Chapter 607: Gambling Dreams, Fighting for Life

Chapter 607: Gambling Dreams, Fighting for Life

Chaotic rain fell like arrows, pelting against the face.

A motorcycle tore through the wind, its wheels spinning like a blur.

Wu Cixia pressed her body low, seeming to merge with the machine beneath her; beneath the deeply buried brim, only a sliver of her eyes remained visible, fixed on the dark road ahead.

The roar of rain was deafening, yet Wu Cixia could still clearly hear the engine’s roar and vicious shouts coming from behind.

Like a shadow clinging to her, it gnawed relentlessly at her heels, impossible to shake off.

A fierce glint flashed in Wu Cixia’s eyes. Her left hand drew a long-magazine Duoyan Guard from the side of her motorcycle. Without turning her head, she swung the muzzle behind her and pulled the trigger all the way.

The muzzle spat a blazing stream of bullets, chiseling into the vehicles pursuing behind.

The rampant shrapnel easily tore apart the bodies of the enemies inside the cars; scarlet blood smeared the cracked windows.

The out-of-control vehicles swayed left and right on the slick road, finally crashing headlong into a roadside building, erupting into a blazing fireball.

Boom!

The burst of light suddenly illuminated the long road.

Seizing that fleeting moment of light, Wu Cixia glanced back from the corner of her eye, scanning the number of pursuers.

The tailing vehicles packed the wide road, like a pack of beasts crawling in pursuit, enough to drive one to despair.

Which wave of pursuers was this?

Wu Cixia could no longer remember.

Ever since her failed assassination yesterday of Zou Sijiu, the boss of the underworld gang ‘Celestial Palace’ that dominated Xincheng, she had fallen into a pursuit that seemed endless.

It felt as if the whole city was filled with hostility toward her; anyone she met, man or woman, old or young, could be a killer from Celestial Palace.

One moment they were smiling and chatting, the next they could draw a blade or gun and aim at her.

Trapped in this, Wu Cixia felt as if she were surrounded by an ocean of killing intent, on the verge of drowning, exhausted in both body and mind.

“Damn it, if not for that red-haired woman suddenly appearing, Zou Sijiu would already be a corpse!”

Hatred surged in Wu Cixia’s heart. A meticulously planned assassination, foiled at the very moment of success, truly galled her.

But the reason why she had to assassinate Zou Sijiu, Wu Cixia could no longer recall.

It seemed that fate had destined her to do so.

If she could only kill him, she would gain immense benefits.

Boom!

A sudden violent explosion interrupted Wu Cixia’s memories.

A ‘dragon emerging from water’ exploded not far away, its scorching blast wave surging in all directions.

In the instant before the blast wave caught her, Wu Cixia’s right hand decisively twisted the throttle to its limit. The motorcycle beneath her let out a muffled roar and shot forward.

While dodging the explosion, she also managed to widen the gap between herself and the pursuers behind.

For a person on the run, this should have been a good thing.

But Wu Cixia’s eyes inexplicably showed no trace of joy.

The reason lay ahead: strange clusters of dark shadows, their sharp spikes glinting with eerie cold light under the headlights.

Caltrops!

Wu Cixia’s pupils constricted sharply.

At this distance, slowing down was useless.

The flat road offered no chance to jump the obstacles.

In that critical moment, Wu Cixia steeled her heart and decisively wrenched the handlebars sideways.

The motorcycle toppled over, scraping a shower of dazzling sparks across the ground, sliding directly toward the caltrops in the way.

Clang!

Wu Cixia, thrown into the air, drew the blade strapped to her back. The moment she hit the ground, she stabbed down, the sharp edge biting deep into the earth, carving a ten-foot-long gash.

As soon as the inertia carrying her lessened, she twisted and leaped up, ignoring her side already scraped raw and bloody, and stared coldly ahead, blade in hand.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Beams from car headlights suddenly blazed, blinding Wu Cixia in a sea of white.

In her daze, figures loomed, surging like a tide.

Clang!

A blade shrieked as it slashed down toward her head.

Though her vision hadn’t yet cleared, Wu Cixia’s reaction was lightning fast. With a reverse grip, her own blade split the impassable rain curtain. The scattered raindrops traced a smooth arc as she parried the descending blade and then swept her own upward.

The attacking swordsman froze in place. A red line spread from his chin to his forehead. His face split open, and hot blood sprayed as he fell backward into the rain.

The next swordsman behind him hadn’t even realized what happened before a figure crashed into his chest. The wet sound of metal piercing flesh blurred into a continuous rhythm.

Two elite enforcers from ‘Celestial Palace,’ Martial Order seeds, died on the spot in an instant.

But this was just the beginning of the encirclement. More figures surged like a tide.

Heavy footsteps splashed inches-high water.

Wu Cixia was ferociously bold. Instead of retreating, she charged forward into the mob of Celestial Palace members.

Torrential rain, ragged breaths, flashes of steel and blood in the crowded throng; the ringing of clashing blades rose and fell one after another.

After a while, the chaotic, overlapping footsteps finally fell silent.

The last surviving Celestial Palace member had his leg bone kicked in, kneeling in the rain, his eyes glazed, head drooping involuntarily.

A blood-dripping hand reached out, grabbed his hair savagely, and turned his face toward the light.

Wu Cixia squinted, licked her bloodstained lips, and pressed her blade against the man’s protruding Adam’s apple. Her wrist was steady as she slowly dragged the blade across.

The unconscious swordsman woke with a start under the agony, thrashing his arms wildly, but he could not stop the blade that cut across.

Thud.

The corpse pitched forward, twitching unconsciously in the rain. A circle of crimson ripples spread quickly. The smell of blood was so thick it felt almost tangible.

Standing among the severed limbs and bodies, Wu Cixia pointed her blade straight ahead.

“No wonder you dared to come assassinate me alone. You do have some skill.”

As a voice of praise sounded, most of the blinding headlights went out.

Wu Cixia’s vision returned to normal, and she saw the man speaking.

A heavy mink coat draped over a tall figure in a suit and leather shoes. Beneath his slicked-back hair was a domineering face. In his right hand, he leaned on a gilded scepter; in his left, he held a charming woman with fiery red hair.

A stern-faced man stood behind him, holding a black umbrella over his head.

“Too bad, this is my territory. Do you think you can run wild here?”

This hateful face, wearing a smug smile, Wu Cixia would recognize even if it were burned to ashes.

It is none other than the Lord of Heaven's Gate, Zou Sijiu!

“Master Zou, this woman has some skill; it seems she has entered the martial order. Ordinary gang members are no match for her. Perhaps you should leave her to me.”

The man holding an umbrella behind Zou Sijiu spoke respectfully.

“Don't be impatient, Old Li. A piece of goods like her doesn't require your involvement.”

Zou Sijiu smiled faintly, his gaze shifting to a young man holding a longsword on his right.

“Qisheng, I leave her to you. You must not disappoint me.”

“Rest assured, Master Zou.”

The man replied in a low voice, then leaped out from behind the horse barrier with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, he was before Wu Cixia, his wrist flicking as a sword light like a bolt of cloth slashed toward her head.

A chill rushed toward her face. Wu Cixia let out a low roar, bending her upper body sharply backward. The moment she dodged Chen Qisheng's sweeping sword edge, she sprang back up and brought her blade down with both hands.

Clang!

Where the blade and sword clashed, a burst of fleeting sparks exploded.

Biting back the searing pain in her split tiger's mouth, Wu Cixia pressed all her strength into the blade, sliding it down along the sword's edge. The moment it struck the guard, she pushed the blade inward, aiming to sever Chen Qisheng's sword hand.

At this critical moment, a contemptuous sneer curled at the corner of Chen Qisheng's mouth.

He decisively let go of the sword hilt, evading the blade aimed at his hand, and pivoted to land a heavy kick on Wu Cixia's chest.

The falling longsword was snatched up by Chen Qisheng. He turned his wrist and traced another cold gleam, slashing toward Wu Cixia's neck.

A chill shot straight to her crown. Still staggering backward, Wu Cixia had no room to dodge and could only raise her blade in a desperate parry.

But just then, Chen Qisheng gave a cold snort. The attacking sword light suddenly accelerated with immense force, knocking aside the blocking blade and pressing against Wu Cixia's right hand.

Pfft!

Though Wu Cixia tried her best to dodge, her right arm was cleanly severed at the elbow by the sword light.

A clammy dampness seeped into her veins through the wound, sending waves of bone-piercing cold through Wu Cixia. Intense agony was madly devouring her will.

Just as the vision before Wu Cixia's eyes was about to fade, an extremely fierce surge of anger welled up from the depths of her heart, like a shot of adrenaline, making her instantly forget the pain wracking her body.

Not only that, a powerful and familiar force quickly filled her being.

At that moment, Wu Cixia felt an exhilarating sense of breaking free. She spat out a mouthful of blood-hot breath; her nearly frozen blood began to boil again. With a push of her foot, her figure vanished from the spot.

“Shen Li, don't you want to avenge your disgrace? The opportunity is right before your eyes. What are you waiting for?”

Almost as the words sounded, Wu Cixia abruptly appeared before Chen Qisheng, her remaining left hand clenched into a fist and punched out.

Chen Qisheng seemed to have anticipated this, sidestepping to dodge a step ahead.

Behind his evading figure, a snarling ‘fire dragon’ shot out, lunging toward Wu Cixia.

Further away, Shen Li grinned savagely, the cannon muzzle on his shoulder still belching thick smoke.

Boom!

The tremendous impact sent Wu Cixia flying like a tattered cloth sack.

But at this moment, she was indeed inhumanly tough. Though her body was nearly blown apart by the ‘Fire Dragon Emerging from Water,’ she still had a breath left in her, her eyes wide with unwillingness as she gazed despondently at the rain-soaked night sky.

“You bitch! How dare you try to assassinate Master Zou right in front of me, making me lose all face before him. I wish I could cut you into a thousand pieces!”

A face twisted with extreme rage crowded into her vision.

In her dying moments, Wu Cixia vaguely recognized that this was the same person who had been in charge of guarding when she had previously attempted to assassinate Zou Sijiu.

“Next life, remember to keep your eyes open. See clearly who you can and cannot provoke! Understand?”

Bang!

With a violent gunshot.

Standing in the distance, Zou Sijiu watched Wu Cixia, now blown to bits, and a satisfied smile spread across his face.

“Young Shen is quite good after all.”

Li Jun, responsible for holding the umbrella behind him, said deferentially, “It's all because you, Master Zou, gave him the chance to regain his dignity. On behalf of Shen Li, I thank you.”

“You're all brothers who risk your lives for me. There's no need for such formalities.”

Zou Sijiu turned to look back, his eyes exceptionally bright.

“Also, this umbrella-holding job, Old Li, you do it really well.”

As the words fell, the world before Zou Sijiu shattered like a mirror with a loud crash.

His vision twisted like a vortex, and when it returned to normal, Zou Sijiu found himself deep within a vast plaza covered in plush carpet.

Beside him were piles of objects, each the size of a millstone, shaped like chips.

He looked into the distance and saw a colossal figure as large as a mountain, its face exactly like Wu Cixia's, glaring at him fiercely.

Zou Sijiu curled his lips into a contemptuous smile at the figure, then, as if sensing something, turned to look behind him.

Another figure of equally enormous size sat there. At the sight of that familiar face, Zou Sijiu's sealed memories began to recover before him.

The first dream game had ended; he had won.

As his memories returned, Zou Sijiu immediately understood.

And where he now stood was not a ‘plaza’ at all, but a gambling table manifested in the spiritual world.

A gambling table belonging to Zhao Mengze and Wu Ci.

And all the enormity and magnitude were because his own current size was no larger than a chip.

Obviously, in this dream game, he was the most important chip in Zhao Mengze's hand.

“Old Zhao, this dream of yours is pretty well constructed, quite thrilling!”

Zou Sijiu looked up at Zhao Mengze and gave him a thumbs up.

“To think you could have Li Jun and Chen Qisheng hold my stirrups and lead my horse—truly worthy of an experienced old dream master.”

Zou Sijiu was still savoring everything from the previous dream. The thought of Li Jun holding the umbrella and those respectful cries of ‘Master Zou’ made him feel immensely pleased.

“Pity the intensity of the construction fell a bit short—it was nothing but a gang boss, a slightly small scale.”

Zou Sijiu said with slight regret, “If it had truly reached the intensity of a Wu Si Xin Zhu, that would have been truly satisfying.”

“Then why don't you build it, and I'll enter the dream?”

A voice like thunder descended from above.

“You're getting a bargain and still acting smug. Do you know how much effort I spent to grab such a huge background advantage for you? If I had constructed it the way you wanted, Wu Cixia would have woken up long ago. Would you have won so easily then?”

Zou Sijiu certainly knew that was impossible.

If he had constructed it that way, the first to die wouldn't have been Wu Ci's split personality, but Zhao Mengze himself.

“Now that I think of it, didn't the opponent lose too simply and hastily this time?”

Zou Sijiu wiped the smile off his face and said seriously, “Even if this first layer of the dream was built by you, Old Zhao, I had such a huge background advantage—I had all the favorable factors. The enemy didn't have any other ability to resist except for that sudden burst of power at the brink of death. Isn't this a bit too abnormal?”

Zou Sijiu's query was not without foundation.

What is most important in a dream?

It is not authority, but rules!

In the dream just now, both Zou Sijiu and Wu Cixia had their memories sealed, playing different roles in the story set by Zhao Mengze.

This rule is not problematic.

The strength of both sides was restricted to very low orders; this too was acceptable.

Because these are all rules of equivalence.

But in the dream, Zou Sijiu almost wielded the power of a city, with countless strong subordinates, easily surrounding and killing the solitary Wu Cixia.

Such a dream that almost amounted to a pointless death could easily startle the dreamer awake, causing the dream to shatter.

Although Wu Ci came from the agricultural order, she possessed the technique known as "New Yellow Millet"; her understanding of the Yin and Yang orders must be profound, and it was almost impossible for her to fall into such a simple trap.

"That woman did it on purpose."

Zhao Mengze sneered, "Your opponent is rich and powerful, so he sacrificed one life at the start just to see what tricks you and I have up our sleeves."

Zou Sijiu was shocked, "You haven't revealed all your cards already, have you?"

"Not quite, but there won't be any more dreams this easy from now on."

Zou Sijiu took a deep breath, "So that was just a warm-up?"

"Little Zou, you don't need to be nervous. Dream-weaving is, after all, our strong suit."

Zhao Mengze said lightly, "As long as I can seize the construction rights of every dream, you, the one entering the dream, won't be at a disadvantage. But whether we win or not still depends on you."

"Rest assured."

Before Zou Sijiu could finish, a whirlpool suddenly appeared under his feet, swallowing him.

"Are you done with your chatter? It's time to start the second round."

Zhao Mengze, who had been staring downward, looked up at the opposite side of the table. Amidst Wu Ci's brightly colored four-tone attire, a streak of red was rapidly fading.

"For the first dream, I let you have a step out of respect for the old and love for the young. But from now on, who will be the banker? Zhao Mengze, what do you have to compete for it?"

Wu Ci spoke coldly; it turned out she had clearly heard every word of Zhao Mengze and Zou Sijiu's conversation just now.

"I know you are a single entity with four lives, far stronger than an ordinary Rank Three. In a direct contest of mental strength, I am indeed inferior to you."

Zhao Mengze smiled calmly, raised his hand and scattered a pile of fire-colored chips.

"Then if I use my lifespan to compete for banker, will you follow?"

As the 'chips' landed on the table, a blazing aura ignited from Zhao Mengze's body.

The surge in his mental strength made his currently manifested body even larger, overwhelming Wu Ci sitting across from him.

"Zhao Mengze, aren't you afraid of burning yourself out?"

Wu Ci's face turned ashen.

Zhao Mengze laughed, "Either way, I'm dead. So why not close my eyes in peace as the winner?"

"You don't have to die, as long as you..."

"Since you won't follow, it seems I'll be the banker for this second round!"

Zhao Mengze interrupted Wu Ci loudly.

With a wave of his hand, thick fog suddenly rose from the table.

In an instant, it engulfed the entire gambling table, along with the two sitting opposite.

The second dream begins.