Chapter Sixty-Eight: Starry Night

The boy’s abdomen did not gush blood.
But this did not mean he was unharmed.
The remnant power of the Starlit Dawn still rampaged within him; it took almost all of Su Ziye’s strength just to suppress it.
So in the instant the Starlit Dawn struck, Su Ziye was utterly powerless to intervene.
“Are you serious?” The Mountain Master turned to look at Su Ziye, his expression still calm and unruffled.
The Starlit Dawn had just vanished completely before him—no matter how she had managed it, the fact remained she had done so.
That terrifying girl could no longer interfere with what happened here. In other words, it was all over.
Only, someone had just died, irrevocably.
The most dreadful thing about the Starlit Dawn was that her attacks were always fatal. Unless one’s power had reached a certain level, even the slightest wound she inflicted led to swift and irreversible death.
“She has already killed a Prince of Ster—your own brother,” the Mountain Master continued, gazing at Su Ziye. “Even so, do you still intend to forgive what she has done?”
“She has killed many before,” Su Ziye replied, pressing his hand to his abdomen as he met the Mountain Master’s eyes calmly. “If we let her go today, she’ll kill many more in the future.”
“If you truly do not wish me to kill her, I can imprison her for now,” the Mountain Master went on. “We have all witnessed her strength today. Yet even so, she is far from fully mature as a weapon. When that day comes, I fear even I will become her prey. I know you want to control her, but that is nearly impossible.”
“Then why am I still alive?” Su Ziye asked quietly, his gaze steady on the Mountain Master.
The Mountain Master studied Su Ziye in silence.
“In that confrontation just now, had it continued, I would have been the one killed,” Su Ziye went on. “Yet in the end, she chose not to go through with it—she gave up the chance to kill me.”
“Perhaps she simply judged you the most difficult to deal with here, and entangling with you would be a waste of time. After all, for a weapon, every action is just a matter of calculation,” the Mountain Master tried to persuade him.
“Let her live. Let her return to Star City,” Su Ziye said.
“Even now?”
“Even now,” Su Ziye affirmed with a nod.
The Mountain Master finally let out a long sigh. “She seems to be your only weakness in this world.”
“You could always try to erase that weakness for me,” Su Ziye replied evenly.
The Mountain Master chuckled. “I have no interest in that.”
As he spoke, the Mountain Master’s form slowly faded from the air.

Su Ziye watched the Mountain Master vanish, saying nothing.
Only when he could no longer sense any trace of the man did he finally collapse forward.
Crimson blood welled from his abdomen, pooling rapidly on the ground.
“Su Ziye!”
Liu Ru rushed over, trying to lift him up.
It was only then that she realized the man who had seemed so impossibly strong just moments before now felt as limp as a heap of mud in her arms.
“Wake up! If you don’t wake up, I don’t know what else I can do!” Liu Ru cradled Su Ziye, lightly patting his pale cheeks in an effort to rouse him.
His face was ashen, but under her urging, he let out a long breath. “Don’t worry, I won’t die.”
“What should I do now?” Liu Ru asked in confusion.
Su Ziye managed a faint smile in her arms. “I won’t tell you—let’s see if you can figure it out on your own.”
Even now, there was not a hint of anxiety in Su Ziye.
During the confrontation with the Mountain Master, his body had been at its limit, yet he had forced himself not to spill a single drop of blood.
After all, when facing a beast of prey, all weakness must be hidden away.
Liu Ru bit her lip gently.
She reached down and touched the pool of blood. Instantly, the vivid red liquid flowed along her fingers and into her body.
Su Ziye’s blood was imbued with powerful energy; even though it did not reveal the intensity or hue of divine blood, it was still immensely precious.
Having reached the pinnacle of the Material Realm, Liu Ru could now manipulate such forces with ease—a first step into the superhuman domain.
After dealing with the blood on the ground, she hoisted Su Ziye effortlessly onto her back, then paused before the patch of ice and rubble that Xiye had left behind.
She did not ask Su Ziye what to do next, but simply gazed calmly at the scene. The Starlit Dawn’s power was so fearsome that within the undissolved ice and debris, traces of human tissue could still be seen. Her power seemed to have utterly destroyed the human body, and it was impossible to know when the ice would finally melt.
If this was the final fate of an imperial prince, then it was truly a bleak and pitiful end.
She thought then of Su Ziye on her back, and of herself.
Had anything gone the slightest bit differently tonight, she too would have met such a fate.
At last, Liu Ru bowed silently to the ice and rubble, Su Ziye on her back, then departed without a backward glance.

The safest place in this city was, in truth, none other than the residence of the Third Prince.
After all that had happened, Liu Ru found herself reaffirming this truth.
She had been brought in by Su Ziye, but to leave, she needed only to gently push open the door.
Outside, the sky was strewn with stars, and Carlotus waited quietly by the entrance.
“I’m truly glad to see you both come out,” Carlotus said with a smile, though there was no joy in his tone.
“Thank you,” Liu Ru replied quietly to the Student Council President.
“Why thank me? It’s not as if I helped at all,” Carlotus continued, still smiling.
“Just by standing here, you’ve helped more than enough,” Liu Ru answered calmly, then continued on with Su Ziye on her back.
If the Bingshan Villa was one world, then stepping outside of it was another.
Carlotus had waited here all along, both to see who would emerge victorious and to offer his protection, which in itself guaranteed safety.
After tonight’s ordeal, Liu Ru finally formed an initial understanding of Carlotus’s position in the vast food chain that was Nightleaf City.
Above her, the stars shone bright. Su Ziye, on her back, was lighter than she’d imagined.
It was not until she stood outside the Third Prince’s residence that Liu Ru finally exhaled in relief.
“I always thought I would die tonight. Or rather, that I should have been the one to die,” Liu Ru murmured to herself.
Were it not for the Mountain Master’s near-constant protection, she would have been dead already.
Before the Starlit Dawn, both she and Xiye had been, in a strange way, equal.
“Only those who survive are qualified to say that,” came a faint voice from Su Ziye, nearly unconscious on her back. “I told you, once this was over, I’d teach you a new game.”
“Now I can tell you its name.”
“Western chess.”