“We have a deal.
If I win, you let me go.”
The stream gurgled.
Lin Qingxue stood by the riverbank, sword in hand, looking suspiciously at Ye Shu on the other side.
To her surprise…
Ye Shu hadn’t actually taken advantage of her while she was unconscious; when she woke up, she specifically checked her clothes and found no sign of them being touched.
“He must still be pretending.”
Lin Qingxue thought to herself.
Because in her past life, Ye Shu didn’t show his lecherous side at first.
Instead, it was during the life-and-death crises they shared that he gradually revealed his true nature, eventually causing her to let down her guard and fall deeper and deeper into his trap.
In this life, she wouldn’t be fooled by him no matter what!
“That’s right.
As long as you win, I’ll let you go.” Ye Shu stood by the riverside with a confident smile.
Although Lin Qingxue was at Foundation Establishment and he was only at Qi Refining…
…he was the protagonist, after all.
Wasn’t crossing Realms as simple as breathing?
So he wasn’t flustered at all; instead, he felt a surge of eager excitement.
This, in turn, made Lin Qingxue somewhat uncertain.
She didn’t know what methods this lecher had used.
When they first met, he was just a weakling at the third level of Qi Refining, but now he had suddenly become a “big” weakling at the ninth level.
Although his aura was unstable, it was still incredible.
Even the Eldest Senior Brother wasn’t this fast.
“He must have used some underhanded means.”
Lin Qingxue’s mind was set, and her gaze toward Ye Shu became even more disdainful.
A fellow who dabbled in heterodox paths.
He was far inferior to Eldest Senior Brother, who was upright and had a solid Foundation.
She must have been blind to ever fancy such a shameless bastard who only knew how to take shortcuts!
“I don’t believe you.
Not unless you swear an oath.”
Lin Qingxue stared at Ye Shu.
This lecher was extremely insidious and cunning; he would surely go back on his word, so she had to ensure she had insurance.
To her surprise…
Ye Shu didn’t hesitate at all.
He raised four fingers and said seriously, “I, Ye Shu, hereby swear that as long as you win, I will let Lin Qingxue leave without any further obstruction.
If I violate this oath, may I be struck dead by five bolts of heavenly lightning.”
As he finished, thunder rumbled in the sky.
The oath was sealed.
Ye Shu lowered his hand and smiled slightly at Lin Qingxue.
“Is that enough?”
At this point, further talk would make Lin Qingxue seem fussy and cowardly.
“Fine!
You said it yourself!”
“Let’s fight!”
With that sharp cry…
…the smile on Ye Shu’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a calm combat expression.
Unarmed, he relied only on his Inch-punch.
He took a step, and the water’s surface exploded instantly.
He lunged toward Lin Qingxue like an arrow from a bow, spiritual power gathering in his right hand as his fist emitted a terrifying pressure.
A single punch thrown brought a whistling wind.
The surrounding water exploded in a series of bangs, scattered by the wind.
Before the fist arrived, the wind had already reached her.
Lin Qingxue’s hair danced wildly in the wind of the punch.
Her pupils constricted slightly; this punch reminded her of the strike Ye Shu had landed on her abdomen before.
Even now, her stomach occasionally throbbed with pain.
Almost subconsciously, she flipped her right hand.
Spiritual power gathered to its Peak in an instant, and her longsword burst forth with ten thousand feet of azure light.
“Mystic Azure Sword Technique: Shattering Everlasting Green!”
Shring!
The sword light was matchless.
Lin Qingxue’s blade swung down with the force of ten thousand tons, colliding with Ye Shu’s fist.
In an instant, a burst of blinding light erupted.
The moment they connected…
INSTANT KILL!!!!
Ye Shu was instantly sent flying backward, skipping across the river surface—bang, bang, bang!
He tumbled from one side of the river to the other, rolling several times on the bank before landing face down with his hands behind his back, his life status unknown.
Lin Qingxue: “…”
Danxia, watching from the side: “…”
Xiao Bai: “…”
The scene was deathly silent, save for the gurgling of the stream.
Lin Qingxue maintained her sword-swinging posture, her expression shifting from fierce to stunned, then to utter confusion.
She…
won?
Just like that?
According to the normal process, shouldn’t there have been a fierce struggle first, followed by Ye Shu revealing all his trump cards, and finally him playing shamelessly with that previous trick to win?
Why did he fall before she even started putting in real effort?
“Hey!
Are you okay?”
It took a while for Xiao Bai to react.
She immediately scurried over on her short legs to Ye Shu’s side, pushing his shoulder with her chubby little hands, her large eyes filled with worry.
“Hey, don’t scare me.
Wake up.”
“Look at you, why did you have to show off?”
“Now look what happened…
killed in one move…
You can’t die…
You haven’t helped me reclaim my Luck or suppress the System…
How can you die?”
Xiao Bai’s face turned pale with anxiety, tears welling up in her eyes.
Just as she was heartbroken and about to use her authority…
…Ye Shu, lying on the ground, groggily woke up and said irritably:
“Cough, cough, cough…
Don’t…
don’t touch me…”
“I feel like every bone in my body is broken…”
Propping himself up with one hand, he tremblingly pulled a Jade Pendant from his robe.
The pendant was crystal clear and glowing with light, obviously a valuable item, but now it had a deep crack and its luster had dimmed slightly.
“If it wasn’t for this Jade Pendant from my Damn Old Father, I’d really be in deep trouble this time.”
“You’re okay?”
Seeing he still had the strength to speak, Xiao Bai’s eyes widened.
She pushed him angrily.
“If you’re fine, why were you playing dead?
You scared me to death!
You big meanie!”
“I’m questioning my life…”
Ye Shu replied weakly.
“Aren’t I the protagonist?
Logically, I should kill those in the same Realm like chickens and cross Realms like drinking water.”
“But she didn’t even try hard…”
…and I’m the one who went down first.”
Hearing this, Xiao Bai suddenly went silent.
She covered her small mouth, her large eyes darting left and right guiltily, muttering incoherently:
“It’s your own fault for not working hard usually…”
Seeing her like this, Ye Shu knew something was wrong.
Staring into her shifting eyes, he asked, “Are you hiding something from me?”
“N-no, I’m not.”
Xiao Bai waved her hands frantically.
“How could I possibly tell you…
that even though you’re the protagonist, because of the System, the Villain and the Female Lead have stolen part of your Fate…
so the Female Lead’s power…
is about the same as yours would be under normal circumstances…”
“And the Villain…
is even a level higher than you would be normally…”
“…”
Looking at the shifty-eyed Xiao Bai, Ye Shu remained silent for a while.
After a long time, he slowly spoke:
“So what you’re saying is, the Female Lead’s strength is equal to mine at the same Realm, and the Villain’s strength is a level higher than mine at the same Realm.”
“In other words, even if I’m a Realm higher than the Villain, the Villain can still cross Realms and defeat me?”
After he finished, Xiao Bai nodded sheepishly.
“Yes…
that’s exactly right…”
Hearing this, Ye Shu asked, unwilling to give up.
“If the Villain has everything, and I’m the protagonist, I must have a Protagonist Halo, right?
There has to be something special about me.”
“Of course there is.”
Xiao Bai nodded seriously.
Just as Ye Shu’s eyes widened, thinking the little thing was finally being reliable for once…
…he heard Xiao Bai say slowly:
“As the protagonist, wherever you go, people will mock you.
All those wealthy and noble families will inexplicably be hostile toward you.
Then you can hide your strength and pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger to shock them and show off!”
“And what else!”
Xiao Bai raised a second finger and said proudly:
“The factions you join in the future will be full of intrigue and deception, even conspiring with outside factions just to persecute you.”
“Then you can grow in adversity, return as a king, and slap their faces hard!” She looked proud, as if she were describing some grand benefit.
“So I should be thanking you then?”
Ye Shu suppressed the urge to throw her into the river, gritting his teeth as he spoke each word.
So as the protagonist, he got none of the benefits but every single one of the drawbacks.
He stopped talking, simply lowering his head and burying his face deep into the river water.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Xiao Bai was confused by his strange behavior.
Ye Shu’s voice came from underwater: “I’m challenging the record for the longest time a human can hold their breath underwater, to see if I can set a record that no one else can ever reach.”
Xiao Bai was stunned for a moment, then kicked him fiercely.
“Dammit!
How can you give up so easily?
You are the Child of Destiny, the protagonist!”
“You mean you want me to defeat a future Peak version of myself who is also two Realms higher?
I think it’s easier to break the record for the longest time a corpse has remained unrecovered in a river…”
The two of them argued by the river.
On the other side of the river…
Lin Qingxue saw Ye Shu crawl up only to bury his face in the water again, her brows furrowing slightly.
“What kind of trick is this guy playing?”
“Forget it, I won regardless.” She sheathed her sword and turned to leave.
However, just as she took a step…
…a faint voice came from behind her.
“Who said you could leave?”