266 Chapter 265: At the end of battle (1/2)

The Heavenly Venom King, Sha Chen, was caught in a loop of memories.

…no, never mind. Any more than this and I would be ripping off Gosu too much. I might as well say this is fanfiction instead of Original. So let's change things up a little. Besides, how the hell would I know what kind of memories Sha Chen was having? Was I supposed to know he was dreaming about that fateful battle he had against Mu Shen Ma, the head of the Devil's Legion, or something? And that he got betrayed by two of the Twelve Heavenly Generals after the battle? And after he was forced to kill them, three more powerful martial artists attacked him without bothering to find out the truth? And then he got even worse injuries?

And he started whining about how those guys would never stand a chance against him if he wasn't injured in the previous fight?

Dudes…if I was going to do that, why bother writing my own story? Just go read Gosu instead. It is a far better webcomic than anything I can write.

”Ha ha ha ha ha…”

A bloody gargle escaped Sha Chen's lips, which allowed me to finally find him. I caught sight of his battered face, blood flowing off his lips, nose and eyes. He also caught sight of me, and slowly leaned his head back to watch me.

I was still holding my swords, but I made no move to finish him off. There was no need to. I could feel his qi and spirit fast fading. He didn't have long before he left this world.

Instead, I respectfully bowed my head. As much as I hated him, he was the most formidable opponent I had ever faced in my life.

”So it's true,” the dying Dark Sage murmured as he looked up at me, the light in his eyes slowly fading away.

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”?”

I stared at him blankly, not sure what he was talking about. Was he referring to me being the disciple of the Absolute One, Tian Mo?

”Listen, kid…” Sha Chen croaked, and smiled. ”As a…reward for defeating me, I figure I should give you some advice. As an elder.” He closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them again. ”There's no such thing as absolute strength. No such thing as invincibility. I…learned that the hard way.”

He coughed, and his head sank further into the stone that served as a hard pillow.

”Even your master is not invincible.”

”…I know.”

”…good.” Sha Chen's breathing was growing shallower. ”When engaged in a life-and-death struggle, the result can change any moment. It doesn't matter how much stronger you are, how much more qi you have. If you make a mistake, if you become careless, if your opponent is more determined than you, or perhaps even an unpredictable coincidence or accident…the result will change against your favor. It matters not if you're stronger or more skilled.”

He sighed, an unsteady breath escaping his lips.

”When that happens, what you need is not more power. Or you'll end up like me.”

”Yeah, you've to remain calm and be flexible.” I nodded.

”Hmph.” Sha Chen snorted. ”Look at you now, preaching toward me? Don't get cocky, brat.” He coughed out some blood. ”If my Ultiimate Explosion was at its full strength, you would have been dead long ago.”

”If you had your right arm, you would have won at the end with a counterattack. If you weren't injured, you would have wiped out your pursuers from the Martial Arts Alliance. If you had fully recovered, you would have won against my master.”

Sha Chen's eyes widened briefly, and he nodded.

”So you do know of my full strength,” he muttered gruffly. I smiled and shrugged.

”But…aren't that all excuses?”

”Excuse me?!” Sha Chen snarled.

I pushed my battered glasses up my nose and looked at him. ”If this, if that. The world isn't always so kind as to let everything go your way. If I didn't have a One Star Constitution, I might have been more powerful than I am right now. If I didn't join Nine-Tailed Fox, I would have escaped the disaster that befell it when the Martial Arts Alliance invaded us. If I hadn't learned Heaven and Earth Formula, I would have succumbed to your poisons.”

I spread my hands.

”But all of those happened, and I ended up here today. I hate Fate…I hate the Heavens as much as you do, but I'm forced to deal with the hand they gave me. What's the use of thinking about what-ifs and what would have happened?”

”Huff…” Sha Chen heaved as he glowered at me, and he then snorted derisively. ”You say that, brat, but you don't look very well either.”

”No,” I admitted. ”You did a number on me.”

But considering what I went through, I would say I was lucky. Currently, I could see the gigantic bloody hole in Sha Chen's chest. The bulk of his body was gone, having disintegrated when I unleashed Heaven and Earth Strike inside him. He had been obliterated. As I said, his heart was gone, as was one and a half lungs. So was his liver.

That was why both of us knew he had not much longer left. It was a miracle that he was still holding on to talk to me.

”…your master was right.” Sha Chen chuckled wetly, blood still streaming down his mouth. ”I should have focused on my fire skills. I should never have left Incendiary Ifrit Sect. I wonder, would I have been the current sect leader of that? It turns out that poison skills aren't that sure-kill, after all.”

”Have you alreay forgotten what I said about what-ifs?” I pointed out. ”You chose this path. Make sure you stick to it until the very end.”

”…and this is the result.” Sha Chen slumped against the ground. ”…I paid for my mistake with my life.”

And just like that, he was gone. Dead. The last life-signs faded away, and his qi dispersed and dissipated. It was as if…a robot had ceased its movements, the electricity in its system having been shut down. I wasn't sure how to describe it.

”Hey,” I muttered softly. ”It's not that bad. Compared to most martial artists, you've lived for quite a long time. Most martial artists only live for several decades, dying on the battlefield within hours.” I shrugged. ”You seem to have lived to quite the ripe old age. No doubt because of your poison skills, I bet. So don't dismiss them so easily.”

There was no reply. Sha Chen was dead.

”Ugh…”

I staggered away, feeling pain jolt through my chest. Despite my best attempts to remain on my feet, I swayed unsteadily, on the verge of toppling over. Sucking in deep breaths, I ended up coughing out a good amount of blood.

Splatter.

”…oh. That's not good.”

Huffing, I grabbed hold of outcrops of rock, slowly making my way back toward the edge of Sen Lin Forest. My glasses still worked and highlighted the path back to Duchun Town, but each step was growing heavier. I was aware that I would collapse before I made it very far.

My mind was already blacking out, the darkness scrambling and clawing at the edges of my consciousness. My body was shutting down, my limbs growing more defiant and stubborn, refusing to obey my mind. Even my brain was becoming sluggish, with my thoughts struggling to form a coherent sequence.

Bam!

”…”

Instinctively, I turned my head and caught sight of a gigantic rock slamming into the ground a few centimeters away from me. Then another. And another.

There was an avalanche raining down on me, a powerful rain of rocks that were pelting the ground like a lethal hail.

And they were huge, large enough to crush a grown man, never mind a teenager like me.

”I have to get out of here now,” I mumbled, vaguely registering the threat. However, my body didn't seem to care. I had pushed it past its limits, it seemed to say, and now it had no energy left, no reserves.

And I collapsed.

Even as darkness consumed my consciousness, a gigantic debris of rock smashed into me, burying me under tons of rubble.

The mountain was enacting its vengeance upon me and Sha Chen for destroying it.

The last thing I knew was tons of rock blocking out my sight and weighing down upon me.