Chapter 319: 323. Nemesis in Destiny
Du Ruxue opened her eyes, still somewhat confused: “Am I dead?”
“Yeah, both of us are dead.”
Fang Zhou sighed at her: “You were beaten to death by General Yaksha, and I was just passing by and got killed too. Talk about injustice.”
Du Ruxue’s eyes looked vacant as if she couldn’t quite process everything.
Fang Zhou thought she actually believed him and slapped her face twice: “Wake up, don’t fall asleep.”
Du Ruxue pushed Fang Zhou’s hand away, struggled to sit up, leaned against the wall, and said to Fang Zhou: “Did you save me?”
She had already recognized Fang Zhou, mainly by the mask on his face. Not long ago, he had sneaked into the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night for some unknown reason, and she had chased him away.
Upon hearing Du Ruxue’s words, Fang Zhou retorted dryly: “If it wasn’t me who saved you, then did General Yaksha suddenly have a change of heart, put down the butcher’s knife, and ascend on the spot?”
Du Ruxue said softly: “Consider it a life I owe you.”
Fang Zhou curiously asked: “You went all out because you owed Qiao Zhi, the Emperor, a favor, so how will you repay a life you owe me?”
Du Ruxue suddenly laughed: “The debt of gratitude was just an excuse; she had once saved my life, and now I’m repaying her life-saving grace.”
Fang Zhou suddenly understood why she had fought so desperately earlier.
Du Ruxue surveyed her surroundings and curiously asked: “What is this place?”
She found herself and Fang Zhou within a rectangular passageway with corners in every direction—up, down, left, right, front, and back—the walls and floor were smooth, clearly man-made.
Interestingly, despite the lack of light, she could clearly see her surroundings.
Fang Zhou didn’t elaborate much: “General Yaksha is also trapped here, but don’t worry, she can’t find us for now.”
Du Ruxue turned her head to look at him: “Are you so sure?”
Fang Zhou was very confident: “Of course, if she can find us, I’ll perform a handstand spiral while eating shit.”
She tried to imagine it but couldn’t picture what kind of position a handstand spiral while eating shit would be.
“Then let’s quickly get out of here.”
Du Ruxue struggled to get up.
But Fang Zhou reached out and pushed her back down: “Don’t rush, I need to have a life-and-death showdown with General Yaksha, and I’ll need your help.”
Du Ruxue was a little surprised, then sighed bitterly: “I’m severely injured now and can’t help you much. Even if I were at full strength, just the two of us can’t beat her, the gap between Foundation Establishment and Innate is too big.”
Fang Zhou explained: “I don’t expect you to fight. Haven’t you already touched the threshold of Innate? Just share your experience and insights with me.”
Du Ruxue was still a bit confused, but soon she understood.
She looked Fang Zhou up and down with a curious and incredulous expression, as if looking at a fool: “You’re planning to advance to Innate here?”
Fang Zhou was displeased by her look: “What, do you look down on me? How could someone as handsome and elegant as me not be capable of achieving Innate?”
This was the only way Fang Zhou could think of. The gap between Foundation Establishment and Innate was just too large.
None of Fang Zhou’s skills could affect General Yaksha; he couldn’t harm her at all. Against such a vast power disparity, no strategy would work.
Only by meeting force with force, by striking her head-on, could he possibly defeat her.
Upon hearing Fang Zhou’s declaration, Du Ruxue couldn’t help but chuckle: “This isn’t about looks.”
It’s not that she underestimated Fang Zhou, but advancing to Innate was indeed very difficult.
If progressing from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment was a small hill, then beginning from Innate required scaling a lofty, cloud-piercing mountain.
Each subsequent level was a mountain higher and more perilous than the last.
Many cultivators might take just a few years to go from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment, but advancing from Foundation Establishment to Innate could take decades, with many never even touching that single thread of Innate Mechanism in their lifetime.
Even with Du Ruxue’s strong talent, she had been stuck at Foundation Establishment for nearly ten years, with no prospect of advancing to Innate in sight.
That Fang Zhou actually claimed he would advance to Innate here—no wonder Du Ruxue gave him that look as if he were a fool.
It was like standing at the base of a ten-thousand-meter-high mountain, pointing at the summit and saying he’d climb it to have tea by afternoon; unless a miracle occurred, it was laughable.
Yet, Fang Zhou was quite discontent with Du Ruxue’s pessimism; he said: “Have you heard the saying, if you have half a glass of water, a pessimist will say I have only half a glass of water left, an optimist will say I still have half a glass of water, but a genius will pee in it to fill the glass.”
Du Ruxue had never heard of such a strange saying, dumbfoundedly asked: “Are you saying you’re a genius?”
“No, I’m a water seller.”
Fang Zhou confidently stated: “If you have only half a glass of water, don’t assume others are the same as you. For all you know, they might have a reservoir at home. Besides, if you don’t push yourself, you’ll never know what you’re capable of. Try, and you might succeed or fail. Don’t try, and you’ll certainly fail. Do you understand what I mean?”
After a few bowls of such “chicken soup for the soul,” Du Ruxue suddenly found Fang Zhou’s words to make so much sense that she couldn’t argue.
“Fine, I’ll help you, but if things can’t be done, we need to immediately find a way to leave.”
Du Ruxue had no choice but to agree with Fang Zhou, though her attitude was still quite perfunctory; she was sure Fang Zhou could not possibly advance to Innate in such a short time; it was just a waste of time.
Du Ruxue felt like she was sacrificing to keep a gentleman company, wasting precious escape time, just hoping General Yaksha wouldn’t find them so soon.
Fang Zhou snapped his fingers, then pulled out the gourd and aimed it at Du Ruxue: “I’ll take you to a new place; don’t resist.”
With severe injuries, Du Ruxue couldn’t resist; she curiously looked at the gourd and was then sucked in.
Fang Zhou found a dead-end in the maze to hide the gourd, then entered the gourd space to awaken Du Ruxue.
Du Ruxue looked around the gourd space world in shock and quickly realized it was from the gourd in Fang Zhou’s hand.
This shocked her even more; there were plenty of Magic Treasures that could absorb people, but one that contained a small world inside was rare indeed.
Fang Zhou did not recklessly tell Du Ruxue about the time flow comparison between the gourd space and the real world; he only said they had two months to cultivate.
The maze lasted for 48 hours, which is two days, which meant that Fang Zhou could spend two months inside the gourd.
He wasn’t just talking big without knowing anything; he had fully considered various conditions.
Time, experience, skills, medicinal assistance, and so on were all within consideration, enough for him to have a try.
Looking at Fang Zhou filled with confidence, an unbelievable thought suddenly arose in Du Ruxue’s mind.
Could a miracle really happen?