Chapter 533 – Gan Ji's Last Dance
Several weeks of 24/7 combat exhausted Gan Ji, Li Feihong, and Diaochan.
Because of the dogfight combat and the power of 3 immortals, some of the undead creatures in the area got hit by stray bullets and Gan Ji's soul detonation attacks.
Gan Ji's backup souls dwindled. From 300,000 souls and 100,000 years of lifespan, he had 5,000 souls left. However, because of the soul-devouring technique, his lifespan increased to 500,000.
Meanwhile, Diaochan and Li Feihong had their other sources of supply, the clan lifespan pool. With many cultivators in their clan, their public lifespan pool kept increasing as more clan members donated some of their unused life force to help the two combatants.
As such, they didn't have a problem with their limited lifespan in their arsenal. Moreover, Diaochan didn't spend as many lifespans as Li Feihong and Gan Ji since she rarely used her system skills that she had inherited from Tong, [Firearm Creation] and [Create Food].
Li Feihong spent the majority of the clan's lifespan pool because of his portal gate system skillset. Yet, the ability was the reason why Gan Ji couldn't harm Diaochan and Li Feihong.
In late-July, Gan Ji finally lost his patience. Instead of targeting Diaochan, he tried to find Li Feihong's portals.
'I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR COWARD TACTIC, LIU XUANDE!! I'LL DRAG YOU OUT OF YOUR DIMENSION!!"
Gan Ji consumed all backup souls to increase his lifespan again. His remaining years increased to a million.
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
Gan Ji parried Diaochan's relentless attacks, pretending to be on dead legs.
*VHOOM*
Gan Ji's baiting worked. Li Feihong thought that he found an opening and opened a portal to snipe the old sage.
Gan Ji fled from Diaochan and shuttled toward the opening warp gate.
"HAHAHAHA!! YOU'VE MESSED UP, FOOL!!"
Without defending himself, Gan Ji braced all aura-coated bullets coming from the gates.
Gan Ji's body was riddled with bullet holes, but his plan succeeded.
He got inside Li Feihong's dimension world!
His right hand also seized Li Feihong's neck.
"Not good!"
Diaochan reacted half-a-breathe too late. She followed after Gan Ji and entered Li Feihong's dimension as well.
"DIE!! LIU XUANDE!!"
Gan Ji activated [Corrosive Touch] skill.
Li Feihong widened his eyes in shock as his neck slowly melted into a murky liquid.
Soon, his entire body, armor, and clothes became nothing but yellow goo.
"HAHAHAHAHA!! I'VE KILLED LI FEIHONG!! MY LADY!! I'VE KILLED LIU XUANDE!!"
Gan Ji staggered as he concentrated his power to heal his bullet wounds in his body.
Diaochan entered Li Feihong's dimension gate and found Gan Ji. She gazed at the murky pond of Li Feihong's remaining.
In anger, she chased after the old man.
"Tsk!"
Gan Ji was aware that he couldn't keep up with Medusa. He suppressed the pain and flew away.
However, he had nowhere to go. The portal gate had closed, and they got stuck in this dimension.
"You can't escape now, morn!!"
Medusa shouted as she pointed her pistol muzzle at Gan Ji.
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Half of the fired bullets hit Gan Ji as he was too tired to parry all of them.
The injuries slowed Gan Ji's reaction speed. Combining with his exhaustion, he was on the verge of collapsing.
Gan Ji couldn't retaliate but keep fleeing from Diaochan!
'I guess this is the end!'
Gan Ji resolved himself that he would die soon. He grounded his teeth and looked for a chance to detonate his souls to kill Medusa.
But as he was looking for an opening, his immortal sight found many individuals in this dimension.
Ma Chao
Xu Shu
Zhang Min
Zhang Ying
Lu Lingqi
Sima Yi
Sima Lang
Sima Fu
And … another Liu Bei!
'Two Liu Bei? Oh, right. Li Feihong was the reincarnated Liu Bei, but this one is a native… Hmm!?'
Gan Ji found another interesting thing. The native Liu Bei had a peculiar soul, which was in a form of flesh monster.
A wicked idea popped up in Gan Ji's mind.
"What are you looking at!?"
Medusa exploited the moment that Gan Ji got distracted by Liu Bei. Her spear penetrated into Gan Ji's heart.
She twisted her spear and widened the wound. At the same time, she injected half of her lifespan into the spear to create aura spikes.
Ten red aura spikes grew from the spear pole and pierced through Gan Ji's innards. Ten red spikes exited Gan Ji's torso.
Yet, Gan Ji sneered at Medusa. His hand reached out and grabbed her collar cloth.
Seven souls of Gan Ji detached from the sage's body and latched on Medusa.
But one headed for Liu Bei. It laughed at Liu Bei as it thrust its hand into Liu Bei's chest.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!! DIE!!!"
Gan Ji detonated all his souls!
Diaochan's face paled. She muttered a few words, but a sentence was audible to everyone in this dimension.
"I'm sorry, Yang, Feihong. This might cripple all of us… [Share my injuries to my subordinates]!"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Seven explosions engulfed Diaochan, but the other one destroyed the clueless Liu Bei.
.
.
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= Lujiang =
Liu Yang was minding her business inside her resting tent, cultivating life essence. She was the main contributor to the lifespan pool as she could cultivate the fastest.
Everything was in order. Guo Jia was overseeing to armies, and Xu Huang's men had already reinforced the frontline.
But suddenly…
"Pffft!"
Liu Yang vomited blood. The familiar sensation of torturing pain came back.
Red lines appeared on her body, and blood gushed out from the wounds.
Soul injuries!
"The fuck!?"
Liu Yang was confused about why she suddenly suffered from soul injuries. However, she recalled something.
'The immortal oath!? What happened to Medusa!?'
\u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e
A private message from Diaochan arrived as Liu Yang had expected.
Diaochan: "Sorry for the sudden injuries. Gan Ji suicide-bombed on me."
Diaochan: "I have to share our injuries to stay alive. This is my blunder. I'm sorry."
Liu Yang heaved a sigh of relief that Medusa was alive. Had her oath master died, she would die as well.
Liu Yang: "Thanks for the gift, you dumb snake!"
Liu Yang: "Is Gan Ji dead?"
Diaochan: "Deader than dead. But we have a new problem."
.
.
.
Li Feihong's melted body slowly reformed as his system skill, [Self-Resurrection], activated. A naked man with ripped muscle emerged from the pool of yellow goo.
However, he wasn't safe from the shared damage from Diaochan. As soon as he came back to his senses, the soul injuries relapsed right away.
Li Feihong collapsed on the ground and puked out blood in his stomach and lungs.
After coughing and wheezing in pain for 10 minutes, Li Feihong's condition stabilized.
"Are you alright?"
Zhang Min and Lu Lingqi were by his sides, looking confused and panicked. They didn't care about Li Feihong's naked butt as the injuries seemed serious.
Ma Chao and Xu Shu were also there, sweating as they were casting various blessings on Li Feihong non-stop.
"My lord!"
"Xuande!"
Li Feihong grinned, "I'm fine, you all. Thanks for worrying."
Everyone was relieved. Ma Chao and Xu Shu carried Li Feihong to his mansion, so he could rest.
…
An hour later after the battle against Gan Ji, Diaochan visited Li Feihong in his room.
Li Feihong glared at her as if he wanted to blame her for his soul injuries. However, after seeing Diaochan's pale complexion, he shut his mouth. Medusa didn't come out unscratched as well.
"Sorry for the shared injuries, Feihong."
"… Don't worry about it. How's Gan Ji?"
"Dead. But I have bad news."
"Yeah?"
Diaochan revealed her rare nervous expression, "Liu Bei is dead."
"…"
"Remember his soul?"
"Yeah…"
"His soul has disappeared from this dimension. I searched for his trace, but he isn't here anymore."
"He's better not reincarnated as my son!"
Li Feihong referred to the newborn child of Zhang Min and Lu Bu. It was a healthy boy.
He named his adopted son as Li Xin, the same name as a general of Qin Shi Huang during the Warring State Era. Li Feihong hoped that the mixed wings and the legendary name could be a reminder for the child that he was born as someone with responsibility.
Li Feihong immediately checked his son's soul with his immortal sight. Fortunately, it was a newborn soul without any taint of bad karma.
"Your son is safe. I've also checked the people in your village, but I found nothing."
"Can a soul slip through dimension skill?"
"… I don't know. But it might be possible since it's created by Lilith's dimension law."
"…"
What they had feared became reality as Liu Ping's soul was on the loose. They didn't know where it went, but nothing good would come out of it.
"How is your injury?" Li Feihong changed the subject.
"As bad as you. I can't fight for a few months."
"So, was all the damage shared?"
"Yeah. Had I not shared them with you and Liu Yang, I would have died, actually."
"Ah… Soul detonation sucks."
"I know."
Li Feihong, Diaochan, and Liu Yang were out of commission after the incident. In this war, they could only rely on their generals and strategists.
.
.
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Diaochan announced in their group chat that all 8-wing cultivators got injured in the fight against Gan Ji. However, no 8-wing cultivator remained on the opposite side.
Sun Shangxiang: "Y'all suck!! How dafuq y'all motherfuckers get injured because of one limped-dick demon! Aren't there 3 of you tentacle lovers!? Are you only good at dick-sucking that you got wet during the fight and get your sandy asses raped!?"
As usual, Hua Shi's foul mouth knew no bounds. Even the clan chat couldn't escape her obscene swearing.
Cultivating alone for years and maintaining her image as a saintess in public stressed out Hua Shi to the point that she had mental issues. Moreover, she didn't want to continue living as a child. From time to time, she vented her frustration by cursing other people without a reason.
Everyone could only pray, hoping that Tong would come back and soothe this girl soon.
All clan members ignored Sun Shangxiang's remarks and proceeded with their next battle plan.
Guo Jia: "Now that the biggest threat is gone. @Sun Quan, please wipe out the undead army. We'll launch our assault as soon as the navy unit and your armies occupy Guangling."
Guo Jia: "@Zhuge Liang, what's your battle policy?"
Zhuge Liang: "Our pincer units will remain in Jiangling until the main forces begin the assault. I don't want to repeat Cao Cao's mistake at Chibi."
Guo Jia: "Indeed. I suggest that you should avoid the river route and march normally to Wulin Port at the opposite side of Red Cliffs. If Cao Cao counterattack with the river route, you know what to do."
Zhuge Liang: "Aye. Spreading nets is my forte. No problem."
Zhuge Liang: "By the way, where is Gan Ning's units?"
…
= East Coast, 100km northeast of Guangling =
"You're so generous, my queen. I don't know what to say."
Currently, Gan Ning was conversing with a VIP guest in his flagship living quarter.
The VIP was surprisingly the Queen Himiko of the Wo Kingdom, ancient Japan.
The queen was also a cultivator with 6 white wings, but she hadn't tainted her hands with blood or killing like Tong's generals. She was a priestess, who upheld morale, etiquette, and purity like a saintess.
Himiko found Gan Ning's fleet while she was exploring the west sea, so she visited him to establish a good relationship with a foreign country.
In the ship, Himiko gave Gan Ning local products, such as dried fishes, fruits, and trinkets as a gift of friendship.
Gan Ning, as a former pirate, valued these goodies over gold. He welcomed her with open arms.
"You're welcome, friend. I just simply hope that our countries can be friends for ages to come. Lately, cultivators and immortals have emerged, so we might need help if unforeseen circumstances were to happen. Could you please inform your king that we've come in peace?"
"Of course! Of course! I'm sure his majesty will be pleased that a beautiful queen is our friend! I'm sure he will welcome you to his palace."
"Please don't jest, General Gan. I'm a devoted priestess. I can't get married."
"Hahaha! I didn't say anything about marriage. Don't worry. We keep our relationship professional. I'm not into that sort, and my emperor is a kind man."
Behind everybody's back, Gan Ning took the liberty to negotiate peace with the Wo Kingdom. He didn't forget to scout a potential concubine for Tong to gain his favor.
Himiko was in her early 30s, but her face and appearance were youthful as if she were a high-schooler. Her hair braided and tied into knots, but her priestess clothes revealed a bit of her jade white skin, but her body was tightly covered. Still, the smoothness of Himiko's hands, shoulders, neck, and face sometimes made Gan Ning drooled.
She was ripe for the picking, but Gan Ning did his best to contain his lust. After all, he valued noble tiers and ranks more than a woman. Once he got plenty of gold and fame, beautiful women would flock around him, and he would get many women for himself eventually.
'Ah, your majesty. I found a good woman for you. I hope you come back soon. I need more promotion.'
Gan Ning continued to waste time entertaining Himiko. He didn't even realize that over a hundred system messages were flashing in his menu.
