The two walked towards the stage together, while Qian Wangsun’s wheelchair-bound figure quickly elicited gasps from the audience.
"Is that person disabled? No arms, no legs?"
"Can he still participate in the competition like this?"
"He even made it to the top eight? Are the others too weak?"
"Fighting someone with no arms or legs, Zhou Bai is really lucky."
All the cultivators present had keen ears and eyes, and despite the noisy voices of the audience, most cultivators could hear them clearly.
The more Zhou Bai on stage listened, the more his brows furrowed; Qian Wangsun also showed a wry smile.
Zhou Bai, "Don’t worry, when we start fighting, we’ll use some special effects and they’ll see how strong we are."
Qian Wangsun, "Then bring out your full power."
The two exchanged smiles, and suddenly, the power of the Primordial Spirit burst forth.
Sun Yuzhen, "Begin!"
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!
A barrage of energy arrows shot vigorously from beside Qian Wangsun towards Zhou Bai.
Zhou Bai extended his hand, releasing the power of the Primordial Spirit, which enveloped his body for defense. Then he opened his mouth and spat out pink Sword Qi targeting Qian Wangsun.
Although standing Zhou Bai had the lowest defensive power, his 287 Primordial Spirit strength was still enough to block the energy arrows shot by Qian Wangsun.
In contrast, Qian Wangsun had to use the power of the Primordial Spirit to move his body and dodge the incoming Sword Qi.
The Sword Qi slashed twice in succession, narrowly avoided by Qian Wangsun, but the wheelchair was burst apart by a slash.
The Sword Qi then slashed towards the fallen Qian Wangsun; Zhou Bai thought internally, ’Sorry, I’ll have to end this match as quickly as possible.’
But just as the third sword was about to strike Qian Wangsun’s chest.
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Zhou Bai suddenly grunted, stumbled, and spots of blood appeared on his chest.
’What’s going on? His energy arrows should have been completely blocked by me!’
Christina yelled, "Zhou Bai, sit down! There’s more!"
Zhou Bai abruptly sat on the ground, the pink Sword Qi retreating back and swept across in coordination with Zhou Bai’s steel-like defensive power, blocking all the invisible attacks in the air.
’This attack... what is it exactly? It seems that even ’sitting down’ couldn’t completely defend against it. Maybe only ’lying down’ would thoroughly block it.’
Zhou Bai looked up, his gaze fixing on Qian Wangsun in the distance. Though he spoke of not holding back, Zhou Bai hadn’t actually planned to sit, let alone lie down and fight, fearing that the opponent might take it as a humiliation, affecting their relationship.
Furthermore, given Qian Wangsun’s condition, Zhou Bai believed that with his current strength of the Primordial Spirit, standing should also allow him to quickly defeat his opponent.
His opponent’s wheelchair had just been shattered by Zhou Bai, now lying on the ground.
Qian Wangsun did not use the power of the Primordial Spirit to lift himself up; he just lay there.
What shocked Zhou Bai was the faint black vapor seeping out all over Qian Wangsun’s body.
"Zhou Bai..." Qian Wangsun’s face lay against the ground, his limbless body immobile without the aid of the Primordial Spirit.
Qian Wangsun said with a bitter smile, "A cripple is a cripple, and actually, the audience wasn’t wrong. No matter how much I hide it or use the power of the Primordial Spirit as a substitute, missing arms and legs just isn’t the same; I can’t match up to the time when I was fully-limbed."
Zhou Bai looked anxiously at the abnormalities on Qian Wangsun’s body, "Hey, you aren’t mutating, are you? Don’t scare me... Think about the girls you drew; if you mutate, you’ll never be able to play with the ladies again."
Qian Wangsun suddenly lifted his head, his eyes pitch black, staring intensely at Zhou Bai, "Zhou Bai, do you know? When I was lying in bed, sitting in the wheelchair, I couldn’t help but think...
Why... why did Jian Xing choose me? You were right there beside me."
"I’m not as strong as you all think. I’m resentful, I’m frustrated, I’m desperate… I’ve even thought countless times that if I had saved you back then, if you were the one who had limbs severed, how good that would have been..."
’Mutated?’ Zhou Bai looked at Qian Wangsun before him, suddenly feeling a strong sense of loss in his heart; had he ultimately failed to save his companion?
Suddenly, he frowned, "Something’s not right." He looked up at the teachers around him, "None of the teachers have made a move, which means, they don’t think this is a distortion, right? Yes, the second stage must have been checked before, and if it were really a distortion, Qian Wangsun wouldn’t be here."
The black aura on Qian Wangsun’s body grew denser, like a corpse ignited by black flames, and the dark aura continuously blended into the surrounding air, gradually dissipating.
Qian Wangsun spoke in a hoarse voice, "I’m not content, you know, Zhou Bai? I’m really not content."
"Sometimes, I think, perhaps it would have been better if I had died then."
Zhou Bai looked at Qian Wangsun, "Someone once told me to keep living, no matter how humble, how scared, how desperate, to keep living."
Zhou Bai added, "Isn’t the current human civilization a product of persisting under such spirit, struggling through countless despairs to this day?"
Qian Wangsun retorted, "Easy for you to stand there and say. But once you lie down, you realize how heavy despair really is, how it can suffocate you, keep you from turning over, and plunge you into darkness."
"You say to keep living no matter how desperate?" Qian Wangsun suddenly laughed, "Then why don’t you try... try to defeat me in this move, and win..."
"Feel it now, this is my despair."
Boom!
Zhou Bai’s gaze suddenly sharpened as he saw the black aura that had just dissipated in the air reappear, transforming into a massive
black tide that suddenly swept towards Zhou Bai, completely engulfing his body.
Seeing Zhou Bai fall to the ground, countless audience members gasped in unison.
...
A cold hospital.
The wheelchair was pushed to the position on the balcony.
The young man looked at the landscape outside the window, seemingly emitting faint traces of black aura continuously.
A nurse walked to the balcony and said to the young man, "Mr. Qian Wangsun? Are you okay?"
The young man’s voice slowly came, "Do you know what color despair is?"
"Huh?"
"When two spirits wrestle, it is called divine, and a speck of spiritual light is its color."
"Huh?"
"Never mind." Qian Wangsun smiled, "I’m just doing what I can still do."
The nurse advised, "Mr. Qian, don’t be too pessimistic. We’ve already signed you up for the rebirth of severed limbs queue, someday it will come."
"I hope so."
...
Looking at the black mixing with the air, Zhou Bai lay on the ground, thinking to himself, "What exactly is this? Why is it black?"
The black air repeatedly attacked Zhou Bai’s body, but it completely failed to penetrate the defensive power Zhou Bai had while lying down.
Christina continuously sensed the black in the surrounding air, surprised, "The black stuff, it’s his Primordial Spirit power."
"Primordial Spirit power?"
"Primordial Spirit power is a point of spiritual light at the heart of a person. It can have color. When a cultivator’s certain emotion gets too intense over a long time, the Primordial Spirit power can possess a color, just like my Sword Qi," Christina analyzed, "Qian Wangsun must have turned black due to extreme despair."
"Despair, huh?" Zhou Bai’s hand gripped tightly, "Was the invisible attack just now also because of that?"
"No," Christina exclaimed, surprised, "The feeling of despair only changed the color of his Primordial Spirit power. The attack just now, rather than being driven by despair, should be said to be driven by hope."
Zhou Bai puzzled, "Speak plainly."