Life was like a play, but even plays had days when they were performed again. Once a person took a wrong step, however, it was hard to find a chance to start over.
Zuo Zixiong, the Left Baihu of the Divine Machine Battalion—a coarse martial man who lived on imperial pay, though his monthly salary was still less than that of a doorman at Shuhuang Pavilion—had become the obstacle Qin Dengming could never overcome in his lifetime.
Qin Dengming had once sent people to investigate the guards around the Crown Prince. Aside from that old eunuch whose strength was unknown, Zuo Zixiong should never have been among them. The martial man had merely encountered the Crown Prince's carriage on his way back to the capital and volunteered to escort him home.
How much do you make a month, anyway? Why were you working so hard?
The last scene Qin Dengming saw in life had been frozen in Shuhuang Pavilion.
That day, Zuo Zixiong had taken Bai Luo's sword head-on, then unleashed his dual-blade technique—Hundred Splitting Slash—on him.
Zuo Zixiong was already a master of the Meridian Passage realm, whose martial path had reached the Profound. This Hundred Splitting Slash was his ultimate trump card. If the Crown Prince had not ordered them not to damage the Cry of Cicadas Zither, Zuo Zixiong would not have endured so long without daring to use his signature move.
Qin Dengming's warning instincts suddenly flared. Sensing that something was wrong, he used the Jizhuang Method to swap places with the puppet beside him before he could even turn around.
He had simply forgotten that the Jizhuang Method had limits on damage transfer. Once the injury exceeded the bearer's capacity, the caster would have to shoulder all the excess damage.
Zuo Zixiong's Hundred Splitting Slash