From the end of the world

Chapter 729 The Road in Chaos

A torrential downpour of silvery-white rain suddenly began.

Upon closer inspection, one will discover that each drop of this torrential rain is a tiny, silvery-white sword aura, capable of cutting and disintegrating anything it comes into contact with.

The bizarre creatures surrounding them from all directions were numerous and varied in strength. Many of these apocalyptic monsters possessed inexplicable abilities, and if they were to swarm in, even a master demon hunter would have to consider the risks. However, the rain of light formed by the power of the Great Impermanence brought indiscriminate death. Regardless of size, shape, or strength, all the apocalyptic monsters were like chunks of meat thrown into a blender, shredded and annihilated by countless tiny, silvery-white sword energies.

We were also bathed in the rain of light, yet we suffered no harm whatsoever, as if those tiny, silvery-white sword energies were mere illusions to us. The ground wasn't pierced or shattered; only those strange creatures were injured. And now I recognized the origin of this magical fluctuation.

This is Zhu Shi's attack, the killing power of the White Tiger that forged the Yama Sword.

The silvery-white rain of light lasted only a second before the land quickly returned to darkness. At the same time, the figure of a beautiful woman wearing a straw hat and raincoat, holding a silvery-white sword, appeared on the distant ruins of a building.

It's not that I felt unfamiliar at first. Water in a cup and seawater are both water, but no one would think that seeing the former is equivalent to having seen the latter. Similarly, I had seen Zhu Shi use the Yama Sword before, but this was the first time I had seen her unleash such a massive offensive.

She sheathed the Yama Sword, and then, in a flash, she appeared right in front of us.

"Zhu Shi!" Ma Zao called out warmly.

Zhu Shi hugged Ma Zao tightly and said, "You're finally here! Who is this?"

She asked about number seven. Ma Zao gave a brief introduction, and Zhu Shi nodded seriously, observed the other person for a moment, and then turned to look at me. She seemed to be in a very good mood now; after greeting me, she looked at me with an expectant gaze.

"How about it?" she said, head held high. "Now I'm a Great Impermanence too! Well, although I mainly rely on the power of weapons, and haven't really become a Great Impermanence... but now I can fight alongside you!"

This seemed to be the first time she had acted so smugly in front of me; it felt like she had wanted to be like this for a long time.

It was clear that she had truly mastered the power of the Yama Sword. Although her attack just now only wiped out a large group of weaklings, it demonstrated her mature control over power, allowing her to wield massive magical energy without harming non-hostile targets. I, too, had long anticipated the day I could fight alongside her, and my emotions soared.

"Let's fight together from now on, Zhu Shi." I made no attempt to hide the fervor in my heart.

Zhu Shi laughed happily.

“Well then, I’ll be leaving now,” Number Seven said. “I can’t help you with your battle against the Gospel House. I need to go back to the Tai Sui Army to check on their current safety.”

I was merely helping Number Seven return to the afterlife; I didn't expect her to be of any help in the subsequent battles. Just in case, I need to discuss some intelligence with her first.

The exchange ended shortly afterward. Then, Number Seven activated her ability and vanished from our sight, presumably using her spatial power to return to the Tai Sui Army's stronghold somewhere in the afterlife. She has temporarily lost her status as a Void Realm Apostle and the power of the Divine Seal fragment, and it will likely be difficult for her to use the power of "Return by Death" as she used to for some time.

She had barely left when two more waves of powerful magic descended upon us, and Fazheng and Jian Feixian instantly teleported to our location.

"Zhuang Cheng... we've finally been waiting for you." Fa Zheng looked at me solemnly. "Thank you for your timely assistance."

“We are allies, and it is my duty to participate in the battle for the Gospel House,” I said.

“The situation is quite different now,” Fa Zheng said. “If this were the real world, Shan Liangyi would have a hard time finding a safe opportunity to kill you. Because he is wary of the Old Fist God, he wouldn’t dare to show himself in the real world casually. But if this were the afterlife, he could act without any restrictions.”

As he spoke, he looked at the huge stone door in the distance and continued, "Although closing the door has temporarily prevented him from entering the afterlife, it is still a fact that you took a huge risk to enter the afterlife, and I must thank you for your sincerity."

"I must kill Mingzhuo before fighting Shanliangyi. Besides, since Fuyinyuan intends to eliminate the end times through a human extermination plan, I cannot stand idly by," I said. Moreover, if I didn't come with Mazao, their chances of winning would be very low. Leaving aside the possibility of Fazheng and Jianfeixian dying, I cannot accept Zhushi dying here as well. And, I cannot allow myself to miss such an important event as the attack on Fuyinyuan.

Upon hearing this, Fa Zheng gave me a deep look.

My statement might seem at first glance that we share the same goals, but in reality, we are completely different. Fa Zheng's goal is to stop the plan to exterminate humanity, while my goal is to stop the forces that want to destroy the apocalypse. Although I have never revealed my true desires to Fa Zheng, he may have already sensed something of my true nature.

Fa Zheng then looked at Ma Zao and said, "According to the information we have here, as long as you meet with us in the afterlife, the situation will change drastically... In other words, the Gospel Institute will lock onto our location, and then Yama and the others will directly attack us? To avoid affecting our own people, I have already sent all the demon hunters back to the real world."

"Passively welcoming enemy surprise attacks is not the best strategy."

Jian Feixian crossed his arms and held his longsword, still sheathed, close to his chest. In a cold and arrogant voice, he said, "It would be best if we could pinpoint their main base first and launch an attack from our side."

“This is very difficult…” Fa Zheng sighed. “In order to avoid being targeted by all of Yama’s forces when our combat strength is insufficient here, we have been operating covertly recently. Although we are investigating where the headquarters of the Gospel Institute is, we cannot conduct a large-scale search and have not yet obtained any relevant clues.”

“We’ve been getting used to the chaotic spacetime environment of the afterlife lately,” Zhu Shi added to Ma Zao and me. “I have Xiao Wan’s blessing, so I’ll be able to adapt to life here quickly. Fa Zheng and Jian Fei Xian are also pretty familiar with this spacetime now, so they shouldn’t have any problems with combat.”

Originally, it was impossible for Fazheng and Jian Feixian to adapt to the chaotic spacetime of the apocalypse so quickly. However, I had previously packaged all my relevant experience and understanding and sent it to them. In addition, they had accumulated a lot of experience in the apocalyptic spacetime that unfolded in the real world beforehand, so they were able to achieve the current effect.

With so many powerful beings adapted to the chaotic spacetime of the apocalypse gathered together, it's enough to restore time and space to a state of relative order through the law of heaven and earth. Things like the past, where someone experienced only a few days in the afterlife but found several months had passed upon returning to the real world, are unlikely to happen again. Of course, this doesn't mean the flow of time will be completely uniform, just that it won't become as absurd.

As for their current problem of "locating the enemy's main camp," I happen to have a solution that can be implemented immediately.

“I roughly know how to get to the Gospel House headquarters,” I said.

"How do we do it?" Fa Zheng asked, looking surprised.

Among the intelligence I exchanged with Number Seven was information about the location of the Gospel House headquarters. Unfortunately, Number Seven didn't know how to get there. Although she had visited that place a long time ago when she was part of the Gospel House's faction, just like Tai Sui, the location of the Gospel House headquarters is constantly changing in the chaotic apocalyptic spacetime.

When Xiaowan and I went on an adventure in the afterlife last time, Seven said something like "we need to go to the headquarters of the Gospel Institute to use the Dushuo Mountain teleportation array." This didn't mean she had detailed plans for it; she originally intended to figure it out later.

Fortunately, I had personally witnessed a place that appeared to be the headquarters of the Evangelical Fellowship.

That happened right after I killed Huang Quan, and I still don't know why that phenomenon occurred—I had a vision and mysteriously witnessed the scene where Yama, the Lord of the Gospel Court, was standing on a majestic mountain covered with peach tree branches.

Number Seven told me that, according to the intelligence she had, that mountain should be the "Dushuo Mountain" of the Gospel Monastery, and the teleportation array was the arch formed by the tree branches on the mountaintop.

Mount Dushuo is located at the headquarters of the Gospel House.

With Xiaowan's blessing by my side, and my deep understanding of the chaotic spacetime of the apocalypse, I can now imitate Xiaowan and, relatively "luckily," reach my desired destination in the chaotic afterlife, especially since I still have a clear image of that scene in my mind. Since there will likely be powerful enemies we face there, Asahi's jinx power will probably also play a role in pushing things along.

After listening to my explanation, Fa Zheng said without hesitation, "Alright, then you will lead us to the battlefield, Zhuang Cheng."

After I nodded, I closed my eyes, and a complex and chaotic vision of a post-apocalyptic world appeared in my mind. In this chaos, a path that seemed like an illusion emerged.

Then, I took a step in that direction.

(End of this chapter)