Chapter 512: Island of Devil’s Maw (18)
The sound of Geppo exploded consistently as a shadow flew at high speed through the swamp. Since he had spent much longer time than he expected communicating with the Lotus Soul, Feng Bujue had to speed up. Using his memory, he returned to the edge of the mocking forest and successfully found the trail of footprints left behind by his other teammates. Then he hurried down the trail and reached the edge of the swamp. At that moment, there were only 22 minutes left to the end of the time limit for the main quest.
“Hey, hey… what is this…” When Feng Bujue walked to the edge of the swamp, he saw something strange at the stone path before him—four black human-shaped stains. “No way…” Even though he could not see it clearly from where he was standing, Brother Jue already had a bad feeling in his heart. With a beating heart, Brother Jue walked down the stone path. He hurried to the stains and lowered his head to look. From this distance, he could finally confirm that… these four stains were respectively Uncle Worthless, Pegasus, Ambitionist and Atobe.
“What kind of kinky play is this?” Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes to say, “They covered themselves in ink and then stamped themselves on the ground to leave a reminder?” He soon vetoed that thought. “Em… that’s not right. These four stains are like their cut outs, the edges are too smooth and there are not one single black ink around. They are not 2d character from a cartoon. Even if they are completely soaked in ink, they wouldn’t be able to make such clean imprint…”
At this point, Brother Jue knelt down and prepared to reach out to touch the stain to inspect them further. But at that moment… a gale howled through and a shadow slithered past him. With lightning reflex, Feng Bujue kicked underneath him and leaped up the slope (going down the slope would reach back to the swamp) and drew himself away from the unknown threat. In that instant, Death Poker materialized in his hands and was ready to go.
“He He… you are also not bad physically.” A shrill tone said. Brother Jue turned around and locked his gaze on the enemy. It was a… black, immaterial, giant palm.
“Oh? ‘also’ not bad?” Feng Bujue replied calmly, it was as if meeting a giant shadowy hand was an everyday thing for him. “That means that… you have already met quite a few of the others who were not bad physically as well.”
Brother Jue’s choice of words was flawless, he did not point out who these ‘others’ were and he did not clarify his relationship with them. He merely made a reasonable assumption from the thing’s one sentence and used it to fish for more information.
“They are on the ground…” The black hand used a finger to point at the stains on the ground. Then laughter came from the centre of the palm. “Ha ha… you will soon join them. Hue hue… I can give you the chance to strike a pose if you like.”
“Qie… so they have all been defeated…” Feng Bujue glanced at the four on the ground and said to himself. “But… they are still alive in the game menu so there should be a method to restore them…”
“Why? Are you too afraid to speak already?” The black hand pushed.
…
“You are the ‘Sealing Hand’ right?” When Feng Bujue asked that question, his expression turned severe, proving that… he started to treat this seriously.
“Ha! Traveller from another world, you know of me?” The Sealing Hand laughed. Of course, Feng Bujue did not know this thing… but Brother Jue did get quite a bit of information from the Lotus Soul so now he knew there were four guards on the Island of Devil’s Maw. They were the hand, the eye, the heart and the soul. And this hand would be the Sealing Hand.
“Hmph… Of course, i know of you…” Bluffing was Feng Bujue’s natural talent. Once he heard that his guess was correct, he continued with a scoff, “I also know that… you group of guards are actually not that powerful but each of you have a type of special power.” He pointed at the ground. “Those four… were sealed into the ground because they fell for your little trick, didn’t they?” This was yet another leading question. Brother Jue pretended he knew about the enemy’s background and showed pride and condescension from it and used that to anger the enemy. Actually… he had no idea what the respective power of the four guards were. It was not that Lotus Soul didn’t want to tell, she did not know them either.
“Little tricks?” The Sealing Hand’s shrill tone got even shriller. “That is such presumptuous words from a fool like yourself.” At this point, the thing turned its body (well the hand) around to flip Brother Jue off. “In that case, I shall show you… my little trick.”
“Sure~ I am in the mood to be entertained.” Feng Bujue mocked. At the moment, Brother Jue’s Stamina Points and Sorcery Points were almost empty. After using Flying Dragon Fist, Kamekameha and lots of Geppo consecutively, his body was tired. If he got into a normal fight with the enemy, he had perhaps less than 50 percent chance of winning. Furthermore… Uncle Worthless’ group was a good group of fighter themselves, and if they had lost, how could Feng Bujue win this fight alone?
Obviously, to win this guard, the normal way was not going to work.
“If you wish to do this the wicked way…” Brother Jue curled up his lips and scanned the hand with malicious intent. “I am willing to play along.”
“Ha! I will make you eat your words in a minute!” The Sealing Hand hissed and slammed itself against the ground. The next second, the space around them stalled. A mist like shadow circled up the hand and the man, creating a column like space.
“Hue Hue… Welcome to… the zone of rock paper scissors!” The palm of the Sealing Hand laughed wickedly.
“Ah?” Feng Bujue sighed and continued weakly. “So it is this kind of special power?” He sneered with derision and gave the hand a side eye. “And I was expecting something more technical like a stick dancing or something…”
“What is that…” The Sealing Hand’s presence was washed away immediately and its tone was filled with confusion and annoyance.
“A style of dance of course.” Feng Bujue shrugged.
“I have only heard of pole dancing…” The Sealing Hand replied.
“No, that is prepared for someone with a body.” Feng Bujue argued. “For you… you need to find a stick and then several barrels of lube…”
“What kind of dance is that? And how is that considered technical! Stop talking nonsense! Enough already!” The Sealing Hand roared to interrupt.
“As only a right hand, your self awareness sure is laughably juvenile…” Feng Bujue raised his right hand with severity, his hand taking the shape of a fire. “Hmph… you are like someone who stood knee-deep in water but claim that you have seen the ocean. You are the real fool here…” He slowly changed his hand gesture and lifted his middle finger. “Before this God’s hand, you do not even have the right to flip people off!”
“In a way, you are indeed a kind of god…” Even the Sealing Hand could not help being influenced by Feng Bujue’s sarcasm. “To take on such a passionate, ridiculous and arrogant attitude… and say and do these salacious words and actions like they are nothing…”
“Hah… Save the groan of the loser until after the match is over.” Feng Bujue swung his arm, “Come on! It’s just a round of rock paper scissors, ain’t it?”
Seeing the man had stopped talking nonsense, The Sealing Hand scoffed and led the topic back. “Hmph… don’t need to hurry, this obviously is not a normal game of rock paper scissors. For the sake of fairness, before we start, I will explain the rules.”
“Oh… So your power will not take effect when the other party does not know the rules, is it?” Feng Bujue pointed out directly.
“Shush!” When it was exposed, the Sealing Hand turned its embarrassment into anger. “if you do not wish to listen, then we can just while away like this! There is no way to escape this zone otherwise!”
“Fine, fine… go ahead.” Feng Bujue opened his arms and shook his head with a sigh.
“First, I will detail the rules about the winning and losing.” The Sealing Hand continued. “Rock wins scissors, scissors win paper, paper wins rock. If both party has the same thing, then it will be a tie.” As it explained, it changed itself into the shape of rock, scissors and paper. “Once a party got 3 wins, they will be the final victor. The period between each round is unlimited. If you are willing, we can wait a whole week between the rounds. Ha… as long as you didn’t die from hunger first inside this zone.”
“Hmm, and then?” Feng Bujue nodded.
“If I win…” The Sealing Hand said, “I will slap you right into the ground.” It paused. “Just like what I did to them…”
“Sorry, I have to interrupt.” Feng Bujue cut into the rules. “I have a question… you played the game with them one by one?”
“Yes,” The Sealing Hand replied. “But… I trapped all four of them inside the zone from the start to prevent them from abandoning their teammates.”
“In other words… when you were playing with the first player, the other three were watching at the side?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Yes.” The hand replied.
“Then, you won the first person, slapped him into the ground. The second person came to play with you and so on…” Feng Bujue added, “Just like that, you continuously defeated all four of them…”
“Hue hue… that’s right.” The Sealing Hand replied proudly. “Why? Are you afraid now?”
Brother Jue did not answer that question but he said calmly, “I understand it now, please continue with the rules.”
“Hmph…” The Sealing Hand’s felt its buzz was dampened. It gripped its fist and continued. “If you win… even though we know that is impossible… but in the off chance that it happens, then… I will let you through.”
“Just me alone?” Feng Bujue asked, he seemed to have realized something and said with some confidence. “What if I win you again? In other words, if I get another ‘3 wins’?”
“Hue Hue…” The Sealing Hand laughed villainously. “So those four… are your teammates, right?”
Feng Bujue remained silent. The Sealing Hand did not need an admission from him. It pointed at the stains on the ground and laughed. “From the second cycle onwards, every time you win three rounds, I will release one of them from the ground and allow them to pass as well.” His voice darkened at this point. “But I would advise you to consider this further… The rounds of tie aside, of the five rounds in each cycle, the moment you have lost three times…”