Poisoned

Vines were plants, after all, and they had relatively poor resistance to lightning. After all, this was the high temperature produced by lightning, not merely a lightning attack.

"Yae! Where are you?!"

The vines grew more numerous by the second. Feng Chen realized that his Intermediate Herrscher Honkai Energy reserves were nowhere near enough to deal with them. After all, his opponent was a Simulated Herrscher! In terms of Honkai Energy reserves alone, she definitely had far more than he did.

He removed the Oni Mask and took the golden cross from his storage.

There was also a blood-red cross...

"Get the hell away from me!"

Execution Mode activated. Every time the cross in his hand swung out, it became incredibly huge, majestic as Mount Huangshan among the Five Great Mountains.

With his strength, he obviously could not swing it many times. One or two swings were already his limit.

"'Teriri is the cutest in the world!'"

The blood-red halberd blades danced through the air. Physical damage was the most effective against the vines.

"Hahahahahaha!"

A girl's laughter? No, that was the Herrscher!

The Simulated Herrscher's Honkai Energy purity had reached 80%. With Feng Chen's 99% Honkai Energy purity, devouring her from within would not be a problem at all. The key was figuring out how he could injure her.

Several short blades skimmed across Feng Chen's palm, and the blood staining them made them look terrifying.

"Whoosh!"

A short blade flew out. The Honkai Energy within the vines was only around 40% pure; they could not even withstand a graze from 99%-pure Honkai Energy.

Large numbers of vines fell, temporarily clearing a path.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Two short blades shot in different directions, and three paths through the vines had temporarily been cleared. He simply did not know when the Simulated Herrscher would restore them.

"Yae!" Along one of the paths, he saw that cherry-colored figure.

"Sword of Serenity."

The short blade gathered power before he swung it.

In just one second, countless spiritual short blades thrust up from the ground, skewering many of the vines.

Yae Sakura also found Feng Chen's location and called Hiyori Maru down from the air, where she had been throwing fireballs.

"Now!"

The fire element around Hiyori Maru continuously gathered, eventually forming a gigantic pillar of flame.

"Phew... phew... Big Sis... I can't do this anymore..."

"Rest for a while. I'll handle what comes next."

Seeing the numerous fallen vines, Hiyori Maru safely returned to the black box.

Invisible Sword Qi severed many vines, but every burst of invisible Sword Qi consumed a considerable amount of Yae Sakura's stamina. Her ultimate technique, Blade Return, could not be used here. It drove Sword Qi into an enemy's body and made it erupt all at once. These were vines under someone's control, so smashing them and cutting them apart made little difference.

Repeating this over and over was indeed tedious, but at least she only had to wait until Feng Chen arrived...

The spiritual short blades skewered many vines, including those on Yae Sakura's side. The vines that had been skewered then vanished one after another.

Feng Chen could have used Wind of Serenity to reach Yae Sakura immediately, if not for this Judas weighing him down. The weight of Judas' Covenant restricted him. Even with Wind of Serenity, he was only a little faster than normal running.

"Shield of Serenity."

This Judas that had been weighing him down finally served some purpose: defense.

The defense formed by combining the Shield of Serenity with Judas' Covenant was incredibly powerful, fully comparable to Shadow Knight: Moonblade's defense with the Shield of Serenity when she had not activated Eclipse Mode.

Just as Yae Sakura was besieged from both sides, a much thinner and faster vine approached her...

Feng Chen did not know where he had found the strength, but he hurled Judas' Covenant out, smashing the vine apart.

His left palm, which he had already cut open, began aching faintly again. It seemed he had exerted too much force just now.

Another vine slapped toward him. Acting on instinct, Feng Chen struck out with his stimulated left palm.

With that slap, the entire vine was not merely shaken—it fell directly at Feng Chen's feet.

Congratulations, host, on obtaining the title: Left Hand Emperor.

Title effect: Increases the power of left-hand attacks; only effective under specific circumstances.

"What the hell is Left Hand Emperor? I'm not Gai Zhi—how did I get such a weird title?" Although he wanted to complain about the title, now was not the time.

The Judas he had thrown earlier seemed to have touched some kind of switch. The cross unfolded, and two golden chains flew out from within, wrapping around Feng Chen and Yae Sakura.

Then... the cross actually started running! That was right—running! The kind that hopped along!

"Has this cross become sentient? Hey, nothing is allowed to become sentient after the founding of the country!"

"Host, calm down. This is the tracking mode of Judas' Covenant. If it has been shrunk by its wielder, it can fly, but it is too large right now, so it can only run like this."

"Yae, are you all right?"

Yae Sakura looked somewhat exhausted. Although her opponent was an existence of the same level as herself, it had to be said that the opponent was loyal to the Honkai side and was considerably stronger than Yae Sakura. After all, within the Honkai faction, Yae Sakura was a traitor who had betrayed God. Thus, her control over Honkai Energy was not as perfect as that of the other Herrschers. She could even only use Honkai Energy to strengthen her body.

"I'm fine. What about you, Dust-kun?"

"Of course I'm fine. I'm a Herrscher."

He spoke somewhat arrogantly, actually trying to conceal the injury on his left hand. But the more he tried to hide it, the more suspicious it became, and Yae Sakura immediately noticed the wound.

"Your left hand..." Yae Sakura covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed at his left hand.

"What's wrong? My left hand is fine. It's only a small wound..."

Feng Chen stopped halfway through his sentence because he discovered that his left hand had not only a small wound but also several bloody holes!

"System, why did this happen?"

"Just now, the host's slap landed precisely where the vine's poisonous spines were most concentrated."

"Will I die?"

"Possibly. Possibly not."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"Of course this system has a solution, but there is a better candidate."

"Yae? What do I need to do?"

"Simple. She only needs to kiss you once."

"What? Don't mess around. If I really do that, she'll cut me to death."

"She won't. Check Yae Sakura's current favorability first, then talk."

Feng Chen opened the system's favorability panel and tapped on Yae Sakura's entry:

Yae Sakura Favorability: 95

Level: Bosom Friend

Degree: Trust

"This... If it reached 100, I might believe it, but 95? Forget it."

"Then wait for death. I'm not selling you an antidote."

Feng Chen called out to the system several times in his mind, but she did not respond.

"Then tell me, what am I supposed to do?"

"Just tell Yae Sakura that you've been poisoned."

"Okay."

Feng Chen honestly told Yae Sakura that he had been poisoned, unaware that this would become a choice he regretted for the rest of his life.