Forge a path to success

"The core isn't even properly adjusted, what's the point of testing? Go tell Ji Huaisu to hurry up with the schedule." Fan De ignored him completely.

Chu Hengkong glanced at the blueprints and found that it was an array centered on the sacred pillar and radiating outwards to the entire settlement. The design style was very similar to Ji Huaisu's Discipline Seal.

"Are you modifying the sacred pillars?"

“It’s for repairing the Holy Pillar,” Van Der said smugly. “This thing can do more than just open a shield. After these past few days of archaeology, we’ve restored a portion of it. At least we can use it as a cannon… Feed the Holy Pillar’s ​​processing speed up! The test on Pipeline 8 is already ten minutes late!”

After waiting for a while, a weak voice came from inside the sacred pillar: "Wait... I can't handle this..."

Vande spread his hands: "I've already written out the formula for you. Is it really this difficult for you to calculate the parameters and fit them in?"

About half a minute later, another desperate cry rang out: "I don't understand!"

Vande slapped the tentacle down on his head. "Whoever is good at math, go in and help her." Chu Hengkong stared at his arm, and Qingye stretched his bones, both indicating they dared not approach and were powerless to help.

So, the Eye Demon, enduring a half-minute delay, remotely instructed little Ji Huaisu to solve the multi-integral magic formula for line 8. It took almost fifteen minutes of effort before one of the lines finally lit up. Then, a luminous humanoid figure emerged from within the tree shell. Ji Huaisu suddenly sprang from the sacred pillar, his whole body trembling: "I quit! That's it for today's math!!"

Vande jumped up and down in anger: "You think this guy was raised by Gu Long? How did you even get your diploma?!"

"I'm a student with athletic talent!" Captain Ji declared confidently.

Chu Hengkong patted his partner's head, giving her a knowing look that said, "Everyone knows you've worked hard enough, you don't need to fight anymore." He turned to ask, "Can we find someone with a good head to replace her?"

"It wouldn't make a difference if anyone else went in on her." Chongming rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and give her some tutoring. The formation we're rebuilding now is the 'United We Stand' formation that we used to use. It can convert the warriors' fighting spirit into power. The faster it's repaired, the better."

"Oh, what level can it reach at maximum output?" Qingye asked.

"If activated with Ji Huaisu as the core, ideally it could only be done once in a short period of time, unleashing a powerful attack with a mass of 4 points," Shi Zhong wrote. "It's roughly equivalent to smashing a magic hurricane to the ground."

Without saying a word, Qingye grabbed Ji Huaisu's arm and started walking: "Sister Huaisu, be good, come with me to tutoring. You're not allowed to eat until you learn it."

"Stop it, you little brat! You've gone too far!" Ji Huaisu resolutely resisted.

Chu Hengkong then considered a more practical approach: "Fan De, could you hypnotize her to study properly?"

"Isn't that a bit inhumane?" Vande said hypocritically.

"Failure to pass an exam is no human right," Chu Hengkong said coldly. "Go."

Qingye immediately grabbed Ji Huaisu's arms from behind. Chu Hengkong picked up Fande and pointed it at someone's eyes like a camera. Fande twisted its tentacles in a way that was both repulsive and grotesque.

"In three seconds, you will become a perfect student," the assassin said coldly. "From that moment on, your mind will only be focused on studying. You will become someone who begs us to let you study..."

"Ji Huaisu, say goodbye to your stupidity!" Vande sneered.

Ji Huaisu's face turned deathly pale: "Damn it! I surrender! I'll learn it, okay? I'll learn it!"

“Very good, Vande will take her to tutoring and supervise the work all night.”

"Hehe, leave it to me!"

"I understand, we definitely won't let her get any food."

"You're all just trying to torture me!!" Ji Huaisu screamed in agony.

Ji Huaisu was cruelly escorted back to the hut by the two supervisors, while Chongming laughed as wildly as Chu Hengkong.

"There's even a day when I have to meet a knight to brush up on my cultural knowledge? That's fucking hilarious." He gestured towards the sacred pillar. "From now on, unless absolutely necessary, Ji Huaisu won't leave the settlement. Any objections?"

"No."

A single output of 4 points is of great strategic significance, enough to turn the tide of battle. They can lure the enemy to the vicinity of the settlement and annihilate them in one fell swoop by Ji Huaisu, or escape to the settlement for temporary safety when being pursued. However, if Ji Huaisu leaves the settlement, they will lose this decisive force in the battle.

To put it bluntly, even if everyone else is incapacitated, Ji Huaisu's safety must be the priority.

"That girl must be really unhappy. It's a pity that the Commander was born to sit firmly in the headquarters." Chongming gloated. "Besides, she'll be needed to ask for help from the outside world. She should just obediently be a pillar before the final battle."

Is it really feasible to contact the outside world?

[Theoretically, perhaps, it's feasible.] Shi Zhong wrote worriedly, [Before I left, I sensed the coordinates of the wilderness and quickly left a message. If people outside can find clues, there's a possibility of making contact...]

Alas, our strength was too weak, and the writing we left behind was too small. Hopefully, they will find it.

·

At the same time, in Kinyo City.

"Lord Ji, please follow me..."

Qi Su, staff in hand, led the way, guiding Ji Qiufeng underground. The place was vastly different from before; various instruments filled the underground space, and the research team that had arrived earlier were busy at the magic arrays and equipment. Upon seeing Ji Qiufeng, they all stopped and bowed. The city lord waved his fan, indicating that everyone should not be so formal.

Indeed, no one could be too reserved. Even though the city lord had advanced to level 6, he was still wearing a jacket and casual pants. With his folding fan open, he didn't look like a martial arts cultivator at all. He looked exactly like a young and promising entrepreneur taking a stroll after dinner.

"Show me the coordinates."

"Here it is." Qi Su pointed out, "I haven't touched it since I found it, for fear of disturbing the information inside."

Four jade pendants surrounded a small rock with extremely tiny characters on it. Ji Qiufeng leaned closer to examine it for a while, then raised his folding fan. The researchers, receiving the signal, immediately stopped their work and left the scene; the ensuing conversation would be fatal, and they couldn't bear to hear a single word.

“The depth matches, it’s the Heavenly Prison,” Ji Qiufeng said. “The eyewitnesses said they saw the Nightmare King, so it’s most likely that Huaisu and the others entered the outermost Despair Wilderness.”

Qi Su gripped his cane tightly, his face pale. The Nightmare King was truly a terrifying being; even in that era of mad war, it firmly held its position as one of the strongest gods below the Supreme Being. All scholars studying the Great War unanimously agreed that the Nightmare King's death at the beginning of the war significantly influenced its course. Had it chosen a different battlefield, the subsequent developments would have been entirely different.

Now that this demon has been resurrected, it is being dealt with by a few inexperienced low-quality ascendants.

"Can we ask Longquan Township for help?" she groaned. "Could you...?"

“It’s impossible.” Ji Qiufeng shook his head. “After the war, the Allied forces made countless attempts. It has been proven that those who experienced the war firsthand cannot enter the Heavenly Prison. Only some heretics and newly born low-quality ascendants can cross the border by chance. Huaisu and Hengkong are most likely the latter…”

Qi Su asked dejectedly, "Even the big shots... can't do it?"

“You were born in the Netherworld God Kingdom, so you should know that even gods are not omnipotent,” Ji Qiufeng sighed. “It is said that the Lord of the Broken Heart left the island after the war and never returned, seeking a way to personally enter the Heavenly Prison. But even he, as the Lord of the Broken Heart, has not succeeded so far, let alone you and me?”

“However,” Ji Qiufeng changed the subject, “now that we have the coordinates, we can do some things.”

Qi Su rallied his spirits and suggested, "Could we provide support with high-level relics?"

“It’s not very feasible. It would be a miracle if the passage could be established even once. The relics would most likely drift away with the tides of fate and end up in a higher level of the Heavenly Prison.” Ji Qiufeng rejected the idea. “We need to think about it from the worst-case scenario. If it can only be opened once, we should send the person who can play the most important role.”

"Let me remind you, this is sending our supporters to their deaths," Qi Su said. The Despair Wilderness only allows low-quality points to enter; even throwing a mutated blade in would be a guaranteed death sentence.

"Given the current situation, we have no choice but to take the risk..."

Ji Qiufeng found a rock to sit on and tapped his knee with a paper fan. Qi Su noticed a trace of melancholy in his eyes, an emotion that Ji Qiufeng had never been associated with.

"City Lord?"

“It should have been us who went.” Ji Qiufeng shook his head.

"...?" Qi Su was stunned. "What did you say?"

"Youyou, Jiewen, and I had all planned to go to the Blood Plains of No Life when the time was right. But unexpectedly, the Netherworld God-King left first, followed by a 20-year siege..."

After I finally caught my breath, my daughter and disciples went to the Heavenly Prison in my place. And because I was protecting them and trying to advance my cultivation, I've now lost even the qualification to enter the Blood Plains.

The man gazed at the dark cave, a rare look of melancholy on his face: "Isn't this a testament to the unpredictability of life?"

From the moment the city lord arrived, Qi Su had a strange, inexplicable feeling. He knew far too much about the Heavenly Prison, far more than a martial artist from Dragon Township born after the war. This information should have been strictly sealed to prevent those who knew it from being swept into the Heavenly Prison by the tide of fate. But now everything made sense. Ji Qiufeng needed to know this, because they were supposed to be the vanguard invading the Heavenly Prison. But Yinglong died, Huilong City fell, and by a twist of fate, a group of younger generations shouldered this responsibility.

"Lord, don't worry too much. Fools sometimes have good luck!" Qi Su said in a panic. "Besides, they went in for you, so it's like... the sons following in their fathers' footsteps, isn't it!"

Ji Qiufeng raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Qi Su, realizing he had spoken without thinking, quickly covered his mouth. The city lord laughed at the sight.

“That’s true,” the man chuckled. “I think they should be able to survive. We should get to work on this as soon as possible!”

·

"Do you think we can get out safely?" Chu Hengkong asked casually.

"Hey, what's the point of thinking about these things? If we can get out, we can get out; if we can't, we'll die here, what else can we do?" Vande replied listlessly.

Night fell in the blink of an eye. Ji Huaisu's tutoring session had finally ended half an hour earlier, and the female knight let out a wolf howl and dashed out to eat, drink, and take a bath. The idle people and eyeballs huddled on the living room sofa, discussing what might or might not have happened "after they went out."

“We need to make a plan; people need something to look forward to,” Chu Hengkong said. “I plan to go to the Divine Tree City-State.”

"Holy crap?!" Vande jumped up. "Great place, buddy! This is perfect for us! You can use the information network there to find out about your boss, Ji Huaisu, whom you've been longing to talk about. You can also go to the Old Tree Archaeology Institute to explore knight history. I could spend half a year holed up in the bookstore and lie there. I think it'll really work. Let's settle on this! And don't go too far. It's hard to go out to sea anyway, so let's just go to Jing Sha!"

"How did you know what I wanted to do before I even told you?"

"That's all you're good for," Vande scoffed. "Fighting, promotions, finding a boss. That's it. The rest doesn't count as a career, but as you categorize it, it's just a way of life."

"That's true." Chu Heng chuckled. "I'm going upstairs, don't disturb me."

Fan De watched him walk away with narrowed eyes. Just then, Qing Ye, who had just finished exercising, came in and asked gossipy, "What? What?"

"It's the breeding season for mammals~" Vande said sarcastically.

"Oh!" Qingye exclaimed in surprise. "Oh!"

Chu Hengkong arrived at his partner's door, knocked, and entered after receiving permission. Ji Huaisu had just finished showering and was lying listlessly on the bed, wearing a tank top and shorts, looking like a dried-out golden salted fish.

"Dead. No breath. Can't live anymore. All ties are severed," she said.

"You're like a child." Chu Hengkong rubbed her head, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I have something to tell you."

"Huh? What kind of nonsense is that?" Ji Huaisu raised his eyes.

He began with some difficulty, recounting his interactions with the fallen girl in detail. Ji Huaisu lay on the bed, hugging a pillow, swinging her legs back and forth as she listened to the story.

“I want to apologize to you,” he said finally. “I may have unconsciously sought a sense of family in you.”

Ji Huaisu stared at him with her head held high, as if he were an idiot.

Chu Hengkong was a little nervous: "The relationship with friends should not be something to bargain with yourself. Comrades should not be regarded as tools to provide warmth."

The blonde girl's perception of him as mentally challenged had doubled; Chu Hengkong felt he hadn't explained himself clearly enough.

"It's not just because I was misled by those who have fallen into depravity; I did indeed have those thoughts myself, but that shouldn't have happened. In short, what I want to say is—"

Ji Huaisu grabbed his cheeks and shook them vigorously for a while. She said earnestly, "Akong, wake up. You're already 22. This isn't the time for you to indulge in this kind of adolescent psychological formalism."

"Forehead."

"I am your comrade-in-arms, your partner, and at the same time, your family, your sister, or whatever else you think I am. No matter how you define me, our relationship will not change, right?"

"Yes." Chu Hengkong nodded. "No, no. What I meant was—"

Ji Huaisu sat up abruptly, gave his head a few retaliatory rubs, and then pressed him down to lie down on the edge of the bed. She turned off the light, lay down next to Chu Hengkong, and naturally covered herself with the blanket.

Goodnight, Akong.

"Good night."

After about ten seconds, Chu Hengkong said, "You may have misunderstood. I'm here to apologize to you."

"I'm so sleepy, let's go to sleep early, okay?" Ji Huaisu said irritably. "I received your apology, but you're being punished by having to sleep in the same bed as Sister Huaisu from now on."

"I don't understand."

Ji Huaisu turned over and hugged him: "Because I also like to sleep with you."

"Oh," Chu Hengkong said.

Silent all night.

Chapter 202 A Good Book

The next day, early morning.

Chu Hengkong slept exceptionally well last night, and he had to admit that the girl who had fallen from grace had a point. Perhaps he was truly tired of living alone, to the point that even in this dreadful environment, he found solace in the company of others.

He got up half an hour earlier than Ji Huaisu, and instead of disturbing his sleeping partner, he went downstairs alone for some morning exercise. As he left the building, he felt unusually guilty and looked back, hoping no one else had seen him.

Vande nestled on the sofa, secretly observing the leopard with his leopard-gazing tube.

"What are you looking at!"

"I'm watching that scumbag's shameful back view," Vande clicked his tongue. "Ah, certain people, I won't name names, spent the night in the same room with that girl, and this morning they sneaked out to find another girl!"

"Keep your voice down, you bastard!" Chu Hengkong felt a deep headache coming on. "I'm going to..."

“I understand, buddy,” Van Der said earnestly. “You’re going there to lose your virginity.”

"go away."

Chu Hengkong flung his wrist out, slamming the Eye Demon flat onto the sofa, who let out a gloating laugh. He turned his back to the small house and hurried away, looking like a prime minister fleeing a humiliating defeat.

It was still early, and as usual, the streets were mostly filled with people shrouded in mist. Those lifeless losers would always look at him with muddy eyes, offering advice that was blocked from the world. Chu Hengkong tightened his clothes, bracing himself for their entanglement.

After walking for a while, they still couldn't hear the voices of the people in the fog. The settlement was unusually quiet today; the streets were deserted, and it seemed the people in the fog had all gone out, their figures nowhere to be found. Seeing this strange phenomenon, Chu Hengkong considered a possibility.

He changed direction and headed towards the church on the edge of the settlement. A man dressed as a priest was standing at the door, closing the heavy wooden door behind him.

“Good morning, Mr. Chu,” Bernhard greeted calmly.

"You let them go?"