Extra: Shenzhou Broken Sword Record V

In the desert, Li Sushang, who had just defeated Eagle, the leader of the Golden Sand Gang, and the cart carrying a blond foreigner were forced to stop by Ma Feima. Seeing that Li Sushang carried the Xuanyuan Sword, Ma Feima used her posture as she steadied herself to confirm that she was Cheng Lingshuang's disciple.

He had just been about to chat with Li Sushang and go find Cheng Lingshuang together when the look in the foreigner's eyes made Ma Feima instantly change his mind.

That was someone who could kill him.

He was certain of it.

Ma Feima reveled in the conviction of challengers who persevered to the very end even when they did not have the slightest chance of victory. He longed for someone to kill him. Even if that person was Jiang Muyue, whom he currently loathed, he did not care.

But if possible, Ma Feima would rather not die at the hands of that strange woman, Jiang Muyue.

At the same time, he noticed that the instant Jiang Muyue saw the foreigner, her expression became extremely strange. It was neither the look she would give an old acquaintance nor an enemy. It was as though there was something about the foreigner that made her wary.

Ma Feima quietly filed that information away, then demanded in a forceful tone that the foreigner fight him. Yet the foreigner did not even glance at him, instead looking toward Jiang Muyue with a thoughtful expression.

Seeing the foreigner ignore him, Ma Feima forcibly moved to attack him. To his surprise, Li Sushang dared to face his sword qi head-on for this foreigner's sake.

"Commendable courage, but your master would be more fitting. You, however, are still lacking!" Ma Feima judged, easily defeating Li Sushang in a single move.

Unwilling to admit defeat, Li Sushang adjusted her breathing and challenged him again. Naturally, Ma Feima welcomed the challenge. He returned the Xuanyuan Sword she had dropped earlier and told her to attack him with the resolve to kill him.

Jiang Muyue stood off to the side with her arms folded throughout, watching the show. Yet there was a trace of gloom in her gaze as she looked at Li Sushang. "Although Ma Feima says she is still immature, this little girl's talent truly is as the rumors claim—an innate sword vessel... Given time, her Tai Xu Sword God will surely surpass Cheng Lingshuang's. If she lives long enough, reaching Immortal Yuan's realm may not be impossible either. It seems... she cannot be allowed to live."

The foreigner, Otto Apocalypse, reached a similar conclusion. "Li Sushang has considerable talent. Given time, surpassing Ma Feima, the so-called vice sect master of the Tai Xu Sword Sect, would not be difficult. But for her to win now, the odds are infinitesimal. Besides, she was already seriously injured by that move earlier."

At the same time, he kept an eye on the green-haired girl's movements from the corner of his eye.

"Green hair, green eyes, the appearance of a young girl, fond of purple-black clothing... Could she be Midrash, whom Lady Discipline told me to watch out for?" he thought.

After Eleanor vanished and a new head of the Shaniyat family took office, Otto spent some time ensuring that Schicksal could continue operating for extended periods without his personal supervision. With Eleanor Shaniyat's disappearance, the Shaniyat family seemed to have suffered a brief shortage of capable people. The new head of the Shaniyat family was easier to manipulate than Otto had expected, and he understood that this was likely Eleanor's gesture of goodwill toward him.

Before setting out, he sought out that nun once more and received further information about Immortal Yuan. The nun asked only one thing of him: keep watch over a calamity named Midrash.

Yet after arriving in Shenzhou, he learned that Immortal Yuan had already ascended, while her seven disciples had scattered across the land. In order to seek the whereabouts of one-third of the Thirteenth Divine Key, The Present, he decided to return to the Free Sect with Li Sushang, the student of Immortal Yuan's fifth disciple Cheng Lingshuang, and inquire about The Present's whereabouts.

The sudden appearance of Ma Feima, Immortal Yuan's sixth disciple, caught him somewhat off guard.

When Ma Feima swung his first sword and Li Sushang prepared to meet it head-on, Otto seized the opportunity to act.

"Void Archive, mimicry, Divine Grace Judgment!" Otto silently recited. Thanks to the nun, his control over Void Archive had improved further.

Divine Grace Judgment was said to be the form Oath of Judas took after unleashing all its power—its former appearance. Its ability to suppress and bind Honkai Energy surpassed even that of Oath of Judas.

But the battle-hardened Ma Feima abandoned Crimson Shadow, whose landslide-like momentum had already formed, the instant he sensed the "true qi" in his body vanish. His left fist was about to unleash the second Opening Sword—Landslide—but this, too, had been within Otto's expectations.

The golden chains of the mimicked Divine Grace Judgment bound Ma Feima's left fist, preventing him from throwing that strike. At that moment, Jiang Muyue, who had been watching all along, finally acted. A dark-purple flash swept past, and the golden chains of the mimicked Divine Grace Judgment instantly shattered.

Though deeply dissatisfied that Jiang Muyue had interfered with someone else's challenge against him, Ma Feima did not hesitate. His left fist continued forward, knocking Li Sushang's Xuanyuan Sword aside. Crimson Shadow flew past Li Sushang's side, dragging her left shoulder into a stream of sand. Under the sudden agony, Li Sushang nearly immediately passed out.

After dealing with Li Sushang, Ma Feima turned to Otto. "Kid, can I take that just now as a challenge from you?"

Otto gave a helpless, bitter smile. Now, he could only risk everything. He believed Ma Feima most likely would not kill either him or Li Sushang, but that girl suspected of being Midrash was another matter entirely.

"This is probably... the greatest risk I've taken in all these years, isn't it? But... if I want to turn back time and reverse causality, how could I possibly avoid taking risks?" he thought.

Void Archive mimicked the form of Heavenly Fire Judgment in his hand. He decided to risk using Heavenly Fire Unsheathed once, but there was not much Honkai Energy left in his body. Whether he could even maintain the form of Heavenly Fire Judgment was unknown.

It had to be said that Heavenly Fire Judgment was indeed quite threatening. On one hand, Ma Feima had never seen true qi take form apart from Great Void Sword Qi, leading him to mistakenly believe that Otto could also use the Tai Xu Sword God. On the other hand, Heavenly Fire Judgment itself possessed overwhelming pressure.

Believing himself to be facing a desperate situation, Ma Feima's fighting spirit surged as he prepared to receive Otto's strike with all his strength. But events did not fall outside Otto's expectations. The Honkai Energy in his body was insufficient to unleash Heavenly Fire Unsheathed. At the instant the mimicked Heavenly Fire Judgment was about to swing, he passed out from depleted Honkai Energy.

This left Ma Feima, who had already prepared himself and unleashed his full strength, dumbfounded for quite some time.

"Since both of them are down, shouldn't we set off to find Cheng Lingshuang?" Jiang Muyue said leisurely.

"Hmph, don't think I'll simply overlook what you did earlier!" Ma Feima said coldly.

Jiang Muyue shrugged. "Think whatever you like. I've seen at least two people crazier than you. Compared to them, you aren't even worthy of carrying their shoes!"

As she spoke, Jiang Muyue once again casually received Ma Feima's full-powered strike of Crimson Shadow.

Honestly, she was getting annoyed. Once she saw Cheng Lingshuang and confirmed the other party's location, she would deal with this madman.

Elsewhere.

"Hua, are you all right? How did you get hurt so badly?" The cat-eared girl looked at Immortal Yuan in surprise. "Was it Midrash?"

Immortal Yuan fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "For the time being... let's say she was involved. Speaking of which, Pardo, what are you doing here? It must be difficult for Aponia to keep watch with Griseo alone, right?"

"Come on, isn't Vill-V there too?" Pardo said. "Over the past decade or so, I tried contacting you several times, but none of them worked. Then Europe happened to run into trouble, and I had to help that Otto Apocalypse guy reclaim his position as bishop, stabilize Schicksal, investigate Midrash... I've practically worked myself stupid."

"Then... have you learned Midrash's true identity?" Immortal Yuan asked.

"Of course I have..." Pardo took a deep breath. "The harm she's caused has grown worse and worse. It's already reached the point where we can't ignore it any longer. So, I made a trip to Elysian Realm. Brother Yu Feng inside told me that Midrash was originally an Armed Doll he asked Sister Rovoc to create."

"An Armed Doll? That certainly..."

"And then... after confirming that one of the Thirteen Fallen Angels' remaining wills might be inside her, I spent a long time gathering information in Elysian Realm before finally discovering Midrash's true identity." Pardo's expression turned grave. "She is Mostima, who, like Ling, was a Herrscher vessel!"

"You mean?"

"Just like what we went through before, Ling awakened as the Twelfth Herrscher after being harmed. But this time... the one who awakened was Sister Mostima."