Realm Walker

In the next two bouts, Sun Miaomiao and Tone Deaf lived up to expectations, defeating their opponents and advancing to the quarterfinals.

Then the red-haired elder announced in a booming voice, ”The fourth round of contestants, please enter the arena!”

The spectators perked up. The second must-watch fight of the day had arrived. It was Crossing Pawn, ranked tenth, versus Yuanshi Tianzun.

The former had been dubbed Little Qingyang, while the latter had defeated the highly acclaimed Maoshan Warlock on the tournament’s opening day.

After the dazzling spectacle Jingwei and Zhao Chenghuang had set, the audience’s expectations had risen. They wondered what kind of surprises Yuanshi Tianzun and Crossing Pawn could deliver.

”This one should be straightforward, right? Yuanshi Tianzun wins for sure. Crossing Pawn is a Scout. Even the strongest Transcendent-tier Scout has too many weaknesses.”

”Not necessarily. Crossing Pawn must have prepared something. And neither of them is a Fire Sage, so the environmental hazards will be a real factor.”

”I’m looking forward to this clash of titans. The fight between Jingwei and Zhao Chenghuang was spectacular, sure, but it was all brute force, with no technical finesse. Both Yuanshi Tianzun and Crossing Pawn are precision fighters.”

Under the crowd’s eager gaze, Zhang Yuanqing dropped into the arena with his yin corpse. On the opposite side, Crossing Pawn, clad in vine armor and camouflage pants, vaulted over the edge and landed steadily on a stone pillar.

The two faced each other across thirty-odd meters and exchanged a nod.

”Begin!”

The instant the red haired elder made the call, Zhang Yuanqing and Crossing Pawn drew their guns simultaneously.

Bang!

Crossing Pawn pulled the trigger, but no bullet came from Zhang Yuanqing’s barrel.

It was not because the gun malfunctioned, but because he malfunctioned. The instant Crossing Pawn raised his weapon and took aim, an intense danger signal screamed through Zhang Yuanqing’s mind, forcing him to abandon his shot and dodge. Yet some other instinct told him it didn’t matter whether he went left or right. The bullet would find him either way. He froze, caught in a split second of indecision.

In that moment of hesitation, Crossing Pawn’s bullet crossed the distance between them.

The audience, watching from above, was thoroughly unsurprised. As expected, nobody can outshoot Crossing Pawn. Not even Yuanshi Tianzun...

Regardless of the opponent, Crossing Pawn always opened his fights with overwhelming firepower.

The bullet struck the towering frame of Corpse No. 1 and was stopped cold by its tough, resilient muscles.

If I can’t dodge it, I won’t bother trying!

Zhang Yuanqing extended his arm from behind the yin corpse, aimed at Crossing Pawn standing thirty meters away, and squeezed the trigger. The roar of gunfire filled the crater as dark red tracer lines cut parallel arcs through the air, forming a curtain of fire that streaked toward the enemy’s position.

Crossing Pawn had already read the trajectory of Zhang Yuanqing’s bullets. The moment Zhang Yuanqing brought his gun up, he dropped low and burst sideways. He bounded across the stone pillars with fluid speed, trying to flank his opponent, then raised his weapon and returned fire.

Zhang Yuanqing scrambled to adjust, circling to keep the yin corpse between them. Once again, the corpse’s body caught every round. Corpse No. 1, forged from Earth Wraith materials, had skin that was tough beyond measure and felt no pain. It was the perfect shield.

While Yuanshi Tianzun repositioned, Crossing Pawn holstered his pistol. The muscles in his legs swelled, and he broke into a sprint across the pillars, as agile as a cheetah.

Using his yin corpse for cover, Zhang Yuanqing extended his arm again and opened fire.

This time Crossing Pawn didn’t dodge. He charged straight through the hail of bullets, each impact blossoming as an incandecent spark against his vine armor.

Seeing what was going on, Zhang Yuanqing immediately broke away from the yin corpse and issued it a command to engage.

Corpse No. 1’s eyes flared with killing intent. It bent its legs and launched itself skyward, its right knee bending then snapping forward into a vicious whip kick.

Crossing Pawn seemed to have anticipated the move. Without breaking stride, he ducked his head beneath the sweeping leg and drove his shoulder into the corpse’s hip. Riding the momentum of his leap, he heaved upward with both shoulders and hurled the yin corpse far across the arena. Then he dropped onto the pillar where the corpse had been standing.

He didn’t spare a glance at the tumbling yin corpse. He pivoted and changed direction, then lunged toward Yuanshi Tianzun, two pillars away.

Zhang Yuanqing kept his composure and fired. Crossing Pawn was airborne. There was no way for him to dodge. The explosive rounds detonated against his chest armor once more.

That defensive item he has is too strong. Zhang Yuanqing made an instant decision and activated Night Wandering.

The moment his body erased itself from sight, the lava beneath him erupted with a roar, hurling brilliant waves of magma and searing light in every direction.

The indiscriminate blast flushed Zhang Yuanqing out of stealth.

And at that precise moment, Crossing Pawn, who had been airborne, landed on the very same pillar as him.

”Yuanshi Tianzun got caught at close range!”

”What rotten luck. The lava erupted right then.”

”That wasn’t luck. Crossing Pawn was timing the eruptions. He calculated everything. That’s why they call him Little Qingyang.”

Murmurs of alarm rippled from above. From the start of the tournament, every fighter Crossing Pawn had managed to close the distance with had met the same miserable fate.

Guan Ya, Xie Lingxi, the Queen, and everyone else backing Yuanshi Tianzun felt their hearts leap into their throats. Even Zhao Chenghuang, who had been resting with his eyes closed, focusing on his own recovery, opened his eyes and turned his attention to the fight.

At that moment, Crossing Pawn felt a sudden chill on his shoulder. The spirit servant!

He lashed out with a kick in the direction Yuanshi Tianzun was retreating, connecting squarely with his shoulder. Then, calm as ever, Crossing Pawn produced a war horn and blew.

The sound was mournful and bleak, yet laced with the killing intent and fury of a battlefield. The chill on his shoulder vanished instantly. The spirit servant had fled.

The war horn was a Scout class item. Its sound intimidated enemies and repelled spirits alike. It belonged to Crossing Pawn’s superior, a Swordsman.

Zhang Yuanqing had barely caught his footing from the earlier kick when the horn’s blare washed over him. A tremor ran through his heart, and an inexplicable wave of fear and weakness surged up from his core.

Seizing the opening, Crossing Pawn stowed away the horn, closed the distance in two quick strides, and drove his right knee into Yuanshi Tianzun’s abdomen.

Once again, that overwhelming sense of danger flooded in, the certainty that dodging was futile no matter which direction he chose. This time, Zhang Yuanqing refused to let it paralyze him. He committed left without hesitation.

Searing pain exploded through his gut. His insides churned. He hadn’t dodged it after all.

Crossing Pawn retracted his leg, pivoted, and drove a savage elbow into his target. His style was built on mastery of the basics—punches, kicks, knee strikes, and elbow strikes. He did not rely on flashy combinations. Just the most practical, most efficient methods of breaking an opponent, chained together in relentless sequences.

His line of attack was ferocious and razor sharp. Pair that with his specialized perception skills that allowed him to read his opponent’s every move before it happened, and he could maintain absolute pressure.

Fists, feet, elbows, and knees hammered into Zhang Yuanqing’s chest, throat, even his groin. Crossing Pawn knew Nocturnal Specters were tough, so he held nothing back.

Several times Zhang Yuanqing tried to throw himself off the pillar into the lava to escape, and each time Crossing Pawn grabbed him and hauled him back to deliver more punishment.

He had a terrible ability to fight in close quarters. This was a hand-to-hand specialist that even Guan Ya would have to respect.

”Hah!”

Crossing Pawn lowered his center of gravity letting the muscles in his legs swell until they strained the fabric of his pants. He channeled every ounce of power into his right arm. His fist shot out like a striking viper, smashing into Yuanshi Tianzun’s throat.

His opponent’s Adam’s apple shattered on impact. Yuanshi Tianzun’s head snapped backward and he toppled backward, but Crossing Pawn caught him by the arm and yanked him back.

”You underestimated me. Against someone like me, you should have gone all out from the start. You should have used every item, every trick. Because once I close the distance, you’ve already lost.”

Crossing Pawn watched Yuanshi Tianzun fall toward him, summoned his pistol, pressed the barrel to his opponent’s abdomen, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunshots seemed to echo in the ears of every spectator. The arena fell silent. Many in the crowd were stunned by Crossing Pawn’s brutal close combat prowess.

The entire fight, start to finish, had lasted less than a minute. The lava had only erupted twice; the third eruption hadn’t even come. The monsters lurking in the magma below hadn’t appeared.

It was a complete upset. Crossing Pawn, ranked below Maoshan Warlock, had defeated Yuanshi Tianzun, and had won quickly.

If he found his opening and came prepared against a specialist like this, the result really could defy expectations.

After firing several rounds, Crossing Pawn frowned slightly. A thought flickered through his mind. Why hasn’t the referee called the match?

The question had barely taken shape when a sharp pain lanced through his back. A gleaming blade punched its way out from between his pectorals.

He looked down at the knife protruding from his chest, then slowly, stiffly, turned his head.

He saw another Yuanshi Tianzun standing right behind him.

”You lose.”

The voice came from behind him.

Zhang Yuanqing hadn’t used the Straw Doll. He hadn’t used the Thug’s Gauntlets either. Items weren’t meant to be whipped out and used in a chaotic flurry. When you had a solid plan, you followed the plan and deployed the right item at the right moment. That was the true path.

The core of his strategy was his new item, the Mirror Flower, Water Moon. That meant he had to look weak in the initial exchange. He needed to offer his opponent a subtle, plausible opening. Then, when Crossing Pawn believed victory was in hand, he would strike the killing blow.

Crossing Pawn specialized in perception, and had severe imbalances in his skill set. A fighter like that, once he found his opening, would commit to maximum output immediately. He would never risk a prolonged engagement. He had too many weaknesses, and letting the fight drag out meant giving the enemy opportunities.

Therefore, Zhang Yuanqing had been certain that once he offered one subtle, believable opening, Crossing Pawn would take the bait.

And so he had.

”You...”

”From the very beginning, the one you were fighting was never my real body.”

Crossing Pawn opened his mouth, and though fury and confusion flashed in his eyes, he chose silence in the end.

The victor took all. There was nothing left to say. He clutched his bleeding chest and crumpled to the ground in pain.

And then he saw it. The Yuanshi Tianzun in front of him, the one he had riddled with bullets, began to ripple like the reflection of a full moon on the surface of a lake. It distorted, shimmered, and dissolved into nothing.

The red-haired elder made his announcement.

”Yuanshi Tianzun wins!”