Chương 596: Chapter 591: 1 VS 7

Standing before me were seven Chen Huans, all of them wearing cheerful yellow robes, wielding a wooden staff carved with laughing faces, and warm, friendly eyes that tried to make the impending violence seem more like a sparring session.

"Now, now. No need to be alarmed," the original smile widened.

"The others are just here to make things more interesting. Yes! Think of it as a teaching opportunity. The lesson you remember is the one when you were thoroughly outmatched." His words failed to reassure me. Seven Early Oneiric Sovereign level opponents were no joke. Sure, by themselves, each of them was weaker than me.

After all, I'd already shown the group before how I could crush a Late Oneiric Sovereign level cultivator, and the difference between Early and Late-stage cultivation was significant even if it wasn't insurmountable. A cultivator who had broken through to the Early-stage had a foundation that they were still consolidating, and their techniques were still in the process of being refined.

On the other hand, a cultivator who had reached the Late-stage had perfected the foundation of that rank, their spiritual energy was compressed to the maximum density, so could output a lot more raw power per technique. But cultivation wasn't the only deciding factor when it came to battles, and I was evidence of that. Sun Tao had nothing on someone like Chen Huan despite being of higher cultivation. The battle experience just couldn't be compared.

In the grand scale of things, the arrogant cultivator had been a junior. So yeah, this battle wasn't going to be as easy. Sure, against one Chen Huan, I'd probably win pretty easily. Against two, it might still be easy. And against three, it would become genuinely challenging, but manageable. However, against seven?

Yeah, I didn't have that same confidence because the coordination between seven bodies sharing one consciousness and moving with perfect synchronization that no amount of training could replicate was a serious threat. My eyes narrowed as they formed a loose circle around me, each one holding their staff in a different ready position to cover different attack angles. I couldn't underestimate them. But at the same time, this was only the first genuine challenge, it would be a bad idea to reveal all of my cards.

"I hope you are ready," Chen Huan said, a twinkle in his eye.

"Here we come." They attacked. There were three that charged straight at me, their staffs spinning in coordinated patterns. Another two were on my left, but their movements were slightly staggered to create openings instead of impeding each other's attacks. And the final two swept the staff low to my right, intending to take out my legs.

Just when the three frontal attackers were about to land their strikes, I Blink Stepped to retreat ten metres backward, but before I could orient myself, the flanking Chen Huans had positioned themselves exactly where I appeared with both staffs sweeping low. They really were serious about breaking my legs. With no time to spare, I jumped, pulling my knees up. I actually felt a gust of wind below my feet as the staffs passed beneath me with a centimetre or two to spare.

Taking advantage of being airborne, I channeled red sun energy through my right arm while wrapping it in layers of dream qi to disguise the signature. Vines erupted from my flesh and shot forward towards the nearest Chen Huan. The copy's eyes widened slightly at the technique, but he brought his staff up to block it.

Honestly, I expected the wood to shatter because of the force of the technique, or for the vines to wrap around it, but instead a silver glow of dream qi projected out of the staff, redirecting my vines harmlessly to the side.

"Childlike Wonder Shield," Chen Huan explained cheerfully.

"It treats attacks as if they were harmless! Effective, isn't it?" As soon as my feet touched the ground, three staffs came at me from completely different directions and in a pattern that forced me to choose which attack to block. I chose the most dangerous one, my transformed arm caught the centre strike, while I dodged to the side to avoid the others. I wasn't fast enough. The other two grazed my shoulders, causing pain to explode throughout my body as the contact points burned with something other than heat.

Dream qi was invading through the wound, spreading through my spiritual channels to destabilise my energy circulation. With clenched teeth, I channeled the red sun's aggressive nature to push out the foreign qi with raw force. Even though I succeeded and the invasive energy dispersed, the technique had already accomplished its purpose – it had given all seven Chen Huans time to reposition. Dammit.

A frown appeared on my face as I ignored the blood running out of the two shallow wounds in favour of keeping my attention on the tighter circle that had formed around me. The problem was I couldn't Blink Step without appearing next to at least two of them, especially since their staffs were spinning in synchronized patterns to create a wall of wood and spiritual pressure that compressed the fighting space even further.

"Laughing Wind Step," one of the Chen Huan announced. It quickly became apparent what that technique entailed. As all seven figures blurred, they created afterimages that actually laughed, which would have simply been annoying in a normal scenario. However, dozens of overlapping chuckles empowered by dream qi created a disorientating effect that made it difficult for me to keep my balance.

That wasn't all, it also made it impossible to track which one was the actual Chen Huan, and I couldn't even rely on spiritual sense because they all had the exact same spiritual signature. While I was trying to gather my senses, the sound of wind warned me that a staff was coming from behind. Without a moment's hesitation, I twisted while bringing my vine arm to block. When they clashed, the impact jarred my whole body, but I dug my heels into the ground to hold my position. Then another staff came from the front.

I had no choice but to catch it with my left hand. The contact burned again, but I maintained my grip long enough to pull myself forward and away from a third strike aimed at my spine. While the Chen Huan were about to follow up, I released both staffs and Blink Stepped again. As I reappeared near the edge of the step, two Chen Huans appeared at the same time with their staffs targeting my chest and abdomen simultaneously. Once again, I twisted sideways, causing one of the staffs to miss completely.

But the other grazed my ribs, tearing through my robes and leaving another burning wound. Ignoring the pain, I lashed out with my vine arm, both Chen Huans were forced to back up if they didn't want to be torn to pieces. The battle wasn't in my favour, but at least the problem was becoming clear. Whenever I evaded one attack, the dodge positioned me perfectly for the next one to land. And when I blocked one staff, two others would find an opening.

Like I had feared, their coordination was perfect because they had no need of communicating or signalling each other since they already knew where each body was and adjusted accordingly. If I wanted to win this, I needed to disrupt their synchronization somehow. But that was easier said than done, and it wasn't like I had any time to think.

Already, two more Chen Huans were closing in from my flanks, their staffs sweeping in opposite directions in a scissor pattern that would catch my legs regardless of which way I dodged. Left with no real option, I jumped high into the air so that the staffs passed beneath me, but three Chen Huans had already leaped to meet me midair. Their staffs came at me from above, all three striking downward in a triangular formation that left no escape route.

I created a barrier of dream qi above me, condensing it into a solid shield. The staffs hit the barrier and stopped, but only for a moment. The silver glow intensified, and I felt my own technique being turned against me. The barrier I'd created to block attacks suddenly inverted, pulling me downward faster than gravity alone would manage.

"Technique Reversal," one of the Chen Huans explained while I fell.

"A master's technique can always recognize another master's work!" I hit the ground hard, the impact driving breath from my lungs. Even though they loved to talk, they didn't allow any opportunity to slip past their fingers. All seven Chen Huans converged with staffs raised to deliver the finishing strikes. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

A last-second desperate roll to the side saved me from six of the staffs, they smashed down onto the stone, cracking surface. Unfortunately, the seventh caught my leg, and this time the pain was worse as the burning spread faster. Quickly getting back to my feet, I had to admit, I was being systematically broken down and taking damage faster than I could recover. Even with my superior cultivation stage, the perfect coordination was overwhelming the advantage I had.

This made me understand why most cultivators died on the steps despite being Lucid Lawbearers. Even though I pushed the invading dream qi out again, it took more effort this time and my red sun reserves depleted faster than it should because every wound, every defensive technique, and every forced circulation to expel foreign qi was adding up. And this was only step fifty.

Even if I went all out and finished the battle within a minute, that would consume more energy than I would feel comfortable using since there were still forty-nine more steps to go, with enemies that would only get stronger. If I resorted to using my full power now, how would I survive the higher levels? I forced away the bleak thoughts and focused on the immediate problem of the seven Chen Huans circling me with perfect synchronisation. There had to be a pattern. Everything had a pattern.

Even perfect coordination followed rules, and rules could be exploited. My eyes narrowed as I examined the flow of spiritual energy between the seven bodies, trying to see what it was exactly that linked them together. There. I saw it. Usually, you'd expect even flow from perfect synchronization, but instead the energy pulsed from one body to the next in a specific sequence. And what was more interesting was how the energy seemed to favour one specific Chen Huan. That must be the original.

He was basically acting as a hub that let the other six duplicates receive constant spiritual adjustments to maintain perfect coordination, which meant if I disrupted that central connection, the others would temporarily lose coordination long enough to create openings. I just needed the right tool – blue sun energy. It specialized in consciousness manipulation, in rewriting the rules of how minds worked, and the coordination between the seven Chen Huans was a shared consciousness distributed across multiple forms.

Blue sun energy could scramble that connection. But I couldn't use it obviously because Tian was watching from below, and if he saw the characteristic blue glow, he might recognize it, which meant I needed to disguise it. The seven Chen Huans attacked again. This time I let them come, tracking the original's position through spiritual sense. At the moment, he was the third one from my left, approaching with his staff held high for a downward strike.

Ignoring the others, I Blink Stepped directly inside his guard with my transformed arm reaching forward. He tried to block with his staff, activating that Childlike Wonder Shield technique that treated attacks as harmless, but I wasn't aiming to hurt him just yet. Blue sun energy channeled through the vines, wrapped in so many layers of dream qi that the signature was completely masked, so that to anyone watching, it would look like gray-silver energy with that sickly dream corruption quality.

The energy touched Chen Huan's shield and passed through it without resistance because the shield was designed to neutralize physical and spiritual attacks, which meant that it had no defense against consciousness manipulation. The blue sun energy made contact with Chen Huan's spiritual connection to his duplicates. For one moment, I rewrote the synchronization protocol. The message that should have read "attack from position three" instead read "defend at position seven."

The coordination that should have moved all seven bodies in harmony instead sent contradictory instructions. Chen Huan's smile flickered, and for an instant, confusion passed across all seven faces simultaneously. The afterimages stopped laughing because the perfect rhythm had been broken for a second, and that was all I needed. I Blink Stepped to the nearest duplicate with my arm punching forward.

The thorns pierced through the duplicate's chest before it could react, before the shield could activate, before any defense could form. Red sun energy flooded into the construct's spiritual foundation. The aggressive, dominating power did what it did best: it consumed. The duplicate's dream qi tried to resist, but red sun energy didn't negotiate. The Chen Huan copy's eyes went wide. His mouth opened to speak, but only a choked gasp emerged. The wooden staff fell from nerveless fingers.

His body began to dissolve from the inside out, spiritual foundation collapsing as red sun energy devoured every trace of dream qi that held him together. Within a second, nothing was left of him except the faint scent of ozone. Six Chen Huans remained. Even though the synchronization had already recovered, the fact that there was one less of them changed the geometry of their coordination, so attack patterns that worked with seven opponents required adjustment for six.

I had to give it to them, they did try to adjust. The remaining six spread out to recreate the encircling formation, but they were slower now, more cautious. They'd watched one of themselves be completely destroyed in a second, and even manifestations could feel concern, but I didn't give them time to reestablish control. Blink Step let me appear behind the leftmost Chen Huan. My vine arm struck before he could turn, thorns piercing through his back and erupting from his chest.

Red sun energy flooded in, and another copy dissolved into nothing. Five remaining. Blink Step. The rightmost Chen Huan had his staff raised to block, but I appeared to his side instead of in front. The vines wrapped around his torso, thorns sinking deep. He tried to activate Technique Reversal, tried to turn my own attack against me, but red sun energy was too aggressive to be redirected. It wanted to consume, and it did, so the copy fell apart, leaving behind only four Chen Huans.

They decided to abandon their formation by scattering across the step to put maximum distance between themselves and me. Three of them began channeling a technique simultaneously, their staffs glowing with intense silver light.

"Ten Thousand Jokes Formation," they said in unison. Dozens of small constructs manifested across the step. They looked like tiny floating masks, each one carved with a different laughing face. The masks immediately began moving, circling around me in chaotic patterns while telling jokes in high-pitched voices.

"Why did the cultivator cross the road? To get to the other Dao!"

"What's a Dreamgod's favorite food? Reality soup!"

"How many Oneiric Sovereigns does it take to light a formation? None, they just dream it's already lit!" The jokes were terrible, but that wasn't the point. Each mask emitted spiritual pressure, small but constant, creating dozens of minor distractions. They moved unpredictably, occasionally swooping in to bump against me or tug at my robes. It was annoying and disorienting, exactly what they wanted it to be. Through the swarm of joke-telling masks, I saw the fourth Chen Huan preparing a different technique.

His staff began to glow with intense golden light, and I felt the temperature drop around him.

"Butterfly Dream Escape," he announced as his body dissolved into hundreds of butterflies that scattered across the step, making it impossible to track which ones might reform into the actual Chen Huan. The three remaining solid Chen Huans took advantage of my divided attention by charging simultaneously from different angles with their staffs spinning in that coordinated pattern again. The joke-telling masks provided cover, making it difficult to track the actual threats through spiritual sense.

I spun, my vine arm extending and sweeping in a wide arc. Most of the joke masks shattered on contact, their constructs too fragile to withstand direct hits, but some dodged, and the three Chen Huans simply leaped over my attack. They came down from above, all three staffs aimed at my head. I Blink Stepped sideways, but one of the dreamlike butterflies was already there. The moment I materialized, it exploded into a burst of concussive force that staggered me. The three staffs hit my shoulders and back.

Pain exploded through my body, worse than before. The dream qi invasion came faster now, more aggressive. They were pouring more power into their attacks, recognizing that half-measures weren't working. I channeled red sun energy through my entire body, so that the aggressive power flooded my channels. The foreign energy fled before the red sun's advance, but that counter took my time and concentration, which the Chen Huans used to reposition for another coordinated strike.

I needed to end this faster, so I stopped trying to conserve energy and just committed. Red sun energy flooded through my entire right side, causing vines to erupt from my shoulder, my ribs, my hip. The appendages grew larger than before, each one as thick as my torso and covered in thorns the size of daggers. The three solid Chen Huans raised their staffs to block.

They activated their shields, that Childlike Wonder technique that treated attacks as harmless, but I didn't target them, instead, I swept all the vines through the swarm of butterflies. Red sun energy touched each fragile dream construct, and hundreds of butterflies vanished in seconds, consumed before they could reform or escape. One of the Chen Huans screamed in agony. It appeared that the butterfly technique had been maintaining a portion of his consciousness, and I'd just destroyed it.

He collapsed to his knees, spiritual foundation destabilized. I Blink Stepped to him and ended it quickly, my vines piercing through his chest, allowing the red sun energy to consume what remained. Now there was only two Chen Huans left. They tried to scatter again, but I was done playing defensive so I Blink Stepped to the nearest one. He blocked with his staff, but I used my vines to grab the stone beneath his feet and pull, making him lose balance, and in that moment of vulnerability, I struck.

The last two Chen Huans stood back-to-back, staffs raised in a defensive formation.

"You're quite skilled," one of them said, no sign of a smile on his face.

"I can see why you've made it this far."

"It's nothing personal," I replied, echoing his earlier words.

"I know." He took a breath.

"Before we finish this, can I ask something?" Every instinct said to just end it, to not give them time to prepare something, but curiosity won out.

"Okay?"

"If you make it to the top," he said, "if you somehow survive all one hundred steps and reach the Chamber of the Sleeper King, would you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Tell my daughter Chen Xiaomei that I loved her and that I thought of her at the end." His smile returned, but it was sad now.

"I know she's been dead for forty-nine thousand years. I know she'll never hear it. But... can you try anyway?" The look in his eyes, and the grief in his voice, it all sounded real. But they were meant to be echoes programmed with fragments of personality. What if…what if everyone was wrong? What if they were true consciences trapped and forced to defend the lotus for eternity? A sad fate but a realistic one in a world like this.

"I'll try," I said.

"Thank you." The smile was once again genuine.

"So, should we finish this properly?" Without waiting for a response, they both charged with perfect coordination. But it wasn't enough anymore. We met halfway, my vines caught both staffs and coiled around them with crushing force. As wooden splinters exploded, my thorns pierced through both Chen Huans.

"Tell her," the original Chen Huan gasped, his body dissolving into qi.

"Tell her I'm sorry I left. Tell her I loved her more than cultivation. More than anything." Before I could respond, they were gone, leaving behind a soft fading laughter. As the vines retreated into my flesh, I let out a sigh because my entire body was complaining about the shallow wounds that covered my shoulders, ribs, and legs. Not to mention I'd used up around thirty-five percent of my red sun reserves in one battle. And there were still forty-nine steps to go.