Chapter 465: Karma?
Chapter 465: Karma?
Before the tenth division had the morning assembly meeting, Ju Shoufen, Miaomiao, and Wei Yuan gathered at the east arena to welcome Azazel and other guests, who came here for Uriel’s Selection Tournament Event.
Azazel, Xiahou Dun’s group, Golems of Brocell, and caged monsters of Ling Tianlong arrived first. They gathered on the platform, but they kept a distance from Miaomiao and others.
Xiahou Dun released Yuan Shaoqing, whom Azazel had entrusted them. The cyclop in a human cultivator form pushed the weak lord to the center of the stage.
Ju Shoufen glared at Yuan Shaoqing. Even though he was in a sorry state, she still hated him.
Azazel gazed at Miaomiao. She repeated the same line that she said to other warlords.
“Mao Miaomiao, where are your representatives?”
“In the city. Everyone is prepared, and I have the name list.”
Miaomiao passed the scroll with the name of 37 participants to Azazel. The list included the cultivation base of the participants.
The sheep angel nodded in satisfaction. However, she revealed a cunning grin for the first time.
“Good. Now, I shall reveal the rules of this tournament.”
Azazel erected a vortex portal at the center of the stage. Then, she pointed at it.
“The Selection Tournament will be held inside the private plane of my boss. All participants may enter it to scout the perimeter before the event date, 15 days from today. You may bring any weaponry, pills, talismans, artifacts, or treasures. However, we won’t be responsible for them in the case that you lost them.”
Azazel also summoned four large jade boulders, which contained the detail of this event. Any cultivator with Qi Sense could read the hidden message within the jade.
It contained the additional rules as the followings;
One, everybody with the cultivation base between the 6th-stage to the 9th-stage could enter this portal to join the Selection Tournament Qualifier round.
Two, there would be only one preliminary round to select 100 tournament participants.
Three, no one could spectate the event as it was held in a secret plane.
Four, only 100 winners of the preliminary round could obtain the gifts from the Tournament Host.
Five, the preliminary round’s detail and the winning conditions would be announced at the plane during the event date.
Six, the territory lords or referrers who provided more participants than the requirement would receive extra rewards from the Tournament Host.
And lastly, all participants were free to enter the portal before the event had started.
Miaomiao read the detail and raised one of his eyebrows like Dwayne Johnson. It seemed that Azazel and Uriel had rigged the tournament for him, who could offer more participants than the required quota.
Xiahou Dun was also surprised. His tribe dispatched their ten strongest experts to join this event instead of sending five as Azazel demanded. Therefore, he was also eligible to receive the extra reward.
Meanwhile, Yuan Shaoqing sighed and shook his head. This event belonged to Miaomiao and his allies, so they would receive extra boons from their backers. His sister, too, did something similar in the previous Selection Tournament.
Azazel continued her announcement, “During the 15 days before the event starts, all warlords are free to send their representatives into the portal to explore the event ground. But once the event begins, I shall tally the number of participants and close the portal. Any warlord that fails to provide the required amount will be arrested and punished according to the Heavenly Goose Planet Holy Land Tournament Pact.”
Hearing the punishment part, Yuan Shaoqing bitterly laughed, “Why don’t you just kill me and get this over with? My men won’t come for me anyway.”
“As for you, Yuan Shaoqing, you failed to present me the list of your representatives. Therefore, I bring you here to give you one last chance,” Azazel turned to Ju Shoufen. “Ju Shoufen, you have a karmic knot with this man, so I will offer you a deal.”
Ju Shoufen widened her eyes in confusion. But after a second, she understood Azazel’s intention.
“I’m all ears.”
“You and Yuan Shaoqing will have an early qualifier match. Both of you shall fight in a one-on-one duel here. The winner will be chosen as one of the 100 representatives right away without the need to go through the hassle.”
“Oh? That simple?”
“Yes. Will you accept?”
“Of course. Why not?”
Ju Shoufen smirked as she had always been dreaming about this opportunity to kill Yuan Shaoqing. Now that Miaomiao’s backer offered Yuan Shaoqing’s head on a silver platter, she would have been stupid to decline the offer.
Yuan Shaoqing looked at both women and groaned. He simply walked toward Ju Shoufen and knelt.
“Let’s end this farce and get this over with. I’m tired of living.”
“Hah! You’re tired of living? How nice of you. Do you know what kind of torment I’ve been going through after you killed Ju Hu!?”
“That was an accident.”
“Accident my ass! You laughed like a lunatic when she died!”
“I… was immature back then.”
“Yeah, right,” Ju Shoufen brought out the immortal-grade fan, which contained her daughter’s spirit.
Ju Hu’s spirit emerged from the fan. She floated in front of Yuan Shaoqing and glared at him.
The spirit’s appearance was similar to Ju Chen, her daughter. However, she looked more refined and reserved than the latter.
Yuan Shaoqing gazed at the spirit. He revealed a bitter smile, “I’m so sorry, Hu’er. I thought you were your mother in disguise.”
Miaomiao, Wei Yuan, and Ju Shoufen clicked their tongue as they found the excuse disgusting.
Ju Shoufen gritted her teeth, “So you planned to kill me that day!?”
“I planned to capture your soul and… plant it into a new body. I planned to brainwash you and make you my wife.”
“…”
Miaomiao, Azazel, Wei Yuan, and Ju Shoufen’s faces turned dark in disdain.
Ju Shoufen had enough. She drew a long sword and aimed the tip at Yuan Shaoqing’s neck.
“Any last word?”
Yuan Shaoqing looked at Ju Shoufen once more. He brightly smiled, “I love you.”
“You’re a disgusting motherfucker!”
Ju Shoufen raised her sword and hacked down, aiming to behead Yuan Shaoqing.
But the latter suddenly burned his blood essence to generate one last force. He summoned a domain and enveloped everyone inside.
CLANK
The sword hit Yuan Shaoqing’s neck, but it failed to cut through his skin.
“LET’S DIE TOGETHER, MY LOVE!!”
“YOU SICK BASTARD!!”
Miaomiao, Wei Yuan, Xiahou Dun, and other representatives kicked the ground to get away from Ju Shoufen instead of helping her. As for Azazel, she simply stood there, enjoying the show from the best possible location.
They sensed Ju Shoufen’s unique domain ability and her threatening power.
Yuan Shaoqing’s domain was a support type, which enhanced his allies, similar to Qiong Sui’s Gold Domain. The difference was, Yuan Shaoqing could buff himself to increase his physical attributes by 200% to 300%.
From inside his robe, he took out Brocell’s handgun, which he had hidden from everybody, and pointed at Ju Shoufen’s forehead.
But Ju Shoufen had already activated her Golden Crow Domain when Miaomiao and others withdrew from the platform.
Suddenly, the stage’s temperature sharply rose as if everything nearby was engulfed by the sun’s flame. Yet, the green fire contained the poisonous and corrosion traits that could melt away a cultivator’s dantian, heart, and innards.
The green flame entered Yuan Shaoqing’s orifices and burnt him from the inside!
Yuan Shaoqing roared to resist the flame. He pulled the trigger!
But the gun couldn’t be used! The barrels and other parts were already melted!
As a result, the pistol was misfired, and it exploded the cartridge in the chamber!
BOOM
The explosion didn’t harm Yuan Shaoqing. He rose to his feet and charged at Ju Shoufen in a desperate attempt to self-detonate.
The loli grandma didn’t move. Her pupils glowed in a bright green light, controlling her domain flame to concentrate on Yuan Shaoqing’s dantian.
She mimicked Miaomiao and Killer Queen’s skill, but she didn’t need to press the invisible button to use it.
Golden Crow Bomb Transmutation!
The green flame inside Yuan Shaoqing’s body was detonated and destroyed his limbs and torso from the inside.
Yuan Shaoqing’s round eyes at Ju Shoufen in disbelief. His cooked body fell to the ground like a sack of meat. As for his limbs, they were no longer attached to his body.
Ju Shoufen deeply inhaled and held her breath. She closed her eyes, thinking of the past years that she had suffered after Ju Hu died. The flashback and the happy time when Ju Hu was alive came back to her.
The loli grandma snapped open her eyes. She glared at Yuan Shaoqing’s remaining body and kicked his head, sending the helpless man to the sky.
Then, she clenched her fists.
At the same time, Ju Hu’s spirit entered Ju Shoufen’s body to enhance her physical power. Two women merged into one!
Both women’s souls overlapped in one’s body. They sent out a barrage of punches.
“Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora-Ora!!”
As if Ju Shoufen had just used a Hamon Breathing Technique and Kujo Jotaro’s moves, she punched a thousand times within a second and crushed the remaining body of Yuan Shaoqing into mincemeat.
Then, she finished it with her full-power uppercut.
“ORAAAAA!!”
BOOM
Ju Shoufen exhaled and turned around, flipping her fan.
“You piss me off.”
CRACK
The corpse of Yuan Shaoqing fell on the ground, head first. His crushed skull was splattered and scattered the juicy brain, but Ju Shoufen’s green flame burnt the corpse to ash in an instant.
“…”
After Yuan Shaoqing was dead, his nascent soul left his body. It hovered over the stage and looked at his corpse.
Azazel immediately appeared behind Yuan Shaoqing’s soul and seized his neck. Before Yuan Shaoqing could say anything, she shrunk him into a palm-sized ball and shoved it in a Soul-Sealing-Pouch between her cleavages.
Just like that, the upstart lord, the brother of Yuan Hua, met his demise.
Ju Shoufen dispelled her domain power, and the temperature turned to normal.
Miaomiao and Wei Yuan returned to Ju Shoufen’s side. As for other experts, they hovered in the sky, observing the drama from afar.
Miaomiao laughed as she found Ju Shoufen cool, “You looked like Kujo Jotaro back there. Where did you learn that Ora-Ora punches?”
Ju Shoufen rolled her eyes, “I saw your shadow clone using it. I simply mimicked that.”
“It did? Since when?”
“When you dueled against your shadow. I still remember it vividly.”
“I don’t remember using the punches, though.”
“That because you were beaten to death, and it ORA-ORAed you until your body turned into dust.”
“…”
Ju Shoufen and other yin slaves had seen how Miaomiao fought his shadow clone to increase his cultivation potential.
The fights were impressive since the clone was a lot stronger than Miaomiao even though they had the same skills. Everyone had multiple enlightenments just by observing the duels.
Miaomiao inwardly laughed. He pretended to be forgetful, so Ju Shoufen could toy with him and let out her stream.
Of course, he remembered how he died when he fought against his shadow clone at 150% potential. It was brutal yet creative at the same time.
But for now, he was happy that one of the local villains was dead, and he could concentrate on killing Ling Tianlong.
…
“How ironic.”
Ma Moxi observed the brief fight from the top of the eastern city wall. He had come to gauge the strength of Ju Shoufen, and he found the situation amusing.
In the history of the Three Kingdoms, Yuan Shao executed Ju Shou as he thought the latter would betray him. In reality, Ju Shou was a loyal servant. But in this world, Ju Shou’s counterpart really wanted Yuan Shaoqing dead.
Ma Moxi wondered if the karma from the other world was resolved here.
Then, he thought of his position as Ma Chao’s counterpart.
He tried to recall two versions of Ma Chao’s story – One from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the historical records.
In the novel version, Ma Chao served his father, and then Han Sui, and then Liu Bei in order.
But in historical records, Ma Teng, aka Ma Shoucheng, actually formed an alliance with Cao Cao when the latter waged war against Yuan Shao!
Cao Cao was a chancellor at that time, and he had the authority to order Ma Teng around. In a way, Ma Teng and Ma Chao were like Cao Cao’s unofficial subordinates!
But at one point, when Cao Cao dominated half of China, Ma Chao suddenly acknowledged Han Sui as his new father and waged war with Cao Cao, betraying Cao Cao and Ma Teng in the process! His action enraged Cao Cao. Ma Teng and his entire family, who had gone to assist Cao Cao at one of his affiliated cities, were executed as a consequence.
Ma Moxi compared his current situation to the historical records. Currently, Miaomiao, whom Ma Moxi assumed to be Cao Cao’s counterpart, was now the master of his father and him. Their situation was similar to history.
Suddenly, the former hitman had intense goosebumps and a chill running down his spine. He prayed that nothing would disturb or change his current master-servant relationship between Mao Miaomiao and him.