I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 328: Chapter 190: "Bird Cage

Zheng Xiu looked at Fan Yao and didn’t answer.

Nearby.

Ever since Fan Yao had appeared, one person in Zheng Xiu’s party had been acting utterly bizarre.

He hadn’t said a single word since Fan Yao appeared.

He had only done one thing.

He kept touching his own face, rubbing his bald head, and staring wide-eyed at Fan Yao’s stunningly beautiful, androgynous features that seemed to captivate everyone.

"You... you... you, who the hell are you?"

Xie Yunliu stared at Fan Yao, utterly dumbfounded.

’How the hell does he look exactly like me?’

’If I hadn’t gotten my head shaved, you wouldn’t be able to tell us apart if we stood next to each other.’

For a split second, Xie Yunliu found himself sincerely thanking the "damned thief" who’d shaved him bald in the middle of the night while he was drunk off his ass.

"ACHOO!"

Zheng Xiu sneezed.

His nose itched.

Fan Yao looked at Xie Yunliu. "You have no need to know."

Unlike Xie Yunliu, he wasn’t surprised.

It was as if he already knew of Xie Yunliu’s existence.

He had long known that a man named Xie Yunliu existed in this world—a man who looked identical to him, like a twin brother.

No, to be precise, Fan Yao had long known that Xie Yunliu was his Heart Demon!

He was Fan Yao’s... alter ego!

"You should not have been born. You should not exist. You should not be alive."

Ignoring Xie Yunliu, Fan Yao turned and extended a hand to Zheng Xiu.

"You are ’different’ from them. Would you like to leave this place with me?"

Fan Yao smiled, extending an olive branch to Zheng Xiu.

In truth, Fan Yao and Zheng Xiu didn’t know each other well.

Fan Yao didn’t even know Gongsun Mo’s true identity in the world outside the painting.

The closest thing they had to a "connection" was that Zheng Xiu knew Chu Susu, also from Incompleteness Tower, in the outside world. Hearing her name had awakened memories Fan Yao hadn’t touched in forty years.

Besides, Fan Yao had been utterly alone in this world for forty years. He had lived a wretched existence, neither Human nor ghost.

When he met Zheng Xiu, he suddenly felt a sense of kinship, like meeting someone from home in a strange land.

Zheng Xiu was also from the outside world; they shared a similar experience.

Though they could hardly be called friends, Fan Yao, for some unknown reason, had felt a sort of kinship with Zheng Xiu from the moment they met. He figured they had no quarrel, and they’d met by chance in this strange place—there was absolutely no reason to kill him. Better to do a good deed for the day. After they escaped this damned Cannibal Painting, it wouldn’t hurt to have one more friend on the outside.

Zheng Xiu fell silent for a moment.

Xie Luohe, her Longbow drawn taut, furrowed her brow. She turned to look at Zheng Xiu, her eyes filled with a complex, unreadable expression.

She had held the pose for some time without any sign of fatigue, a testament to her incredible arm strength.

Xie Luohe had learned everything through Feng Bei’s Dream.

She knew that, by all logic, Zheng Xiu and Fan Yao were actually on the "same side."

She, Xie Luohe, was the "outsider."

Even if Zheng Xiu chose to stand with Fan Yao at this moment, Xie Luohe would not be the least bit surprised.

"I’m curious," Zheng Xiu finally asked after a moment of silence. "You don’t even know what it means to ’return to being a normal Human,’ so why can’t we all leave together?"

Fan Yao shook his head. "There’s no need."

His hand remained extended toward Zheng Xiu. A pleasant smile graced his soft, androgynous features, as gentle as a spring breeze.

"’A fine ’there’s no need.’’"

Zheng Xiu’s gaze fell on Xie Yunliu, who was practically seeing red from Fan Yao’s dismissive comment. "Then I’m afraid not. We walk different paths."

Fan Yao gave Zheng Xiu a long, searching look, then glanced at Xie Yunliu. In an instant, realization dawned. He let out a long sigh. "So, you know my Heart Demon... How laughable."

Fan Yao produced a Token engraved with the character for "Martial" and a carving of a Fierce Tiger, holding it up for all the soldiers to see.

"Life is but a grand dream of the Void."

Fan Yao raised the Token high and slowly closed his eyes.

"It’s time to wake up."

Fan Yao opened his eyes, his gaze icy cold, and uttered a single word.

"Kill."

The Divine Martial Army fell into formation.

Several hundred soldiers of the Divine Martial Army stood clad in gleaming Armor. In a place like this, they were a formidable force.

The moment Fan Yao gave the command, the Divine Martial Soldiers moved as one, their long blades unsheathed, ready to charge.

No matter how united the bandits of Yunhe Village were, they were nothing but a disorganized rabble in the face of a well-equipped army. Even with similar numbers, the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion.

Zheng Xiu had made his choice.

A brilliant smile spread across Xie Luohe’s face; her joy was plain to see.

Xie Luohe released the taut bowstring. As she did, thin black markings, like the bewitching roots of a black rose, crept out from somewhere on her body, gradually spreading across her skin until they covered her completely.

The Arrow, wreathed in a vicious gale, shot toward Fan Yao.

Fan Yao calmly blocked the Arrow with his Token, but the projectile seemed to be alive. It reversed course in mid-air, plunged into the Military Array, and effortlessly pierced the Armor of the Divine Martial Army, skewering the heads of several soldiers in a row.

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!

The sounds of skulls being pierced blended into one. Yet, as the soldiers fell, the Divine Martial Army showed not a hint of panic. They didn’t break formation, even in the face of Xie Luohe’s bizarre Archery.

Soon, the fallen soldiers were ignored. Under Fan Yao’s command, the army shouted their battle cry and charged down the slope, radiating killing intent.

Xie Luohe nocked another Arrow. "Don’t try to stop me this time."

She said this to Zheng Xiu.

"Brother, lend me a knife."

With a conflicted look, Zheng Xiu borrowed a knife from a nervous bandit beside him and sliced his own wrist. He winced in pain and said, "Even if this is all fake, I’m about to have a ’Severe Hemorrhage’."

Xie Luohe smiled. "I told you not to train in this."

"Once you’re on the Path, there’s no turning back."

"Hmph."

"Promise me," Zheng Xiu said, looking at Xie Luohe’s gorgeous face with a grave expression. "Don’t do anything rash."

"It’s nothing." Xie Luohe turned her back to Zheng Xiu. For a fleeting instant, the words "Ding Wei" flashed in her right eye.

"This... is the last time."

...

"AAAGH!"

The synchronized charge of the Divine Martial Army was like a ferocious beast.

The killing intent they projected—honed on countless battlefields and forged in the crucible of war—was far more than ordinary bandits could bear.

At the first sign of contact, some of the Yunhe Village bandits started screaming for their mothers, dropping their weapons and running for their lives.

"Worthless cowards! Charge!"

His eyes blazing with fury, Xie Yunliu and Chu Chengfeng charged viciously into the enemy ranks.

His ambition was to conquer the world, and he had long considered the Court’s Divine Martial Army his nemesis. With his resolve hardened and the heart of a rebel ignited, he charged into the fray.

The scene descended into chaos. The water in the riverbed was rising, and the Divine Martial Army, weighed down by their Armor, became clumsy as they waded in. Their movements were a far cry from the deadly efficiency they showed on horseback.

The difference between a rabble and a professional army was decided in the first clash. The bandits broke and fled.

Xie Yunliu watched, his eyes nearly bursting with rage. He had expected a bitter struggle, not a one-sided slaughter.

"Second-in-command! These guys are too tough!"

Amid the chaos, Chu Chengfeng and Wen Shishan performed a joint sword technique. A flash of sword light filled the air, and in an instant, dozens of Divine Martial Soldiers surrounding them were forced back several steps. Some even tumbled into the water, thrashing wildly.

Cowering in the rear, Bai Xiaosheng happened to witness this and couldn’t help but cry out, "Could that be the legendary technique, lost to the Jianghu for ages—the ’Adulterer and Whore Sword’!?"

Chu Chengfeng and Wen Shishan were just getting into the rhythm of the fight when they heard him. They both stumbled at the same time, their feet getting tangled as they used their Qinggong, nearly sending them plummeting from the air.

"Fuck you, Fatty Jiang! This is the Lover’s Sword!"

The narrow riverbed had long since devolved into a chaotic battlefield.

After Zheng Xiu cut his wrist, crimson blood gushed out as if it were free, flowing down in torrents.

With a flick of the Luohe Brush, it caught the stream of blood in mid-air. The sanguine fountain seemed to come to life, coiling around Zheng Xiu.

"Here we go!"

Zheng Xiu let out a long cry, laughing as he used the Luohe Brush to fling a sheet of bloody light high into the air.

Instantly, Zheng Xiu’s face paled from the blood loss.

The bloody light exploded in mid-air, scattering far and wide.

Everyone looked up in shock. For a moment, the fighting on both sides halted as they stared, dumbfounded, at the bizarre spectacle.

Where the bloody light landed, a "circle" hundreds of meters across instantly trapped everyone within.

"Drawing Prison..."

Zheng Xiu gave a slight smile, letting the blood from his clenched fist drip to the ground at his feet.

From the circular bloodstain on the ground, beams of bloody light suddenly shot up like sharp ribbons, soaring into the sky. They converged at a single point high above, instantly trapping everyone inside. From the outside, the space created by Zheng Xiu’s blood looked like a giant cage.

"...Bird Cage."

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