Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 211 Tiger's Roar Breaks the Shackles
Chu Ning looked around at everyone, his gaze sweeping over familiar faces. His eyes were churning with a mix of emotions, but he ultimately remained silent.

He simply took a breath, his five fingers slightly spread, and a "Boundary Lock Inner Transfer Seal" that was entirely blue with spatial cracks appearing on its edges emerged from his palm.

As soon as the runes appeared, the world seemed to fall silent, and even the gale seemed to pause for a moment.

With a light touch of his fingertips, a faint light suddenly shone forth, like a water mirror descending from the sky, slowly enveloping his entire body.

In that instant, time and space seemed frozen, and even sound was swallowed up in that layer of eerie light.

"Brother Ning!" Chu Yun suddenly noticed and rushed forward before the words were even finished.

"Chu Ning!" Lei Jingjing called out softly, about to take a step, but was firmly held down by a cold hand.

Yu Xingshui stood in front of her, her expression unwavering, her voice as cold as frost: "Don't go."

Lei Jingjing turned around, her eyes still filled with doubt, but she was gently captivated by the cold gaze of the other woman, as if she instantly understood something heavy.

As the talismanic light intensified, Chu Ning's figure was about to completely disappear.

He looked back one last time, gazing at those who had watched him leave—

That glance, silent and speechless, yet heavy as a thousand pounds.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

The smile contained unspoken gratitude, as well as an unconcealable sense of guilt; it held the calm of farewell, and also a deep-seated stubbornness.

Before the light and shadow faded, he whispered something very softly, like the wind rustling through leaves, falling into the ear amidst the wind and snow:

"I owe more than one vow."

The next instant, the runes shattered, and the eerie light, like fragments of a mirror, surged into a ring, enveloping his figure and the whispered words, instantly disappearing into the ends of the earth.

The wind rises, the light fades.

He's gone.

The entire border port fell into a brief silence.

Only the lingering light in the distant sky was slowly dissipating, as if time itself had fallen silent at that moment.

Chu Yun clenched his fists tightly and murmured:
"How many things is he carrying on his shoulders, and he doesn't say a word about them?"

Lei Jingjing stared in the direction where they had disappeared, her expression complex, her voice hoarse:

"Debts of gratitude, oaths of national hatred, embers of the clan's fate... He is the kind of person who leaves all the difficult paths to himself."

Li Jing'an responded in a deep voice, gazing at the vast sky:

"He never stays silent."

"But—he never cries out in pain."

Yu Xingshui slightly raised her head, and the Soul Map silently appeared behind her. Sensing the gradually fading soul aura, she added in a low voice:
That's his way.

"Silently bearing the debt, step by step returning to life."

At that very moment, in the distant sky, towards Qingyang, a wisp of blazing and familiar soul fire suddenly rose up, piercing through the sky and startling the heavens and earth.

That was Chu Ning's soul fire responding.

It's not for glory, merit, or a power struggle in the imperial court.

Rather, it is for that long-cherished wish that was made long ago but has yet to be fulfilled.

Above the border port, all was deathly silent.

The wind, as if bound by some higher-dimensional force, suddenly stopped.

The light of the spiritual array floating around Lianjiezhou dimmed for a moment, as if mourning some weight that was about to depart.

Only deep within the ship's hull, the lingering vibrations of the array's core still roared low, like an ancient beast awakened, lying dormant and brewing in silence.

On the dock, hundreds of soldiers, dozens of guards, and the members of the First-Rank Pavilion who had not yet removed their soul armor all stood still, without uttering a sound.

They stared at the vanished streak of light, as if still frozen in that moment of farewell.

Some people lowered their heads, their fists clenched like nails.

Some people close their eyes, and their souls breathe like a tide.

Others looked bewildered, unsure how to turn around.

They all knew that it was not a simple departure.

That was the head coach, embarking on his own path to his death.

Li Jing'an slowly withdrew his gaze, his expression shifting from complex and inscrutable to calm and collected.

He remained silent for a long time, letting the fierce wind slice across his shoulders and sleeves like blades, but a sharp, cold glint appeared in his eyes.

He was ultimately the deputy commander, and the first acting commander in this northern expedition.

Even with a thousand shocks still lingering in their hearts, the only thing they could do at this moment was to regroup and restore morale.

He turned around, his steps steady as a mountain, and stepped onto the command platform, his spirit soaring, his voice like bells and drums:
"All units, listen to my command—assemble and board the ships! Form ranks in order, and do not disorganize!"

The words fell like a heavy bell to the ground!

Above the sky, strands of soul chains moved at the command, flying out from the stern of the Boundary Ship, pulling the berth pontoon bridge, and penetrating into the center of each army formation.

The gong sounds again, and the bugle calls rise once more.

The chilling order reverberated across the land, overpowering the silence and echoing throughout the border port.

At that moment, the soldiers seemed to awaken, and the soul formation surged like a tide. The entire Northern Expeditionary Army was like a silent blade awakening at the command. Rows of Soul Armor Warriors re-formed and boarded the cabins, like a flood flowing into the sea, without a single person hesitating.

The long-awaited main world ship activated the final stage of its soul rune upon receiving the command.

The ship roared, and streams of light climbed up the engravings on the hull to the bow. The dark gold hull slowly rose under the support of the floating array.

Beneath the Heavenly Mirror Platform, the floating light illuminated the distant void below, where crimson soul flames surged amidst the gray-white snow and wind, and a line of abyss marks cleaved the heavens and earth like a knife—that was the "Gate of the Far North".

That place is where the three locks are about to break, where the Burning Bone Ape Lord slumbers, and where the fate of this continent is at a critical juncture.

Once you step in, there is no turning back.

That was a territory that no one had ever completely left.

At this moment, the Boundary Ship slowly rose into the air, like a long sword that had been silently honed for a hundred years, quietly unsheathed, and piercing straight to the far north.

The snow hadn't stopped when the wind picked up again.

Their figures will eventually enter that forbidden area that has been sealed for thousands of years.

……

Qingyang County, Burning Flame Valley.

The scorched earth blazed with flames. Deep within the Burning Flame Valley, the heat was even more intense than he remembered. The air distorted, filled with the aura of sulfur and raging demonic energy.

Chu Ning's figure emerged from the ripples in space.

The Soul Lock trembled slightly behind him, its five-colored glow flowing. The raging flames in the valley seemed to encounter a king, instinctively parting to make way for him.

His eyes were calm and deep, piercing through the churning fire and mist, instantly locking onto the core of a violently fluctuating demonic source at the foot of the mountain wall.

A colossal tiger, its body covered in fiery red scales and its back blazing with dark gold patterns, lay curled up on the ground. It was in the crucial stage of its transformation, its half-human, half-tiger form twisted and struggled, its aura violent and chaotic, filled with pain.

On the crimson crystal platform before it, a "Nine-Turn Profound Yang Fruit" that should have been dazzlingly golden-red now had a dim luster, with only a wisp of illusory light remaining, and its pure primordial energy was rapidly dissipating.

What's even more unsettling is that an invisible shackle, full of decay and confinement, seems to emerge from the depths of its bloodline, tightly strangling the final barrier to its breakthrough.

"Brother Tiger!" Chu Ning called out in a low voice, taking a step closer.

He recognized that familiar yet unfamiliar aura; it was the Crimson Flame Tiger who had given him the Xuan Yang Fruit and fought alongside him years ago.

But the current situation is clearly not a simple failure of transformation.

"Roar—!" The Crimson Flame Tiger let out a roar filled with pain and anger. Its Molten Gold Beast Eyes barely opened a crack. When it saw Chu Ning, a flash of unbelievable excitement crossed its face, but it was immediately overwhelmed by even deeper pain.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what a deep brotherhood." A cold, mocking laugh suddenly rang out.

Three dark figures, shrouded in intense demonic energy, emerged like ghosts from the shadows of boiling magma, forming a triangle that surrounded Crimson Flame Tiger and Chu Ning.

To the left: A constantly writhing, eerie green poisonous mist, exuding a pungent, rotten stench, coalesced into the phantom of a hunched old man, with two leaping phosphorescent flames in his eye sockets—the Poisonous Nether Ancestor, a poisonous miasma demon with seven hundred years of cultivation, whose aura was sinister and malevolent.

To the right: A giant eagle with a wingspan of nearly three zhang and feathers as hard as black iron, its sharp claws flashing with a cold light that could tear through space, its hawk-like eyes fixed on Chu Ning—Jiu Gang, a ferocious bird that once tore apart a peak Earth Rank expert with its claws.

Directly in front: A giant nearly ten feet tall, pieced together from countless jagged black stones, whose every step rumbles the ground, exuding a heavy, oppressive feeling like a mountain—Yan Kui, a stone spirit born from the southern mines of Qingyang Mountain, with unparalleled defense.

The phantom of the Poisonous Ancestor emitted a strange laugh like that of a night owl:

"Red Flame, I told you long ago, you mixed-blood beast, forcing yourself to undergo ten transformations is nothing but self-humiliation! Rather than letting you squander this Profound Yang Fruit, you might as well offer it to your ancestor to refine a batch of Myriad Poison Pills!"

His greedy gaze swept over the lingering shadow of the Xuan Yang Fruit.

The vulture let out a piercing shriek, the sound waves deafening:
"Why waste words with him! Kill this troublesome human brat, and we'll get three shares of the fruit!"

With a flap of its wings, it stirred up a scorching, fishy wind.

Yan Kui let out a deep, muffled roar, like a boulder grinding together, and strode forward, causing the ground to tremble, heading straight for Chu Ning.
"Human, get out of here!"

Faced with the three demons surrounding him, Chu Ning's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't even glance at them.

His attention remained focused on the Crimson Flame Tiger and the strange shackles binding its bloodline. He spoke softly, his voice low, yet clearly drowning out the howling of the demonic wind:
"It is my brother."

"Get out of here now, or you may live."

"You're courting death!" Yan Kui roared, his millstone-sized rock fist, carrying immense force, tore through the air and smashed down on Chu Ning.

This punch is enough to flatten a small mountain.

Chu Ning remained motionless, not even lifting his eyelids.

Just as the giant rock fist was about to touch the tip of his hair—

"Buzz!"

Behind him, five ghostly golden soul lock phantoms suddenly solidified! The fifth rune's core, the Primordial Chaos Mark, shone brightly.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a condensed silver-blue lightning bolt, as thin as a hair, silently shot out from Chu Ning's drooping fingertips, arriving before the enemy.

"Soul Lock Suppresses Boundaries - Break Through the Void!"

puff!

Ignoring the thick stone armor protecting Yan Kui's body, Lei Si pierced through his brow with unparalleled precision, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The violent power of lightning instantly erupted within its hardened soul core.

Yan Kui's massive body suddenly froze, his raised fist suspended in mid-air, and the violent light in his eyes instantly extinguished, replaced by endless emptiness and deathly silence.

The next second, its body, made of hard rock, began to disintegrate and weather from its brow, turning into a cloud of falling black dust, which was swept away by the hot wind in the valley and disappeared without a trace.

quiet!
The old ancestor of poisonous ghosts stopped abruptly, like a duck whose neck had been choked.

The eagle's flapping wings, poised to pounce, froze in mid-air, its sharp eyes filled with unbelievable horror.

"A Five-Five Soul Lock?! A First-Rank Realm?!" The voice of the Poisonous Ancestor trembled uncontrollably, and the eerie green poisonous mist churned violently, revealing the extreme fear in his heart.

He has lived for hundreds of years and knows all too well what a first-grade soul lock means.

That was a terrifying existence capable of suppressing and killing great demons.

Without the slightest hesitation, the poisonous mist that the Poisonous Ancestor had transformed into suddenly contracted, about to escape into the underground magma.

The vulture let out a terrified shriek, its wings flapping wildly, transforming into a black lightning bolt that shot straight into the sky beyond the valley.

"late."

Chu Ning's icy voice rang out.

He made a grasping motion in the air with his left hand.

"Binding Soul - Locking Abyss!"

Several dark golden chains, formed from pure soul-locking power, appeared out of thin air, ignoring spatial distance, and instantly wrapped around the fleeing poisonous mist and vulture.

Lightning patterns flickered on the chains, unleashing a terrifying power of confinement and annihilation.

"No—!" The Poisonous Ancestor let out a mournful and desperate howl. The mist was tightly bound by the chains and rapidly dissolved and evaporated.

Jiu Gang was forcibly pulled back from his high-speed flight. His iron feathers shattered, and his demonic soul was torn apart inch by inch by the lightning on the chains. He didn't even have time to scream before he exploded into a cloud of blood mist and charred feathers in mid-air.

In the blink of an eye, the three infamous demons, notorious in the Qingyang region, were all annihilated.

Only the crackling of the flames and the heavy panting of the Crimson Tiger remained in the valley.

With a flick of his palm, Chu Ning guided the remaining core of the Xuan Yang Fruit, which was about to completely dissipate, and gently sent it to the nostrils of the Crimson Flame Tiger.

Pure soul power was poured in, attempting to stabilize the remaining core and nourish its demonic body, which was on the verge of collapse.

"Hold on, Flame. There's still a chance." Chu Ning's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible solemnity. His powerful soul sense had already penetrated the Crimson Flame Tiger's violent and chaotic demonic power, touching the shackles deeply rooted in the core of its bloodline, emanating an aura of decay and misfortune.

This is definitely not as simple as insufficient spiritual power in human form.

The Crimson Tiger struggled to open its eyes, its molten gold pupils reflecting Chu Ning's figure, filled with gratitude and a deeper bitterness.

Its throat bobbed, uttering a hoarse, low human voice, broken and intermittent: "Brother Chu Ning... didn't use the 'Source Curse.' The Demon Bone Pact has locked my path."

"The Source Curse? The Pact of the Demon Bone?" Chu Ning frowned, using the power of the Soul Lock to carefully examine the composition of the shackles.

The curse runes were ancient and malevolent, carrying a coercive power originating from the very source of the race, its roots faintly pointing to a distant and vast will—the ancestral realm of the demon world.

"The demon race... actually planted shackles in their own bloodline? Imprisoning low-level demon beasts from breaking through to the 'tenth revolution' and transforming into human form?" Chu Ning instantly understood, a chill flashing in his eyes. This was even more chilling than an external enemy.

The Crimson Flame Tiger's massive head swayed slightly, its breath growing even weaker.
"Those of the mortal rank are not permitted to break the Demon King's decree; otherwise, their divine veins and origins will be devoured, their souls scattered, unless..."

"Unless what?" Chu Ning pressed, while continuously using the power of the Soul Lock to protect the demon soul in his heart meridian.

"The Rebellious Bone Decree." The Crimson Flame Tiger uttered three words with difficulty, a faint, almost desperate flame of hope igniting in its eyes. "Forged by the ancient demon king against the Soul Clan, an artifact defying fate. But activating it will also bring divine punishment, a nine-out-of-ten chance of death."

Chu Ning understood.

This is a cruel iron law under the strict hierarchy of the demon realm, which serves both to prevent chaos at the bottom and to maintain order.

The Crimson Flame Tiger is not lacking in potential, but rather suppressed by the rules of the entire demon realm.

(End of this chapter)