Ambushed from All Sides, a Desperate End at Gaixia

"Single-Word Art. Slash."

As the scholar boy silently recited the skill's name in his mind, the paper Guan Dao in his hand became like a genuine weapon. With immense force, it bore down on the Prince's head.

But the Prince, his expression unchanged, simply raised the precious sword in his hand to block.

Just as the two weapons were about to collide, a smile spread across the scholar boy's lips.

"Prince, paper is a very fragile thing. When it meets a blade it cannot overcome..."

"It will break."

Swish!

A bizarre scene unfolded before everyone's eyes.

The Qing Long Guan Dao passed straight through the precious sword, its speed not decreasing in the slightest as it continued to slash toward the Prince's head.

Only by looking closely could one see the truth.

It hadn't passed through. Instead, the part that touched the precious sword had turned back into ordinary paper and been severed.

But only that single part, less than a coin's thickness, was truly fragile. The rest of the blade that fell upon the Prince's head was still the Qing Long Guan Dao, empowered by the skill.

Not only that, but the severed tip of the paper blade clung to the precious sword like a viscous paste. It spread with extreme speed, slithering toward the Prince's hand.

Puchi!

Caught by the surprise attack, the Prince only had time to turn his head to dodge. He simultaneously threw away the precious sword, avoiding the sticky liquid of unknown effect.

When he looked up again, a deep wound had been carved from his temple to his cheek, stretching across the corner of his eye.

Fresh blood gushed out, dripping down the Prince's ashen, resolute face and staining the ground crimson.

"Good. Very good. Since you all seek death, then you shall become vengeful souls under my blade!"

"At worst, I will just wait for the next batch of Descenders!"

The burning pain from the wounds on his face and neck enraged the Prince. He had wanted the lives of these actors to forge them into his 【Five-Flower Melody】 puppets.

This should have been their honor!

Not only were they unwilling, but they even dared to launch a siege against him.

And as for Troupe Leader Yu, so much for their years of friendship. He truly couldn't fathom what bewitching potion these lowly actors had fed his friend to make him turn on him.

If they were so eager to die, they could not blame him!

"Blade, come!" the Prince roared.

From the weapon rack in the corner of the tent, the great blade trembled slightly. It floated up on its own and began to rush toward the Prince.

But unexpectedly, a figure in cyan dropped from the sky.

Zi Jin, wrapped in her long Qingyi robe, crashed through the roof. A piece of inky-black talisman paper fluttered lightly onto the great blade.

In an instant, the weapon plummeted, hanging heavily on the rack once more.

【Weapon-Disabling Charm (Fine Quality, single-use item). Affix this Talisman Paper to a target's equipment to nullify its effects for ten minutes. The target will also be unable to perceive the existence of this equipment.】

【Note. Bare-handed combat is how real men fight!】

In other words, for the next ten minutes, the Prince could not recall his great blade by any other means, unless he personally rushed over to retrieve it.

The moment the talisman paper was affixed, a thick, powerful hand also gripped the great blade tightly.

Veins bulging on her arm, she threw the blade with a sudden burst of force.

The great blade flew through the air like a javelin, finally landing far outside everyone's field of vision.

Qiao Biluo cracked her neck, producing a series of kaka sounds.

She spoke viciously.

"Damn Jiangshi, I've come to avenge my severed arm."

Seeing he could not retrieve his great blade, the Prince showed no sign of panic.

Instead, he gave a disdainful smile.

"Hah! A disorderly mob, nothing more!"

With that, he vanished from the spot. The ground where he had been standing cracked like a spiderweb.

In the next second, he appeared less than half a meter in front of Qiao Biluo.

His tall figure was like a mountain. The shadow cast by the oil lamp high in the tent completely enveloped her. The overwhelming pressure that rushed toward her instantly turned Qiao Biluo's face pale.

She raised her hands, reinforcing her body to a hardness comparable to steel, and pushed toward the Prince, trying to shove him away. At the same time, she cast a helpless gaze at the people around her.

"Help..."

Before she could finish, the Prince swung his palm down like a blade.

Just as the crisis was about to strike, two Ghostly Shadows shot out from Troupe Leader Yu's sleeves. They grabbed Qiao Biluo from behind and dragged her back forcefully.

Only then did she narrowly avoid the palm-blade.

As cold sweat beaded on Qiao Biluo's forehead, she watched his hand slowly lift from the table that had been in front of her.

The next second, the thick, three-meter-long solid wood table split in two. The cross-section was perfectly smooth, as if severed by a peerless sword that could cut through iron like mud.

Without a doubt, if she had been hit just now, even her body of steel would have been severely injured.

The moment the table shattered, everyone understood.

Even without a weapon in hand, the Prince himself was the strongest weapon.

"Roar!"

One wave had yet to subside when another rose.

Qiao Biluo, right in front of him, saw the Prince open his mouth wide. A powerful shockwave burst from his throat.

In an instant, her vision was filled with red as fresh blood trickled from her ears. She tumbled to the ground in a sorry state, scrambling and rolling to get away.

Her eardrums were shattered, and she was left with a slight concussion and blurred vision.

While she hadn't completely lost her combat ability, she was at least half-crippled.

With a single exchange, the Prince had taken out one of their combatants.

"You are unfit to grace the stage! On the battlefield, even if you lose all your limbs, you must never turn your back on the enemy!"

The Prince didn't spare a second glance at the pathetic sight of Qiao Biluo crawling on the ground. He turned to face the others and flexed his wrists.

The Overlord's Kao on his body billowed, the yellow-tasseled fringe fluttering majestically.

"My life is like a movie I'm acting in~ with so many directors and screenwriters~"

"I only said a single line~ but they dubbed it with eight hundred tones~"

"Controlling my emotions~ that's not my voice at all~"

Just then, a strange song suddenly echoed from outside the tent. Its lyrics were rapid and difficult to make out, making the Prince frown in confusion.

Only the scholar boy and Xiaoxiao, who was hidden in the shadows preparing a sneak attack, felt their lips twitch.

"What melody is this?" Troupe Leader Yu asked softly, noticing the scholar boy's microexpression.

The scholar boy covered his face with a sigh.

"Ambushed from All Sides. But it's probably not the Song of Chu you're thinking of."

The Song of Chu he knew was the true ballad of the State of Chu from the opera, not "Ambushed from All Sides" as sung by Jay Chou.

Damn you, Pending Death! he thought. It has to be that lunatic hiding in the shadows, playing tricks! I knew he didn't die in the Nuo Opera Garden!

Overlord Xiang Yu was trapped at Gaixia, ambushed from all sides, and took his own life at the Wu River. There was no problem with that.

The problem was, the Song of Chu wasn't this Song of Chu.

Boom!

During their conversation, the supports of the entire tent suddenly collapsed.

Only then did everyone see they were surrounded by a circle of guards, each with a different appearance and build. Every one of them had an ashen complexion, blood-red eyes, and protruding fangs, just like the Prince's Jiangshi form.

They were clad in military armor and wielded battle-blades.

Seeing this, the players all grew vigilant.

The guards could actually enter the play? The Prince alone was already hard enough to deal with. Now with so many guards, what the hell were they supposed to do?

The Prince threw his head back and laughed.

"Hahaha! The heavens are on my side!"

"To think that at this moment, these trusted men would share my sentiment and enter the play to rescue their lord! You ants, what will you do now?"

With that, he waved his hand toward Troupe Leader Yu, his expression cold.

"Seize this man. I will interrogate him personally!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a muffled and subtle puchi sound came from behind him.

The Prince turned his head in disbelief.

To his shock, he saw a figure in a purple gown, adorned with the makeup of Jue Ke, The Joker, grinning brightly at him. The figure had appeared like a phantom, his presence completely undetectable until the moment he was seen.

【Big Dipper Seven Star Steps (Epic). Retains the effects of Cloud-Stepping Steps, adds a no-damage-on-landing effect after a double jump, and allows for Shrink the Ground to an Inch within seven steps to reach any position within a fifty-meter radius centered on oneself.】

Wu Wang had long since blended into the noisy army outside. He had been continuously taking seven steps, preparing to Shrink the Ground to an Inch and appear behind the Prince.

"Good morning, Prince. Have you eaten?"

"If not, then have a taste of my fist."

The Prince looked down and saw a dagger stuck in his side, the blade almost entirely embedded in his body.

This isn't a damn fist!

The intense pain and fury made him want to smash this Joker to death with a single palm strike. But just as he was about to raise his hand, the figure vanished again.

He then walked out from a shadow cast by the candlelight, appearing far away next to the scholar boy.

"Insolent cur! How dare you harm me! Your entire clan will be executed!"

As the Prince roared, a sliver of doubt crept into his mind. Although that person moved without a sound, why hadn't the guards behind him warned him?

He had no time to ponder it further. The surrounding guards swarmed forward, lunging at the crowd.

Among them, three even brushed past the Prince's side.

Shink! Shink! Shink!

To the Prince's horror, several more daggers appeared in his waist. Blood flowed like a river, and pain wracked his body.

In contrast, the guards who had rushed the crowd were acting bizarrely. Some were bending over to pat dust off their clothes, some broke into a spontaneous breakdance to liven things up, and one even took out a whetstone to sharpen the scholar boy's paper Guan Dao.

This left the players completely baffled. What was going on? Had the entire enemy army defected?

The scholar boy, whose Guan Dao had been taken, narrowed his eyes. He looked at Wu Wang, who had started to tap dance.

Even though Troupe Leader Yu was starting to raise his hand to command these guards, he could still feel it. It was definitely this guy who had done something.

How did he do it? How could he make these trusted aides, who had fought life and death battles with the Prince, betray him?

Bang!

This time, the Prince was utterly infuriated. He violently smashed the heads of the three guards beside him.

He had been too careless. No, not careless. As a general, he had trusted his subordinates far too much.

He had completely forgotten that all these guards had been called away by Troupe Leader Yu last night for the so-called "Human Refining Method." He never imagined that his trusted aides would casually stab him as they passed by.

They hadn't even raised their arms for a fatal blow. If the movements had been any larger, he would have reacted immediately. Instead, they deliberately chose awkward, hard-to-detect angles.

Dammit! Why is every single blade stuck in my kidneys?

He looked down again and realized that after smashing the guards' heads, there wasn't a single drop of red on his hands. Instead, their bodies dissipated into black smoke.

"Jue Ke! What in the world did you do to my guards!"

Hearing the Prince's roar, Wu Wang shrugged.

"What do you mean, your guards? This is my 【Resentful Spirit Legion】. Is your name written on them?"

"Go on, call them. See if they answer you."

Swish!

The Prince didn't speak again. In a flash, his tall, burly figure appeared before Wu Wang, a fist smashing toward his abdomen. There was no technique, only a stack of raw stats. His seemingly instantaneous movement was, in reality, just the speed of an all-out sprint.

If this punch landed squarely, Wu Wang would likely be turned into a bloody pulp.

Pat.

And yet, this furious strike missed completely.

Wu Wang had coincidentally executed a double jump, landing with a soft pat on the Prince's arm.

"Your Highness, haven't you noticed anything unusual yet?" His voice was laced with an irritating mockery that made the Prince's anger boil over.

Just as he was about to raise his other fist to strike, he was shocked to find a sharp pain lancing through it.

"Cat's Gratitude. Claw Strike."

Xiaoxiao, who had been absent for some time, finally appeared. A pair of sharp cat claws extended from her fluffy gloves. This skill allowed her to launch a guaranteed-hit claw attack at the hand, one the opponent could never react to, just like being suddenly scratched by a cat in real life.

With this strike, she had severed the tendons in the Prince's left hand.

At the same time, the scholar boy took back the freshly sharpened Qing Long Guan Dao from the guard and slashed down.

Amidst the glint of the blade, three Ghostly Shadows also emerged from the ground at the Prince's feet. They latched onto his legs, preventing him from dodging.

Wu Wang glanced at the Guan Dao blade falling from above his head. His entire body merged into a shadow and reappeared behind the Prince. Without even turning his head, he caught two pieces of talisman paper thrown by Zi Jin, which had been intended for the Prince.

He raised his hand, ready to slap them onto the Prince's back.

"Audacious fiends! Begone!"

Suddenly surrounded, the Prince tilted his head back and roared. A powerful shockwave, an invisible force, sent everyone flying.

Fortunately, the players were no ordinary people. Except for Qiao Biluo, who was already lying pathetically on the ground and was sent tumbling away, ignored by all, everyone else landed steadily.

The scholar boy raised an eyebrow and looked at Wu Wang.

"You poisoned him? How insidious."

He had noticed something was wrong when Wu Wang double-jumped and Xiaoxiao appeared. The Prince's speed was getting slower, his mind more clouded, his movements wild and easy to predict. Looking at him now, panting heavily with a flushed face, was definitely not normal.

Wu Wang rolled his eyes back at him.

"Were you planning to slice me in half along with him with that slash of yours? You're no proper person either."

"I knew you could dodge it," the scholar boy said. "But compared to you, I'm practically a gentleman. I wouldn't sing 'Ambushed from All Sides'."

Wu Wang retorted, "I never said I was a proper person. What proper person uses poison, anyway? Do you?"

"I don't. You?" the scholar boy asked, a smirk creeping onto his lips as if he knew what was coming next.

Then, the two spoke in unison.

"Despicable."

Only Troupe Leader Yu was left completely baffled. His face turned a little ugly.

"I admit, I poisoned the sword I stabbed him with, but could you please not curse me at a time like this?"

Wu Wang and the scholar boy exchanged a look. Turns out there was another expert in their midst.

Counting them up, the sword Troupe Leader Yu used was poisoned. The dagger Wu Wang used, plus the blades from the guards' backstabbing, were all coated in poison. One had to remember, they had all come with the intention of killing the Prince. The poisons they used were certainly the fastest-acting and most potent available.

At least four deadly poisons were raging inside the Prince's body.

To be honest, the fact that he hadn't collapsed dead on the spot was terrifying. He could still clear the field with a roar, send everyone flying, and remain lucid with such overwhelming combat power.

If this were happening in the Yi Garden instead of the play, Wu Wang had no doubt this guy could leave despite his heavy injuries, run to the imperial palace, and bring back a whole army to annihilate them.

"This Prince Xiang is truly a monster," he couldn't help but sigh.

The scholar boy's expression was strange. He said in a peculiar tone, "You're a monster too, being able to climb out of that well."

Wu Wang pretended not to understand. He shrugged and smiled.

"Of course I could get out. After all, that place isn't my Gaixia or my Wu River."

He then whipped out the 【Elemental Gun】 and aimed it at the Prince in the center of the encirclement.

He said, word by word, "But here..."

"This is his Gaixia. And soon, it will also be his Wu River."