Chapter 8: Defeat in the Second Playthrough

It was pitch black, so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. 

Qin Yu turned on a glow stick, and in an instant, the bright light illuminated the path ahead. 

The range of the light was wide and its intensity was strong, so much so that it made it difficult for Qin Yu to keep her eyes open.

After walking only a few steps, trouble followed. 

It began to rain.

The pouring autumn rain pierced through the layers of leaves as if the foliage did not even exist, splashing onto Qin Yu’s body and the road.

Qin Yu was soon soaked to the bone. 

Her coat, short-sleeves, and even her underwear were drenched by the rain.

The wet clothes clung to her body, feeling both cold and heavy. 

As a gust of autumn wind blew past, Qin Yu trembled violently from the cold.

Fortunately, the outdoor boots Luo Shangyu had given her were of excellent quality. 

The inside of the boots remained dry, containing nothing but the sweat from Qin Yu’s feet.

Rainwater dripped down the snow-white tips of her hair, and her wet bangs clung to her forehead, obstructing her vision.

“I need to find a place to hide from the rain…” Qin Yu muttered, brushing her bangs aside with her hand to see the path ahead more clearly.

However, the surrounding woods offered no shelter, as they were leaking rain everywhere. 

There was nowhere for Qin Yu to hide.

The biting cold forced Qin Yu to keep running forward to generate heat so she wouldn’t freeze.

The dirt road, which had been dry for autumn, became a muddy mess the moment it touched water. 

Even though Qin Yu’s weight was very light, every time her feet landed while running, she left a shallow pit in the ground. 

Her outdoor boots sank slightly into the mud, and every time her foot left the ground, it felt as if it were being “stuck” by the muddy surface, making her efforts strenuous.

After running only a few steps, Qin Yu was so exhausted that she stopped.

At this moment, Qin Yu was both hungry and tired. 

She drifted into a crouch where she stood, hoping to relieve some of her fatigue.

However, she hadn’t rested for long before the cold surged back, forcing her to continue running forward to fend it off.

Qin Yu’s greatest wish now was no longer to return to her own military camp, but to be able to lie in a warm bed and eat delicious food. 

‘I would even be happy to lie in Luo Shangyu’s bed! Anything would be better than being drenched in the rain, right?’

No matter how strong a mage’s physical fitness was, there was still a limit, especially for Qin Yu, who hadn’t eaten lunch.

After running only a few more steps, Qin Yu’s legs began to feel weak. 

Her pace became erratic, and she nearly collapsed several times.

Fortunately, Qin Yu still had some strength left and her reactions were timely, allowing her to barely regain her balance each time without falling directly into the mud.

But her luck didn’t last. 

Qin Yu accidentally stepped into a patch of soil that was exceptionally soft for some reason, and her entire right foot below the ankle sank into the mud.

In the next instant, as she tried to move forward, she failed to pull her foot out completely; her right foot remained trapped.

With her physical strength nearing its limit, Qin Yu no longer had the energy to stabilize herself. 

With a “splash”, she fell into the mud. 

Her coat and pants were covered in muck, her long hair was scattered in the dirt, and her glow stick tumbled several meters away.

The bangs on her forehead, matted with mud, stuck to her eyes and blurred her vision. 

The only thing she could be thankful for was that her mouth was tightly shut, preventing her from swallowing any mud.

Qin Yu struggled to sit up on the ground. 

She painstakingly found a section of her coat that wasn’t stained with mud and wiped her face clean.

She sat there dejectedly, not wanting to move anymore.

The harsh weather, the lack of food, and her exhausted stamina were all conspiring to stop Qin Yu from moving forward.

There was no village or shop in sight. 

For a moment, Qin Yu really didn’t know what to do. 

Was she really going to sit here until the rain stopped?

Just as Qin Yu was sitting there with a dull, vacant expression, the rain suddenly stopped.

It took a while for the dazed Qin Yu to realize this. 

When she looked around, she noticed something strange.

The rain hadn’t stopped; it was just that no raindrops were falling on her. 

Further away, using the light from the glow stick, she could still see the fine raindrops falling from the sky in an orderly fashion.

Qin Yu looked up and saw Luo Shangyu holding a staff, using magic to generate a Spatial Barrier, creating an invisible umbrella for her.

“Luo Shangyu!” Seeing someone coming for her, Qin Yu was incredibly moved. 

This was the first time she had called out Luo Shangyu’s name with such excitement.

With Luo Shangyu here, she could be taken back to the military camp. 

Then she could put on clean, warm clothes and eat a hot meal.

‘Wait! That’s not right!’

Qin Yu suddenly realized the problem: the person holding the umbrella for her was Luo Shangyu! 

The enemy commander! 

This was the posture of someone who had discovered her tracks and was going to capture her!

Had she run all this way only for her efforts to be in vain?

Qin Yu was unwilling to fail like this, nor was she willing to be captured by Luo Shangyu as a prisoner again. 

She had to resist!

Qin Yu immediately spotted her saber lying to the side. 

Fortunately, it wasn’t far from her.

She rolled over, grabbed the hilt of the saber in a fluid motion, and drew the blade.

“Luo Shangyu, let me leave!” Qin Yu pointed her sword at Luo Shangyu.

“I haven’t stopped you from leaving, have I?” Luo Shangyu shrugged innocently. 

“If it weren’t for my orders, do you really think you could have left that heavily guarded military camp?”

Qin Yu stepped back slowly to put distance between herself and Luo Shangyu. 

She wouldn’t be fooled by Luo Shangyu’s flowery words. 

“Don’t come any closer! Let me leave!”

Luo Shangyu raised both hands in a gesture of surrender and said, “You still don’t believe me? I only came here to hold an umbrella for you.”

“You’ve been following me the whole way, haven’t you?” Qin Yu questioned.

“Yes, I was waiting for you to get tired so I could take you back,” Luo Shangyu nodded.

“Who… who wants to go back with you!” Qin Yu’s mud-stained face turned red. 

After all, she had actually been thinking that just moments ago.

“Look at you, covered in mud. Combined with your current appearance, do you think anyone in your camp would be able to recognize you? Can you even make it back?” 

Luo Shangyu walked toward Qin Yu and held out a hand. 

“Come back with me. Take a hot bath and have a delicious dinner.”

Even though every cell in Qin Yu’s body was tempted by Luo Shangyu’s words, her mind remained clear. 

As the dignified Crown Prince of the Chengji Empire, how could she be tricked by a few words from the enemy commander!

“GET OUT!” Qin Yu shouted, declaring her resolve.

“Sigh…” Luo Shangyu let out a long sigh. 

“Qin Yu, you’re refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. You’re forcing my hand.”

“Force your hand?” Qin Yu sneered and asked, “Can you even beat me?”

Even though Qin Yu knew her physical strength was almost entirely depleted and that she wouldn’t last a single round of Luo Shangyu’s attacks, she didn’t want to lose face. 

Her tone remained arrogant.

Luo Shangyu approached step by step, raising the staff in her hand. 

She sneered, “Can’t beat you? Your magic has already been sealed by me. Without magic, how do you expect to defeat me, a Seventh-rank Quasi-god? Just come back with me quietly, and you can avoid any physical suffering.”

“A Seventh-rank Quasi-god!?” Qin Yu was instantly stunned. 

Luo Shangyu’s magical strength was actually at the level of a Seventh-rank Quasi-god! 

That was already considered top-tier combat power in the entire Phantom World.

“You… you’re just taking advantage of the fact that I don’t have magic!” Even though Qin Yu knew her defeat was certain, her spirit did not diminish.

“Is that so…” Luo Shangyu was slightly taken aback, then nodded in agreement, “Then how about I don’t use magic? I’ll only use a sword to fight you. What do you think?”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yu was overjoyed. 

Although her swordsmanship wasn’t the strongest, it was something she had cultivated since childhood through a royal education, and her foundation was very solid. 

She believed that even though her gender had changed and her strength was nearly exhausted, she still had a chance to defeat Luo Shangyu through technique.

According to Qin Yu’s experience, powerful mages like Luo Shangyu were generally terrible at close-quarters combat. 

This gave her a glimmer of hope for victory. 

For a moment, she even wondered if Luo Shangyu had lost her mind.

“Come on!” Qin Yu gladly accepted the challenge.

Hearing this, Luo Shangyu put away her staff, drew a longsword from the void, took a sudden stride forward, and swung the sword at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu raised her sword to parry. 

However, because she hadn’t eaten all day and her body was weak, she nearly failed to block the strike.

‘I’ve lost the initiative!’ Qin Yu felt a sense of dread. 

At the same time, her own weakness made her doubt the outcome of the battle.

Luo Shangyu seized the opening and followed up with a horizontal sweep. 

Qin Yu parried again.

This time, Qin Yu was nearly knocked down and had to take two steps back just to barely steady herself.

Luo Shangyu was relentless. 

Taking two quick steps, she threw a kick toward Qin Yu’s chest.

Qin Yu had no way to dodge. 

She was kicked to the ground and landed flat on her back. 

Countless droplets of mud splashed outward as she fell.

“You lost,” Luo Shangyu said, pointing her longsword directly at Qin Yu’s throat.

‘Once again… I’ve been defeated…’

The battle just now had severely overtaxed Qin Yu’s physical strength. 

The saber in her hand rolled silently to the side. 

Her arms and legs were spread-eagled weakly in the mud as she gave up all resistance…