Forge a path to success

Lady Huilong perked up at the news. She picked out a few tea stalks and arranged them into a miniature array around herself. The array, which was as large as a grass platform, emitted a faint yellow light. Youyou closed her eyes, calculated for a moment, and said, "This child's opportunity lies in the Netherworld Divine Kingdom!"

Ji Qiufeng pursed his lips, trying hard to appear serious. Youyou couldn't hold back any longer: "Ah, forget it, forget it! This is too outrageous, think of something else!"

"You've never been good at divination..."

"I predict that I'll get full marks every semester in my prediction class! Even Lord Zhulong says I'm a genius!" Youyou argued logically. "It's just that there's a margin of error between theory and practice, you understand? A reasonable margin of error!"

·

Chu Hengkong was completely unaware of the elders' argument. After leaving the study, he went to the cafeteria, where Ji Huaisu was munching on an egg pancake. When he saw his partner arrive, he put his paw on Chu Hengkong's shoulder and asked with great interest, "Can you get promoted or not?"

Chu Hengkong moved the other person's hand away, his face expressionless. Ji Huaisu chuckled, "Looks like for quite some time to come, I, Sister Huaisu, will still be stronger!"

"Sister Huaisu? Don't you even know how old you are?" Chu Hengkong went to get a bowl of waterweed sweet soup and scoffed at the words.

"I'm a vibrant 23 this year, full of youthful energy and in the prime of my life, hehe." Ji Huaisu made a peace sign. "Although I'm not as old as you, I'm still a reliable adult... What the heck is that expression?!"

Chu Heng stood frozen in place, holding the sweet soup, his eyes filled with horror. Jie An, never one to miss a good spectacle, exclaimed in a shrill voice, "Hey! Speaking of which, how old is our assassin this year?"

Chu Hengkong put down the sugar water: "I have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now..."

Ji Huaisu's eyes lit up. She stuffed the egg pancake into her mouth and clung to someone's back like a sloth: "Don't run away! Tell me! How old are you this year!"

"Miss Ji, may I ask what my personal privacy has to do with you?"

Ji Huaisu chuckled sinisterly, "You choose one, or I'll make one up for you."

All the brothers in the canteen were staring at this spot, and Chu Hengkong realized that he was in deep trouble today. He spoke with an almost lifeless tone: "...22 years old."

Ji Huaisu burst into a joyful and unrestrained laugh, his expression vividly illustrating the meaning of a petty person achieving success. Just before the major event was about to occur, Chu Hengkong stretched out a tentacle and darted out of the canteen, leaving his brothers' laughter behind.

Ji Huaisu clung to his back like a persistent ghost, poking his cheek with her fingernails, her voice as affected as could be: "Xiao Kong, come here, call me Sister Huaisu~"

Chu Hengkong sighed deeply: "Don't you think it's childish of you?"

"The thought of disgusting you fills me with motivation."

"I'm so touched I want to leave you behind." Chu Heng walked aimlessly towards the dormitory building. "What's the schedule for today?"

"No assignments. I'm done with my work, no more martial arts practice, I'm going hiking!"

"So lazy."

Chu Hengkong landed in front of his house, and Ji Huaisu got off his back and turned around on the spot: "Let's go together."

"I want to practice martial arts."

"You haven't practiced enough after three months?" Ji Huaisu made a face. "Dad said to wait a little longer, so don't be in such a hurry. It's rare for the world to be at peace now, so you should seize the opportunity to have fun."

Chu Hengkong, who had been preoccupied with the bamboo slip, considered it after hearing this and temporarily put the thought aside. After all, it wasn't the most difficult time anymore; the city lord, this pillar of the city, had recovered, and the city didn't urgently need him anymore. Besides, Ji Huaisu had just worked overtime for a week, and she was quite eager to go out and have some fun…

These past three months haven't been easy, so taking a day off isn't a sin.

"Okay, I'll pack up."

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Chu Hengkong walked into his single dormitory room and habitually picked up a watering can to water the potted plant. The small potted plant he bought during the last holiday was now more than half his height, and like every plant that grows in swamps, it was seizing the opportunity to grow wildly.

He began packing. For a detective and assassin, the things he needed to bring on a trip were actually similar to those he needed for a mission, except that he would carry more beads in his pocket.

Considering he would be out for half a day, Chu Hengkong stuffed a bag of nuts into his pocket, then checked his belongings one by one: light armor, his usual relics, his knife, and the book he never parted with. The silver eyes on the cover were glowing.

"...?"

He wasn't mistaken; the silver-eyed book was glowing. Page after page turned, the blank pages rustling softly. Chu Hengkong suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity. He tossed the book out the window, but by the time it left his hand, the twilight had already illuminated the room.

He was sucked into the book.

"Ah Kong?"

Ji Huaisu grew impatient and simply pushed the door open.

She saw nothing; the room was empty except for a plant that had just been watered.

·

"Oh! Oh! Finally!"

Chu Hengkong felt as if he had been flattened, reduced to a paper doll with no thickness. He dug deep into his mind to find the source of that familiarity. It was a summoning circle. The summoning ritual he performed upon arriving in Huilong City…

He was in the midst of a bizarre summoning ritual, surrounded by thick fog so dense that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. Within the fog, a strange object writhed and twisted, accompanied by a shrill sound.

"Seven whole months! Do you know how I spent those seven months? Every night I reminisced about the sweet times we had. After all the hardships, we can finally meet again..."

The thing wriggled closer amidst its intoxicated mutterings, its outline resembling a lollipop with ears: a round "upper body," two pointed ears, and a twisting "stick." It... or rather... hopped to the summoning circle, its voice rising with excitement: "Come back! My tentacles!"

Then, Chu Hengkong stood up from the summoning circle.

The thickness of his life force returned to his body, and the light from the summoning array pierced through the mist, allowing him to see the true form of that thing.

That was an eyeball.

An eyeball about the size of a man's palm.

The eyeballs occupied about two-thirds of the round "head," the rest covered by smooth, glossy silver skin. On either side of the round head were a pair of pointed protrusions, reminiscent of the triangular gills on a squid's head. Its lower body consisted of several bright silver tentacles, the central one being particularly shiny and significantly longer than the others. This tentacle supported it as it stood on the ground, just like the stick of a lollipop.

The two stared at each other in silence, their large eyes meeting. The giant squid lollipop remained motionless, its gaze displaying a mixture of surprise, astonishment, embarrassment, and utter terror and disbelief.

"No, buddy," it said pitifully, "why do you have my tentacles?"

Chapter 69 Van der

Chu Hengkong immediately understood two things.

Firstly, this strangely styled, unidentified creature is most likely the original owner of the tentacles.

Secondly, this damned little bastard probably didn't do it on purpose.

After staring at him for two seconds, the big-eyed creature began to tremble, its expression one of utter cowardice, practically begging for mercy and asking "Why?" right in its face...or its eyes. Such a pathetic sight is unlikely to lead to a successful manhunt; this is probably yet another summoning incident...

How frequent are summoning incidents in this damned, broken world?

Chu Hengkong suddenly felt a headache coming on. He squatted down on the spot, stared at the trembling eyeballs, and put on his fiercest look: "What time is it now? Which Dust Island?"

"Seven months after I lost my tentacles! The Secret Realm of Senluo!" Eyeball confessed on the spot like a spy who couldn't withstand torture, "I've been traveling in the wild for the past seven months, I really don't know the exact dates!"

It's been a little over seven months since I transmigrated, so the timeline on both sides should be the same. Huilong City is located in the Senluo Secret Realm, so I didn't travel too far this time, and there's still hope of returning home…

Chu Hengkong breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this, then adopted a questioning tone as if he were interrogating a suspect: "Race, name, origin."

The giant eyeball nodded repeatedly, waving its short tentacles, and spoke respectfully: "Hello, hello, I'm so sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Vande, the Eye Demon, a new-eyed traveler who just left the library."

What is this garbage...?

Chu Hengkong felt a headache coming on. He clearly remembered that Alex had intended to summon the "Omniscient and Omnipotent God," but this silly-looking beholder... clearly didn't fit that title at all! Its aura was weak, and its attitude was reserved. He had seen quite a few guys like this in the past three months; they were mostly residents of Little Dust Island who were visiting Huilong City for the first time, such as the Momo Clan, the Pupu Clan, and the Fufu Clan...

The big-eyed girl looked up at him with bright, innocent eyes, appearing as pure and innocent as could be. Chu Hengkong felt increasingly absurd and decided to talk to her about her temperament again.

“Chu Hengkong, assassin.” Chu Hengkong grasped the short tentacle of the eyeball with his tentacle. “The situation at the scene is complicated. We need you to describe the surrounding situation to cooperate with the investigation.”

“Okay, okay, I’d be happy to.” The big-eyed ball cooperated readily. “Um… this area is the west coast of the continent. For the sake of safety during the summoning, I specifically climbed a high mountain near the sea—wait a minute, why am I the one being interrogated?! What are you doing?! Shouldn’t I be the one asking the questions? It should be my side!”

"Tsk."

"Hey, didn't you just click your tongue? Are you looking down on me? You little brat, are you looking down on me, the wise Lord Vande?!"

The giant eyeball gradually came to its senses, and angrily jumped up and down with its last remaining long tentacle: "I'm clearly in the right! You named Chu Hengkong! Why is my tentacle on your body!"

Chu Hengkong noticed that the silver-eyed book was right beside him. He used his tentacles to roll up the book and explained the ins and outs in the most concise and effective way.

“Summon.” He pointed to the great book.

“An accident.” Then he pointed to the tentacles.

Finally, pointing to himself: "I was dragged into it."

The ashen look in Vande's eyes showed that it had completely understood.

"The currents of fate became disordered at the moment of summoning, leading to a misaligned fusion... What kind of misfortune is it to encounter such an inconceivable thing as you..." Vande covered his head with several tentacles, and as if he had thought of something, his voice became more and more terrified, "By the Primal Spirits above, give me back the travel guide! You are too dangerous, I must completely sever my connection with you!"

Vande was genuinely shocked, looking at this person as if they were a monster. Because summoning accidents are something that takes two to tango; the fact that you were involved in an accident itself means that your fate is incredibly chaotic, that you are an exceptionally unlucky person... and as everyone knows, the more unlucky and unfortunate you are, the more likely you are to encounter heretics. Therefore, the standard outcome of a summoning accident is to be devoured by the demons in the current, or to be completely eaten alive by other heretics.

This guy named Chu Hengkong actually emerged unscathed from the summoning incident! Not only did he not encounter any heretics, but he even managed to provoke one of their tentacles! Could it be that his fate is even worse than that of a low-level heretic? Is something even worse than the most unlucky person ever... the most ferocious god ever? To associate with such a monstrous thing is simply courting death!

"Dude, please give me back my manual... Let's part ways amicably and go our separate ways, okay..."

Vande retreated repeatedly, no longer daring to even beg for its tentacles, only pleading with the ruthless man to get as far away as possible. But the ruthless man remained unsettling, standing aloof and expressionless, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Holy crap!" Vande shuddered. That movement, that look, and that naturally emanating murderous intent! Could this guy be a ruthless killer? Come to think of it, he introduced himself as an assassin… Could it be that he intends to…

Chu Heng drew his sword without a word!

"Help!" Vande screamed, scrambling and leaping away. But as soon as he turned, he saw a murderous aura rushing towards him. The thick fog was torn apart by a strong wind, and a monster with the head of a lion and the body of a wolf pounced out of the fog, its blood-red maw aimed straight at the helpless eyeball!

A very thin red line appeared on the lion's head. Its predatory stance remained fierce, but half of its head separated as the red line extended. The dislocated skull and torso slid horizontally in mid-air, the blood spreading out smoothly like a sheet of bright red paper.

The dead monster landed an inch in front of Vande, half its head resting beside its tentacles, its eyes still rolling. Vande trembled, stiffly turning around, just in time to see Chu Hengkong sheathing his sword.

“I thought you would notice,” Chu Hengkong said.

Vande rushed over in a flash, his tentacles gripping Chu Hengkong's trouser leg tightly, his eyes brimming with tears: "Thank you, sir, for saving my life!"

Chu Hengkong was momentarily speechless, both amused and exasperated. Having been in the underworld for so long, he'd seen all sorts of people, but this was the first time he'd encountered someone with such an intense performative streak and dramatic emotional fluctuations. For a moment, only two possibilities came to mind: either this guy was a seasoned veteran who enjoyed playing the victim and toying with newcomers…

Or he's just a harmless, intellectually challenged good-for-nothing...

"Grandpa, what secret technique did you just use? Did you imitate the wind force of the Supreme Path? Your casting medium is so novel!"

Vande clung to his trouser leg, chattering incessantly, but Chu Hengkong ignored it. He first used his tentacle to whip the air, using the force to disperse the surrounding mist. With the crack of the whip, visibility within a twenty-meter radius cleared, revealing jagged rocks and leafless, withered trees, and the ground covered in dry grass, forming a distinct slope.

This must be on a hillside, a desolate wilderness, mostly inhabited by wild animals. Chu Hengkong squatted down to examine the lion-headed beast's carcass, saying, "If you really want to thank me, take me back."

"Send it back?" Vande looked at him with a question mark in his eyes. "Sir, are you kidding me? What kind of summoning ritual can send something back in reverse? We Eye Demons are law-abiding citizens, not heretics... Ah! Ah! What are you doing!"

Chu Hengkong used his tentacles to pick up the silly creature and slapped it several times on the ground to vent his anger at being summoned so abruptly. Vande bounced around like a ball, letting out a cry with each bounce, seemingly full of energy.

It seems there's no hope in relying on this good-for-nothing, but beating him up won't help either. The most urgent thing is to gather intelligence and find out where we are to return to the city…

“Ah… Bao… Pao…” Vande was still making strange noises.

Chu Hengkong paused in dissecting the corpse. Among a pile of sticky entrails, he felt something unusually hard—something unlike the texture of animal organs. He slowly raised his head; electric currents flickered across the smooth cut surface of the lion-headed monster.

A silver cannon barrel emerged from the remaining half of the skull.

"Cannon!!" Van der shouted hoarsely.

Chu Hengkong threw a punch, smashing the cannon barrel into a pile of scrap metal. A sizzling sound came from the lion-headed monster's corpse. He kicked the body away, and the headless corpse crackled with electricity before exploding into a huge cloud of fireworks in mid-air!

The shockwave from the exploding lion's head was incredibly powerful, causing Chu Hengkong to frown. Vande was instantly thrown away, its several tentacles gripping Chu Hengkong's legs tightly, its pitiful cries amplified by the wind.

The explosion dispersed the thick fog within a hundred meters radius, and the echo reverberated through the empty valley. Chu Hengkong listened intently to the transmission of the sound waves, catching the noise—the scraping sound of claws moving among the rocks. Not just one or ten, but hundreds or thousands; the noise was astonishingly fine and complex, almost like a swarm of bees flapping their wings in a hive.

He saw white dots of light, illuminating the scene at the same time as the noise, piercing through the thick fog. The white light was in the forest, behind the rocks, at the foot of the cliffs, and atop the precipice. The dots of light completely filled his field of vision, and tens of thousands of magical beasts emerged from the fog, opening their mouths in unison to spew out metal cannon barrels, the white light growing brighter as the cannons charged.

All the cannons were aimed at Chu Hengkong and Fan De, and tens of thousands of beam cannons were about to fire!

"Cannon! Cannon!!" Van der shouted hoarsely.

Chu Hengkong turned around on the spot and sprinted at the fastest speed he had ever been in his life.

"run!"

Chapter 70 A New World Lies Just Outside the Door

In the desolate mountains and wilderness, artillery fire raged. An army of over ten thousand wild beasts poured out, launching a merciless barrage against the two intruders who had strayed into the mountains. Valiant lion-headed beasts charged ahead, followed by massive bear-like beasts and agile monkey-like beasts—a perfect example of infantry-tank coordination. Even more impressively, birds with extraordinary wings soared through the sky, unleashing explosive metal bombs to provide cover fire. It was truly a well-organized and tactically sophisticated modern army of wild beasts!

Faced with such an offensive, Chu Hengkong didn't hesitate and turned to run. His speed was like riding the wind, leaving even the fastest beast far behind. Vande, clinging to his leg, was dazzled and howled, "I'm going to be thrown off! Help me—"

Chu Hengkong retracted his tentacle and stuffed it into his pocket: "What is this thing?"

"I don't know!" Van der was speechless. "I've never seen this thing before coming up the mountain! No intelligence, no information!"

"Could you be any more useless?" Chu Hengkong sighed.

"Their specialty isn't fighting and killing..."

Van der peeked half his eye out of his pocket to observe the situation, but was immediately startled back by a burst of bullets. These damned bastards were even armed with live ammunition; the hail of bullets kicked up a cloud of dust.

It huddled in its trench coat pocket for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "It might be a strange beast... but I've never seen this type before..."

Explain in one sentence.

"They're races born that are essentially Ascendants!" Vande exclaimed rapidly. "You know, races like Ancient Dragons and Giants are born as high-quality beings; Ascendancy is equivalent to their growth process. Beasts are a super-degraded version of this ideal race. They're born with quality but can't ascend, stuck in the middle. Judging by their appearance, they're probably Foundation Beasts created by external forces..."