Has My Blade Grown Too Heavy, or Have You All Grown Too Cocky?

Fan Daoyi pinched the bridge of his nose. With a hint of a headache, he asked, "If the Apothecary did it, where is he?"

Butcher's gaze darted about, deliberately or otherwise avoiding Fan Daoyi's eyes.

Vase Woman snickered and stabbed Butcher in the back, spilling the beans on what the two had done.

"Butcher took a bribe from the Apothecary, and now he's covering for him against his conscience."

"Oh?" Fan Daoyi watched with interest, making no move to interfere.

Butcher cursed, a torrent of filthy words spilling from his mouth.

Once he had calmed down, he decided to make Vase Woman take the blame too. "Vase Woman, you wanted half the payoff, and I only gave you thirty percent. Was that really worth all this?"

Vase Woman feigned surprise, then smiled sweetly, unconcerned. "You must be joking. My heart belongs entirely to Lord Dao Yi. I had no part in your business, so don't slander me."

She turned her vase body toward Fan Daoyi and looked up at him. Her eyes grew pitiful again, as though she wanted him to stand up for her. "Lord Dao Yi, everything I said was true."

Fan Daoyi paid them no mind and let them argue. A head rolled over to his feet of its own accord and, while they were arguing, led him to the Apothecary.

As they approached the Apothecary's location, wave after wave of screams reached them from afar.

The last player had fallen into the Apothecary's hands.

The Apothecary glimpsed Fan Daoyi but remained absorbed in his dissection.

A bottle of medicine kept the player alive, amplifying his pain to elicit reactions.

"Quit pretending. I'm not here to make you work."

At those words, the Apothecary dropped both hands, stripped off his gloves and coat in one smooth motion, then backed up a few steps and collapsed into a chair.

His hands fell to his sides, and his head tipped back, every inch of him radiating dejection.

Fan Daoyi watched him finish, then changed tack. "I'm not asking you to work now, but I think we could reasonably increase your working hours."

!

Work was bad enough; overtime would kill him.

The Apothecary abandoned all concern for his dignity. With a thud, he threw himself facedown on the floor and wrapped his arms around Fan Daoyi's lower leg. "Lord Dao Yi, you know me. I'm a logistics worker without the strength to truss a chicken. How could I possibly work at such a grueling pace—"

In this short span of time, Fan Daoyi had seen the current situation for himself. For now, it pointed to only one problem.

Slacking off within their ranks had become a serious problem, and it had to be dealt with immediately.

"Apothecary, don't you think it's time we held a meeting?"

There was no reason to bear misfortune alone; the Apothecary was happy to share.

He let go, pushed himself up with both arms, and ran outside, leaving only his voice behind. "Lord Dao Yi, please wait here. I'll go fetch them right away."

Before long, all the uncanny creatures capable of independent thought had gathered.

The newcomer still had a breath of life left in him, and the sight filled him with fear.

As the creatures watched, that fear flowed into Dao Yi's body.

He observed their expressions; each wore a different look.

Sure enough, after he had been gone for so long, a few of them could no longer sit still.

In the silence, Fan Daoyi spoke. "I heard some interesting things on my way here."

Everything he had seen and heard along the way came spilling out.

He smiled at the creatures, an invisible pressure surrounding him. "I told you fear was my Origin Source, and this is how you've been running the games for me?"

"Not only have you brought in no fear whatsoever, you've even let my Origin Source drain away because of the wishes they made?"

They hung their heads, hoping to make themselves less noticeable.

Fan Daoyi tapped his index finger on and off, still making no move to act.

His behavior made a small number of the creatures suspicious.

Why wasn't he punishing them? Why was he merely giving them a simple reprimand?

Putting that together with what he had said earlier about his Origin Source, they arrived at a bold guess.

The current Fan Daoyi couldn't do a thing to them!

Heh, just like that, rebellious thoughts began to rise.

"Lord Dao Yi, your powers are boundless. Surely losing a little fear is no great matter," one creature ventured, the first to test him.

He used those words to probe Fan Daoyi, whose expression shifted almost imperceptibly at what he said.

They caught that tiny change.

Having been oppressed for so long, they still needed to be cautious, so they chose not to strike outright.

The newcomer summoned all his strength to fan the flames. "When I first saw him, his face was pale. He's clearly putting on a brave front."

Fan Daoyi's grip on his cane involuntarily tightened. "Utter nonsense."

To those harboring rebellious thoughts, his denial only confirmed the truth.

One brave soul stepped forward and, before Fan Daoyi could react, attacked.

At the sight, some of the creatures spread their fingers and covered their faces.

They peeked through the gaps, wearing lewd grins.

Fan Daoyi struck back, grabbing the fellow by the neck and lifting him up. "So some mongrel really did take the bait. You've got some nerve."

A strand of black qi enveloped the fellow, tormenting him from the depths of his soul.

"Entrapment, tsk, tsk, tsk. Too tragic to look at, too painful to watch." The creatures who had long since seen through Fan Daoyi's actions gloated over his misfortune.

They made no attempt to hide their laughter and even took pains to stoke the flames.

"Listen to me! With the methods Lord Dao Yi used to have, he wouldn't even need to act himself. That's proof enough of how much his power has waned. Why don't you all gang up on him?"

The fellow fanning the flames shouted from behind a tail. After shouting, he changed form and answered himself, "That's right! The time to rise up and become our own masters is now!"

Then a small probing attack set the whole situation in motion.

Fan Daoyi struck out with his cane, and the attacker instantly exploded into a mist of blood, erased from the world.

He shed his former sickly, pallid appearance and put on a morbid smile, punishing and toying with the creatures who harbored rebellious thoughts.

His cane changed shape again and again, countering every wave of attacks. As he continued to wipe them out, blood sprayed everywhere like a rain of blood. At last, the long cane became an umbrella, shielding him from the bloody rain and leaving him spotless.

This was a Dao Yi utterly different from the one they remembered.

The umbrella canopy vanished, and he leaned on his cane once more.

An attentive fellow pushed over a clean chair. Fan Daoyi sat down, crossed his legs, rested his cheek on his hand, and watched the creatures drenched from head to toe in blood with a cold gaze.

A smile curled his lips. Before the survivors, he used his Origin Source to bring the creatures who had died by his hand back to life.

He bound their souls and inflicted pain upon them. He stripped away their consciousness and had them wander the games, working without a moment's rest.

With everything done, that familiar feeling returned.

"Now, it's your turn."

He turned his attention to a new target. The problems within their ranks still needed to be dealt with severely.

"Did I ever say these games had to stay exactly the same? Didn't I tell you to come up with innovations of your own?"

"You show no enthusiasm for work and clock off the moment your shift ends. You enjoy the gifts I gave you, and this is how you repay me?"

"Has my blade grown too heavy, or have you all grown too cocky?"

His string of questions left them not daring to let out so much as a fart.

"Speak. Who started it?" Fan Daoyi demanded.

Vase Woman was the first to speak. "My lord, you know me. I generally don't clock off on time. I just find ways to take leave or leave early."

Fan Daoyi looked at Butcher.

"My lord, you know me. I'm just a cook. I couldn't come up with an idea like that."

Feeling a gaze suddenly fall on him, the Apothecary gave a sheepish grin. "My lord, you know me. If it were me, I'd just have my test subjects take my place and never come to work in person. So clocking off on time has nothing to do with me."

The Flower Tender held a flowerpot, looking rather nonchalant. "My lord, you know me. The flowers I raise have contributed a great deal to our performance."

With everyone's eyes on him, the Sculptor put down the sculpture in his hands. "Huh? Why are you all looking at me? My lord, you know me. I've always done my duty, and I've even volunteered for overtime."

"Oh, I get it now. You really do each have your own excuses." Fan Daoyi took out a recording containing nothing but Barrier Ghost's testimony.

In the recording, Barrier Ghost disparaged every one of them. It laid all the bad deeds at their feet and took credit for all the good.

Sensing the oppressive gazes of several big shots, Barrier Ghost shuddered.

"Lord Dao Yi, is... is this what you meant by not holding me accountable or punishing me?"

"Yes. I'm not punishing you, am I? I'm a man of my word." Fan Daoyi smiled faintly. "As for your little squabbles with each other, I can't meddle in those."