Death… And Me

Chapter 3413: Not a place to be

Zangeshu and Ridia were definitely the ones having the most difficulty in this test. In the end, Zangeshu only had one arm to fight with, and after several days, he was running out of energy. It was thanks to Ridia’s innate ability and his harsh training given by Rean that he got this far.

The good news was that there weren’t many Transition Realm Disciples coming after them. At least not as many as Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Rifindio experienced. That’s because the Transition Realm participants were doing much better than those at lower or higher realms.

Naturally, since the disciples of the sect were having trouble eliminating those participants, that also meant there weren’t as many of them free to attack Zangeshu and Ridia. That also contributed to him and Ridia having traveled most of the distance to the sect in the twins’ group. They have already surpassed the 150,000 kilometers mark in the days that passed of the 250,000 necessary to reach the sect.

”Elmer...” Ridia looked at Zangeshu with concern.

Zangeshu shook his head. ”There is no need to worry.” Right after, he took a Divine Stone from his Spatial Ring and began to recover his Divine Energy. He didn’t like to do that, though. He was sure that Rean would scold him for having to rely on Divine Stones in such an ’easy test’ later.

Ridia’s eyes then changed, and she pointed somewhere else. ”Another one!

Zangeshu’s sword slashed almost by instinct, a wave of lighting and divine energy hitting a tree not far away.

*Swish!*

The tree was split in two, with burnt marks on both sides while sparks of lightning ran through it. It’s just that the cultivator hiding behind it managed to dodge and was now looking at Zangeshu in anger. ”Are you trying to kill me?!”

Zangeshu narrowed his eyes. That guy didn’t carry the emblem of the sect, which meant he was also a participant in this test. ”I thought you were another one of those disciples of the sect. Anyway, since you aren’t, then we have no reason to waste each other’s time. Let’s go, Wendy.”

The guy didn’t let Zangeshu and Ridia go that easily, though. ”Wait! I’m Toto, let’s join forces. Since you got this far, then you two must have some ability. We can make the rest of the journey together.”

Zangeshu wasn’t the group guy, though. ”No need. Besides, I’m missing an arm here, so I will probably hold you back.” He wouldn’t even be traveling with Ridia if he could help it.

Yet, just as Zangeshu and Ridia passed the guy, Toto’s eyes changed, and a spear appeared in his hand. He aimed straight at Zangeshu’s back, moving at a speed that was the fastest Zangeshu had experienced in this test so far.

Zangeshu truly lacked experience in combat. He wasn’t an idiot, but he didn’t expect Toto to be that strong either. He was also lacking Divine Energy, which slowed his reaction. By the time Zangeshu noticed the spear coming at his back, he barely had the time to turn. All he could do was accumulate as much Divine Energy as possible in the area where he would be hit and hope the strength of his starlight body would be enough to not suffer any too serious injuries.

*Lash, lash, lash!*

However, the collision Zangeshu expected didn’t happen. Ridia’s branch arms, which she was using to produce the leaves to increase her perception range, suddenly changed into vines. Those vines caught Toto by surprise, quickly entangling with his spear and his body. ”Don’t touch Elmer!”

*Swush!*

Right after, she used all her strength and swung the vines.

*Bang!*

Toto couldn’t get free from them as his body smashed against the ground, causing him to vomit blood. ’What kind of vines are these?! I can’t break free of them at all!’

*Bang, bang, bang, bang...*

Ridia continued to swing Toto from one side to another, smashing him against the trees, ground, rocks, you name it. In the end, he was so badly injured that Zangeshu had to intervene. ”Alright, that’s enough. Let’s him go.”

Only then did Ridia snap out of her anger, retracting her vines, which changed into branches again. ”Di-Did I kill him?”

Zangeshu patted her head, shaking his head. ”He definitely got a good beating, but he is still alive.” Zangeshu then approached Toto, looking for Toto’s token. If he was truly a participant in the test, his token should be with him since the tokens can’t be sent into Spatial Rings or Pocket Dimensional Realms. ”As I thought...”

Zangeshu turned around, pulling Ridia with him. ”Let’s leave this place. He is a disciple of the sect.”

”He is?” Ridia was taken aback. ”But his clothes...”

”He doesn’t have the teleportation token,” Zangeshu explained. ”As long as it is broken, he will be teleported away. He might have hidden it somewhere, but I doubt that is the case. Chances are he is a disciple pretending to be a participant to take the real participants by surprise. We can’t trust anyone, understood?”

Ridia seemed the most surprised of all. ”Shameless! How can they do such a thing?”

*Pah!*

*Ouch!*

Yet, Zangeshu slapped Ridia’s back head. ”Stop talking nonsense! So what if they are trying to deceive us? Their order is to kill all the participants they encounter, and the method does not matter. They are probably receiving rewards for each kill or participant they manage to send out. Don’t forget what Morty and Daff always say. This is the cultivation world. This is not the first nor the last time you will experience something like this.”

Ridia rubbed the back of her head, feeling wronged. ”You didn’t need to hit me.”

Zangeshu glanced at her for a moment, nodding in the end. ”However... you did save me back there. You can also give me a slap on the head. I failed to prevent that attack.”

*Pah!*

Argh...*

Ridia didn’t need to hear twice, and that was quite a strong hit actually... ”This felt great! Also, you are welcome.”

Zangeshu bitterly smiled, his head spinning. He truly didn’t want to be here...