A Card In Hand

Chapter 53: You Must Survive!

It was Li Ao.

He stood upright in the depths of the large pit.

“Haven’t they taken him down yet?”

The newcomers couldn’t help but gasp.

Could it be that Li Ao was really a reincarnation of a great demon king? Was he truly unbeatable?

“Look closely!”

Chi Ming, the man with the Void Toad, was the first to notice something was amiss.

Everyone focused and felt a shiver run down their spine.

Li Ao remained in the pose of striking with his fists left and right.

Motionless.

He was completely encased in ice.

Despite being covered in frost, one could still see that half of his body was charred like charcoal.

Beneath the layer of ice, a faint golden layer of dragon flame silently penetrated and burned into his skin, not ceasing its destructive work.

There was a clear divide in the pit next to Li Ao.

One side was completely solidified with frost.

The other side was scorched red by flames, still radiating intense heat.

The attacks of Shuanghan and Huo Mei were effective.

Their innate powers, combined with the dragon flames and breaths of the two young dragons, had successfully scorched and frozen Li Ao.

“Good!”

Someone shouted in approval first, a cry that triggered an outpouring of excited emotions.

Instantly, the entire Stone Isles turned into a place of laughter and joy.

Acquaintances and strangers alike embraced each other, shouting and jumping in celebration of having taken down the great demon king, Li Ao.

Overcoming this adversary had nearly cost them their lives, but fortunately, with a united effort, they had finally defeated him!

Lie Feng learned of Li Ao’s defeat and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

He could no longer stand upright.

It should be known.

He had been forcing himself to keep going, having reached his limit long ago.

“Did we finally win?”

Feiyu’s face was so swollen that he could barely open his eyes.

He struggled to lift his head from the ground, listening carefully to the cheers from the Stone Isles.

At that moment, his silver-spotted falcon ‘Fei’er’ descended from the sky, bringing him a bottle of water.

Feiyu tried to take the water bottle and pull out the cork, but found he could hardly muster any strength.

He couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile.

In the end, it was the Silver-streaked Falcon that pecked open the cork for him. Feiyu took a few gulps of water, finally regaining some vitality, and his eyes opened slightly.

Not far away, the chubby Liuxing remained motionless.

Feiyu picked up a small stone and threw it at him: “Hey, Liuxing, are you dead?”

Buried in the rubble, Liuxing didn’t even lift his head, just muttered back, “You’re the one who’s dead!”

His battle pet, the chubby cat, also protested with a meow.

Feiyu let out a sigh of relief.

He laid down his head.

Relaxed.

Comfortably lying on the ground.

Suddenly, Feiyu remembered something funny and inexplicably burst into laughter.

The broken arena echoed with inexplicable laughter.

Feiyu was laughing, Lie Feng was laughing, and Qiu Ye, who was hanging in the sky with only a breath left, was also laughing.

Tie Zheng, who crawled out from the pile of rubble, laughed silently while shaking his head… Qian Nian and Cang Yue faced each other, laughing until tears streamed down their faces.

Qiqu, hanging upside down beneath the strange orb, was laughing.

Even Zao Chi, buried under the rocks and so swollen that his face was unrecognizable, was convulsively laughing in pain…

Zhao Kong reformed from his gelatinous state back into his human form.

He wasn’t supposed to laugh.

But still, bound by the Transparent Chain like a pig, the extremely weak Youjin cried out to him for help, and Zhao Kong couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Zhao Kong, what the hell are you laughing at? Help me out, I’m about to die!”

Youjin was very irritated.

“You’re not dead yet, are you?”

Zhao Kong said, continuing to laugh as he lay relaxedly on the ground.

“Help me get out of this!”

Youjin was furious. “Can you help me out before you sleep?”

“Not now,” Zhao Kong shook his head.

“Why not?”

Youjin was getting desperate.

“I’m busy right now…”

Zhao Kong was busy laughing, indulging in his laughter so much that his body shook with it, leaving Youjin utterly speechless.

Tie Zheng walked over to turn over Man Huang, who had fallen to the ground.

Just as he was about to offer aid, he noticed a slight smile on Man Huang’s lips and couldn’t help but give him a punch.

Man Huang weakly moved his fingers, finding himself unable to lift his hand. His lips trembled slightly, “Sorry, I got a bit melodramatic there, but that was honestly how I felt. I really thought I was going to die!”

Tie Zheng sat down next to him, waving his hand dismissively, “Remember this, we’ll settle the score next time!”

Shuanghan managed to stand up on his own, albeit slowly.

His knees were shaking.

Weakening.

Barely holding himself up.

Everyone knew that Shuanghan had pushed himself to the limit, but no one would mock his current weakness.

Without Shuanghan and Huo Mei, defeating the demon-like Li Ao would have been impossible.

Huo Mei fared slightly better; the Flame Thorn branches gently lowered her back to the ground.

Upon waking, her first act was not to check on the battle.

But her appearance.

Little Red Dragon Feier held up the Mysterious Mirror with her tiny claws, allowing Huo Mei to touch up her makeup, looking adorably obedient.

Ling Long and Yue Sha might have been the most relaxed people on the entire battlefield.

They were just a bit tired.

Unscathed.

Long Ying and Wu Ying no longer had the strength to stand, and Tang Guo, with a hint of hesitation, conjured a half-eaten Rainbow Candy with her pale jade fingers and handed it to them.

“I’ve eaten it…”

Tang Guo said with a shy smile towards Long Ying and Wu Ying.

“It’s fine.”

Long Ying didn’t mind and reached out to take it.

She tried to break the Rainbow Candy into two pieces.

Wu Ying waved his hand.

Shaking his head, “Long Ying, you eat it. I actually don’t like sweets much.”

Upon hearing that Wu Ying didn’t like sweets, Tang Guo immediately felt that he couldn’t be an ally of hers, her interest dwindling as she left to chat with Ling Long and Yue Sha.

In Tang Guo’s eyes, those who didn’t like sweets were heretics, and she didn’t want to speak with heretics like Wu Ying.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow…

Just as everyone was cheering and celebrating.

Suddenly, a person began to cry disruptively, sobbing bitterly with tears streaming down his face.

Everyone focused their gaze.

And then they realized.

It was Li Ao’s boss, Fuxi.

Whether Fuxi was actually Li Ao’s boss was unclear to everyone, but it was certain that they had a good relationship, having come from the same family and region, and they were closely related by blood.

Everyone considered Li Ao to be a great demon king, thinking about how to defeat him.

Fuxi was the exception.

“No! Don’t die, little Li Ao! Woah, what will I do if you die? How can I go back and face Aunt Water Buffalo?”

“Didn’t you say you could borrow my unbeatable luck to defeat the enemy? Why didn’t you borrow it?”

“Didn’t you say I have a vast amount of luck?”

“Borrow it!”

“I am willing to lend it to you, as long as you can survive, I am willing to lend you as much as you need, I won’t keep any for myself, I’ll lend it all to you, you must come back to life!”

“Little Li Ao, don’t die, I didn’t mean to kill you, I was just impulsive and rushed to the platform, I really didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“I was wrong, okay? I know I was wrong, please come back, will you? I’m begging you!”

“I’m begging you, please come back!”

“Wooaaah…”

“What do I need to do for you to live again? Tell me, just tell me!”

As Fuxi cried more and more sorrowfully, he impulsively leaped from the Stone Isles, tumbling and scrambling toward the deep pit where Li Ao was.

Watching Fuxi’s disheveled and desperate figure, the newcomers fell silent instead of mocking him. Some wanted to catch up to Fuxi, to stop him from collapsing further, but someone immediately advised, “Let him go!”

Fuxi stood at the edge of the deep pit.

Watching the frozen Li Ao standing silently at the bottom, Fuxi held his head and knelt in despair at the edge of the pit: “No!”

Recalling the moment he rushed onto the platform, Li Ao’s stunned hesitation and his act of diverting the rock shockwave, Fuxi was overwhelmed with regret. He couldn’t help but pound his head and face with his fists, and slapped himself hard: “It’s all my fault! All my fault! I’m such an idiot! I deserve to die! Little Li Ao, it was me who harmed you, it was me… Why did I rush onto the platform? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have ended up like this…”

“Li Ao! You didn’t have to do that, I didn’t mean it…”

“I didn’t know it would turn out like this, I didn’t know…”

“Don’t die, wuuuaaah…”

“Wuah…”

In his despair, Fuxi beat himself into a mess, but even such actions could not diminish the remorse deep in his heart.

He hated his own stupidity, knowing his identity was different from others, yet because he was hot-blooded, he foolishly rushed onto the platform with others, causing Li Ao’s mind to waver and fall victim to an instant sneak attack by Shuanghan and Huo Mei.

If not for him, Li Ao would still be an invincible great demon lord, unshakable by anyone!

It was he who had killed his young cousin!

Regretful Fuxi.

He truly wished he could kill himself immediately!

Tie Zheng slowly approached Fuxi, extending his hand, trying to offer some comfort.

But Fuxi brushed away Tie Zheng’s hand abruptly, leapt up, and shouted down at the silently standing Li Ao with a tearing cry: “You fool, why did you let me win? I’ve always bullied you since we were kids, never acting like a good boss for a single day, yet you took it seriously, is there anyone as foolish as you in this world? I didn’t want you to let me win, fool, why didn’t you kill me on the platform? Did I ask you to let me win? I didn’t! Aren’t you the ruthless great demon lord? Why did you do this? You fool!”

“I don’t need you to be like this, I want you to be that ruthless great demon lord! That’s who you are! This isn’t you! This isn’t you!”

“Aren’t you supposed to crush us with one hand? Aren’t you invincible?”

“Why are you still down there?”

“Li Ao, get up!”

“I won’t allow you to die, I haven’t approved your death, did you hear that? If Li Ao is to die, it should be by this boss’s hand, I haven’t made a move so you don’t get to die! You have to come back to life for me!”

Crying and cursing, Fuxi suddenly became agitated.

He rushed down into the deep pit.

Stumbling.

Tears streaming down his twisted face.

He raised his fists towards the completely ice-covered Li Ao, punching over and over: “You come back to life, no one but me is allowed to kill you! If you have to die, you first have to come back to life then die! Do you hear me, Li Ao I won’t allow you to die, you have to come back to life!”

Li Ao, completely covered in ice, remained motionless, Fuxi’s hands broke, fresh blood staining the ice.

Li Ao’s chest was soaked red.

Fuxi kept punching.

Punch after punch.

He had completely lost sense of pain.

Crack! Suddenly, a slight crack appeared on the icy surface covering Li Ao…