"Where... am I?" Hanxing opened his eyes in a huge arena. Nine people stood before him.
"Die." The man at the front raised his saber and spoke coldly. One person vanished without a trace and appeared behind Hanxing in an instant. A blade pierced Hanxing's back and emerged from his chest.
"Ah!" Hanxing jolted awake in bed. A hard hand steadied him. "What's wrong? Have a nightmare?" Hanxing nodded, then asked, "Why are you still here?"
"Kafka sent me. She said people in your situation seem to have a bit of post-traumatic stress syndrome," Firefly replied.
Emergency stress syndrome? What's that? Hanxing wondered. It's probably some kind of illness. Never mind.
"So, do you want to sleep a little longer?" Firefly asked, but Hanxing shook his head. "Forget it. I probably can't get back to sleep anyway." "Then come with me." Firefly seemed to have been prepared for that. She grabbed Hanxing by the wrist and led him to an open area.
"You're awake?" Blade appeared before Hanxing. "Today, I'm going to awaken your combat skills."
"So soon? How long have I even been here?" Hanxing was stunned for a moment. Blade spoke again. "Actually, you've been asleep for more than ten system hours. Besides, we have a very important mission for you."
"Could you call it... a pledge of allegiance?" Hanxing asked. Blade thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Something like that. And this mission requires a certain level of strength."
"Why does it have to be me?" Hanxing asked again. Blade simply shook his head. "You ask too many questions. Ask Kafka when you've completed the mission."
Hanxing did feel he'd been talking a lot, so he stopped asking questions. "Then what are we doing next?"
Blade tossed Hanxing his embroidered spring saber. "Take it. Spar with me."
"Is that... a good idea?" Hanxing asked, puzzled. Blade immediately replied, "Don't worry about all that. Just attack me as hard as you like."
"Don't worry, he can't die. If he does, he'll have you to thank for it," Silver Wolf joked. She had appeared in the distance at some point.
"In that case, forgive me, senior!" His doubts gone, Hanxing drew his embroidered spring saber with a clang and slashed at Blade faster than the ear could hear.
A sharp ring sounded as Blade perfectly blocked the strike. "Tch, weak and feeble. Don't tell me that's all you've got." At the same time, Blade revealed his sword. Though covered in cracks, it was still sharp and resilient. "If you lose to this Shuhu Sword, don't bother joining us."
Hanxing was horrified. Only he knew how much force he had put into that strike. If this blade is so weak, where did it get so much background? He already understood that ordinary attacks definitely wouldn't work against Blade, so he could only find a new way to attack...
"Hey! Are we fighting or not?" Blade grumbled impatiently from a distance, while Hanxing calmed his mind and searched his memories.
Suddenly, Hanxing moved. His embroidered spring saber slid half an inch out of its sheath, and his clothes stirred without wind. Several streaks of sword qi formed around Blade in an instant. The sharp sword qi not only sliced through his clothes but also left several deep wounds.
Blade wiped the blood from his body and grinned savagely. "Not bad, not bad! Give me more!" In an instant, Blade vanished. When he reappeared, he was right in front of Hanxing, bringing his sword down.
Horrified, Hanxing blocked the attack with his saber and stumbled back several steps. Without a pause, Blade attacked again. Clang after clang rang out, and Hanxing soon had nowhere left to retreat.
"Kafka, Uncle Blade's gone Mara-Struck, hasn't he? What if he really hacks Hanxing to death?" Firefly asked worriedly. Kafka merely shook her head. "I believe he must have some means of protecting himself. Judging by the amount of blood at the scene, he should have died long ago. What does it tell you that he can stand in front of us now?"
Firefly nodded. "I understand, but promise me you'll save his life before things reach the point of no return!"
"He hasn't even seen your true form. Why are you so concerned about him?" Silver Wolf's teasing voice rang out. "Could it be..."
"Silver Wolf, shut up! Isn't it because he's important to the 'script'?" There was clearly a trace of a peculiar emotion in Firefly's tone, though naturally, Hanxing couldn't hear her.
"Hahahaha... hahahahaha!" Blade's attacks came one after another. Hanxing had already reached his limit. The Blade of Ending flew from his hand, and the Shuhu Sword plunged viciously into his heart.
Is this... the end? Dying at a teammate's hands really isn't worth it... Hanxing fell to the ground, but Blade was still Mara-Struck, chopping again and again at Hanxing's already lifeless body.
"Kafka, what do we do now?" A tremor entered Firefly's voice. She couldn't believe that the man who was so important to the "script" that they had traveled so far for him would die there like this.
"For now, let's bring Blade out of his Mara-Struck state." Kafka's voice, too, carried a rare tremor. She hadn't expected things to get so out of hand either. "Blade, listen to me-"
Kafka, about to use Spirit Whisper, froze on the spot. The corpse, already chopped into mincemeat, suddenly gave off a blue glow, and a star appeared in the light. The flesh began to reassemble, taking Hanxing's form once more.
"Hahaha, what a pity-" Hanxing's voice rang out again, and his body finished reassembling. The change was that his eyes had gone from black to blue, with a dark blue star appearing in each pupil.
He beckoned, and the Blade of Ending flew from the ground into his hand. "Now then, round two."
Hanxing hammered the Shuhu Sword with several strikes. Had Blade still been conscious, he would certainly have felt that these strikes were much stronger than before. Blade raised his sword to counterattack, but struck empty air.
In the blink of an eye, Hanxing appeared in the distance. Several streaks of sword qi formed again and slashed into Blade. Ignoring the bloody wounds, Blade charged forward, closing the distance frantically.
"If that's how you want it, you can't blame me." The stars in Hanxing's eyes began to spin, emitting a dazzling blue light. Then he spoke coldly:
"Prison of Fiery Eyes: Forbidden Thrust!"