Chapter 134: Chapter 115: Surprise Cage
After giving the orders, Zheng Xiu returned to the dungeon.
His consciousness entered the Heart Prison.
The pure white [Inner Rulebook] still rested quietly on the Game Table.
After pouring some tea to clear his mind, Zheng Xiu thought it over and decided to accept the [Surprise Cage] challenge.
The [Inner Rulebook] felt like he was opening a "developer console."
The "Restriction" in the challenge also aligned with the "Restriction" of the Path, which could drastically increase the power of a Miracle Technique. It all made perfect sense.
It seemed full of restrictions, but after mulling it over, Zheng Xiu figured it wasn’t a big deal.
If the random combination from the [Surprise Cage] truly provided the "drastic" boost it described, it would be like charging up an ultimate ability.
It didn’t mention a cooldown or any cost. The only thing he had to do was figure out how to unleash the ultimate ability he’d prepared.
If he couldn’t unleash one, he could just charge up another. No big deal.
’How simple is that?’
Zheng Xiu had no reason to refuse.
Rules and Restrictions were the very core of Path Mystic Skills.
"I accept!"
"I’m not really interested in how ’drastic’ the boost is. I just want to challenge myself."
Mumbling to himself, Zheng Xiu opened the [Inner Rulebook] and silently intoned, ’Accept challenge.’
In that instant, the lines of Rules and individual characters making up the [Surprise Cage] in the [Inner Rulebook] abruptly lifted off the page. Like ants, they began to crawl up from Zheng Xiu’s fingertips.
Zheng Xiu was momentarily startled, but after feeling no discomfort, he simply watched to see what would happen.
The "characters" swarmed up his arm like ants, finally reaching his chest.
In the blink of an eye, the characters formed a long, thin line that wrapped around the claw-shaped mark on his chest.
Zheng Xiu pulled open his clothes to look. The mark on his chest had changed. Outside the claw-shaped vascular pattern, the tiny characters formed a long chain, wound tightly around the pattern dozens upon dozens of times.
On the yellow Paper Scroll that recorded Zheng Xiu’s information, a faint mist appeared from nowhere, forcing two lines of text apart. Crooked characters squeezed into the space between them.
A new line had been forcibly inserted between [Path] and [Fitting].
[Restriction]: [Surprise Cage (Incomplete)]
Zheng Xiu touched his chest but felt nothing out of the ordinary.
There was still some time before he was scheduled to leave with Feng Bei. Zheng Xiu selected [Mighty Man] and then opened [Feng Bei’s home].
On the lonely peak, the illusory figure solidified.
Feng Bei wasn’t here. He could do whatever he wanted.
He activated [Caged Sparrow]. The claw-shaped pattern on his chest broke through its restraints and spread across his entire body.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
Just then, an unusual sight appeared before Zheng Xiu.
A strange, black "machine" materialized out of thin air without a sound.
The "machine" was covered in rust and dripping wet, as if it had just been dredged up from a river. On its front were three square frames, and next to it was a lever.
[Surprise Cage].
A pale hand reached out from the side and pulled the lever.
The three frames began to spin downward at high speed.
"What the fuck? Is this a slot machine?"
The corner of Zheng Xiu’s eye twitched. The "spin" didn’t last long. The Riddle Arm had just pulled the lever, the reels spun for a moment, and then the result appeared.
[Form One] [Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes] [Flying Dragon in the Sky].
The instant the three frames locked in place, a sound of cracking bones echoed as the Purgatory Dual Sabers appeared in Zheng Xiu’s hands.
Zheng Xiu suddenly discovered a loophole.
The Mighty Man Incarnation was already equipped with [Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes], yet the [Surprise Cage] had rolled it again. This meant that the Traits equipped on the Incarnation and the Traits equipped on the [Deceit Jiazi] didn’t conflict!
’They can stack!’
A black hourglass appeared in the corner of Zheng Xiu’s vision. "Sand" like asphalt began to drain quickly.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
His chest hammered like thunder, making his eardrums ache. The countdown was draining extremely fast. In the short time Zheng Xiu hesitated, a quarter of the sand was already gone.
’Is the countdown only about three minutes?’
’In other words, once I get a combination, I have to use it within three minutes?’
The black flames on the dual sabers were particularly intense, and faint illusions of flashing blades flickered within them.
The third frame seemed to specify the exact move to be used.
But Zheng Xiu wondered what would happen if it randomized a move that wasn’t from Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes.
Zheng Xiu didn’t have much time to think. He clapped his palms together, and the two Large Curved Sabers joined as one in mid-air. He leaped high into the air, his spinning body driving the rotation of the dual blades. Spinning at high speed, Zheng Xiu became a vertical cutting wheel!
"Flying Dragon in the Sky!"
The high-flying Mighty Man’s face was ferocious. His aura swelled as he brought the dual sabers crashing down.
He didn’t see that as he spun, the dark clouds in the sky above had split apart, revealing a bottomless chasm of open air.
In that instant, Zheng Xiu felt a torrential release of power. His vision went black as brute force poured from his hands. The black flames surged a thousand feet into the air, and the black saber-flame cleaved down toward Feng Bei’s home.
When Zheng Xiu opened his eyes, it was just in time to watch helplessly as the black arc of saber energy he had unleashed sliced toward Feng Bei’s home.
"...I’m so screwed."
BOOM!
The mountain peak, which Feng Bei had once flattened with a single strike, was ultimately unable to escape the fate of collapse.
The next second.
The arc of black flame split the mountain down the middle. With a world-shattering cataclysm, a deafening roar echoed for miles.
An avalanche started in the distance. A howling shockwave radiated outward in rings from Feng Bei’s home.
Dozens of Ravens didn’t have time to escape and were blown bald in mid-air. Leafless, dead trees were torn from the ground, roots and all.
