I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Qin Yuan drew his sword and leaped from the bow of the ship. He stepped onto the sea serpent's upper jaw and thrust the blade downwards. The sea serpent closed its mouth, its teeth biting Qin Yuan's leg. His left leg, below the knee, the teeth embedded themselves in the calf muscle, blood gushing from his boot. Qin Yuan didn't cry out; he switched the sword to his right hand and plunged it into the inside of the sea serpent's upper jaw.

The sea serpent opened its mouth in pain, and Qin Yuan fell, landing on the airship. His left leg was covered in blood, and his trouser leg was torn. Lin Qing'er tore off the bandages and wrapped them around his leg, without asking, "Does it hurt?"

The sea serpent's tail swept across. The airship was smashed to pieces, planks, ropes, and canvas flying everywhere. The suicide squad members fell into the sea; some clung to the broken planks, some grabbed the ropes, and some sank. Lin Qing'er grabbed one of the sinking men; his helmet was too heavy, and she pulled him down to the seabed. Lin Qing'er removed his helmet, and the man surfaced, coughing up black seawater.

Yuan floated on the sea, clinging to a broken plank of a boat. His cultivation was sealed, so he couldn't swim, but the plank of a boat could float.

Qin Yuan stood on the sea serpent's head. His left leg was still bleeding, and he gripped his sword in his right hand. The sea serpent's head thrashed on the surface of the water, trying to throw Qin Yuan off. Qin Yuan plunged his sword into the sea serpent's skull, gripped the hilt with both hands, and slowly pushed the blade down inch by inch.

The sea serpent sank. Qin Yuan didn't let go; he sank into the water with it. The water was black, invisible; he could only feel the serpent's head struggling. Seawater poured into his collar, cuffs, and boot openings. He held his breath and thrust his sword down another foot. The sea serpent stopped moving. Qin Yuan pulled out his sword and swam upwards. His legs were weak; he could only kick with his right leg. His lungs felt like they were about to burst, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

Lin Qing'er grabbed his collar and pulled him out of the water. She didn't know where he was; she jumped into the water, reached out haphazardly, and finally caught him.

The suicide squad gathered on the wreckage of the broken airship. A headcount revealed one missing and two seriously wounded. The missing one was the youngest, nineteen years old; no one remembered his name, they called him "Little Guy." No one saw him sink.

Yuan pointed ahead. "Eternal Night City. We're almost there."

A black city wall rose from the horizon. A hundred miles long and a hundred feet high, it had no gates. Every ten steps along the wall stood a flagpole, the skull and crossbones flags hanging motionless in the still air. Outside the gates was a dried-up riverbed, its bottom not of mud, but of bones. Human skulls, leg bones, ribs, piled up like a river, crunching underfoot like crushing dry twigs.

Yuan walked across the River of Bones, each step accompanied by the sound of bones shattering. "This river is stained with the blood of all living beings from countless worlds. It was originally white. The blood turned it black."

The suicide squad infiltrated through a drainage outlet at the base of the city wall. The outlet was only shoulder-width wide, and the water flowing from it was foul, a metallic stench mixed with the sweet smell of decay. The abyss's malice enveloped everyone, masking their presence. Guards patrolled the city wall, none glancing down at the drainage outlet.

They crawled. Qin Yuan was in the lead; his left leg was immobile, so he used his right hand to grip the pipe wall and drag himself forward. Lin Qing'er was second, Yuan third, and the suicide squad followed. The pipe was long, dark, and seemed endless. The water grew deeper and deeper, from their ankles to their calves, and from their calves to their knees.

One of the suicide squad members got his clothes tangled in the iron bars of a drainpipe. He pulled back, but couldn't budge it; he pushed forward, but the bars tightened even more. The bars made a sharp, grating sound, like metal scraping against metal. The guards on the city wall stopped in their tracks.

"There are people down there," came the guard's voice.

Dozens of Night Soldiers surrounded the drain. Qin Yuan smashed through the iron bars and rushed out of the pipe. His sword flashed in the darkness, then blood. The first guard's throat was slit, black blood splattering onto the wall. The second was pierced through the heart, the third had his arm severed. Qin Yuan stood outside the drain, soaked to the bone, blood from his left leg mingling with the foul water from the pipe.

The suicide squad crawled out of the drain and engaged in a bloody battle with the Night Army in the narrow alleyway. The alleyway could only accommodate three people side-by-side, rendering their numerical advantage useless. The eleven-man suicide squad faced dozens of Night Army soldiers; every inch was hand-to-hand combat. One suicide soldier grabbed a Night Army soldier, slamming him against the wall. The bricks shattered, and the two fell together into the room behind the wall. Another suicide soldier was slashed in the neck by a black blade; he didn't scream, but blood spurted out, splattering on the wall.

Yuan crouched in the corner of the alley, not participating in the fight. His gray-rimmed eyes scanned everyone, shouting, "Left!" "Right!" "Back!" His senses were more effective in the dark than anyone else's eyes.

Qin Yuan killed the last guard, and the alleyway was piled high with the corpses of the Eternal Night Army. The suicide squad counted their men: eight alive.

At the end of the alleyway was the inner city wall. Beyond it lay the black altar. Five ancestral cores hovered above the altar, their dark red light illuminating half the sky and staining the city walls, streets, and corpses crimson.

Five hundred elite Eternal Night soldiers stood around the altar. Their armor was gold, not black. Their black swords were longer and wider. Their steps were more synchronized than those of ordinary Eternal Night soldiers, and their breathing was in sync.

Xu stood atop the altar, with a woman behind him. She wore black body armor, had long hair, a face as white as paper, and black lips. Night Princess. Daughter of the Night Emperor.

Qin Yuan looked at the five hundred men, then at the eight people beside him. Lin Qing'er's short sword had a nick, and her left arm had a new wound from being cut by the iron fence when she crawled out of the drain. Yuan leaned against the wall, panting heavily. His sense of malice was overloaded, and tears streamed from his gray eyes—not from crying, but from exhaustion.

Qin Yuan walked alone towards the altar. With each step he took, the wound on his left leg reopened, and blood dripped down his trouser leg, drawing a red line on the ground. Xu jumped down from the altar and landed in front of Qin Yuan.

Are you alone?

Qin Yuan raised his right arm, the tip of his sword pointing at Xu's throat. "Enough."

Xu struck with a palm, but Qin Yuan dodged to the side, the blade slicing off a piece of scale armor from his shoulder. Xu's second palm was even faster, striking Qin Yuan in the chest. He flew backward, crashing into the stone steps of the altar. The steps shattered, and he was trapped inside. His mouth was full of blood, and several of his teeth were loose.

Lin Qing'er rushed forward but was stopped by Ye Ji. Ye Ji was faster than Lin Qing'er, and her blade slashed Lin Qing'er's thigh, the cut deep enough to expose bone. Lin Qing'er didn't fall; she swung her sword, forcing Ye Ji back, the tip of the sword grazing Ye Ji's face. Ye Ji touched the blood on her face and smiled. "You can still move?"

Lin Qing'er didn't answer. She was stabbed again in the abdomen and then in the left arm. All three wounds were bleeding. She gritted her teeth and refused to back down, taking one step at a time. Her steps were unsteady, but she didn't fall.