Chapter 147 — The Forbidden Pill

CHAPTER 147

The Forbidden Pill

Sima Yu crushed the wax seal with his thumb.

A dark red pill fell into his palm. He swallowed it before Zhou Ke could finish the first warning.

The effect was immediate.

Gold qi burst from his shoulders and climbed above his head. His robe snapped outward. The torn sleeve pulled tight against a swelling forearm, and the veins at his neck rose like cords.

Several spectators stood.

“Golden Core?”

“He broke through?”

“No lightning! What did he swallow?”

Shi Feng watched the unstable force gather. It had the breadth of an early Golden Core attack without a true core's steady support. Each new surge dragged more violently against the prince's existing foundation.

The pill did what Sima Lan had said it would.

He didn't step back from fear. He shifted left to keep the prince between himself and the nearest crowded stands.

“Stop the match,” Zhou Ke shouted. “Forbidden burst medicine!”

Sima Yu lunged before the referee's raised arm had fully straightened.

His palm struck where Shi Feng's chest had been.

The platform shook. Dust rose around their ankles, and a crack ran through the stone surface under the attack. The pressure made the nearest protective screen brighten above the front rows.

Shi Feng stood beside the prince's extended arm. His sword had turned flat against Sima Yu's wrist, guiding the worst force into the ground.

He took care because he didn't want the weapon damaged by a careless collision.

Sima Yu swung his other fist toward Shi Feng's head. Shi Feng leaned inside the arc and pressed the heel of his free hand beneath the prince's elbow.

The fist shot upward instead.

Gold qi burst harmlessly into the open air. Sima Yu staggered, dragged forward by the excess force he couldn't properly guide.

His eyes were bloodshot.

“Stand still,” Sima Yu snarled.

Shi Feng looked at him.

“No,” Shi Feng replied.

The single word reached the front rows. Someone laughed nervously, then stopped as another violent surge spread from the prince's body.

Lu Yong rose beneath the canopy.

The official's late Golden Core aura settled across the arena, firm and unmistakable. He pointed toward the central platform, and attendants at four stone posts pressed their hands against the formation plates.

“Activate the halt protection,” Lu Yong ordered.

Pale light began climbing from the platform's edges.

The protection had been demonstrated on the opening day. It didn't depend on Sima Yu agreeing that he had violated a rule. It belonged to the tournament and the officials responsible for clearing its platform.

Shi Feng saw the light rise.

He also saw Sima Yu reach for him again.

The prince wasn't thinking about surrender or removal. The pill had given him one last thing that looked like superiority, and he refused to recognize how little it changed.

Shi Feng turned his sword flat to meet the incoming forearm. The blade slid along Sima Yu's sleeve and guided his hand past Shi Feng's collar.

Sima Yu's own force dragged him sideways. His wrist ornament struck the sword guard and broke with a sharp crack. Shi Feng stepped clear rather than follow with another blow.

The broken jade scattered across the stone. The prince's fingers closed on empty air.

Sima Lan watched from beneath the awning. Her fingers tightened once around her own sleeve, then relaxed.

Ling Qingzhu had risen from her seat. She wasn't looking at Sima Yu's growing pressure now. She was watching the official light and Shi Feng's sword.

Wei Chengyuan spoke quietly to the official beside him.

“The boy is still fighting,” Wei Chengyuan said.

“The offender is still attacking,” Mu Shuyun replied from the next seat.

He Zhen kept his eyes on the platform. His brush had stopped moving.

Lu Yong didn't answer either delegate. His attention remained on the formation posts and the two men inside them. The protective light had reached waist height, too low to separate the fighters completely.

“Clear the approach,” Lu Yong ordered.

Zhou Ke waved the candidates away from the central stairs. Two stronger arena guards moved into position with a carrying board and restraint bands.

At the passage mouth, a Great Liang servant tried to cross the cleared line. Pan Zhi stopped him with a hand against his chest.

“His medicine is in our carriage,” the servant, Gao Rui, said.

“Give it to the healer when requested,” Pan Zhi replied. “Stay outside the platform approach.”

Gao Rui looked toward his master and obeyed. He had carried messages in the capital that made officials hurry to open gates. Here, his household badge didn't get him past one guard. He pressed the medicine case against his ribs and waited beneath the arch.

The officials were preparing to remove Sima Yu alive.

Shi Feng understood that as plainly as he understood the prince's failed attacks.

His jaw tightened.

At the nearest formation post, an attendant moved the red warning flag aside so both fighters could see the growing light. Zhou Ke repeated the halt warning from the stairs. Sima Yu turned his head toward neither man. He dragged his foot across the broken stone and tried to regain his balance before attacking again.

Sima Yu forced another surge through his injured arm. The pill's qi flickered where the damaged channels failed to carry it evenly.

He cried out, then drove forward with both palms.

Shi Feng met him at close range.

His sword stayed beside his own leg. He didn't need its edge for what came next. His left hand caught the prince's wrist, turned it outward and exposed the centre of his chest.

Sima Yu tried to wrench free.

Nothing moved except the cloth at his shoulder.

For the first time, the prince felt the difference without a technique or an artifact between them. The borrowed force roared through his body. Shi Feng's hand remained steady.

“You used it,” Shi Feng said.

Sima Yu's gaze darted toward the formation posts. The pale barrier light stood at waist height. Only moments remained before the four corners joined overhead to seal the platform and enforce the halt.

Sima Yu opened his bloodied lips to shout his surrender before the barrier finished rising.

Shi Feng didn't wait for the word or the wall. Inside his body, all three hundred and sixty-five meridians answered at once.