However……
"Giddy up!" Xiang Yu saw that the bridge had collapsed and squeezed his horse's flanks, signaling the black horse to sprint with all its might. The black horse understood and showed no fear. To Liu Ji's astonishment, the horse's four hooves lifted into the air and soared high into the sky, drawing a beautiful arc.
hoo~~~
Plop plop...
The black horse carried Xiang Yu and landed smoothly on the opposite bank!
"What can I do? What can I do? What am I going to do?!" Liu Ji was so anxious that he stammered.
"Liu Ji! Prepare to die!" Xiang Yu swung his halberd and smashed it down.
"My life is over!" Liu Ji hurriedly drew his sword, preparing to fight to the death.
However, when he saw the thick and long weapon in Xiang Yu's hand, he immediately lost his will to resist, and with a graceful somersault, he fell off his horse and kowtowed repeatedly.
"King Xiang, spare my life! I was just confused for a moment..." Liu Ji knew the principle that it was better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Anyway, it wasn't the first time he had begged Xiang Yu for mercy. As long as he could live, he would do anything.
"Take this from my spear!" Xiang Yu had no intention of giving Liu Ji a chance to live; he vowed not to rest until Liu Ji was killed.
"Ah!" Liu Ji narrowly dodged with a lazy roll, "What can I do!"
"Now we have no choice but to fight! I will give you a divine medicine that will temporarily grant you superhuman strength! As long as you can catch Xiang Yu off guard, you will surely be able to severely injure him!" After saying this, the black dragon spat out a blood-red dragon pearl, its entire dragon heart dripping blood.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ji was overjoyed. He swallowed the Dragon Pearl Medicine in one gulp and then continued to lie on the ground, pretending to be exhausted.
When Xiang Yu thrust his halberd at him again, Liu Ji suddenly sprang up, grabbed the halberd from Xiang Yu's hand, and pulled it sharply into his arms.
Xiang Yu did not expect Liu Ji to have such great strength. He accidentally dropped his halberd, while Liu Ji leaped high and slashed horizontally with his sword!
Clang!
Xiang Yu instantly drew his sword and blocked Liu Ji's deadly strike. His hand went slightly numb, and he was thrown off his horse.
"Haha! Xiang Yu, you've finally met your match!" Liu Ji had never experienced the feeling of being a master before, and he never expected it to be so exhilarating! "Hey, Old Hei, why didn't you bring out such a good thing for me to use sooner?"
"Fool! Do you know how much I'll have to pay for this divine pill? I wouldn't give it to you unless it's a matter of life and death! Stop dawdling, or the pill will lose its effect soon!" Black Dragon sensed that if Liu Ji was killed, he would probably be doomed as well, even though he still had many ways to save his life.
"Hey, I understand."
In fact, Liu Ji did not stop pursuing Xiang Yu even while he was thinking to himself. It was rare for him to be able to defeat the war god of the world. How could he make a low-level mistake and give Xiang Yu a chance to catch his breath?
Clang clang clang...
Liu Ji wielded his sword with all his might, each strike forcing Xiang Yu to retreat repeatedly. It felt incredibly satisfying.
However.
"Liu Ji, is this your trump card for survival? Apart from being stronger, it doesn't seem to have anything special." Xiang Yu glanced at Liu Ji with disdain.
"Xiang Yu! Stop putting on airs! I have the upper hand now!" Liu Ji was a little flustered. Why was he still unable to kill Xiang Yu even though he had the upper hand?
"That's because I've been letting you win all along," Xiang Yu said, suddenly disappearing from Liu Ji's sight in a flash. "Your speed and skills are far inferior to mine!"
puff!
"Ah!" Liu Ji screamed as Xiang Yu severed his sword-wielding right hand.
Pfft!
"Awooo..." Liu Ji bit down on the ground, calling out the name of the black dragon in his heart, but received no response.
With a backhand strike, Xiang Yu crippled Liu Ji's legs, then thrust his sword into Liu Ji's heart. The entire sequence of movements was clean and swift.
puff!
"No..." Liu Ji's voice stopped abruptly, his eyes wide and frightening, but quickly lost their light, filled with immense regret and resentment.
A treacherous villain met his end!
Xiang Yu had no intention of wasting any more words with Liu Ji, nor did he want to torment his opponent any further. It was all over; his great revenge had been achieved, and that was all.
A black dragon the size of a giant python gradually floated out of Liu Ji's body and slowly spoke in human language, "You won. As fellow systems, there's no need for us to continue fighting to the death, right?"
"I have a suggestion. How about you let me go? I can bind myself to anyone you specify. That way, Xiang Yu will have another trusted confidant with a system. And all the energy I gain after binding with this new host can be given to you to control. What do you say?"
Hao Jiu's face appeared on Xiang Yu's face. "Isn't this too easy on you? Have you forgotten how you treated me before?"
"That was all Liu Ji's idea, and you ended up unharmed, didn't you? How about this, I can give you 10,000 energy points as compensation, how about that?" the black dragon said quietly.
Hao Jiu was overjoyed. This black dragon had quite a bit of savings; it just casually offered 10,000 energy points.
"Do I need you to give me anything? If I kill you, won't all the energy go to me anyway?"
"You're a newbie who doesn't understand the rules, right? Haha, if I didn't want to give it to you, you wouldn't get this much energy. At most, you'd get 20,000. With 20,000 energy plus the conditions I mentioned before, and with me as your senior to guide you, your new system will be able to avoid many detours. You don't need to bother trying to get information out of me. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you everything I know."
The black dragon slowly rose up, looking down at Xiang Yu and Hao Jiu with extraordinary momentum; its appearance was truly remarkable.
Hao Jiu sighed inwardly, realizing he was still too inexperienced. The reason he hadn't rushed to kill the Black Dragon was that he wanted to gather more information about the system. He had previously guessed that completing the novice mission would grant him more information, but that was just speculation.
"Alright, give me the energy first." Hao Jiu stretched out his hand.
"Heh heh, we're all intelligent systems, so there's no need for you to play these tricks, is there? If you want energy, you can have it after I bind it to a new host. And this host must be a close relative of Xiang Yu for me to feel at ease." The black dragon twisted its body.
"So there's no room for negotiation? If I bind you to Xiang Yu's closest relatives, wouldn't that be like having a hostage in my hands? What can I do if you go back on your word? I'll give you half first, and then you can bind them. If you don't agree, fine, I'll just take them myself!"
Chapter 93 The Killer Move
Hao Jiu is now in a dilemma. What if it's true, as Black Dragon said, that killing or capturing the system won't yield its energy, and the system must act voluntarily? Wouldn't that mean losing at least 20,000 energy points? Black Dragon can only offer up to 20,000 points, so he should have at least 30,000 on hand, right?
Black Dragon's face turned cold. He did indeed have the idea of using his system to cheat after binding with a new host. Once bound to Xiang Yu's close relatives, Xiang Yu would not be able to bring himself to kill the host, and his system would have nothing to fear. But the other party did not fall for it.
"Xiang Yu, I know you can hear my conversation with him. With your intelligence, you should be able to tell that the system inside you is a complete novice, right?"
Someone as extraordinary as you, who has achieved unparalleled greatness, should choose a system as powerful as mine, shouldn't you? Is he worthy of you? Look at his shabby appearance, in this world, only I am worthy of you!
I can teach you how to unbind yourself from him, and then bind yourself to me. I guarantee you'll have everything you could ever want; the whole world, no, the entire universe, will be yours!
Hao Jiu cursed inwardly. This black dragon was too despicable, trying to poach his host. Since the system and the host could be bound together, there was naturally a way to unbind them.
Normal unbinding requires the consent of both parties, similar to a divorce by mutual agreement. However, there are also unilateral forced unbinding methods. Hao Jiu only knows the system's unilateral unbinding method, and the cost is based on the binding time. The longer the binding time, the greater the cost of forced unbinding.
Hao Jiu had also thought about this issue. There was no reason why the system could unilaterally unbind itself but the host couldn't. At least in the novels he had read before, there were examples of hosts turning against the system. At least the host killing the system was a way to forcibly unbind itself.
What the method mentioned by the black dragon is remains unknown, but it is credible; it all depends on Xiang Yu's choice.
However, Heilong still didn't understand Xiang Yu's character; he would never agree to such a thing...
"Then tell me, how do you want to untie me?" Xiang Yu said calmly.
Hao Jiu, "..."
The black dragon grinned, "Hahaha, I knew I hadn't misjudged you, you're a true overlord! Normally, it's difficult for the host to forcibly unbind unilaterally, but if there's another system helping out, it's much easier."
As long as you find any reason to hate that system, wish it would die sooner and get out of your body, then stab your own foot with a sword and nail it to the ground, communicate with heaven and earth with your blood, and with my help from the side, you can successfully break free.
"Don't worry, this is just a minor injury. Once you're bound to me, I'll heal you immediately. I guarantee you won't be left with any permanent disability. You can't even endure this little bit of pain, can you?"
"Then why didn't you treat Liu Ji just now?" Xiang Yu asked in his heart. "What else does the God of Wine want to know from him? I'll ask him for you."
Hao Jiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "No need, this system is unreliable just like Liu Ji, and his method of unbinding doesn't seem real."
"Because that idiot Liu Ji is no longer worth my investment, but you are different. You are young and powerful. The two of us are a perfect match! Stop talking nonsense, do you agree or not? I'm giving you one last chance!" the black dragon roared.
"What should I do next?" Xiang Yu asked himself.
"Get closer to him!" Hao Jiu suddenly realized that the black dragon had floated up very high without anyone noticing. It was too damn cunning!
Without a word, Xiang Yu jumped onto the back of his horse, Wuzhui, and then leaped high into the air, declaring, "Compared to the God of Wine, you are unworthy of my king!"
"Hahaha... Naive! You think you can fly? Gate of Time and Space!" The black dragon spat out a black hole-like vortex from its mouth, and its massive body soared into the vortex. "Here's another piece of information for you: after the host dies, the system will enter a weakened state and will need to recover its mobility gradually. Too bad, you missed the best opportunity to attack me! Of course, with your pathetic strength, even if you attacked me, you couldn't do anything to me, hahaha..."
"Don't be too happy yet! System capture item use!" Hao Jiu also unleashed his trump card, a powerful item he had tricked from the God of Systems. A colorful little ball instantly appeared in Hao Jiu's hand, sitting there quietly, without anything happening!
"Holy crap! Is it that unintelligent? Is it because it's too far away?" Hao Jiu slammed the small ball towards the black dragon.
At this moment, the black dragon had already entered most of the space-time portal, but he had not yet fully recovered from his weakened state, and his body was too long... awkward.
The colorful ball flashed briefly as it approached the black dragon, then traced a treacherous arc before landing on the ground some distance away.
Whoosh!
The seemingly harmless little ball suddenly released a golden chain, piercing the black dragon's body before it could fully enter the portal with lightning speed.
Then the chains darted in and out repeatedly, binding the black dragon and dragging him back, at which point the portal closed.
"No! So you are... Ah!" The black dragon was overwhelmed by pain before it could finish speaking. Its face contorted in various ways, and its body began to become tattered. It was slowly dragged towards the colorful ball, and no matter how much the black dragon struggled, it was to no avail.
Hao Jiu and Xiang Yu were both dumbfounded. The black dragon, who was so arrogant just a moment ago, was suddenly reduced to such a miserable state by that small ball.
Suddenly, another chain emerged from the black dragon's body and stretched straight north, bringing back a somewhat familiar little creature in the blink of an eye.
Upon closer inspection, Hao Jiu realized that it was the piece of 'flesh' he had bitten off and buried in the Gaixia Barrier. No, to be precise, it was a piece of 'flesh' that had merged with the poisonous insect that the black dragon had shot out.
Does this mean the system has defined that piece of 'meat' as part of the Black Dragon system when it captures items?
Before Hao Jiu could figure out what was going on, he felt an immense force pulling him down!
"Watch out!" Xiang Yu exclaimed, but it was too late to warn him.
Hao Jiu looked down and saw that a golden chain was already binding his body, emanating from the fused 'flesh'!
"Damn it! I have nothing to do with the Black Dragon! Help!" Hao Jiu was suddenly pulled out of Xiang Yu's body by the chains, with only one hand still connected to Xiang Yu, unable to be separated due to the binding.
But the chains kept tightening, and even Xiang Yu was slowly dragged away.
This magical golden chain has already linked the colorful ball, the black dragon, the fused meat chunk, Hao Jiu, and Xiang Yu together.
Xiang Yu plunged his sword into the ground, but he couldn't stop the dragging. The sword slid a deep groove in the ground. Moreover, the sword was too sharp, and the resistance was too small. But if he turned the blade sideways, the sword would easily break.
Just then, Xiang Yu slid to the side of the halberd that had slipped from his grasp. He hooked it with his foot, retrieved it, and with a snap, planted it deep into the ground, temporarily stabilizing himself.
This is only possible because of Xiang Yu; anyone else would not have been able to withstand such a powerful pull.
At this moment, the black dragon's tail had been pulled into the small ball. The black dragon let out an even more miserable howl than before, and kept spitting out some golden star-like points from its mouth, which were the energy stored in the black dragon's body!
Chapter 94 Untying
Hao Jiu understood. The Black Dragon had indeed been lying to him; killing the system to seize its energy was a viable method.