The Red Diamond King

“Big brother, where did you hang out before?” the Red Diamond King asked eagerly as he fled, desperately trying to ingratiate himself. “It’s not easy out there—fellow wanderers from the same land should look out for each other!”

Xiao Chen gave silent chase, his bone blade probing forward to land a firm slap on the man’s pelvis. The Red Diamond King yelped and leaped high.

“Easy, big brother! Countrymen meeting countrymen—we should be crying tears of joy! Can’t we talk this out? Why so violent?” It was clear this Red Diamond King had personality. Though he kept up his chatter, he never slowed. His jade-like red bones flashed through the moonlit night like a bolt of scarlet lightning, dazzling to behold.

“Where in the Nine Provinces are you from? What era were you born in?” Xiao Chen pursued at a steady pace.

Seeing Xiao Chen finally willing to talk, the Red Diamond King replied, “I’m from Jingzhou. As for when I was born, that’s long been swept away by the wind. No memory.” Even as he answered, he dared not slow down.

“What sort of person were you in life? How did you come to this world?” Xiao Chen was curious about the fellow’s origins. After all, he had fallen from the Demon Well, and everyone devoured by that well was no ordinary figure.

“Ah, the past is like smoke, the past is like wind. Best not to speak of it.” Saying this, the fellow actually shook his head with a tone of profound melancholy.

Seeing how insufferably smug he was, Xiao Chen said nothing. His bone blade glowed faintly yellow, and he smacked the flat of the blade against the man’s backside.

Terrified, the Red Diamond King jumped and bounded like a red bolt tearing through the night, but the blow still landed squarely. He howled, “Easy, big brother! We’re civilized men—heroes use words, not fists!”

Hearing this only irritated Xiao Chen further. When they first met, this guy had stood coolly on the cliff, striking a pose of peerless mastery, radiating kingly aura in every direction. Now he wanted to talk about civilization? He deserved a good thrashing.

“I give, big brother! Whatever you say, just stop hitting me!” the Red Diamond King finally pleaded, thoroughly beaten. “The past is like smoke, long scattered on the wind. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you—I really can’t remember. I only know I came from the Mortal World.”

Xiao Chen kept up the chase and resumed the beating.

The Red Diamond King fled with his head in his hands. When the blows became too much, he would spin around and exchange a few clashes with Xiao Chen, then flee again.

The two circled the area like intertwined beams of light. Night was the active time for fire-seed creatures, and the auras of these two powerhouses sent countless skeletal beings trembling and fleeing in panic.

“What the hell! Tune to kill a fish! I’m done running!” The Red Diamond King was finally cornered. He dropped into a pose that made Xiao Chen speechless: one knee on the ground, bone blade pointing at the sky, head thrown back in a long sigh. “Heaven envies the gifted! A prodigy of my caliber, fallen like this! O heavens, send thunder! Send rain! Send wind! Let the whole world weep and mourn for me!”

This guy was quite something. Xiao Chen watched with interest. “If you want to live, speak your origins plainly. Otherwise, you know the consequences.”

“I weep… Big brother, I really have forgotten the past. I only know I’m from the Nine Provinces.”

Xiao Chen glared at him, bone blade in hand. “Nonsense. If you remember being from the Nine Provinces, how could you forget your origins?”

“Big brother, I swear I’m not lying. I only remember I was from Jingzhou. It seems I was sucked into a ruined underground city by an ancient lamp, died some obscure death, and when I woke up, I was here.” The Red Diamond King then resumed his smug tone. “Someone like me must have been a prodigy in life. To die so stupidly is truly infuriating.”

The fellow was impossibly vain. Xiao Chen felt like thrashing him again.

But he was also somewhat surprised. He had seen nine ancient lamps before—they had been unearthed because of him—and he had seen deep underground beneath each lamp’s rising point a ruined city. (Of course, Yongzhou was the exception—the Dead City beneath it was intact.)

“Stop blathering. Speak the truth, or I’ll dismantle you.”

“Big brother, what do I have to say for you to believe me?”

The Red Diamond King explained himself a hundred times, but Xiao Chen didn’t believe a word. In the end, they faced each other with blades again.

“No choice. We’ll have to fight it out. If I don’t take you apart, you won’t give up hope.”

“Tune to kill a fish! Even a clay doll has some temper. If I don’t get angry, you won’t know I have three eyes!” The Red Diamond King howled and charged.

Once more, the two red diamond experts clashed.

Their bone blades tore through the night. Snow-white blade-light surged like white waves. The ground beneath them cracked and split. Whenever they encountered boulders, bone piles, or other obstacles, a single sword-stroke reduced them to dust.

A battle between powerhouses of this level was rare in these borderlands. Fire-seed creatures fled far away, not daring to approach.

Their combat prowess was nearly equal; the Red Diamond King was indeed a formidable opponent for Xiao Chen. But after several hundred exchanges, the Red Diamond King was finally overpowered and thrown to the ground.

Clatter, crack, snap.

Xiao Chen dismantled him cleanly—not breaking his red diamond bones, but disassembling them at the joints into a pile of scattered bones.

Looking at the gleaming skull atop the pile, Xiao Chen tapped his bone blade on it. “Speak. One last chance.”

The Red Diamond King’s voice came tearfully. “Big brother, I really have forgotten the past. Fellow wanderers from the same land, why must we meet as enemies? We both come from the Nine Provinces. We shouldn’t fight!”

“Enough chatter. If you don’t speak, I’ll take your skull apart.” Xiao Chen pressed the bone blade against the red skull.

“O heavens! O earth! Heaven is unjust! Heaven envies the gifted! A prodigy is about to fall! Alas, alas…”

“Stop your ghostly wailing. Speak quickly.”

The Red Diamond King swore by heaven, voice tearful. “Is it easy for me? Out of ten million fire-seed creatures, how many can recall their past? That I can remember anything at all is already something.”

“How is it that I could recall my entire past so quickly? I think you’re clearly hiding something.”

“Big brother, are you some kind of monster? In this world of the dead, almost no one can understand their past life. Even a genius like me only recalled a little.”

Xiao Chen realized this guy was not just vain but dangerously narcissistic. Even with his life on the line, he still struck poses.

“I really am not lying. If I were, I’d just make up a story, wouldn’t I?”

Xiao Chen had beaten him for half the night, and the fellow was on the verge of collapse. It seemed he truly had forgotten the past, knowing only that he had been sucked into an underground ruin by an ancient lamp, died an obscure death, and ended up here.

Seeing that Xiao Chen didn’t seem intent on killing him, the Red Diamond King showered him with flattery. “Big brother, you are the beacon of darkness, showing me the way forward! Little brother will follow you from now on. I won’t leave even if you beat me to death!”

Though the skeleton had no flesh, Xiao Chen still felt a shiver of revulsion. This guy really knew how to show off.

“I haven’t said I’ll spare your life yet.”

“A countryman is a countryman! The waters of home are sweet! Fellow wanderers, tears of joy! Big brother, we can’t be strangers. From now on, you are my family!”

Thump.

Xiao Chen felt the fellow was too glib. He rapped him on the skull with the flat of his bone blade.

“Big brother, don’t kill me! When a genius dies, even heaven weeps. If you want fire seeds, little brother will get them for you. Killing fire-seed creatures of the same rank is as easy as reaching into a pouch for a genius like us!” The Red Diamond King was genuinely afraid of the blade hanging over his head. Eager to prove his worth, he added, “Three hundred li from here is a huge ancient castle with three fire-seed creatures of our rank. I came to this region tonight for them. I’ll take their fire seeds for you, big brother!”

It was rare to encounter a fellow undead with true human thought. Xiao Chen was reluctant to kill him. Finally, he reassembled him. “Don’t try any tricks, or you know the consequences.”

“From now on, I’ll follow big brother. Wherever your blade points, little brother will charge!”

“Good. My blade points to that giant castle three hundred li away.”

“Your blade points fast,” the Red Diamond King muttered under his breath.

“What are you mumbling?”

“Nothing! Wherever big brother points, little brother will charge and kill!” With that, he grabbed his bone blade and flew ahead. He thought about running, but a glance back showed Xiao Chen following unhurriedly. Crestfallen, he gave up.

After traveling about three hundred li, a massive ancient castle loomed ahead. It was eerie and terrifying, like a colossal primeval beast.

The black iron gates bore two ghastly skulls on the copper rings, and on either side of the gate sat two huge white-bone lions, making the towering castle even more sinister.

“Quite the show-off,” the Red Diamond King said. He picked up one of the bone lions and hurled it at the gate with a loud crash. “Anyone alive in there? Send two or three out!”

Xiao Chen stood behind, holding his bone blade. “You’re shouting like that. You’ll warn them.”

“If I were facing a higher-rank expert, sure, I’d sneak up on him. But for geniuses like us, we reign supreme at the same rank. Killing three or five of our peers is no big deal.” He laughed. “We face them with the bearing of kings.”

What a scoundrel, Xiao Chen thought to himself. He’d have to watch his back, or this bastard might sneak-attack him.

“Roar…” A terrifying roar came from the castle.

“Roar all you want. The king of reckoning has arrived!” The Red Diamond King kicked the gate open and charged inside.

Many fire-seed creatures rushed out. Though the Red Diamond King joked with Xiao Chen, he was no slouch in a real fight. His bone blade swept in all directions, shattering bones and sending the creatures fleeing in fear.

He plunged deeper, unstoppable. He seemed to know the castle’s layout well, clearly an experienced hand at storming such places.

“A tiger in the mountain, a monkey calls himself king. The genius king has arrived!” He swept all before him, striding into the castle’s depths. His crystalline red bones shone with a holy light, making him seem for a moment a true monarch.

“Roar…” The roars drew closer. Three powerful fire-seed creatures howled in, borne on a gale.

On the left was a giant scorpion pieced together from white bones. On the right was a skeletal giant ten meters tall. In the middle was a humanoid creature with rotting wings, of normal height.

“Hey, a female Death Angel,” the Red Diamond King whistled at the winged creature. “Hey there, sweetheart, give your big brother a smile!”

The three powerful fire-seed creatures were stunned by his words.

“You’re asking for death!” The Death Angel raged, spreading her rotting wings and charging with a gust of wind.

Wham!

The Red Diamond King sent her flying with a single sword-stroke. She flapped her wings frantically, black mist swirling around her. A purple diamond spear appeared in her hand, glowing with dreamlike light, and she shot forward like purple lightning.

The bone blade and the purple diamond spear clashed repeatedly. The two figures moved like phantoms, colliding a hundred times in an instant. In the end, the Death Angel was sent flying again.

“A woman should be gentle,” the Red Diamond King said casually, striding forward.

The Death Angel, the Bone Scorpion, and the Skeletal Giant stood side by side. The three powerful fire-seed creatures sensed trouble.

It was rare to see colored-diamond creatures. Now that two terrifying Red Diamond Kings had joined forces and attacked their castle, they knew the odds were against them. But they weren’t afraid—they had reached their current level by climbing over the bones of countless fire-seed creatures. They were long past fearing destruction.

“Break out!”

The Death Angel took flight, about to escape. The Bone Scorpion and Skeletal Giant also turned to flee.

Swish.

Xiao Chen moved like a red bolt of lightning, faster than thought. He leaped into the air and brought his bone blade down in a diagonal slash. The Death Angel’s rotting wings were severed.

She plummeted. Xiao Chen landed and stepped back, bone blade held ready.

The Red Diamond King had almost charged in at the same moment but was surprised that Xiao Chen had struck first.

“Big brother, how could you be so ruthless as to destroy a flower? I wanted to capture the perfect angel!”

Xiao Chen ignored him. What a strange obsession.

The Red Diamond King shook his head and lamented, “A genius like me deserves a soulmate by his side. Perfect angels are hard to find, and when I finally meet one, you cripple her. Don’t look at me like that—soulmates need to be nurtured slowly. Someday, when we transform into beings of flesh and blood, you’ll see how beautiful a raised beauty can be.”

This fellow’s tongue was sharp, but every time he spoke, Xiao Chen felt a chill of revulsion.

“Aren’t you going to chase them? They’re gone.”

“Don’t worry, big brother. They can’t escape.” The Red Diamond King turned into a beam of light and plunged into the castle depths. Soon, rumbling sounds came, and the castle began to collapse.

Xiao Chen strode forward with his bone blade.

The three fire-seed creatures were powerful, but against the Red Diamond King, even fighting together, they couldn’t prevail.

The Red Diamond King stopped holding back. His bone blade moved like wind and lightning, unleashing a thousand sword-shadows.

The majestic castle collapsed around him with each stroke, the power behind the blade terrifying. With one slash, the ground cracked and stones flew.

Crack!

The Bone Scorpion was severed.

Crash!

The Skeletal Giant fell apart.

Finally, the bone blade swung diagonally, and the Death Angel was also dispatched.

A complete victory!

The Red Diamond King wasn’t boasting—he had fought all three alone and finished the battle in just over a hundred moves.

Xiao Chen used his bone blade to pick up the giant’s skull and began to absorb the fire seed within.

Divine flames leaped and danced. Purifying a fire seed of the same rank was not difficult, and it took only a short time.

Soon, an even more powerful aura burst forth. Brilliant light illuminated the entire eerie castle. Xiao Chen’s red diamond bone body glowed like fiery jade, radiating boundless divine splendor.

Under the night sky, he looked like a blood-red sun. Fire-seed creatures for dozens of li around felt an overwhelming pressure and knelt trembling in that direction.

“Roar…” Xiao Chen couldn’t help but throw his head back and roar. Terrifying spiritual fluctuations swept in all directions.

The number thirty was complete. He had successfully advanced! His power had surged dramatically.

The Red Diamond King witnessed everything and said tearfully, “Heaven envies the gifted… Wuwu…” Seeing Xiao Chen advance, he knew there was no hope of escape. He slumped, utterly defeated.

Xiao Chen paid him no attention. His gaze turned into the distance. He was ready to descend to the Mortal World once more!

Last time, when he advanced and condensed a true body in the Nine Provinces, he could maintain it for about the span of five breaths. Now, if he returned through the Bone Well, his true body would surely last much longer.

Unstoppable!

This time, he would revisit the Mortal World and meet his old acquaintances again!