"Hey, wake up."
A voice awakened Chen Wenzong's consciousness from the darkness, his head still muddled just after waking up. When he opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful blonde woman gently patting his face with her hands. Chen Wenzong subconsciously felt that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"You're awake, great. How are you feeling now?"
The blond woman smiled reassuringly when she saw Chen Wenzong wake up. The movement of her hands stopped.
"You are...you are the intruder!"
When Chen Wenzong heard her voice again, he woke up and recognized that the woman in front of him was the strange intruder who broke into the Yu Jian Zhong training ground. The one who effortlessly knocked him unconscious when he was dueling with his younger brother!
"You–!"
Chen Wenzong immediately wanted to stand up and resist, but he found that he was sitting on the ground unable to move. When he looked down, he found that his arms were bound by golden chains. The golden chain came from several strange golden ripples floating in the air. Panicking, he immediately tried to use his chi to try to break free from this strange golden chain. But no matter how hard he tried, even if he used all of his chi, the golden chain on his body still showed no sign of loosening.
"Damn it—what the hell!?"
He was completely shocked by the strength of the gold chain compared to his own. Chen Wenzong has the power of the fifth rank of transformation realm, which can be regarded as the realm of genius among fellow musha of his age. If even him couldn't break free of the chains, then these gold chains must be some kind of powerful chi weapon.
And just as he continued to struggle in vain, he suddenly felt something moving behind him, and then a voice he was familiar with woke up slowly.
"What... What's going on? What happened?"
Only then did he realize that he was bound back to back with someone by these magical golden chains. And that person was his younger brother, Chen Yufeng.
"Hmm...!? Brother? And the young lady!?"
At this time, Chen Yufeng also noticed the gold chain on his body and tried to break free.
"Woman! What have you done to us!?"
Chen Wenzong angrily questioned the mysterious woman in front of him. But she just smiled casually and said,
"Don't worry, I just healed both of you with incantation. You were only unconscious for a few minutes."
"Lady, are these chains...?"
Chen Yufeng also noticed the strength of these peculiar gold chains, turned his head, and warily asked. Although he also feels that the current situation is very dangerous, he still chooses to use dialogue to buy himself time to find a way to escape.
"Oh, these are the Chains of heaven. The two of you were having quite the brotherly quarrel! I was afraid that the two of you would end up killing each other, so I stunned you both and then tied you guys up."
"Damn you woman! What gives you the right to intervene in our brother's grievances!?"
Wen Zong was still circulating his chi angrily, trying to break free from the still uncompromising golden chain on his body. Especially now that he is tied to his annoying brother, at this moment he wants nothing more than to break free and fight his brother to the death. But Yufeng's point of focus is different, perhaps because he is naturally curious, he just continued to ask the woman in front of him:
"The Chains of heaven?"
The woman heard his question and answered patiently:
"I heard that the chains were born of a friend of a great king, who sacrificed himself to become these chains in his final chains are powerful enough that even the gods cannot break free from its shackles. Well, but I was lucky enough to pick it up, so now this treasure belongs to me."
The woman in front of her explained. What the two brothers didn't know was that the woman deliberately explained the origin of the sky lock in a general and vague way, so as to conceal that it was a noble phantasm from another world.
Chen Yufeng nodded silently. The woman in front of her revealed all kinds of irrationality. She descended from the sky, with a beauty that made his heart flutter, a strange height, and a strange weapon. She revealed a sense of mystery everywhere, which made his heart itch and made him want to know more. The fight between him and Wenzong has been forgotten by him. And the other party is his only relative after all, although Yu Feng hates him, the two still have that weak connection by blood.
"Woman! Let me go if you have the guts! Let's fight fair and square! Don't use such dirty tricks!"
Chen Wenzong shouted angrily. The strong sense of duty as a disciple ofYu Jianzong drove him to fight.
"Your brother has quite the bad temper, young man. Are all the people here like this?"
The woman just sighed and said teasingly.
"Sorry, my brother has been like this since he was a child."
Knowing that he is under the control of others, Yufeng said with a fake smile on his face. Then he turned his head and scolded his brother in a hushed tone:
"That's enough, brother! No matter how angry you are, we won't be able to change our current situation. Plus we were the ones who striked first. Why don't we listen to what this lady wants first?"
When Wen Zong heard Yu Feng's persuasion, he could only grit his teeth and lower his head. The experience of losing his parents since he was a child has cultivated his stubborn character, which makes him hate being controlled by others. But even Wenzong knew how dire their current predicament is, so he could only admit defeat and say:
"Hmph! Woman, what exactly do you want here?"
"Hey! I have a name! My name is Marika, don't call me "woman". It's rude."
Marika puffed up her cheeks and said with dissatisfaction.
Wen Zong just turned his head dissatisfied, unwilling to look at her.
"Okay, let's get down to business. Now I want to ask you what kind of world I am in now? What is the air thing you used when you fought just now? Why did you fight just now?"
Marika confides her doubts all at once, but in return, the two brothers just look at her dumbfounded.
"Did you live under a rock? You don't even know chi? You aren't joking with me again, are you?"
Wenzong asked in disbelief.
"Just answer me!"
Marika said with a blushing face. Entering into yet another world, she was unfamiliar with the place, and the most convenient way to find out the situation was to ask the two young people in front of her, even if it meant slightly embarrassing herself.
The two brothers looked back at each other. Although they felt weird, they could only bite the bullet and start explaining the reason for their fight and the basic knowledge of this world.
According to the two brothers, the country where Marika is now is called Huaxia, and the capital city is called Zhongyuan. It is a country controlled by a modern government on the surface. But in private, the four powerful musha families are the real rulers of this country, and they all reside in the capital.
In this world there is a power called qi, which is the fighting energy that musha depends on for a living. The strength of one's qi determines the social status of a musha. In Malika's view, this is a world where modern technology and fairy tales coexist.
The level of qi, or realm, is divided into human realm, transformation realm, alchemy realm, circle realm, and divine realm from weak to strong, and there is a one to five ranking system between each realm. When a musha surpasses the final rank of the divine realm, they will ascend into immortality.
But the real situation is that most people don't have qi, and only a few people have enough resources and talents to practice themselves as mushas. Because of this their social status is above that of any ordinary person. And among mushas, there is a social structure in which the strong reigns supreme, so internal strife is commonplace. Therefore, although this world has the level of modern technology of the 21st century, no country has yet to set foot in space because of this constant infighting among mushas and mushas disdain for technology. Marika was disappointed to hear such a distorted social structure. Isn't it a pity that one obviously has the ability to set foot on the stars, but instead spends them in internal struggles?
Back to the rulers of this world. The 4 families that secretly control everything have set up four major schools to recruit talented mushas to cultivate them. The four schools are: the Qiao family of the Yu Jianzong who excel at swordsmanship, the Li family of the Yuxing School who hold the most political power. The Murong family of Jinchi School who is good at creating qi vessels and ecnomics, and the Ouyang family of the sect who specialize in alchemy. The four schools restrain and help each other, and the intrigue among them is even more complicated.
Marika is now located in the Yu Jianzong's sacred training ground hidden in the mountains, Yuzhu Mountain, which is specially used to train new disciples.
The Central Plains is the political center of the country. It can be said that everything in this country revolves around this city. Although the supreme ruler on the surface is the president of an ordinary constitutional government, the real supreme ruler in secret is the strongest person who controls the four schools, the master of the Wu Lin league.
The throne of the Wu Lin master is determined by a martial arts competition held in Zhongyuan City once every ten years. The contestants are all from the four major families, as well as other challengers who do not have any allegiance. If the challenger can defeat the Wu Lin master in the final, then the challenger can take his place. Although the competition was arranged in this way, most of the winners came from the most powerful Li family.
But the previous leader of the Wu Lin league was an exception. It is said that he came from a reclusive super-powerful family, whose strength even surpassed the four major families.
And now the former Wu Lin master has been missing for many years for some unknown reason, so although it has not been ten years, the four leaderless families have no choice but to hold the competition again.
After listening to the explanation of the two brothers, Marika only felt that the world was too complicated and weird. What four major families, what realm, what Wu Lin master, Marika didn't understand at all, she just felt dizzy. Runes were way more simpler in her opinion the more runes you have, the stronger you are, there is no distinction.
"Hmm... okay. I probably understand. So in the end, you two brothers fought for the qualification to attend this tournament?"
Marika rubbed her aching head and said.
"Of course, my good-for-nothing brother wastes his time every day. How can he have the qualifications to participate in this prestigious competition? He'll just embarrass our great school!"
Chen Wenzong snorted coldly.
"With a self-righteous prick like you, I don't think it's me who will embarrass our school."
Chen Yufeng snapped back angrily, unwilling to back down against his brother.
"Hmph! Says the fool who wastes his days away!"
"Snob!"
"You!"
"If you don't accept it, let's fight!"
"You brat!"
"Pedant!"
Seeing that the two brothers were on the verge of fighting again amidst the quarrel, Marika immediately made a move, punching each of them on the head with restrained force.
"It hurts! x2"
The two brothers cried out in unison.
"Can you two stop for just a moment? Jeez! You're bickering like children!"
Marika reprimanded angrily.
Seeing how these two brothers refused to give in to each other, she couldn't help but think of her own children. Malenia and Radahn also disliked each other, and Mohg's kidnapping of Malenia's twin brother Miquela, it only deepened the misunderstanding between the two, so that the half-siblings(?) fell into the point of fighting each other to the death in the War of the Shattering. And the final result is something familiar to any Elden ring players. At the end of the War of the Shattering, Malenia and Radahn were both badly wounded, with Malenia severely wounded and comatose from unleashing the Scarlet rot she had been suppressing. Meanwhile, Radahn was infected with scarlet rot and fell into madness because of Ma;enia's scarlet rot bloom. As for Caelid, the battlefield of the two demigods was reduced to a doomsday wasteland invested with Scarlet Rot.
Marika will not question who is right and who is wrong in this tragedy, because after combining with the memory of the original body, these two demigods are her own children, and as a mother, she can't bear to blame them. Both brothers and sisters fought for their own beliefs in the end, Malenia for her beloved brother Miquela, and Radahn for the people of Caelid whom he loved deeply.
Watching these two brothers is like watching Malenia and Radhan all over again. Marika naturally wanted to help the brothers reconcile, to make up for the regret she felt for her two unfortunate children.
"You two's names are Chen Wenzong and Chen Yufeng, right?"
Marika looked at them slightly sentimental.
"So what? Let us go!"
"Indeed, even though we slightly offended you earlier, we don't have any major grievances, don't we?"
Wenzong struggled impatiently, while Yufeng tried to persuade her in a docile tone.
"If I let you go, will you fight again like before?"
Marika's question immediately silenced the two brothers, because they really planned to do so. Marika also sighed and said:
"*Sigh*... Do you really want to kill each other that much? You are brothers, right? Would your parents want to see their children kill each other?"
Thinking of their parents, Yufeng and Wenzong couldn't help lowering their heads in shame at this moment. Yufeng face turn gloom at this moment, and said:
"Our...our parents died when we were very young. The only family I have left is my brother."
Hearing Yufeng's words, Wenzong couldn't help trembling all over, but he was stubborn and refused to speak.
"Then there is even more reason why you shouldn't kill each other! What makes you want to kill your only relative in the world?"
Marika asked a little angrily.
"It's because my brother has been bullying me and talking down to me ever since we are children. A true man cannot bear such shame, so I want to prove myself in the competition..."
Yu Feng argued.
"Hmph! I've been talking down to you? That's because you, a good-for-nothing, have only improved so little after so many years! Can you win the competition with your impromptu strength? I'm much more qualified than you! "
Wenzong snapped back disdainfully.
Marika had a flash of inspiration when she heard Wen Zong's words, so she turned to smile and asked Wen Zong:
"Is this tournament dangerous?"
"Of course! Not only the four major schools, but also martial arts masters from all over the country will participate in the competition. If you are not careful during the competition, you may die!"
"Then Wenzong, do you want to replace him in the competition because you are worried about your brother's safety?"
At this time, Marika asked with a smile of success.
"What?! N–not! O-Of coure not!"
Wen Zong found that his true thoughts had been exposed, so he quickly denied it. But his blushing face and erratic eyes betrayed his thoughts.
"Brother…"
Yufeng was very surprised, it turned out that his brother did this to protect him! He has misunderstood him all these years.
"Actually, I... I have actually been practicing seriously all these years. It's just that I don't want to compete with my brother for the limelight, so I deliberately hide my strength."
Hearing Yu Feng's confession, Wen Zong's eyes widened unexpectedly. It all makes sense now! No wonder Yufeng's strength in their duel today was comparable to his. The truth is he never gave up on his training!
"But... I don't understand, why?"
Wen Zong looked back at his younger brother with puzzled eyes and asked.
Yufeng smiled wryly and said:
"Heh, we are brothers, so how could I not know your personality? We had no one to rely on since we were young, and it was hard for us to have a backer after entering the Yu Jianzong. You are afraid of being abandoned again, so you are eager to prove yourself. And you were successful, but… what you don't know is that the elders have actually been training us with the intention that we will kill each other one day, hoping that we will compete with each other by any means until the strongest emerges. So I know that once I show my true strength, the elders will definitely force us to kill each other. I didn't want to fight with you, brother. But in the end, we still cannot escape our fate it seems."
"Yu Feng..."
Knowing his brother's good intentions, Wen Zong couldn't help but bow his head, feeling extremely guilty.
At this time, Marika suddenly stretched out her hands, placed them lightly on top of their heads, and gently stroked their heads.
"Great... Luckily I got here in time. Now you don't have to fight anymore."
Marika said in a gentle voice with joy. Marika's new type ability established a connection with Wenzong and Yufeng along her words, and the two felt as if their consciousness had returned to their mother's womb, and there were no longer any barriers between brothers. At the moment they have achieved this strange sense of shared consciousness and mutual understanding.
"Yu Feng..."
"Wen Zong..."
The two murmured each other's names, and they felt extremely peaceful in their hearts, just like in the sea, the anger of the past no longer existed.
"Who is there! What are you doing to our disciples!?"
At this time, an untimely voice broke the tranquility.
The consciousness of the three of them was forcibly pulled back to reality. Marika looked back and saw a group of men and women in Taoist uniforms rushing towards her with long swords.
"Good grief, it seems that I have overstayed my welcome."
Marika stood up to leave, and untied the two brothers. They don't need these chains anymore.
"Last question, which way is the capital?"
"Eh? Go all the way to the east of Yuzhu Mountain."
Yufeng subconsciously answered Marika's question.
"Really? Thanks! By the way! This should be enough compensation for ruining your place."
Marika smiled and waved to open the Gate of Babylon, and the portal immediately spit out a pile of gold, silver and jewels on the ground.
"Then I'll be going now! You two brothers, remember to get along well in the future!"
After saying goodbye to Wen Zong and Yu Feng, Marika smiled at them, then turned around and flew into the sky with her bio telekinesis. Marika thinks that Zhongyuan City, which is going to hold the Wu Lin league master tournament, is the place to find more Gary Stus and complete her mission, so she uses her strength and flies towards Zhongyuan City.
"Gah! It's a Heaven-Controlling Immortal!"
At this time, the other disciples of Yu Jianzhong had arrived, and they were all surprised when they saw Marika soaring into the air. Being able to fly without qi vessels is something that only the true masters of the first rank of the divine realm is capable of!
"Quick! Notify the head master! This matter must not be known by other schools and the Long family!"
One of the disciples who seemed to be the leader turned around and gave instructions to the others in a hurry.
Wen Zong and Yu Feng stared blankly at the direction where Marika was leaving, feeling a little bit of reluctance in their hearts. The mysterious woman gave them a mother-like intimacy, which they will never forget.
At this time, they looked at each other in unison, and they smiled at each other. Wen Zong then said with a relieved face:
"Yufeng, let's go home."
"Yeah. Let's go home, brother."