It took an unusual person to be able to see the twelve towers and five cities. That was especially true of the five cities. Only the people that could see them were allowed to enter.
Han Sen followed Lone Bamboo into White King City. It was different from Black King City. White King City was a giant, circular construct that sort of resembled an amphitheater in Rome.
After the two entered, Han Sen realized that it really was a large arena. Banks of seats surrounded the circular fighting pit. Currently, there wasn’t a soul other than the two of them in the entire arena. There wasn’t even a single creature.
“I thought there were xenogeneics here. Why is there nobody here?” Han Sen asked, glancing around the empty stadium. He couldn’t detect the presence of anything living.
“The creatures that were here most recently have all been killed, and new ones have not appeared yet. Wait a little bit. They will be here soon,” Lone Bamboo said. He moved to sit down on a flight of stairs.
Han Sen followed him and sat down. They waited together for something to happen.
Not much later, Han Sen heard the sound of chains being rattled. He looked toward the arena. The gate leading into the arena began to rise, clanking its way into the air.
When the gate opened, passage to and from White King City was closed off.
“Are we not allowed to leave?” Han Sen asked.
“White King City hosts deathmatches. Only when one team is destroyed will the match end. If you want to leave here, you will have no choice but to kill the xenogeneics that oppose you,” Lone Bamboo said.
“But we don’t know what creature will be coming to face us. What if it is deified?” Han Sen asked.
“That’s why I brought you with me,” Lone Bamboo said with a hearty chuckle.
“Oh, d*mn! You tricked me.” Han Sen looked at the arena’s gate, hoping that whatever creature emerged wouldn’t be deified.
The gate rose, revealing the entrance to a dark tunnel. He couldn’t see into that darkness, but he could hear the approaching footsteps.
Shortly after, something came into view.
It was a creature clad in silver armor. Its hands clutched a thin, silver sword. From the eye-slit in the creature’s helmet, a sinister red light glowed.
“It looks like our luck is not too shabby,” Lone Bamboo laughed.
“You call this ‘not too shabby’?” Han Sen could see the monster clearly. A silver substance chain glinted faintly around the armored creature. It was a deified xenogeneic.
“Primitive deified xenogeneic Silver Destroyer. Based on the reading of the God Spirit Touch, this xenogeneic has eight armor talents. If we can collect its xenogeneic egg, perhaps we can raise it to larva class,” Lone Bamboo said.
Han Sen’s smile looked a little strained. “Aren’t we gambling with our lives here? What if this xenogeneic is already at the transmutation or larva class already? We’d be dead for sure.”
“The Sky claimed the White Jade Jing a very long time ago,” Lone Bamboo said calmly. “We have conducted a great deal of research on White King City. Sky Chance’s department has calculated that around eighty percent of the xenogeneics here are King class. Ten percent of them are half-deified. Less than ten percent is deified. Plus, it is an even lower chance that you encounter a deified of a higher class. That is why I said we were so lucky. There was a very low chance of going up against a foe such as this. This is precisely what I wanted.” As Lone Bamboo spoke, the Silver Destroyer reached the center of the arena. From there, it looked in their direction.
Before Han Sen could react, the Silver Destroyer raised the short sword in its hands. It thrust the blade toward Han Sen, and its silver substance chains shot from the sword like needles.
“There are two people here. Why is it going after me first? Am I that unlucky?” That thought remained firmly in Han Sen’s mind, but it did him little good. He had to act.
Pang!
The silver sword light hit Han Sen, and his body exploded. At the same moment, another Han Sen appeared in a different portion of the arena. He was holding his Six Core Snake Bow. He drew the bow, nocking a jade light to the string. He let go, firing the arrow toward the Silver Destroyer.
Lone Bamboo then joined Han Sen in the arena. His jade sword glowed with a sword light as he slashed at the Silver Destroyer.
The Silver Destroyer swung its silver sword twice. Han Sen’s arrow and Lone Bamboo’s sword lights were suddenly shattered. They hadn’t even gotten close to their enemy.
The Silver Destroyer’s substance chains didn’t seem to have a wide area of control, so Han Sen and Lone Bamboo kept moving as they fought. They sprinted around White King City to avoid the attacks that came after them, continually searching for a way to counterattack.
“What the hell? His sword’s moving a lot faster now,” Han Sen thought. He wasn’t able to dodge the next strike. A silver sword light flashed right by his face, drawing a line of blood across his cheek. He felt it as the blow grated against his cheekbone.
“Its substance chains seem to rely on speed to maintain their power,” Lone Bamboo said, as he unleashed another sword light. But the Silver Destroyer swung its sword and broke that one too.
“Ha!” Han Sen used his other hand to draw Ghost Teeth Knife. He summoned a knife light and weaved a web of silks across the sky. He prepared to draw them down upon the Silver Destroyer.
But Silver Destroyer continued to swing its small silver sword wildly, destroying any semblance of a knife silk net before it could even form. That surprised Han Sen a great deal.
“So fast!” Even with his excellent vision, he couldn’t see how the Silver Destroyer was dispatching his silk web so fast.
Lone Bamboo shouted. The third eye upon his forehead opened. His pupils turned a purple-red, splitting into shapes that looked like cherry blossoms.Han Sen remembered that Lone Bamboo’s Sky Eye should have been plain red. When Han Sen had seen the man’s third eye before, it carried an intimidatingly murderous aura. That third eye was a thing of the past, though. Lone Bamboo had changed.
And now Han Sen understood. Lone Bamboo’s third eye had changed because he became one with the body of the Purple-Eye Butterfly.
Four butterfly wings spread majestically from Lone Bamboo’s back. His Sky Eye released a purple and red beam that looked like a substance chain.
Han Sen was familiar with that beam. It should have been a purple eye godlight that could restrain others, but when Han Sen brushed against that beam with his senses, it felt more dangerous and violent. It was different from the Evil Eye Han Sen had seen before.
The purple and red beam landed upon the Silver Destroyer. The Silver Destroyer swung its sword in a vain bid to break the godlight, but the godlight wasn’t solid. The silver sword light hit the godlight with pinpoint accuracy, but Lone Bamboo’s destructive beam flew on anyway, completely unimpeded.
The moment the godlight touched its body, the Silver Destroyer seemed to freeze. It stood where it was, unmoving. Its sword hovered in mid-swing.
With a grin, Han Sen drew the Six Core Snake Bow, took aim, and fired at the Silver Destroyer. But the Silver Destroyer was moving again before Han Sen’s arrow even found its target. The creature’s small silver sword cut the arrow in half.
“The godlight restraints don’t last for long. We need to cooperate and time our strikes,” Lone Bamboo said with a frown.
