Forge a path to success

The path of worldly vanity is one that relies on external things.

It begins as a material, is transformed into a walking stick, and designed into a sword to defeat powerful enemies. But after victory, the person wielding the tool must look forward.

What should we do after the victory?

To move forward, to explore, to leave this familiar land and challenge the new and unknown, to proclaim one's own path and way on unfamiliar soil. Therefore, what is needed is mobility, a vehicle capable of leaving a mere dusty island and forging new horizons. That is the future beyond weapons—

The fourth point of the path of floating light in the world, the "Boundary-Opening Wheel", is the "vehicle" that is opened up in the world of floating light.

However, there is a strange man here.

He doesn't demand speed or distance, nor does he care about the length of his journey.

What he yearned for was peril and carnage, an endless battle. He had no intention of changing his way of life because of a point mass; he wanted his tools to adapt to his life. Therefore, he assembled the Boundary-Breaking Wheel from various weapons, disregarding safety and abandoning stability, all for the sake of fighting to his heart's content in desperate situations.

This is a heavy-firepower specialized mobile sniper weapon—

"The Holy Lance of Blood - Wheel of Judgment!!"

The sniper tossed away his cigarette butt and laughed with delight. His soldiers roared with exhilaration behind him. He activated all the acceleration nozzles and sped off like a streak of light to the battlefield. A new batch of missiles automatically generated and raced out with the Wheel of Judgment, clashing with the flames in the sky.

"It's ridiculous that the world's number one assassin is being dragged around in a place like this," Shaks laughed. "Let's go to the Demon King's throne! We'll handle the guys outside!"

The Holy Lance sang its battle song, its blood boiling within its veins. Everything was as beautiful as heaven; he was a mercenary living in war, and this was the battlefield he had longed for!

Chapter 240 A Duel for the Deceased

The outer perimeter of the Corpse Demon City vanished in the blinding light; the defenses bought with the sacrifice of ten thousand corpses were breached head-on by the will that had created the world. The gravity traps lost their balance due to the widespread shifts in the terrain, allowing Chu Hengkong and Ji Huaisu to seize the opportunity to enter the city. Shax's Wheel of Judgment then roared in, soaring over the city walls like a platinum eagle, not forgetting to drop a bomb at the Limb Spider.

"That sniper is really something," Ji Huaisu exclaimed.

"After all, he was once No. 3," Chu Hengkong laughed. "Let's go for it now!"

The spider atop the city wall swatted away the explosives, gripping the wall tightly with its numerous claws to prevent itself from collapsing. Its already pale face became almost transparent from the miscalculation, but its clumsy size prevented it from keeping up with the others. Several mouths sprouted from its back, chanting rapidly, while simultaneously directing the two messengers: "Curse Lightning, hold them off. Burning Ember, take down that Boundary-Splitting Wheel! If he gains the upper hand, things will get complicated!"

"Brave ones, do not flee!" roared Zhou Lei. "Quickly fight me and prove your bravery!"

Its colossal body disintegrated into lightning, reforming into a thunder giant before Chu Hengkong. The buildings within the demon city, manipulated by the limb spiders, converged to block Chu Hengkong's path, working in conjunction with the cursed lightning. The city's structures still retained the characteristics of city walls, allowing the limb spiders to continue controlling the demon city to unleash divine magic. A new divine spell was about to be cast; it intended to trap Chu Hengkong once more.

However, the encirclement crumbled before it could even take shape. Ji Huaisu leaped into the air and slammed her staff into Zhou Lei's head. The Holy Trinity Formation formed on the ground, and the two within it simultaneously lost their supernatural powers. She unleashed a brute force punch with her bare body, crashing into the wall of flesh and blood alongside Zhou Lei.

"So you're eager for a fight, little brat?" Ji Huaisu sneered. "Then I'll give you a good beating!"

The vanguard split up, and Chu Hengkong seized the opportunity to breach the defenses and climb a crooked stone tower that resembled a withered tree. Just as he was about to unleash his power and rush straight for the castle, he suddenly turned sideways and slashed with his sword.

A dark arc of light flashed through the mist, like a dim, lonely star falling silently in the night. The starlight suddenly ignited before the murderous blade, and a chilling killing intent collided with the blade's edge. Craters, like a crater, burst open from the point where the blades met, crushing buildings within a kilometer radius into dust.

A thousand nights of fleeting stars.

Chu Heng fell back to the ground, his feet scraping against the earth and creating blinding sparks. Even with his martial arts skills, he couldn't completely neutralize the attack and had to gradually dissipate its force by moving. He retreated to a position near the city gate after the blow, where a hooded messenger emerged from the mist, his silver mask gleaming coldly beneath the hood.

"Your attitude towards me is terrible." Chu Hengkong raised his sword. "I also cultivate the Broken Heart Sword Dao."

"Unfortunately, I've never gotten along with Chongming since the beginning."

Nightwalker assumed a fighting stance, a shadowy black light flashing across his short sword, "Longyu." His spirit was fully unleashed; the Nightmare King's command caused the rusty, broken-hearted one to once more display its sharpness. The ancient blades clashed in mid-air, hundreds of fierce slashes sweeping across the city like intersecting whirlwinds.

·

If it weren't for this occasion, I would really like to get closer and observe the duel between the sword demon and the snake.

Unfortunately, this is a battlefield; anyone who dares to show their face must be prepared to be hit.

Shax lowered the auxiliary sight; his newly upgraded equipment was now sufficient to track the swordsmen's movements. He loaded a special bullet, the silver figure about to align with the crosshair, but at the last second before firing, he abruptly abandoned the opportunity and increased the distance. A fiery bird streaked across the airspace where he had previously stood, scattering upon impact into walls of scorched lava. The fire magic directly cleaved the Nightmare City in two along its central axis, blocking Shax's means of observation.

Ember remained in the form of a lava giant, nocking a fire arrow the size of a building: "It's been a long time since I've hunted a bird."

"Sniper warfare, huh?" Shakes abruptly stopped in mid-air. "Not bad!"

The adjustable nozzles on one side of the Wheel of Judgment activated simultaneously, and he used the enhanced thrust to tumble and evade the arrows. Driving the Wheel of Judgment felt like riding a motorcycle in the sky, but far more agile and faster.

This machine abandoned the full-circle cockpit that was highly sought after in the Piercer Wheel, because Shax believed that it would hinder his sniping speed. In order to maximize the freedom of shooting, he didn't even have a shield at hand, only two joysticks and a projected virtual control panel. Any Piercer Wheel with common sense would go crazy upon seeing this design.

The control panel is directly controlled by mental energy, and the images of the selected materials switch continuously on it. The dust of the Calamity Species - Foolish Demon, the skin of the Willow Man, and the water of the Shadow River are all copied by injecting mental energy.

Selected bullets: dust bombs. Quantity: 4000.

All missiles launched.

On either side of the Boundary-Breaking Wheel, armored wheels resembling auxiliary wings simultaneously opened their armor, releasing four thousand bullets in batches, neutralizing the flames into blue dust. The bullets were launched in circular bursts, and the dust spread behind the trajectory of the Boundary-Breaking Wheel, like a cluster of destructive flowers blooming in the sky above the city.

The arrow rain failed under the missile barrage; the magical interference of the dust bombs disrupted heat perception, and flames stumbled and fell to the ground like headless flies. Burning Ember grabbed an unexploded bullet and examined it closely. He had seen such bullets before in encounters with snipers, but back then they were rare weapons, never used outside of crucial moments. Now, dust bombs had become a mass-produced, routine method; the enemy clearly didn't have that many resources.

"Information replication... It's completely different from the past."

This is a common technique possessed by all Boundary-Breaking Wheels: replicating previously acquired information and using mental power to recreate past creations. While a typical Boundary-Breaking Wheel can only replicate the previous stage's Strange Blade as a weapon, Shax's information replication range covers all the bullets he has ever made. As long as the materials used to synthesize the bullets are below their current particle size, he can replicate them without limit.

The missile barrage had broken through the rain of arrows and was heading straight for the molten giant's body. The molten giant allowed the bullets to pierce his body, his elemental form creating openings to evade the fire. He pulled back his fists, then unleashed a burning storm. Two fiery tornadoes shot into the sky, attacking the Wheel of Judgment from both sides.

Shax spun ninety degrees to dodge, accelerating forward through the gaps in the fire tornado. The enemy was attempting to block his movement, so he needed to leave first to seize the opportunity. But his previously agile movements suddenly became sluggish, and the adjusting nozzle of the Dimensional Wheel lost its light. The acceleration device had malfunctioned; the heat was being drawn away by magic and sent into the giant's drawn bow.

The longbow in Burning's hand expanded to three times its original size, drawing heat from the battlefield to form a giant orange arrow. Shax decisively pulled the lever, channeling a massive amount of mental energy into the gun, transforming it into a high-energy beam and firing first. Burning faced the barrage head-on without flinching; his giant arrow swelled as it charged, like a horizontal storm.

"The arrow that splits the earth from the dead clouds."

The moment the giant arrow left the bowstring, the city was enveloped in intense light and heat. The earth-shattering arrow tore through the artillery barrage head-on, piercing the sky with the force of a storm, and striking the Wheel of Judgment directly in the crevice!

The storm rippled outwards, thick clouds rose, then contracted due to air pressure, triggering a second explosion. Burning Ember carefully observed behind the clouds; he saw two armed rings fly off erratically, one of them crashing to the ground after losing power. The Destruction Wheel, controlled by Shax, rose above the clouds, its platinum armor riddled with scorching cracks. The sniper's forehead bled from the impact; he attempted to fire, but the violent jolts caused him to lose aim, and the bullet embedded itself in the rubble.

Burning Ember twitched the corner of his mouth: "The heavy firepower type of the Boundary-Breaking Wheel is indeed ingenious. However, a specialization is bound to bring weaknesses. Your Boundary-Breaking Wheel structure lacks stability and will easily disintegrate once it is directly hit."

“That’s a very accurate assessment,” Shakespeare said. “That’s exactly how I designed it.”

Burning Flame was stunned, then suddenly clutched his chest. His left chest had become a hollow void, a gray bullet had pierced his body, bringing an irresistible death.

He was hit by a deadly bullet. A sniper shot that appeared without a trace, like a ghost. But why? When was the shot fired, where was the trajectory, and what was the sniping point...?

The two armored wheels that had been shot down were slowly rising into the air, with ripples of energy emanating from the center of the rings. Burning Ember immediately understood: it wasn't a shot down; the enemy had deliberately disintegrated the Boundary-Breaking Wheel to evade the attack. He had intentionally thrown out those two armored wheels to use their position to deflect the incoming fire for a sniper shot.

The Wheel of Judgment, the adjudication system. Originating from a dust-free, integrated structure, it defines components of the Boundary-Clearing Wheel, sharing the same origin, as "the same coordinates," thus achieving spatial continuity between the Destruction Wheel and the Armed Wheel. The two heavily armed components are also "gun muzzles"—the entire Wheel of Judgment is a sniping device by Shax!

The gray aura of death extinguished the flames, and the lava giant was turning to ashes. Seeing his inevitable death approaching, Ember roared and severed most of his own body with one hand. He sacrificed nearly half his power to avoid death, the price being that his body shrank to half its original size. But after abandoning his torso, Ember continued to shrink, and in the blink of an eye, he returned to normal human size, even the flames on his body gradually extinguishing.

The extra flames, isolated from the flames, rose, with dust and sand transforming into grotesque features, and water vapor forming a magic circle behind them. Dust, water, and fire—originally incompatible forces—were brought together by the Rainbow Mage's magic, and the unconscious elements transformed into a frenzied monster. It became a demon, a fusion of the three demons of greed, anger, and ignorance!

"Great Burning!" Embers tossed his longbow, "Three Demonic Flames!"

The Eternal Flame Bow flew into the body of the Three Fiends, imbuing it with frenzy, rage, and fighting spirit. Emotion is the most fundamental power of the elements, and with this aid, the Three Fiends transformed, spewing forth monstrous demonic flames. It wildly unleashed its power, completely disregarding whether its attacks would hit. Its body swelled with a roar—a self-destructing magic of scorching embers—the Three Fiends would perish together with their enemy.

"Trying to stage a terrorist attack, huh?" the sniper sneered. "I'm sick of seeing that!"

Two armed rings flew in one after the other, while the main destructive wheel detached at the same moment, forming three rings in a row in front of the sniper rifle's muzzle. Shax was now completely detached from the Boundary-Clearing Wheel, floating in the air only thanks to his jetpack. He aimed, pulled the trigger, and a bullet of pure mental energy whistled out, flying past the three rings in succession. Each ring acted as an accelerator, giving him immense power.

Upon leaving the triple rings, the bullet's destructive power was comparable to the piercing strike of a hawk. However, the bullet vanished the instant it left the destructive rings, returning to its fixed starting point on the two armored rings. Spatial continuity came into play, and the bullet returned to its acceleration trajectory. Thus, the ritual of granting speed was repeated, and the extremely fast bullet accelerated with far greater efficiency than before.

Ten times. One hundred times. One thousand times. The Judgment System became a particle collider driven by mental power, and the bullets turned into high-energy particle beams in the hyper-accelerated cycle. In the 3,512th cycle, the Judgment System reached its theoretical load limit, Shaks released the spatial lock, and the pure white high-energy particle beam was released, completely annihilating the three demonic flames in the instant before self-destruction.

This was the very blow that pierced through the City of Corpses, the "Judgment" named after the Wheel of Renewal!

The overflowing light nearly destroyed vision, turning the world into a pure white expanse. The energy-depleted triple ring flew back to his surroundings, reassembling into the complete Wheel of Judgment. Shaks reached into his robes, seemingly wanting a cigarette.

A strange shadow flashed at the edge of his vision, and a terrifying monster sprang out from the bright light, its hands remarkably large purple claws. It was the Ember, the Ember that had turned into shadow! He had transformed his life form when the Three Demon Flames self-destructed, using the intense light of the Judgment eruption as a medium to shift his coordinates.

He was not merely a reckless brute who only knew how to use fire; he was a disciple of the archmage Vansalal, the very child who had his limbs transformed into demonic creatures. He was never short of courage, and he was always willing to stand at the forefront of a deathmatch.

The Shadow Claw slammed directly into the Wheel of Judgment, the frenzied elemental energy leaving deep gashes on its surface. However, Ember's movements froze at that moment; the side armor of the Wheel of Judgment cracked, and a concealed folding mechanical arm popped out simultaneously. The mechanical arm held a platinum-colored javelin—the Blood Holy Lance, transformed into a melee weapon!

No one would waste precious internal space to house a mere robotic arm; there are countless weapons that could achieve a wider range of applications. But Shakes did exactly that. He always kept a means of dealing with close combat, and even if his fragile body was approached by an enemy, he would fight to the death with his gun.

Shax turned and raised his hand. He didn't pick up a cigarette; he gripped a pistol. The muzzle was pressed against Burning's forehead, and the Rainbow Mage's brow relaxed as he stood upright.

“A magnificent warrior, Shaks Ibn Urd,” said Ember. “It is an honor to fight you in the final battle.”

"A beautiful battle, burn to the ground."

Shakes pulled the trigger.

"You are not weak."

The Death Shot pierced his skull, and the Rainbow Mage turned to ashes. The ancient soul, bound by the Heavenly Prison, finally got the duel he had longed for.

The wheel of judgment fell back to earth, and Shax leaned back in his chair, gazing at the sky where the dust had settled.

This new equipment is proving to be more difficult than I expected...

His depleted mental energy caused his brain to throb. He closed his eyes to rest for a while, and the scalding hot muzzle slowly cooled, with a wisp of white smoke rising into the air.

The first battle of Operation Dawn: Shax vs. Ember.

The winner is Shakespeare.

Chapter 241 Exorcising the Curse

On the other side of the Burning Wall, north of the Nightmare City, dilapidated black stone buildings were destroyed by lightning, and a knight's figure flashed by in the lightning. Ji Huaisu leaped out with her sword, slashing at the shadow of the thunder giant.

Her slash left a proportionally magnified wound on the giant's body, nearly severing Zhou Lei's arm. But then, Zhou Lei's wound blurred, reverting to its pre-injury state. He swung his silver hammer down, and Ji Huaisu raised his shield to block it, but for a moment, he couldn't withstand the envoy's immense strength and had no choice but to withdraw and dodge to the rear.

Zhou Lei raised his silver hammer high, drawing strands of lightning towards his weapon. He charged, then swung, unleashing hundreds of bolts of lightning in a ring that swept rapidly across the battlefield. The buildings that could still stand were already destroyed; he intended to use this wide-range attack to force out the hidden knights.

High in the sky, Ji Huaisu secretly created a floating, frozen platform. She used the thick clouds to conceal herself and pondered how to deal with this person.

The Thunder Curse is a typical calamity-type creature. Its attack pattern is very simple: it bombards everything with the power of thunder. It lacks accuracy but has a wide range, a high attack frequency, and extremely high output.

If that were all, this guy would be relatively easy to deal with; all you need to do is find an opportunity to kill him in one blow. But…

Ji Huaisu conjured a luminous blast from afar, piercing through Zhou Lei's head. The fear-bringer was practically defenseless; such a simple attack shattered his skull. Then, a blur appeared on his empty neck, and a brand new head was "regenerated." Zhou Lei, sensing the attack, hurled lightning at Ji Huaisu, who had preemptively retreated from the floating platform, landing with a somersault.

It's the same old story. Attacks are instantly nullified upon taking effect, and the resurrected Curse Lightning becomes even stronger. The healing process is too fast; it's not elemental reshaping, but some deeper mechanism, similar to Vakrona's extreme speed. This person cannot die, cannot fall; each injury only makes him stronger. In just a few rounds of battle, Curse Lightning's strength has already doubled.

(This is a bit troublesome; even the older generation has never seen anything like this before...)

Ji Huaisu searched for the knowledge bestowed upon him by his predecessors, but to no avail. Perhaps Vande would have some insight upon seeing this thing, but it had gone with Akong. He couldn't figure it out for the time being, so what should he do...?

"You, with such courage, why fear to fight!" roared Zhou Lei. "Come and fight me now!"

Okay, it's decided.

Since we can't break the mechanism, we'll keep attacking him until he can't revive!

Purple light swirled within the thick clouds as a thousand bolts of lightning struck simultaneously. Ji Huaisu, clad in steel armor, evaded the attacks with lightning speed. She moved freely through the sea of ​​lightning, like a rampaging shark. In a mere instant, she arrived at the foot of the cursed lightning, her armor instantly transforming into a powerful, fiery armor.

The Shadow Blade and the Light Shield merged into a scorching fiery sword. Ji Huaisu raised the sword and roared, the sword's light surging to a height of ten thousand feet. Wielding the weapon of a giant god with her mere human body, the flames burned away the thick clouds, slashing directly towards Zhou Lei's head. Zhou Lei wielded a silver hammer in his left hand and a thunder spear in his right, their weapons clashing against the knight. The two fought with the purest power, the exploding elements carving a chasm in the air!

"You want to compete with me in terms of strength? If you can beat me, then keep going!!" Ji Huaisu roared.

"Not enough! Still not enough!!" Zhou Lei shouted, "Your bravery is not enough to defeat evil. I will surely unleash my lightning punishment and trigger a new trial!"

A bolt of lightning shot from behind him straight into the sky, forming a purple chain. The lightning chain flew up, triggering a hurricane, and all the thick clouds in the sky gathered here, enveloping the lightning chain and forming a giant hammer of dark clouds. The cursed lightning swung the chain, smashing the cloud hammer down, and the thunder within the thick clouds roared like thunder.

"Thunderous Punishment Gathers - Resentful Thunderclouds!"

The hammer of dense clouds arrived with a deafening roar. Ji Huaisu was focused on grappling with the cursed thunder and couldn't spare a hand to counter the attack. Suddenly, points of light appeared around her, the elements of light, shadow, and dust merging to form stardust-like fragments. Meteor dust erupted from the earth, detonating in the clouds. The stardust burst through the dense clouds, and the explosion snapped the chains on the cursed thunder's back. Caught off guard, the cursed thunder's defenses faltered, and a slash from the fiery sword broke through its defenses. Ji Huaisu seized the opportunity to gather her strength; her fiery sword sublimated, transforming into a blazing light.

"—The Soul-Purifying Divine Fire!"

The holy sword fell, carrying the immense power that had once incinerated the demon's fragmented spirit. The lightning giant was instantly engulfed by the intense light, and the burning wall left by the ashes dissolved in this single blow. The silver hammer melted, the lightning vanished, and the Fearbringer, Cursed Lightning, was completely obliterated by this attack.

The thunder ceased, the thick clouds dispersed, and Ji Huaisu supported herself with her sword. The Purifying Soul Divine Fire had been too depleted; she had almost been drained of her strength by this single sword strike. Fortunately, the Despair Wilderness was not lacking in magic, and she still had the strength to fight on.

Ji Huaisu shouldered the greatsword and wiped the sweat from his brow: "See? When it comes to physical exertion, I'm still stronger!"

She heard thunder.

Like the ominous rumble of thunder that precedes a storm.

In the empty void, a deep, intense purple flashed. Lightning slashed down amidst thunder, and the colossal messenger of fear reappeared. He had returned to his original height, but his aura was several times stronger than when he was gigantic. Lightning rolled in his eyes, and thunder danced wildly with his movements.

Ji Huaisu's lips twitched: "No, you, you... what are you...?"

"You are strong-willed, courageous, and fearless," the Thunderous Curse whispered. "Yet you rely on your immense power, unleashing your fury, using brute force to unravel unsolved mysteries. You are a warrior capable of taking on a thousand men, not a savior of the world!"

"I cannot accept this, I cannot fall. Therefore, I will fight to the very last moment, until the hero appears and the curse is dispelled!!!"

He ran, his massive body transforming into lightning. Ji Huaisu abruptly raised her light shield, but the attack arrived before she could react. The lightning pierced her armor, leaving a charred, bloody hole in her upper arm. It was a speed even she couldn't react to—the speed of lightning!

The Steel Armor Army's speed was insufficient to contend with him; at this moment, the Cursed Thunder was practically on par with the extreme speed of the Warm Hawk. Ji Huaisu switched to her icy green armor, using the ice to reinforce her defenses. As the Cursed Thunder pounced again, the Holy Trinity Array was activated prematurely, forcibly dispelling his elemental transformation.

But Ji Huaisu immediately leaped out to evade the attack, and a lightning spear pierced the air, striking her precisely where she had just stood. Another bolt of lightning fell from the sky, wildly lashing out with its power. Behind him were dozens of identical humanoid figures, with the same faces, the same strength… and the same speed!

Thunder Punishment: Solitary Binding, Sin-Binding Demon Horde. A rainbow magic developed by Cursed Thunder that maximizes the all-encompassing nature of the Calamity Seed.

More than seventy spell-wielding hammers attacked, each possessing the same strength as their original forms. Ji Huaisu simply abandoned defense; no matter how strong her seal was, it couldn't withstand an attack of this scale. She didn't attack either, but simply stood within the Holy Trinity Formation. This formation could buy her some time, and she seized this fleeting moment to force herself to think.

Think about it, what exactly is the principle behind it? A head-on confrontation is definitely not going to work. In terms of sheer strength, this messenger is probably the strongest enemy so far. But the feeling he gives off... his status... doesn't surpass that of the original Vakro. Even that former ethereal angel couldn't use such a splitting magic, because excessive self-replication would cause the definition of self to fall into chaos, causing existence to collapse from within.