Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 258 - Fighting the Fifth-Tier Opponent

Luo Qingxin followed Fang Xiu closely as they moved toward the next battlefield.

Xiao Chuxia had been lurking nearby. She quickly joined them, yet keeping a safe distance.

Fang Xiu had boldly engaged in fourth-tier battles despite his third-tier status, but Xiao Chuxia wasn’t eager to dive into the danger zone. She preferred staying out of harm’s way.

Soon, they arrived at a new fight.

Li Xiaoru was locked in a fierce battle against Ace of Clubs.

Their Domains clashed wildly, transforming the area into a chaotic warzone.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, conjured by their Domains, swarmed the battlefield.

All these soldiers seemed to have one target: Ace of Clubs, who was casually swigging from a bottle of Moutai.

Strangely, any soldier that approached Ace of Clubs either stumbled, collapsed, or lost their mind entirely. Some even started attacking their own comrades, unable to tell friend from foe.

In the middle of this chaos, Li Xiaoru, ever the hothead, charged headfirst at Ace of Clubs with his Heavenly Spear, trying to land a decisive blow.

Ace of Clubs had no weapon in his hand and seemed utterly drunk. His balance wavered, and he stumbled around.

Yet, somehow, he dodged every one of Li Xiaoru’s strikes with bizarre, almost impossible movements, like someone caught in a drunken dance of survival.

“Hahaha... What a fine wine! Hic!” Ace of Clubs laughed carelessly, raising his bottle for another swig. His carefree attitude was a stark contrast to the brutal fight unraveling around him.

Fang Xiu was watching from the edge of the battlefield. He nodded to himself.'I need to keep him alive.'

Killing all the Pokers wasn’t part of his plan. Some of them, however, were meant to become his subordinates.

Ace of Clubs, with his drunk and carefree manner, was an ideal candidate to spare. His dependency on alcohol made him easy to manipulate, unlike the more dangerous and clear-headed members of the group.

“I’ll help Li Xiaoru!” Luo Qingxin said, ready to join the fray.

Fang Xiu raised a hand, stopping her. “No need. Save your strength—the real fight is still ahead.”

Without another word, Fang Xiu walked calmly onto the battlefield.

Li Xiaoru, noticing him, frowned. “Fang Xiu? Didn’t you leave with Xiao Zhenhua? Why are you back? Did something go wrong? And... Luo Qingxin, you’re here too?”

“We’ll explain later. For now, just follow my lead,” Fang Xiu interrupted quickly.

Luo Qingxin chimed in, “Trust Fang Xiu! I just defeated Ace of Diamonds thanks to his foresight!”

Li Xiaoru’s expression hardened. He knew now wasn’t the time for questions. He would have to trust Fang Xiu’s judgment.

“Go for his legs,” Fang Xiu commanded.

Li Xiaoru didn’t hesitate. His Heavenly Spear swept low in a wide arc, aiming for Ace of Clubs’ legs.

In response, Ace of Clubs rolled on the ground, looking more like a clumsy donkey than a skilled fighter, barely dodging the strike.

But Fang Xiu’s orders didn’t stop.

“Left side, under the ribs. Throat. Right leg. Left arm…”

Every command came swiftly, and Li Xiaoru followed without pause.

The result was almost unbelievable—Fang Xiu’s precise instructions turned the tide of the battle.

Li Xiaoru’s attacks now seemed to predict Ace of Clubs’ movements perfectly, landing blow after blow.

Ace of Clubs, who had been fighting with an unpredictable drunken style, now seemed exposed.

His once-unreadable movements were laid bare under Fang Xiu’s careful direction.

Each strike from the Heavenly Spear chipped away at his defenses, leaving him bleeding and battered.

With growing fear, Ace of Clubs stared at Fang Xiu, his drunken state fading as the realization hit him—he was losing, and fast.

SWISH!

Li Xiaoru spun his Heavenly Spear, sending it slicing through the air in a brilliant arc.

Guided by Fang Xiu’s instructions, the blade of the spear found its target, severing Ace of Clubs’ right arm in one clean stroke.

CRASH!

Ace of Clubs' Moutai dropped from his hand and shattered on the ground, spilling the precious liquor across the battlefield.

“Ah! My Moutai!” Ace of Clubs wailed, his eyes fixed on the spilled liquor rather than his severed arm.

He didn’t care about the missing limb—after all, an arm could regenerate, but the lost bottle of Moutai? That was priceless!

“Hahaha… That was amazing!” Li Xiaoru roared with laughter, feeling a rush of satisfaction.

After spending so long battling the slippery Ace of Clubs, he’d finally landed a meaningful blow.

Ace’s drunken, erratic style had driven him mad, dodging every strike with ridiculous ease, like a loach slipping through his fingers.

To make matters worse, Ace of Clubs never fought seriously. He’d just drag things out, sipping his wine and reciting poetry like he was at some high-class party.

It infuriated Li Xiaoru to no end. Not only was his opponent hard to hit, but the guy also had the nerve to show off his intellect, spouting poems Li Xiaoru had never even heard of.

There were two types of people Li Xiaoru despised most: those who flaunted their smarts in front of him, and those who didn’t let him show off his own. Ace of Clubs had the audacity to do both.

Now that Li Xiaoru had drawn blood, he was eager to finish the job, pressing the attack and forcing Ace into a desperate corner.

Just as Ace of Clubs was on the verge of being overwhelmed, Fang Xiu’s voice cut through the chaos. “Ace of Clubs, stop this pointless struggle. Your best bet now is to escape.”

Ace of Clubs' face hardened. “In my vocabulary, there’s only death in battle, no retreat!” he declared, still unwilling to flee.

But Fang Xiu wasn’t fazed. “If you die, you’ll never get to taste the rare vintage stored in the Royal Winery’s Cellar No. 28.”

At those words, Ace of Clubs froze. His expression shifted in an instant, from defiant to alarmed.

With a powerful punch, he struck the Heavenly Spear. He used the force to launch himself backward, retreating over a hundred meters in a blink.

Clutching his remaining hand in a respectful fist, he gave a formal nod. “I bid you farewell!”

Without another word, he turned and bolted, heading straight for the Royal Winery.

“Stop, you thief!” Li Xiaoru shouted, ready to chase him down. But Fang Xiu raised a hand, stopping him.

“Let him go. The real priority now is Joker.”

Li Xiaoru looked fired up, his face red, probably from inhaling too much alcohol during the fight.

As a fourth-tier expert, he hadn’t been fully controlled by Ace’s drunken Domain, but he hadn’t escaped its effects entirely either. His behavior was like someone who’d had one drink too many, brimming with false courage.

“Fang Moli can handle Joker. He’s got the Xuanyuan Sword, there’s no way Joker can cause trouble,” Li Xiaoru said confidently.

“And what if Joker’s already reached the fifth tier?” Fang Xiu asked calmly.

“The fifth tier?”

Li Xiaoru and Luo Qingxin’s shock was evident.

“That’s impossible!” Luo Qingxin exclaimed. “The strongest Psychics in the world are at the fourth tier. No one’s reached the fifth!”

Li Xiaoru, still buzzing with adrenaline, shouted, “So what if it’s the fifth tier? I’ll fight him if I have to!”

Fang Xiu shook his head. “Let’s focus on finding the other captains first.”

They hurried toward another battlefield, where they found Xiong Tianguang in a brutal struggle against Ace of Hearts.

Xiong Tianguang’s body was riddled with deep wounds, some cutting down to the bone.

The battle scene was disorienting. The sky and ground had been inverted, with Xiong Tianguang standing upside down on what seemed like the sky, as if the entire world had been flipped.

“Don’t come any closer!” Xiong Tianguang warned, his voice strained. “His Domain is the Inverted World! It messes with your sense of direction—up becomes down, left becomes right! Anyone who steps in here will be turned upside down!”

Now the group understood why Xiong Tianguang, despite his powerful strength, was struggling so much.

Xiong Tianguang’s power to summon game heroes made him incredibly versatile, able to adapt to almost any battle scenario.

But in this warped environment, his skills were practically useless. It was like playing a game where all the controls were reversed—forward made you move backward, left became right.

Even a seasoned pro would feel like a complete noob, helpless as they fumbled through basic maneuvers.