51 Chapter 2386 Zhan Bu Du VS Hei Lou Lan (2)
Each step Zhan Bu Du made encountered a stronger pressure bearing down on him.
There were exactly 100 steps between the 8th and 9th floors.
Although each step was 800 meters in length and, 80 in width with a height of 8 meters.
Meanwhile, Hei Lou Lan was making great progress as she traversed through the Path of Ascension like a fish in water.
"This is still too slow!" Hei Lou Lan thought to herself.
An idea popped into her mind, she transitioned from using just her legs to climb to using both hands and feet as a tiger would!
Her speed easily doubled, and she arrived on the 7th Floor.
She was going so fast that she propelled herself onto the 7th Floor, landing with a vicious thud.
This caused all those ahead to look behind, except for Zhan Bu Du who had just made it to the 30th step.
He grits his teeth and kept going but his pace had greatly suffered as he used all his strength to make it this far.
"Dammit," He thought to himself as his body was no longer listening to his will.
Exhaustion was finally kicking in, as Zhan Bu Du was about to resign himself to resting 4 white orbs holding Rank 6 aura descended on him.
Alone the Killer Moves were nothing much but together they formed a much stronger compound Killer Move.
The other Venerables all looked at the one responsible.
Fang Yuan!
"Hmph, I like to see how far Rank 6 moves can bring you," Star Constellation snorted.
Indeed, even the strongest Rank 6 Move was still Rank 6 at its core.
But Fang Yuan merely smirked.
Zhan Bu Du's situation was slightly alleviated he managed to take another 5 steps before being unable to continue.
This time Fang Yuan did not intervene as he knew that both Star Constellation and Spectral Soul each had 1 Rook and they would use it to block his Rook.
"Hmph, then rather than help Zhan Bu Du climb faster why not make Hei Lou Lan go slower," Fang Yuan threw both his Rooks at Hei Lou Lan!
This shocked the other Venerables.
It was a genius move!
Star Constellation and Spectral Soul would stop Fang Yuan from helping Zhan Bu Du, but they wouldn't waste their effort on Hei Lou Lan.
Although she was giving him a lot of pressure, they were still wary of whatever she had received from Reckless. They would rather trust their own people namely Feng Jiu Ge and Ying Guang Xin.
And Giant Sun also had no way of stopping Fang Yuan as he had used all his pieces.
The 2 Rooks turned into Battlefield Killer Moves that encased Hei Lou Lan.
One was a Time Dilation Killer Move, it made time incredibly slow.
The second was actually a Dream Path Killer Move!
It was the Misty Dreams, Morning Dew.
This move used the Gu Immortals' own Dreams against them.
The combination of these two Battlefield Killer Moves was quite insidious, the Misty Dreams Morning Dew would use pleasant memories from the Gu Immortals life and replay them, while the Time Dilation Killer Move would make everything inside a 10x slower.
Effectively prolonging the total duration of both moves!
Seeing Hei Lou Lan suddenly crash onto the flow dead asleep showing no signs of movement, Light Emperor, who was not far up, turned around to try and help.
But Lu Wei Yin stood in his path: "Friend leave this fight between the Venerables do not interfere."
Light Emperor snaps back: "Venerables my ass while we're in here their methods are limited out of my way."
Immortal Killer Move -------- Light Body
Light Emperor's entire body emitted blinding rays of light that were actually emitting enough heat to hurt!
Lu Wei Yin sighed: "You forced my hand,"
Immortal Killer Move --------- Fetus Earth Maze!
This move once again so the light of day as Lu Wei Yin had originally used it on Fang Yuan back in the Southern Border.
Back then, Fang Yuan was not the almighty demon he currently is and was only Rank 7!
Lu Wei Yin had attempted to convert Fang Yuan to the Righteous Path by letting him experience mortal life 3 times.
However, each time Fang Yuan broke free and kept his demonic nature.
This move could not be used easily as it would leave the caster vulnerable to attacks but, considering that they were the last Pseudo-Venerables on the Path of Ascension Lu Wei Lin felt that no one would disturb them.
"That Lu Wei Yin is such a pain in the ass," Giant Sun remarked: "He has not many offensive capabilities but his ability to stall and defend is unparalleled at the Pseudo-Venerable level."
Star Constellation and Spectral Soul just nodded in agreement.
Giant Sun sighed and sat back down.
He had no more moves left to play and thus, sat back and enjoyed the show.
Within the Dream Prison,
Hei Lou Lan was reliving all the happy memories she had before her mother died.
The sleep was so relaxing and peaceful, but Hei Lou Lan kept feeling something was off, yet it had been so long since she had any true rest that the Killer Move was working its magic at stalling her.
Using the time Fang Yuan had given to stall Hei Lou Lan Zhan Bu Du managed to climb to the 50th step.
He took another break.
However, he was no longer alone.
On the 25th step was no one else but Feng Jiu Ge, who was also feeling the pressure, but he was pacing himself.
And just entering their first step was Ying Guang Xin.
The race was tense, and everyone was giving it their best shot including Feng Jiu Ge, for once his expression was no longer relaxed and his brows were ever furrowed.
Meanwhile, Spectral Soul and Star Constellation kept staring at each other as they held their Rooks.
The timing they play those could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Fang Yuan was also highly focused on the board, between his starvation and sanity the later was losing to the former.
Meanwhile, Giant Sun was sitting back eating popcorn as he had put all his chips into Hei Lou Lan.
"*Huff* *huff*" Zhan Bu Du was panting heavily ever since he made it to the 50th Floor.
Even though Hei Lou Lan had been stalled he knew the pressure was still on as there was still Feng Jiu Ge and Ying Guang Xin right on his heels.
"*Huff* I *huff* need to *huff* get to the top," Zhan Bu Du was incredibly tired.
At this point, he could feel that his body no longer wanted to move, that even though his mind and will hold firm his body could no longer handle the abuse.
Zhan Bu Du collapsed onto his knees.
But he didn't give up.
Despite being crushed onto the ground by his exhaustion he kept crawling his way forward.
Feng Jiu Ge made it up another 5 while he barely moved up 1.
Feng Jiu Ge climbed another 5; Zhan Bu Du climbed 1.
Feng Jiu Ge was on his 40th step; Zhan Bu Du made it to his 53rd.
Ying Guang Xin had also made it to the 20th step, she had put aside her ponderings to deal with these stairs.
*ROARRRR*
The savage bestial cry came from the 7th floor.
Hei Lou Lan had broken free of Fang Yuan's restraints and was pissed.
Luckily for her most of her happy memories came from her childhood and thus, was very limited and soon came to an end.
Once it ended Hei Lou Lan woke up and tore the Battlefield Killer Move, Time Dilation, apart.
She once again took to the stairs only this time with renewed vigor and anger.
"Fang Yuan! When I get my hands on you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
She saw Lu Wei Lin and Light Emperor in a battle, he too had broken free and decided to help.
With the combined might of Light Emperor and Hei Lou Lan, Lu Wei Lin was no match, and he was tossed off the floor he was on.
He kept tumbling down and would have landed in the Ordinary Abyss if not for Shen Shang catching him.
Upon receiving him he noticed the heavy injuries and the 3-line claw mark on his chest.
"Brother! What happened to you?" he asked.
But Lu Wei Lin was still too exhausted to respond.
Hei Lou Lan didn't waste time and told Light Emperor: "Climb as fast as you can I'm off to get Fang Yuan!"
Before he could respond she bolted upwards.
She managed to reach the 8th floor in time to see Zhan Bu Du advance to his 55th step, Feng Jiu Ge his 50th and, Ying Guang Xin's 40th.
Seeing these 3-figure struggling to climb the Path of Ascension made her blood boil with excitement.
Each one of them was a mighty figure that played a key part in the Fate Wars and represent one of the 3 other Venerables.
Feng Jiu Ge – Star Constellation Immortal Venerable
Ying Guang Xin – Spectral Soul Demon Venerable
And
Zhan Bu Du – Heavenly Refining Demon Venerable a.k.a Fang Yuan!
Feng Jiu Ge turned to see Hei Lou Lan and recited: "From mountain high and valley low I have searched my soul, to be free is all I long for my journey began upon death's door."
No one else seem to hear what Feng Jiu Ge said, except, Hei Lou Lan!
His words seemed to ring out to her.
Indeed, her whole life she had thought revenge was all she would live for but what she truly longed for was to be free, to have some control in her life.
And her path towards that freedom had truly come after her death.
In fact, after Reckless had 'reforged' her she always wondered.
Am I the same Hei Lou Lan? Am I even Hei Lou Lan? My soul is Hei Lou Lan's My aperture, memories, and Gu was Hei Lou Lan's.
But I still feel something missing?
This song helped her find it once more.
Just being shown her life did not make her truly feel what it meant to be alive.
The feelings of loss and bitterness she experienced in the Dream realm could not compare to reality.
It was only after hearing Feng Jiu Ge's song that it was all clear for her.
Yes! She was Hei Lou Lan.
She who longed for freedom, she who was birthed from death.
The fires of ambition and drive burned brighter than ever in her eyes, the little bit of doubt and cloud had been cleared.
Hei Lou Lan had truly returned.
