Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 96: Interpreting the Prophecy

The noble looked down arrogantly at Yan Changxiao, who stood as the last one on the arena, then lightly waved his hand.

“This is your final opponent,” he said.

At the same time, someone stepped forward from behind him.

A note on the side of the panel introduced his identity: an S-rank ability user, a subordinate of the Sang clan nobles.

And Yan Changxiao was only A-rank!

“That traitor Sang Feiling can only rot and die on our Sang clan’s territory,” the noble said.

This noble had no intention of letting Yan Changxiao win; he only wanted him to die here.

But the man on the arena didn’t flinch.

Despite his tattered clothes and blood dripping from his mouth, he still fixed his blazing gaze on his opponent: “Come on!”

In an instant, the S-rank’s power surged toward him like a tidal wave!

In the underground prison, the conversation continued.

Yiming agreed to Sang Feiling’s invitation, but then said earnestly, “But I don’t think the person you’re talking about is me.”

He thought of the long blade that blocked his view, and the S-rank ability user pierced by that blade on the basement stairs after the barrier vanished.

Light shone on the long blade, as if it were a sacred ritual.

The person Rao Yue fervently believed in.

“Someone told me I’m weak, too weak to do anything.” His gaze dropped, and he smiled faintly. “He was right. I’m too weak.”

“I want to join you, to contribute what little strength I have.” He lifted his head again, looking earnestly at the stunned Sang Feiling. “But I’m not qualified to be some spark, nor do I have the ability to be the person in your prophecy.”

“I’ll do my best, starting with the small things I can manage.” He extended his hand to Sang Feiling. “Like now—will you come with us?”

The woman in the prison had a flicker in her eyes.

She looked at Yiming, opening her mouth as if to say something.

At that moment, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

Debris fell from the ceiling, and a tremendous noise came from above their heads.

It was the power of the S-rank ability user above.

In this shaking space, Sang Feiling paused, then gave a smile tinged with regret.

She said to the youths outside the prison, “I can’t go with you.”

“My task was only to wait here and tell you the truth. Once my task is complete, I can leave with those old friends.” She spoke slowly, gently lifting the hem of her long skirt, letting the candlelight illuminate her legs, previously hidden.

Below her knees, there was nothing.

“!” Tang covered the lower half of their face, stifling any sound.

Sang Feiling looked at Yiming with a gentle, farewell-like gaze, and at his slightly curled hand.

“There’s no need to feel sad. This is the price of betraying my family,” she said. “It’s just a pity that, in the end, I couldn’t take back the bones of my old friends from Qu Yan’s hands or give them peace.”

“What about Yan Changxiao?” Yiming asked.

Sang Feiling only gave a gentle smile.

“Tell him for me that he fulfilled the oath he made with me back then.” She slightly raised her eyes, as if seeing through the trembling ceiling to the ground several layers above, to the soul still holding up its body under the S-rank ability user’s attacks, fighting to the end with unyielding spirit.

“His life will always be full of vitality.”

A gust of wind surged from the depths, forming a harmless barrier that gently swept Yiming and the others to the surface in an instant.

In a flash, the scene before their eyes changed, and sunlight streamed through the cracks.

The chains binding her were severed, and Sang Feiling was bathed in sunlight.

In a colored page, her life-like emerald hair seemed to burst with vitality.

At the very bottom, she gazed distantly at her clansman on the high platform.

“Sang Feiyuan, let them go,” she said.

“You have no right to command me, traitor,” the noble on the platform replied.

Similar abilities unleashed their power simultaneously, and the obstructing earth between them turned to dust in the fierce collision, scattering in the wind.

But in one place, the wind was incomparably gentle, like a sprite brushing against the cheek.

Sang Feiling was buying time for Yiming and the others to escape.

Yan Changxiao lowered his head, catching sight of his master’s fluttering robe revealing her missing legs, and his pupils contracted sharply.

But at the same time, he saw her resolute expression and unyielding stance.

This was his master, the one who had slowly pulled him from the mire of the lower ranks, the first to praise his useless but tenacious life, like a weed—Sang Feiling.

She was once a proud noble, a spirited traveler.

Yan Changxiao turned his head, looking at Yiming and the others who had suddenly appeared.

He hoisted Tang onto his back and said, “I’ll get you out!”

He wouldn’t pity or mourn her—that would be an insult to Sang Feiling.

He was her disciple, the only one who stayed by her side and understood her.

Yan Changxiao would protect Sang Feiling’s pride, just as she had praised his tenacity.

He would safeguard this shining determination.

Even if it meant losing his only master.

“They’ve left you behind,” Sang Feiyuan said, not pursuing.

His eyes were only on Sang Feiling, the traitor who had brought shame to their family.

“That’s for the best,” Sang Feiling instead flashed a radiant smile.

Like the sunflower gardens she had once visited, or the carefree smile she had shown her companions under the blazing sun.

“Incorrigible,” Sang Feiyuan turned his face away.

In an instant, the wind whipped up sand, sharp as visible blades.

The intensity above grew, demolishing the entire coliseum.

Spectators who hadn’t escaped in time screamed and wailed, their cries far louder than their earlier cheers.

Amid this, the structure collapsed, fierce winds and falling stones blocking the sunlight above Sang Feiling.

In this shadow, she slowly closed her eyes.

In the next panel, the entire ground caved in, raising a cloud of dust that enveloped the coliseum.

Sang Feiyuan, carried by a breeze, appeared in the air.

He stood in silence for a moment.

Then he turned, not pursuing those Sang Feiling had shielded, and left the place directly.

After his departure, the next page was entirely black.

Was it over?

No, it wasn’t.

In this blackness, a speech bubble appeared, containing text.

“Little Flower?”

A spark of light emerged in the darkness.

Sang Feiling, who should have been buried and dead, was on someone’s back, her expression dazed.

She hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.

“From the moment you were transferred here, we started secretly digging tunnels,” the person carrying her said.

The perspective shifted, revealing a familiar, alluring face.

Hua Yizhi glanced back with a flirtatious look. “Also, don’t call me Little Flower.”

Domain-type ability [Absolute Space].

In his domain, he was king.

He couldn’t stand against someone of a higher rank, but a mere collapse? That was no problem at all!

And now, he was carrying Sang Feiling on his back, walking through the tunnel secretly dug by Tide.

"You're still alive," Sang Feiling said.

Then she recalled what had just happened and said to this old friend, "Little Flower, the boy in Sir's prophecy refused to be the leader."

"Yiming refused too?" Hua Yizhi showed an expression as if he had expected it.

"Too?" Sang Feiling was puzzled.

Hua Yizhi said, "I already met someone before, someone even closer to the leader in the prophecy. But he refused too, without hesitation."

"How could that be?" Sang Feiling couldn’t believe it. "Sir’s prophecy can’t be wrong. I can’t have waited for the wrong person!"

Hua Yizhi looked up, at the faint light shimmering at the edge of the domain, staring at the dark soil overhead.

"We misunderstood. The spark in the prophet’s words isn’t necessarily just one," he said.

Then he changed the subject, "Let’s talk when we get back. I think you’ll want to see them first."

Sang Feiling didn’t understand who ‘them’ was at first, but then her eyes slowly widened.

"Wait, Sang Feiyuan said they were already taken by the Qu clan nobles as collectibles, displayed in Floating City! With the guild’s current strength, you can’t possibly take them back from the Qu clan nobles in Floating City! Floating City has six SS-rank ability users!"

"Someone sent them back," Hua Yizhi said.

"Who?" Sang Feiling asked anxiously.

The tunnel had reached its end, and Hua Yizhi was walking up the final slope.

He looked toward the faint light at the entrance and said, "The one from the prophecy, the spark left by the prophet."

In the next scene, light shone on both of them, and the scene shifted.

It came that morning.

The morning when he wept over the only remaining skull of his former companion, yet felt genuinely happy.

In the light, he embraced the bones of the companion and returned to his side, and the open door matched the light at the tunnel’s end perfectly.

It was radiant, as if within reach.

Beyond the light was a black-haired youth wearing sunglasses, a smile on his lips, turning to leave and melting into the shadows.

Also, at that moment, standing outside the tunnel, waiting for them, were Rao Yue, Yan Changxiao, and others who had rushed over.

And standing in the sunlight, looking at them with joyful and sincere eyes, was Yiming.

...

The manga Zhusheng Arc ends here.

The manga artist’s skill remains as strong as ever; the grand battle scenes and the final scene transition deliver a soul-stirring shock.

Li Li finished reading the manga, put down her phone, and immersed herself in it for a while before slowly letting out a breath.

The manga artist is about to begin.

She realized this.

The Ranmu Arc was a kind of dual-line synchronous serialization, but the dark line truly belonging to ‘Heige’ still needed to be revealed through the main line.

And the manga artist had given this hint.

After briefly organizing the information, Li Li opened the forum.

As she expected, the manga artist’s final stroke was like dropping a bomb.

All the questions mentioned but unexplained in the Ranmu Arc were fully resolved.

[Manga 《Extreme Black and White》, what an extreme black and white, waiting for me right here!]

1L OP

No wonder they’re making a Heige solo arc—one light, one dark: the bright little sun Yiming and Heige walking in the night.

This wave gives the manga artist nine points, hope the manga artist doesn’t get cocky!

Also, about all those years we didn’t know about Heige, what exactly did he do?

2L

Is there more? Just this one skull thing already has me screaming aaaah!

As expected, bigshot Heige has never let me down! Taking back the heroes’ skulls, letting them return to their kin!

Heige, you’re my eternal god!

3L

Thanks for the invite, I’m already crying at the last scene.

Yiming, Heige, and everyone in the Former Ability Guild working hard, you’re all amazing!!!

Black and white, light and dark, aren’t that important anymore.

You’ll eventually welcome your dawn!

4L

Bigshot Heige, yyds!