrouding the Altar and covering the entire grand Altar that spanned the three tiers of stairs in one go.

Naturally, it also covered everyone inside. Inside the black egg, it was like another world.

Viewed from the Waijie, that black cover was not entirely black; there were layers of silver threads on it, sticking to the cover like a spider web. It made the "black egg" barely count as a "patterned egg."

This method of changing the world in an instant shocked those White-haired Swordsmen, greatly reducing their original intention to rush up the mountain to settle scores and avenge grievances.

After all, fighting manor owner Sword Guests was one thing, but facing the unfathomable divine might of Wangliang was another; in their hearts, Wangliang was invincible.

The ones in charge of this team were the two Sword Heroes, Tan Jianxia and Feng Jianxia from Baiyujing. The two immediately stopped the team's advance and cautiously remained outside. At the same time, they sent the Ou Swordsman, who was best at scouting for information, to check the situation, while pacifying the team: "This is a confrontation between experts. While Wangliang is indeed formidable, do you see those silver threads? That is the handiwork of our Princess; she is confronting Wangliang and is not falling behind in the slightest. This kind of battle has no use for you; just wait for good news."

The Ou Swordsman went for a moment and returned; it was clear that he had hurried back as soon as he arrived there, fearing to stay for even a moment longer. He returned without saying a word, making the atmosphere even more heavy.

Feng Jianxia remained calm, but Tan Jianxia quietly asked: "What did you see?"

The Ou Swordsman's face turned pale, his lips trembled slightly, and he said: "I saw... Wangliang! It is sitting on top of the black world, wearing a golden Mask, and it is laughing!"