Forge a path to success.

Chapter 12 The Path to Ascension
Compared to the "one-eyed jellyfish" on Hugos's body, the phantom of the seahorse demon was clearer and larger. The bone-white seahorse in the air was almost the length of a child, and it silently extended and retracted its mouthparts, as if drinking an invisible wine.

This time, Chu Hengkong had learned from experience. The moment the demonic phantom appeared, he swung his tentacles at it. But the tentacles passed right through the seahorse demon's body, like a fleeting illusion. The seahorse demon rose leisurely and vanished without a trace in an instant.

"Don't bother, the illusion can't be dispelled," Ji Huaisu said.

Chu Hengkong regretfully withdrew his tentacle and brought up another strange phenomenon: "The grunts also had phantom images on them. Can a demon possess many people?"

“Strictly speaking, it only possessed Mimori Nozomi. The rest of the bandits were victims infected by the demon. Otherwise, how could they be so organized and impulsive?” Ji Huaisu moved his five fingers slightly, making a gesture to control the puppet. “In fact, only Mimori Nozomi was truly obsessed to the point of madness. The others were so deeply trapped in the power of the demon that they thought they missed their hometown as much as he did.”

“But they miss home just as much,” Chu Hengkong said.

He saw a group of bandits walk out of the Gray Tower in a daze, abandoning their weapons on the ground. They looked up in silence, their gazes seemingly able to pierce through the curtain of water and reach a very, very far place.

The flow of weapons continued smoothly as usual, the sunlight filtering through the water curtain tinged with a pale white. The water curtain was clearly very close, yet it felt as distant as another world. Just as people on land strained to see the sun, yet could not see the sun on the other side.

“What good will leaving the water curtain do?” Ji Huaisu said softly. “It’s just walking from the darkness into an even deeper night.”

"You're quite artistic," Chu Hengkong casually remarked. He was busy sifting through a pile of scrap metal, searching for usable spoils of war.

Fearing he might be hiding dangerous items, Ji Huaisu quickly squatted down to help him pack: "What kind of artsy nonsense is this! I'm telling you, you're a stranger here, don't you want to go home?"

She thought this person's personality was quite strange. Generally speaking, even the calmest and most composed person would ask for advice on how to get home. She was prepared to offer words of comfort and reassurance to make him accept reality, but Chu Hengkong never showed the slightest bit of related emotion, as if he didn't care at all.

"I have no worries over there, so it doesn't matter to me."

Ji Huaisu was at a loss for words at his composure and could only mutter a sullen reply: "...Oh."

Most of the modified machine guns in Mimori Nozomi's village had been cut to pieces by his own water jet. The two men spent half a day salvaging them, but only found a few intact circular magazines and two blue stickers that appeared to be relics. Ji Huaisu, upholding the attitude of a mentor to newcomers, offered to give Chu Hengkong half of the reward, but Chu Hengkong refused.

He knew perfectly well that Ji Huaisu had been the main force throughout the entire raid; if he had acted alone, breaking through the tower's defenses would not have been so easy. He did want more relics, that's true, but he never took anything beyond his due.

Chu Hengkong ended up with the two stickers as a consolation prize. He casually tucked them into a large book as bookmarks and walked down the tower one after the other with Ji Huaisu. Most of the salvage workers who had been driven away by the bandits earlier had returned. Their eyes held reverence, but no gratitude.

Chu Hengkong looked around but didn't see a single member of the resurrection unit. However, several people dressed in long black robes were peering into the distance. Those people noticed Chu Hengkong's gaze but remained silent and still, as quiet as crows eyeing a corpse.

"Ignore them." Ji Huaisu waved his hand. "Go and explain the situation to Mrs. Ansa, and then we'll escort Sansen Wangxiang back to the central courtyard. After that, you need to memorize the patrol route and some important locations. There's still a lot of work to be done."

Chu Hengkong nodded, then, considering that patrolling and other daily tasks would probably take up the whole day, he naturally asked, "Captain, do you have time in the evening?"

Ji Huaisu immediately took a step back, his eyes filled with horror: "What do you want to do, kid?!"

I want to fight you.

·
It was 7:30 p.m. at the mess hall of the Huisheng Army.

Not long after the shift change, the team members, who had worked hard all day, took off their helmets and feasted on squid rice and free seaweed syrup in the canteen. The canteen was lively tonight. Captain Huaisu, holding a bowl of rock sugar water, stood with one foot on a stool and spoke with particular joy.

"Let's all get to know each other. This is Chu Hengkong, a newcomer who officially joined last night. He's incredibly skilled; he took down two demon-possessed individuals in a single day! If you encounter any tough opponents in the future, just ask him to handle them."

"Welcome, welcome!" "Those tentacles weren't for nothing!" "Brother Chu, you're quite skilled!"

Everyone clapped enthusiastically, while the more lively ones used the opportunity of praise to make jokes. Their hostility dissipated considerably. Firstly, the fact that such a dangerous person could join the team meant that the city lord had passed the test and he was definitely not truly possessed by a demon. Secondly, this person's combat record was indeed impressive; he single-handedly took down a wanted criminal that required the combined efforts of several teams to barely defeat. Everyone wanted to befriend such a master.

"..."

The team members' enthusiastic greetings went unanswered. The protagonist of the welcome party sat at a single table in the corner, staring blankly at a plate of stewed crucian carp, a veritable isolated figure marginalized during the event.

The atmosphere became a little tense. Jie An, who was tending to herbs by the windowsill, saw this and quickly put down his small shovel and went over: "What's wrong? Has Comrade Assassin discovered something major?"

Ji Huaisu took a sip of the sugar water, his eyes darting around with lively interest. The veteran team members, seeing this, immediately became interested and pricked up their ears to listen. Chu Hengkong, however, paid no attention to his surroundings; he stared intently at his right hand, deep in thought.

"I just had an arm-wrestling match with Ji Huaisu," he said slowly.

Jie An's mouth practically stretched to his ears in a wide grin. He asked with feigned concern, "And the result?"

"...I didn't win." Chu Hengkong was completely baffled.

The team members burst into laughter, slapping the table, filling the cafeteria with a joyful atmosphere. Chu Hengkong became more and more conflicted as he pondered the situation. Ji Huaisu had previously said that if things really got serious, they could just bully each other by arm wrestling, and he had even thought of showing off his skills to this girl... But less than three seconds after sitting down at the table, he was utterly defeated, and it was he who had his eyes opened.

This doesn't make sense! She's so slim, not the kind of woman who builds muscle through steroids, and she's not possessed by a demon. How come he can't beat a woman's hand after years of hard training?
"No, hey buddy," Jie An laughed so hard he almost couldn't breathe, "You're trying to compete with Ascended Ones in physical fitness without even making any progress? How much did you drink?"

"You've done your best, Hengkong team member." "What a brave warrior!" "Daring to challenge Captain Huaisu is proof of courage. With such heroic bearing, you're sure to rise to prominence as a top-tier hero in the future!"

The team members whistled and cheered. Chu Hengkong came to his senses, let out a "whoosh" to those around him, and then asked, "Is the one who has ascended the 'point mass one'?"

Ji Huaisu, who had come over looking for some fun, was taken aback by the question: "Seriously? You've never been exposed to the Path of Ascension?"

"Be more lenient with newcomers. It's not uncommon for some Dust Island to block information about ascension so that it becomes a privilege for a select few," the man said with a smile.

Old Man Huaisu strolled into the dining hall, fanning himself with a paper fan, his demeanor as leisurely as a tourist. The team members, who had been chatting and laughing, immediately stood up and bowed, then consciously moved aside to both sides of the dining hall, leaving ample space. Only Ji Huaisu and Jie An remained seated, their expressions unchanged.

Huaisu's father sat down opposite Chu Hengkong, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you curious? Why is it that you've studied and practiced diligently since childhood, yet you can't match Huaisu's strength?"

"I'm very curious," Chu Hengkong said seriously.

Old Man Huaisu picked up a piece of crucian carp with his chopsticks: "Imagine, there is a strong crucian carp here. It practices a new crucian carp boxing style every day and wins every battle against its own kind. It can be said to be a genius of the crucian carp clan. One day, this crucian carp challenged a human to a duel. The opponent has not learned martial arts and his physique is average. Who do you think will win?"

"What a suspenseful moment!" Ji Huaisu said in a strange tone.

Chu Hengkong's lips twitched: "It can't be that bad, can it?"

No matter how much a fish trains, it is still just a fish. In human eyes, it is not strong but plump. But it certainly does not think it is as weak as a crucian carp.

"Reality is cruel. The vast majority of crucian carp are powerless against humans; this is a difference in 'rank' that has nothing to do with talent or effort." Old Man Huaisu closed his fan. "However! The Realm of Submerged Movement is vast, and life is wondrous. Among the countless dust islands, there exist methods to elevate one's 'rank'."

“We call the position of life a ‘particle’, and the method that enables the particle to ascend is called the ‘path of ascension’.”

Chu Hengkong's gaze met Huaisu's father's, and his mind tensed. That sharp feeling of being seen through returned, this time with genuine 'power' in the other's eyes. A raging fire suddenly ignited in those calm, still eyes, black flames bursting forth and engulfing him!
Chu Hengkong's head throbbed with pain, and he nearly cried out. In that single glance, a vast ocean of information flooded his mind, exploding like a raging fire. The sheer volume of information nearly paralyzed his processing abilities; he could only strain to see, unable to think. He saw young children practicing boxing beneath waterfalls, teenagers forging steel before fires, generals dominating battlefields, their blades slicing open the throats of monsters; he saw wondrous cities in jungles, ancient divine kingdoms beneath cherry blossom trees, machines and demons clashing in the ocean, crimson dragons soaring through the skies… and all of this was contained within a gigantic form, so magnificent and grand, embracing countless islands…

Chu Hengkong could no longer bear to look; the torrent of thoughts was about to consume his sense of self. But then, the burning sensation reversed, and his vision instantly cleared.

Across the table was the same leisurely man, his dark eyes as still as a deep well. Chu Hengkong breathed heavily, his fingers digging deep into the wooden table, yet he was completely unaware of it.

“What…is that?” he said haltingly. “That is…existence above the 'point mass'?”

"Who knows?" Old Man Huaisu said casually. "It is said that high-quality life forms can influence the world with just a thought. To us on Dust Island, they must be gods."

He stood up, walked around the table, and patted Chu Hengkong on the shoulder: "To be able to see so much, your talent is even greater than I imagined... If you want to improve, then perform well, Hengkong."

　(I originally planned to reply with a single update today, but I heard that a new book was added to the library for the first five days with 4 words per day... so I'll still be updating twice a day for today and tomorrow...)

　　My drafts are dying! (Screams)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)