"…!"
Arching his upper body backwards, Yun You narrowly escapes from having his neck cut through.
"…"
Taking two steps back, Yun You presses a hand to his neck, and upon feeling fresh blood on his skin, he looks at the enemy in front of him with a solemn expression on his face, as he asks—
"Who are you?"
Directing Shui Yue towards Yun You, Long Hua answers—
"…"
With silence, as he closes the gap, and swings the sword—drawing out a flower in the air.
Evading the sword, black gauntlets with a bulky appearance—manifests to wrap around Yun You's forearms.
The entirety of this gauntlet set reaches up to Yun You's shoulders—with the bulkier portion of it inscribed with wave-like patterns.
Just as Yun You had clenched his fists, Long Hua swings his sword once more, and—
*Klang!!! Siiiiiiiiiiiii!!!* as Yun You defends against the second slash, Long Hua slides Shui Yue's blade against the gauntlet.
"…"
The moment Long Hua moves past him, Yun You raises his left fist, and throws out a punch towards the former's back.
"…"
Towards this attack, Long Hua snaps his body around, while rotating the Immortal Suppression Palm, along with his sword Qi, and throws out a punch with his left fist as well!
Upon contact—
*Boom!!!* feeling his entire left arm turning numb from the impact, Long Hua takes a few steps backwards—arriving at the edge of the lifeboat, while giving a low grunt.
"Tch."
Shaking his left hand in pain, Long Hua clicks his tongue, as he glares at Yun You, who has a smug look on his face, as he asks—
"Scrawny arms, how does it feel?"
Raising a chuckle, Long Hua sheaths Shui Yue away, and—
"Gauntlets."
As mercurous liquid flows out from Long Hua's right sleeve, they wrap themselves around his forearms, and take on the form of a bulky pair of white gauntlets. The fingers of these gauntlets are claws—allowing them to be used to rip through flesh and metal.
"…Un."
At the sight of the mercurous liquid, Yun You narrows his eyes, and assumes a stance.
Following this, Long Hua closes the gap between them, and smashes his fist onto Yun You's face—sending the latter flying backwards!
*Pah! Pah! Pah!* hitting the waters with great force, Yun You bounces off its surface a few times—prior to recovering his balance, and halting his backwards flight by grabbing hold of the water like it's a solid body.
"Oh?"
Seeing Yun You able to stand on top of the water, Long Hua raises an eye.
"Pei."
Spitting out a droplet of blood, Yun You kicks off the waters, and appears right in front of Long Hua to throw out a punch!
*Boom!!!* blocking off this punch, Long Hua strikes back.
Rather quickly, the two exchanged more than 50 hits with one another, and being fully focused on this exchange of punches, Yun You doesn't pay any heed to the flowers that have surrounded him on all fronts.
But eventually—
"Uh…?"
Finally realizing that something was off, Yun You widens his eyes, but in the same instance—
"Bloom!"
Following Long Hua's shout, all the flowers bloom, and within the blink of an eye, the sword Qi flower petals swallow up Yun You's figure!
Clenching both fists, Long Hua lunges them both into the storm of sword Qi flower petals, and knocks Yun You off the lifeboat once more!
Just as the lifeboat approaches the octopus-shaped wreckage, Long Hua turns around, and leaps off the boat to stand on top of the structure.
Without paying anymore heed to Yun You—
*Siiiii!!! Siiiii!!! Siiiii!!!* Long Hua begins to tear through the plates of metal with his sword Qi-shrouded claws.
And upon removing the final layer, Long Hua is greeted by the fallen star ruby, which is emanating with an ominous crimson glow, to which, the Tai Xuan Emperor shouts—
(Hurry up and hand it to me!)
Taking hold of the head-sized ruby, Long Hua is just about to place it into his storage pouch; however—
"…"
"…!"
Detecting Yun You standing behind him, Long Hua turns around to face the former, but in the same instance, the former has already struck his left fist forward.
*Boom!* landing this punch onto Long Hua's right arm, the fallen star ruby is thrown into the air.
"Dammit."
Simultaneously, the two make a jump for it.
And taking hold of the fallen star ruby's opposite ends at the same time, the two lands back onto the octopus-shaped wreckage, while glaring at the other.
"Piss off, this thing is mine!"
"You first, asshole!"
Raising their free hand, the two begin to exchange hits with the other, while simultaneously refusing to let go of the ruby.
(H-Hey now…)
*Kakaka…* watching the two repeatedly exchange hits with one another, the Tai Xuan Emperor can't help but voice her concerns, as she sees cracks beginning to appear at the center of the fallen star ruby's body.
Momentarily—
*Pah!* the two's next exchange causes the ruby to be pulled in half!
"…"
Staring at the fallen star ruby half in his hand, Long Hua is a bit speechless.
"…"
Similarly, Yun You reacts to the situation in the same manner.
With a frown on his face that is hidden by the helmet, Long Hua whispers to the Tai Xuan Emperor—
"One half of it equals ten pulls, right?"
(…Sure.)
Storing his half of the ruby away, Long Hua immediately brings up the gacha interface and rolls.
Volume 8 of the eBook is released, on sale for $3.99.
Synopsis can’t be posted in the story’s synopsis section as pasting it will cause it to go over the 1,000 word limit. I’d rather not post it on here, since it can contain spoilers.
So far, and throughout this series’ lifetime, only 12 eBooks have ever been sold as of 12/30/23. And looking at the sales breakdown via Amazon—not to really call out the individual, but only one person has ever brought volume 7.
To that one person, who is probably also the only one to have brought volumes 5 and 6, and has maybe read through the entirety of your purchases up to 7—first and foremost, thank you. And secondly, you should go into volume 8 with the readied mindset that Long Hua is going to act very unapologetic to most of the people that he’s interacted with so far. And that’s how he’s going to act going forward as well.
Until the free releases reach that point, I can’t really say the changes that Long Hua has undergone as a character, which is only hinted at near the end of the 7th volume. The most that I can say is, he’s finally started to act as the embodiment of selfishness. Honestly, I do want to see or hear a reader’s opinion on his behavior in the 8th volume sooner rather than later, because this volume is a major turning point.
eBook Purchasing Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR7L8S7H
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/YSakuya, I’m starting to debate whether to make all releases on Patreon subscribers only, so I can release the contents of 6 to 8 sooner.