“To think... you were this strong. Not bad. Not bad at all, Junior. You know how to keep up a long, hard fight.” 

“Right back at you, Senior.” 

“However, you are too arrogant! Thinking you can defeat me in the first place is true naivety. I expected good things from you, Junior. Now go on. Make your last, pathetic move before I put an end to you, Junior.”  

“Hmph! I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Senior. I have no pathetic move.”

“Ho? Impossible. I’ve been keeping track of everything you’ve been doing since the beginning.”

“I knew you’ve been doing that the entire time. I made you think you outsmarted!” 

“What? Are you saying... you outsmarted my outsmartedness?” 

“That’s exactly right! It was all for the moment when you let your guard down!” 

“Junior, do you dare?!” 

“Senior, I do dare!” Yan Xiaolong raised his hand and then smacked it down to the ground. “Now... draw four!” 

“NOOOOOO!!!” The goat howled. However, he still used his little hooves to draw four cards from the deck. “Damn it, I was so close to calling ‘Yi!’”

“Haha! As the inventor of Yi, how could you possibly think of beating me? Now, the card color will be... yellow!” Yan Xiaolong reached to his side and took a bite off a brownie. “What’s the matter, Senior? No yellows? Need some from the drawing pile?”

The goat sighed before putting his hooves on the drawing pile again. Off to the side, one other monster was playing Yi along with Yan Xiaolong and the goat while the rest of the group were either playing something else or napping. Though, there weren’t many people present. 

“That’s what you get for counting cards. I would’ve played this a long time ago if I didn’t feel the need to metaphorically smack your face with a ‘draw four’ card.”

“But it’s so hard to win! And you’re the one who banned card counting.”

A short time later, the game ended. Yan Xiaolong had won again. 

“Ugh, let’s take a break. This game has been going on for three days already.” Yan Xiaolong leaned back and rested on the ground. “How long until Senior Immovable King goes broke, by the way? I’ve been in here for... uh, how long now?” 

“If I recall, it is around eight to nine months in here, Junior General. Though, time on the outside should not have changed that much. By now, the alarms should be off and your competition should still be continuing.” The third player, a humanoid made from mercury, said. “As for the Right Commander, I say it will take a week or so until he can no longer afford to roll for the Light of Doom.” 

“You said that last week.” 

“I was incorrect but that does norm mean I’m wrong. It really could be just one more week.” Senior Mercury shrugged his shoulders. 

“Right. Right.” Yan Xiaolong sighed before closing his eyes and rested. 

This has been his lifestyle for the last couple of months: playing and sleeping. In a world where time was slowed, he spent every little moment he could to enjoy the company of the Ninth Legion, play games, and go off into dreamland. He was utterly relaxed during this time. 

“Really, I should be out by now. He’s not even doing it for me or for the Princess’s order anymore. It’s just his pride and gambling addiction that’s leading him on.”

Yan Xiaolong rolled over to his side and placed a hand behind him to scratch his butt. “Someone really needs to put a money-limiter on that thing.” 

“That’s absurd. How else can you make good money besides implementing a predatory system of spending that encourages a person to burn through their life savings for not the prize but the perfect dosages of serotonin that further fuel their crippling dependence on the said system to distract themselves from the worries in their life?” The Senior Goat scoffed. 

“How awful. I’m getting horrible flashbacks from the time we were at the Good Fortune Casino.” Senior Mercury rubbed his temples.

“Let’s play another round then. Are you down, Junior?” Senior Goat asked. Yan Xiaolong shook his head. “Welp. I guess it’s us this time.”

Senior Goat turned around slowly. However, the mercury humanoid became golden dust in the air, which quickly faded away into nothingness. Nearby, several other old monsters were dissipating as well. 

It was only expected since they were only mere slivers of will. Over time, it was given that they would return to their source. They should have disappeared long ago, if not for the fact that they only stayed to entertain themselves in the company of old friends. 

Senior Goat sighed before laying down and resting as well. 

Sometime later, the gacha machine shook violently before spitting out a capsule with myriad lights. 

“HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YEAH BABY!!!” The Immovable King roared after opening the capsule. “Everybody! Everybody, look, look! I got it this time!” 

“Huh?” He turned around but no one was celebrating with him. They were either resting or playing, as they always have done. “Tch! How boring.” 

“Enough, old boy. Give it to the kid already. We all been in here long enough because of your dog-shit luck.” The golden-eyed entity stood up from his meditation and stretched his body. 

The Immovable King wanted to retort but shut his mouth when he saw the grumpy expressions on everyone’s faces. He kept his words to himself and tossed a black case toward Yan Xiaolong. 

“There it is. That’s the Light of Doom, one of the Seven Lights. It’s one of the ten most valuable items in our treasury. And in my opinion, top three,” The Immovable King said.

“Right now it is sealed in that box to prevent its aura from leaking. Make sure to form a contract bond with that case first before you open it. If you do not, you will not know how to handle the Light of Doom,” The golden-eyed entity explained. 

“What exactly is the Light of Doom?” Although everyone has been hyping it up, Yan Xiaolong was not completely sure what it was at all. So, he asked around. 

However, what he was not expecting was everyone looking at each other questionably. 

“Honestly, I do not remember.” 

“Yeah, neither do I.” 

“Although the name rings a bell, I do not recall knowing what it does as well.” 

Yan Xiaolong was flabbergasted. “Does nobody know what it does?” 

“You see, the Light of Doom is more like a natural phenomenon, rather than an item.” The golden-eyed entity sighed. “Everyone in the Ninth Legion has experienced it before, but not everyone remembers it well. It was wildly used last time by the Princess and that affected everyone here to some degree, though, it was mostly memory altering.” 

“Yep. I can’t recall much myself because of that, but I’ll say this: it’s something that’s thoroughly, absolutely destructive. I don’t even remember what I felt when it was used.” The Immovable King stared blankly at the black case. 

“And neither do I. But my instincts do tell me to use this tool with utmost caution and precision, or else, terrible things will happen.” The golden-eyed entity rubbed his face with stress. “I believe only the Princess knows the full scope of the Light of Doom.” 

“Then, what are the Seven Lights?” 

The golden-eyed entity explained. “They are seven natural phenomena. Specifically, they come from the seven stages of a star’s lifecycle. In each stage, the star releases a unique beam of light that contains insight into the Dao of the Starry Sky. However, these beams are extremely hard to grasp or notice as these seven stages to a star’s lifecycle are not easy to observe. Before the Ninth Legion was imprisoned, the Princess spent her time researching these phenomena.”

“Now that you mentioned that, I feel as though we had assisted her in that research. Perhaps... even experiment with it?” The Immovable King scratched his belly thoughtfully. 

“Knowing the Princess and her thoughts... Most likely, yes. Whatever experiment, it must have been successful too if it’s sealed away and caused us to not remember any experience with it.”

Yan Xiaolong examined the black case. It was smooth on all six sides but impossible to tell if it was made from wood or metal from the touch. It was also very light despite appearing to weigh as heavy as a small log. The strangest thing about this black case was that it had no opening, no identifiable lid as if it was a solid block of matter. 

"You're really going to give me something this dangerous?" 

"Frankly, we do not want to. But it is not our responsibility anymore." The golden-eyed entity shrugged. Some other old-timers sneered or nodded in agreement. 

"Woah, woah, woah! That sounds to me like you need to take this back." 

"Ah, stop worrying so hard. The worst thing you can do is destroy the planet at your given strength. At least we'll still be around so it's all good." 

"This thing can destroy the planet!?" 

“Maybe? Maybe not? It’s something from a star, containing the destructive power of the Dao of the Starry Sky, an extremely difficult Dao to gain insight into without already having insight into the Dao of Space and the Dao of Time. I’m just talking out of my ass here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it could destroy this planet. I mean, it has ‘Doom’ in its name. That’s a red flag, don’t you think?” 

Yan Xiaolong rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed to calmed himself. 

It was not as though he could give the black case back. He and everyone else had spent precious months goofing off just so he could obtain this Light of Doom. To give it back now would be an insult to everyone here, especially the Immovable King. 

Yan Xiaolong did not want to spend another second looking at the pot-bellied child, whose form was hunched by stress and whose belly was flatter by financial crippling. He was far removed from the previously imposing look he had before. He was, straight up, not having a good time. 

In fact, the moment Yan Xiaolong even suggested giving back the black case, the Immovable King’s hair erupted into a frenzy with the Flames of Wrath, even though the latter barely noticed the party on his head and seemingly kept his emotion in check. 

As usual, he let out a sigh before storing the black case away into his interspatial ring. 

"Alright, shows over." The golden-eyed entity stared back at the massive mountains of treasures that the Immovable King tossed aside. "Old boy, what do you want to do with all that?" 

"Not gonna give it to him." The Immovable King opened his mouth and unhinged his jaw as wide as it could. A vacuum vortex inside his mouth sucked up all those items in a blink of an eye. As he closed his mouth, the pot-bellied child let out a burp before smacking his round, full belly. "My money, my prizes." 

"Good, let's all get going now." 

"Fuck! I don't want to be in that tiny ass room again." 

"Goodbye, everyone. Until we meet again." 

"Aiyah. A little longer and I would've won 'Go Fish.'"

Senior Goat looked at the Yan Xiaolong fondly. "See you later, Junior. The next time we meet, I'll be the one to win 'Yi.'" 

That was all he said before becoming golden dust. They were all disappearing, one by one. Drinks, foods, and other luxuries were gone like a fading mirage. Even the games themselves were gone, made simply by Yan Xiaolong's imagination and the old monsters' power.

The Immovable King gave him a hug before leaving. "Don't disappoint us, kid. Get strong quickly and then get us out of here, okay?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Good, good, good. And remember the confidential, top-secret, absolutely-must-never-ever-be-mentioned-aloud-until-the-very-end mission you have too, okay?" 

"You mean killing the Magisters of the Yore Dynasty, god-like enemies of the Three Realms who wants to conquer everything and do evil for evil's sake because their intentions, motivations, and backstories are as complex as a Saturday-morning cartoon villain?" 

"Exactly! Remember, never mention it aloud. We need to keep it a big secret for that element of suspense. It makes everything more fu-"

Before he could finish, the golden-eyed entity kicked the Immovable King's sliver of will away. He cussed up a storm before returning to dust himself. 

"Don't listen to that buffoon. He always does all these unnecessary, nonsensical things." The golden-eyed entity pressed his hand on the medallion that hung from Yan Xiaolong's waist. "Don't worry about all that killing stuff. Just relax and come back when you're strong enough to destroy Yama Castle. As you may have guessed, we have an agent on the outside who has been pulling the strings. After this event, they will contact you. I, Blue Dream, am sure of it." 

"I will make sure of it." He wanted to say as well. 

Yan Xiaolong gave a bow. "Thank you." 

The golden-eyed entity gave a nod before leaving as well. "We won't say sorry, but we hope that good fortunes will be enough to compensate..." 

It was only after Senior Blue Dream left did Yan Xiaolong straighten his back and collected his thoughts. 

He has been in Yama Castle for some time now, even if time outside had not changed by much. He did what was asked of him. He even learned of shocking secrets and earned immense good fortune. Overall, his time in the Necropolis Trial was prolific, even though he barely spent time in the city. 

Yan Xiaolong sighed. 

Then, he slapped himself. "Why do I keep sighing? Holy crap, I need to stop." 

He shook his head as the pain on his cheek eased. His hand reached out to the wall and opened up an entrance... and was greeted by a beautiful, smiling face. A ring of ice formed around the entrance to prevent him from closing the door, not that he had the thought anyways. He took a step back out of surprise but did not move anymore as an icy light glowered from those blue-green eyes. 

Naturally, it was Han Xiaoling. 

Why was she here? Well, he knew the answer: it was because he carried her through the ice hoop, most likely some kind of Daoist magic. But why is she here? He had no answer. 

Flames flickered on his fingertips, swaying with malice and war. But he did not act out, simply because she did not act out. Compared to him, she was calm and composed. 

Han Xiaoling's eyes went up and down... slowly, taking in Yan Xiaolong's new appearance. She started from his eyes to his hair, to his shoulders and arms, to his waists and legs, to his feet and toes, and then traveled all the way up to his eyes again. Her gaze was uncomfortably long on the return trip. 

She noticed the air getting weirder and took a step back as if to dispel that awkwardness. 

"Go on," She said. 

"... Excuse me?" 

"You heard me. Go on, run." 

"Leave?" 

"Of course. You know the routine, and so do I. Let's cut it out already and just get to the chase." 

"I didn't think you are one to let me go without a fight."  

"Oh, I would, but it would not be a fair fight. I figured chasing you would be a lot more fun for both of us." 

"True. Very true. But what makes you think I would fight you fairly?" 

Han Xiaoling's late-stage Golden Core cultivation power exploded into the scene. 

"..."

"..."

"Okay, give me a ten-, no, twenty-second head start." 

She turned around, faced a wall, and pressed her hand over her face. "Twenty, nineteen..." 

Yan Xiaolong's early-stage Golden Core cultivation base circulated as quickly as possible and his figure blurred away. 

"...Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, three, two, one." 

Skipping quite a few seconds, Han Xiaoling also became a blur as she chased after Young Master Yan.