Forge a path to success

At the heart of the sacred pillar, a tender green sprout swayed in the wind. This sprout was over a meter tall, with tiny hands woven from vines. Its lower half was a seed as hard as a rock—the very seed that had already sprouted.

Senluo Divine Tree, Point 2, Fenya. Skilled at healing injuries and gathering the power of many, it has always served as the core of many magical arrays within the allied forces. The upgraded Divine Tree is now able to unleash even greater power, replacing Ji Huaisu as the core of the Sacred Pillar.

"Where is that knight?" Wen Yao grabbed Huang Li by the neck. "Where did she go?!"

Huang Li hurriedly replied, "She's been inside the settlement the whole time! Our subordinates have been monitoring the surrounding area since the escalation, and we haven't seen anyone escape..."

Wen Yao slapped her across the face: "A bunch of blind fools! What are you all standing there for? Go after them!"

"Whom are we going to chase?" Huang Li asked instinctively.

"That Discipline Knight has already run away, and there's no need for the others to stay here! What do you think they went to do?" Wen Yao laughed angrily. "Where else could they go now?!"

The locusts' expression changed drastically, and they hurriedly rushed out. They were all lustful demons who had come to the wilderness on a mission, and of course they knew the legend of slaying the demon king.

Fenya laughed heartily, while Gulibo beside her blew a small leaf horn. The warriors of the settlement, who had always believed in Qingxia and their leader, endured their intense pain and stepped forward. They lined up at the settlement's exit and played ancient instruments.

It was a ritual passed down through generations in the settlement, a battle song to bless those going into battle. The powerful music soared into the sky, carrying the warriors' resounding roars to far, far away places.

"—Commander, valiant warriors, I wish you all good fortune in battle and resounding victory!!"

In the western settlement, memories of the ancient battlefield linger. A snow cart suddenly appears from the misty fog, hurtling through the black, box-like camp at an astonishing speed. This is Camp No. 3 on the ancient battlefield, almost nestled against the deep mountains. The snow cart has already reached a depth far exceeding that of the day of the rescue operation, yet it continues to accelerate, never stopping. Driving it is a red-haired rider on horseback, the reins strapped to her back, running at the furthest speed she can muster.

"Great, Qingxia, hang in there!" Ji Huaisu shouted. "We're almost there, keep running!"

"Hoo... I... will!" Qingxia spoke haltingly, "Is Qingye... awake?"

"She just woke up and saw her grandparents again."

The car window rolled up, and Qingye left half her body hanging out, looking like a pitiful hunting dog suffering from severe motion sickness. She had endured an excessively demanding and demanding workload the previous night, which was why she had only just woken up.

The idea of ​​three Blood Knights surrounding the settlement and sneaking away unnoticed was absurd. However, one member of the group could turn this impossible dream into reality. Nightfall's Mist-Transfer Technique would ensure her own undetected presence, while her Mist Concealment Technique could temporarily conceal the movements of others. Therefore, the first step of the plan was for Nightfall to make several solo infiltrations, ensuring that everyone was led out of the settlement undetected.

"Honestly, I was completely out of it by the end. When I was invisible, I saw a lot of Qi Gu cultivators waving at me and asking when I joined," Qingye said weakly. "And Qingxia is really heavy... even heavier than Sister Huaisu..."

"Hey! Is this a comparable level?! Can I even compare to Qingxia?!" Ji Huaisu was furious.

“It’s just… to put it…” Qingxia nodded reluctantly, “I… still need to be a little gentler…”

"Shut up, you centaur weighing tons!"

"Oh, jealousy~"

Shakes wanted to plug his ears to block out the noise, but he didn't have any earplugs.

“One woman is equal to a hundred ducks,” he said. “We have three hundred ducks here now.”

"Stop talking. The duck's driving the car. If she flaps her wing, you'll fall off." Vande rolled his eyes. "Dude, are you alright? Still breathing?"

Chu Hengkong lay flat in the carriage with his arms crossed over his chest, looking exactly like a body laid to rest. It took him nearly ten seconds to open his eyes and try to speak.

A deafening explosion rang out, and blood gushed from his mouth like a fountain, staining the entire carriage red. The excessive force propelled Chu Hengkong upwards, slamming him against the roof. Ji Huaisu reacted quickly, grabbing her partner to prevent the ice carriage from suffering a third hole.

"Vander, let me confirm again, did you transplant a heart into him, and not a ton of magical bombs?" Ji Huaisu asked.

“These two things are essentially the same,” Vande said. “The difference is that the former is tens or hundreds of times more powerful than the latter.”

"I'm sorry..." Qingxia's voice was soft.

"It's alright," Chu Hengkong managed to say. "I'll get used to it soon. I'll be able to move again soon."

"If you can't move before the Banshee catches up, I'll throw you out like a grenade." Shax threw out several scopes, which transformed and flew into the air. "First team, wait for my signal! Be ready to disembark and cover the rear!"

They began their stealth advance in the first half of the night, and it's now morning. Based on Wen Yao's routine over the past three days, she should have already noticed something amiss. The defining characteristic of the Path of Life's Return to One Element 4 is speed; she must be able to catch up even faster than those three Blood Knights. Perhaps Wen Yao is already atop the ice chariot, waiting to smash these laughing idiots to death with a poison ball.

Therefore, the second half of the plan involved risking their lives to buy time, with two groups of people taking turns to hold off Wen Yao, sending hope into the mountains, and then gambling on the weapon's miraculous effect.

Shakes remained silent for a long time before saying, "...The first team doesn't need to get off the bus."

Van der felt a death wish: "No way? They caught up with them all so quickly?!"

“See for yourself.” Shax tossed it the scope. Vand looked through the scope and saw a swirling gray fog in the distance, thick like a gaseous ocean. Without them noticing, the density of the historical fog had increased dozens of times, resembling a barrier enveloping Yingshi Town. In such a thick fog, it was impossible to discern directions; it could practically imagine the banshee cursing and raving within it.

Vande raised his tentacles high: "Hooray! The tide of fate has turned! We've had a lifetime of bad luck, and finally, for once, we're on a roll!!"

Chu Hengkong refused to believe that his bad luck would disappear at this crucial moment. He strained to look out the window and saw a figure in black priest's robes disappearing into the mist on a mountain peak deep in the mountains.

The assassin laughed. For the first time since they met, he felt that the skeletons weren't entirely without merit.

“Go to that mountain!” he pointed to the spot where Bernfar had disappeared. “Right there!”

The ice sled sped straight ahead, leaving the mist behind and entering the eerie, ancient mountains. Behind these mountains lay the nightmare city of Vansalal, originally the last line of defense before the Demon King's castle, guarded by Cursed Lightning and Limb Spiders. But with the outbreak of the Kingdom of Despair, the old messengers, practically dead, had not yet recovered, creating an opportunity for the group.

The surrounding rocks were an eerie ochre red, and bursts of shrill laughter echoed from the mist, reminding them of the mad demon king. The deeper they ventured into the mountains, the more intense the inexplicable chill became. It was as if an invisible assassin held a sharp knife to their forehead, threatening death with the slightest misstep.

Finally, the ice cart stopped, and they arrived at the foot of the mountain. A dark, lightless cave led deep into the mountainside; apart from that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They sensed no magic, nor any danger. Had Chu Hengkong not insisted on coming here, they would have surely overlooked this mountain range.

Vande stared intently at the cave, as if it had discovered something, its silver tentacles trembling slightly.

“This is it,” Van der murmured. “Only one person can go in.”

"Let's do it together..."

“No,” the Eye Demon said blankly, seeing something inaccessible to others. “There was only one person. Because he stormed in alone. Such is the power of longing; you cannot defy it!”

"Then let the person most skilled at creating miracles go," Ji Huaisu shrugged. "Akong, do you need me to help you?"

Trust me.

Chu Hengkong smiled and forced himself to walk. He stopped in front of the cave and looked at his comrades who had shared life and death with him. Qingxia waved weakly to him.

“I believe you!” she said loudly.

"Wait for me to come back and save the world."

He entered the cave. Everything around him was perfectly normal, and his human nature remained unmoved. Yet, the Heavenly Demon Furnace vibrated within his chest, his bones trembled, his blood froze, and even the tentacles within his Calamity Wrist taut uncontrollably. It seemed that all the heretics sensed the unease, every part of their bodies screaming for escape. He concentrated, closed his eyes, and walked, not knowing how long he had walked, until even the sound of rolling pebbles became an empty echo.

Chu Hengkong opened his eyes. Deep within the mountains, a long black sword was embedded in the ground. The sword was stuck among the rubble, its blade a dark black, the hilt wrapped in dirty bandages, and dust that had accumulated for who knows how long obscured its inscription. It seemed to have been asleep for a very, very long time, so long that even its surroundings had forgotten it, so long that it itself had forgotten its own name.

He stepped forward, silently reached out, and grasped the ancient longsword.

The longsword came to life.

Chapter 218 The Trap of the War Demon (1)

A streak of blood flashed across the black blade, the bandages on the hilt swayed slowly, and long-suppressed longing erupted, piercing Chu Hengkong's heart along the hilt. This long-dormant sword had come alive again in this moment; Chu Hengkong's determination was to awaken its inner voice. But it would not awaken so easily, for the man gripping the hilt was not its master.

Thus, the longsword, enraged, let out a mournful cry, piercing the assassin's heart and dragging his life into its blade.

Drag us into the past, hundreds of years ago.

The field of vision shifts, space fades, and before the crimson longing buried deep within the blade, the individual's existence seems utterly insignificant, like a tiny boat on a vast ocean. A surging wave crashes over the small boat, plunging it into the deep sea. From the endless darkness exists a voice—the mad laughter of the Demon King. The Nightmare King's deafening laugh.

Chu Hengkong saw the warrior's back; before him lay hymns, nooses, and mountains of corpses. Purple lightning illuminated the demon king's indescribable true form. It stood atop the bone mountain, emitting a terrifying shriek. In the final moments of the deathmatch, deep shadows shrouded everything. Then the warrior drew his sword.

A blood-red blade flashes, tearing apart nightmares!

The Land of Despair crumbled in a bloodbath, everything turning into an ominous, ferocious crimson. The hymns and laughter faded, leaving only the corpse of the evil god and the blade that slew the deity…

"The glint of the sword hidden in the shadows will one day illuminate the sky."

A hoarse voice rang out, and the events of the past faded away. The detached, condescending perspective vanished, and perception returned to Chu Hengkong.

Chu Hengkong heard rustling sounds, as if a small mouse was scurrying by. He was looking at the dissipating corpses, his hand gripping the menacing blade.

Now, he has become the man who slays the Demon King.

"—!"

At the very moment his senses returned, the most terrifying pain of his life erupted from every part of his body. Chu Hengkong almost screamed. The crucifixion he had experienced when he entered the Land of Despair, the agony of his flesh melting away with poison, the pain of his shattered spine, the pain of his eyeballs being cleaved off... all the pain he had ever experienced in his memory combined could not compare to what he felt in this one instant.

His flesh was rotting, his bone marrow was melting, and his heart was screaming madly. Pain was indescribable; it was more like an unimaginable torment. Finally, the agony transformed into a piercing scream. He gasped for breath, trying to calm his crumbling sanity—

The pain suddenly disappeared. Everything went dark.

he died.

-

Corpses, a murderous blade, the warrior slowly rising, leaning on the hilt of his sword—everything from seconds before reappeared, Chu Hengkong was back at the very beginning. Then, the excruciating pain deep within his body erupted again, giving him no chance to catch his breath; the same predicament struck once more!

Chu Hengkong was almost unable to think. He realized he had been "resurrected," but he had no idea how the "last time" had ended. He had endured excruciating pain, screamed, and breathed—all these actions combined took less than a second! There were no other creatures around, and he hadn't been attacked, so how had he died?

The excruciating pain robbed him of the ability to think. Chu Hengkong knew he had to move, at least do something to distract himself, or he would die from the agony. He mobilized his muscles, adjusted his bones, and roared and breathed at perfectly synchronized moments. This time, Chu Hengkong forced himself to concentrate; he had to find the cause of death.

He opened his mouth, and the pungent smell of blood filled his mouth. The concentration of magic in the air was extremely high, but not enough to kill instantly. Time slowed down in the extreme tension as the gas rolled down his throat and into his respiratory tract…

His heart suddenly constricted in his chest cavity, as if it were a living thing that had been stimulated. The heart expanded at an astonishing speed, exploding the instant Chu Hengkong breathed! It blasted his entire body into blood and gore!

The tattered ghost eye captured the final moment before death; the bloodstains on the ground ignited due to the high temperature, and black rocks crashed down, causing the entire mountain to collapse.

-

This time, almost three minutes passed before the third round of torture began. The long sword trembled in his hand, and Chu Hengkong realized that it was his own trembling as he was on the verge of collapse.

He was completely dumbfounded. His last glance before dying made him understand the soldier's condition. The continuous excruciating pain was because describing the man's body as riddled with holes would be an exaggeration. The man's nerves had long since rotted away, his bones were even hollow, and he was covered in old wounds. All that could move was decaying tissue. He was practically a corpse, a straw man barely made of bones and flesh.

The corpse was still able to move because it possessed an extremely powerful heart, brimming with immense light and heat. However, this heart was also faulty; its energy was so concentrated that even a breath of air entering it would trigger a massive explosion.

If Chu Hengkong, who transplanted the Heavenly Demon Furnace Core, was like stuffing a jet engine into a motorcycle, then this soldier was like stuffing a leaking nuclear reactor into a garbage bag. It would be a miracle if the bag could even exist for a second, let alone move!

Did the Allied soldiers use such bodies to kill Vansaral back then?

Now he's going to use this body...to fight?

Pain, excruciating pain, unimaginable agony. As Chu Hengkong pondered, the pain intensified, driving his body to the brink of madness, and his heart began to constrict again. He would die if he remained still. He raised a hand and pressed it to his chest, the movement extremely slow, for the garbage bag would explode at the slightest carelessness. Then Chu Hengkong opened his mouth again, his muscles coordinating with his breathing.

This was a method Qingxia had taught him to suppress his heartbeat before the One Heart Ceremony. He was going to gamble with it.

Thump. Thump. He used his muscles to influence the relaxation of his heart, as laboriously as trying to protect a water droplet with a lighter. The attempt finally succeeded; his heart calmed temporarily, and he inhaled and exhaled very lightly. Breathing. Not too fast. Breathing.

Perhaps some secret technique the warrior had practiced had taken effect, because Chu Hengkong felt better; at least the pain had lessened to a level he could barely bear. He loosened his grip on the hilt of his sword, because the second thing he needed to address was survival. The warrior's body was covered in wounds more than pores; he had no doubt that he would die after taking just a few steps.

The warrior of that time must have had means of healing... either someone helped him, or he possessed a powerful relic... otherwise, he would have been buried with Van Salar long ago, and it wouldn't have been his turn to pull out his sword...

His eyesight was severely impaired; sensing with his inner energy was faster than opening his eyes. The warrior wore tattered purple armor, mainly composed of overlapping and woven plates, somewhat resembling the heavy armor of warriors on Earth. Inside the armor was an unnatural bulge, located precisely in front of the warrior's heart. Chu Hengkong cautiously felt around, afraid that his movements would further agitate that frantic heart.

He grabbed the protrusion, pulled it out, and saw the envelope stained with black blood. The letter paper had long since changed color, but it was clearly of high quality, and the wax seal was made into a childlike lion's head.

Inside the envelope lay a handwritten note.

"Just in case you're in a rush to leave and forget your belongings, I still stuffed a roll of bandages into your armor."

Of course, nobody's worried you'll get killed by the heretics. But we're all worried you'll get yourself killed :D”

The note unfolded into a roll of golden bandage. Chu Hengkong heard an impatient sound coming from "himself".

"Shut up."

At this moment, Chu Hengkong lost control of his body, and he returned to the perspective of an observer, watching the soldier haphazardly wrap bandages around his severely injured upper body. The image evoked an unbelievable sense of familiarity in Chu Hengkong.

"No way……"

The healing was over, and control returned to his hands. This time, Chu Hengkong finally managed to draw the sword and sheath it. He turned and began to walk slowly and laboriously. He passed a puddle filled with blood and filth, and saw "his own" face reflected in the blood.

A gaunt face wrapped in bandages, with a frighteningly gloomy expression, like a world-weary bandit.

He knew this face very well; he saw this person every day after arriving in the Despair Wilderness.

Chongming.

·

The bandages took effect quickly, restoring Chongming's battered body to the point where he could walk again. Chu Hengkong walked along the wall for almost half a minute, his mind a jumbled mess.

He had always respected Chongming, not only because the man had saved his life, but also because he knew that this man must have been a formidable figure in the past. But he never expected that the person who killed Vansalar would be Chongming; the whole thing was simply absurd.

The evil god who was killed early on was resurrected and ruled the Heavenly Prison. The man who killed the god could only exist as a powerless man in the mist.

Vansalal, having just been resurrected, must be furious to hear this. What logic underlies this Heavenly Prison Border? Besides, Chongming has already defeated the Evil God; even if he died, he shouldn't have died here…

Chu Hengkong couldn't understand it, nor did he have time to think about it further. Judging from their current dire situation, his immediate goal should be to get Chongming out of the cave and back to the battlefield. Now he could finally breathe normally again. He wanted to curse; no one would be in a good mood in this damned situation.

The cave wasn't much different from "reality"; the terrain was almost identical to when he entered, except the concentration of magic in the air was frighteningly high, and the intermingling of various heretical auras made it resemble a graveyard. The ochre-red rocks were extremely smooth, and the cave didn't seem to have formed naturally. Perhaps the Remnant Heart and the gods fought here, and Chongming stabbed Vansalal with his sword, pushing it into the deep mountains, thus creating this mountain path…

That means there shouldn't be any other life in the mountains. The only sound in the cave should be his own breathing. But he clearly heard the rats making noise earlier.

At that moment, another breath was heard.

Intermittent, faint sighs, like those of a drifting, departed soul, and extremely faint breathing sounds came from ahead. Chu Hengkong gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. He was thankful that he had closed his eyes, for his senses had allowed him to perceive the appearance of the approaching being.

It was a hideous, tumor-like sphere, about four meters tall. Its surface was covered with brown "tumors," which ruptured with each breath, oozing oil-colored black blood and revealing greedy eyes. The tumors were actually the eyelids of a strange beast, and the beast with a hundred eyes was drawn by the scent of blood.

Information about the other party naturally surfaced in Chu Hengkong's mind.

The Path to Unifying Destiny: Point 5, Secret Heavenly Eye. This is a Level 5 alien beast, the Forbidden Eye Stone Demon, skilled at releasing petrifying rays with its gaze. The slippery black blood reveals another fact: this beast has been corrupted by the Black Moon, and it also possesses the immortality of the Fallen.