Forge a path to success

Jie An was gripped by despair when he asked the question. The large elevator had stopped during the first wave of attacks, and they had no personnel stationed in the sky. The sky island was entirely the Black Workshop's property. But then his breathing quickened, and a different yellow crystal, distinct from the team's internal communication device, flickered slightly. The man's response, calm and detached, sounded remarkably reassuring at that moment.

"I'll handle it."

·

Chu Hengkong put away the communication crystal and used one hand to lift up the shattered ceiling.

The aftershocks of the first wave of attacks burned down Anza's workshop, production machinery exploded, warehouses caught fire, and the small shop that served as the storefront completely collapsed. Mrs. Anza, lying under the ceiling, was bleeding from a head wound and had her leg crushed; she only escaped death because the counter held up the space.

“Mirror… Mirror of the Moon…” she murmured to herself.

She couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed from blood loss. She clutched a small mirror tightly in her hand, the last clue sculpted from the smoke. Most of the salvage crew retreated after hearing the warning, but Mrs. Anza, preoccupied with her task, remained in the workshop.

Chu Hengkong pulled her out from under the counter and used some bandages left in the shop to give her basic first aid. He walked out of the Ansa Workshop, where the strange figures of crows appeared in the sea of ​​fire. They walked on the flames, like real crows flying from all over the workshop area, their bird-head masks falling off to reveal inhuman, abnormal faces.

Colorless "masks" sprouted on their faces, each mask bearing a different expression: ecstasy, wailing, ecstasy, madness. Countless more masks formed all over the crows' bodies, spreading like boils, completely enveloping them. Then, the transparent masks shattered simultaneously, and their limbs mutated, swelled, and twisted, transforming them into bizarre and monstrous demons!

Those were demons shaped like bone-white seahorses, those were one-eyed demons resembling mammoths, and all sorts of demonic bodies laughed in the raging flames. These evil spirits, who interfered with the human world through illusions, finally had the opportunity to descend into flesh. Nearly half of them looked at Chu Hengkong, their hoarse voices filled with greed, hatred, and anticipation.

"We meet again, Chu Hengkong."

Chu Hengkong drew his rock sword with one hand, the blade humming softly as it left its sheath. The firelight illuminated the man's rugged profile; he faced the demon with his back to the workshop, his coat billowing in the scorching wind.

“It’s great to be able to kill you all again,” he said.

Chapter 60 Demonic Speed

The wind reached the demons' ears faster than words, howling fiercely for a mere instant. The wind carried the rusty scent of blood; the elephant-headed demon's left arm was missing, its long tusk spinning and flying into the air. The demon's single eye slanted to the left, as if examining its wound. A red line appeared in its eye, and half its head fell away along a smooth cut.

A dense mass of chilling blood lines appeared, and the three demons were sliced ​​into countless pieces!

Chu Heng silently brandished his blade, the remaining blood on the rock blade spreading out, turning into a red mist in the rain. He stood among the demons, but none of them saw his movement clearly; by the time they reacted, the demon in a hurry was already dead. The demon of self-deception behind him shuddered, meeting the assassin's cold eyes.

"The possessor is a nobody, and the original is just a lackey!"

These words ignited the demons' emotions, and ferocious demonic shadows danced wildly in the fire. Attacks imbued with abnormal power erupted, determined to slaughter these arrogant humans, even at the cost of harming their "friendly" allies.

Claws, teeth, knives, hammers—Chu Hengkong's eyes darted around, tracking the trajectory of each attack. His rock blade slammed into the blade of one of the demons, and Chu Hengkong himself leaped into the air, slipping into a fleeting gap amidst the attacks. In mid-air, he delivered two kicks, shattering the heads of two demons, while simultaneously slashing the throat of the knife-wielding demon with his rock blade.

Three demons died instantly, and the fourth, hammer-wielding demon, the slowest to act, finally launched its attack. It slammed down its twin hammers, resembling giant eyeballs, the immense force causing waves of rock to surge from the ground. Chu Hengkong, stepping on the demon's corpse, leaped again to avoid the impact. In mid-air, he sheathed his sword, his tentacles transforming into whips that lashed out with immense power, tearing through flesh and blood. With a single strike, he shattered the demon and its hammers in two!

Things are no longer the same as before; it's not like a mere demon possessed person could harm him anymore. In Chu Hengkong's eyes now, a demon with mere power is simply not a threat.

A blood-soaked area cleared ahead, and a new demon quickly filled the void. This demon had an orange-yellow body resembling a sea urchin; it was a violent and volatile demon, utterly intolerant of such provocation from the assassin. Its balloon-like body swelled, spewing out hundreds of sharp spikes, each carrying highly compressed force, capable of exploding the enemy's flesh upon impact.

Chu Hengkong wielded his rock blade, using the essence of the Steel Edge Style to deflect all the spikes. The enraged demon grew even more furious, straining to make the rain of spikes even denser, but the rock blade's defense remained unshaken, while a large number of demons around it were instead wounded by the deflections. Those demons that were pierced swelled and exploded, their blood mixed with fragments of internal organs drenching the enraged demon.

Enraged, the raging demon unleashed two thick tentacles from its urchin-like body, using its monstrous strength to snap the nearby black stone tower in half at the base. It swung the tower down, intending to smash the assassin into a pulp, but Chu Hengkong calculated the distance perfectly and leaped, dodging the attack and landing squarely on top of the black stone tower.

He sprinted forward along the tower, drawing his rock sword from its sheath and stabbing the raging demon straight through.

"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!" The raging demon, unable to prevail in its fierce battle, roared in fury. Its spherical body instantly swelled several times its original size, and in its rage, it detonated its power, attempting to perish together with Chu Hengkong. Countless spikes burst forth from its exploding flesh, the surging energy forming an orange-yellow mist. But the assassin had already sensed the anomaly. He decisively sheathed his sword and leaped out, letting the rain of needles ravage the enemy ranks, silently disappearing into the mist.

The demons' vision was obscured by the yellow mist. They cursed the sore loser and irritable demon, each using their own methods to dispel the smoke. But the curses gradually weakened, and instead, dull thuds of people falling to the ground continued to rise.

The self-deceiving demon in the rear panicked. It fanned out the poisonous smoke, then stared wide-eyed in astonishment. It saw the green-clad assassin draw his knife, using the fog as cover to continuously assassinate the demon!

The self-deceiving demon darted behind the black stone tower and unleashed a jet of black water. This attack was several times more powerful than the one against Mimori Nostalgia; the high-pressure water pierced the gray stone tower as easily as a needle piercing paper, heading straight for Chu Hengkong's head. However, the water gun struck a steel blade, as indestructible as a rock. It sliced ​​through the water gun, cleaved through the stone tower, and with unstoppable force, severed the demon's seahorse-shaped body.

Steel Edge Flow - No Return Strike.

The man and the demon passed each other by. Chu Hengkong sheathed his sword, the hilt and sheath clashing with a soft click. As the demon turned its head to die, it realized it was the last to fall.

Chu Hengkong picked up the yellow crystal and adjusted his breathing before speaking. He had previously concentrated his mind to the extreme because every second counted and a swift victory was necessary.

“The first batch is all killed,” he said. “The crows are the true forms of demons.”

"Are the crows over there carnal demons?" Jie An asked incredulously. "Are you sure?"

"I can't be mistaken." Chu Hengkong looked up and strode forward.

“I fucking knew you couldn’t be wrong, but this isn’t right…” Jie An bit his nails. The intelligence that the enemy had new recruits made him extremely nervous. As if struck by a sudden thought, he asked, “How many did you kill?”

"32."

"32... The workshop owner took 25 people from the swamp... That should match up!" Jie An exclaimed excitedly. "You've done a great job! I bet the black workshop turned a group of demon-possessed individuals into real demons to launch a surprise attack on headquarters. You killed them all!"

"Next step." Chu Hengkong started running.

"Smash that glowing thing," Jie An said quickly. "We only have a chance of winning if we smash the curtain-breaking device, and the sooner the better!"

Chu Hengkong ran, leaped, and his tentacles wrapped around a flying machine flying overhead, sticking to its steel hull with secretions. He retracted his tentacles, nimbly climbed onto the hull, and slashed with his rock blade, shattering the cockpit window along with the crows inside. He jumped into the cockpit, threw out the crows' carcasses, and tried to pull the control stick.

Pulling the control stick failed to increase altitude; the thing's balance was atrocious, and the aircraft swayed aimlessly in the air like a drunkard. Chu Hengkong took out the Silver-Eyed Book and pressed it on the instrument panel, but the identification document did not appear. This thing was not a relic.

He quickly tested all the movable parts and made a judgment based on his intuition: "Accelerate, pull up the left lever, turn the right lever."

"What did you say?" Jie An didn't hear clearly.

"I said let's go!"

Chu Hengkong floored the accelerator, and the aircraft tumbled and tumbled like a hamster wheel as it soared into the sky. The burning wind whipped against his face, the air so hot it was almost suffocating. He manipulated the control stick by feel, just as he had when he had just finished practicing three thousand sets of exercises, controlling every muscle to regain his ability to walk. He learned quickly, incredibly quickly, stabilizing the aircraft in just a few breaths.

Chu Hengkong opened his eyes and rushed through the fierce wind towards the distance, towards the direction where the black beam of light rose.

"Ha...ha..." Chu Hengkong gasped for breath. "Ha...ha..." The overlapping sounds made him realize there was another person on the communication channel. A familiar but weak voice. It was Ji Huaisu. "Not dead yet, right!" she said. "Just finished killing a batch of demons." "That's great, I only took one down." "How's the battle in Midgard?"

Silence. A long silence. Only the sounds of panting and sharp blades cutting through the air.

"Everything's going smoothly. We have the upper hand," Ji Huaisu said. "You don't need to worry about anything. Just finish the job well and come back alive, understand?"

“You’re the same,” Chu Hengkong said. “I fly a flying saucer in the sky.”

"Wow, so fashionable!" she laughed. "It must be so great to be a crafty person!"

With a loud bang, the communication was lost, and Chu Hengkong gripped the control stick tightly. This girl couldn't lie at all; just from her voice, he could tell she was injured. Her concentration had wavered, and she hadn't even noticed Jie An on the same channel.

All around Jie An was the noise from the public broadcast channel: the cries of despair, the weak last words, and the furious roars of those about to perish with the enemy. The sounds were muffled, but Chu Hengkong could hear them clearly.

With the fighting going on like this, how could the situation possibly improve?

"...I don't know when I'll die. I'll just say whatever comes to mind." Jie An took a deep breath. "The Central Court can barely hold on, but the main force of the crows is the Fireflies."

Chu Hengkong frowned: "Another relic of mind control?"

“An artifact that covers the entire central courtyard is too powerful; I don’t believe the workshop owner has such a thing. Besides, there’s a demon…” An explosion came from Jie An’s side, and his speech quickened. “I have a guess, but I don’t have time to elaborate. There must be a powerful enemy guarding the shattering device. If we take it down, we’ll have a chance of winning!”

"I'll try to fly faster." Chu Hengkong slammed on the accelerator, which was already floored. A flying vehicle noticed the anomaly approaching from the side, and he casually threw two water bullets, killing the pilot.

He told himself there was still time; with Jie An directing the battle in the central courtyard, they could hold on, and Ji Huaisu wouldn't be easily defeated. But in reality, even someone as calm as him became anxious, because he didn't know how long his partner could hold out, and even less whether the city lord truly had a way to defend against the formidable enemy outside the city.

A hail of bullets came from below. Chu Hengkong lowered the altitude of his aircraft. He was very close to the black beam of light, close enough to see the crows holding guns on the ground and the shapes in the light.

A burly, eerie alien stood in the light. It had a body shaped like a long snake, a long, thin bird-like head with three eyes, and wings growing from each side, forming an inverted triangular outline with the beak.

It was a demon. Chu Hengkong instantly realized the true form of the other party. Only demons possessed that disorienting sense between illusion and reality, and this thing posed a greater threat to him than all the previous demons combined. The bird-headed demon looked up as the gunfire erupted, spotting the assassin in the air. Its three eyes lit up simultaneously, burning with fierce blue flames.

Chu Hengkong lowered his flight altitude, preparing for a surprise attack. His heart suddenly sank. The demon didn't attack, only smiled. It was a confident smile, like Kanin's during negotiations.

“You’re too late, Chief Inspector,” the devil said.

Its body vanished instantly, disappearing without a trace like the phantoms of every demon. However, the black light that pierced the curtain did not disappear; the pillar of light deepened, and a soaring blue flame was suddenly absorbed into it. The addition of this new power doubled the strength of the curtain-piercing device, and in an instant, it completely shattered the swirling dragon water curtain, tearing a chasm-like gap in the sky above the city!

The swirling water curtain came to a complete halt, and a raging wind surged through the cracks, swirling endlessly like the fury of a god. Chu Hengkong's heart skipped a beat, his breath caught in his throat, and his limbs stiffened. It felt as if a mountain's weight was pressing down on his back, an indescribable pressure that threatened to halt all life. He forced himself to breathe, inhaling the turbulent air deeply, only to cough again. The air cut into his lungs like daggers, the pain a harbinger of impending doom.

He looked up and saw the storm swirling and circling, like some kind of life breathing in the sky, with thick clouds, lightning, and torrential rain surging within it. Winds of different colors danced at vastly different speeds, layer upon layer carving wrinkles like those on a human face.

The dark clouds coalesced into a jet-black face, its eyes like gilded plasma, its mane like a majestic beard. A face as vast as a city took shape in the storm, roaring with a yearning that had lingered for twenty years!

Outer Path Point Four, Cataclysmic Species - Demonic Gale!

Chapter 61 Peerless General

The moment the Stormbreaker appeared, absolute chaos descended upon everyone, indiscriminately. Team members in the heat of battle clutched their throats and knelt, while the glowing corpses and crows froze like out-of-control puppets. They couldn't breathe; the city's gases surged upwards, engulfing the Stormbreaker's face.

"Not enough! Not enough!" Its roar transformed into genuine thunder, with lightning dancing wildly in the rain.

The Demonic Gale wasn't fully formed yet; this mere crack was far too small for it. So it breathed wildly, trying to expand its form using the city's gases. Its face doubled in size with each breath, completely covering the sky, causing the crack to burst open again, destroying nearly half of the water curtain. Satisfied, it exhaled a satisfied breath, its plasma-formed eyes gazing at the tiny creatures amidst the ruins.

Its gaze is a deadly spot of light, and all life within its sight becomes a corpse dominated by the light; its colossal body casts shadows like the night sky, from which countless demons spring forth, stretching out claws as sharp as knives; its emotions are revealed in its breath, turning into fire rain, hail and sandstorms, from which enormous demons are born, seeking flesh and blood in the city with their tyrannical nature.

The ghouls and corpses are merely byproducts of its activity; the demonic storm itself is the true symbol of natural disaster.

"What's this?" Ji Huaisu said with a wry smile. "It's already tough enough, can you stop acting like a lunatic?"

She gripped the shrunken Shadow Blade in one hand, the blade embedded in the demon's head. Her right leg was bleeding profusely, just an inch away from being bitten off by the demon. This creature was born to devour light, a mortal enemy of light shields; fighting it without risking one's life meant certain death.

Ji Huaisu was unaware that she had just created a miracle: she had single-handedly defeated two heretics of the same kind, and not just any heretics, but the infamous, ferocious Demon Slayers. Even in the ancient times when knights still roamed the land, this was a revered feat. People would weave this story into poems, which would be sung for a long time in castles and villages. But even if she knew, she would only smile bitterly. What meaning did her personal miracle have for the overall situation?

She can defeat two demons, while the monsters high in the sky can create hundreds of the same enemies in a single breath.

Ji Huaisu took out some first-aid bandages from her belongings and bandaged her wounds. She suddenly felt a little tired. Thinking back, it seemed like it had always been like this since she was a child. She had worked hard to train, but her elders had still passed away one by one. She had always wanted to help her father, but could only watch him grow old day by day. Now they had finally won a few matches, but they were still insignificant in the face of the big picture.

Before a superior being of high quality, an individual's will is extremely fragile. No matter how many victories you win, you can never reach the enemy in the sky.

She forced herself to stop thinking and used her Shadow Blade to support herself as she stood up. Broken glass and metal reflected blinding light; adorned by the torrential rain, wind, and streaks of fire, the dilapidated city resembled a castle within a glass bead, displaying a fragile beauty on the verge of collapse. Calamities and demons roamed instinctively, and desperate cries echoed from the ruins.

There were still people on the battlefield—a hunched old man who, unfortunately, hadn't been taken into a shelter, but had luckily survived the chaos of battle. He lay on the ground, gazing at the sky and weeping.

"They're here... We can't escape...! We're going to die!"

Ji Huaisu forced herself to walk over and help the old man up, seeing his dry and desperate eyes. She felt a pang of sorrow. At times like these, she found herself not afraid, but she was particularly unwilling to hear people's cries of grief.

"can you hear me?"

The old man's expression was just as bewildered as hers. A voice echoed in her mind, a voice that was all too familiar.

·

Ji Qiufeng sat in the water curtain room, where the surrounding water curtain had all turned into a chaotic color, tainted by the power of heretics and no longer clear.

This was actually the central control room of Huilong City, where the city lord could control this unprecedented metropolis using the water curtain. When the Huilong water curtain was destroyed, it lost its meaning, and the surrounding light gradually dimmed, leaving only him and Youyou in the room.

Ji Qiufeng slowly closed his eyes.

Suddenly, he saw what the control room used to look like. It was the early days of the city, a whole pioneering team pointing and gesturing at blueprints. It was the time of the dragon's transformation, everyone gathered here drinking and singing, telling unrestrained jokes. It was when the first war broke out, warnings flashing in the water curtain, people offering suggestions and rushing to the front lines. Their faces wore fearless smiles, unafraid of hardship or death, believing in their inevitable victory.

He opened his eyes. The room was pitch black; there was no light, and no one could be seen. Yet Ji Qiufeng felt they were all there, standing in this desolate room, looking at him with unreal eyes, silently entrusting him with sincere trust. "I believe you can do it. I believe you won't lose."

I believe you will win.

"That's enough," Youyou said softly. "We've done everything we could."

Ji Qiufeng stroked the golden pill and took a deep breath.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

He heard Huaisu's response, Xiao An's response, and Heng Kong's response. They were all still alive, and despite the arduous war, they had not despaired. Those voices and the invisible gaze seeped into his heart, giving him a renewed sense of strength.

"Now, let's assign the final task," Ji Qiufeng said. "Defend the Huilong City headquarters and survive!"

Having finished speaking, Ji Qiufeng, as the city lord and a father, had nothing more to say. He stepped into the dark water curtain, where Youyou was waiting. The small snake's body emitted light and transformed into a long dragon resembling a ladder to the heavens. They instantly appeared above the dilapidated city, the dragon roaring loudly, while the city lord stood atop its head, facing the typhoon-like monster.

The Demon Blast discovered their presence; compared to its size, the Flood Dragon was merely a slightly larger worm. It curled its lips in surprise, extending a hand formed from dense clouds: "Flood Dragon, you really are still alive…you?!"

The dragon's longing sigh turned into a gasp of surprise halfway through, for it saw the man atop the dragon's head and recognized his face. But it didn't see the man make a move; the ferocious dragon had already taken the initiative.

Its body shone brightly, emitting countless majestic divine rays. That light was like a blazing sun in the shape of a dragon, dispelling the thick clouds and thunderstorms, and causing the demons that falsely claimed to be natural disasters to vanish into thin air.

All the calamities in Dragon City perished instantly, and the swirling storm ceased. A dragon, as radiant as the sun, broke through the storm, its divine light carving a path straight to the outside world. It soared majestically and proudly into the heavens. The people on the ground stared in astonishment, vaguely remembering that this was the city of the Dragon God, and that they lived under the protection of a righteous god.

Some people saw things more clearly, understanding everything simply by seeing that radiance. Ji Huaisu silently shed tears. She finally realized why she had never been afraid: because she had always believed in her father, believed in the dragon, like a child believing in a fairy tale hero. Even though they were weak and decayed to their limit, she believed they would, like heroes, turn the tide and step forward.

She felt ashamed, yet also proud. A complex and indescribable mix of emotions burned within her. Ji Huaisu picked up the communicator and spoke with all her might.

"Lord of the City, fight! Lord of the City, fight!!"

·

Huilong and Ji Qiufeng soared into the sky together. The moment they left the water curtain, the real world, which had been isolated for twenty years, appeared before their eyes.

Thunderclouds loomed overhead, a storm howled, and behind the inky black clouds lurked a malevolent rainbow. Under the flashing lightning, the boundless ocean surged and roared, countless phantoms of demons churning within, forming the foam of the tide.

Their Dragon City is located deep in the ocean, within a giant vortex that flows endlessly like an ocean eye. In the past, the top of the ocean eye was sealed by a water curtain. As the water curtain collapsed, they leaped out of the city to confront the heretical demons outside.

The relentless gale carried a sense of fear; each gust of wind was a demonic storm, hidden behind the clouds, hesitant to strike and follow in the footsteps of its kind. The demons of the sea were the same; even the most rampant illusions dared not flaunt themselves before this man and dragon. Before Ji Qiufeng and the Huilong, these things were nothing but weaklings; only the strong were worthy to stand before them.

"Long time no see, General Wushuang." A low laugh came from within the light.

The rainbow light pierced through the clouds, rising from a spiraling tower in the endless distance, guided by the Mirror of the Moon, transforming into a human figure as tall as the storm. Its body was crystal clear, like glass, every inch of its flesh radiating a seven-colored glow. Its face was beautiful and compassionate, surpassing any skillfully sculpted statue. Yet, within its seven-colored glass body, black mist writhed, like venomous pus contained within the Bodhisattva's form. All who saw it would wail and go mad, becoming playthings of natural disaster.

Outer Path Point Five, Cataclysmic Seed - Rainbow Calamity. A mobile calamity that ravages the continent, the source of suffering for all.

Ji Qiufeng remained silent, gazing at it in quiet contemplation. Hong Nie seemed to sense something, and couldn't help but smile.