Seeing his wavering resolve, Earth Monkey added, “Kid, cut the connection. Even if you run alone, it won’t change anything. Instead of dying here, why not go find some backup?”
Heavenly Rooster gave Earth Monkey a suspicious glance, his delicate face filled with confusion. But after some thought, he still felt that fleeing was the best option—even if it took just ten seconds to reach Azure Dragon’s room and relay the situation, it could turn the tide of battle.
To fully put Heavenly Rooster at ease, Earth Monkey casually pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
“Go ahead, I won’t stop you,” Earth Monkey waved dismissively, flicking ash from his cigarette.
The whole assassination mission felt bizarrely off to him. Both he and Earth Rooster had seemingly useless abilities, yet they just happened to counter their opponents perfectly.
These two Heavenly-ranked twins, who relied on inner peace to maintain their “Conviction,” had the misfortune of facing “Provocation.” Once they started arguing, their paired skills became unusable.
“Lush Wood” couldn’t trigger “Wild Growth,” and “Crafted Object” couldn’t find the materials for “Original Object.”
Now, not only were their minds in chaos, but their crucial flaws had also been exposed by his “Spiritual Sight.”
Had it been any other Heavenly-ranked opponents—or if two different Earth-ranked members had entered—the difficulty of this fight would’ve skyrocketed.
After a long internal struggle, Heavenly Rooster finally sighed and said to the brawling Heavenly Monkey, “You wanted to know what my third ability was, right? Well, I’ll show you now…”
In half a second, his entire body began to transform—growing half a head taller, his frame swelling outward.
In the blink of an eye, the handsome youth was gone, replaced by a disheveled, stubble-covered middle-aged man who bore an eerie resemblance to Earth Monkey.
His eyes turned shifty, acne broke out across his face, and his teeth jutted outward.
Heavenly Monkey and Earth Rooster froze, their hands slowly loosening from each other’s hair.
“…What?” Heavenly Monkey blinked in disbelief, wondering if her vision was failing. “What… are you…?”
A thread in her mind snapped—the “Twin Blossoms” linking them vanished.
“I *am* Heavenly Rooster,” the man said. “My third ability is ‘Shapeshift.'”
Heavenly Monkey fell silent for a long moment before whispering, “You’re joking… You said your third ability was your trump card, the reason you achieved Heavenly rank…”
Heavenly Rooster paused. “Isn’t it?”
Heavenly Monkey was speechless. Staring at the man before her, she felt the world spin. For decades, she’d lived, eaten, and slept beside a middle-aged man in disguise. They’d studied the unity of yin and yang, even bound their lives together with “Twin Blossoms.”
How could something so absurd have gone unnoticed by any other Heavenly rank?
No—someone *must* have known.
Azure Dragon and Heavenly Hound had “Spiritual Hearing,” Heavenly Rat had “Spiritual Scent,” Heavenly Snake could “Read Minds”—aside from her, *everyone* probably knew.
“They’ve all been playing me for a fool…” Heavenly Monkey trembled. “They treated me like a joke…”
Earth Rooster seized the chance to retreat beside Earth Monkey. Both could see Heavenly Monkey was genuinely shattered—her whole body shaking, her “Conviction” collapsing.
“See how the kid looks?” Earth Rooster muttered.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“This is how people like us react when we find out our partner’s ugly. Like me—”
“Enough,” Earth Monkey cut in. “Shut it.”
“But honestly…” Earth Rooster eyed Heavenly Rooster. “Jin was right—compared to some, you *do* have some manly charm.”
Now in his true form, Heavenly Rooster stepped forward and shook his head at Heavenly Monkey. “What’s there to be upset about? So many of us humored your delusions. What more do you want? If not for my ‘Shapeshift,’ would you have ever agreed to Azure Dragon’s ‘unity of yin and yang’? For years, I buried my own appearance just to feed your childish vanity—and now you’d drag me to my death?”
“You—!” Heavenly Monkey’s fury flared hotter. “You never said a word when we slept together, bathed together! Even when you were hurt earlier, I *still* didn’t sever ‘Twin Blossoms’—but you were lying to me the whole time!”
“You’re young—I won’t argue.” Heavenly Rooster waved her off. “We’ve got bigger problems. You stall them; I’ll report to Azure Dragon.”
Without another glance at Earth Rooster or Earth Monkey, he turned to leave.
As the two hesitated, Heavenly Monkey—consumed by rage—lunged forward and seized his arm.
Heavenly Rooster stiffened. “What are you doing?!”
“You… lied to me,” Heavenly Monkey whispered, shaking. “You promised we’d grow old together… die together…”
“Are you serious?” Heavenly Rooster scowled. “I humored you like a child because I *needed* you. I wanted the unity of yin and yang, to take Azure Dragon and Heavenly Dragon’s place—but things have changed. We need to survive first. Argue later.”
“NO!!” Heavenly Monkey screamed. “You’re lying! This form is fake—just a trick to make me drop ‘Twin Blossoms,’ right?!”
“You’ve lost it…”
He tried to shake free, but her grip was iron—and a chilling realization struck him. The “Twin Blossoms” link was reforming.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” Heavenly Rooster’s eyes widened. “You’d throw your life away?!”
“Let’s grow old together,” Heavenly Monkey grinned madly. “A promise is a promise… right?”
“You—!”
A terrifying surge of “Conviction,” warped by fury and despair, erupted from her. Her fingers dug into his wrist as she murmured:
**”Twin Blossoms: Wild Growth—”**
Their eyes glazed over. Wrinkles crawled across their skin. Their hair exploded outward like fireworks before cascading down in gray-white strands.
“Holy *shit*!” Earth Monkey yanked Earth Rooster back, retreating several steps.
Neither had expected this. The best they’d hoped for was mutual destruction—but this was far more grotesque.
The two Heavenly-ranked figures twisted unnaturally, bones cracking like dry wood, until they resembled little more than monsters.
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