Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 541: Fireworks for His Appearance

"it's over?"

As Fafner watched the beam of light gradually disappear, he stepped forward and asked softly.

Li Xia nodded, and replied somewhat heavily:
"Yes, they agreed."

The Star God had already left Stan. Even if he had the ability to wipe out the Griggans, it would mean nothing to him.

Just as Awoo said, a group of apostles who are more ferocious, cunning, greedy, and despicable than the Griggans will descend.

They will use every means and method to bleed the Griggans dry, until they are completely drained of their last drop of blood and bone, making the Griggans feel the fear of being slowly drained of their blood and having their marrow slowly extracted.

If the Star God were to destroy them in an instant, it would be a form of mercy and liberation.

But this is, after all, a race, and for a race, nothing is more important than the continuation of the race.

But the stone man agreed without hesitation, even though coming here might wipe out their entire race, and even the Star God himself might die at the hands of the Old Gods.

The immortal covenant once carved in stone with the Griggans was easily trampled upon, yet Li Xia's casual agreement with the stone man resonated deeply.

"Let's go to the ancient altar."

Surprisingly, the ancient altar was not in the deep mountains and forests, but on the Seven Sacred Mountains not far from the royal capital Edmunds.

When people discovered the ancient altar, the Seven Sages cut off the entire mountain where the altar was located and spent a great deal of manpower and resources to transport it to the vicinity of the capital.

Edmunds was the pride of mankind and its most dazzling jewel. The beginning of new life should rightfully start in the capital, a consensus reached by everyone at the time.

"Could you tell me about the new residents who are coming soon?"

The journey to the ancient altar was unusually silent. Fafner walked to Li Xia's side and softly asked:
"From the very beginning, you've come across as heavy."

His voice was very soft, but it sounded exceptionally clear in the extremely silent environment.

So everyone looked up at Li Xia.

The three little ones certainly knew why their leader had changed like this: because there was a race that had unhesitatingly entrusted their lives to their leader.

Perhaps for many apostles, everything in the world was merely a stepping stone to something higher.

Using oneself as a furnace and everything else as fuel, one must be ruthless and heartless to ascend to the highest position.

However, for some apostles, certain things carried immense weight.

"They, like you, are the last remaining forces that resisted the darkness's invasion."

As soon as he said that, everyone stopped in their tracks and stared at Li Xia in astonishment.

Darkness isn't confined to this world?

"The darkness you speak of is actually a kind of deity known as the Old Gods."

The origin of the Old Gods is unclear, but they are not individuals, but a collective term for a group.

The Old Gods are mad; they roam the world, sucking and corrupting it like parasites draining the sap of a great tree.

Old Gods! Sucking the world!
Everyone present felt as if their bodies were immersed in an ice cave, with a bone-chilling cold emanating from their very bones.

It wasn't fear, but rather that before this, they had absolutely no idea what they were facing, nor did they understand what darkness truly was.

It was as if they were shrouded in mist, only able to see a massive shadow, but now that mist was casually blown away by Li Xia, revealing a terrifying monster far beyond their imagination.

"The Old Gods. Sucking the World"

Victor took a deep breath, his aged face filled with anger, and clenched his fists tightly:

"Does this...this heartless, rotten parasite deserve to be called a god???"

Li Xia did not answer. Even if there were many questions, the temple's definition of the 'Old Gods' explained everything.

It is an existence that is given the name 'God'.

"Don't worry, it's a miracle that those big guys have survived this long. I've never seen a more friendly and honest race than them."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit cold, Aowu confidently patted the eggshell to comfort itself.

"As long as we can destroy the old gods, it doesn't matter what kind of gods they come from."

Fafner said calmly:

“I have already sent a message to the archbishop, and they should be heading here with those tree stumps from nature.”

But it will take time, so let's wait by the altar for a while.

The sacred mountain is not high, and the group reached the top in less than half an hour.

This place was once heavily guarded and was the most important location in the entire kingdom, but now it is exceptionally dilapidated.

As the initial point of corruption, the first wave of high-concentration corrupting power released when the boundary passage was opened directly turned this place into a deeply corrupted area that had decayed to the extreme.

Apart from the altar protected by the power of the realm, everything else seemed to have been through thousands of years of time, with only scattered ruins remaining of the once exquisite buildings.

The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, and black, cotton-like particles floated back and forth in the air.

"Boss, we'll head over there first."

Aowu poked its head out of the dragon egg, looked around, and thought the place was nice.

"Um"

Li Xia nodded, and with a surge of true qi, he casually cleared a clean patch of ground.

The boundary nail embedding magic array was spread out on the ground, and the three little ones curled up as much as possible, standing in the very center of the magic array as they had rehearsed beforehand.

Aowu carefully stored away the remaining Boundary Nail Formation. Regardless of success or failure, they still needed it to return to Black Descendant Star.

"Protect yourself, mission second."

"Don't worry, boss, I understand!"

Aowu waved its claws and slammed them hard onto the dragon egg, activating the magic circle.

Azure light flowed along the intricate array patterns, and a cone-shaped illusory energy body condensed in the center of the array.

It perfectly enveloped the three little ones, and a series of faint, dense sounds could be heard in the air, like glass breaking, with countless cracks spreading from the cone.

Amidst an unusually piercing cry, a blinding light flashed within the magic circle, and the howling sound turned terrified:
"Damn it, this teleportation doesn't have a stable circuit—"

"Crack!"

The light cone suddenly disappeared, and the magic circle on the ground seemed to burn, emitting faint smoke before gradually turning into black ash.

Li Xia opened her mouth, but swallowed back what she wanted to say.

As we all know, the stable circuit of a teleportation array is like the shock absorber of a car. Without a stable circuit, it's like the same as the teleportation array in the Superb Hall.

Where is Xia?

Lying on a stretcher, Archbishop Nar, who had been forcibly carried over, struggled to sit up and looked around.

"They've already gone to Edmunds and are advancing towards the center of the Church of the Night with Collins."

The Broken Sacred Heart records that the only way to see the monster is through the central tower of the Church of the Night.

"cough cough"

Nar coughed violently, spitting out large mouthfuls of blood that was a mixture of crimson and black.

This time, however, he made no attempt to conceal it.

Victor was startled; he clearly remembered that the Archbishop's body could still hold on before he left Burning Heart. "It's alright."

Nar wiped his mouth haphazardly, but a genuine, happy smile appeared on his aged face:

"As you can see, I have been hiding it all along, but in the final moments of my life, I discovered that my wretched life could actually serve such a purpose."

I am very pleased.

The judge knight, Ken, with his broken leg, also raised his hand and waved:
"I share a similar thought with Nar."

The blacksmith Sander looked somber. He was not strong enough to even support the activation of the altar, so he was one of those who had been reserved for this purpose.

He chuckled self-deprecatingly: "It's not bad for me to stay. If we win, I can even sculpt a sculpture for you guys or something."

His words eased the heavy atmosphere that filled the air.

"Is what Xia says really credible?"

A rough voice broke in, and a short, stocky old man with wrinkled skin like dried tree bark asked.

The rest of the Church of Nature also came, and their situation was no better than that of Zhu Xin.

Because not everyone is willing to transform themselves into a wooden stake.

Fafner glanced at him with his greyish-white eyes:
“Old wooden stake, I thought you had already figured things out by coming here.”

Whether Xia is telling the truth or not, things couldn't get any worse.

What's the point of whether what he said is true or false?

Even if it's just a lie, I'm willing to give it a try.

At least he gave us hope and gave us a perfect farewell.

Even in death, we can comfort ourselves by saying that we have done our best and even given our lives.

At least I can die with a clear conscience.

The wooden stakes laughed:

"Of course we thought of that. If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here."

But can't you say something that will make us, who are about to die, happy?
"What a boring old man!"

Iris, who had been watching silently, froze. Her eyes widened, and she stared at everyone in shock and confusion, her lips trembling.

"die?"

She always thought it was just an ordinary summoning event, where everyone handed over the responsibilities they had been carrying through this summoning.

Sander silently stepped forward and pressed his hand on Iris's head, whose head was bowed and whose shoulders were shaking violently.

The seven who opened the altar were responsible for such a huge mistake, yet they were still given the title of the Seven Sages.

This is because research has shown that the fuel needed to open the ancient altar is their lives, their souls.

But they still went without hesitation, seven of the strongest people in the world, for the sake of their entire clan taking a step further.

Willing to walk to the altar, offering themselves as fuel, they ignited the flames of evolution.

They weren't wrong, only the outcome was wrong.

So even when darkness descended, causing widespread suffering and turning the world into a living hell.

The Seven Sages are still called Sages.

Archbishop Nar, Judgement Knight Ken, and Old Priest Victor, the four wooden stakes of the Church of Nature, calmly walked toward the altar without the slightest hesitation.

Some were even happy, just like when they walked the red carpet, amidst cheers from thousands, raising their scepters and scriptures, bearing countless expectations.

The ancient altar began to rumble, and their bodies began to burn.

"It fucking hurts."

The old wooden stake of the Church of Nature grumbled, letting the flames spread from its feet, burning little by little into scattered particles of light.

Nar's cough worsened, but his smile grew stronger.

Victor suddenly raised his head. The old priest, with his white hair and beard, raised his one arm to his mouth and shouted forcefully in the direction of Sand and the others:
"Old man, keep a close eye on it. What Xia kid said might be true."

Don't forget to tell them our story!

"Da da da--"

Clear and rhythmic footsteps echoed through the empty streets.

Li Xia walked forward step by step along the straight central avenue of the kingdom.

An invisible force field surged with his steps, and with each step forward, the accumulated dust and black cotton-like fluff around him swirled to both sides.

The gun blade, gleaming coldly in the still night, pointed diagonally at the ground.

It merely grazed the ground a few centimeters above it, yet the sharpness it emitted left a straight, clear mark on the ground. This mark continued behind Li Xia along the path he had come from, its length unknown.

The Murakumo Sword split into three, swirling and flying around me like swimming fish.

Monsters roared and pounced on him from time to time from the surrounding buildings and even overhead.

At these moments, the sword beside him would hum and transform into a beam of light, scattering all the approaching monsters.

As the massive tower drew closer, the sights shrouded in a thin mist became clearer.

At the top of the tower, the Virgin Mary, dressed in a white dress, stared intently at the small figure below.

A sinister smile gradually crept onto her beautiful face, and she let out a sharp roar as she looked up at the sky.

Immediately afterwards, the area beneath the tower seemed to boil over, and countless monsters huddled together howled in unison.

They rushed madly toward Li Xia's position, like a dark wave.

But the next second, a huge beam of light shot into the sky, stirring up the dense clouds and creating a deafening roar like an earthquake.

Immediately afterwards, the space at the top of the beam of light resembled a shattered mirror, revealing countless cracks.

First, a glimmer of starlight appeared, and then it seemed as if something squeezed in from the crack.

A blazing beam of light streaked across the sky.

Where the light passed, the darkness began to recede, revealing the exceptionally brilliant starry sky that Black Descendant Star had not shown for a long time!

Ye Ji danced nimbly in his hand, and Li Xia raised his head, staring at the white figure on the tower.

Behind him, the starry sky suddenly began to twinkle.

Tens of thousands of stars swayed in the night sky, leaving exceptionally dazzling trails as they flew towards Li Xia, forming a massive meteor shower.

It was like fireworks being offered in celebration of his arrival.

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1. Monthly Pass, 2. Recommendation Pass
Taking Xiaoliyu to the hospital alone before the surgery and taking care of her alone after the surgery are two completely different things.

My energy expenditure has increased several times over. I go to bed at 2 a.m. and get up at 6 a.m. She can't take a nap because I have to watch over her.

I feel like I need to rest well after being discharged from the hospital to recover.

(End of this chapter)