Forge a path to success

"I told you... you won't be leaving this place!!!"

Wen Yao looked down in astonishment, her gaze traveling across thousands of miles to land on the blood knight covered in wounds.

Shame. Fear. Hatred. Panic. All sorts of emotions tangled like mud in the dying heart, transforming into the shrill screams of demons.

"Qingxia!!!"

The Blood Knight burst into laughter, and the assassin drew her sword amidst her laughter. The pulsating heartbeat and the clang of the blade overlapped, and the power gained from devouring Qing Shang surged into the murderous blade, transforming into the force propelling the strike.

And so the legendary skill of the one who had broken his heart reappeared, and the lightning-fast Iaijutsu emerged from the shadows. His slash left a crimson line in the sky, and the slash wound burst forth with fire that illuminated the heavens.

The passage to the upper level of the Heavenly Prison collapsed in the withered heart fire, and blood and fire soared into the sky, burning the Plague Demon, her ambition, and her malice to ashes!

Chapter 226 Divine soldiers descend from heaven

The flames expanded as the blade's edge spread, and the soaring crimson flames dyed the entire world red. A scorching shockwave swept across the desolate wilderness, whipping up countless grains of sand that surged into the sky with the force of destruction.

The world churned in blood, the blood flames danced wildly with the killing, the power dissipated and then rolled back, returning to the slash marks with the will of the Asura.

Disappeared in a flash.

With a soft clang, the murderous blade was sheathed.

The flames burning on his body died down, and the demon Shura transformed back into the assassin. Exhaustion erupted within him; his heart shrank and constricted from overexertion, and excruciating pain assaulted his brain, threatening to tear his nerves apart. The aid from the murderous blade had departed after the battle, and the body of Point 3 began to pay the price for the previous fight—with blood, bones, muscles, and life itself.

But Chu Heng held on without moving an inch.

A piece of cake.

Having experienced the memories of the War Demon, this pain was nothing to him. A man even the heretics couldn't kill had no reason to be defeated by him. He breathed in the scorching air, and his magic, transformed into power by the Heavenly Demon Furnace, gradually revitalized his withered body.

The murderous blade trembled at his waist, its sharp edge pointing towards the world beyond the vortex. This blade was not yet satisfied; the heretical path of point 4 was merely the beginning for it, and it desired to continue its slaughter. Chu Hengkong didn't even glance at it. He gripped the hilt and rushed back to the front of the cave, just in time to catch the fallen Blood Knight.

Qingxia's blood-red bow dissipated, and her once strong body could no longer even stand steadily. The plague demon's toxins, carried by the fire mark, seeped into her flesh, turning her skin a hideous brownish-yellow. Her lips moved, but no sound came out; only silent words remained.

"Did we... win?"

“We’ve won.” Chu Hengkong grabbed her. “So you can’t die yet. We’ve already created so many miracles, you can’t fall here!”

The blood flames ignited again, this time fueled by his own life force. Several streaks of blood-red light shot out, landing on Qingxia, Shakes, Qingye, and Fande, thus hindering the poison and keeping them alive. Chu Hengkong's skin had become transparent due to excessive blood loss. He struggled to carry Qingxia, while Ji Huaisu had just built a clay cart.

"I'm out of strength...!" Ji Huaisu leaned against the car floor, her face half blue and half purple. "Mr. Assassin, could you please try one more time?"

"Okay. But you also have to try your best to hold on."

Chu Hengkong pulled the rest of the people onto the earthen cart one by one, then used his calamity wrist to pull the cart and sped towards the settlement. To increase his speed, he once again used the Qi of a Thousand Autumns, and now only the whistling wind could be heard on the road.

Qingye still had a pulse; the historical mist within her sinful bones had mitigated the effects of the poison, saving her life. Shax was in the worst condition; a single shot from the Blood Knight had shattered half his body, and Bloodflame would have killed him in a second. Ji Huaisu was still able to move, Vande remained silent, and Qingxia…

Qingxia's flesh and blood were autonomously differentiating and proliferating. Under the stimulation of the toxins, Xiangyu Yao's self-healing instincts went out of control, causing clusters of irregular tumors to grow on her wounds. Those out-of-control tumors were meaninglessly consuming her life force. She was now almost standing on the edge of life and death, and the tumors were the hand pushing her towards them.

"Qingxia, don't close your eyes!" Chu Hengkong shouted. "Say something! Talk to me!"

Chu Hengkong had experienced a similar situation and knew that her life was now hanging by a thread; once her mind was broken and her spirit dissipated, it would all be over.

Qingxia's lips twitched, as if she wanted to laugh, but the proliferating tumor squeezed half of her face, making her expression particularly terrifying.

"I...I'll take a nap first..."

"Don't sleep now!" Chu Hengkong shook her with his wrist. "How about I tell you a story? You'll be there after you hear just one story!"

"Wait... next time..." Qingxia's voice was barely audible, "Next time... then..."

She slowly closed her eyes. She was too tired. She could hear Chu Hengkong's words but didn't have the strength to respond. She wanted to rest for a while, just a little while.

Just then, a rash person started hitting her hard, completely disregarding the fact that she was seriously injured. Ji Huaisu, in a fit of rage, blurted out, "Qingxia, Qingxia, listen to me! You...you're getting ugly, you know that? A whole bunch of bumps like a honeycomb!"

"Say something nice, you fucking thing!" Chu Hengkong snapped.

“Really, you can see it the moment you open your eyes.” Ji Huaisu described it vividly, “It’s terrifying, even I can’t bear to look at it. Darling, if you keep delaying treatment, it will be too late. Look at Chu Hengkong, he doesn’t even dare to turn around now. In the future, he might not even dare to look at you, let alone kiss you…”

Qingxia gritted her teeth, opening her eyes a crack: "Can...you hurry...?"

Ji Huaisu gave an OK sign, then turned and leaned over the side of the dump truck. Chu Hengkong felt utterly bewildered and confused.

"No, why?"

"You don't understand." Ji Huaisu rolled her eyes.

As they spoke, the seal surrounding the settlement came into view. The journey that had taken them almost half the night to leave was now just a few words long on their way back to the city. Chu Hengkong charged straight into the seal, rushing into the training ground amidst the shouts of joy and excitement from the warriors, and arrived in front of the pillar of light.

He caught a whiff of a fragrant aroma, like the tender shoots of newly sprouted grass in spring, the scent of flowers and leaves mingling in the warm air, creating a reassuring and relaxing atmosphere. Several vines shot out from the pillar of light, wrapping around each person; the vines pulsed like veins, sending the life force of the divine tree into the wounded.

“I’ll handle it.” Fenya poked her little green head out. “Sever the life link now, or you’ll wear yourself out.”

Chu Hengkong observed for a moment, confirming that the divine tree's vitality was sufficient to sustain the life, before slowly severing the blood flames. He plopped down at the foot of the sacred pillar: "Can it be cured?"

“It’s difficult. Infusing life force only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. For now, we can only keep them afloat,” Fenya said. “Qingxia is especially difficult to treat. That female demon attacked her too severely, and the toxins and bloodline factors have become one. The more life force we infuse, the more the tumor grows, which will endanger Qingxia’s life. But if the support is cut off, it will also be a dead end.”

The tumors on Qingxia's body were multiplying, almost engulfing her horse. They needed medicine, an antidote, something to eradicate the toxins, but everyone present was a combatant, and even the Divine Tree of Point 2 didn't have that ability. Chu Hengkong clenched his brow.

"Request for help," he said. "Stone Seeker, you've already leveled up, so you can contact Huilong City, right?"

“…I can only say there’s a chance.” Fenya paused for a moment, “but that would consume a tremendous amount of energy, and if it fails…”

"Let's take this gamble."

Finya looked into the assassin's eyes and for a moment felt as if she were talking to an old friend. Their styles were exactly the same: making extremely low-probability judgments without hesitation, gambling that their choices would definitely succeed.

It nodded and patted Gulibo next to the sacred pillar. Gulibo grabbed a leaf flute and blew a whistle with all its might.

Upon hearing the whistle, the researchers outside the training ground shouted, "Signal! Everyone to your positions!"

The whistle blew across the settlement, and the warriors hurried to their designated positions according to plan. They had rehearsed extensively during the earlier repair of the sacred pillar, so that they could activate the Unity Array at any time. People clenched their hands, hoping to transform their prayers into strength. Golden light then flashed, surging towards the center of the sacred pillar along with the array that covered the settlement.

The leaves of the bud were tinged golden by the light, and it raised its vines toward the sky, reciting an ancient prayer:

"The radiant star's divine righteousness, the true legacy of the Dragon King. Carving wood into a boat, in response to the people's wishes."

The candlelight never fades, the fighting spirit never dies. Respond to my command, righteous allies!

Specks of cryptic text emerged with the chanting, surging into the light. Golden light rose straight into the sky with the sacred pillar, piercing the sky above the settlement. The mists of history stirred, forming swirling vortices around the pillar of light, swirling like swarms of insects sensing danger, trying to extinguish this beam of light.

Fenya's face was tense, and Chu Hengkong couldn't help but feel nervous as well. No one knew if this effort would succeed. Perhaps everyone outside had already given up, or perhaps they hadn't yet detected the stone seed's signal. Perhaps the city lord knew, but was powerless to do anything…

But suddenly, a clear dragon's roar echoed from the other side of the vortex. A transparent water sphere was forcibly squeezed into the vortex and descended guided by the beam of light. The surface of the water sphere was constantly swirling; it was a flowing pearl, the largest flowing pearl Chu Hengkong had ever seen!

The mists of history seemed to sense the crisis, swarming in and instantly destroying the golden light. The unguided orb fell, rapidly deforming in mid-air. Chu Hengkong leaped into the air, his long, wicked wrist extending to catch the orb. He carried the orb back to the sacred pillar, placing it in front of Fenya.

"Yes, what is it?" Gulibo asked nervously.

With a snap, the bead burst open from the inside, splashing water all over the face of the screaming little animal. Inside the bead was a disheveled man, wearing greasy clothes and a dirty baseball cap.

He held in his hand a golden lotus pestle that seemed completely out of place with his attire.

Jie An peeked out furtively: "Um, does anyone need to take their medicine?"

Chu Hengkong cheered.

Seal Man vs. Nian Beast (Five-day hiatus)

Hello everyone, this is your familiar Spotted Seal 2326. Wishing you all a belated Happy New Year! *knock knock knock*

What? You say the New Year is already over? You may not know this, but due to a responsibility passed down through generations of spotted seals, we only have the chance to send New Year's greetings to everyone after the Lantern Festival. Let me tell you the story behind it…

Long, long ago, before the emperor of the Empire of Truth rose to power, time in the Dust Realm was not yet unified. Some Dust Islands were hosting BBQ parties in December, while others had already entered collective hibernation. Everyone lived their own lives, never interacting with each other, a truly peaceful and harmonious existence.

Back then, the spotted seals would collectively take a break from work and school at the end of December. We'd snuggle into our soft, comforting blankets, snacking on fried ribbonfish, radish balls, mackerel dumplings, sweet and sour pork, braised prawns, and noodles with gravy, spending delightful evenings watching late-night animations on the deep-sea screen. When the schools, research institutes, and breeding centers on Dust Island called to bother us, we could proudly declare, "You've got the time difference wrong! Our hometown is just beginning its vacation!"

This is the glorious tradition of our spotted seal clan: while other seals celebrate the passing of a hard year, we delay the arrival of an even harder one. Our shamelessness knows no bounds; the great ocean sage, Ah Waaah, could even single-handedly create a year-long time difference, seamlessly connecting one year's annual leave with the next. In those wonderful times, each of us seals enjoyed at least three months of annual leave.

But, ah, one day, a machine that was broken to the core, I won't say who it was, just based on some bullshit truth it came up with, unified the time of the entire Submerged Realm (loud voice)!

This uniform flow of time has caused a major problem. With tens of millions of dust islands celebrating the New Year at the same time, there's no longer any chance to extend the holiday using time differences. For us spotted seals who often work on other dust islands, this same time brings another major calamity: everyone is going back to their hometowns for the New Year in the same week, and the vortex is practically blocking the library!

Dear land-dwelling friends, you have no idea how difficult and arduous it is for us marine creatures to return to our homeland. By the end of the year, those eddies are all frozen solid! If you go in, you'll instantly turn into a frozen seal!

To speed things up, they had to station the Blazing Armored Army at the transfer station. Once we arrived, the ice blocks lined up, buzzing as they rode the conveyor belt through security. A knight would come up to warm himself by a fire, and wow, the ice would melt! We'd shiver and hop out. Some unscrupulous locals complained the Discipline Knights were overcharging and secretly pocketed kickbacks from the demons hired by the Spiral Tower. Those Scourge creatures are incredibly rough; one breath of fire and everything's cooked!

After a long and arduous journey, I finally got into my own bed, but before I even had a chance to fry some meatballs, a conch shell started chirping beside my bed. I realized I'd been freezing on the way there for six days; it was time to go to work.

How can that be?

This is simply unreasonable.

How could this not enrage the vast marine population!

In the second year of the unified time unit, the vast majority of marine life, long tormented by this holiday, developed a deep-seated aversion to it. After a tense internal meeting, our spotted seal clan unanimously agreed to find a way to resolve this perverse custom. Thus, in the third year of the unified time unit, the marine life's hatred for working coalesced into a hideous, terrifying, edible, and super-monster.

This strange beast is ferocious in appearance and terrifying in looks, yet its flesh is delicious and must be tasted. It possesses mysterious symbols that cannot be seen or remembered; even real machinery cannot capture its form. Only in the paintings created by our own people can one glimpse a fragment of its eerie figure. We call it the Nian Beast with reverence.

This beast, Nian, is vicious and only appears during the Lunar New Year, specifically to disturb people's peace and quiet. It replaces family-friendly cartoons with adult films, subtly alters animations intended for young girls into lesbian films, and even adds three times the amount of vinegar to the sweet and sour sauce of sweet and sour fish. Such a despicable beast has crossed moral boundaries, and our righteous spotted seal clan cannot stand idly by. Therefore, before the end of the year, a brave seal warrior, carrying the blessings of his people, steps forward to battle Nian from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival—he is that year's Seal Warrior!

From then on, the spotted seal clan returned to its former peace. When the other dust islands came to collect conch shells, we could snuggle in our blankets and loudly proclaim, "We can't go to work this week; we're still fighting the Nian beast!"

The tranquility of the deep sea was thus protected. Ah, great Seal Warrior, no one knows how much you sacrificed for everyone.

This year, however, the situation has changed slightly. As you readers may not know, this year's "Seal Hero" is none other than myself. Due to the heavy workload of meeting deadlines, my battles with the Nian Beast have been particularly arduous. For every hour of fighting, I need to drink a cup of tea and write for three hours before continuing the second half of the battle. The updates you've seen recently are all things I squeezed in during my fights with the Nian Beast.

Now, the New Year is finally over, and the Nian beast has been devoured. Seal Man is exhausted and unable to continue writing; he needs rest and some time to reorganize.

Therefore, this notice is to inform all readers that the book will be temporarily suspended for five days from February 2.16th to February 2.20th. We hope you will give us your full chakra, spiritual pressure, domineering aura, and energy.

I also wish all readers of terrestrial primates, as well as readers of unknown existence such as marine, flying, alien, mechanical, demonic, and other races, all the best in 2025.

If you have any different opinions, please pat the seal's belly and quack.

Chapter 227: Doctor, the Miraculous Bringer

Qingye floated above the river, each hand secured by a rope. The gray river flowed beneath her, vast and boundless, its source and end nowhere in sight. Falling into this river would likely mean a gruesome death, a truly gruesome one, but Qingye desperately wanted to plunge headlong into it for a clean end…

Because the ropes tied to her arms were so taut they were about to break, both sides were pulling on the ropes from the shore, using her as the medium for a passionate tug-of-war. The elderly people, though their hair was white, were all full of energy and vigor, and it seemed as if they wanted to pull her to death right there on the spot.

The contestants on the other side of the river were a mixed doubles team, shouting slogans as they strained: "Qingye, come here quickly, Grandpa and Grandma have missed you so much!"

"Grandpa and Grandma, do you want me to die?!" Qingye screamed in agony.

The contestant on this side of the river was a shirtless patriarch, his muscles bulging all over his body, exuding strength and power: "Qingye, don't run! You haven't finished your homework yet!"

"I ran away from home, do I still have to do homework?!" Qingye screamed a second time.

The elderly couple on the other side of the river were furious upon hearing this: "Outrageous! How dare you not do your homework! Quickly kneel down and apologize to your elders!"

"There's no soil here, only water!"

"Listen to your grandparents," the elder chimed in.

"Whose side are you on, patriarch?! You're all just torturing me!"

The rope in the tug-of-war loosened as the elderly people distracted themselves, and Qingye seized the opportunity to pull away and plunge into the river with a splash. The river was flowing swiftly, and despite her desperate struggle upstream, she drifted further and further away from where she had come from. In the blink of an eye, the old men and women vanished, and downstream stood several skeletons, their empty eye sockets burning with bewildered embers.

The skeletons were all dressed in priestly robes; in the turbulent realm, these skeletons were generally called Bone-Praying Cultivators. They watched Qingye struggle for a while, and after Qingye had moved about 80 meters in the opposite direction, one of the cultivators finally couldn't help but speak.

“Righteous one, I’ve seen you come and go several times. Listen to me.” A monk hesitated, pointing behind Qingye. “The reports say you’re going this way. You’ve swum the wrong way…”

"I won't report on it or join in, thank you!" Qingye shouted while drinking water.

The monks exchanged glances, then adopted a gentle, conciliatory tone, as if speaking to a child: "Righteous one, you have now touched upon the mysteries of time and the secrets of destiny; your ability to manipulate the mist is proof of this. You should ride the tide forward and be taught the doctrines of God..."

"Sorry, you've mistaken me for someone else. I have no faith, no enlightenment, and no interest in converting!" Qingye started swimming freestyle with all her might, "Get back to that side!!!"

Just then, a golden rope fell from the sky. Qingye's eyes lit up, and she grabbed the rope and leaped straight up into the air. The monks hurriedly called out from behind, "Remember to report to the nearest church!"

The call of the Bone-Praying Monk echoed behind her. Qingye breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself, "I'm not a skeleton, why would I report to your church?" But halfway through her flight, she felt her hands go limp and were about to fall. Qingye looked closely and realized that her hands had turned into bones.

She thought to herself, "Oh no! My bones must be black! If these sinful bones are white, then there must be something seriously wrong with my body!"

She quickly touched her cheek, but it felt hard and stiff, like bone.

"Do not……"

Qingye's face turned deathly pale.

"No!!!"

She suddenly sat up, her head hitting something hard, causing her to cry out while clutching her head. She rolled around for a while, clutching her head, before opening her eyes to see Chu Hengkong's astonishing expression.

“You look pretty good,” Chu Hengkong said.

Qingye rushed over and hugged him, sobbing, "Waaah, Mr. Chu, I saw Grandpa, Grandma, and the patriarch again! I almost died in the tug-of-war, I was swimming upstream in the river, and several Qi Gu cultivators called me to report... If I had woken up any later, I would have turned into a skeleton! Ahhh!"

Chu Heng thought to himself that this unlucky kid could have such a vivid nightmare; he could probably last for several more hours. The old saying "fools have their luck" seems to hold true; the Death Heretic probably wouldn't want to take this guy in.